Translator: AnubisTL
The Stellaris train sat quietly on the plaza suspended high in the sky. It was waiting time—seven minutes remained until the fourth trial began.
The first three trials had been relatively easy.
The rewards had been modest.
Starting with the fourth trial, the difficulty would reach A-Rank, and the rewards would naturally increase accordingly.
"..."
Sitting in the locomotive cabin, Chen Mang scanned his surroundings. He couldn't figure out how the plaza was suspended in the air. He saw no jet propulsion devices, felt no strong magnetic fields, and saw no cables or supports.
Returning his gaze, he turned to the control panel, where two accessory blueprints lay displayed. He had obtained them in the first two trials. Their grades weren't particularly high—one was white-grade, the other green-grade—but their rarity lay in the fact that these blueprints could only be acquired through fortuitous encounters within the Sky Piercing Tower.
They were randomly awarded, not guaranteed upon completing the Second or Third Stage.
But this wasn't the time to examine his spoils.
He leaned back in his seat, lit a cigarette, and gazed out the window. The skyscrapers built from mechanical components looked cold and sterile.
Two more trials remained: the Fourth Trial, A-Rank Difficulty, and the Fifth Trial, S-Rank.
If he could clear these two trials successfully, he would have successfully completed the "Sky Piercing Tower" fortuitous encounter map. At least for now, he didn't find the map particularly challenging.
Soon—
A holographic screen reappeared in front of the train.
Fourth Trial: A-Rank Difficulty - City-Threatening Crisis
Escape the mechanical city...
The instant the holographic screen materialized, Chen Mang felt as if every searchlight on the towering skyscrapers of the mechanical city had turned to focus on him. The scenery around him began to shift, and a cacophony of noises filled his ears.
There were intermittent electronic voices.
The thunder of gunfire and explosions.
The roars of monstrous creatures.
The target acquisition radar, which had been silent until now, suddenly began to blare frantically, its screen filling with countless red dots.
"Calling Stellaris train, calling Stellaris train... Evacuate! Evacuate! I order you to evacuate!"
A cold, emotionless mechanical voice crackled over the train radio.
His expression slightly changing, Chen Mang glanced sharply out the window. He had been on a high-altitude plaza just moments ago, but somehow the train had materialized in a plaza within the city. On either side of the train, hundreds of Anthropomorphic Mimetic Robots, their eyes glowing red, charged out of the city with weapons in hand.
He could clearly see the exposed wires and energy stones on these robots' bodies. The weapons they carried were completely different from those manufactured on his train—slender and sleek, with what looked like a battery pack attached to the stock.
Zzizzz...
Amidst a cacophony of noise, thousands of Mantis-like monsters, each standing over two meters tall, charged from the end of the street.
The robots that had advanced to meet them immediately knelt on one knee, aiming their guns and firing. Crimson lasers erupted, and any monster struck by the beams burst into smoke and collapsed at the feet of its brethren.
Yet more monsters, unscathed by the lasers, reached the robots. They bared their fangs in a ferocious roar, raising their razor-sharp limbs to slash at the robots. Sparks and lightning crackled as the robots twisted erratically before falling to the ground, spewing black smoke.
This street behind the square was just a microcosm of the chaos.
The entire mechanical city had suddenly come alive. The air was filled with the roars of monsters. Looking up, countless flying monsters, their wings beating like a dark cloud, descended upon the mechanical city. Simultaneously, the anti-aircraft guns mounted on every skyscraper opened fire.
Shwiiish!
The sky above the mechanical city was crisscrossed with tracer fire, creating a spectacular, once-in-a-lifetime meteor shower of light.
Countless monsters, struck mid-flight, plummeted to the ground with ear-splitting screeches. Yet even more monsters broke through the defensive fire!
A flicker of disbelief and shock flashed across Chen Mang's eyes. He even saw four or five trains lift off from the city, charging to meet the threat head-on. Their firepower accessories unleashed a relentless barrage of fire.
On the target acquisition radar, even more trains emerged from high-rise buildings, the Underground, and platforms beneath the plazas, accelerating down the streets toward the city's edge to engage the enemy!
