MDT Chapter 243 (Patreon)

Chapter 243: 00:29:59

Dawn broke. 

The previous night had been peaceful. 

The Stellar sat in the Crisis Valley wastelands, parked beside two Level 3 Iron Ore mines. The residents were already swinging their pickaxes, working like their lives depended on it. Anxiety was etched into every face, and their pickaxes moved so fast they blurred. 

The reason was simple: too many residents, too few mines. 

If you didn't rush, you wouldn't get enough. 

With so many wolves and so little meat, internal competition was inevitable.

"Hah..." 

Chen Mang let out a comfortable stretch as he climbed out of bed. After washing up in the Refrigerator, he lit a cigarette and dropped into his chair to check the day's Train Log. 

This was one of his daily rituals—a wake-up cigarette, then reviewing the Train Log to see what had happened while he slept. 

The log recorded everything in detail.

Same as always. 

The residents had already started working. A team of Sentinels and 80 Black Hole Armed Robots patrolled the perimeter, keeping monsters at bay. The remaining Sentinels were in the Combat Training Virtual Space, clearing the normal difficulty missions on those few maps. 

A plate of rice noodle rolls had appeared on the table again, courtesy of Xiao Fang.

Everything was almost identical to yesterday. 

Before the apocalypse, this kind of fixed, tedious routine would have been mind-numbing. But in the post-apocalyptic world, it gave people an inexplicable sense of peace. 

Stability didn't just bring tedium—it brought peace of mind.

"Not bad." 

After taking a few bites of the rice noodle rolls, Chen Mang set the unfinished plate aside. He was getting tired of this stuff. The food options on the train were too limited. He'd have to see about getting more food production lines to diversify the menu.

He gazed out the window. 

The weather was nice today—not a cloud in the sky. A hint of warmth permeated the cold air. 

He picked up Xiao Lu, who was sleeping quietly beside him, and began kneading the creature in his arms. You had to admit, this thing was cute and comfortable to hold. All soft and fluffy. Made you want to give it a good squeeze.

"Starry Sky Beast?" 

He held Xiao Lu up in the air, examining it closely, and murmured, "You really don't look like a colossal beast. I wonder what you'll be like when you're fully grown..."

When the train reached Level 12, this little guy would awaken. 

At that point, it wouldn't be eating unconsciously anymore—he'd have to feed it actively. Hopefully, it wouldn't consume too many of his resources...

He glanced at his Iron Ore balance: 9.01 million units. Once these two Level 3 mines were depleted, he could probably expand the train.

Time crawled by. 

Nothing happened that day. 

Chen Mang sat in the control car, basking in the sun and watching movies. All old films—he'd basically seen everything in his collection, so he was rewatching them. When he got tired of watching, he went for a stroll through the other carriages.

He went to Carriage #5 for a three-way to blow off some steam. 

Then he headed to Carriage #7 and chatted with Lao Zhu, Biaozi, and the others for a while. 

He also stopped by Carriage #10, gazed at the undeveloped Entertainment Base, and after a moment of contemplation, decided that soon he'd use the Heart of the Machine to build an amusement park for everyone. Something like a roller coaster. He didn't care if anyone else wanted to ride it—he did. 

He'd wanted to ride one since he was a child. But as an orphan, no one had ever taken him. When he grew up, he was too embarrassed to go. Such a small thing had become a regret from his past life. He had to find a chance to fulfill it in this one.

He also checked the filming progress at the Film and Television Base and gave a few casual instructions. 

Finally, he went to Carriage #11. Under Duo Ba's proud guidance, he inspected the goblin territory. It was crude, but it looked the part. He asked about Mundo's progress and learned the goblin was still out trading and hadn't returned.

On his way back to the control car, he passed by Carriage #5 again for another round. 

By then, it was almost evening. And those two Level 3 Iron Ore mines were on the verge of being depleted. With nearly 6,000 residents mining together, the efficiency was astonishingly fast. 

It had also consumed quite a few bandages. 

Many residents had been heavily struck on their bodies, feet, and heads by other residents' pickaxes. Good thing everyone had been eating plenty of bread and cola—their comprehensive physical fitness was decent. Otherwise, there might have been a few funerals tonight.

