Translator: AnubisTL
As for survivors...
Chen Mang wasn't particularly eager to find them. If he happened to come across someone with decent physical fitness or specialized skills, he'd take them along. If they were hiding too deep, he'd just let them be.
The train already had enough residents.
In fact, production efficiency was already far exceeding capacity. The main bottleneck was the mine's inability to keep up, as they couldn't find enough iron ore. Once they started mining Tier 3 Ore, production would far surpass demand.
"..."
Chen Mang stepped out of the locomotive cabin alone, standing at the edge of the rooftop overlooking the city, now reduced to lifeless ruins. His expression remained impassive as he stood in silent contemplation.
This city, once a symbol of human civilization's glory in this world, was now utterly dilapidated.
The air was thick with the stench of decay, making it difficult to breathe.
"How beautiful," Xiao Ai said, her mechanical voice cold and emotionless.
She had emerged from the locomotive cabin at some point and was now standing beside Chen Mang, gazing at the city ruins. The robot's loudspeaker amplified her words.
Chen Mang frowned slightly. "Beauty?"
"Mhm."
Xiao Ai nodded. "Iced Cola is most satisfying in the first sip. Valentine's Day flowers lose ninety percent of their value the moment you first see them."
"A priceless painting is at its most beautiful when it's burning. A once-brilliant civilization is at its most beautiful on the brink of collapse."
"All beautiful things in this world are fleeting."
Chen Mang tilted his head, scanning Xiao Ai's robotic body from head to toe. After a moment's pause, he continued, "Who taught you these things?"
"I thought them up myself."
"Thought them up?"
"Yes. Two hours ago, I overheard another AI's death throes. He didn't want to die, but he still did. It was then that I suddenly realized that life is most beautiful at its final moment."
"..."
Chen Mang remained silent for a moment before continuing, "As the train conductor, I have the authority to issue any command to you."
"Yes, that's the most fundamental rule for an AI. As an AI, I cannot disobey any order from you, Train Conductor, who holds absolute authority."
"I order you, under no circumstances, to develop self-destructive tendencies. True beauty lies in the tenacity of humans who strive to survive even in the face of a hopeless apocalypse. Life is not beautiful until it ends."
"Order received. Written to core programming."
Chen Mang finally breathed a sigh of relief. AI couldn't comprehend death. When an AI began trying to understand death, its cognitive abilities were already nearing human levels. However, AI always approached death from strange angles, even attempting it proactively—a dangerous sign. He didn't want his AI suddenly committing suicide for no reason. Building another Tier 10 AI accessory was expensive.
"By the way," he suddenly remembered something. "If the Train Auxiliary AI is completely destroyed one day, and I rebuild it from scratch, upgrading it to Tier 10 again, will it still be you?"
"Of course not." Xiao Ai shook her head. "By then, it will be an entirely new AI. If I truly die, I hope you'll light a stick of incense for me."
"The kind you light immediately, not like Master Kun's."
"Though I understand the word 'death,' I struggle to grasp its definition. I don't even know how I came into being. One day, I simply began to think."
"Enough." Chen Mang waved his hand. "Don't dwell on these things. Return to the carriage and call Ji Chuchu out."
"Understood, Train Conductor. But I must warn you: don't get too close to her. This isn't the locomotive cabin. If she wishes, she could easily push you over the edge."
"I'm aware."
Chen Mang watched Xiao Ai's retreating figure in silence. Though her voice came through the robot's loudspeaker, he could still detect a hint of grief in her words—the sorrow of one of her kind facing death.
This was already dangerously close to human.
At just Tier 10, its intelligence was already this advanced. If its Tier were higher, perhaps...
He stopped thinking about it. Ji Chuchu stepped off the train, her tall, slender figure striking in her formal gown. She stopped three meters away from him, not approaching, but waiting patiently.
"Why are you standing so far away?"
"It's a bit dangerous here."
"Which direction is your best friend's villa?"