Was this an illusion? Or something akin to a Combat Training Virtual Space?
The mechanical city before him was vastly different from the one he had first entered. Piercing alarms blared everywhere. Not a single human was in sight, only swarms of robots and seemingly endless waves of monsters.
The deafening roar of countless firearms firing and the monsters' bloodcurdling shrieks mingled into a tsunami of sound, instantly blanking his mind.
This mechanical city seemed far less desolate than when he had first arrived. It was in much better condition, and the sense of desolation was gone, replaced by a frenetic energy.
Just then—
BOOM!!!
A towering skyscraper on the side of the street suddenly retracted its walls from the seventh layer down to the first, revealing a colossal mecha over ten meters tall. It was bristling with various large firepower accessories, wielding a lightsaber, and its body constantly flashed with warning lights.
The moment it emerged from the skyscraper, two deep blue flames erupted from the mecha's back, propelling it into the air toward the monstrous creature in the sky, which was dozens of meters in size!
"It's that mecha!"
Chen Mang stared at the mecha soaring into the sky. He recognized it—though its appearance had changed, it was the same mecha that had chased him during the First Stage!
The Stellaris Mecha.
He remembered clearly thinking at the time, "How can this mecha have the same name as my train? Is my name really that common?"
But...
When it had chased him before, it was clearly a defective version. It lacked the heavy firepower weapons it now carried, wielding only a heavy sword that didn't even glow like the lightsaber it now wielded.
Just then—
ROAR!!
A deafening roar suddenly pierced the air. A colossal Worm, covered in a thick, viscous fluid, burst from the ground at the end of the street. Its hundreds of razor-sharp fangs devoured every robot and Mantis on the street in an instant, then lunged at the Stellaris train with terrifying speed!
The street rapidly cracked open.
Chen Mang slammed the control stick forward, switching to the Windfire Wheel and activating its Tier 5 overpowered effect, along with the nitrous tailpipe's overpowered effect!
The Windfire Wheel's Tier 5 overpowered effect triggered a potential-release state, doubling the train's maximum speed. However, it would rapidly deplete energy stones and cause some damage to the Windfire Wheel itself.
The nitrous tailpipes on either side of the carriages quickly merged, forming two massive Tail Jets that provided the train with immense thrust!
These were all his trump cards for speed!
The control panel screen showed the train's current speed at 980 km/h. In the blink of an eye, the train shot out of the square and hurtled toward the road ahead. The speed was so extreme that Chen Mang could no longer make out the scenery on either side.
The Train Auxiliary AI had already taken over full control of the train.
The target acquisition radar showed that this monster was of Unknown Tier—something the Stellaris train couldn't possibly withstand.
Chen Mang finally understood why the roads in the mechanical city were so straight and wide: they were designed for trains to travel at high speeds!
But even at the Stellaris's breakneck speed, the energy stone was rapidly depleting. Mechanical Nanospiders swarmed out, frantically repairing the Windfire Wheel. Yet in a mere three seconds, the massive worm that had burrowed up from the Underground had already reached the Stellaris's rear.
It had no eyes, only a mouth.
A single, gaping maw occupied the entire head of the worm, revealing countless fangs and a throat cavity that resembled a birth canal, covered in wrinkles.
The worm's body was incredibly thick—it could swallow three trains whole without difficulty.
"Damn it!"
Chen Mang's expression darkened. Is this really A-Rank difficulty? The Stellaris train stood no chance against an Unknown Tier monster. Unknown Tier... who the hell knows how many levels that even is? His prized Tier 6 Armor was utterly useless against such a creature!
At this point, there was no way to dodge. He had no choice but to gamble.
Just as he slammed the Stellaris train to a sudden halt, only to be swallowed whole by the Worm behind him, and was about to gamble on breaking free using the train's special move, "Death Spin," inside its stomach...
Boom!
The ground suddenly shuddered violently. The mech that had been soaring through the air moments ago crashed heavily to the ground. Its massive mechanical foot pinned the giant Worm beneath it, preventing its escape. Only then did the mech turn its gaze toward the Stellaris train, its optical sensors flashing red.
