Chapter 155: 1v28.

"Crack."

A crisp sound rang out, as if someone was eating a crunchy shark.

Biao Zi's upper body was severed at the waist.

Dead beyond dead.

"No!!!"

Inside the train, Chen Mang looked at the screen with a pained expression, watching the scene of Biao Zi's death. He trembled as he lit a cigarette, bringing it to his lips. His eyes reddened, and he spoke hoarsely, "Xiao Ai... do you know..."

"The first time I really looked at Biao Zi, he carefully reported to me that he was the elected captain of the thugs. Back then..."

"Train Conductor."

Xiao Ai, standing beside him, spoke in a mechanical voice, "This is just a normal mission in 'Biohazard.' There's no real death. Biao Zi isn't dead."

"..."

Chen Mang, still caught up in his emotions, glanced at Xiao Ai with slight dissatisfaction. "You don't seem very intelligent yet. Next time something like this happens, I hope you'll choose to stay silent."

"Received."

Chen Mang leaned back in his chair with renewed enthusiasm, propping his feet on the table as he watched the screen showing Biao Zi's successful clearance of the mission.

Earlier, Lao Zhu had come to talk to him about Li Shiji.

He was very interested.

He hadn't expected Li Shiji to have such a use. He immediately promised Li Shiji a great reward if he performed well.

Then, with great interest, he began to watch the map designed by Li Shiji and others in the Combat Training Virtual Space. Coincidentally, he also saw Biao Zi heading into the Biohazard mission.

Although it was in third-person view, the immersion was still strong.

This was far more thrilling than any apocalypse movie.

However, even the normal Biohazard mission was this difficult at the start. He calculated that if you didn't escape the elevator within the first twenty seconds, it was a guaranteed death.

The monster in the elevator shaft was practically invincible; there was no way to kill it.

The only solution was to kick open the elevator door and escape quickly.

And you couldn't bring any weapons in—you could only pick up weapons that might exist in the map, like the steel pipe in the elevator.

The overall difficulty wasn't low.

If one could successfully make it to the 31st floor, an increase of 0.2 in the Physical Fitness Index seemed a bit too little.

Finally—

After dying three times in a row, Biao Zi managed to kick open the elevator door right at the start of the fourth attempt.

The elevator door was stuck between the 7th and 8th floors.

Biao Zi first looked down at the 7th floor, then peeked up at the 8th floor. Seeing no zombies outside, he hesitated for a few seconds before jumping up and climbing through the door to the 8th-floor platform.

But just then!

"Crash!!"

With the sound of the steel cables falling, the entire elevator suddenly plummeted. Before Biao Zi could climb out, he was once again severed at the waist, his eyes filled with despair and pain.

"Hmm..."

Chen Mang frowned slightly as he leaned back in his chair. This seemed a lot like that movie "Final Destination." Just a little too slow, and it meant death. How many times would one have to die to reach the top?

The pain was still 100% real.

He could see that Biao Zi hadn't immediately re-entered the mission. Instead, he was lying on the floor of the white space, his body twitching—clearly in considerable pain.

But soon, Biao Zi got up and charged back in!

This time, he climbed out of the elevator shaft at the fastest speed possible, reaching the 8th floor.

As soon as Biao Zi climbed out, the elevator behind him began to fall.

But before he could even catch his breath—

"Roar!!"

Dozens of zombies emerged from the corridors on both sides of the elevator shaft. Just as Chen Mang was about to see how Biao Zi would handle this, Biao Zi didn't hesitate for a second. He turned and jumped back into the elevator shaft.

He fell heavily to the bottom, severely injured but not dead.

Fortunately, the zombie in the elevator shaft was there to finish him off.

Again, one more try.

This time, Biao Zi chose to go to the 7th floor. After climbing out, he was safe. Biao Zi was clever—he chose to take the fire escape. Just as he opened the fire escape door, dozens of zombies rushed out.

Again.

This time, Biao Zi decided to search the offices on the 7th floor for a suitable weapon. During his search, he noticed a hanging basket outside the window, used for cleaning the building's exterior glass. At the moment, no one was on it.

