Chapter 9: Fourteen Craftable Vehicle Accessories
Although Lao Zhu's heart was pounding, he still put on a fierce expression.
He had always been in charge of internal affairs and never handled field operations.
He wasn't naturally suited to putting on a menacing facade, but with the current shortage of manpower, he had no choice but to step up.
As soon as Chen Mang stepped out of the carriage, he immediately began searching the other carriages.
There should still be plenty of resources in the other carriages.
But before he sent the Slaves to collect resources from the other carriages, he needed to gather up dangerous items like firearms first to prevent any unexpected incidents.
Their current carriage was Carriage No. 7.
Carriages No. 8 and 9 behind them were the Slave carriages.
He first went to these two Slave carriages, which were now completely empty, only scattered fragments of clothing and pools of sticky blood remained, with many Iron Ores scattered like stars in the blood.
The carriages were almost completely destroyed.
Only the general outline of the carriages could be seen, with the surrounding metal sheets torn open by Zombies, leaving countless holes.
He would have the Slaves come later to collect resources from these two carriages.
The good stuff was all in the front carriages No. 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6.
Carriage No. 6 was the enforcers' carriage, and the people inside were also all dead. But since there weren't as many people, it didn't look as bloody as Carriages No. 8 and 9. In the pools of blood, many firearms, batons, bullets, and magazines had fallen.
He didn't mind the mess.
He just slightly furrowed his brow, rolled up his sleeves, and began collecting all these items, temporarily stuffing them into his Train's engine.
Carriage No. 5 was the provisions carriage, stocked with bread, steamed buns, mineral water, and so on. In addition, there were some vehicle accessories, such as a "Level 1 Pure Water Filter," as well as steamers and spatulas.
Carriage No. 4 was the warehouse.
It was stocked with various ores, but not in large quantities.
Each ore counts as one unit, and there were only a few hundred here, so just a few hundred units. In addition, there were many picks, axes, and other mining tools stored.
Carriage No. 3 was the combat carriage.
The three heavy machine guns were mounted on top of this carriage. Inside, there were two "Level 1 Bullet Production Lines" for producing special bullets for heavy machine guns and pistols, and one "Pistol Production Line." In theory, there should have been a lot of bullets stockpiled here, but now it was completely empty, with only a few bullets scattered on the ground.
And these production lines were also damaged, with two of the three heavy machine guns broken.
Carriage No. 2 seemed to be the senior confidants' living quarters.
There were seven single beds here, and the living conditions were clearly much better than the Slave carriages. Although the carriage was in tatters, there was no blood or clothing fragments. It seemed that although the Train Conductor had abandoned Carriage No. 2, he had still taken his confidants with him.
He couldn't remove the heavy machine gun from the top of the carriage by himself for now. As for the other small pistols and bullets, he made several trips to move them all to the Train engine next to him.
Only now—
Did he have the time to carefully inspect the interior of his Train.
The Train engine wasn't large.
It was much smaller than the carriages, three meters wide and seven meters long.
The engine took up four meters, leaving only a little internal space, much smaller than the Slave carriages. At the end of the engine, there was a steel door, which was clearly much more defensible than the metal carriages.
Only someone with the Train Conductor's authority could open this steel door.
Operating the Train was also very simple: stay in the Train cabin and control it with your mind—quite sci-fi.
The Train cabin was about twelve square meters, with the front covered in glass, allowing a clear view of the outside.
As he stood in the Train cabin, looking out at the wilderness through the glass, he suddenly felt a sense of satisfaction. On this dangerous wilderness, owning a Train of his own was no easy feat.
On the Train control panel.
There were many buttons, one of which was a red button labeled "Train Panel."
When he pressed this button, a detailed panel soon appeared on a nearby display screen.
"Train Name": Pending.
"Train Level": Level 1.
"Train Accessories": Level 1 Geothermal Furnace.
"Number of Carriages": None.
"Ore Units": None.
"Upgrade Requirements": Must have 4 carriages, all 7 essential vehicle accessories crafted, and consume 5000 units of Level 1 Iron Ore.
There was another red button labeled "Train Crew."
Here, you could appoint a Deputy Train Conductor and Train Crew, and set different permissions for each member, such as the usage permissions for "Heavy Machine Guns."
For example.
Weapons produced on this Train's production lines cannot be used against the Train Conductor and Deputy Train Conductor.
On the Train, the Train Conductor has absolute authority.
There was another red button on the Train control panel labeled "Vehicle Accessories."
Pressing this button caused a series of "Level 1 Train" craftable vehicle accessories and the required resources to appear on the screen, clearly indicating which accessories were essential for Train upgrades and which were optional.
Thirteen in total.
Seven of these vehicle accessories must be crafted, as the Train cannot be upgraded without them. The remaining six accessories are optional.
Wait.
Fourteen.
Of these thirteen vehicle accessories, the first seven were highlighted in green, and the remaining six in white.
But at the very bottom, there was a vehicle accessory name in dark red. However, this accessory could only be crafted by a Train obtained through a "Rare Train Token."
"Holy cow,"
Chen Mang, who was continuously exploring the various functions of the Train cabin, looked at the red vehicle accessory with a hint of awe in his eyes.
This Rare Train Token seemed even more impressive than he had imagined.
"Accessory Name": Wheel Changer.
"Accessory Grade": Red.
"Accessory Level": Level 1.
"Accessory Effect": Will open up a space above each carriage's wheels to accommodate two sets of wheels, allowing free switching between up to three sets of wheels.
"Upgrade Requirements": 100 units of Iron Ore.
It didn't look like much, but this was definitely a good thing.
There are many types of Train wheels, each with different effects.
But with this, he could craft three sets of wheels and freely switch between them without significantly affecting the original speed, allowing him to handle various dangerous environments with ease.
In addition to the panel introduction, each vehicle accessory also had an animated demonstration.
For example, his Train was currently using "tracks." After activating the Wheel Changer, a set of "Wind-Fire Wheels" could extend from the side. Once the Wind-Fire Wheels successfully touched the ground, the tracks would retract.
This would allow for quick wheel changes without much impact on speed.
Normally, to change wheels.
The Train would have to stop somewhere, and then the onboard mechanic would have to get out and manually change the wheels, which would take quite a bit of time. But in the wilderness, you often wouldn't have that much time.
Then
Chen Mang looked at the remaining thirteen craftable vehicle accessories, took a deep breath, and decided to first gather all the ores to see how many there were. In any case, he would have to craft a "Warehouse Carriage" first to use as a Slave carriage and take these Slaves away.
Then he would use the 'Geothermal Furnace' to devour all the already damaged carriages.
It sounded a bit like a game of snake.
Just then—
Chen Mang suddenly felt the Birthmark on the back of his hand getting slightly warm. Another new Train Conductor task had been completed, but it only showed up after he had finished exploring all the functions of the Train cabin.
(End of Chapter)