MDT Chapter 272 (Patreon)

Chapter 272: From Boredom to Business

Wise Miner's Zone.

Ten Level 4 Iron Mines, ten Level 4 Copper Mines, ten Level 4 Titanium Crystal Ore deposits, ten Level 4 Lumberyards, ten Level 4 Crimson Heart Ore mines.

Fifty mines total.

Excavating all this would still take time—it wasn't a simple task.

Chen Mang wasn't in a hurry, though.

Soon—

Six days passed.

"..."

Chen Mang slouched in his chair, eyes fixed on the movie playing across the screen—one he'd already watched three or four times. He sighed, lit a cigarette with little enthusiasm, and looked out the window at the bustling scene below.

No new movies.

No entertainment activities either. He'd played through the standalone game consoles produced by the production line. Dull as dirt.

He'd also visited the Combat Training Virtual Space plenty over the past few days.

The Combat Training Virtual Space seemed like a game, sure, but you only entered with your consciousness. No rewards. No plot. Just getting injured and dying over and over, which hurt like hell.

Fine for training.

Shit for entertainment.

For the past few nights, he'd been dreaming, but he hadn't brought anything out of his sleep anymore. Worse, maybe because he'd been mining nonstop in those dreams, he felt sluggish—his whole body sore and worn down.

For now, he didn't want to create any more dreams.

Purely exhausting.

He glanced down at the Project Proposal in his hand. Lao Zhu and Zhang Yiren had drafted it together yesterday. He'd mentioned offhand the day before that the train lacked entertainment, and the two had scrambled to come up with this.

Two variety shows.

The first was a matchmaking show, intended to help more people on the train start families, have children, and perpetuate human civilization.

He skimmed it and tossed it aside. The train didn't need children right now. Strengthening themselves came first. Perpetuating human civilization could wait.

In reality, although the birth of a newborn on the train awarded +1 Legacy Value, basically no train would encourage childbirth just for that meager reward.

The reward was too small.

Fortunately, the reward wasn't high. Otherwise, life would get very difficult for women capable of childbirth. Overly encouraging it would turn childbirth into a business.

The second variety show was a Transmigration Show.

The concept involved drugging a survivor, creating the illusion of transmigration, letting them live freely inside a redecorated Spatial Door, and observing their actions through hidden Mechanical Eyes.

"Hmm…"

Chen Mang nodded thoughtfully. Honestly, the second show interested him quite a bit. They didn't even need to drug anyone—activating Spatial Freeze could create the perfect transmigration scene.

Setting it up would be a pain in the ass, though.

Casting was easy. During the last supply run in the city, a group of survivors had ambushed Biaozi and his men. That group had been captured and dragged back to the train. They hadn't been granted resident status, just locked up as guinea pigs.

Usually, when trial-and-error testers were needed for non-subjective exploration, these guinea pigs would do.

Non-subjective meant the tester didn't need to perform any actions—just be sent over. The puzzle Encounter Map he'd just been to, for example, couldn't be handled by non-subjective testers.

"Xiao Ai."

"I'm here."

"Contact Lao Zhu. I'm interested in the second reality show program. Have Zhang Yiren handle the set design. If materials are short, make do with what we've got."

"Understood."

Only then did Chen Mang turn his gaze to the screen on the control console panel. Nearly the seventh day now, just a few minutes shy of midnight. Once the clock struck twelve, Neon City would open again.

Its second opening.

He didn't know how many people had picked up the Neon City Admission Tickets, or how many were planning to enter this time. The user data was practically zero—he couldn't see any user data at all.

"It's all up to you, Mundo…"

Chen Mang murmured, distracted. The first batch who entered when Neon City opened were mostly Train Captains from the region he'd arrived in. He'd crossed paths with many of those trains—practically old acquaintances.

After all, his first batch of admission tickets could only be scattered in this area, unable to reach other regions.

As for how many people would come for the second opening—

That depended on how many admission tickets Mundo had distributed these past few days. In other words, today was the day to test Mundo's results.

