"..."
As they traveled, Chen Mang glanced at the items placed on the table nearby and chuckled softly without saying a word.
Although it was just a level 6 monster, the rewards were exceptionally generous.
On the control panel screen, two lines of text floated.
-
"You have defeated the level 7 ancient boss 'Mechanical Zombie King.'"
"You have gained 30 Reputation Points."
-
The panel displayed a level 7 boss.
This further confirmed his speculation was correct. If the Corpse Tide had fed all the flesh and blood to that Zombie King, it might have fully ascended to a level 7 boss. By then, the map would likely have changed, as this was a green zone, which could only accommodate up to level 6 Zombies.
However.
There weren't many monsters or people on the Shahe Plain to begin with. Even if the Corpse Tide hadn't been intercepted by him and had successfully arrived, the amount of flesh and blood they brought would have been far from enough to allow the Zombie King to evolve to level 7.
After listening to Er Dan's account.
This "Mechanical Zombie King" boss was essentially a major event that had been triggered prematurely by Er Dan. The large number of monsters in the Kunlun Mountains region were likely prepared in advance to serve as blood offerings for the Mechanical Zombie King's evolution.
But man proposes, and heaven disposes.
Er Dan accidentally triggered the event early, and the large number of blood offerings in the Kunlun Mountains region had been hidden away. The Corpse Tide was forced to head to the Shahe Plain to plunder blood offerings for their king, only to encounter him.
The Corpse Tide was slaughtered by him, and the Zombie King was sent to the afterlife with a single missile.
Thus, what should have been a major event was hastily concluded. However, Chen Mang still planned to go and investigate the collapsed mountain to see what was going on.
"Ancient boss?"
Chen Mang raised an eyebrow slightly, unsure of what exactly an ancient boss was. Could it be a boss born from the apocalypse of another planet that had somehow ended up in this world?
But perhaps it was precisely because of this unusual prefix that he was given an extra 30 Reputation Points.
The loot was also quite good.
There were three items.
-
1: Green Grade Vehicle Component Blueprint, "Vehicle-Mounted Zombie Perception Blocker."
2: Special Item, "Biohazard" Map Chip.
3: 10 Murphy Stones.
-
Among these, the second item was something he had never seen before. It wasn't a chip to unlock a Fortuitous Encounter map but required pairing with a level 5 "Combat Training Virtual Space" to use.
The Combat Training Virtual Space offered many map options. When this accessory reached level 10, the physical fitness improvements gained from training in the virtual space would also be amplified in the real world.
By inserting this chip into the "Combat Training Virtual Space,"
a special map would appear—the Biohazard map.
Each successful completion of the map would directly increase the Physical Fitness Index by 0.2, up to three times for normal completion.
There was also a "Limit Break" completion, which increased the difficulty.
Each successful Limit Break completion would increase the Physical Fitness Index by 0.5, also up to three times.
However, if you chose the Limit Break completion and died in the map, you would enter a brain-dead state in the real world.
Theoretically.
Everyone could gain a maximum of 2.1 Physical Fitness Index from the "Biohazard" map. Of course, this was theoretical, as the danger of Limit Break completion was too high. But at the very least, you could get a 0.6 Physical Fitness Index increase.
"Not bad."
Chen Mang smiled as he stuffed these items into the drawer. Anything that could increase the Physical Fitness Index was a good thing. In the future, he could control more mechs. He had seen Zhang Da Mei's combat footage from last night in the Train Log. Not bad, the mechs were quite useful.
The 10 Murphy Stones could also be traded. Not bad at all.
That missile wasn't a waste.
Although he didn't know what an ancient boss was, he hoped that any future bosses he encountered would also be ancient bosses. Of course, they shouldn't be too high-level—he couldn't handle that. Level 6 felt just right.
At this moment—
The Stellar Train slowly flew over the collapsed mountain. At a glance, there was a huge gap at the top of the snowy mountain. The Zombie King had emerged from this gap earlier.
Both the "Resource Detection Radar" and the "Targeting Radar" showed no abnormalities in the mountain.
No minerals, no monsters.
