Chapter 20 "Biao Ge, are we still running?"

At this moment—

Outside the Train, among the ten thugs on patrol, three men were huddled in a corner, whispering and discussing something.

Lord Mang had ordered the ten of them to choose their own leader.

They had already selected him—the leader among the three men, a burly man with a scarred face and a menacing presence.

The three of them were already acquainted, having previously been thugs on another Train. While out collecting supplies, they encountered monsters and fled in panic, only to be captured by Master Kun and reduced to Slaves. This time, when Lord Mang selected them to be thugs, the other two, who were originally his underlings, naturally supported him, and he became the leader of the thugs.

However, they had just chosen him and hadn't yet reported it to Lord Mang.

"Biao Ge."

A skinny boy beside him, looking somewhat worried, glanced at the Train and then leaned closer to Biao Ge, whispering, "Are we still running? This Train Conductor looks younger than me. Can we really rely on him?"

Their original plan was to find a way to escape when Master Kun's Train went to a certain City Ruins. To this end, they had been keeping an extremely low profile, but as they say, plans can't keep up with changes.

Master Kun had suddenly become Lord Mang.

And the three of them had been selected to be thugs.

"Run?"

The burly man called Biao Ge hesitated slightly. They were now thugs, and he was even a minor leader, which, to put it bluntly, made him the third in command on the Train.

Should they still run?

The whole world had turned into this mess. Where could they run to? Even if they ran back to their original Train, he would just be an ordinary thug again, with no status or power.

Of course, their original Train had more than thirty thugs and was already a Level 2 Train, much larger and safer than Lord Mang's Train.

He used to be a construction site foreman, leading a group of brothers who did manual labor, all of them strong and capable.

After the apocalypse came.

After a period of panicked survival, he was fortunate enough to obtain a "Train Token." With his group of more than thirty brothers, he had ambitions to build an absolutely safe Train.

But,

before the initial Energy Stone was depleted, he personally took charge, but still couldn't gather 7100 units of Iron Ore to upgrade the Train to Level 2 and build a Fabrication Table. Eventually, the Train broke down in the wilderness and became scrap metal. Just searching for a Mine in the vast wilderness took him a lot of time.

Later, he learned that many people wouldn't activate their "Train Token" immediately after obtaining it. They would first gather a team, find a sufficiently remote Iron Ore deposit in the wild, and only then activate the Train to build a "Pickaxe Production Line" and quickly mine, upgrading the Train to Level 2 in the shortest time possible.

Or, they would accumulate Iron Ore and wood through trade or robbery, or someone from a Train would run away with resources and strike out on their own.

Later, he gained experience and obtained another "Train Token."

This time, he did manage to upgrade to Level 2, but during a Corpse Tide, they were almost completely wiped out. Only the three of them escaped. From then on... he completely gave up on the dream of being a Train Conductor. Not everyone is suited to be a Train Conductor.

For people like them, the best outcome might be to follow a sufficiently powerful Train Conductor and become thugs.

Later, they followed a few more Train Conductors, but in the end, they were either absorbed or destroyed.

"..."

Biao Ge's face was contorted in deep thought as he remained silent for a long time. Initially, on Master Kun's Train, they planned to escape because the treatment of Slaves was too poor, and they certainly didn't want to be Slaves, but there was no hope of advancement.

He couldn't even get close to the Train Conductor or the Deputy Train Conductor.

As for talking to the thugs, that was just asking for a beating.

But now...

On Lord Mang's Train, he had already become a "Thug Leader." To put it bluntly, this was the highest position he had ever held. Even if he ran, he could only continue to hide in the City Ruins or become a thug again. It wouldn't be better than now.

Moreover, although Lord Mang was young, his actions were decisive and steady. From the very beginning in the seventh Slave carriage, when Lord Mang suddenly killed someone, he could tell that this man was reasonable. At the time, it seemed like it was just about a straw mat, but in fact, that was just the beginning.

And he had enough ambition. Even as a Slave, he had to occupy the best position in the carriage. In fact, if Lord Mang hadn't taken that straw mat, none of the subsequent events would have happened.

Furthermore—

Biao Ge looked down at the "Soaring Dragon Assault Rifle" in his hand. This wasn't something a Level 1 Train could produce. He had briefly been a Train Conductor, and he knew very well what a Level 1 Train could produce.

This wasn't stolen from Master Kun's Train either, otherwise it wouldn't have been able to harm Master Kun.

Lord Mang had his own opportunities.

In the wilderness, an excellent Train Conductor must meet one of three conditions.

First, ability.

Anyone can become a Train Conductor with good luck, but that doesn't mean the Train Conductor has ability. He had met many Train Conductors who lacked vision, and even those who refused to let women become Slaves, keeping all the women as their own harem, which severely slowed down resource collection and eventually led to their downfall.

Second, opportunity.

Even without any ability, with enough opportunity, one could stumble upon a high-grade "Vehicle Components" blueprint just by walking around. Even a fool could live comfortably for a while.

Third, means.

Without sufficient means, one could be completely incapable of management, even being manipulated without knowing it. It was only a matter of time before the underlings rebelled or ran away with resources.

Any one of these qualities was enough, and Lord Mang seemed to possess all three. His ability went without saying. His opportunities were evident from the assault rifle in his hand and the bloodthirsty maw full of countless gears at the front of the Train—though he didn't know what it was, it was surely a high-grade Vehicle Component.

As for means, from the very beginning in the Slave carriage, he knew that with someone like Lord Mang in charge, it would be difficult for the underlings to rebel, and they wouldn't dare to.

Any sign of rebellion would be crushed immediately.

After careful analysis.

Lord Mang might be the most qualified Train Conductor they had ever encountered. After a long period of deep thought, Biao Ge took a deep breath and looked up at his two long-time workers. Seeing the look in their eyes, he was momentarily stunned, then couldn't help but laugh and curse.

"Damn it!"

"What you two are saying and what you're thinking are completely different."

Although the two of them were asking if they should run, their eyes clearly showed that they didn't want to. Obviously, they also thought that following Lord Mang was a good idea.

"Hehe..."

The skinny, dark-skinned boy who had spoken earlier awkwardly hugged his assault rifle tightly: "Biao Ge, look, this is a fully automatic rifle. Before, we only had small pistols. When we went out to collect supplies or Slaves, we had to run at the slightest sign of danger."

"Now, with this thing, even if we encounter ten or eight Zombies, we wouldn't be afraid at all."

"In the apocalypse."

"What are we all after, if not a little sense of security and a better life?"

"With this thing in hand, the sense of security skyrockets."

"But Biao Ge, don't worry. We both listen to you. If you say run, we'll definitely still run with you."

(End of Chapter)