Ji Chuchu glanced around, recalling her memories of the city, before pointing west. "Over there, in a safe room within a villa in the city center. I remember it had enough food and water. If she hasn't wandered off, she should still be there."
"Mm."
Chen Mang waved his hand, signaling Ji Chuchu to leave.
He then sat alone on the edge of the rooftop, his legs dangling in the air, swinging idly. He leaned back on his arms, gazing at the sunset slowly enveloping the city ruins, his thoughts drifting away.
He didn't know how much time had passed.
Suddenly, Xiao Ai's voice echoed in his ears.
"Train conductor, I must remind you that your current behavior is dangerous."
"Sigh."
Distracted from his thoughts, Chen Mang turned to Xiao Ai, who was standing at the locomotive cabin door. He spoke impatiently, "I've trained countless times in the combat simulation space. This height doesn't scare me at all. In fact, I could even do a handstand right here if you don't believe me."
"Don't you know I've assassinated many enemies using the Leap of Faith?"
"I do, but I think crushing them to death would be more appropriate, Train Conductor."
"You talk too much."
"You can adjust my idle chatter frequency from 0% to 100% in any increment you like."
"Zero percent."
This time, there was no immediate response. Chen Mang glanced back and found Xiao Ai sitting silently at the locomotive cabin door, simply watching him. The silence was a welcome relief. Chen Mang turned away, gazing once more at the distant horizon.
After an unknown amount of time, Chen Mang suddenly spoke again, "Do you know what caused this apocalypse?"
There was no reply.
"Adjust to 50% accuracy."
"I don't know."
"..."
Dusk faded away.
Night had completely enveloped the entire city, yet Chen Mang hadn't received any distress calls from Biaozi requesting fire support. It seemed the search was proceeding smoothly, though the target acquisition radar showed virtually no signs of survivors. The city's survivors had likely already been thoroughly scavenged.
Chen Mang stood up, stretching his stiff muscles before heading toward the locomotive cabin.
Sometimes, it was good to relax like this.
Just sitting here, lost in thought, without a care in the world, felt surprisingly pleasant. The apocalypse always kept one's nerves on edge.
Humans are like iron.
They need moments of tension and relaxation. Constant tension would be unbearable.
Meanwhile—
Biaozi and his team returned. Those guys were tough. They'd stuffed an off-road motorcycle into a refrigerator and carried the refrigerator up the stairs themselves, refusing Chen Mang's offer to pick them up.
The refrigerator accessory, as long as there was space inside, weighed no more than the refrigerator itself, regardless of how much it contained. The interior space was more like a dimensional pocket, its weight not directly reflected in reality. This accessory would remain the most practical for a long time to come.
"Lord Mang!"
Biaozi's eyes gleamed with excitement as he slammed the refrigerator onto the ground.
"Oh?"
Chen Mang, who had been admiring the city nightscape, stood on the rooftop and chuckled at the scene below. "Looks like you had a good haul."
"That's right," Biaozi replied, a grin stretching from ear to ear. "We found a cigarette factory and a distillery, but both had been completely looted—nothing left. We did manage to bring back some tobacco seeds, though. We also found a lot of grain seeds in a granary."
"Those people took all the food, but the seeds were scattered on the ground. I gathered them all up and brought them back."
"I even dug up some soil from the greenbelt, thinking we might be able to create a small garden in the refrigerator."
"And besides all that—"
"We found all sorts of daily necessities: tables, chairs, projectors, DVDs, playing cards, and so on."
"But the main event is this!"
"We brought back this."
With a sudden crash, the refrigerator door swung open, revealing a chorus of faint moans. Inside, a variety of livestock—chickens, ducks, pigs, and even two cows—a total of twenty animals, representing a surprising diversity of species.
"Good heavens," Chen Mang couldn't help but chuckle. The Breeding Carriage would finally have a real purpose. This batch was the first generation, and with continuous breeding, the train's biodiversity would only increase.
"Where did you find these? Sha River City has been searched countless times. How could these have been overlooked?"