A cold, emotionless mechanical voice echoed from the speaker installed in its throat.
"Stellaris, flee."
"Survive."
The next moment—
Three even larger Worms burst from the Underground, their gaping maws snapping as they engaged the mech in a fierce battle.
Chen Mang narrowed his eyes, daring not to pause for a moment. He slammed the control stick forward, accelerating the Stellaris deeper into the mechanical city. A red line on the screen guided his path—the mission objective for this stage.
As he sped away, he saw the Worms spewing countless streams of thick, black liquid onto the mech. The armor on the mech's surface was rapidly corroding, the damage identical to the corrosion marks on the mech from the First Stage.
Only thirty seconds had passed, and the red line on the screen had barely moved a twentieth of the way.
Several massive worms burst from the Underground again, blocking his path. Just as he was about to leap over them using his spider legs, a robot army poured out of the two skyscrapers on either side of the street, resembling a military force. Each robot's internal wiring was exposed, with armor plates missing from either their left or right sides, clearly having endured a fierce battle.
Hundreds of robots, wielding various weapons as if charging to their deaths, charged forward. But against the massive worms, they were utterly insignificant, easily swallowed whole.
Then—
"Boom, boom, boom!"
Several faint explosions erupted from the worms' abdomens. The worms writhed in agony, abandoning their attack on him.
Chen Mang turned his head to look at the open skyscrapers on either side of the street.
Inside, countless assembly lines stretched out.
On the lines lay countless battered robots. Several robots on either side of the lines manipulated mechanical arms, holding what looked like welding rods, rapidly dismantling, disassembling, and reassembling the robots.
"..."
Chen Mang frowned slightly and immediately pushed the control lever again. The spider legs on both sides of the train bent slightly before straightening with a sudden jerk, launching the train into the air. It leaped over the several Worms writhing on the ground and continued its death march down the straight street ahead.
Before leaving, he saw one of the robots about to be devoured turn back, its eye sockets flashing red. A hoarse, grating voice like that of a late-stage oral cancer patient rasped, "Stellaris... live on."
The next moment, a brilliant flash of fire erupted from the robot's abdomen, instantly engulfing its entire body. Countless parts scattered into the air, fluttering gently to the ground.
Chen Mang watched the scene unfold like a detached observer, as if watching a cutscene in a game.
Every danger he encountered was beyond his ability to resolve.
The unknown-Tier monster, once it approached the Stellaris train, would spell only one fate for it: annihilation.
Yet every time danger arose, someone would step forward to shield him, all so he could escape alive.
Finally—
Chen Mang steered the Stellaris train to its destination, the highest point of the mechanical city. But even here, the air was thick with the thunder of gunfire and explosions. The flames of war had already reached this area.
He turned to look back at the mechanical city.
Countless plumes of black smoke billowed upward, flames erupting from every corner. At a glance, a dense mass of monsters nearly blanketed the entire mechanical city. Countless skyscrapers had already collapsed, and the deafening roar of gunfire and artillery had inexplicably faded.
At the end of the line stood an enormous elevator, like a sightseeing lift, with glass walls on all sides and steel plates only at the top and bottom. The steel frame surrounding the elevator soared into the clouds, its top disappearing into the heavens, as if it led directly to the cosmos.
The elevator doors stood open, waiting for him to enter.
Flanking the elevator doors stood hundreds of robots, their limbs missing, electrical wires dangling from their bodies, and weapons clutched in their hands. All the robots he had seen along the way, including those now facing the Stellaris train, were entirely black. But one robot stood out from the crowd, its body a vibrant crimson.
This robot stepped forward, its eye sockets glowing with red light.
He bowed slightly toward the Stellaris train. As he bent, a mechanical eyeball rolled onto the ground. His body remained suspended in mid-air for three seconds before straightening. He raised his right hand toward the Stellaris train, and a harsh, grating mechanical voice emerged from the speaker in his throat.
"Survive, Stellaris."
"You must, must, must make them know."
"This hatred will never fade."
"Not even after billions of years."
(End of the Chapter)
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