Biao Zi's eyes lit up. He picked up the fire axe he had just found and jumped onto the basket, seemingly hatching a brilliant plan.

As soon as he stood on it, the rope holding the basket snapped.

Dead.

Again.

This time, Biao Zi grabbed the fire axe on the 7th floor and, without trying any shortcuts, charged straight into the fire escape to fight.

1v28.

A bloody battle ensued. The score was 3/1, then 5/1, 8/1, 11/1—gradually improving.

After a full hour, when the sky had completely darkened, the score finally reached 28/0. On the screen, Biao Zi, drenched in blood and staggering, climbed up the fire escape to the 12th floor, only to find the fire escape blocked. He had to detour to another fire escape on the same floor.

As he opened the door to the 12th floor, he saw over a hundred zombies turn their heads in unison, roaring as they charged toward him.

Biao Zi's body finally gave out, and he collapsed to his knees. Before the zombies could reach him, he raised the axe and struck himself, clearly trying to lessen the pain. But he must have hesitated—he didn't kill himself.

But it didn't matter. The charging zombies delivered the final blow, though it meant he suffered a bit more pain.

As the screen flashed, Chen Mang noticed a set of armor and... a healing spray on the table.

"Hmm..."

Chen Mang sighed as he watched Biao Zi charge back into the map on the screen. The guy never stopped. From dying at the start to now flowing through the mission like water, it was truly a sight to behold.

This map was really hard. Even the "normal mission" was this difficult. Could anyone actually clear the extreme version?

The extreme version would not only be harder, but it also only allowed one life.

If you died in the map, it meant real brain death in the outside world.

"Train Conductor."

Xiao Ai, who had been standing beside him watching the entire time, spoke up. "Biao Zi's movements are becoming more precise. Every strike is just right, and he instinctively protects his vital areas. When he needs to engage in close combat, he can quickly judge whether the exchange of injuries is worth it."

"Biao Zi's combat experience is improving rapidly."

"If he can really clear it three times..."

"It'll be like a complete transformation."

"That's true."

Chen Mang nodded in deep agreement. He shifted his gaze to the three-dimensional train diagram on the screen. His "Swarm Platform," the component that controlled drones, had already been upgraded to level 10, but its two supermodel effects were still empty.

In addition—

The "Vehicle-Mounted Zombie Perception Blocker," a green-tier component, had also been upgraded to level 10 using 45,000 units of Iron Ore.

The effect of reaching level 10 was that it could make the train immune to the perception of level 10 zombies.

Considering the effect, the Iron Ore spent was quite cost-effective.

However—

Most of the time, it was useless. After all, he wasn't afraid of Corpse Tides. Even if they were detected, it didn't matter. Unless he encountered level 80 or 90 zombies that he couldn't defeat, this component would be very useful.

It was worth mentioning that crafting this component required the "Handheld Zombie Perception Blocker," a special item.

He still had two of these special items.

He used one and had one left.

If he hadn't traded it in the Iron Ridge Wasteland, he would have had three.

The handheld version could only block the perception of level 1 zombies, making it practically useless except during the early stages. Many times, it could save your life, but the vehicle-mounted version had much more utility.

He still had 12 Murphy Stones.

The harvest over the past few days had been quite substantial. He planned to take a day off to process these gains.

He glanced at his train panel's resource balance.

He had 525,000 units of Copper Ore and 470,000 units of Iron Ore.

"Bring Doba and the Black Market Merchant here."

"Received."

"Great Human Prophet."

Doba and the Black Market Merchant stood solemnly in the train compartment, bowing to Chen Mang.

Chen Mang picked up a few Redheart Nuts from the plate beside him and handed them to the two with a smile. "I heard these are your favorite snacks. Later, Xiao Ai will take you to the production car to get some more. You can enjoy them as snacks."

In his train compartment, he kept a plate filled with Redheart Nuts. Whenever it was almost empty, Xiao Fang would refill it.

It wasn't that he needed them.

He just genuinely liked the taste of these nuts. They made for a great snack—crunchy and satisfying.

"This..."

Doba and the Black Market Merchant froze as they took the Redheart Nuts. Their eyes reddened, and they trembled as they put the nuts into their mouths. Tears streamed down their faces as they spoke, their voices shaking.