"Hah..." 

Night had fallen. 

Standing in the control car, Chen Mang gazed at the scene of the residents finishing their work outside, stretched contentedly, and murmured, "What a fulfilling day. It's not easy being a good Train Captain. Got to take care of every corner, every aspect."

Most trains didn't have many slaves. The most he'd encountered was Lord Shen's, which had just over 1,200. 

When the number of slaves was small, the increase in efficiency was exponential. But once the number grew large, diminishing returns became obvious. 

His train was probably the one with the most survivors in the entire Blue Zone. 

As for the entire planet, there were surely trains with more. 

After all, there were 50 million trains.

Just then—a white light flashed inside the train, followed by Xiao Ai's voice: "Train Captain."

"Hm?"

"You patrolled the train today, visiting almost every area. When you passed Carriage #14, you even stood in the aisle and admired that Ground-Burst Missile for a long time."

"What's wrong with that? Don't you think a missile lying peacefully in a carriage is cool? Is there a problem with looking at it for a while?"

"No, but Train Captain, you passed by Carriage #2 twice and never once thought of coming into the Armor R&D Center to see me."

"Uh..." 

The corner of Chen Mang's mouth twitched. He immediately picked up the cane beside him, stood up, and walked toward Carriage #2, which was connected to the back of the control car. "I'm going to see you right now."

Had he upgraded the Train Auxiliary AI too much? He'd upgraded the AI to Level 100 last time, which seemed to have made its thinking ability stronger and stronger.

Soon, Chen Mang pushed the door open and saw Xiao Ai standing next to an instrument he'd never seen before. A screen on each of his cheeks displayed the characters for "Proud" and "ly," his face filled with pride.

"What's this instrument?" He shifted his gaze from Xiao Ai to the instrument, looking it up and down. It looked like a giant meat grinder, but oversized. It was cylindrical, with a diameter of about ten meters. 

Its entire body was made of steel. 

Only one side was glass, allowing a clear view of the instrument's internal structure. 

In the middle of the cylinder was a steel pipe embedded with countless Carriage Blade Fragments. Those fragments were all Level 100—it was no exaggeration to say they could cut through iron like mud and split a hair. 

It was obvious: as soon as this instrument started, this meat grinder would turn anything that fell into it into mincemeat.

"What do you think?" Xiao Ai introduced it with pride. "This is the result of my work from last night until today—a full 22 hours. Last night, I did a simple deduction based on the data in my database. The success rate of Uncle Li's 'Zombie Mob Spawner' plan is about 0.9%."

"The information in the database told me this kind of thing is impossible."

"But..."

"I still created this meat grinder in advance, to serve as the follow-up process for the 'Zombie Mob Spawner.' It can grind all the created zombies into meat paste. And I've already connected this meat grinder to that red instrument, the Cosmic Receiver, through pipes."

"This meat grinder doesn't just grind meat. There's also a huge piston at the top, similar to a straw. After successfully grinding a tank of zombies into mincemeat, it performs a powerful compression, squeezing out all the core energy from the zombies' bodies and sending it along the pipe to the Cosmic Receiver. The Cosmic Receiver then converts it into Iron Ore, and the corresponding Iron Ore forms in the Spatial Door on the other side."

"Everything is ready on my end. All we need is for Uncle Li's 'Zombie Mob Spawner' to take shape, and we can start immediately!"

"Not bad at all." After hearing Xiao Ai's introduction, Chen Mang was somewhat surprised. "It's good not to need sleep. You finished such a big meat grinder in just a day. Just you, all by yourself? Are you Superman?"

"Of course it wasn't just me." Xiao Ai shook his head. Immediately after, a dozen robots crawled out from inside the meat grinder, and dozens more poked their heads out from behind the Cosmic Receiver. Some who were modifying mecha stood up from a nearby high rack.

"To be precise, it was 198 of us. Some of the robots we brought back from 70,000 meters underground were in a scrapped state. After I dismantled the parts and reassembled them, I managed to repair 197 robots. Plus my original one, that makes 198."

"What's the power source for this engine?"

"It's connected to the generator through the electrical system and consumes energy stones."

"What about the engine itself?"

