MDT Chapter 282 (Patreon)

Chapter 282: "Mechanical Civilization, Not Yet Perished!"

He had no room to interject here, couldn't offer any constructive suggestions.

He was only allowed to stand here because Boss Mang trusted him.

But he didn't want to appear brainless, so all he could do was nod along with statements that made sense.

"Li Shiji, do you know Aquamarine Star's population?"

"Latest data before the collapse was 14.7 billion people."

"Do you know how many doomsday trains exist?"

"I don't."

Chen Mang studied Li Shiji and said softly, "Let me tell you. Back in the Ironridge Wasteland, there were 50 million trains. Now, after all this time, that number might be lower. Might be higher."

"All trains—"

"They need at least 100 residents to develop smoothly, right? Otherwise, mine excavation progress crawls. We only started selling 'Mining Robots' recently, and we haven't moved that many units."

"Let me be clearer: the 'Mining Robot' is a Gold-grade accessory. Extremely rare. Not every train has one."

"Do the math. 14.7 billion people, spread across 50 million trains—how many does each train get?"

"294 people."

Before Li Shiji could speak, Xiao Ai provided a precise answer.

When it came to calculations, no one on the entire train was faster.

"Good."

Chen Mang nodded lightly. "14.7 billion was the pre-collapse population. 50 million was the train count one year after the apocalypse broke out. Some people died during that year, right?"

"You should all have a solid sense of the death rate."

"Conservative estimate—50% mortality. Half die. That's 7.35 billion people. Subtract the 50 million Train Captains, you're left with 7.3 billion."

"In other words, each train averages 146 people."

"It's no exaggeration to say that if every train had this population, 99% would've perished long ago. That resident count is far too low to sustain a train's normal mining needs. Might be enough at the very beginning, but nowhere near enough after any development."

"So—"

"I have two possibilities here."

"First possibility: among those 50 million trains in the Ironridge Wasteland, two-thirds were newly built Level 1 trains with almost no crew. The remaining population divided among the rest."

"The second possibility..."

Chen Mang paused, not continuing.

Li Shiji, however, had a flash of insight and picked up the thread, his voice tinged with horror: "The second possibility is that those 50 million trains might not just count trains on Aquamarine Star, but also trains on other planets?"

"Other planets also experiencing the apocalypse?"

"Mm." Chen Mang nodded softly. "That's possible. And that's why I place so much importance on this 'Budding Spring' Encounter Map. Because if that possibility is true, then the Tuo Tuo mechanical princess certainly wouldn't be screening for the wisest person on just one planet, but across multiple."

"If we can make contact with Train Captains from other planets also facing the apocalypse..."

"Then we can distribute the 'Neon City Admission Ticket,' see if we can connect the Neon City network to other planets. Make it bigger and stronger."

"..."

Li Shiji was silent for a long time, his expression complex, before he said faintly, "I really want to point out that before the apocalypse, the Federation never detected any planets with life signs near Aquamarine Star."

"Civilization-level suppression. We're not in the same league. Don't think about it."

As the few of them were talking, the constantly flashing token in the drawer suddenly shattered. Countless tiny red dots drilled out from the token, forming a crimson portal in front of the train. It rotated slowly, like a black hole dyed in blood, utterly enticing.

Everyone fears black holes.

But who wouldn't want to keep a black hole in their fish tank at home? It just looked so good, so delectable. You just wanted to take a bite.

Chen Mang said no more. He sat in his chair, slowly pushed the control stick, and drove the train into the crimson portal before him, once again entering the "Budding Spring" Encounter Map.

Like an infant seeing the world for the first time, everything before him suddenly opened up.

The Stellar train appeared in a plaza.

A massive plaza.

At least several football fields in size. The plaza was shrouded in white mist, and at a glance, all one could see was this plaza, along with 19 other trains of various shapes parked on it.

The Search Radar was disabled.

Chen Mang looked at the control console screen. Both his Search Radar and Resource Detection Radar were disabled. He couldn't see the accessory grades of the other trains, but they all looked strong.

These 19 trains had all been expanded.

It was just that their carriage counts were relatively short. Most were about six or seven carriages long, including the locomotive. The longest was nine carriages.

The Stellar, including its locomotive, had 15 carriages, and that wasn't even counting the Beast Carriage.

His train was once again the most expanded one here.

Looked extremely conspicuous.

Big and long.

It was as if his was the flagship of a fleet, and the other trains were just escorts, completely out of the same league.

The 19 trains were arranged in a fan shape on the plaza. Although he couldn't see the normal situation inside the other train cars, he could faintly feel that many people were looking at him—or more accurately, at his Stellar train.

The next moment—

A huge light screen materialized out of thin air in the sky above the plaza, ensuring that every train could see it clearly.

[Pioneers, welcome to the second trial of the Encounter Map "Budding Spring."]

[When humans become archaeologists of their own civilization, the answers are often more terrifying than the apocalypse.]

[The Mechanical Civilization, after 108,000 years of bitter war, was ultimately confirmed defeated.]

[The fate of a defeated civilization is far more terrifying than you can imagine. The Mechanical Civilization was defeated, but the seeds of the Mechanical Civilization will not be completely eradicated. One day, a seed belonging to the Mechanical Civilization will sprout anew, to declare to the entire universe—]

[Mechanical Civilization, not yet perished!]

[108,000 years is a number of great symbolic significance in the history of the Mechanical Civilization, though that was in the very distant past. That history cannot even be found in the Mechanical Civilization's historical database. It is a pity that, in the end, this symbolic string of numbers became the death knell of the Mechanical Civilization.]

[And within the "Budding Spring" Encounter Map, there lies a seed left by the Mechanical Civilization. This reward will only be given to one who is worthy of it. If you have the strength, please take it.]

