"Quite greedy," Chen Mang muttered as he stood inside the train compartment, gazing through the telescope at the gradually slowing train ahead.
"Damn it, you had the path to heaven but chose to march straight into hell."
Since the other side was being so overconfident, Chen Mang was more than happy to let them. Reducing casualties was always a good thing, especially in the apocalypse where every life was valuable and every person was a scarce resource.
Soon—
Within a few dozen seconds!
The blood-stained train slowly came to a halt, just a few dozen meters away from him.
"Huff."
Chen Mang took a deep breath and was about to order Lao Zhu to unleash a hail of bullets from the heavy machine gun mounted on carriage No. 2. He wasn't sure if it would penetrate the armor, but just as he was about to give the command, he saw eight men step off the train.
These eight armed men walked toward him as casually as if they were out for a stroll.
The leader, a fat man, wore a scornful smile on his face and shouted, "Where's Chen Mang? Tell him to come out!"
"Wow," Chen Mang muttered, feeling a bit dazed as he looked at the group. For a moment, it all seemed surreal. How could they be so recklessly overconfident? Or did they actually have some kind of solid backing?
Maybe they were wearing top-tier bulletproof vests?
But even bulletproof vests don't protect the head.
If he had initially thought they were just being cocky, he now suspected they might have some real confidence. After a brief hesitation, he still ordered into the walkie-talkie, "Everyone, open fire! Hold off on the heavy machine gun for now."
In the next moment—
The side of carriage No. 3, which was parked horizontally near the mine, swung open. Ten men armed with fully automatic "Soaring Dragon Assault Rifles" stood at the edge of the carriage, aiming their barrels at the group. Without hesitation, they pulled the triggers.
"Ratatat!!!"
The sharp sound of gunfire suddenly echoed across the wasteland!
At a mere twenty to thirty meters, even a novice with a rifle could land at least one shot in a single magazine. There was no need for a second magazine.
Just one magazine was enough—the eight men who had been walking toward him now lay in pools of blood.
"..."
Chen Mang stood inside the train compartment, patiently waiting for several seconds before issuing the next order: "Go and finish them off. Make sure they're dead."
He didn't step out himself.
If this was some kind of trap, he could end up dead right here.
He'd stick to commanding.
Only when the ten-man squad, under his watchful gaze, walked up to the eight men and put a bullet in each of their heads did the walkie-talkie confirm their absolute demise.
"Really..."
Chen Mang sighed softly. All he could think was that he'd scared himself for nothing. He had expected a fierce battle, but who knew it would end so easily? This incident taught him a lesson: no matter the enemy, always go all out.
After that, he finally got up, slung an assault rifle over his shoulder, and stepped out of the train compartment. Surrounded by his enforcers, he walked toward the train that had stopped not far away. He wondered if there was anything good inside.
With the owner dead, the train was now unclaimed.
Inside the train compartment, two women were huddled in a corner, their eyes wide with terror, their hands clamped tightly over their mouths.
Chen Mang waved his hand, signaling his enforcers to take the two women out first. Then he began to thoroughly search the train compartment by himself.
There was only a small amount of Iron Ore and some food. It seemed that when the Corpse Tide had surrounded and separated the carriages, Master Kun had been in too much of a hurry to take anything with him. Wait—
He suddenly noticed a blueprint lying on the control panel.
He immediately stepped closer.
Blueprint Name: Vehicle Blade
Blueprint Grade: White
Crafting Cost: 500 units of Iron Ore
"..."
Chen Mang was momentarily stunned. This "Vehicle Blade" was the white-tier accessory Lao Zhu had mentioned—a transitional piece that could only be upgraded to level 2 at most. He had previously wondered what would happen if he used his Infinite Upgrade ability to level it up to 10. However, this accessory wasn't a standard part of the train; it was randomly dropped by monsters in the wild.
He hadn't thought much about it since then.
But now...
He had acquired the Vehicle Blade Blueprint so quickly, delivered straight to him by Master Kun from afar. A gift from thousands of miles away—generous indeed.
"Nice."
Chen Mang grinned in satisfaction, carefully tucking the blueprint into his pocket. He planned to use it later and see what effects it would have. Ideally, he'd upgrade it to level 10 as soon as possible to see if there would be any qualitative changes.
After finishing up, he waved his hand, signaling his enforcers to come and haul away the resources and food from the train compartment. Then he prepared to return to his own train and use the Geothermal Furnace to consume this unclaimed train, recycling some resources in the process.
As he passed by the eight bodies lying in pools of blood, Chen Mang glanced at Master Kun's corpse, his eyes filled with resentment, and sighed softly. The incident made him even more cautious than before. In the apocalypse, any act of overconfidence was just a shortcut to meeting one's ancestors.
Then he noticed—
Three of the eight men had familiar faces.
They were the three who had beaten him with batons. He had thought they had already been devoured by Zombies, but here they were. It was indeed a twist of fate.
Chen Mang pursed his lips. He had initially thought about giving them a final spray of bullets, but then he decided against it. Better to save the ammo.
Meanwhile, Lao Zhu was quickly collecting the guns carried by these men.
Firearms manufactured by other trains were contraband and should never fall into the hands of enforcers or Slaves.
Chen Mang didn't say anything. He simply returned to his train compartment, took control of the train, and drove it up to the unclaimed train. After activating the Geothermal Furnace, his train's front opened wide like a gaping maw, revealing countless rapidly spinning gears that swallowed the entire unclaimed train.
+1000 units of Iron Ore.
No wonder it was the front of a level 2 train. It yielded more Iron Ore than all the carriages he had consumed so far. The train's armor looked thicker than his own—it must have been upgraded. If it had rammed into him at full speed earlier, it would have been a disaster.
The skirmish ended in such a hasty manner.
Inside the train compartment, Chen Mang was pondering two questions.
First, what should he name his train?
Second, he now had 1600 units of Iron Ore. What accessory should he craft first?
After some thought, he finally decided on the train's name.
Let's call it "Stellar."
(End of Chapter)