Translator: AnubisTL
In a cavern beside the underground river.
The imposing Stellaris train stood parked nearby, its headlights illuminating the entire cavern. The humming oxygen generator continuously consumed energy to maintain a sufficient oxygen level.
Chen Mang, having finished washing up and eating breakfast, had already settled into the locomotive cabin's Combat Training Virtual Space to begin his solo mission training for the day. This was his new toy, and he found it quite enjoyable.
He had just spent 45,000 Resource Units to upgrade his personal Combat Training Virtual Space to Tier 10, unlocking two corresponding overpowered effects.
The Tier 10 overpowered effect allowed his training in the virtual space to directly enhance his physical fitness in reality.
Of course, human physical potential was still limited. Expecting the Combat Training Virtual Space to turn him into a superhuman was unrealistic. However, with systematic training, goals like becoming a parkour master or mastering knife combat were certainly achievable.
Three hours later.
Having grown bored of the Combat Training Virtual Space, Chen Mang logged out, stretched, and headed toward Carriage No. 2, where the production lines were stored, including the Pickaxe Production Line.
Before mining the Red Heart Rock, he had upgraded the Pickaxe Production Line to Tier 3, ensuring it could produce pickaxes capable of mining Tier 3 Ore.
The cost to manufacture a Tier 1 pickaxe was 1 Iron Ore Unit.
A Tier 2 pickaxe cost 10 Iron Ore Units.
A Tier 3 pickaxe cost 100 Iron Ore Units.
Now, he spent another 4100 Iron Ore Units to directly upgrade the Pickaxe Production Line to Tier 10. At this level, the production line could now create Tier 10 pickaxes.
The cost of a Tier 10 pickaxe? 1 billion Iron Ore Units.
Well...
This number somewhat dampened his enthusiasm. Tier 10 pickaxes were meant for mining Tier 10 mines.
But they also came with two overpowered effects.
Pickaxe Production Line Tier 5 Overpowered Effect: None.
Pickaxe Production Line Tier 10 Overpowered Effect: None.
He had once tried using the drill for mining. The drill's diamond tip effortlessly ground iron ore into powder, and the experiment was successful. The cauliflower-like iron ore protruding from the ground was indeed pulverized, but not a single unit of iron ore dropped.
He also tried attaching a pickaxe to a wheel, hoping to create a crude automated mining machine.
That too ended in failure.
The pickaxe.
It only possessed mining capabilities when held by a slave. This was a fundamental rule of this world.
"..."
Chen Mang scanned the various production lines arranged throughout the carriage, his mind already turning toward the upcoming upgrade to a Tier 4 Train.
Soon—
Ten days later.
The three Tier 2 Iron Ore mines and one Tier 2 Copper Mine near the cavern were completely depleted.
The train panel now displayed a total of 684,000 units of iron ore and 231,000 units of copper ore.
"Not enough. Keep going!"
Chen Mang narrowed his eyes at the iron ore count on the train panel. He needed more.
Under his control, the Stellaris immediately left the Cavern and followed the underground river toward the Mohe Hills.
Half an hour later, they arrived.
Looking out the locomotive cabin window, Chen Mang saw the road ahead undulating like waves on the sea, except these waves were fixed. Without special wheels, the train would be nearly impossible to navigate this terrain, but it posed little challenge to him.
After switching to the spider leg wheels and spending 4,400 units of iron ore to upgrade the Axe Production Line to Tier 10, it could now produce Tier 10 axes—though the price remained a staggering 1 billion units of iron ore.
As before, there were no overpowered effects associated with the upgrade.
After spending 10,000 units of iron ore to produce a thousand axes, the Resource Detection Radar successfully located two Lumber Mills nestled deep within the Mohe Hills.
"Not bad surroundings," Chen Mang remarked.
Chen Mang looked out the window, where lush green trees stretched as far as the eye could see, a stark contrast to the barren wasteland. The slaves had already begun to venture into the forest with axes, starting their logging work.
Two days later, both Lumber Mills had been completely cleared. Though not particularly large, they yielded a total of 230,000 units of Wood.
That's enough.
The train had no immediate need for Wood, and this supply would last him a long time.
