But—
Destroying a Level 9 train takes only four seconds.
Since ancient tis,
one immutable law has held true: destruction is always easier and faster than creation.
The reason his train hadn't upgraded quickly was largely because he'd spent considerable ti strengthening its foundation—this was also why his Level 7 train could instantly annihilate a Level 9 train.
This ti, it was a true instant kill.
No exaggeration whatsoever.
On the leaderboard, the na of the Level 9 train, Horizon, gradually dimd before vanishing entirely.
At this mont,
the disappearance of two trains in such a short ti finally caught people's attention.
Panic instantly swept through the Train Radio.
Speculations ran wild—was the Zombie Volcano that Stellar had warned about real? Had it already erupted?
But soon,
when soone suggested that these two Level 9 trains had likely ventured into higher-tier zones, the panic slowly subsided. Scared
to death—thought it was the start of a disaster.
Then,
another person pointed out: Why would they leave now, of all tis? They must be running away.
The mood in the Train Radio shifted again, plunging back into fear—this ti, even worse.
"Humans are subconsciously herd-minded."
"If 9,900 people turn left toward hell, and 100 turn right toward heaven, the 10,001st person will most likely turn left—even if they know left leads to hell."
"That's why hell is always crowded."
"Because there are always fools leading the way."
Inside the Stellar train,
Chen Mang sat in his chair, calmly observing the sudden shift in tone across the Train Radio. He murmured softly, "You've already developed the ability to self-learn. Your database has no records on riding a motorcycle, but through observing Biao Zi and the others, you've figured it out."
"Train Conductor, are you praising ?"
Xiao Ai, standing in the corner, asked quietly.
"Sort of."
Chen Mang paused before continuing, "But if that 10,001st person arrived at the crossroads alone, they'd probably trust their own judgnt and turn right toward heaven."
"Humans tend to be wiser when alone."
"Then, Train Conductor, where would you go?"
"..."
Chen Mang stood up, lit a cigarette, and exhaled deeply before looking at Xiao Ai. "Nowhere. Aren't heaven and hell both places you go after death?"
"I won't die."
"Let's go. Ti to check our haul."
Clearly,
no one was sleeping tonight. Even past midnight, the Train Radio remained lively.
In just over two hours,
the discourse had shifted multiple tis.
From questioning the truth of the warning,
to reluctantly accepting it—but refusing to provide Copper Ore without compensation,
to now, where almost everyone was willing to contribute most of their Copper Ore, hoping soone would step up and unite them against the impending disaster.
Not every train was equipped with Level 9 or higher weapon modules.
Only by handing over most of the copper ore to these trains could they prioritize eliminating the most dangerous Level 9 Zombies. The remaining Level 7 and 8 Zombies could be dealt with gradually, while lower-level ones could be resisted using the Energy Shield.
However,
The "Train Radio" had been silent for a long ti, with the Stellar only silently posting pinned ssages to sell items. The remaining nine trains, for so reason, had also gone mute, not uttering a single word.
"634,000 units of Iron Ore, 580,000 units of Copper Ore, 1.01 million units of lumber."
"2 Murphy Stones, various living supplies."
"Over 800 Survivors."
"."
"."
Chen Mang took the inventory list from Lao Zhu, frowning slightly. During the earlier attack, he hadn't thoroughly checked all the components of that Level 9 Train, only inspecting the defensive and offensive parts.
So, he wasn't very clear about that train.
"Lao Zhu."
"Yes, Lord Mang."
"Go check if that Train Conductor is dead. Ask him what the hell he needed so much lumber for."
"Uh, Lord Mang, should I go down and ask?"
"Would you even make it back up if you went down?"
"Seems a bit difficult."
"Forget it then."
Chen Mang waved his hand dismissively. "Just load everything onto the train, and hurry up. Sa rules as always—kill all the Thugs and managent."
"This Train Conductor is full of lies."
"There wasn't even 1 million units of Iron Ore in that train. How dare he co to trade with ? He wasn't even willing to give
the 1 million units—just ca to cheat
outright. These days, it's hard to find soone who trades in good faith."
What he needed most right now was Iron Ore.
That Bald Man's Level 9 Train had over 1 million units of Iron Ore in reserve, but this Level 9 Train only had a little over 600,000—almost half as much. Clearly, they'd spent most of their ti chopping lumber.
Aside from making clothes, what use is lumber anyway?
He'd never encountered any components that required lumber for upgrades.
