RNP Chapter 218 - 218:
Chapter 218 - 218:
No whistle sounded.No DJ music played.
Though his emotions surged, Chen Mang chose to enter the darkness ahead as gently as possible—quietly, stealthily.
After all, his armor was only Level 10.
In the Zombie Basin, he could roam freely and act without restraint. But now that he had entered the blue zone of Crisis Valley, he needed to tread carefully—keeping a low profile in both actions and demeanor—until he could swiftly upgrade to Level 12 armor.
Only then would he return to his usual high-profile ways.
Night had fallen.
The starry sky above Crisis Valley twinkled enticingly.
Stars were truly wondrous things, stirring the most primal desires in the human mind—like catching sight of a stunning beauty in disheveled clothes, tempting one to throw caution to the wind and leap forward, yet forever out of reach.
The moment he passed through the light barrier—
Crack.
A faint shattering sound echoed outside the train, and the Stellar Train officially entered the Crisis Valley zone. The Resource Detection Radar and Targeting Radar, which had been running continuously, quickly displayed lines of information on the control panel screen.
A Level 9 monster was being chased by a Level 10 monster nearby.
About 10,000 meters away, a Level 10 train stood guard over a Level 2 Iron Ore deposit, mining steadily.
Beyond that, scattered low-level monsters roamed.
The highest-grade ore within range was a Level 3 Iron Ore deposit, buried 8,000 meters underground.
Everything seemed normal.
Hah.
Chen Mang exhaled softly. The screen showed that the Level 10 train had only Level 8 armor—just as he had expected. While his Level 10 armor might struggle against some of the monsters in this region, it was more than enough to handle other trains.
Most trains struggled with the problem of high offense but low defense.
In theory,
the best defense was overwhelming offense. If your attacks were powerful enough to annihilate enemies before they could even get close, what need was there for defense? Take his Black Hole Armed Robot, for example—it had zero defensive armor, yet it performed flawlessly.
But that was only in theory.
There would always come a time when close-quarters combat was unavoidable.
By now, the Traveling Frog train, piloted by Er Dan, had already bid him farewell. Switching to its Bunny Cloud Wheels, it vanished beyond the horizon in the blink of an eye, continuing its exploration mission.
Chen Mang didn't make a scene either.
Instead, he extended his Drill Bit and headed straight for the Level 3 Iron Ore deposit 8,000 meters underground. Mining came first—and while he was at it, he might as well check the Train Radio for any useful intel.
An hour later,
the Stellar Train was parked inside an underground cavern 8,000 meters deep. Seated in his chair, Chen Mang studied the messages on the Train Radio and nodded thoughtfully. In that hour, he had already pieced together the general situation of this region.
Crisis Valley, a blue zone,
bordered four other zones in total—two blue and two green.
To reach higher-tier zones, he would need to pass through the two blue zones first—no direct routes, only detours.
The reason this area was called Crisis Valley lay at its very center: a massive canyon stretching across the entire region, plunging 8,000 meters deep and spanning hundreds of meters in width.
The entire area was split into two halves.
To reach the other half of the region, one must possess Bunny Clouds to fly across. In "Crisis Valley," there exists a special monster called the "Night Rabbit," which only roams in the wild. Killing it has a small chance of dropping a Bunny Cloud Accessory Blueprint.
The other half of the canyon is home to the ruins of a Mechanical City. Many Train Conductors have found numerous opportunities there. It's said that the ruins of this Mechanical City are vast, with the tallest building reaching several thousand meters high—standing atop it offers a panoramic view of the sea of clouds.
"Is that so?"
Chen Mang rubbed his temples thoughtfully. This area felt less threatening compared to the "Kunlun Mountains" or the post-outbreak "Zombie Basin," about on par with the Shahe Plain. People here coexisted relatively harmoniously.
Generally, regions that met two conditions tended to be more harmonious:
First, fewer monsters.
Second, abundant resources.
This area wasn't lacking in resources, making it a safe zone for Trains to develop.
"That's good."
He stretched with a smile, feeling weary as the night deepened.
