My Doomsday Train

“This…”

Clutching the pickaxe tightly in his hands, Old Zhu, who had been ready to die, suddenly noticed that the zombies at the entrance of the carriage, who were about to rush in, had all fallen into a state of chaos, and then quickly dispersed.

These zombies were actually ignoring their carriage.

Only the terrified screams from other carriages could be heard.

He subconsciously glanced around the carriage, and finally focused his gaze on Chen Mang. Although he didn't know what was happening, he was clear about one thing: these slaves definitely couldn't do this. The only one who could was Chen Mang.

Chen Mang narrowed his eyes slightly and inadvertently looked back at the inside of the carriage. The expressions on each slave's face were wonderful, but overall, they were filled with a hint of excitement after surviving a disaster amidst the fear.

The carriage wasn't big, but it was packed with nearly a hundred slaves.

If this zombie horde successfully disperses, how to manage these hundred slaves will be a considerable problem. He only has three bullets left now. Fortunately, the image he initially established was that of a cold and ruthless person. These people don't know how many bullets he has left. With Old Zhu's cooperation, he should be able to give it a try.

If it really doesn't work…

The safest way, of course, would be to take advantage of the zombie horde still being around and throw some of the slaves out to feed the zombies, leaving a dozen slaves behind. This would ensure complete control, but productivity would decrease significantly.

Death is constant in the apocalypse, especially slaves, who are a rare resource. If possible, it's best not to waste them.

If he hadn't inherited this carriage of slaves from the train conductor, it wouldn't have been easy for him to gather a hundred slaves in the wasteland.

There are basically no women or elderly people; it's all men.

Just like that—

After more than ten minutes passed, the zombie horde continued to sweep forward like locusts, only bypassing their carriage.

When Chen Mang jumped out of the carriage and stood on the wasteland with both feet, the heart that had been constantly in his throat finally fell. He was temporarily safe.

“Brother Mang!”

Old Zhu, who had also jumped down with a pickaxe, glanced around and said in a somewhat helpless tone, “You led us to escape a disaster, but the train head ran away. These carriages of ours have no power. We're in the middle of nowhere, and we won't be able to survive in the depths of the wasteland for long.”

Chen Mang shook his head without speaking, but took out the «Rare Train Token» he had just obtained from his pocket.

It was shaped like a token, with a pointed top and a rounded bottom. The whole thing was jet black, and the three words 'Train Token' were engraved on it in scarlet red font.

“This…”

Old Zhu, who was just about to say something, looked at the train token in Chen Mang's hand. His whole person suddenly felt a sense of confusion, and he looked up at Chen Mang in a daze.

Where the hell did this train token come from?

That's not right.

Even if killing low-level monsters like zombies does have a very small chance of dropping a train token, he also looked outside when the zombie horde retreated, and no items dropped at all.

The next moment—

“Boom!!!”

Accompanied by a tremor in the ground, a train suddenly appeared in mid-air, and then crashed heavily to the ground.

Only…

This train only had a train head, without any subsequent carriages.

The overall color was jet black, with a matte, frosted texture. It didn't look like a modern train head, but more like a train head from the steam age, with a heavy sense of vicissitudes.

«You have activated the Rare Train Token and obtained a train of your own.»

«Because it is a Rare Train Token, it is more powerful than ordinary Train Tokens. You have additionally obtained a Level 1 component, 'Geothermal Core', which can only be obtained from Rare Train Tokens.»

“…”

Chen Mang looked at the panel in front of him. It was just that the white panel of his train was a little whiter than the panels that originally existed in this world.

The Rare Train Token just adds a Geothermal Core?

He subconsciously looked at the four words 'Geothermal Core' on the panel. These four words were deep red and heavily marked.

-

«Component Name»: Geothermal Core.

«Component Grade»: Red.

«Component Level»: Level 1.

«Component Effect»: Can devour Level 1 trains and decompose their carriage vehicle components into resource units.

«Upgrade Condition»: 100 units of Level 1 iron ore.

-

“Hmm…”

Chen Mang paused for a moment, then tilted his head to look at Old Zhu: “Generally speaking, for example, these abandoned carriages, can I take their vehicle components and use them for my own train?”

“Yes.”

Old Zhu had only just recovered from the shock of a train head suddenly appearing in front of him, and said in a somewhat dazed tone: “As long as they are complete vehicle components, of course you can take them and use them for your own train.”

“It's just that if the vehicle components are damaged, they are useless and can only be left there.”

“There is also a group in the wasteland called Scavengers. These people will drive motorcycles across the wasteland to collect usable components from those dilapidated trains, take them back and sell them. Some damaged vehicle components, along with the carriages, are left in the wasteland.”

“After all, monsters only eat people, they don't eat steel.”

“A lot of useless abandoned carriages have piled up in the wasteland.”

Chen Mang's eyes lit up, and he nodded with a satisfied expression.

This passage is very informative.

From it, he could obtain two pieces of information: there are many abandoned trains in the wasteland that his train head can devour, and… the «Rare Train Token» is very rare and valuable. Otherwise, these abandoned trains would have been devoured by people using «Geothermal Cores» long ago, and wouldn't have been left until now.

Very good.

Chen Mang didn't immediately continue to check his train panel, but instead led Old Zhu back to Slave Carriage No. 7 again, holding a pistol and scanning each slave one by one, saying coldly word by word.

“From now on, I am the new train conductor.”

“You will be my first batch of slaves.”

“I will provide you with food. You only need to continue mining as before. There is only one thing: I don't want anyone to defy my orders.”

“Have you all remembered?”

Having said that.

Chen Mang didn't wait for these slaves to react, but instead tilted his head to look at Old Zhu: “Have them hand over the iron ore they mined in the mine in an orderly manner. If anyone doesn't listen to you, pick up your pickaxe and swing at them.”

“Understood.”

Old Zhu's face was gloomy, and he tried his best to put on a ferocious look. Holding a pickaxe, he stood at the entrance of the carriage and roared: “Are you all deaf? Didn't you hear what Master Mang said?!”

Immediately afterwards, a weak voice that was not very neat came from inside the carriage.

“We heard you, Master Mang.”

Before it was Master Kun, now it is Master Mang.

In the wasteland, all train conductors are considered masters by default.