Translator: AnubisTL
"..."
Inside the Stellaris locomotive cabin, Chen Mang frowned, gazing at the ring of hundreds of nozzles around the edge of the plaza. The frigid air blasting from them had coalesced into a seamless cylinder of ice hundreds of meters tall!
High above, at the end of the line, was a much smaller plaza—the final destination.
At that moment, the countdown had begun.
"00:02:59"
Three minutes remained.
The edge of the plaza beneath the Stellaris train had already begun to collapse. When the countdown ended, the train would plunge into the bottomless abyss. No one knew where it would fall, only the incessant squealing of gears grinding below.
Falling into the abyss was unlikely to end well.
Li Shiji, who had just returned to his seat, was immediately summoned again. His face pale with tension, he quickly scanned the plaza. The only clue was the intricate patterns etched into the plaza's floor. Within three minutes, he had to solve the puzzle and find a way to reach the plaza hundreds of meters above—this was the challenge of this level.
Ten seconds later.
Li Shiji's face began to rapidly turn pale, his expression growing increasingly grim. His hands trembled as he frantically scanned the plaza, its edges already crumbling, desperately searching for a solution. But it was clear his current state offered little hope.
"It's only B-grade difficulty. Why is it so hard?"
Chen Mang, seated at the control panel, remained unruffled. He calmly gazed at the towering cylinder of frigid air that enveloped the entire plaza. This thing wasn't solid; his spider legs had nothing to grip.
"Xiao Ai, what about you?"
"No way," Xiao Ai replied quickly, shaking her head. "I have almost no learning materials and no simulation space at all. Train Conductor, you need to find me some resources to study."
Just then—
Erdan's urgent and excited voice crackled over the train radio: "Brother, it's okay! I've reached the top!"
"Wait for me! I'll fly to your position. I have a special steel cable that can hoist your train up."
Hearing the commotion, Chen Mang looked up to see the Azure Dragon Train successfully hovering above the plaza. Its energy shield now enveloped the entire train, preparing to pierce through the icy pillar.
This pillar was sealed at the top, with the final plaza—suspended high in the sky—located near the top inside the pillar.
The only way to escape the icy pillar was to break through the icy barrier itself.
"No need, I—"
Before he could finish his sentence, the Azure Dragon Train had already begun accelerating, charging headfirst into the icy pillar. In an instant, countless frost crystals engulfed the train, instantly freezing it solid.
Completely out of control, the train plummeted heavily back onto the plaza below.
"—have a plan."
Chen Mang's final four words emerged slowly, not because he was speaking slowly, but because the train's speed had been far too reckless and impulsive. He stared blankly at the Azure Dragon Train, now lying in a heap on the ground. If the train hadn't been upgraded with a Built-in Space Stabilizer...
He figured everyone on board was probably dead.
He grabbed the walkie-talkie from the train radio. "Are they dead?"
"Not yet... just... so... so cold," Erdan's trembling voice crackled through the train radio, accompanied by the sound of his teeth chattering from the cold. Even through the radio, Chen Mang could feel the chill.
"Remind me... I've retreated to the passenger seats."
"Also... you have one minute to figure this out. If you fall, you might die!"
Then—
Chen Mang watched countless mechanical arms emerge from all around the square, lifting the Azure Dragon Train, now frozen solid, to the side. Simultaneously, a multitude of flame-spewing torches extended to begin thawing it.
He glanced at the icy cage surrounding them, realizing its power was even greater than he'd anticipated.
Li Shiji still hadn't provided an answer. It seemed he had no choice but to resort to that method.
He sighed softly. It would cost him 50,000 units of iron ore, which stung a little.
He consumed 50,000 units of iron ore to rapidly manufacture a Tier 3 energy stone and placed it in the Generator. Only then did the Stellaris switch back to its spider leg configuration. With a slight bend in its mechanical spider legs, the rear carriages of the train suddenly leaped into the air and landed upright on the ground.
The interruption and replication of several carriages repeated several times.
Then, the 14-carriage Stellaris train stood perfectly upright in the center of the plaza!
It didn't look like a train.
It resembled a rocket poised for launch.
"That... that guy..."
At that moment, the Azure Dragon Train, eliminated in the Third Stage, was being lifted by a mechanical arm to the side of the plaza, where a flamethrower was being used to thaw it. Previously, its driver had been anxiously watching the Stellaris' progress on the control panel screen.