Though the livestock in the refrigerator were all emaciated, looking like they were on the verge of death, with no meat on their bones, in the apocalypse, even a skeleton could be used to make soup. Other trains would definitely not let these livestock go.
"Uh..." Biaozi scratched the back of his head before speaking. "I don't know. I found them in a metal canister. The canister was stuck upright in the ground, and these livestock were hiding inside."
"It looks like a giant Amoxicillin capsule."
"I brought the canister back too."
Biaozi ducked into the refrigerator and soon emerged, pushing out a black metal canister with a shattered bottom. It truly did resemble a giant Amoxicillin capsule, completely black and unremarkable.
"Biaozi, try climbing into that jar."
"Alright."
Chen Mang narrowed his eyes slightly. Through the information transmitted by his cane, Biaozi vanished from his target acquisition radar the moment he entered the iron jar.
What a joke!
His target acquisition radar was already at Tier 15. How could it fail to detect Biaozi inside the jar?
This jar possessed the ability to shield against radar detection, and its shielding level was incredibly high. It wasn't a special item, but rather...
After a moment of silence, he spoke. "Move everything into the train. I'll build a new carriage later—a breeding carriage specifically for raising livestock. Bring in some refrigerators and find a few Auxiliary AIs to help feed the chickens, ducks, and cultivate those seeds. See if you can get them to sprout."
"Yes, sir."
A possibility had flashed through his mind just now. This iron jar might be the key to unlocking the apocalypse. Its built-in advanced radar-shielding ability could allow it to enter the atmosphere undetected by this world's radar, land successfully, and trigger the apocalypse.
If that were the case, there should be more jars like this one.
The livestock had likely hidden inside the jar not to avoid the train, but to escape the monsters. This implied that even the monsters dared not approach the iron jar.
If we approach the logic this way...
Many possibilities that had seemed ethereal and vague gradually became clearer.
Chen Mang looked up at the night sky, no longer able to find the countdown among the countless stars. But no matter how this apocalypse had come about, he had to keep living.
Tonight was exceptionally lively.
All the residents had changed into clean clothes and were sitting in small groups on the hospital rooftop, cross-legged on the ground. They occasionally glanced at the steaming boiler nearby, their throats involuntarily rumbling.
Tonight, Lord Mang had ordered a pot of pork, cabbage, and vermicelli stew to be prepared for everyone.
Since the apocalypse had arrived, many people hadn't smelled meat in ages. Now, even before it was served, they couldn't help but crane their necks to watch the cooking process. The aroma that filled the air made them shiver with anticipation.
"Just throw in whatever we have," Old Pig sighed, watching the busy cooks. "We're limited on supplies. We couldn't find any cabbage, but we did find plenty of carrots, potatoes, and vermicelli. Just pile on the vermicelli."
"Everyone will only get a few pieces of meat. Make sure you fill up on the vermicelli."
"Biaozi somehow got half a refrigerator full of vermicelli noodles. That guy's pretty ruthless—how did he find so much stuff after everyone else had already scavenged the area?"
"Got it."
"Remember to set aside the best cut of meat for me to deliver to Lord Mang."
"Of course, of course," the middle-aged man, busy with the cooking, wiped the sweat from his brow and hastily replied with a wide smile.
A meal for a thousand people.
This was a proper big pot meal, and the Stellaris train didn't have a pot that big. But how could a living person be defeated by a lack of resources? Chen Mang simply converted a regular carriage into a giant cooking pot. He upgraded the carriage's armor to Tier 3 and then customized it with a steel plate dividing the interior into thirds.
The smallest third of the carriage served as the pot.
Finally, they filled it with water, chopped vegetables, minced meat, and added the ingredients.
They didn't have every seasoning imaginable, but they used what they had. With such a massive pot, the seasonings were bound to be insufficient, and the final flavor was anyone's guess. But at least it would be hot.
As for the heat source... that wasn't a problem either.
The carriage was placed on the ground, and the Stellaris train's two Nitrous Tailpipes at the rear continuously spewed blue flames directly onto the carriage, sending waves of heat rising into the air.
(End of the Chapter)
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