Regardless of whether this man cheated or not, his iron ore had to be exchanged. Neon City needed to maintain as neutral a stance as possible, after all, Sun City was merely a large store within Neon City.
Neon City was the main entity, not Sun City.
The remaining messy affairs could be left to the Stellar Train to handle.
As for the credibility of the casino, Sister Qi would take care of it properly.
Returning to the interior of the Stellar Train, Chen Mang didn't pay any attention to this minor incident. The train had already arrived near the city ruins of the "Stone Man Zone." It wouldn't be too late to look for that so-called "Snarling Train" later.
What kind of goddamn stupid name is that?
So damn awkward to pronounce.
The train gradually slowed to a stop, then crashed heavily from the air onto the ground.
In the distance—
Was a city where traces of modernity could still be vaguely discerned, with towering buildings, though countless structures had collapsed. The entire city was devoid of any light, its streets clogged with dust-covered abandoned vehicles.
Devoid of human presence, without a trace of life.
This was "Qiu City."
The largest city in the Stone Man Zone, with the three surrounding cities serving as its satellite towns.
"Qiu City."
Chen Mang glanced at the image on the targeting radar, now completely pixelated and clearly unusable. Narrowing his eyes slightly, he murmured, "Impressive. A level 100 targeting radar, and you just jammed it like that?"
"Xiao Ai."
"Send Teams One, Two, and Three out to work."
"Yes."
The next moment!
As the door of Guard Carriage No. 7 opened, two mechas flew out first, streaking toward the city ruins. The remaining guard members stayed inside the refrigerator, carried on the mechas' shoulders.
The roads in these city ruins were overly complex.
Even off-road motorcycles couldn't navigate them properly here.
Fortunately, there was the refrigerator.
"Director Ai, Director Ai..."
Standing at the edge of the refrigerator, gripping the handrail tightly as he looked down at the city below, Biao Zi called out softly. After several attempts with no response, he stretched his limbs and rasped, "We've lost connection with the train. Everyone, be careful. The depths of these ruins might hold significant danger."
"Biao Ge, don't worry."
Zhang Yi, piloting the "Pope" mecha, hefted a massive spiked club and chuckled. "This spiked club of mine is a level 15 attack weapon. With me here, I can handle any ordinary troublemakers alone."
Biao Zi was about to say something when his expression suddenly darkened. "Stop!" he barked.
At his command,
Zhang Yi and Zhang Er instantly halted mid-air. Though the two often joked around with Biao Ge, when he gave orders, they obeyed without question—for many reasons.
The Stellar Train fed them, so they had to listen.
They also admired Biao Ge's performance in the combat training virtual space.
And they knew they weren't the brightest, so it was better to follow Biao Ge's lead.
"..."
Biao Zi didn't speak. He just stood at the edge of the refrigerator, gripping the handrail with a furrowed brow, staring intently at the cured meat drying on a platform of a nearby low-rise building!
Yes, cured meat!
He didn't feel the slightest bit of joy—instead, he found it extremely eerie.
The apocalypse had already lasted over a year, nearly two years. This city ruin had been scavenged countless times. How could such obvious cured meat remain untouched? Other train conductors weren't fools, which meant this was most likely a trap.
"Turn around and look at the train."
As the mecha turned, Biao Zi, standing at the refrigerator's edge, gazed at the Stellar Train parked at the outskirts of the city ruins. They were already close to the city center, and even the Stellar Train appeared somewhat blurry in the distance.
"Director Ai, Director Ai..."
He tried contacting Director Ai again, but there was still no connection.
"Biao Ge, could that cured meat down there be a trap?"
Zhang Er, piloting the Pope Project as it hovered mid-air, asked in a muffled voice.
"Huh?"
For a moment, Biao Zi doubted his own judgment. Could he have been wrong? If even Zhang Er could spot it, then surely everyone else could too. Would anyone really use such an obvious trap?
"How did you figure it out?"
"My brother and I have scavenged supplies many times. How could such obvious cured meat stay untouched? It's definitely a trap."
"Hold on, let me think."
Biao Zi took a deep breath, his mind racing. If even Zhang Er could recognize it as a trap, then the other party must have deliberately made it obvious. What was the purpose?
Based on his experience with the "Extreme Challenge" map chip...
When a trap is deliberately shown to you, it usually means they want you to avoid that spot. And if you avoid it and go elsewhere, you'd be walking right into the enemy's real trap. That's the second layer.
If he considered a third layer, it would mean the enemy had anticipated he'd see through the second layer and was intentionally—
Just then—
"Here."
A muffled voice suddenly came from beside him. Zhang Yi said, "Biao Ge, I brought back the cured meat. Anything else?"