He immediately set off again, guiding the Stellaris along the underground river, back across the wasteland.
Beep. Detected a Tier 2 resource mine at a depth of 2,000 meters.
Begin excavation.
Beep. Detected two Tier 3 resource mines at a depth of 1,000 meters.
Begin excavation!
"Has time really passed so quickly?"
Inside the Stellaris, Chen Mang sat in a chair, carefully shaving his stubble with a manual razor. After a long while, he finished and set the razor aside. The girl holding a basin of clean water stepped forward, understanding his need.
He wiped away the remaining stubble with the water.
He finally exhaled, gazing at his refreshed reflection with satisfaction. Thirty-seven days had passed since they left the Mohe Wasteland.
In those thirty-seven days, he had focused on a single task:
Following the underground river veins, he had systematically explored the entire Iron Ridge Wasteland. Every day, they mined, and the slaves worked tirelessly without a single day of rest. It was no exaggeration to say he had nearly exhausted the mines beneath the Iron Ridge Wasteland.
Perhaps there were other mines deep underground, beyond the reach of the underground river veins, or even at depths exceeding ten thousand meters.
But he had no intention of searching further.
The cost-effectiveness was no longer favorable.
He couldn't control the train to traverse the Underground. While the Resource Detection Radar's range would be slightly greater, allowing it to detect deeper mines, the speed would be significantly slower than traveling on the surface.
Adding to the iron ore accumulated in recent days, the train's current Resource Units had reached an astronomical figure:
3.654 million units of iron ore710,000 units of copper ore230,000 units of Wood
"Do you have a name?"
Chen Mang casually asked the woman standing silently behind him in the mirror. Old Pig had selected her from the slaves to handle the cleaning, food, and daily needs of his locomotive cabin. She had been performing quite well these past few days.
She was quiet, didn't overthink things, and worked efficiently.
"Xiao Fang."
"What did you do before the apocalypse?"
"Elementary school teacher."
"..."
He glanced back at the woman behind him, nodded casually, and said, "That's good. I like educated people. You can go now. You're no longer needed."
"Yes, Lord Mang."
After the woman left, Chen Mang straightened his new clothes with satisfaction. Looking at his reflection in the mirror, he leaned on his cane and smiled contentedly. After consuming 4,400 units of Wood to upgrade the Clothing Customization Production Line to Tier 10, it had gained two overpowered effects.
Clothing Customization Production Line (Tier 5 Overpowered Effect): Clothes produced have excellent temperature-locking properties.
Clothing Customization Production Line (Tier 10 Overpowered Effect): Can produce high-precision clothes. Clothes produced provide the wearer with a strong aura of elegance. Requires 500 times the normal production materials.
The cost to produce a set of clothes is 1 unit of Wood.
Extremely cheap.
And these are custom-made clothes. Compared to the 40,000-unit price of a set of Single-Soldier Skeletal Armor, it's practically charity.
Even high-precision clothes, which require 500 times the normal materials, only cost 500 units of Wood.
The Clothing Customization Production Line accessory has no special effects until it reaches a certain Tier, at which point it gains two unique overpowered effects.
Tomorrow is an important day.
Tomorrow marks the official launch of the train onto the main track. All procedures will be standardized, and the term "slave" will be officially changed. The train conductor had specially crafted a set of high-precision clothes for his formal debut at tomorrow's opening ceremony.
As the train conductor, his attire sets the tone for those under his command.
If the train conductor looks sharp and well-groomed, it instills confidence in the crew.
If even the train conductor looked dirty, the crew would work with trepidation, fearing the train might be breached by monsters any day.
Today, the train had no mines to excavate and was stopped on the wasteland for maintenance.
All slaves were given a day off and could rest freely in the carriages or near the train.
"Not bad," Chen Mang said, smiling approvingly at his reflection in the full-length mirror.
He had tailored a black suit for himself. A custom-made suit that fit perfectly would always exude an air of sophistication, while a slightly cheaper one would make him look like a real estate salesperson.
Paired with a white vest and a black shirt underneath, the layering was impeccable.
The Hell Staff, in particular, was the perfect finishing touch.
Just then, a knock came from outside the locomotive cabin.
