My Doomsday Train

Chapter 238 - 238: The Missing Carriage.

The gathering had already begun.This was the first gathering organized by Chen Mang, and many Train Conductors had already started chatting familiarly with one another. They had all hosted numerous gatherings before, so they were quite acquainted with each other.

Zhang Yi and Zhang Er, wearing sunglasses they had somehow procured, stood on either side of Chen Mang with their arms crossed in front of them.

Their expressions were icy.

They looked like professional bodyguards.

They even carried briefcases in their hands.

Meanwhile, Chen Mang was frowning slightly as he gazed at the Stellar Train behind him. Just moments ago, he had suddenly noticed a problem—one that he had never paid attention to before.

The Stellar Train had 14 carriages and one locomotive.

Although there was a 15th "breeding carriage," that was because there was no Carriage No. 1, as the locomotive was considered Carriage No. 1.

Even including the locomotive, the entire Stellar Train only had 15 carriages in total!

But—

Over the past few days, he had been upgrading the armor based on the assumption of "15 carriages" + "1 locomotive." In other words, he had confused the concept. But his confusion wasn't the issue. The real question was: why had the Train Armor been upgraded as if there were 16 carriages?

Where had the extra money he spent gone?

"Xiao Ai, it seems like the train has another bug. Can you check where that extra carriage went?" rate the defenses of the strongest monsters in this region, as well as the defenses of other Trains."

"This is the choice of most Trains."

"Although it can't withstand attacks from other Trains, it at least poses a certain threat to them. When attacked, you won't be completely defenseless. Even though a single Level 12 Automatic Cannon often can't destroy a Train even if it penetrates its defenses, the attack strength is insufficient."

At this point, the middle-aged man paused, hesitating as he glanced at the 10 'Doomsday Cannons' atop Chen Mang's Stellar Train. He continued, "I remember Lord Shen's Train has a Level 10 Energy Shield. Lord Mang, are these 10 Doomsday Cannons of yours Level 11 or 12?"

"Including the Armor, that must have consumed a lot of Murphy Stone, right?"

"Mm."

Chen Mang nodded but didn't elaborate further on the topic. He simply nodded thoughtfully. Based on this, most Trains are essentially... watered-down versions.

They're not complete entities.

They're cobbled together by cutting corners here and there, just to get an Energy Shield.

The root cause.

Is the lack of Iron Ore. The problem he faces is the same—Iron Ore is insufficient. But for him, Iron Ore will never be enough, as he can upgrade infinitely. Even if he were given 1 billion units of Iron Ore right now, he could spend it all instantly without upgrading the Train, if he wanted to.

"However, it seems everyone has quite a few Murphy Stones, and many components are upgraded beyond the standard."

"."

The middle-aged man narrowed his eyes slightly. Lord Mang's words revealed a lot of information. Could Lord Mang see the specific components of their train?

This was extremely critical.

It was equivalent to an information advantage.

After a moment of silence, he continued, "Crisis Valley is divided into two zones, the 'Red Zone' and the 'White Zone,' separated by a canyon that spans the entire area. The only way to cross is by using Bunny Cloud wheels to fly over."

"The White Zone is the area we are currently in."

"The Red Zone is the area on the other side of the canyon. There's a ruin of a 'Mechanical City' there, which holds many opportunities. Several trains have obtained some Murphy Stones from there. The first batch of trains that appeared in this area feasted, while those who came later had to settle for scraps. Now, there's basically nothing left."

"I've been in Crisis Valley for five months. Many trains have managed to get some scraps and indeed gained some opportunities."

"Hmm."

Chen Mang nodded, casually picking up a Redheart Nut from the plate and popping it into his mouth. "Does anyone have anything they'd like to discuss?"

An hour later.

The gathering concluded.

The entire meeting was quite harmonious, with no fights or even arguments breaking out.

The more stable the order, the easier it is for arguments to occur. In peaceful times, street arguments were common, but that was in a fundamentally safe environment. In the apocalypse, who would dare to argue?

You'd barely utter the first word of a curse, and before you could finish, the other person would already have pulled out an equalizer from their pocket.

Chen Mang's five "Level 1 Iron Ore" mines were all sold, each for 1.5 million units, totaling 7.5 million units of iron ore.

Although he limited the purchase to five mines, if anyone wanted to buy more, he certainly had them available.

But no one wanted to buy anymore. Clearly, most people were cautious about the unknown S-level reward and were unwilling to invest in something uncertain.

Outside the Stellar Train—

Five new ordinary carriages had been constructed, each containing a Level 1 "Space Gate," inside which was a Level 1 Iron Ore mine. Slaves from five trains were currently mining there.

Wait, no.

To be precise, slaves from two trains, passengers from one train, employees from another, and civilians from yet another.

The latter three trains belonged to the three Level 12 Mechanical Train conductors he had just spoken with.

This was the first time he had encountered trains that didn't refer to their workers as slaves, apart from his own.

Through conversation.

He also learned that at the beginning of the apocalypse, things weren't as harsh. However, the ecosystem wasn't great back then. Many survivors treated the train conductors as mere drivers, not only seeking shelter but also refusing to mine for long hours each day, even proposing politically correct ideas.

At first.

The conductors didn't understand. After all, many of them were ordinary people before suddenly facing pressure from hundreds of individuals. They were overwhelmed and didn't know how to handle it, so they agreed to everything.

The final result was.

No one mined, and the trains were doomed to destruction.

In such an environment, the slave system emerged.

What kind of demons and ghosts, what distinction between men and women—everyone, get the hell out and go mine! Overseers stand by with whips, and anyone who doesn't mine will be beaten to death! Under the Train Conductor's absolute authority, the Train's production efficiency skyrocketed!

At that time, almost most Trains were in the white zone after the apocalypse. Those first Trains to adopt the Slave system developed at an astonishing pace, quickly advancing to higher zones. Seeing this, others began to follow suit.

Thus, the Slave system became wildly popular across all zones.

It must be said.

After adopting the Slave system, the number of Trains that perished decreased significantly, and the speed of Train development saw a steep, climbing improvement.

(End of Chapter)