"..."
Standing at the refrigerator's edge, Biao Zi looked blankly at the cured meat in Zhang Yi's hand, then at the now-empty platform of the low-rise building below, and finally at the dozen or so terrified survivors inside Zhang Yi's refrigerator. After a moment, he asked incredulously, "What were you doing just now?"
"I went down to get the cured meat and found a dozen survivors hiding nearby with blades and guns. For some reason, they didn't attack, but since I spotted them, I brought them back."
"Ugh..."
Biao Zi took a deep breath and remained silent for a while before speaking. "From now on, don't act without my orders. Dump those survivors from your refrigerator into mine."
"Yes!"
Soon.
Through some less-than-gentle interrogation, they got the real answer. Recently, trains had been sending thugs into the city ruins to scavenge. These survivors, who had endured the apocalypse, used this method to ambush and kill lone thugs.
Then they looted their weapons and supplies.
But...
After the Pope's mecha descended, none of them made a move. Clearly outmatched, they were still unexpectedly discovered and captured.
"Keep them alive for now. Whether to kill them or not will be up to Lord Mang's orders."
Biao Zi withdrew his gaze from these people. Only this city could pull off something like this. In other cities, a single sweep from the targeting radar would find you no matter where you hid—even underground—as long as you were still breathing.
"Push deeper!"
"Yes."
Inside the train's cabin.
Chen Mang leaned back in his chair, staring at a blueprint in his hand. He wasn't worried about Biao Zi and the others. After all this time, they had plenty of combat experience. With mechas and the Refrigerator for protection, if something still went wrong under these circumstances...
Then they deserved to die.
Utter trash.
Wasting his resources.
Time Rift Detector: A red-tier accessory blueprint.
This was one of the blueprints he had brought back from Neon City. Truthfully, he didn't understand what this accessory did or what a "time rift" even was. But a high-tier blueprint like this? No way he was selling it. He'd keep it for himself.
Crafting required 50,000 units of iron ore.
After consuming the resources, a small clock-like device embedded itself into the control panel—the prototype of this accessory. Its effect?
Can detect "time rifts" within a 10,000-meter radius.
The corresponding screen beside it remained blank. Not pixelated or blocked—just nothing detected. He glanced at his remaining iron ore reserves and decided against upgrading for now. Red-tier accessories were expensive to upgrade, and he didn't have that much cash on hand.
Before upgrading the train armor, his funds had been sufficient.
Damn it.
The more he thought about it, the angrier he got. Who the hell priced armor that high?!
Chen Mang casually picked up a level 10 telescope nearby and peered into the distance. When the targeting radar couldn't be used, primitive tools like this regained their usefulness. He had just upgraded this one—his previous telescope had been level 20.
He had churned out quite a few gadgets earlier.
He planned to list them all in the shop. Whether anyone would buy them was another matter, but at least the variety would make the store look more stocked.
Wait—
A thought flashed through Chen Mang's mind. He immediately switched to the Bunny Cloud Wheels, lifting the train into the air as he headed toward the ruins of Qiu City. Something had occurred to him.
Could the reason Qiu City blocked targeting radars be... because of a "time rift"?
The Stellar Train soared through the air, delving deeper into the ruins of Qiu City as the Time Rift Detector continued operating. Then, at exactly 10,000 meters from the city center—
"Beep beep beep—"
An alarm blared inside the train.
Chen Mang looked out the window at Biao Zi and the others, who had landed on the rooftop of a high-rise building, then turned his gaze to the screen linked to the Time Rift Detector.
A rift resembling a black hole slowly materialized on the display.
It rotated gently, composed entirely of dark particles, exuding an air of mystery. He had guessed right—this place really did have a time rift.
"Xiao Ai, what's a time rift?"
"Unknown," Xiao Ai's voice echoed through the train cabin. "No relevant data exists in the database."
"..."
Chen Mang narrowed his eyes slightly. First, he maneuvered the Stellar Train to pick up Biao Zi and the others before cautiously approaching the rift displayed on the Time Rift Detector.
This place is a bit eerie, not suitable for Biao Zi and the others to explore anymore.
The screen showed the distance was less than a hundred meters.
He no longer dared to get any closer.
But to the naked eye, almost nothing was visible—only a faint distortion in the air not far away, somewhat similar to the warping effect caused by heat waves.
The next moment—
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
An automatic cannon aimed at the direction of the time rift and opened fire violently. Shell after shell struck the time rift with precision, disappearing into thin air upon impact, leaving no trace.
"Damn..."
Chen Mang's curiosity was piqued. This thing looked like a portal, but an unknown one at that.