"Come in," Chen Mang called.
Li Shiji strode in, arms laden with blueprints. "Lord Mang, I've drafted several logo designs for the Stellaris train armbands you asked me to prepare. Please take a look."
"Mm," Chen Mang said, sitting in his chair as he examined each blueprint Li Shiji handed him.
Finally, he placed one on the table and tapped it. "This one."
"I'll build a standard carriage later and prepare 100 refrigerators for you. Go ask Old Pig for some manpower to help you build this maze."
"Try to finish it before dawn tomorrow."
"No problem," Li Shiji replied seriously, then hesitated slightly. "Lord Mang, could you build a few more ordinary refrigerators?"
"My idea is this: after the robot explores the maze for a few minutes, it's sure to discover the unique features of the refrigerator."
"At that point, if we place a standard refrigerator deep inside a Tier 10 refrigerator, the robot's back-and-forth journey will waste a lot of time. Once it figures out this setup, we can then place five standard refrigerators and one Tier 10 refrigerator..."
"Alright, that's enough," Chen Mang said, his eyes narrowing as he smiled and waved his hand. "I'll build you another 200 standard refrigerators. Take them and use them."
He understood the situation perfectly.
Truth mixed with falsehood, falsehood mixed with truth.
It was quite a tormenting setup.
A single standard refrigerator wasn't expensive, costing only 100 units of iron ore. Two hundred standard refrigerators would only require 20,000 units of iron ore.
The matters of clothing and the "S-Class Job Change Quest" were essentially finalized.
Today, the train was undergoing maintenance, and the slaves had a day off.
His mission for the day was to completely exhaust the staggering 3,654,000 units of iron ore he had spent over thirty days mining in the Iron Ridge Wasteland.
First, he consumed 480,000 units of iron ore.
He crafted a standard carriage and 300 refrigerators, upgrading 100 of them to Tier 10.
It's worth noting that accessories like refrigerators, Single Beds, Telescopes, and Third-Rate Heavy Machine Guns are scored on the Iron Ridge Wasteland Regional Rankings based on the highest-rated individual item.
Creating 100 Tier 10 refrigerators wouldn't directly add all of them to the score.
The Stellaris currently had 11 carriages, excluding the temporary one used to store the maze.
According to his plan, he needed to build several more carriages.
Li Shiji's appearance reminded him that among these slaves, some might have been far from obscure before the apocalypse, excelling in various fields. Such talent could prove invaluable someday.
He had built two additional hard sleeper cars, both exclusively for high-ranking personnel.
One carriage was for men, the other for women.
Those entitled to premium treatment would reside in these two carriages during their daily lives.
Each "hard sleeper car" featured bunk beds, accommodating a total of 18 berths.
These two carriages were inserted between Carriage No. 4 and Carriage 5.
The current layout of the train was as follows:
The locomotive: occupied by him alone.
Carriage No. 2: housed all his industrial production lines, including the pickaxe production line, the heavy machine gun bullet production line, and the Off-Road motorcycle production line.
Carriage No. 3: all stored ammunition, copper ore, wood, and other resources were piled in this carriage. Several Tier 10 refrigerators were stacked here for bulk mineral storage.
Carriage No. 4: contained production lines for everyday necessities like the Moldy Bread Slice Production Line, the Cola Production Line, and the Steamed Bun Production Line. Old Pig and his team would also come here to produce slave rations.
Carriage 5: Hard sleeper car for female high-level talents.
Carriage 6: Hard sleeper car for male high-level talents.
Carriage 7: Hard sleeper car for thugs. Two Tier 10 refrigerators were stacked in a corner. One housed ten Combat Training Virtual Spaces, serving as training grounds, while the other contained numerous single beds for accommodating newly recruited thugs.
Carriages 8 and 9: Accommodating 101 human slaves, with carpets and other amenities already laid out on the floor.
Carriages 10 and 11: Housing the 121 goblin slaves, along with four Tier 10 refrigerators containing over 800 newly acquired slaves.
Carriages 12 and 13: Firepower carriages providing long-range fire support, equipped with a 40-Tube Cherry Blossom Fall Rocket Launcher and a rapid-fire ballista.
(End of the Chapter)
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