Chapter 16: Just Call It... ’Fixed Star’.

"Quite greedy!" Standing inside the train compartment, Chen Mang looked through the telescope at the gradually slowing locomotive, muttering to himself. "Damn you, a road to heaven you don’t take, yet hell has no gate and you insist on barging in." Since the opponent was being so brazen. He was naturally pleased with this outcome, as minimizing casualties was always a good thing; after all, in the post-apocalypse, every human life is valuable and scarce productive force. Quickly— After just a few tens of seconds! The blood-stained locomotive slowly came to a stop less than a few dozen meters away from him. "Phew..." Chen Mang took a deep breath, ready to order Old Pig to use the heavy machine gun mounted on carriage number 2 to give the locomotive a bullet shower. He wasn’t sure if it would penetrate the armor, but just then. Before he had time to give the order, he saw eight people disembark from the locomotive... These eight armed men walked toward him as if they were just taking a stroll. The leader, a fat man, had a contemptuous smile on his lips and shouted, "Where’s Chen Mang? Get him out here!" "What the hell..." Chen Mang gazed at them, feeling a bit unreal; how could these people be so complacent, unless they had some strong backing? Like wearing high-defense bulletproof vests? But bulletproof vests don’t protect the head. Initially, he thought the opponent was being reckless, but now he believed they must have some substantial confidence. After hesitating for a moment, he ordered via the intercom, "Everyone shoot! Don’t move the heavy machine gun yet." In the next moment! The side of carriage number 3 of his train, originally adjacent to the mine tunnel, was fully opened, and a full contingent of ten men holding automatic "Soaring Dragon Assault Rifles" stood at the carriage’s edge. They aimed their guns at the group, hesitated not at all, and immediately pulled the trigger! "Rat-tat-tat!!!" The piercing gunfire abruptly echoed across the wasteland! With only a distance of twenty to thirty meters, even for someone handling a gun for the first time, an automatic rifle at this range would likely hit with a burst. Not even needing a second magazine. After just a burst, the eight men walking toward him fell into pools of blood. ... "..." Chen Mang stood in the train compartment, patiently waiting for several tens of seconds before continuing to give orders, "Go finish them off, confirm death." He didn’t get out of the train himself. If there were a trap or anything like that, he’d be finished. He managed the command instead. As the ten-man squad, under his watch, approached the eight individuals and fired shots point-blank at their heads, the intercom finally delivered the confirmation of absolute death. "Really..." Chen Mang let out a sigh, only wanting to admit he had scared himself. Originally thinking it was a tough battle coming, who would have known it turned out to be so simple? From this incident, he learned that no matter the enemy faced, one must go all out. Then he stood up, picked up an assault rifle himself, walked out of the locomotive under the escort of his thugs, and approached the stopped locomotive nearby, wondering if there was anything good inside. With the owner dead, this locomotive also became ownerless. Inside the train compartment. Two women were curling up in the corner, eyes full of terror and panic, clamping their mouths shut. Chen Mang waved his hand, indicating for the thugs to take the two women out first, then alone meticulously searched the entire train compartment. Only a small amount of iron ore and some food were found. It was clear that when surrounded by the Corpse Tide and cutting off the carriage, Master Kun was too rushed and barely took anything... Hold on... He suddenly noticed a blueprint laid on the control desk. Immediately leaned in closer. - "Blueprint Name": Car Blade. "Blueprint Grade": White. "Crafting Cost": 500 units of iron ore. - "..." Chen Mang was slightly taken aback; this "Car Blade" was exactly the white component Old Pig had mentioned, a component that could only be upgraded to Level 2 at most, suitable as a transitional accessory during the initial weak phase. He had thought of his Unlimited Upgrade ability and wondered what effect upgrading it to Level 10 would have. However, this component wasn’t a standard train accessory, dropping randomly from monsters in the wild. He hadn’t thought much about it. Unexpectedly... He obtained the Car Blade Blueprint so soon, and Master Kun had sent it to him from afar—a gift heavy in both weight and sentiment. "Pretty good." Chen Mang grinned with satisfaction as he carefully slipped the blueprint into his pocket, planning to use it later to see what effects it would have. Hopefully, it could be upgraded to Level 10 soon to see if there would be any qualitative changes. After finishing this, he gestured for the thugs to bring up the resources and food from the train compartment before preparing to return to his train, using the "Earth Core Melting Furnace" to devour the locomotive to recover some resources. As he passed by the eight bodies lying in pools of blood. Chen Mang gazed at the corpse of Master Kun, full of unwillingness, and sighed, feeling a bit regretful. This incident made him, already somewhat vigilant, need to become even more cautious when facing enemies; in the post-apocalypse, any act of carelessness was a sure way to meet one’s great grandmammy sooner. Then he noticed. Among the eight, there were three familiar faces. They were none other than the three who had used police batons against him; he had thought they were long buried in the mouths of zombies, but unexpectedly they appeared here—a bizarre twist of fate indeed. Chen Mang curled his lips, initially prepared to lift his rifle and empty a burst into the three, but upon reconsideration, decided to save the bullets. Meanwhile, Old Pig swiftly gathered the firearms carried by these individuals. These guns from another train were forbidden items and should not fall into the hands of thugs and slaves. Chen Mang said nothing, simply returning to his train compartment, maneuvering the train before the now-ownerless locomotive, then activating the "Earth Core Melting Furnace." His locomotive opened a bloody maw, revealing countless rapidly spinning gear wheels, and swallowed the entire ownerless locomotive whole. "Iron ore units +1000." Indeed, the locomotive of a Level 2 train head yielded more than all the carriages he had devoured for iron ore; it appeared the armor of this locomotive was thicker than his. Had it charged full speed just now, it would have done quite some damage. ... This encounter concluded with such an abrupt process. Inside the train compartment. Chen Mang pondered two questions. The first was what name to give his train. The second was, he now had 1600 units of iron ore; what components should he craft first? After a moment of contemplation, he finally decided on a name for his train. Let’s call it... "Fixed Star."