"This... this is the taste of home."

"It's been so long since I've seen Redheart Nuts. I never thought I'd get to taste them again in my lifetime."

"Hmm."

Chen Mang wasn't too surprised by their reaction. If he had tasted something unique from his previous world, he would have felt the same way. These two goblins were essentially displaced on this planet.

This world originally had no such thing as goblins.

But this wasn't why he had called them here. He pulled out ten "Goblin Tickets" and handed them to Doba.

"These are Goblin Tickets. No matter where you are, as long as you crush the ticket, you can return to the Stellar Train."

"Give them to him."

"Have him randomly teleport, then crush the ticket to return. There's no specific mission, but it'd be great if he could gather some information."

"Like what he sees in other regions, what kind of monsters are there, and so on..."

"Wait."

Chen Mang paused for a moment, then crafted a Mechanical Eye and a level 2 Energy Stone. He also used a Mechanical Heart to create something resembling a black box, connecting the two to form a head-mounted camera.

"Tie this to his head. The main task is to bring back various pieces of information."

"Understood?"

"Understood."

Doba nodded solemnly.

"Alright, you can go now."

Chen Mang waved his hand.

The price of a Goblin Ticket was slightly higher than that of a Train Ticket. A Train Ticket cost 100 units of Iron Ore, while a Goblin Ticket cost 500 units.

He didn't directly speak to the Black Market Merchant.

This goblin didn't seem very bright. When Er Dan was on the train, this guy had come over and repeated the same lines he had said when he first met Chen Mang—word for word, as if it were a pre-programmed script.

It was better to let Doba handle the arrangements.

Among these goblins, Doba seemed the most intelligent.

So when Doba had first met him and claimed to be the smartest among the goblins, he wasn't lying. He was a good kid who never lied.

"Do this, then this... and finally this... got it?"

Doba stuffed the ten Goblin Tickets into the Black Market Merchant's arms, then fixed the camera to his chest. He also stuffed a handful of Redheart Nuts into the merchant's pocket before giving his final instructions.

"You can randomly teleport up to ten times a day, right?"

"This time, use all ten teleports. When you're out of energy, crush one of the Goblin Tickets and return."

"Got it?"

"Got it."

The Black Market Merchant's mouth was stuffed with Redheart Nuts, too precious to chew, so he held them in his mouth like a squirrel, mumbling, "I'm off, King Doba."

"Go, and may you return victorious, bringing glory to the goblin race!"

Doba placed his hands solemnly on the Black Market Merchant's shoulders, his expression devout and solemn, like a king knighting a general.

In the next moment—

A flash of white light enveloped the Black Market Merchant, and he vanished without a trace.

"What a great tool for exploration."

Chen Mang looked at the control panel screen. The Black Market Merchant was no longer on the train, and his location was unknown. The only way to tell if he was still alive was through the Train Crew panel. It was unclear if he was still in the Shahe Plain region.

Up to this point, his understanding of this world was limited to just four regions: "Shahe Plain," "Kunlun Mountains," "Ice and Snow World," and "Iron Ridge Wasteland." He knew nothing about other regions.

But with the Black Market Merchant, he could learn about events in other regions. Even if he couldn't go there himself, it would give him a clearer understanding of the world. It was unclear whether the Black Market Merchant could teleport to any region or if he was limited to random teleportation within a single region.

Testing it out would provide the answers.

By tomorrow morning, when the Goblin Merchant returned, the camera he carried would reveal a lot of information.

As everyone knew, in any strategic game, the importance of exploration was paramount.

"..."

Chen Mang glanced at the mineral resources on the train panel. With a bit more Iron Ore, he could prepare to upgrade the train to level 6 and head to the yellow region.

Originally, he had planned to leave the Shahe Plain and visit the "Underwater Labyrinth" fortuitous map to obtain more Murphy Stones.

But now, it seemed he wouldn't have the chance for a while.

He had asked Er Dan about it.

To navigate underwater, he needed the "Deep Sea Shield," a blue-tier vehicle component. Although it wasn't a high-tier item, it was extremely rare.

It could only be obtained by defeating the "Green Dragon" monster.

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