With this additional 1 million units of lumber, the train now had a total of 2.5 million units. When would they ever use it all? If they turned it all into "Xiao Ai Pocket Dinsions," they could make 2.5 million of them.
Another 1,500 Survivors had been added.
Generally speaking,
His usual approach was to only kill the Train Conductor. Back in the days of the "Geocentric Nuclear Bomb," he hadn't killed the Thugs—they were now Train Residents.
But,
The Thugs from these Level 9 Trains were stubborn, tough-talking, and seed fiercely loyal. They weren't the type to keep around.
If he let them live, he wouldn't sleep well at night.
Twenty minutes later,
All the resources had been moved to the Stellar by the Guardians—well, to be honest, it was mostly just Zhang Yi and Zhang Er doing the work.
Fast and enthusiastic.
They really seed to enjoy it.
With this kind of work ethic, if they'd run a moving company before the apocalypse, they'd never have to worry about money. Though they might've just moved everything into their own hos—these two shared the exact sa hobby, obsessed with hoarding supplies, useful or not. Just having it in their hands made them happy.
The Survivors were herded into the refrigerator in Carriage 11 and temporarily locked up.
Among this group, they'd need to carefully screen for any family mbers or female dependents of the Train Conductor.
Inside the refrigerator was the chanical Eye, which Xiao Ai would use to capture those whose "eyes flashed with a trace of resentnt." After the crisis ended, Lao Zhu would also conduct background checks on them one by one.
Especially since Xiao Ai's chanical Eye was extrely effective.
It had already caught several people.
There were always those who, in the dead of night, would let their eyes flicker with resentnt, only to be precisely captured by Xiao Ai and reported to Biao Zi and the others.
The main issue was that these people could have just kept their thoughts to themselves, but they had to show it—acting as if they were biding their ti for revenge.
They practically deserved to die.
After completing all this, Chen Mang once again took control of the Stellar Train, opening its massive maw to slowly devour the Horizon, now reduced to just 16 carriages, inch by inch like a python swallowing an elephant.
This yielded another 670,000 units of Iron Ore.
Thus—
The total Iron Ore stored within the Stellar Train had now reached 4.341 million!
Halfway to the goal of 8 million units.
"This is much faster than mining."
"Every crisis is both a danger and an opportunity."
Inside the Stellar Train, Chen Mang sat in his chair, chuckling lightly. He then turned his attention to one of the six Level 9 trains he had encountered earlier—the Logitech—planning to repeat his previous tactic.
"100 Murphy Stones for 1 million units of Iron Ore. Interested? Keep it quiet."
The reply ca swiftly.
"You were the one behind Horizon and Only One, weren't you?"
"Hmm?" Chen Mang frowned slightly. They had figured it out already? He had hoped to lure a few more. After a pause, he replied.
"Aren't they supposed to have left the Zombie Basin? Take it or leave it. If not, I'll find soone else."
"No deal. Listen here, kid. I admit your train is strong, but let
be blunt—even if you upgrade to a Level 9 train, you won't be able to leave the Zombie Basin."
"And no matter how powerful your train is, without us, how do you expect to hold off all those Zombies? How many Automatic Cannons does your train have? Dozens? Hundreds? And how much Copper Ore do you have? Millions? Tens of millions?"
"Without us, you're as good as dead!"
Chen Mang looked at the ssage on the Train Radio and suddenly laughed. He understood now. The other party's words made it clear—these Level 9 trains couldn't leave the Zombie Basin either.
After sending one final reply, he blocked them.
"Heh."
No wonder.
No wonder when Horizon and Only One disappeared from the rankings, these people imdiately assud they had been destroyed—not that they had left the Zombie Basin.
Turns out, deep down, they knew better than anyone that their Level 9 trains couldn't leave this area at all.
He had thought they were avoiding the Blue Zone out of fear of its dangers, but it turned out they were trapped here.
This made things much more interesting.
He wasn't in a hurry now.
He had already chosen the second path. At his current pace, even if he couldn't trick any more Level 9 trains, the Zombie Basin wasn't infinite. He could take his ti searching. Even if he didn't encounter a single Level 9 train, with 4 million units of Iron Ore, he could already upgrade nearly half of his carriages to Level 9 Armor. The losses wouldn't be too severe.
But...
How were these Level 9 trains planning to survive?
He was curious.
And eager to find out.
Inside the Combat Training Virtual Space.