Chen Mang narrowed his eyes slightly and piloted the train to descend through the gap at the mountain's peak. The entire mountain was almost hollowed out, and at the very top of the mountain's interior were countless massive steel frames.
Each steel frame was extremely thick and had a heavy, substantial feel.
The Zombie King had been fixed to the top of the mountain by these steel frames, and during the landslide, its arm had been exposed.
On the walls at the base of the mountain were numerous constantly lit "Incandescent Lamps."
"Not monsters?"
Chen Mang descended thoughtfully. Neither the incandescent lamps nor the steel frames seemed like the work of monsters. He glanced at the train's screen, where all the accessories showed 100% durability, and the train's special skill, "Absolute Defense," was also intact. He wasn't too scared and continued to descend.
The next moment.
"Buzz, buzz, buzz—"
Dozens of drones flew out from the train and quickly headed down into the pit inside the mountain to gather information. A few days ago, after he had leveled a valley with a missile, he had acquired quite a few good items.
Among them was a blue-grade vehicle component blueprint, the "Swarm Platform."
It could be used to build and dock drones.
He had installed it outside the 7th Guard car. Each drone had the ability to gather information and was equipped with a small energy-powered machine gun that didn't consume ammunition but used Energy Stones.
One level 1 Energy Stone could keep a drone flying for hundreds of hours. If it needed to fire, it would depend on the level of the bullets. For level 3 bullets, it could fire continuously for 10 minutes.
This accessory had already been upgraded to level 10, and naturally, each drone was also level 10. Theoretically, it could fire level 10 bullets.
However.
A level 1 Energy Stone had too small a capacity and could only support firing up to level 3 bullets.
To fire level 10 bullets, at least a level 5 Energy Stone would be needed.
But the drones' primary function wasn't attack; their main purpose was reconnaissance. They were useful for clearing out small fry, but against a level 10 boss, drones wouldn't stand a chance.
Soon—
A large number of images were transmitted back to the "Train Auxiliary AI" by the drones, and after being edited and pieced together by the AI, they formed a complete picture. At the very bottom was a massive plaza.
Surrounding the plaza were many mechanical arms and frames.
No monsters or robots.
Several minutes later.
The Stellar Train slowly landed on the plaza. The plaza was covered in various strange patterns, and around it were many tall frames with mechanical arms installed on them.
The entire place looked like a rocket launch site.
But there was no rocket in sight.
"Well, well—"
Chen Mang was slightly awed as he looked around the plaza. At the edge of the plaza was a massive five-story-tall frame, on which were placed many large firepower weapons: rockets, heavy machine guns, exoskeleton armor, enormous chainsaws, and greatswords, among others.
There were also many ammunition crates.
The caliber of the heavy machine gun was even larger than that of his "Doomsday Cannon."
A single burst from that would terrify both man and ghost.
He looked up through the skylight at the massive gap in the mountain's interior ceiling and the countless incandescent lamps on the inner walls. He finally understood why this boss was called the "Mechanical Zombie King" and what this place was for.
Under normal circumstances.
When the time was right, the Zombie at the very top would have fallen onto this plaza, and these frames and mechanical arms would have installed all these weapon accessories onto the Zombie, turning it into a... large-scale killing machine.
Similar to the "Stellar Gen 3 Mech" he had seen in the Mechanical City.
Only this one was larger and equipped with even more firepower.
"Can I take these things with me...?"
Chen Mang looked greedily at the large firepower accessories placed on the nearby frame. These firepower accessories weren't designed for humans; they were larger than people.
They were originally designed for that Zombie.
Though there were many firepower accessories, compared to the Zombie, they weren't that large and could all be installed on the Zombie.
They would also be great to have on the train. Although they weren't train accessories and might become unusable once the ammunition ran out, they were free. And free stuff like this—the more, the merrier. He'd take as much as he could get.
"Xiao Ai."
"Send Biao Zi down with a team to check things out."
"Yes."
"Merit, merit, merit!!!"
As the door of the 7th Guard car opened, Biao Zi, his face filled with excitement, tightened the belt on his tactical suit, grabbed his rifle, and led a team out of the train. They began carefully inspecting the unusual aspects of the plaza from the edges.
