Chapter 175: How to Write the "Mang" in Wild Bull.
20 seconds later.
"Hmm."
That Level 8 Zombie had completely vanished, leaving only scattered flesh and blood slowly falling from the sky to the ground. Not a single intact piece of meat remained—it was as if it had been thrown into a meat grinder and thoroughly shredded.
Chen Mang, with a serious expression, glanced at the various data flashing across the control panel. The Train Stunt "Death Spin," activated by the Level 50 Car Blade and Level 50 Drill Bit, was more than enough to kill a Level 8 monster. The damage was sufficient.
However, since it couldn't be an instant kill, it took a bit more time.
The resistance was roughly equivalent to the flesh barrier in the Fortuitous Encounter map exclusive to the Flesh Train in the "Kunlun Mountains" area, though slightly weaker.
Moreover, this Level 8 Zombie was relatively small in size. If it had been larger, it would have taken even more time to kill, but the fact remained that it could be killed.
Not bad.
Once this Level 3 Iron Ore deposit was fully mined, and both the Car Blade and Drill Bit were upgraded to Level 100, killing a Level 8 Zombie would become an instant task. Although the white-tier accessories had smaller power increases with each level compared to the red-tier ones, they were still much cheaper.
It was like how he never dared to imagine upgrading the "Ground Burst Missile" or the "Doomsday Cannon" to Level 100.
Several lines of text flashed across the screen.
-
"Detected highly corrosive liquid sprayed on the mech."
"Mechanical Nanite Spiders are ready for production at any moment."
"Armor Level 5 Super Effect: Immunity to liquid, mist, swamp, and other corrosive elements."
"Armor undamaged."
"External Loudspeaker integrity: 22%. Powerful Magnet damage: 19%."
"Mechanical Nanite Spiders are already repairing."
-
With the loss of that Level 8 Zombie, the Corpse Tide was now just a scattered mess of low-level enemies. The Doomsday Cannon precisely eliminated over a dozen Level 6 Zombies, while the remaining Zombies were handled by Biao Zi and others who had jumped off the Train to engage them.
The green-tier "Armor" was truly useful, but its only drawback was that it only protected the Train itself.
Accessories like the "External Loudspeaker" and "Powerful Magnet," which were mounted outside the Armor, weren't protected by it.
This was unlike the Energy Shield, which could fully protect these external accessories.
This meant—
Almost every time he faced an enemy, the Loudspeaker and Powerful Magnet would take damage. Fortunately, their levels were high enough that even these life-oriented accessories had some defensive capabilities, preventing them from being completely destroyed. They were merely damaged and could be repaired by the Mechanical Nanite Spiders.
But every time this happened, it left him feeling a bit helpless.
That Level 8 Zombie had traveled a long distance to deliver a green-tier Accessory Blueprint.
"Single-Player Flamethrower Production Line."
Not bad.
A single-player weapon that could be useful in certain combat environments. Having it was better than not having it at all. He never thought about selling blueprints, no matter how seemingly useless they were. He would always craft them himself to see what their Supermodel Effect was.
Selling them would be a complete waste.
He could always find a use for them. If he couldn't, the Train Crew could. And if the Crew couldn't, they'd eventually find a use for them later.
"Hmm?"
Just then—
Chen Mang suddenly noticed a Train speeding off in the opposite direction. The Targeting Radar displayed its information as "Wild Bull," the very Train that had a competitive relationship with him. He chuckled but didn't pursue it.
"So scary, so scary."
Inside the Wild Bull Train, a man was fleeing in terror. Someone had just informed him of the Stellar Train's coordinates, and since he happened to be nearby, he had eagerly rushed over!
A Level 6 Train!
Daring to compete with his Level 8 Train in the tobacco business!
They must have a death wish.
Without a lesson, they wouldn't know their place!
But then—
As soon as he arrived, he witnessed an utterly shocking scene—the Stellar Train was spinning! And I mean literally spinning!
It instantly killed a Level 8 Zombie boss.
Great.
Originally, he had wanted to show the Stellar Train how the "Mang" in Wild Bull was written. Now, he didn't need to show them anything—he just needed to escape. Coincidentally, he suddenly forgot how to write the character "Mang" too.