He had been relegated to the spectator seats, now forced to watch the other contestants—specifically, the Stellaris—complete the stage.
Falling into the plaza below in this round meant certain death. This was no joke!
The plaza was filled with a chaotic array of spinning gears. Anyone who fell in would meet a gruesome end.
He had his Bunny Cloud to fly, but the Stellaris couldn't fly. Unless it could solve the puzzle in the final minute, it was doomed.
And then, just at that moment...
He watched the Stellaris train perform an eerie maneuver. The entire train suddenly leaped into the air, and when it landed again, it stood perfectly upright in the center of the plaza.
But that wasn't all.
The Stellaris train's nitrous tailpipes—four on each side of every carriage—had begun to spew blue flames!
"That guy..." Erdan couldn't help but force a wry smile. "Is he trying to launch his train like a rocket?"
"Those are nitrous tailpipes! Even at Tier 10, they wouldn't generate enough thrust to make the train fly!"
"Think of something! You can't die here! You have s-rank potential!"
"There must be a way. Think, think!"
His face etched with worry, he stared intently at the Stellaris train standing in the plaza. Dozens of nitrous tailpipes around the train were now furiously spewing blue flames, yet the train showed no sign of lifting off the ground.
He had the same accessory himself, and he knew exactly how much speed it could provide.
Even at Tier 10, it would only add 120 kilometers per hour to the train's speed. How could that possibly be used for a rocket-style takeoff?
Just as his teeth began to chatter uncontrollably from the cold, and he was about to reach for the train radio's walkie-talkie to say something, he witnessed a scene he would never forget.
He saw—
The dozens of nitrous tailpipes on either side of the Stellaris suddenly began to expand, connecting end-to-end with the tailpipes of the carriages in front and behind. In the blink of an eye, the dozens of tailpipes had merged into two massive nitrous tailpipes, embedded along the sides of the train and spanning its entire length—from the first carriage to the fourteenth!
"This... this..."
Erdan, who had witnessed the scene firsthand, felt an impossible thought flash through his mind. Frozen in place, his voice trembling, he grabbed the walkie-talkie of the train radio and shouted, "Are you... are you serious?"
"This is even possible?"
"You never said... you could fly!"
Soon, Chen Mang's familiar chuckle echoed from the train radio.
"I never said I couldn't fly either."
The next moment—
By now, the plaza had collapsed, leaving only a small patch at its center. The two massive nitrous tailpipes on either side of the Stellaris began to vibrate violently. Then, two colossal jets of blue flame erupted from the tailpipes, blasting directly toward the ground!
Boom!!!
Under the immense thrust, the Stellaris, which had been standing firmly on the ground, slowly lifted into the air like a rocket. Its speed gradually increased, and in the blink of an eye, it had reached the top of the frigid cage hundreds of meters above. Then, as the nitrous tailpipes instantly extinguished, the Stellaris landed smoothly on the elevated final plaza.
Success!
The stage was cleared.
"Third Stage: Passed."
"Reward for this stage: A random green-grade Accessory blueprint. Randomization in progress. Detected that the previous stage's reward was the 'Iris Chip' blueprint. Received the matching blueprint, 'Mechanical Eye.' The Fourth Trial will begin in ten minutes."
"P.S.: All Accessory blueprints obtained within this fortuitous encounter map can only be acquired through the Sky Piercing Tower Encounter Map."
"Whew."
Chen Mang leaned back in his chair in the Stellaris's locomotive cabin, exhaling softly. He glanced at the data on the control panel and chuckled.
Not bad. It consumed less energy than I expected.
The Tier 3 energy stone had only been depleted by 17%.
The consumption was definitely higher than that of the Bunny Cloud, but that was to be expected. After all, the Bunny Cloud's flight was natural, while his was cobbled together from various components.
First, he used the Tier 20 overpowered effect of the spider leg to make the Stellaris stand upright in the plaza.
Then, he used the Tier 10 overpowered effect of the nitrous tailpipe to merge all the tailpipes into two massive ones, creating an effect similar to a rocket taking off vertically.
The main drawbacks, besides the high energy consumption, were the lack of directional control. He couldn't fly wherever he wanted; he could only fly straight.
