Translator: AnubisTL
Stellaris: "Are you sure you won't trade in person? I want to see if you really have three heads and six arms. I want to see what you meant by 'I wouldn't dare raise my voice in front of you.' Maybe I really wouldn't dare."
Purple Cloud Train: "Brother, dear brother, I really know I was wrong."
"..."
Chen Mang, feeling bored, lit a cigarette and leaned back in his chair. He glanced at the private chat panel, where the Soda Train had sent a similar plea for mercy, and then switched off the train radio.
Too soft.
He'd actually wanted to ram his train into the others' to see who would come out on top.
Since both had completely surrendered, he lost interest in further teasing them.
He sat in his seat, lost in thought for a moment.
After confirming there was nothing left for him to linger for in the Iron Ridge Wasteland, he took a deep breath, fixed his gaze ahead, and slowly pushed the control lever forward.
Sha River Plains, here I come!
Last time he'd been chased back from the high-level zone. This time, after completing his S-Rank Difficulty job advancement quest, he'd head straight to the Kunlun Mountain Region to wipe out the rock serpent and the Tyrant King Dragon first.
Just then—
Boom!
A bolt of lightning suddenly flashed across the storm-laden sky, followed by a thunderclap that echoed across the horizon. A howling gale whipped up, lashing rain against the windows.
Chen Mang glanced out the window, assessing the wind direction. Suddenly, an idea struck him, and he grinned, slamming the control lever to its lowest setting.
"Then..."
"Let's soar high!"
In the next instant!
Boom!
With the roar of its engines, the Stellaris, a train resembling a long dragon, accelerated through the raging storm toward the wasteland's edge. Its Windfire Wheels, initially spinning at a dizzying speed, suddenly ignited as if touched by flame, enveloped in a fiery embrace.
In an instant, all the Windfire Wheels were ablaze, engulfed in thick, orange-red flames!
The train's speed surged, already breakneck, now even faster.
From a distance, it resembled a Hell Train emerging from a sea of infernal fire. The blazing, rapidly spinning Windfire Wheels, juxtaposed against the howling wind and torrential rain, created a striking contrast of raw, untamed power.
Two hours later, the Stellaris, having traveled north, reached the border between the Iron Ridge Wasteland and the Sha River Plains. A massive barrier of light stood between the two zones, bearing four colossal glowing characters:
Sha River Plains
And—
Across the top of the control panel screen, a line of crimson text scrolled:
"The zone ahead is the Green Zone: the Sha River Plains."
"Tier 6 monsters may exist. Your train is currently Tier 3. Danger level is high. Proceed with caution."
"..."
Chen Mang chuckled as he read the message on the screen. Last time he'd ventured into the Kunlun Mountain Region, the screen had warned him to "retreat immediately." Now, it merely advised caution.
He was already being cautious enough.
He'd upgraded his armor to Tier 6 before coming here. He was certain no one in the White Zone trains was more cautious than he was!
Without hesitation, he pushed the control lever forward again.
The train didn't pause for a moment, driving straight toward the light curtain and entering the Sha River Plains.
As soon as he entered the plains, a vast grassland stretched before him. However, due to the season, the grass was withered and yellowed.
The resource detection radar and target acquisition radar showed no high-grade monsters or mines nearby.
Only a few scattered Tier 3 monsters were visible.
Not a single Tier 4 monster could be seen.
This meant the area within ten thousand meters was absolutely safe.
This confirmed a suspicion he'd held: not all Green Zones were as absurd as the Kunlun Mountain Region. Otherwise, how could any train survive in a Green Zone? All trains must start as Tier 3 trains when they first enter a Green Zone.
A normal Tier 3 train would be virtually guaranteed to die in the Kunlun Mountain Region's environment.
This place was relatively safe.
He didn't venture deeper. Instead, he immediately turned his gaze to the S-Rank Difficulty job advancement quest on the mechanical train's Class Change Panel. Taking a deep breath, he chose to accept the quest with a hint of nervousness.
Although he believed he had prepared perfectly...
No one could truly predict how advanced the robot's intelligence would be.
The next moment!
A panel materialized before him.
"You have confirmed the Stellaris' class change to mechanical train and successfully accepted the S-Rank Difficulty job advancement quest."
"Within an hour, a robot will descend at the starting point of your train maze."
"Please wait patiently."
