Chapter 45: "Departure to the Gathering"

Inside the train.

Chen Mang had already thrown the pistol and its magazine into the "Geothermal Furnace." As for the Handheld Zombie Perception Blocker and the Train Token, he cleaned them and stored them away, ready to be traded at the gathering a few days later.

However, he had one issue he couldn't decide on and needed to discuss with Lao Zhu.

"Lao Zhu."

Chen Mang sat on the control panel, deep in thought. "I plan to attend the gathering in six days to exchange for some materials. What do you think? Should we keep these Slaves for ourselves or sell them at the gathering?"

"Lord Mang," Lao Zhu tentatively began, "are you worried that the current atmosphere on the train is quite good, and the Slaves are working hard, but bringing in a batch of outsiders might stir up some unwanted thoughts among the currently obedient Slaves?"

"Yes."

Chen Mang nodded slightly. He did have some concerns about this.

"Actually, Lord Mang, you don't need to worry too much about this."

Lao Zhu took a deep breath and began to explain. "First of all, the treatment of Slaves on our train is among the best in the wasteland. If it were just after the apocalypse, there might indeed be many people with strange ideas."

"But these Slaves of ours have probably been passed through the hands of several Train Conductors. They are well aware of the treatment of Slaves on other trains. Not to mention, Master Kun is still fresh in their minds from just a few days ago."

"Moreover,"

"The term 'Slave' is something we'll need to gradually change. We should adopt a term that fosters train cohesion and boosts productivity, like 'passengers.' But before that, I think we can first divide the Slaves into three levels."

"For example, Level 1 Slaves, Level 2 Slaves, and Level 3 Slaves."

"The higher the level, the better the treatment they can enjoy."

"We can use the total amount of Iron Ore contributed as the promotion mechanism. Later, when the train develops further, we can change it to Level 1 Passengers, Level 2 Passengers, Level 3 Passengers, and so on."

"These newcomers can be Level 3 Slaves, and our veterans can be Level 2 Slaves. This way, those Level 2 Slaves, after enjoying the corresponding treatment, will be less likely to be incited, as the cost of rebellion would be different."

"Besides, we will definitely accept more Slaves in the future. We can't just avoid using them because of their origins. In the wasteland, people are an extremely scarce source of labor, and how many people who survive in the wilderness have a proper origin?"

"With this system in place, it will be much easier for us to absorb Slaves in the future, gradually integrating them into the Stellar Train."

"In addition,"

"I can also set up some reward mechanisms. After meeting certain contributions, they can exchange for many things, like women, delicious food, a day off, and so on."

"..."

After patiently listening, Chen Mang suddenly laughed. He finally understood why even a formidable figure like Cao Cao needed the strategic advice of his advisor Guo Jia and his Ten Pros and Ten Cons theory.

In fact, he had this idea vaguely in his mind but always felt it was somewhat inappropriate. After hearing Lao Zhu's words, he suddenly felt more confident. Often, people need to draw some confidence from external sources.

"Good."

"Let's proceed as you suggested. You handle the promotion mechanisms and corresponding contribution values."

"Take charge of receiving these Slaves and give them some basic training."

"Understood."

Lao Zhu replied with a serious expression, "I'll get on it right away."

Time flew by, and six days passed in the blink of an eye.

It was already late at night, and the Slaves were returning from the mine with their pickaxes. They needed to depart early the next morning to attend the gathering at coordinates "239, 1923," a journey of over 600 kilometers.

It would take several hours, so they needed to set off early.

These past few days had been relatively peaceful, except for being chased away twice by the Corpse Tide, there were no major incidents.

  They had obtained a total of 8100 units of Iron Ore.

With the addition of these new Slaves, the mining speed had increased significantly.

Chen Mang had already spent most of this Iron Ore.

Currently, the "Stellar" Train, apart from the locomotive, had four carriages: Carriage 2 for cargo, Carriage 3 for living quarters, and Carriages 4 and 5 for Slaves.

Chen Mang had spent a whopping 4000 units of Iron Ore to equip all four carriages with "Carriage Steel Armor."

"..."

On the wasteland.

Chen Mang stood on an open space, leaning on his cane, gazing at the train before him. The entire train was now covered in thick, dark armor, giving it a menacing and heavy presence.

It looked strong.

Not like before, when it resembled a rookie's ride.

Of course, it was all Level 1. He didn't have enough Iron Ore to upgrade the "Carriage Steel Armor" to Level 2, which would require 5000 units.

In addition—

He had also built three heavy machine guns. Along with the one he had previously seized, each carriage now had one mounted on top, giving it a formidable appearance with full firepower, consuming a total of 1500 units of Iron Ore.

However, he only had a few hundred rounds of ammunition for the heavy machine guns, so they were mostly for deterrence.

He also spent 1000 units of Iron Ore to build the "Internal Fire Control System," a Level 1 system with a heavy machine gun embedded in the ceiling at the end of each carriage. Although it was also a heavy machine gun, this was more cost-effective than building external ones, but it could only fire inward.

Yes, for now, there was no ammunition. It was mainly for deterrence.

Before finding "Copper Ore," his heavy firepower weapons were mostly for external intimidation.

Currently, all the Level 2 train components he could build had been completed. The next step was to gradually upgrade them to fully equip the Level 2 train. There were still 1600 units of Iron Ore left in the train.

He spent another 1000 units to upgrade the "Targeting Radar" to Level 2, increasing its detection range to a radius of 2000 meters.

The remaining 600 units were kept.

For daily production of food and water.

To avoid running out of Iron Ore and not finding any new sources, and if they didn't encounter any other trains, everyone on the train would starve to death on the wasteland.

"Ahh"

After organizing the gains of the past few days, Chen Mang looked at the mine that was gradually collapsing in the distance, feeling a bit nostalgic. As all the Slaves left the mine, the mine had reached its end.

All the resources had been mined, and the mine had returned to the wilderness.

Perhaps after some time, this mine would reappear here.

But now,

They needed to search for a new mine.

Chen Mang took a deep breath, stuck the nearly finished cigarette into the soil, stood on the wasteland, clasped his hands, closed his eyes, and murmured.

"May the heavens bless us, and may everything go smoothly tomorrow."

"As long as we can exchange for enough Spider Silk at the gathering, we can go to the Doomsday Abyss to mine Level 2 Iron Ore and Level 1 Copper Ore."

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