On the Train Radio, everyone was still buzzing about the goblins from a few days ago. No one had managed to find the elusive wealthy goblin rchant. On top of that, the zombie hordes seed to have grown more ferocious lately—and not just toward trains and humans. They were now attacking any lone monster they ca across.
Of course, none of this concerned Chen Mang. Let the world outside be shrouded in darkness; he just needed to focus on developing his train in the safety of the Apocalypse Abyss. The location was almost perfectly secure. Aside from the goblin monsters a few days ago, no one else had co here.
"..."
In the command car, Chen Mang looked at the Stellar's score on the regional leaderboard.
Comprehensive Score: 1491 points.
He had climbed to 46th place, up one spot. The main boost ca from the hundred-plus goblin slaves. On the train's panel, their official status was now "Survivor."
That was a bit of a surprise.
He had thought he'd found a loophole or a bug, but he never expected the train to recognize the goblin's “slave” status.
The sky was just beginning to lighten.
Chen Mang took an ice-cold cola from the refrigerator, took a sip, and stood by the window, watching the goblin slaves toiling away in the open-pit iron mine. Every single one of them was working their hardest.
He'd been looking for a slacker to make an example of these past few days, but for so reason, no one was slacking off.
It made him feel like he was missing a step in the process.
Couldn't just one of them be a little dense so he could set an example?
He looked down at the cold cola in his hand. In the apocalypse, this stuff was a great way to get so sugar. He set the bottle on a nearby table and walked toward Living Carriage #4, planning to use the remaining iron ore to upgrade the "Cola Production Line" and the "Stead Bun Production Line" to Level 10.
After spending a total of 8,800 units of iron ore, he had acquired four new advanced effects.
[Cola Production Line Level 5 Advanced Effect]: Can choose to produce sugar-free or regular cola.
[Cola Production Line Level 10 Advanced Effect]: Consumption can slowly restore stamina.
[Stead Bun Production Line Level 5 Advanced Effect]: Can choose between two fillings: at sauce or chili sauce.
[Stead Bun Production Line Level 10 Advanced Effect]: Long-term consumption can slightly improve physical fitness.
"..."
Chen Mang's eyes narrowed slightly. Not bad. These effects were all quite practical. It looked like he'd have to add another al for the slaves at noon. More stamina ant they could mine for longer.
As for the sugar-free cola, that was just ridiculous. It was the apocalypse—who was going to be picky? They were lucky to have anything to drink at all.
The upgraded Stead Bun Production Line would improve his als. He could finally eat sothing with flavor and at. He was getting sick of eating plain stead buns with the chili sauce Biao had brought back, or just bread.
Long-term consumption would also slightly improve his physical fitness.
But...
He wondered when he'd be able to have sothing like a stir-fry. While he liked stead buns, eating them every day was getting old.
As of now, most of the white-grade vehicle accessories on the "Stellar" were at Level 10. Next up were the resource hogs, like "Carriage Steel Armor" and "Windfire Wheels." The forr cost ten thousand units of iron ore just to upgrade one carriage to Level 3.
And he now had eight carriages.
"Foolish human."
In the open-pit mine, Duo Ba looked at a human slave next to him who was working with brute force and couldn't help but snort. "That's not how you mine. There's a technique to it."
"Both hands on the handle, one in front, one behind."
"Don't grip it at the very end. And when you swing down, don't use all your strength. Let the pickaxe fall with the force of gravity. Don't just use your arm strength—channel the force from your whole body through your waist to your arms. You have to..."
Biao, who was standing nearby on patrol and supervision duty, watched the scene with a strange expression on his face. He took out a cigarette, lit it, and put it to his lips without a word. This guy really knew his stuff when it ca to mining.
But there was still sothing odd about it.
An elite monster, working as a slave on a train, mining ore. No matter how you looked at it, it was strange.
And so, five days passed peacefully.
The goblin slaves gradually adapted to life on the Stellar.
No, that wasn't right.
To be precise, only Duo Ba had adapted to life on the Stellar. The other goblins had no intelligence; they just followed Duo Ba's orders and worked tirelessly.
By now, it was night.
And in Human Slave Carriage #7.
"Uncle Li."
A young man sat in a corner of the carriage, pounding his shoulders as he complained, "Ever since those goblins ca, our mining ti has gotten even longer. Are those goblins crazy? They mine for sixteen hours a day?"
"How are we supposed to compete with them?"
"Don't they need to sleep?"
No one had asked them to keep the sa mining hours as the goblins, but when they were ready to clock off, the goblin slaves were still hamring away. It made them subconsciously extend their working hours.
At this rate, this new batch of goblin slaves would be promoted to Tier 1 slaves before them.
The vice-captain had already clearly laid out the promotion system. As long as you mined 1,000 units of iron ore, you would be promoted to a Tier 1 slave. It didn't matter if it was Level 1 or Level 2 iron ore, just 1,000 units. That was about 100 days of work. If you were faster and worked harder, it would be sixty or seventy days.
According to this rule, this batch of goblin slaves could be promoted to Tier 1 slaves in thirty or forty days.
They worked like their lives depended on it.
"Mm."
The middle-aged man sitting next to him also sighed softly. "There's nothing we can do. Those goblins are naturally good at mining. It's their specialty. Even before the apocalypse, people who specialized in their field got promoted faster than we layn. It's normal."
"What I an is..."
The young man paused for a mont, then whispered, "Uncle Li, didn't Boss Mang kill a slave back then, get noticed by Boss Kun, and beco the slave leader? That's how he got his start, right?"
"There's no slave leader on the Stellar right now."
"Why don't you follow his example, Uncle Li? Kill a slave, too?"
"..."
Uncle Li's face stiffened slightly. He turned to the young man, his voice hoarse as he said slowly, "Kill who? Kill you?"
"Are you crazy?"
"Back then, Boss Kun's slaves were starving to death. He wouldn't even give them a full al. The slaves were on the verge of rioting from hunger. At that ti, he did need a slave leader to suppress the people below him."
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