Translator: AnubisTL
Soon—
The AI's crisp, mechanical voice echoed in his ears.
"Even Mom can't tell the difference."
Meanwhile, the final 30 seconds of the countdown were about to expire. The bald man, his nerves nearly shattered, seemed to resign himself to fate. He knelt on the ground, slowly straightened up, and stared at the dozens of refrigerators before him, his eyes filled with despair. A sudden, bitter laugh escaped his lips.
The next moment!
The robot suddenly seemed to lose control, collapsing to the ground. The countdown ended.
The man's consciousness was instantly severed.
"Huh?"
Chen Mang, who had been watching the entire scene from the control room, hadn't even had time to react when his eyes suddenly lit up. He leaned out to look at the sky, but no drones were approaching.
That meant...
This robot was now his loot?
He immediately grabbed the walkie-talkie.
"Old Pig, send Li Shiji to dismantle this maze. Have him neatly pack all the refrigerators into a single refrigerator and bring out the robot."
"Understood."
Old Pig's voice crackled back through the walkie-talkie.
As the saying goes, the one who tied the bell must untie it. Only Li Shiji could dismantle this maze. Anyone else who entered wouldn't even survive, let alone dismantle it.
This batch of refrigerators had cost him a staggering 480,000 units of iron ore!
Now, it seemed like it was all worth it.
Even if he sent this batch of refrigerators to the Geothermal Core Furnace for recycling, he could still recoup nearly half his investment. However, he planned to recycle only the ordinary refrigerators. He had a use for the Tier 10 Refrigerators, and recycling them would be a waste. He could use them as Storage Boxes or in the single-person rooms for residents.
A hundred square meters—not small at all.
A perfect square with zero common areas. This was true zero common area, unlike the "zero common area" claimed by many real estate developers in the previous world, which included balconies and terraces in the calculation. With a small refrigerator, a single bed, and some daily necessities collected during the apocalypse, it could become a warm little home.
"..."
Consciousness returned to the bald man on the Azure Dragon. His eyes were vacant, and he leaned back in his chair, staring blankly into the distance as if his soul had been lost.
After an unknown amount of time, the bald man finally snapped back to reality. He looked at the lines of text on the screen—the panel he had been avoiding facing.
[Challenge Failed]
However, as the first train conductor to reach the Underwater Labyrinth Adventure, you will still receive a Consolation Prize in recognition of your Courage and exploratory spirit.]
The bald man stared at these two lines of text and the badge-like object that had inexplicably appeared on the control panel. A glimmer of hope finally sparked in his eyes. He shook his head, reached out, and picked up the badge, a resigned smile twisting his lips.
"Well, then."
"At least there's a Consolation Prize."
But the very next moment—
As he held the badge item in his hand, a panel materialized before him.
[Special Item: Hero's Badge
Item Effect: When worn, this badge will calm your fears in desperate situations, filling you with courage.]
The bald man remained silent for a long time before tossing the badge onto the table with a dismissive gesture. What use was this damn thing?
When he was already in a desperate situation, did he need courage?
No, he needed a goddamn solution!
Lost in thought, he glanced at the refrigerator in the corner of the locomotive cabin. It was a white accessory, one of the 17 accessories that could be crafted for a Tier 1 train, and it could be upgraded to Tier 2. He had crafted several and placed them in the train.
This was normal.
While he hadn't upgraded the refrigerator to its overpowered effect stage, he could roughly guess what it might be.
The Tier 5 or Tier 10 overpowered effect of the refrigerator would likely be a 100-square-meter storage space. This wasn't hard to predict, and it made perfect sense—upgrading a refrigerator to a cold storage unit was perfectly logical.
But—
"That's a refrigerator! That's a single accessory!"
It's not like leveling one refrigerator to Tier 10 automatically levels all other refrigerators to Tier 10. He'd seen at least seventy or eighty refrigerators with such massive storage space. How many murphy stones would that have cost?!
How could anyone possibly have obtained so many murphy stones?!
Does this even make sense?
Murphy stones are special items that can break through Tier limits. Of course, even with a murphy stone, you still need to pay the resources normally required for the upgrade. He didn't know about higher-level zones, but he knew they were incredibly rare in the Green Zone!