"Don't disappoint me, Little Mundo."

…

"Achoo!"

Out on the wasteland, Mundo—speeding along on his off-road motorcycle under a sky full of stars—suddenly sneezed. After rubbing his itchy nose, he twisted the throttle to the max and kept going.

He could only randomly teleport ten times a day.

He couldn't just randomly teleport every time he encountered a train. Too inefficient, and there was no guarantee he'd encounter a train with each teleport.

His method was to ride his motorcycle around the wasteland searching for trains after each random teleport. This way, he maximized his teleportation attempts.

He patted the bulging Space Pouch at his waist, stuffed with Red Heart Nuts, food, water, admission tickets, and various other miscellaneous items.

Mundo grabbed a Red Heart Nut from his pocket and popped it into his mouth. He soon sensed a train stopped not far ahead and drove straight toward it.

As the distance closed, the heavy machine gun on that train slowly swiveled to aim at him, but didn't fire. This was the confidence of a Black Market Merchant. Who would dare attack one? Were they tired of living?

He skillfully drove the motorcycle to the left side of the Control Car, pulled an admission ticket from his coat, and tossed it onto the ground.

Then, without a word, he left the area.

Several minutes later, a man descended from the Control Car, picked up the admission ticket with some confusion, checked the panel information, nodded thoughtfully, stuffed the ticket into his coat, and returned to the Control Car.

Again, and again, and again.

Mundo was like a diligent little bee, tirelessly repeating this task without rest.

The Stellar's development was the result of countless individuals' efforts combined.

Like Mundo, for example.

Though not inside the Stellar train, and no one could see his work, it was in these unseen places that Mundo made enormous contributions to the Stellar.

Since ancient times, a good product isn't truly good just on its own.

Being able to attract customers consistently is what makes you king.

—

The time reached midnight.

Neon City opened again.

"Seventy-eight people already."

Standing by the floor-to-ceiling window of the Sun City high-rise, Chen Mang looked down at the group of Train Captains gathered below, silently counting. Ten minutes after opening, seventy-eight people had arrived. Not bad.

Seemed like many people had timed their entry precisely.

Last time it opened, a total of one hundred eighty-eight people entered. He didn't know how many would come this time. As long as there were one eighty-nine, he'd be satisfied. At least it would show an upward trend.

It meant he'd retained his old customers while attracting new ones.

For some reason, he felt a little nervous.

"Boss Mang."

Uncle Li, standing nearby, asked softly, "When can Neon City operate 24/7? Feels like the revenue would be higher if it were open all day."

"It wouldn't."

Chen Mang leaned on his cane by the window and shook his head. "With not many users, if we operate 24/7, the revenue will drop significantly. People won't rush to buy things, since they can come in anytime. Buying any day is the same."

"Only by creating a sense of urgency, like we're doing now, can we push sales."

"When the user count reaches four digits, ensuring several hundred Train Captains enter Neon City daily, then we can operate 24/7. No rush for now."

"Besides…"

"Seems everyone has figured out a few things."

Neon City offered a high degree of freedom.

As long as you traded using Stellar Vouchers, you could basically do whatever you wanted in Neon City. And after six days of professional training, some of the Stellar's residents had successfully started their jobs.

For example—

The Bounty Board.

At this moment, in front of the Neon City Bounty Board, seven or eight Train Captains were gathered, curiously examining the bounty information on the list.

The original 2-million bounty for cheating had already been claimed by someone.

A train from the same region had confirmed that the targeted train could no longer be found on the Train Radio. Basically confirmed destroyed.

Now, a new bounty had appeared.

Rank 1: Destroy the Yellow Zone Zombie Basin's Pian'ai Train. Bounty: 1 million Stellar Vouchers. Half of the ammunition costs will be reimbursed, calculated into Stellar Vouchers and paid additionally.

Bounty Poster: Anonymous.

Reason: Pure beast.

Information: Level 8 Mechanical Train.