Whoosh
Chen Mang exhaled slightly, his nerves on edge. After all, this was an S-Rank Difficulty job advancement quest. Failure would leave him with only the "D-Rank Difficulty job advancement quest" as an alternative.
On the other side of the Sha River Plains, inside the Azure Dragon train, a bald man with two prominent black eye circles stood with his hands on his hips, staring at the consciousness transmitter in his hand, which was flashing red. His face was flushed with excitement.
"Finally, I've been waiting for this!"
"I knew this world would never lack stubborn fools!"
"Mom!"
After taking a deep breath, the man turned his determined gaze to the control panel screen. "Wish me luck. When I return with 30 murphy stones, I'll use two on you so you can awaken a Tier 5 Overpowered effect."
"Good luck."
The AI's mechanical voice echoed through the carriage.
Without hesitation, the man pressed the red button on the transmitter. His body suddenly went limp, and he slumped back in his chair, eyes closed. His consciousness had clearly left his body.
Back on the Stellaris train, a piercing drone whirred overhead. Chen Mang watched as a massive drone hovered above the train, while his control panel screen flashed frantically in red.
"Do not attack! Do not attack!"
"This drone is the mission target! This drone is the mission target!"
"Attacking it will result in mission failure."
Hanging beneath the drone was a square iron box.
The next moment!
The iron box suddenly detached from the drone, crashing heavily onto the ground. Its four sides quickly spread open, revealing a robot curled up inside.
"Well, I'll be..."
Chen Mang looked up at the drone, which had already flown far away, and muttered in astonishment, "I thought it would be some kind of portal or something. Turns out they just used a drone for delivery?"
Meanwhile, the robot on the ground had already scrambled to its feet. As if knowing the route, it sprinted toward the entrance to the maze in Section 14's makeshift carriage without hesitation. The moment it landed, the time limit began counting down!
"Phew..."
Chen Mang exhaled lightly, glancing at the half-hour countdown on the control panel screen and the real-time live feed from the robot's perspective inside the maze. He began watching with a mixture of excitement and tension.
The robot's point-of-view feed automatically appeared on the control panel screen after the mission began.
This allowed him to see the robot's progress through the maze more directly.
"Wait a minute!"
The robot, who had charged into the maze with excitement, suddenly froze in confusion as he gazed at the 100-square-meter space before him, neatly arranged with 10 refrigerators.
A 100-square-meter space?
He didn't recall seeing a space this large on the train.
He turned abruptly and walked back toward the maze entrance, only to discover that this vast space was actually inside a refrigerator.
Wait, a refrigerator?!
"What the hell kind of refrigerator is 100 square meters?!"
He couldn't help but shout in frustration, his voice amplified by the robot's speaker, losing some of its emotional depth and gaining a mechanical edge.
But there was no time to dwell on this!
He had only half an hour.
He glanced at the 10 refrigerators before him, a sense of unease creeping over him. He quickly approached the first refrigerator, ready to fling open the door and stride inside, when he noticed a piece of paper taped to it.
A single sentence was written on the paper.
"As expected, when faced with a choice, you instinctively chose the first one on the left, didn't you? But the first one on the right is actually the correct path."
The man froze slightly.
He instinctively opened the refrigerator door. Sure enough, behind it was another 100-square-meter space, still filled with three refrigerators!
"Mom, is there anything we can do?"
Fortunately, the Train Auxiliary AI had descended with him into this robot's body.
A clear and decisive voice soon echoed in his ear.
"No."
"Then what the hell good are you?!"
The bald man clenched his jaw, pondering for a long moment. Just as he was about to stubbornly charge into this refrigerator, his peripheral vision caught a glimpse of an extremely hidden refrigerator tucked away in the corner.
Only a few beams of light illuminated the ten refrigerators, and the interplay of light and shadow had caused him to overlook the hidden one.
He suddenly burst into laughter.
Then, he strode towards the hidden refrigerator in the corner.
The rules stipulated that a path must be set from the starting point to the destination. Therefore, the train conductor must have concealed the correct route. Unfortunately for him, though well hidden, it had still been discovered.
He didn't understand how this train worked or why it had such enormous refrigerators.
But... he could do it!
Fortunately, being in a robot body, he felt no fatigue. He strode to the corner refrigerator and slammed the door open. Sure enough, behind it lay another vast space, a hundred square meters in size.
And in the deepest corner of this vast space, there was yet another refrigerator.