"So, the 'portals' of the Mechanical Civilization might have been invented by studying time rifts?"
"Perhaps, Train Conductor. I really don't have any data on this in my database."
He maneuvered the Stellar Train to inch closer again, this time to within ten meters. With his naked eye, he could now clearly see the air ahead slightly distorting. He didn't dare go any further—even this distance felt risky.
But he really wanted to see what lay inside that time rift.
He opened the window.
Glancing at the control panel, he casually picked up the recently crafted Level 10 telescope, walked to the window, took aim, and hurled it with force—direct hit!
The telescope vanished the moment it made contact.
"Bring me a Mechanical Eye."
"Can't," came Xiao Ai's voice from inside the train compartment. "This place is completely shielded. When Biao Zi was scouting outside earlier, I couldn't even connect to the Mechanical Eye on him."
"Didn't Biao Zi capture a bunch of people? Send one in to check."
"Understood."
Soon—
Zhang Yi, piloting the Pope Mecha, stood atop the train, gripping a terrified, struggling survivor. After carefully binding the person with steel cables, he began spinning the cables like a lasso, whirling them wildly like a horse wrangler.
Then, with a fierce shout—
The survivor tied to the cable shot toward the time rift like a meteor!
Upon impact, the person vanished instantly.
Fortunately, the steel cable remained intact.
"..."
Chen Mang, watching this from inside the train compartment, brightened and grabbed the intercom urgently. "Quick, pull it back now!"
The next moment—
A man abruptly appeared in midair ahead, having been yanked right out of the time rift.
"This actually worked?"
Chen Mang's eyes were wide with astonishment. He hadn't expected the time rift to swallow the cannon shells but fail to consume the steel cable. Was it because the cable hadn't fully entered? "Bring him here. Let me see."
Soon.
When the train compartment door opened,
he frowned slightly, staring at the white-haired, toothless old man before him, whose eyes looked utterly vacant. "Is this the same person from earlier?"
His wrinkled skin resembled an old woman's shoe sole.
Like a virgin's diary—crumpled into blank pages, yet filled with unspoken meaning.
"Yeah."
Zhang Yi, equally bewildered, glanced at the old man he was supporting. "It's him. He's aged a lot, but it's definitely him."
"Take a look, Lord Mang."
At that moment, Lao Zhu walked over, holding a section of steel cable: "This end is still brand new, but the other end has become severely aged and decayed, as if weathered by wind and rain for thirty years."
"..."
Chen Mang frowned slightly and remained silent for a while before looking at the seemingly dazed old man before him. "Give him two shots of stimulants. Ask him what happened."
Biao Zi nodded. After administering the two shots, the old man seemed to regain a bit of vitality, his complexion improving slightly, though his eyes remained vacant, his pupils completely unfocused.
"Take him down and treat him in the Medical Bay."
"I want him to open his mouth and tell me what he saw inside."
"Yes."
Biao Zi quickly helped the old man away.
"Lord Mang," Lao Zhu said seriously, "Based on the current information, the flow of time inside that Time Rift might be vastly different from ours. Only a few seconds have passed here, but nearly thirty years have gone by inside the Time Rift."
Chen Mang shook his head. "Then what did he eat for those thirty years? Doesn't he need food?"
"This..."
Lao Zhu was momentarily at a loss for words.
Chen Mang didn't press further, instead turning his gaze to a component displayed on the control screen.
-
"Internal Space Stabilizer Lv.50 Supermodel Effect": When the Train enters a Time Rift, the members inside will not suffer the negative effects of time passage.
-
Now he finally understood what this component was for.
Just then—
Xiao Ai's voice came through the Train's intercom.
"Train Conductor, the treatment cost is 39.2 million units of Iron Ore."
"Let him die, then."
"Understood."
Well.
Chen Mang stared expressionlessly at the component before him. This man was as good as wasted. Nearly 40 million units of Iron Ore? Back when he treated Shan Mao's wife for ALS, it only cost a few hundred thousand. Are you curing him or preparing him for his next life?
He knew the price wasn't arbitrary—it meant eliminating the effects of the Time Rift on a person came at an enormous cost.
This only deepened his fascination with the Time Rift.
He had to go in!
...Not that he'd dare.
For one thing, his Train was larger than the Time Rift. Who knew how the rules worked—would only half of it get pulled in, or what? Without understanding the nature of the Time Rift, there was no way he'd risk it.
However...
The Internal Space Stabilizer was a craftable component unlocked after upgrading the Train to Level 3.
He might not go in himself.
But he could always find a brave soul, forge them a Level 1 Train using a Train Token, and send them in to scout the situation.