Peaceful development was great—he loved peaceful development.
The half of the region containing the ruins of the "Mechanical City" was jokingly referred to as the "Red Zone" by Train Conductors, as the city often yielded major rewards. Though by now, it had been thoroughly scavenged.
Thanks to the Night Rabbits, nearly a third of the Trains in this area could fly.
Those that couldn't lacked not Bunny Cloud Wheels but sufficient Tail Thruster components to reach the minimum takeoff speed.
The area he was in now held a pre-apocalyptic city, long reduced to ruins, dubbed the "White Zone" by survivors.
Almost all salvageable supplies and survivors had been picked clean, leaving it nearly empty.
His Train currently held just over 400,000 units of Iron Ore.
He planned to finish mining this Level 3 Iron Ore deposit before searching for higher-level ones.
This region was vast.
The largest he'd encountered was the White Zone "Iron Ridge Wasteland," but this area was two to three times bigger.
Finally, he turned his attention to the components available for crafting upon reaching Train Level 10.
There were three:
-
rable. Even his Level 50 drill bit struggled, producing only fine dust without making any real progress.
But he never backed down from a challenge.
After consuming 377,500 units of Iron Ore, he upgraded the drill bit straight to Level 100!
The drill became harder and spun faster.
The improvement was massive compared to before.
Once the Level 100 drill bit started rotating at high speed, clouds of dust filled the air. Soon, a small hole appeared on the tunnel's outer surface, quickly widening into a gap large enough for the train to descend smoothly into the hidden tunnel below.
The Stellar Train hovered mid-air inside the tunnel before all 15 carriages landed steadily on the ground.
The tunnel had four marked lanes—essentially a four-lane passage, though each lane was unusually wide.
The air inside was stifling, almost entirely devoid of oxygen.
Rows of incandescent lamps lined the tunnel walls, casting enough light to keep the space from complete darkness. There was no end in sight in either direction—no telling where this train tunnel led or where it began.
"This tunnel couldn't have existed before the apocalypse, right?"
Chen Mang sat inside the train, scanning his surroundings. "So this tunnel must be part of the Mechanical City ruins in the 'Red Zone'?"
"A secret passage of the Mechanical City, then."
"Even without Bunny Cloud Wheels, you could still reach those ruins?"
"If that's the case..."
He glanced at the directional indicator on the control panel. "Heading north should take me straight to the Mechanical City ruins. But then, where does this tunnel connect from?"
"..."
After a moment of thought, he turned the train around inside the tunnel and sped south along the tracks!
He wasn't particularly curious about the Mechanical City—plenty of people had already been there, and he doubted he'd find anything valuable.
But this train tunnel? It had clearly been untouched for a long time, judging by the thick layer of dust coating the ground. He was far more interested in where this passage originated and how it linked to the ruins.
That place had to be unexplored.
And unexplored places meant untapped rewards!
Inside the train tunnel...
The Stellar Train strictly adhered to traffic regulations, cruising along the far-right lane of the four-lane track. On either side of these lanes ran narrower roads, with signs reminding smaller trains not to occupy the larger train channels.
Though he knew no one was enforcing the rules anymore.
He still followed them meticulously.
After all, in this godforsaken place, it wouldn't be surprising if a level-12 robot traffic officer from the Mechanical Civilization suddenly leaped out from some corner, pulled his train over, and slapped him with a ticket.
The train wasn't moving particularly fast.
He kept the speed at 280 km/h—any faster, and he might miss hidden messages along the tunnel walls. Some clues were beyond AI's detection; only the human brain could discern them.
The way AI processed information was somewhat like playing spot-the-difference—it struggled with deep associations.
Humans could look at the veins on a leaf and think of stick figures, then curves, then a woman's backside, then a post-coital cigarette, and finally ascend to a state of enlightenment.
AI could only look at a leaf and think of botany.
In that regard, they weren't even in the same league.
That was why AI would never ponder an apple and arrive at the truth.
Just then—
"Huh?"
Chen Mang stared at the scene before him, momentarily stunned. "Since when was law enforcement this brutal?"