He charged toward it again.
Pushing open this refrigerator door revealed another hundred-square-meter space, with another refrigerator tucked away in the deepest corner to the right.
"What's going on," the bald man suddenly thought, a wave of unease washing over him. Despair flickered in his eyes as he stared at the refrigerator a dozen meters away. Something felt wrong. He immediately prepared to sprint toward it.
"Look to your left. There's a refrigerator over there," the AI's voice echoed in his ear.
The man snapped his head left, and sure enough, a refrigerator stood quietly in the corner. He couldn't help but grin. "A perfect blind spot... too bad my mom's here."
The bald man immediately ran to the refrigerator on the left and opened the door.
Inside, the vast 100-square-meter space remained unchanged. In the corner, another refrigerator stood. He strode over and yanked open the door. This time, instead of a hidden realm, he saw an ordinary refrigerator.
Inside the refrigerator, an A4 sheet of paper lay on a shelf.
"Are you happy, thinking you've discovered some top-secret information?"
"Pure clown."
Thump!
Furious, the bald man slammed the refrigerator door shut and turned back toward the refrigerator door he'd come through. He returned to the previous level and sprinted toward the refrigerator in the deepest right corner.
When he opened the door this time, he found the same enormous space again, with another refrigerator tucked away in the corner.
After entering three giant refrigerators in a row, the bald man pulled open the door of the refrigerator in the corner once more. It was still an ordinary refrigerator.
On the shelves sat a bottle of Cola and another A4 sheet of paper.
"Thirsty? Want a drink?"
"Look at you. I told you the first refrigerator on the right was the correct path, but you insisted on running off to this little refrigerator in the corner first."
"People always think the answers they secretly discover themselves are the absolute truth."
"Come on, hurry back to the first level. Time's running out."
"Go fuck yourself!"
The man, already on the verge of collapse, slammed the refrigerator door shut with a resounding thud. He immediately turned and sprinted back the way he had come. Finally, he returned to the first floor and rushed straight to the first refrigerator on the right.
The same A4 sheet of paper was still taped to it.
"You believe everything you're told? Seriously?"
"Brainless."
But this time—
The man ignored the warnings and charged inside. After all, there were only ten refrigerators on the first floor. He just needed to try each one in turn. As long as he ran fast enough, he'd be fine.
Ten minutes later.
"..."
The man, on the brink of total breakdown, realized he had somehow circled back to the first floor. The ten refrigerators, still bathed in the central beam of light, and the refrigerator hidden in the shadows in the corner, remained unchanged.
Even the notes taped to the refrigerators were identical.
"This isn't the first floor. It's a replicated maze," the AI's voice echoed in his ears again.
The man whirled around, scanning his surroundings. Sure enough, the maze entrance was nowhere to be seen. He was still trapped in the first floor's rightmost refrigerator route.
Taking a deep breath, he strode toward the first refrigerator on the left. No problem. So there were multiple routes? He'd just explore them all.
He quickly opened the first refrigerator door, and an A4 sheet of paper fell out. A large character was written on it:
"Idiot."
Opening the second refrigerator door revealed another ordinary refrigerator. Another A4 sheet dropped out.
The word was written on the door:
"Bitch."
He opened ten refrigerator doors in a row, all ordinary refrigerators. They even formed a sentence:
"Idiot, go back the way you came. You've taken the wrong path."
"..."
The man suddenly burst into furious laughter. Without saying another word, he quickly turned and headed back toward the first floor.
Finally!
With only thirty seconds left on the countdown, the man stumbled and opened a refrigerator door. He gazed inside with the last flicker of hope remaining. If this refrigerator didn't lead to the end, his mission would be a complete failure. He could only pray for a miracle, that the end he had been desperately searching for was just beyond this door.
Then—
He saw dozens of refrigerators quietly arranged in every corner of the space.
His body trembled. The last spark of hope vanished from his eyes. He let out a hollow laugh, his legs went weak, and he collapsed to the floor.
He stared at the dozens of refrigerators before him, glanced at the rapidly dwindling countdown, and despair flooded his vision. His entire mental state shattered. He slammed his head against the floor, 'tears' streaming down his face. His voice, thick with sobs, tore through the air with a heart-wrenching, desperate scream:
"I can't tell them apart!"
"Mom, I can't tell them apart! I really can't!"
(End of the Chapter)
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