Otherwise, the Sha River Plains' Overpowered Effect Count Ranking wouldn't be so fiercely competitive. The top hundred players were usually neck and neck, with only yellow-grade train components capable of reaching Tier 5 to unlock overpowered effects.
Most players had roughly the same number of yellow-grade Accessories.
This shouldn't be possible!
"Wait!"
The bald man suddenly straightened up, a thought flashing through his mind. His eyes gleamed with disbelief. He had once seen a Tier 2 train in the Kunlun Mountain Region that had left him deeply shaken. It could traverse nearly vertical cliffs with ease!
At the time, he had wondered if the owner had used a massive amount of murphy stone to upgrade the "spider leg" accessory to an incredibly high Tier.
Maybe it's some big shot's relative, he had mused.
But on second thought, that seemed unlikely. Murphy stone was a precious resource. What big shot would waste it on a relative? Even for their own children, it wouldn't make sense. Wouldn't it be safer to just keep their relatives and children on their own train?
But now...
Both trains shared a common trait: they had consumed a vast amount of murphy stone. Could they be the same train?
The bald man frowned, racking his brain for a long moment before shaking his head. He was certain they were not the same train.
The Tier 2 train he had seen in the Kunlun Mountain Region had open-air carriages in the rear and lacked so many Heavy Machine Guns.
Yes!
Though pressed for time, he hadn't had a chance to examine the train's interior thoroughly. However, the ten Heavy Machine Guns mounted on the ceiling of the carriage housing the maze had left a deep impression.
This was a Tier 5 train, and it carried over six hundred slaves.
Yet he'd never considered installing ten Heavy Machine Guns inside a carriage. How terrified must the train conductor be of a slave rebellion? Even if genuinely afraid, a single Heavy Machine Gun would have sufficed. Why ten? Did he fear not killing them quickly enough to feel safe?
Based on the maze and his observations of the train, he quickly formed a first impression of the train conductor:
Extremely insecure, tyrannical towards the slaves, constantly provoking rebellions that required brutal suppression, possessing a vast supply of murphy stones, fond of mocking others, and highly cunning!
The bald man shook his head, trying to calm his racing thoughts. He picked up the "Hero's Badge" he'd tossed onto the control panel earlier and pinned it to his chest.
Too bad...
I don't know which zone he's from.
If only it were the mechanical train from the White Zone near the Sha River Plains. If his mission failed, it would mean the other train had successfully completed the S-Rank Difficulty "Mechanical Transmutation" mission. Upon entering the Green Zone Sha River Plains, it would become the first mechanical train with S-Rank Potential he had ever seen on the plains!
Then he would finally know its name!
"Heh heh."
The bald man couldn't help but grin again at the thought. If it really came to the Sha River Plains, he wouldn't hold back. Even with S-Rank Potential, it was still just a Tier 3 train, maybe just upgraded to Tier 4.
A Tier 5 train like him bullying a Tier 4 train? It would be... utterly hopeless.
The smile vanished from the man's face instantly. He stood there in silent contemplation. A train that had upgraded its refrigerator so many times wouldn't have neglected its other accessories, would it?
Moreover, completing the S-Rank Difficulty "Mechanical Transmutation" mission would also grant a Red-Tier large-scale weapon of mass destruction.
Yes, it was utterly hopeless.
"Mom, is there really no such thing as a 'Murphy Stone Mine'?"
Soon after—
A mechanical voice echoed from the carriage's AI.
"Murphy stones are special items that can only be obtained through certain fortuitous encounters or by defeating rare boss monsters. They don't form mines. This is the information currently in my database, but as you encounter other keywords or venture into higher-level zones, my database may update with different information."
"If there's no murphy stone mine, how did he upgrade so many refrigerators? He couldn't have been cheating, could he?"
"This is the real apocalypse, not a multiplayer online game manufactured by a company. There's no such thing as 'cheating' here."
"True."
Meanwhile, inside the train, Li Shiji, who was clearing the maze, sighed regretfully as he looked at the robot kneeling on the ground. "Why didn't you take just one more step forward?"
He walked to the front and opened the nearest refrigerator. An A4 sheet of paper slowly drifted out.
It bore three sentences:
"Actually, the true endpoint is on the first floor. When you enter the maze, there's a refrigerator placed against the wall on the far left side of the entrance."
