"Sigh."
Chen Mang let out a sigh, gently massaging his temples without thinking too much about it. Of course, he knew installing a layer of armor outside the train would significantly enhance safety, but building the "Wagon Steel Armor" component required a massive consumption of 1000 units of iron ore.
He didn't have that much iron ore at the moment.
He had to hurry and mine more.
...
He stepped out of the carriage, called a few slaves, and installed the only fully intact Heavy Machine Gun they had seized onto the roof of the No. 2 warehouse carriage. After lifting it onto the roof and selecting the right position,
a panel suddenly popped up in front of him.
-
"Please name your train as soon as possible."
"Do you allow the 'Three-legged Cat Heavy Machine Gun' component to be embedded on the top of the unnamed train's No. 2 carriage?"
-
"Confirm."
Soon—
The Heavy Machine Gun was seamlessly mounted atop the No. 2 carriage, looking as if it was meant to be part of it. Only if this carriage got cut off and discarded would the Heavy Machine Gun fall off, just like how it was when he captured it.
He had over 400 bullets for the Heavy Machine Gun.
For a Heavy Machine Gun, this number of bullets wasn't nearly enough to sustain a battle; most of the time, it could only serve as a deterrent.
But it was enough, at least now the train, which appeared harmless, looked somewhat threatening with this addition.
He then moved all the seized resources onto the train.
And he had all the slaves squeeze into his No. 4 carriage before they prepared to set off.
And at this time.
The batch of "Soaring Dragon Assault Rifles" was also completely finished, and he called out ten men he had long selected from the slaves, appointing them to the "Train Patrol Officer" positions in sequence.
He then handed each a Soaring Dragon Assault Rifle and three fully loaded magazines.
"..."
Chen Mang scanned over the ten ragged thugs one by one, frowning slightly: "Before tomorrow morning, you need to choose a team leader among you. Decide among yourselves who it will be, without causing any casualties that would affect operations."
He then called Old Pig and appointed him the Deputy Train Captain.
By this point—
The train crew had begun to take shape. Although everything was rudimentary, with even the thugs being chosen from the least bad options, all beginnings are prototypes.
Nothing in this world starts perfect; everything begins from a simple prototype, becoming closer to perfection with development.
He then established new rules.
All slaves: one cup of water, two slices of moldy bread per day.
All thugs: two bottles of mineral water, six steamed buns, one pack of pickles per day.
While he thought that creating class differences to stabilize his status wasn't much of a problem in doomsday times, he didn't see the sense in starving the slaves too much; they needed strength to mine.
He had seized quite some food from the train, enough for now, and once he extracted more ore and constructed a food production line, food wouldn't be too lacking.
Then!
All the slaves moved into the No. 4 carriage, while Old Pig and the thugs stayed in the No. 3 carriage. The No. 3 carriage wasn't filled with supplies yet, so there was still space for people.
But for the time being, chairs couldn't be made, so all the thugs sat on the floor.
Old Pig, however, had a soft bed all to himself.
He had captured a total of 7 single beds, kept two, one for Old Pig in the No. 3 carriage, and placed one in his train cab.
He still preferred being alone in the train cab; it allowed him to sleep more peacefully, after all, the steel door of the cab was relatively solid, hard to break through from outside, and the glass at the front of the train was reinforced bulletproof glass, hard to shatter quickly.
The rest were thrown out as they couldn't be installed.
Next——
"Boom!!"
With the roar of the train engine, the completely black-painted train finally ended its rest, rapidly accelerating into the distance along the tracks!
The target was the iron ore they had come for!
They were some distance from the iron ore, and during their escape, he was in the slave carriage, unable to see the road outside, not knowing which direction the iron ore was, but tracks would mark the train's path on the wasteland.
By following the track marks in the direction they came from, they could find their way back.
His wheels were still the most ordinary ones, not very fast, but temporarily sufficient, especially on the relatively flat wasteland terrain.
Inside the train cab.
Chen Mang glanced at Old Pig beside him, chuckling slightly: "Tell me the reason for your predecessor Train Captain's downfall. Maybe I can learn a few lessons."
He had just called Old Pig from the No. 3 carriage to the train cab using a walkie-talkie, which was also seized.
"Corpse Tide too."
Old Pig shook his head, a trace of fear flashing in his eyes: "On the 'Tieling Wasteland,' Corpse Tides of this size are actually not common. The last time we encountered one, it wasn't this large. That time, the train was only a Level 1 train, not very fast, and in a panic, it fled into the city ruins."
"The ruins blocked the train's path."
"In panic, everyone abandoned the train and fled, ultimately getting swept into the Corpse Tide and nearly all devoured by zombies. I ran fast, ducking into the alleyways of the city ruins without looking back, barely saving my life."
"Large Corpse Tides have commanders, and generally won't enter the deep city ruins, which was how I survived."
"I see..."
Chen Mang squinted slightly and nodded, it seemed like he was a bit lucky to escape this time. Intelligent zombies capable of commanding certainly weren't Level 1; if that zombie had noticed him at the time, his jamming device wouldn't have been effective.
But... normally, a carriage should be very conspicuous amid the zombie horde, it shouldn't have gone unnoticed.
Could it be that the commanding zombie was only Level 1?
He gazed thoughtfully at the desolate wasteland outside, his eyes eventually landing on the front carriage. Before leaving, he used the "Earth Core Melting Furnace" to consume all the abandoned railcars.
In fifteen minutes, they acquired a total of 600 units of iron ore.
The scene was quite shocking, with the front of the train opening wide, like a bloodthirsty maw, swallowing the abandoned carriages one by one. Countless gears rapidly spun inside, grinding all the sheets of iron into powder.
"Are there other settlements after Doomsday?"
"There are."
After a pause, Old Pig continued: "For some reason, many monsters are unwilling to delve into city ruins, so there are quite a few survivors hiding there. Besides, I heard on the Train Radio about some large settlements established post-Doomsday, with several trains in those settlements."
"But they are too far, and the former Train Captain never intended to check them out."
"Oh?"
Chen Mang felt a bit puzzled: "If the city ruins are relatively safe, it should be easier to find food there than on the wasteland. Why would those survivors all flock to the train?"
"..."
Old Pig was tongue-tied for a moment, before softly replying: "Mang, the slaves were captured onto the train; no one volunteers to be a slave."
"Oh."
Chen Mang nodded expressionlessly, saying no more. It seemed the thugs were not only responsible for maintaining order on the train but also for capturing slaves. He realized he had much to learn as a Train Captain.
At this moment——
The birthmark on his hand suddenly heated up slightly, and a hint of a smile appeared in Chen Mang's eyes. This was a sign that the final novice Train Captain task had been completed.
Thus.
His "Train Panel" could finally be fully unlocked, though he didn't know what functions it might have. He hoped it could help him acquire more resources, as he was severely lacking in resources.
Something like... gaining 10,000 units of iron ore daily for instance, would suffice, and he would be quite content.