It was time for him to earn some merit again.
Well.
Even if he found something, it wouldn't technically count as earning merit—it was just part of his job. But... at least it was a small achievement.
Although he was excited.
Once he started carrying out the task, Biao Zi immediately entered a cautious state. With a tense expression, he quickly searched the small frames around the edges. Around the plaza were many tall frames, similar to those used to secure rockets before launch.
Aside from the tall frames, there were also many small frames only about a meter high.
On them were placed various tools.
"No dust."
Biao Zi frowned slightly as he picked up a wrench and examined it. He then rubbed his finger on the frame. How could there be no dust here, no matter how long this place had existed? There must be a ventilation system running.
Was the ventilation system that effective?
The frame in front of him was basically filled with various tools, while the frames next to it held armor, weapons, and the like.
"Hmm?"
Biao Zi suddenly froze, a flash of excitement in his eyes. These armor and weapons clearly weren't designed for the train—they were smaller, the kind used for mechs. Could there be mechs here?
If there was a mech that didn't require too high a Physical Fitness Index,
maybe he could finally have his own mech!
With this thought, Biao Zi searched even more eagerly.
He then looked back at the team members behind him but didn't speak. Instead, the command was transmitted through the Hive Mind to Director Ai, who then relayed the command to the team members via the Iris Chip. In an instant, the command was silently delivered.
Immediately after.
All the team members nodded in unison and dispersed to search the area.
"Train Conductor."
Xiao Ai's cold, mechanical voice sounded in the train's cabin. "First, it can be determined that the patterns carved into the plaza are not a maze—they don't meet the basic criteria for a maze."
"Nor are they any form of writing."
"As for whether they're related to mysticism or some other form of writing, my database has no relevant information."
"However..."
"They do indeed resemble some form of ritual."
"A ritual?"
On the control panel screen, a flat image of the plaza's patterns soon appeared.
At the same time, Xiao Ai's voice sounded in his ear.
"Assume I pour a bucket of blood from this position. The blood would flow through the carved channels and spread across all the patterns, like this."
On the screen, the leftmost depression on the flat image of the patterns, resembling a small pool, slowly turned red. Soon, all the patterns turned red as Xiao Ai simulated what would happen if blood were poured into the depression.
"..."
Chen Mang didn't speak further, merely narrowing his eyes as he looked out the window at the plaza's patterns. He piloted the Stellar Train to rise and land on the open space around the plaza. If there was a possibility of a ritual, it was better not to stay foolishly on the plaza.
Otherwise, he might end up being the one being sacrificed!
This place was a mix of rituals, Zombies, and mechanical firepower—quite the hodgepodge!
Thirty minutes later.
"Train Conductor, Biao Zi and his team have finished their investigation. The specific information has appeared on the screen. Additionally, there's a chip, which is stored in a transparent box."
"On the box is a line of text."
"..."
Chen Mang looked down at the transparent box containing the chip in his hand. The chip inside was about the size of a small fingernail and looked very much like the memory card of a cell phone from the old era of his previous world.
On the box was written:
"Mechanical Zombie King Construction Plan!"
"Can you download the information from this chip?" he asked, turning to Xiao Ai.
"Of course."
Xiao Ai stepped forward, took the transparent box, and carefully inserted the chip into the interface of the "Train Auxiliary AI" on the control panel. His voice was mechanical and cold. "Provided the chip isn't encrypted at too high a level."
One minute later.
Xiao Ai's voice sounded again in the train's cabin. Though his voice remained the same cold, mechanical electronic tone, there was a hint of admiration and joy in it.
"Congratulations, Train Conductor."
"This is a ruin similar to the Mechanical City, though it's not a Fortuitous Encounter map. This chip contains detailed instructions on how t
o create the 'Mechanical Zombie King,' a terrifying killing machine."
"And..."
"All the valuable items here are hidden beneath the plaza. To open the plaza requires a large amount of flesh and blood—not just blood."
"The password is the patterns."
"And the key is the large amount of Zombie flesh and blood in your refrigerator, Train Conductor."
(End of Chapter)