After running frantically for over ten minutes.
Seeing that the Stellar Train wasn't pursuing him.
The man, drenched in cold sweat, let out a long sigh of relief, his hands trembling slightly. He thanked that Zombie for testing the waters for him. If it hadn't, he might already be buried in the ground.
He remembered that, on the Train Radio, another Train had been cursing the Stellar Train alongside him, and their insults were just as filthy.
It was called the "Anime Train."
He was about to look for this Train on the rankings to warn them not to provoke the Stellar Train, which could instantly kill a Level 8 Zombie. But after searching the rankings for a while, he couldn't find the "Anime Train" at all.
"Gone?"
Soon, a horrifying possibility dawned on him—had the Anime Train already confronted the Stellar Train and been destroyed by it?
But he remembered that the Anime Train was part of "The Balance" organization, and several other Trains had come with them.
He searched the rankings for those Trains as well.
Well.
Without exception, they were all gone.
This was serious. The Stellar Train was even more exaggerated and absurd than he had imagined.
"..."
The man slumped into his chair, his expression fluctuating between fear and uncertainty. Finally, he gritted his teeth and sent several messages in the Train Radio chat box.
"Wild Bull Train": Train Conductor of the Stellar Train, I was wrong. I shouldn't have insulted you some time ago. I was blinded by greed. Please just let me go like a fart. I...
"Wild Bull Train": "..."
He sent seven or eight messages begging for forgiveness.
Though it was somewhat embarrassing for everyone to see.
But there was no other way.
The Stellar Train Conductor hadn't responded to his private messages, preventing him from continuing the conversation privately. Unable to contact the other party, he had no choice but to speak in the Train Radio. Now, he could only hope that the other party would see his messages and let bygones be bygones. He was scared.
But he wasn't sure if the other party would see them.
He decided to send a few messages from time to time to ensure they would definitely be seen.
Soon—
Many in the Train Radio chat room began asking what had happened. Even some Train Conductors who were usually on good terms with him privately messaged to inquire. He didn't respond in the chat room but replied to all the private messages with the same line.
"He's too strong. I can't beat him."
Direct and concise.
Indeed, he was strong. Besides admitting defeat, what else could he do?
Chen Mang didn't pay much attention to this little episode. He simply steered the Stellar Train back to the Level 3 Iron Ore deposit to continue the day's mining.
It had to be said.
The residents had been thoroughly trained. When they saw a Corpse Tide rushing toward the Train from a distance, including a Zombie over ten meters tall, hardly anyone stopped working. There was no fear on their faces.
Instead, they worked while glancing up at the distant Zombie, their eyes filled with curiosity.
The Stellar Train's illustrious achievements had greatly boosted the residents' trust in the Train.
Chen Mang glanced at the busy residents outside the Train, stretched his limbs, and then walked into the "Combat Training Virtual Space" nearby to try out the Biohazard map.
Although a Train Conductor didn't need an exceptionally high Physical Fitness Index.
Having a higher one didn't hurt.
He also had a mech dream. He wanted to take that thing out for a spin.
As the words "Biohazard" dissolved into white dots and disappeared, a familiar scene unfolded. Though it was his first time entering this map, he had watched Biao Zi navigate it many times before.
A slowly rising elevator.
The flickering lights inside.
"Bang."
The next moment, something heavy fell onto the elevator's roof, accompanied by the growl of a monster. The elevator then got stuck between the 7th and 8th floors.
Chen Mang glanced down at his hands. The realism was strong, and it felt no different from reality. He kicked the elevator door open with a powerful strike, grabbed a steel pipe from the side, pried open the door, and executed a smooth flip to land on the 7th floor.
His recent training in the Combat Training Virtual Space had paid off.
His movements were more agile now.
"Bang!"
After finding a fire axe and opening the fire exit, Chen Mang, who had just smashed a Zombie's skull with the axe, suddenly chuckled. He wiped the sticky, foul-smelling blood splattered on his cheek, hefted the fire axe, and charged back in!
It had been a long time since he'd experienced the thrill of slaying Zombies with his own hands!
How to put it?
Compared to massacring Zombies with the Automatic Cannon, this felt much more immersive and satisfying.
"Hmm..."
