Chapter 8 Rare Train Token, Activated.

"This..."

Lao Zhu, who had been gripping the pickaxe tightly and was prepared to face death, suddenly noticed that the zombies that had been rushing into the train car were now in a state of chaos, as if something had happened, and they quickly dispersed.

These zombies actually ignored their train car.

All that could be heard were the terrified screams coming from other cars.

He instinctively glanced around the car, finally resting his gaze on Chen Mang. Although he didn't know what was happening, he was certain of one thing: these slaves could not have achieved this; only Chen Mang could.

From the very beginning, Chen Mang was different from the other slaves.

Not only did he lack that resigned, lifeless demeanor, but he also appeared much cleaner, clearly someone who had bathed not long ago. Although Lao Zhu had no idea where Chen Mang had been hiding for the past year, not everyone had the opportunity to bathe in the apocalypse.

This big brother he recognized seemed a bit impressive.

"…"

Chen Mang squinted slightly and casually glanced back at the interior of the car. The expressions on the faces of the slaves were quite vivid, but overall, they were a mix of fear and a hint of excitement from having survived.

The car was not large, yet it was packed with nearly a hundred slaves.

If this Corpse Tide successfully dispersed, managing these hundred slaves would be no small trouble. He only had three bullets left, but fortunately, he had established an image of being cold and ruthless from the start. These people had no idea how many bullets he had left, and with Lao Zhu's cooperation, they could give it a try.

If all else fails...

The safest method would naturally be to take advantage of the current situation with the Corpse Tide still present, to throw some slaves out to feed the zombies, leaving behind a dozen or so slaves. This way, he could ensure complete control, though productivity would significantly decline.

In the apocalypse, death was constant, especially for resources like slaves, which were even rarer. If it could be avoided, it was best not to waste them.

If he hadn't inherited this train car full of slaves from the Train Conductor, gathering a hundred slaves in the wasteland would not have been a simple task.

There were basically no women or elderly; it was just a group of men.

And so—

After about ten minutes, the Corpse Tide continued to surge forward like a swarm of locusts, merely passing over their train car.

When Chen Mang jumped out of the car and stood on the wasteland, looking at the once again empty expanse, the tension that had been held in his heart finally eased; they were temporarily safe.

"Mang Ge!"

Lao Zhu, who also jumped down with a pickaxe, scanned the surroundings and said in a somewhat helpless tone, "You've led us through a crisis, but the train head has run off. Our cars have no power, and we're stuck in the middle of nowhere; we won't last long in the depths of the wasteland."

Chen Mang shook his head and remained silent, simply pulling out the Rare Train Token he had just obtained from his pocket.

It was token-shaped, pointed at the top, entirely black, with the words "Train Token" engraved in bright red.

"This…"

Lao Zhu, who was about to say something, looked at the Train Token in Chen Mang's hand and suddenly felt dazed, staring blankly at Chen Mang.

Where the hell did this Train Token come from?

No, wait.

Even though there was a very small chance of dropping a Train Token from killing low-level monsters like zombies, when the Corpse Tide retreated, he had looked outside and hadn't seen any items drop.

In the next moment—

"Boom!!!"

Accompanied by a tremor in the ground, a train suddenly appeared in mid-air and then crashed heavily onto the ground.

However...

This train had only a train head, with no subsequent cars.

It was entirely black, with a matte, frosted texture, looking nothing like a modern train head; it resembled a steam-era train head, exuding a heavy sense of antiquity.

"You have activated the Rare Train Token and obtained a train of your own."

"Due to it being a Rare Train Token, you receive an additional Level 1 component, 'Core Melter.' This vehicle component can only be obtained from a Rare Train Token."

"…"

Chen Mang looked at the panel in front of him. This was a panel that already existed in this world, but his train's white panel was a bit whiter.

So the Rare Train Token just added a Core Melter?

He instinctively looked at the four characters for Core Melter on the panel; they were in deep red and prominently highlighted.

"Component Name": Core Melter.

"Component Grade": Red.

"Component Level": Level 1.

"Component Effect": Can devour Level 1 trains and decompose their car components into resource units.

"Upgrade Requirement": 100 units of Level 1 Iron Ore.

"Hmm…"

After a brief pause, Chen Mang turned his head to Lao Zhu and asked, "Generally speaking, for example, can I take the vehicle components from these abandoned cars and use them for my own train?"

"You can."

Lao Zhu, having finally recovered from the shock of the train head suddenly appearing, said somewhat dazedly, "As long as the vehicle components are intact, you can certainly take them for your own train."

"However, if the vehicle components are damaged, they are useless and can only be left there."

"There's another group in the wasteland, scavengers. These people ride motorcycles across the wasteland to collect usable components from broken trains to sell. Some damaged vehicle components are left along with the cars in the wasteland."

"After all, monsters only eat people; they don't eat steel."

"There are quite a few of these useless abandoned cars piled up in the wasteland."

Chen Mang's eyes lit up, and he nodded in satisfaction.

This information was quite valuable.

From it, he could gather two pieces of information: there were many abandoned trains in the wasteland that his train head could devour, and the Rare Train Token was indeed rare and valuable; otherwise, those abandoned trains would have long been consumed by the Core Melter and wouldn't have remained until now.

Very good.

Chen Mang did not immediately continue to check his train panel but instead took Lao Zhu back to Slave Car No. 7. With his gun in hand, he scanned each slave one by one, his expression cold as he spoke each word clearly.

"From now on, I am the new Train Conductor."

"You will be my first batch of slaves."

"I will provide you with food; you just need to continue mining as before. One thing: I do not want anyone to defy my orders."

"Is that understood?"

With that, Chen Mang didn't wait for any reaction from the slaves but turned to Lao Zhu and said, "Have each of them orderly hand over the iron ore they've mined in the cave. If anyone disobeys you, take your pickaxe and swing it at them."

"Understood."

Lao Zhu's face darkened as he tried to appear fierce, standing at the entrance of the car with his pickaxe, shouting, "Are you all deaf? Didn't you hear Mang Ge speaking?!"

Immediately, a somewhat disorga

nized murmur came from inside the car.

"We heard you, Mang Ge."

It used to be Master Kun; now it was Mang Ge.

In the wasteland, it was assumed that all Train Conductors were 'Ge.'

(End of Chapter)