Translator: AnubisTL
"But..."
Uncle Li turned to look at the young man tossing and turning on the bed behind him. His mouth opened slightly, but no words came out. He simply couldn't find a way to refute him. After a long moment, he murmured in a daze, "How dare you stop Lord Mang?"
"Because I thought compiling daily data for so many people would be an incredibly tedious task. Since you happen to be proficient in this, and the train just happened to need someone with this skill, of course I had to volunteer."
"You..."
"What about me?"
"This isn't how it's supposed to work! Success can't be this simple!"
Uncle Li felt his values crumbling. He struggled to accept this: "If you were this good at self-promotion, why were you only making a few thousand yuan a month before?"
He had always believed that talent was like shit in your stomach—only when a tiny tip poked out from your ass could others see you had talent. Otherwise, even if you were full of it, no one would notice.
So his approach had always been to showcase his talent.
But this male student had shown him a far simpler, more direct method.
Spit in someone's face.
"Me?"
The young man lying in bed retorted with a touch of annoyance, "Uncle Li, I'm just a nobody from a backwater town. I have no skills. What could I possibly recommend myself for? Besides, I recommended you just now, not myself. You're the one with the talent, not me."
"But..."
"Well, in the end, it was my plan that succeeded. So I deserve some credit. Let me be clear: I know nothing about this stuff. You'll have to be patient when you teach me."
"Alright."
After a long pause, Uncle Li nodded firmly, took a deep breath, turned to look out the window with a determined glint in his eyes, and straightened his back slightly.
No matter what, the plan had finally succeeded. He had finally become a mid-level manager on the Stellaris train. Now it was time for him to truly shine!
Just then—
The door to Carriage 6, reserved for high-level talent, swung open. Li Shiji entered, carrying two steaming meat sandwiches. He paused slightly when he saw Uncle Li and the young man, then burst into laughter.
"Looks like your plan worked out, eh?"
"Huh?"
Uncle Li froze, staring at Li Shiji with a bewildered expression.
"What the hell? When you guys were discussing suppressing the slave rebellion last time, I was lying behind you eating my meal. From what you were saying, it sounded like you'd been planning this for a long time but kept failing. I didn't expect your plan to suddenly succeed now. Impressive."
"Why were you lying down while eating?"
"My back and waist were killing me after a day of mining. Can't a guy lie down to eat?"
The young man sitting next to Uncle Li stood up, a proud smile on his face. "Uncle Li and I are responsible for daily data collection and verification of iron ore and Stellar Coupons for the residents. We both receive Third-Tier elite talent benefits."
"That's a sweet gig," Li Shiji sighed, envy filling his eyes. "You can keep doing that job forever. Unlike me, I don't know what to do now that I've finished the maze. Lord Mang hasn't given me any new missions, and I feel guilty even eating steamed buns these days."
"Before you guys arrived, I was alone in this carriage. It was pretty lonely. Now I finally have someone to talk to."
"Want a meat sandwich? I just heated it up."
"Well..." Uncle Li hesitated before turning to Carriage 5 behind Li Shiji and asking, "Did you come from Carriage 5? Trainmaster Zhu told me Ji Chuchu is in Carriage 5 and that we shouldn't enter it casually."
"Oh, you mean that?"
Li Shiji waved his hand. "Ji Chuchu is the only one staying in Carriage 5 right now. Old Pig set up a bed curtain for her. It's fine to pass by, just don't go lifting the curtain and crawling in for no reason."
"I just heated up two meat sandwiches. They're for you two as a welcome gift. I'll heat up a few more later."
"Hey!"
"This is way better than bread slices! I've been eating a dozen of these every day for the past few days. It's so satisfying!"
"Oh right, haven't you two had a cigarette in a while?" Li Shiji chuckled, pulling out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and tossing it to them. "Lord Mang just gave me 100 Stellar Coupons. I bought two packs of cigarettes for 4 Stellar Coupons. Take one pack and smoke it."
"Aren't you saving up to buy a refrigerator?"
Uncle Li caught the pack of cigarettes with both hands and handed it to the young man beside him. "Many people are saving their Stellar Coupons to buy a refrigerator."