"Lao Zhu, find me a volunteer."
"Understood."
Before long—
A Strong man strode over, standing at attention and bellowing, "Good afternoon, Lord Mang! Resident ID 1998, reporting for duty. Awaiting your orders!"
"Again, you?"
Chen Mang gave the man a strange look. "Weren't you the volunteer the last two times as well?"
"The first time, cracking the password lock was me. The second time, moving those robots was my twin brother. This time, it's me."
"You always sign up this eagerly?"
"I'm tough as nails!"
"How tough?"
The strong man ripped off his shirt, revealing a torso covered in scars: "Been injured countless times since childhood, but never died."
"Nonsense, who has?"
Chen Mang didn't say more. He simply took out a Train Token and tossed it into the man's hand, speaking gravely, "This mission is extremely dangerous. I'll do my best to ensure your safety, but the mortality rate is still high. If you make it back alive, you'll be granted third-class senior personnel treatment."
"Yes, sir!"
"Lao Zhu, give him a level 4 Energy Stone."
The train currently only had nearly a million units of Iron Ore. Producing another level 4 Energy Stone would consume 500,000 units, essentially emptying the train's reserves.
The man's train didn't need upgrading—a level 1 train would suffice. Even upgrading to level 3 wouldn't help. Without Infinite Upgrade, creating a level 50 Internal Space Stabilizer would require an unimaginable amount of Murphy Stones.
He had another plan.
Some components could be disassembled, while others couldn't.
The Internal Space Stabilizer was one that could be removed.
He took it off and installed it on the man's train.
As for the rest...
It was up to fate. Whether he'd return alive was anyone's guess.
A few minutes later.
A small train engine, carried on the shoulders of Zhang Yi piloting the Pope Mecha, was hurled with a mighty roar toward the Time Rift in the sky, a long steel cable trailing behind it.
Indeed.
The level 1 train the man was operating couldn't even fly—it still relied on the most basic wheels.
In short, it was just an empty shell.
Chen Mang watched with a complicated expression as the man inside the train roared to pump himself up. He had to admit one thing: this man had far more courage than he did. He would never dare to pilot a level 1 train into a Time Rift in his lifetime.
What lay inside was completely unknown.
The odds of death were high.
In such a level 1 empty-shell train, he wouldn't even be able to sleep peacefully at night.
Many components in the train had become commonplace, like Magnetic Levitation and Bunny Clouds, but for a level 1 train, these were utterly unattainable luxuries.
"Lao Zhu."
"Yes, Lord Mang?" Lao Zhu stood respectfully to the side, slightly bowing.
"If this man comes back alive, give him a Refrigerator."
"Yes, sir."
The next moment—
Zhang Yi, standing atop the train compartment, yanked the steel cable, pulling the level 1 train engine back out.
Chen Mang stared intently at the train engine. When he saw that the man inside hadn't aged, he couldn't help but laugh, while Biao Zi and the others in the compartment burst into excited cheers.
Success.
The man had returned alive—and without aging.
"Quick, bring him here. Ask him what happened inside."
Chen Mang looked the strong man up and down with satisfaction. "Tough as nails. Any discomfort?"
"None."
The man scratched the back of his head hesitantly before saying, "I just felt like the train was thrown into some weird tunnel. Before I could get a good look, I was pulled back out."
"Maybe let me go in a few more times?"
"Otherwise, getting third-class senior treatment for something this easy feels a bit undeserved."
"Tell me more about that tunnel?"
"Yeah."
The strong man pondered for a long while before answering seriously, "That tunnel was enormous—so vast it defied comprehension. And all around the tunnel were countless streams of light flowing forward, like some kind of spacetime tunnel."
"The dizziness was overwhelming. I didn't get a chance to observe the rest carefully."
"Good."
Chen Mang was quite satisfied. "Go in again. This time, stay inside for a full three minutes before coming out. Bring the Mechanical Eye and also take Li Shiji with you. Lao Zhu, you go to Neon City and fetch Li Shiji."
"The Mechanical Eye might not work inside. We'll need his human eye."
"Also, bring out one of those Survivors who ambushed you earlier. Tie them to the front of the Train and observe what changes occur when they're exposed outside the Train. Record all changes."
"Are you sure you're not feeling any discomfort now?"
"None."
"Good!"
Chen Mang nodded, then tilted his head to look at the Time Rift in the distance. He felt he'd mostly figured out what was going on here. If this time differential could be utilized...
He was wondering whether it might be possible to throw the Solar Energy Panel in without using the Internal Space Stabilizer.
Absorb thirty years' worth of energy in an instant.
What a wonderful dream—he wondered if it could actually be done.
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