But—
In terms of sheer visual impact, the Bunny Cloud couldn't even hold a candle to it.
"Damn..."
Erdan in the Azure Dragon remained stunned for a long time, his mouth hanging open in disbelief. After a long moment, he finally managed a wry smile and shook his head.
Before coming here...
He had actually been planning to vent his frustration. After all, he'd been humiliated so badly in the maze. How could he let that go? From the moment they met, he'd been determined to outshine the Stellaris, but no matter what he tried, he couldn't compete.
The train's environment was inferior, the woman was inferior, and even his most prized flying ability was inferior.
As for attack and defense, he hadn't even considered them. With over sixty overpowered effects, how could those possibly be lacking?
In other words...
His veteran Tier 5 train had been completely outclassed by Chen Mang in every single aspect, utterly crushed from start to finish.
Is this what s-rank potential looks like?
Isn't this a bit too terrifying?
He remembered that even s-rank potential only came with a red-grade Heavy Firepower Accessory and a train-specific skill. If that was the case, it wasn't s-rank potential that was terrifying, but Chen Mang himself.
So be it.
He took a deep breath, picked up the train radio's walkie-talkie, and couldn't help but sneeze. His voice trembled with cold, his teeth chattering as he said, "The next stage... is even harder. It's A-Rank Difficulty."
"Even if I weren't in the audience, I'd still struggle to clear it."
"The rewards for the later stages will definitely be even better. That's where the real prize lies. Do your best to clear them all!"
"I'll bring you some beer later. Just don't forget me."
"Let me share some soup with you."
"Did we just... fly?"
In Carriage 5, Yan Yao stared at Ji Chuchu beside her, her eyes wide with shock. "Isn't the Stellaris a train? How can it fly? Do all trains in this world fly now?"
"Of course not." Ji Chuchu shook her head. "After the apocalypse, trains became the only mobile shelters for survivors to escape the monsters. How could everyone's train fly? It's just that Lord Mang is extraordinary."
"You haven't been on other trains, so seeing Lord Mang would only give you the feeling of a frog at the bottom of a well gazing at the moon."
"But after you've struggled through a year in the apocalypse, when you see Lord Mang again, you'll understand what it means to be a mayfly seeing the vast sky."
"Do you think all these people are so grateful to the Stellaris just because of the treatment on board?"
"The biggest reason is..."
"Having witnessed the Stellaris's power, they believe that following it will lead them to a brighter future, ultimately establishing an absolutely safe mobile shelter in this desperate apocalypse."
"You're incredibly lucky," Biaozi said, his expression complex as he gazed out the window of Guard Car No. 7. The awe-inspiring scene he'd just witnessed still lingered in his mind, refusing to fade. For a moment, he'd even felt like he was riding a rocket. He'd never imagined he'd get to experience that again in his life.
"It's what I envy most about you," Old Pig said, smiling as he looked out the window, his eyes filled with emotion and pride. He'd been the first to follow Lord Mang, witnessing the Stellaris's growth from the very beginning. It was wonderful. He'd poured so much sweat and effort into this train.
If the day ever came when he had to choose between sacrificing himself or the train, he would choose himself. He'd come to regard the Stellaris as his home. He couldn't imagine what his life would be like without it. Perhaps he'd return to the aimless existence he'd endured in the desperate apocalypse, barely clinging to life. He never wanted to live like that again.
"What a pity," he murmured.
Old Pig suddenly shook his head regretfully. "It's a shame the resident carriages don't have windows. They can't see what's happening outside."
"There are too many people," Biaozi said helplessly. "Even if there were windows, only a small fraction could see out. And if everyone wanted to look, there'd be a risk of trampling."
"Mm." Old Pig nodded, smiling. "Maybe we can install some screens in the Resident Car. When the Stellaris starts showing off its power, we can let everyone watch. That way, they'll get a more direct sense of how powerful it truly is."
"Don't make it sound like we're just a bunch of nobodies," Biaozi grumbled. "Any old nobody can come along and brag about flying in front of us."
Clearly, Old Pig was still fuming. He rolled his eyes dismissively. "That guy today at noon, he kept bragging about flying right in front of Lord Mang. It made my blood boil just listening to him."
"Who wouldn't be pissed? Damn it!"
"Still, Lord Mang is the one to watch."
(End of the Chapter)
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