"Nowhere is as comfortable as this carriage. The shop has a lot of great stuff."
Li Shiji suddenly remembered something and stood up, walking toward them. "Trainmaster Zhu put the shop inside a refrigerator in Carriage 11. I'll take you to see it. I'll pay for your purchases."
"We're both Third-Tier Elite Talents. We get two Stellar Coupons every day."
"That's plenty to spend."
"Come on, come on, come with me. Let's go take a look. Everyone's gone to work, so the Shop will be empty. We can browse at our leisure."
Stellaris, locomotive cabin.
Chen Mang, seated at the control panel, was staring at the robot in front of him and a loose, flimsy iron box.
Yes.
When the drone dropped the box, the robot had emerged from it after the sides opened. It had taken the box with it when it left, though Chen Mang hadn't found anything special about it yet.
It wasn't a special item.
And the box couldn't be reassembled. It was flimsy and falling apart. But since it had been part of an S-Rank Difficulty class change process, he decided to collect it and store it in the refrigerator for now. He had a Tier 10 Refrigerator in his locomotive cabin.
Inside, he had chilled some Cola, along with various other odds and ends he had collected, just in case they might prove useful someday.
As for the robot...
Special Item: Life Robot
Item Effect: Can serve as the physical body for the Train Auxiliary AI and perform light physical labor.
This robot was made of smooth, painted blue steel. It had no exposed wires, armor, or interfaces for heavy weaponry. It was clearly a domestic robot, lacking significant combat capabilities.
It could serve as an assistant.
"Can you enter?"
"Yes."
The train's AI's mechanical voice soon echoed through the car. Then, a wire suddenly extended from the control panel screen toward the robot. The robot quickly stood up and turned to face Chen Mang.
"..."
Chen Mang frowned slightly, tilting his head toward the screen beside him. "Can you still control those accessories?"
"Yes."
A slightly muffled mechanical voice emerged from the robot's speaker. "I am a Tier 10 AI, possessing superior processing power and intelligence. Only a portion of my consciousness resides within this robot. The majority of my consciousness remains within the Train Auxiliary AI, and my powerful processing capabilities allow me to operate in multiple threads simultaneously."
"If all the train's accessories are activated, it will only consume 37% of my total computational power."
"If I could eat, I could even leisurely crack a few sunflower seeds."
Chen Mang stared at the robot before him for a long moment before saying, "I'll give you a name."
"Understood."
"Let's call you Xiao Ai."
"Understood, Master. Please feel free to give Xiao Ai any orders at any time."
This robot was merely a side dish from this haul, not even a snack. The true appetizers were the special item and two Blueprints he held—all seized from the Tier 4 Train.
All special items lacked grades or tiers. Most were small, auxiliary gadgets designed for solo use.
For example, the special item in his hand.
Special Item: Salted Fish Hairpin
Item Effect: When wearing this hairpin, you gain the ability to breathe underwater for ten minutes.
The hairpin is shaped like a salted fish and clips onto the head. Chen Mang tried it on and glanced in the mirror, then immediately took it off and put it in a drawer.
It looked a bit silly when worn.
A special item that might be useful in certain situations.
He then turned his attention to the two blueprints.
The first was a green-grade accessory blueprint: Nitrous Tailpipe. The second was a yellow-grade accessory blueprint: Bunny Cloud.
"Holy cow!"
Chen Mang stared at the yellow-grade Vehicle Component Blueprint, a flicker of surprise in his eyes. This time, he'd truly struck gold.
During his last trip to Kunlun Mountain, a train had left an indelible impression on him. Its wheels were clouds, allowing it to fly through the air. At the time, he was only driving a Tier 2 train, and the sight had deeply shocked him.
He'd often wondered when his own Stellaris train would be able to soar through the skies.
I can't believe it's already done!
The "Bunny Cloud" is a special type of wheels shaped like clouds, designed to allow trains to fly through the sky. However, it's currently unusable. Only when a train's maximum speed reaches 650 kilometers per hour can a train equipped with Bunny Cloud Wheels take flight.