[And let it take root and sprout!]

[Second Trial—]

[Beginning now, you must do everything possible to reach the finish line ahead.]

[Trains cannot attack each other within this map.]

[Time limit: 48 hours.]

[The first five to pass will advance to the third trial.]

[Good luck, Pioneers.]

The next moment—

The white mist surrounding the plaza suddenly dispersed. A 10,000-meter-deep cliff surrounded the plaza, with a total of twenty 100-meter-long bridges connecting the plaza to the other side of the cliff.

The white mist above also dispersed.

With its dispersal, tens of thousands of glass pods were revealed, hanging from the ceiling dozens of meters above the ground. Inside each transparent pod were organs cultivated from flesh, blood vessels, human nerves, and wheels.

Hearts, livers, lungs.

A mechanical heart was slowly, constantly beating inside its container.

And those twenty bridges were composed of countless gears and steel blades, all spinning rapidly at this moment, like a metal storm. They clearly didn't look like they could be crossed normally.

Next to each bridge was a screen displaying the name of a train.

He soon saw [Fuck Everything Up · The Stellar] on the screen next to the bridge directly in front of him.

It was obvious.

Twenty bridges, one for each train. Whoever crossed their bridge first could leave first. The other side of the cliff was not the finish line; there was still white mist behind it.

Leaving the plaza was just leaving the starting point.

…

Inside the train car, Chen Mang quickly surveyed the scene, silent. He had at least seven or eight ways to get out of here.

Spider Silk, Spider Legs jump, Bunny Cloud, and so on.

Why would he need to solve a puzzle?

A 100-meter-wide cliff was no obstacle for the Stellar.

But—

The problem was that the trains here were all at least Level 15, all from the Red Zone. How could trains at this tier not fly? A 100-meter-wide cliff was nothing to them, just like walking on flat ground.

However...

It had been a full minute since the second trial began, and not a single train had made a move. Everyone was quietly parked in place, as if they had no idea the second trial had even started.

"Two possibilities."

Li Shiji stood in the train car, speaking quickly. "First, this is an obvious trap. Using other means to cross this 100-meter-wide cliff might trigger a train-destroying crisis."

"We can only solve the puzzle, make the rapidly spinning bridges that look like a metal storm stabilize, then drive over normally."

"Second, this trial is a reward for pioneers."

"This Encounter Map has been emphasizing the concept of 'pioneers,' which means it values trains that dare to be the first to face the unknown. It's possible we can just fly directly across."

"And it's highly likely that only the first train can fly across like this. The remaining trains will have to obediently clear the level."

"..."

Chen Mang nodded without speaking. But it was obvious that everyone could see this, and the other 19 trains could naturally see it too, yet no one made a move.

Pioneer...

Sounded nice, but what was the difference between that and a death squad?

And he truly felt that, with his Level 18 Armor, he didn't need to fear the metal storm on that bridge. He refused to believe that metal storm could even damage Level 18 Armor.

The test was simple, too—just detach a carriage and try it.

If he were here alone, he would've tried it long ago.

But with so many trains here—

He wasn't keen on paying the price while everyone else reaped the benefits.

For a moment, everyone was in a standoff. A full ten minutes passed, and not a single train moved. Everyone stayed in their train cars, observing their surroundings, quite composed.

"See anything?"

Chen Mang stared at the tens of thousands of mechanical organs on the ceiling, rubbing his somewhat sore eyes. He hadn't seen anything. "I feel like these mechanical organs probably aren't the clues to the puzzle, but more like a distraction."

He then pushed the control stick, driving the Stellar slowly toward the bridge corresponding to the Stellar train, preparing to do an experiment.

As the train was about to reach the bridge—

He stepped down from the Stellar train, looking at the bridge in front of him, which was composed of countless gears and steel blades spinning rapidly. He didn't really like puzzles, so he prepared to do a rather crude experiment.

"Buzz, buzz, buzz."

With a buzzing sound, a small drone from the "Hive Platform" accessory took off from the Stellar train and flew toward the other side of the cliff. This accessory could produce reconnaissance drones, though he rarely used it.

Chen Mang's eyes were fixed on the drone.

Unobstructed.

It reached the other side of the cliff with extreme ease.

"Boom—"

The roar of an engine sounded inside the train car. A Viper Unmanned Fighter, using the carriage interior as a runway, shot out from the tail of the train, did a half-circle in the air, and also successfully reached the other side of the cliff.

After doing these two experiments—

Chen Mang waited patiently for a minute. Seeing no reaction from the other 19 trains, he couldn't help but sigh softly. These people were really composed. He then turned his head to look at Lao Zhu. "Bring him down."

Soon—

A burly man with a ferocious, angry face was dragged off the train by Biaozi and the others.

This was one of the desperadoes who had attacked Biaozi in the "Stone People Area" ruins. He hadn't been killed after being captured, but kept as a consumable. Soon, a Train Token was activated, and this burly man was stuffed into the newly built train.

This Level 1 train naturally couldn't fly.

The Spider Legs were a non-removable accessory, but he had his ways.

The next moment—

Chen Mang slowly raised his staff. A powerful magnetic force emanated from the "Magnetic Harvester." This Level 1 train slowly floated into the air and shot toward the other side of the cliff.

Can't fly?

He had too many ways.

However—

Just as the train had just reached the air above the cliff—

The space above the cliff suddenly began to tear apart instantly. The Level 1 train, with no armor, turned into countless iron scraps in an instant, falling into the pitch-black spatial rift and disappearing.

Deader than dead.

Instant kill.

The trap around the plaza was actually spatial fragmentation.

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]