Lao Zhu stood inside the Refrigerator, staring at several decaying corpses. After hesitating for a while, he looked up at Xiao Ai beside him: "Director Ai, do we still need to find a forensic examiner?"
In the laboratory of the "Geocentric Nuclear Bomb" Fortuitous Encounter map, they had retrieved the bodies of several human researchers who had committed suicide. Lord Mang had instructed them to find any residents who had been forensic examiners before the apocalypse to estimate the time of death of these corpses.
But whether it was the monsters killed by Biao Zi and others in the map.
Or these researchers' bodies.
After being brought out of the map, they had rapidly decayed into mummified corpses, looking as if they had been dead for thousands of years.
"Lord Mang said it's not necessary," Xiao Ai shook his head. "He wants you to continue categorizing those 1,900+ Survivors."
"Got it."
Lao Zhu nodded and strode toward Carriage 11. He needed to record the pre-apocalypse professions and specialties of each of the 1,900+ Survivors into the archives. They might not need them immediately, but if they ever required certain talents in the future, they could easily retrieve them from the database.
"Resident Number 1998."
Inside Carriage 11, Lao Zhu sat at a table with a few clerical staff, with several Guardians standing behind him. He casually addressed the burly man in front of him: "Your pre-apocalypse profession and any specialties."
Behind the man was a long line of people.
Beside them stood a Mechanical Eye, which would record all the information collected today into Director Ai's database for future retrieval.
Lao Zhu had to handle the questioning himself.
After all, many people didn't even know what their specialties were, and these needed to be guided and discovered.
"I used to handle funeral arrangements. In my hometown, funerals required setting up tents, and I was the lead. I never lost a tent competition."
"Tent competition?"
The man cautiously nodded, then took a deep breath and suddenly slammed his head against the table, producing a dull thud. He lifted his head again, blood streaming down his forehead.
"In my hometown, tent competitions involved performing extreme stunts—like smashing beer bottles with my head, breaking fluorescent tubes on my back, piercing my flesh with steel needles, or hanging from a crane with steel rings."
"I used to be a thug on a previous Train."
"What's 'crane centipede'?"
"It's when you pierce eight steel rings into your back, thread steel cables through them, and then hang from a crane."
"..."
Lao Zhu remained silent. The table, though seemingly ordinary, was actually a solid steel table made by Lord Mang. This guy was indeed a bit reckless. After noting the man's number and specialty in his notebook, he called out, "Next."
"Number 1999."
A rather handsome man stepped forward from the crowd and cautiously said, "Train Conductor Zhu, I was a novelist before the apocalypse. I wrote novels. Apart from horror, I can write almost any genre."
"Specialty?"
"I can write 20,000 words a day."
Lao Zhu silently recorded this. "Write the beginning of a new novel for me to review in the next couple of days."
The residents needed some entertainment to balance their labor. If the novels were good, this guy could just write novels every day for the residents to read as a form of entertainment.
All he'd need to do was write 20,000 words daily without any other responsibilities.
This guy was quite good-looking too.
"Next, Number 2000."
A girl about 1.55 meters tall stepped forward nervously. "I was a bar singer before the apocalypse. I can sing."
"Sing something."
The girl took a deep breath, cleared her throat, and then mustered the courage to sing.
"Clap your hands up."
"The loli beside me is the moe type."
"Skilled dance steps to the dubstep."
"The other one shows off the robot dance."
"She downs the wine, shouting 'Nice!'"
"Loosens the tie..."
"Enough." Lao Zhu stopped her and looked at the girl with some surprise. "You sing quite well. Your voice is very youthful, and it's otaku music."
"Too bad. If you were on the Anime Train, you'd probably be treated as a high-ranking member."
He silently noted the girl's number in his notebook. Later, he'd ask Lord Mang if he enjoyed listening to music. Singing acapella to this level was already quite impressive.
Plus, she was quite cute.
He wasn't sure if Lord Mang was into this kind of thing, but he'd note it down just in case.
"Next, Number 2001."
"I was a prostitute before the apocalypse. My specialty... is playing the flute."
"Great."
Lao Zhu gave her an annoyed look. "Straight to the point. Your three-day probation is waived. Report directly to the logistics team. Hey, Xiao Li, take her to the logistics group."
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