"That's it."
Lao Zhu sighed, "That girl probably knew about your stubborn nature, which is why she left without saying goodbye. But if that's the case, I think she definitely wouldn't be too far away from you. Maybe she's rented a place nearby, watching over you all along."
"First, she wanted to see you a few more times before she passes."
"Second, she was afraid you might do something foolish."
"Think about where you lived before leaving Taiping City. If that girl is lucky, she might still be alive, hiding in some corner."
"I—"
Shan Mao Zi froze on the spot, his eyes immediately turning red. He knelt down facing Lao Zhu, his voice hoarse and panicked, "Train Conductor Zhu, could you... could you ask Lord Mang to take me to the factory outskirts of Taiping City to look for her?"
"She... she might really be waiting for me there."
"I, I, I can trade my life for this. If there's ever a suicide mission that needs to be done on the Train in the future, I'll be the first to go. Is that... is that okay?"
"Get up first."
Lao Zhu waved his hand, signaling Biao Zi to help Shan Mao Zi up. After a moment of silence, he spoke, "I'll find a chance to bring this up with Lord Mang. But the Train's most important task right now is mining. Don't get your hopes up too much."
"I can only say I'll try to bring it up with Lord Mang."
"Alright..."
Shan Mao Zi shakily got up and returned to his bunk, burying his head in his chest, his body trembling slightly as if lost in thought.
"Sigh."
Biao Zi glanced at Shan Mao Zi but didn't say much. He pinched out the nearly burnt cigarette butt between his fingers and sighed softly. He only had a bedridden father, and beyond that, he had no other attachments.
It's just that he hadn't thought about it for a long time.
When the apocalypse first came, he still thought about saving his father.
But later...
Later, he had basically accepted in his heart that his father was already dead. Everyone here had loved ones, but in an environment like the apocalypse, everyone tried their best not to think about such things.
If fate wills it, we'll meet in hell.
In Slave Carriage No. 7.
Uncle Li felt the smooth movement of the Train beneath him and let out a sigh of relief. He glanced at the dim light on the ceiling of the carriage and regretfully looked down at the burnt-out cigarette butt in his hand.
"If I knew I wasn't going to die, I wouldn't have smoked this cigarette. What a waste."
"Uncle Li," the young man beside him whispered, "Are you really that reluctant to smoke those two cigarettes Lord Mang rewarded you?"
"Wrong."
Uncle Li shook his head softly, "I'm not addicted to cigarettes. It's just that they make me feel like I still have some connection to the modern world, rather than being born a slave."
"It reminds me of past glories, makes me feel like I'm still a person."
"Uncle Li, you don't want to be a slave?"
"..."
Uncle Li glanced at the young man. Wasn't that obvious? If given the choice, who would want to be a slave? A hint of helplessness flashed in his eyes, "Do you?"
"Not really."
The young man scratched the back of his head, "I used to work as an outsourced delivery guy. Honestly, I don't think the workload now is that heavy. Not much pressure."
"My life can basically be summed up in fourteen words."
"Every barrier overcome is another barrier to fall, every endeavor failed is another endeavor to pursue."
"This isn't so bad."
"..."
Uncle Li didn't speak, just withdrew his gaze. He had already figured out how to climb into the management ranks these past few days. He had a plan, but he needed the right opportunity.
He needed to wait.
Wait for a new batch of slaves to join the Train.
Then, it would be his time to rise.
Under the starry sky of the wasteland.
The Stellar Train was moving extremely smoothly across the wasteland, maintaining this speed for a full half hour.
The trick was to keep it at maximum speed.
"..."
Chen Mang looked in the rearview mirror at the two small, ferocious-looking rabbits that had been chasing the Train in the night. These two red-skinned rabbits had been chasing him for half an hour.
They were incredibly fast, almost matching the Stellar Train's top speed.
"Beep... Level 3 unknown monster detected. No relevant information found in the database."
"Please note, Train Conductor."
The red text kept flashing on the control panel screen.
To make a long story short.
Half an hour ago, he was driving the Train toward the Doomsday Abyss coordinates, and the journey was uneventful. But suddenly, there was a thud, as if the wheels had run over something, like a speed bump.
Then, in the rearview mirror, he saw the two rabbits, which had been piled on top of each other, struggle to separate and then started chasing the Train with a fierce, unrelenting look.
Most likely.
These two rabbits were mating when his wheels ran over them.
In that case, it's understandable that they're a bit pissed.
An unknown Level 3 monster—most likely a new boss monster. He was instantly intrigued.
A potential boss first kill was right in front of him.
But the Car Blade was installed one meter above the ground, and these rabbits were only thirty centimeters tall—too low for the blade to hit. He didn't have a good way to kill them at the moment. Although he had hit them once, it didn't seem to have caused any damage.
He wasn't worried about his own safety.
Even if he stopped the Train, with its Level 3 armor, these rabbits couldn't break through his defenses.
Moreover—
The Level 5 "Wind-Fire Wheel" supermodel effect doubled the Train's speed at the cost of heavy Energy Stone consumption. If he wanted to escape, these rabbits in heat wouldn't be able to catch him.
The reason he was still stuck in this stalemate was... he had already decided to kill them.
He planned to lure these rabbits to the Doomsday Abyss, the burial ground he had chosen for them.
"Huh?"
Just then, Chen Mang, sitting in the control room, noticed that the two rabbits, perhaps realizing they couldn't catch up, had stopped chasing and were mating again.
"Not chasing anymore? That won't do."
Without hesitation, Chen Mang turned the Train around and rammed into them again.
Of course, this time, being prepared, the rabbits dodged it nimbly. But this made the two rabbits, who had just calmed down, bare their fangs and charge forward again, chasing the Train with fury in their eyes.
"That's more like it."
He nodded in satisfaction, checking the coordinates of the Doomsday Abyss. Half an hour away—the first kill should be secure.
He had already experimented.
The Level 5 "Makeshift Heavy Machine Gun" loaded with Level 1 bullets, under the "Train Auxiliary AI" lock-on effect, fired a hundred shots—all of which missed. The rabbits were too fast, dodging left and right, making it impossible to hit.
So he didn't bother crafting Level 3 bullets. The Train still had 510 units of copper ore, enough to make 51 Level 3 bullets.
With the rabbits' small size, if all 51 bullets hit, they'd be dead.
However, he needed to find a suitable terrain where the rabbits wouldn't have as much space to dodge, ensuring the heavy machine gun bullets could hit them all. The Doomsday Abyss was a good choice.
These two Level 3 new bosses were likely only found in low-level areas. His heavy machine gun, even with lock-on, couldn't hit them. Other Trains in low-level areas, facing such fast and agile bosses, would find it even harder to kill them.
With all the high-level components on his Train, its top speed had reached 254 km/h. Yet these rabbits could keep up, showing that their speed was far ahead of other Level 3 monsters.
They were much faster than the Level 3 Man-Eating Spider.
--Support me in Patreon for more chapters 35+ chapters in there
patreon.com/LegendaryTL
Thanks!