"I took the engine from the Off-Road Motorcycle."

"I remember I haven't upgraded that accessory. It's only Level 1. The rotation speed can't be fast enough, can it?"

"It is a bit slow, but it's barely usable."

Chen Mang shook his head and immediately consumed 175,000 units of Iron Ore to upgrade the yellow-grade accessory "Off-Road Motorcycle Production Line" to Level 20, then continued, "I've just upgraded it to Level 20. The rotation speed should be about right now."

"I'll go replace it later."

"What are those mecha under the high rack over there?"

"Biaozi and the others' mecha are too low-level—not enough for the Blue Zone. Biaozi's physical fitness isn't high enough to use the Thunder mecha yet. We're modifying it over there, welding higher-grade armor for him."

"Mm."

"And one more thing, Train Captain. Because I brought back a lot of robots last time, I dismantled many of them and finally found the module where the AI can reside. I can go with you to Neon City now."

"Oh?" Chen Mang's brow raised slightly. "That's good news. With your advanced network intrusion ability, we can freely enter many restricted areas in Neon City. But if you go to Neon City, can you still execute the set commands to counterattack if the train is attacked?"

"I can. If I were Level 10, I probably couldn't, but at Level 100, I can completely split in two. My main AI will remain in the train to execute the set defense and counterattack commands."

"Very good. Prepare yourself for the next few days. We'll set off for Neon City again in a few days."

"Yes, sir!"

Returning to the control car, Chen Mang sat back down in his chair and let out a long breath. Xiao Ai had brought him a lot of information in one go. This guy was becoming more and more human. It even knew how to ask for credit. 

If it had been before, when his level was still low, he would have just relayed this kind of thing through the control car's speakers. 

Not complain about not being visited.

The two Level 3 Iron Ore mines had been completely depleted. The train's resources had reached 14.215 million units of Iron Ore. 

The Level 100 Solar Panel could completely cover the train's daily consumption and even brought in an extra 180,000 units of Iron Ore in profit each day.

Fourteen carriages, plus one locomotive. 

The price for expansion was 14 million units. 

Chen Mang immediately sat in his chair and pressed the "Train Expansion" button again, adjusting the parameters to one carriage, 10 meters wide, 30 meters long, and 10 meters high.

The next moment—a line of text floated up on the control console screen.

[Train expansion will begin after the countdown ends. Before then, please ensure everyone has left the train to prevent accidents.]

[00:29:59]

Do I need to leave the carriage? Chen Mang didn't say much. He just picked up the cane beside him, held Xiao Lu, and walked out of the control car. Immediately after, all the screens in the train lit up, and a piercing alarm sounded throughout the entire train.

And Xiao Ai's mechanical, electronic voice quickly rang out.

"The train is about to be upgraded. All residents, please leave the train in an orderly fashion. Residents of Residential Areas #1 and #2, please leave the carriages first. Residents of the other carriages, please stay in your respective residential areas and do not move about."

Although there were many residents, as the hundred heavy machine guns on the ceiling began to slowly rotate, looking eager to find an inconspicuous target to test their blades on, all the residents obediently followed the instructions.

The Level 100 Internal Fire-Control System seemed a bit useless, but it wasn't completely useless. Without these hundred machine guns, the residents wouldn't be so obedient.

The train was too small. 

The train doors were too small. The movement of over 6,000 residents in the carriages was too crowded. It was time for an expansion. Although the space inside the Spatial Door was large enough, people couldn't stay in the Spatial Door all the time. A trip to the resident store and back would leave you drenched in sweat.

Soon, all the residents on the train, including the creatures in the breeding carriage, were brought down. At this moment, there was not a single living being on the Stellar. Everyone stood in place, gazing at the Stellar train before them.

In the distance, a defensive line was laid out by a group of Black Hole Armed Robots and Sentinels.

Uncle Li, holding various cows, sheep, and pigs on iron chains—and even a man and a large number of zombies—had become the focus of the crowd. Many residents looked at Uncle Li with curiosity. The train had a lot of new people, and many of them had never seen Uncle Li before. The older residents, however, knew that Uncle Li had recorded their Stellar Vouchers for a period of time.

But he'd quickly become unemployed.

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