Even if he were to upgrade the Bunny Cloud to Tier 10 right now, it still wouldn't meet that speed requirement.
Normally, Tier 4, Tier 5, or even Tier 6 trains wouldn't have a base maximum speed that high.
To reach that speed, the train would need accessories that boost its speed, such as the green-grade Nitrous Tailpipe, which increases train speed.
This Tier 4 Train likely started collecting speed-enhancing accessories after obtaining the Bunny Cloud Blueprint, aiming to reach the required speed and take to the skies.
Unfortunately, its journey was cut short. Poor thing.
After sorting through all the loot from the train, he finally turned his attention to the Resource Units displayed on the train panel.
"430,000 units of iron ore, 750,000 units of copper ore, 224,000 units of wood."
"120,000 units of Spider Silk, 180,000 units of Red Heart Rock, 1,158 units of corpse meat."
He glanced at the requirements for upgrading his train to Tier 4.
Upgrade Requirements: Must possess 18 carriages, all four required train components must be fully crafted, 10,000 units of Tier 2 Iron Ore must be consumed, and the combined Tier of all accessories within the train must exceed 80.
After crafting three ordinary carriages, he finally reached the required 18 carriages.
With this, all the conditions for upgrading to a Tier 4 Train were met. As for the "combined accessory Tier exceeding 80" condition, which posed a challenge for other trains, it had been surpassed long ago during his Tier 2 Train days.
Now, after consuming 100,000 units of iron ore...
In the next instant, a panel materialized before him.
[Your train has reached Tier 4.]
[More craftable accessories have been unlocked, and you have successfully class-changed to a mechanical train with S-Rank Potential.]
A new section, "Reputation Value," appeared on the train panel. His current Reputation Value was 30.
The detailed records showed that the zone announcement in the Iron Ridge Wasteland had earned him 10 Reputation Value points, while the one in the Sha River Plains had earned him another 20 points, totaling 30 points.
And at the very moment of the successful upgrade!
The train radio finally fully integrated into the Sha River Plains. From that moment on, he could never return to the Iron Ridge Wasteland, and the abandoned goblin train at the bottom of the Doomsday Abyss would remain forever submerged.
Until one day, the goblin train, long forgotten and covered in dust and spiderwebs, suddenly welcomed its master.
It was Doba's train.
When he learned that this goblin train had been crafted by Doba alone, in absolute darkness, fumbling for a pickaxe, then for iron ore, bit by bit, over countless hours, he couldn't bring himself to feed the abandoned goblin train to the Geothermal Core Furnace.
It wouldn't yield much iron ore anyway.
Better to leave it there.
Perhaps...
One day, he would return and tell Doba:
"Now you are the Goblin King."
He didn't know if he could truly help Doba rebuild the Goblin Civilization, a task of such magnitude. But Doba's sincere, admiring, and fervent gaze made him hesitate to meet his eyes. If he ever succeeded, this abandoned goblin train, slumbering at the bottom of the Doomsday Abyss, would stand as a silent cosmic historian, bearing witness to it all.
At least he could keep it as a memento.
Lost in thought, the train radio suddenly emitted a series of beeps. He saw that many people were chatting in the chat room, and the upper right corner displayed a total of 289 trains in the room.
This number was roughly comparable to the Iron Ridge Wasteland.
No, it should be significantly lower. After all, train radios could only be built after a train reached Tier 2. The Iron Ridge Wasteland still had many Tier 1 and some Tier 2 trains that hadn't built train radios yet.
"Seriously?"
Chen Mang glanced at the chat logs in the chat room, his lips twitching slightly.
Not another chapter where everyone's talking about me!
He'd hoped the train radios in the Sha River Plains would be used for more meaningful conversations, but it turned out they were still just gossiping about him—exactly the same as in the Iron Ridge Wasteland's train radios.
The entire chat room was buzzing about the Stellaris train, which had completed the S-Class job change quest.
The zone announcement for the Sha River Plains had leaked his train's name, and now everyone knew that a train called the Stellaris had successfully completed the S-Class job change quest.
(End of the Chapter)
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