Lao Zhu, who had arrived anxious, departed ecstatic.

Inside the cockpit, Chen Mang watched him go and shook his head with a wry smile. He knew why Lao Zhu was so happy. On one hand, he genuinely wanted the train to prosper, hoping to carve out a safe territory in this dangerous, post-apocalyptic world.

On the other hand, it was only by focusing on this kind of development that Lao Zhu could maximize his own value. It was a matter of self-interest. If Chen Mang were the type to care only about battle, Lao Zhu would be useless. Even as part of the core crew, his status would gradually decline over time.

Chen Mang understood this perfectly.

Who didn't have a personal agenda? A person without any self-interest was probably secretly plotting to destroy the world or some other nonsense.

Now alone in the cockpit again, he picked up a pen and notebook from the table and began to scribble.

If you can run them over, don't waste a bullet.

That was his summary of today's battle.

Yes.

He had some regrets. Those men had already gotten out of their vehicle. Why had he wasted bullets on them? He should have just driven the train straight into them.

Although, if they had scattered and scrambled back to their own train, it would have been much trickier to handle.

Thinking of it that way, it wasn't so bad.

He then pulled the white-grade vehicle accessory blueprint for the "Carriage Blades" from his pocket. With a single thought, 500 units of iron ore in the warehouse of Carriage #2 dissolved into dust and merged with the train.

Immediately after—

He felt a slight tremor run through the entire train.

He promptly walked out of the cockpit and stood on the wasteland, gazing at his train.

"Heh!"

Standing on the barren plains, Chen Mang couldn't help but grin at the sight before him. Steel blades had materialized on both sides of the Stellar's engine and its three carriages.

They were positioned about a meter above the ground, perfectly placed to slice a zombie in half at the waist.

The "Carriage Blades" wrapped around the entire length of the cars. They were about ten centimeters thick and initially unsharpened; the edge was so dull you could rub your hand on it firmly without drawing blood.

Even so, when the train was in motion, the "Carriage Blades" could easily cleave through any carbon-based lifeform.

The blades were about thirty centimeters wide, which defined their attack range.

[Accessory Name]: Carriage Blades 

[Accessory Grade]: White 

[Accessory Level]: 1 

[Accessory Effect]: Mounts steel blades on both sides of the carriages, damaging enemies that get too close while the train is in motion. Can be freely retracted. 

[Upgrade Requirement]: 100 units of Iron Ore

"This…"

Chen Mang was taken aback. He had planned to just look at the accessory's panel and upgrade it later. After all, it had cost 500 units of iron ore just to build; he assumed upgrading it would cost even more, and he was running low.

He never expected that upgrading it to Level 2 would only cost 100 units.

Well, what was there to hesitate about?

"Upgrade!"

With the command, the white-grade "Carriage Blades" instantly reached Level 2. The steel seemed to have grown a fraction thinner, the edge more defined, but the width had increased by a full ten centimeters.

The total width was now forty centimeters.

While moving, any creature that came within forty centimeters of the carriage would become a soul claimed by his blades.

The panel was mostly unchanged, except for a new line of small text.

[This vehicle accessory has a maximum level of 2 and cannot be upgraded further.]

"I don't believe you."

Chen Mang shook his head, a look of anticipation on his face as he commanded again, "Upgrade!"

However…

Nothing happened. It seemed it truly couldn't be upgraded again. Chen Mang looked down at the birthmark on his hand, placed his right hand over the mark on his left, and said again in a deep voice, "Upgrade."

The next second—

[Level 0 Clearance Detected. This Vehicle Accessory Can Be Upgraded Further. This upgrade will consume 200 units of Iron Ore.]

Immediately!

Before his very eyes, the "Carriage Blades" began to change again. The blades grew thinner still, while the width increased by another ten centimeters, reaching a full fifty centimeters.

"Excellent."

Chen Mang couldn't help but laugh. This upgrade was mainly to test the effect of his "Infinite Upgrades" cheat, and it seemed to be working beautifully. He didn't understand what "Level 0 Clearance" meant, but it didn't matter.

Just as Lao Zhu had said, the "Carriage Blades" were a novice accessory, something for the early game.

In terms of effect, even at its max level, it probably couldn't compare to some Green-grade offensive accessories. Even at Level 3, it wasn't much stronger than Level 1.

But—

His had no limit.

With every upgrade, the blades grew thinner and wider. As long as he had enough iron ore, he could have "Carriage Blades" that were ten meters wide.

They would be like wings mounted on the sides of his train. He could just floor the accelerator, hit a ramp, and take off.

And having no upgrade limit meant that if he had enough iron ore, he could sharpen the blades until they were as thin as a cicada's wing, or even invisible, killing without a trace.

Wherever it passed, nothing would be left standing!

No, this wasn't enough. He needed more iron ore!

Only then could he complete his grand plan!

Chen Mang pulled his gaze away from the "Carriage Blades" and looked at his Train Captain panel. He now had only 700 units of iron ore left. He couldn't bear to upgrade the blades again; below Level 10, he wouldn't see a significant effect or a qualitative change.

A single slave could mine one unit of iron ore per hour. If they mined for a full twelve hours a day, that was twelve units. He had eighty-one slaves. At most, he could get about 972 units of iron ore per day.

Twelve hours was the maximum mining time; any more and they wouldn't be able to take it. More importantly, there was no guarantee they would have a mine to dig every day. The wasteland was full of surprises, and for now, he only knew of this one mine, with no way of finding others.

Most importantly—

His train only had the single "Energy Stone" it came with, which was only enough for the train to travel at full speed for 100 hours. The train had to be upgraded to Level 2 and have a "Crafting Station" built before he could produce more Energy Stones.

In other words, if he couldn't get the train to Level 2 within those 100 hours, it would be completely stranded.

He had just done some quick calculations.

Ignoring everything else and just building the essential accessories for the upgrade, plus the cost of the upgrade itself, he would need approximately…

"7,100 units of Iron Ore, 110 units of Copper Ore, and 100 units of Wood."

Frankly, that was a steep requirement, especially with the time limit.

He didn't even know where to mine for copper or find wood yet.

Wasn't this a hell of a starting handicap for a new Train Captain? He wondered how other rookies managed to get through this period.