Rank 2: None.

"Hmm…"

Among the onlookers, a Train Captain said with some confusion, "Trains can't cross regions. If that Yellow Zone isn't connected to other Yellow Zones, then only trains from his own region are qualified to accept this bounty, right?"

"Then why didn't he post it on the Train Radio? Why post it here?"

"Are you stupid?" A masked man nearby said, exasperated. "Posting on the Train Radio uses your real name. The target would know who's after them. Posting anonymously here is way better. Nice and sneaky."

"Besides, maybe it's an old grudge, and they're not in the same region anymore, so naturally they can't post a bounty on the Train Radio."

"But since he posted anonymously, the former's more likely."

"Where'd you get the mask?"

"Just bought it at the spawn point. Disposable—automatically destroyed when you exit the Encounter Map. Costs 300 Stellar Vouchers."

"I should post a bounty too."

Just then, a middle-aged man who'd been standing behind the crowd in thought stepped forward and approached the robot standing by the Bounty Board. "I want to post a bounty too. I'm looking for some kittens—small cat cubs. As many as possible. For each kitten, I'm willing to pay 50,000 Stellar Vouchers…"

"Idiot. 50,000 Stellar Vouchers for a kitten?"

"Heh."

The man chuckled and turned to look meaningfully at the person who'd just spoken. He didn't say anything, just continued posting the bounty.

He was the captain of a Level 18 train. Although he didn't know the level of the strongest train currently, he considered himself top-tier.

50,000 Stellar Vouchers were just 50,000 units of Iron Ore.

Anyone stingy about even 50,000 units of Iron Ore was definitely a low-level train captain. But he didn't look down on them. Instead, he was excited.

"For material bounties, please go to the Free Trade Market next door."

The robot standing by the Bounty Board pointed toward a street not far away, revealing a professional smile. "In the Free Trade Market over there, Train Captains can trade freely with each other and post material bounties."

This Bounty Board was converted from an advertising sign behind a bus stop.

It stood right by the roadside.

Very conspicuous.

"Alright."

The middle-aged man nodded without saying much and strode toward the Free Trade Market nearby.

Looking at the shops lining both sides of the street and the high-rise buildings in the distance, his eyes filled with excitement.

This place was incredible.

Regions were difficult to connect—that was an ironclad rule. Even information was hard to transmit, let alone train travel and resource circulation. He hadn't seen a low-level train in ages, which meant this place connected many regions.

There were even quite a few White Zones.

Kittens like these could only possibly exist in low-level regions. The survival conditions in high-level regions made it impossible for creatures like stray cats to survive.

Certain death.

1 unit of Iron Ore for 1 Stellar Voucher was the rule of this Encounter Map.

Seemed fair to every Train Captain.

But in reality, a Level 1 train and a Level 18 train had completely different perceptions of the value of 50,000 units of Iron Ore. If he could trade 50,000 units of Iron Ore for a kitten, that would be an incredible profit.

He just had to see if he could acquire any.

Although this place was incredible, there didn't seem to be many people—only about a hundred Train Captains.

…

"50,000 units of Iron Ore to buy a kitten?"

Chen Mang stood thoughtfully by the floor-to-ceiling window, watching the middle-aged man's retreating back. He paid close attention to this one—he was the highest-level among this batch of Train Captains, his train reaching a full eighteen levels.

Many levels higher than his own.

He couldn't interact with Train Captains of this level normally. Without a doubt, this person must have been brought here by Mundo.

If it were just loneliness needing a pet, he wouldn't say "as many as possible."

Felt somewhat related to Starry Sky Beasts.

Could a Level 18 train use some method to cultivate ordinary cubs into Starry Sky Beasts?

Did it have to be a kitten?

What about adult cats, piglets, and chicks?

Become a Pledge member on my Patreon to unlock early access chapters for all my translated novels. Read ahead now!

Please leave a 5-star rating on Novel Updates!

[Chapters List]

[Next Chapter]