"That refrigerator is the endpoint, you silly child."
"The endpoint is actually at the starting point."
If the robot had taken just one more step and opened the refrigerator to see the note written on A4 paper, things would have gotten interesting.
As for the truthfulness of these three statements...
Of course, they were lies.
There were only eleven refrigerators on the first floor. There was no endpoint. But having made it this far, the robot, if it possessed human-like thought, would likely be teetering on the brink of mental collapse.
Its environmental perception, judgment, and even memory would have deteriorated significantly.
Upon seeing these three sentences, it might even have altered its own memories, genuinely picturing in its mind's eye how it had caught a glimpse of a refrigerator against the wall on the left side of the entrance as it first entered the maze.
Even though the robot had already scanned the entire space when it first entered.
At this point, any human with a shred of sanity would likely start to doubt themselves.
That's when the real fun begins.
Especially when the countdown timer dwindles to its final minutes. When the robot strides back to the first floor, only to find nothing in the left-hand corner, that's when the feeling of emotional collapse reaches its peak.
This robot's strength is lacking.
Most of the traps he set up haven't even been triggered yet.
What a pity.
Li Shiji shook his head regretfully before placing the robot in a refrigerator. He then began clearing the entire maze. Due to the rules and the limited number of usable items, many of the plans swirling in his mind couldn't be realized.
Otherwise...
He'd have electrified all the refrigerators, dropped the temperature to its lowest setting, and filled them with water to freeze into ice before turning on the power. Even the robot would have slipped and stumbled a few times.
If he had access to holographic projections, it would have been even more entertaining.
Stellaris, locomotive cabin.
Chen Mang sat in his chair, gazing at the translucent virtual panel that had just popped up before him.
"Congratulations! The Stellaris train has successfully completed the S-Rank Difficulty job advancement quest and officially class-changed into a mechanical train!"
"Furthermore, you are the first train conductor on the Sha River Plains to complete an S-Class job change quest."
"Your 'Unknown Component' will be red-grade and will be randomly selected from the pool of large, heavy-firepower red-grade accessories."
"You have obtained the red-grade train component: Groundburst Missile."
The next moment!
A line of text, framed in gold, slowly scrolled across the top of the train's screen. Fireworks exploded around the display as a voice echoed in the minds of every train conductor in the Sha River Plains.
Sha River Plains Regional Broadcast: Congratulations to the Stellaris train for successfully completing the S-Rank Difficulty job advancement quest for mechanical trains! It is the first mechanical train in the Sha River Plains to achieve this feat.
"Huh?"
Chen Mang's mouth slowly widened as he stared at the three-dimensional image of the red-grade train component, the Groundburst Missile, on the screen. After a long moment, he snapped back to reality. Without hesitation, he spent 1 unit of iron ore to craft it, then immediately built another open-air carriage.
This was one of the 12 "Unknown Components" that a Tier 3 train could craft.
The grade and name of this component would only be revealed after successfully completing the job advancement quest. Regardless of its grade, the crafting cost remained a mere 1 unit of iron ore.
Next, Chen Mang leaped out of the locomotive cabin and strode to the rear of the train. He gazed at the newly added open-air carriage, where a missile, fully 8 meters long and over 2 meters wide, lay tilted, its nose pointed directly at the sky!
Completely black, the missile's warhead was ringed with white, and a single red dot adorned its center.
This detail added a touch of cruel brutality to the already domineering Stellaris train.
If this Groundburst Missile were to strike, nothing within its blast radius would survive!
Chen Mang stood motionless, leaning on his cane, gazing up at the missile that pierced the heavens and occupied an entire open-air carriage. He simply admired it in silence.
The rain stopped.
A ray of sunlight pierced through the clouds, landing directly on the missile.
It was as if the sun had bestowed upon it a divine mission, making it appear exceptionally sacred and blindingly bright amidst the dim ruins of the apocalypse. Just one glance was enough to make it impossible to tear one's eyes away.
"Truly magnificent," Chen Mang murmured, a slight smile playing on his lips. He reached into his pocket, pulled out a cigarette, lit it, and exhaled a long plume of smoke.
All the frustration and unease he had endured since transmigrating into this apocalyptic world vanished with that puff of smoke.
(End of the Chapter)
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