The seven train conductors of the chanical trains stood on the platform, silently eyeing each other without a word.
After a long while.
The middle-aged strong man was the first to speak, his tone laced with an inexplicable emotion: "It feels a bit unreal. That bald man who was just talking to
here is dead in the blink of an eye."
"If I'd known that was the last ti I'd see him, I would've looked at him a little longer."
"Like you two were close or sothing," the young man in sportswear leaning against the edge of the platform said gloomily with a grim expression.
"Oh, not really."
The middle-aged strong man spread his hands helplessly: "I just wanted to study his face more, to see what soone about to die looks like. That way, if I ever get that look, I can hide and avoid dying for no reason."
"You've got that look right now."
"Don't say such things lightly. I think my face looks pretty good right now."
"Enough!"
At this mont, a man in a white suit stepped forward, his expression icy as he spoke word by word: "We must contact the Stellar. According to the Stellar's estimates, the Zombie Volcano will erupt in at most 20 hours."
"Just give him the base price—50 Murphy Stones!"
"50 Murphy Stones per train, and we can join forces with him to gather all the trains. Collecting copper ore also takes ti. We can't wait until the last second. If you're not in a hurry, I am."
"I don't want to die here!"
"I can't go," the young man in sportswear said, his eyes shadowed as he spoke deliberately: "That bastard blocked
and even replied with a 'hehe'!"
Seeing no one respond, the man in the white suit fell silent for a while before speaking again: "I'll go. I arrived late and didn't clash with him."
"I'll ask."
With that, the man vanished from the platform, reappearing a minute later, though his expression didn't look too good.
"What did he say?"
The middle-aged strong man hesitated: "Did he refuse? You don't look like he agreed."
"Neither refused nor agreed."
"Then how did the Stellar reply to you?"
"Two words."
"Which two?"
"Hehe."
"..."
"..."
No one spoke, all falling into silence. After a long pause, the middle-aged strong man finally spoke again: "How dare he reply like that? Isn't he afraid of death? Can he survive the Zombie Volcano eruption?"
"We all need to work together to survive!"
"Doesn't he understand that?"
"Um..."
Just then, a middle-aged man in the crowd raised his hand timidly: "I think the Stellar does understand. Wasn't this suggestion his idea in the first place? It's just that you're asking for too many Murphy Stones, and he doesn't want to play along anymore."
"I've always wondered—if the Zombie Volcano erupts, it won't just kill the Stellar. Why do you keep targeting him?"
"He's got the most Murphy Stones! If we don't target him, should we target you?"
"Alright." The middle-aged strong man paused for a mont before speaking up. "Before the apocalypse, I was a negotiation expert. Let him stew for an hour, then I'll talk to him. This ti, we'll lower our demand to just 20 Murphy Stones per Train."
"That should be doable."
"With seven of us, that's only 140 stones total—already a very modest ask."
One hour later.
The group watched with hopeful eyes as the middle-aged strong man returned. "Well? How did the negotiation go?"
The middle-aged strong man stood silently for a long while before rasping out his reply.
"Neither agreed nor refused."
"Was it those two words again?"
"Yeah."
"Still 'hehe'?"
"Yeah."
"..."
"..."
The middle-aged man who had interrupted earlier sighed deeply, sounding sowhat exasperated. "You guys are clearly trying to fleece him. It's obvious he'd rather die than play along with you anymore."
"Fine, I'll go."
"I'll tell him we don't want a single Murphy Stone—just to sit down and talk."
"After all, the fact that Stellar took down 'Only One' and 'Horizon' in such a short ti proves their strength is undeniable. With Stellar joining us, we'd all have a better chance of surviving this crisis."
"If there are no objections, let's settle on this, shall we?"
"Survival cos first. Save your sches for later."
The others exchanged glances, but no one spoke up—silent acquiescence to the proposal. This was the only way forward: bring Stellar aboard to weather the crisis first.
With that, the middle-aged man vanished from sight.
Three minutes later, he reappeared on the platform, expressionless.
"What did Stellar say?"
"Two words."
"'Hehe'?"
"Yeah."
The young man in athletic wear finally snapped, slamming his palm against the platform as he lost his temper. "Hehe my ass! All he fucking knows is 'hehe'! We're not even asking for a single damn Murphy Stone, and he's still 'hehehehe'—that motherfucker!"
"Throwing our goodwill back in our faces!"
"What the hell does he even want?!"
"Does he expect us to go begging to him or sothing?!"
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