Amidst a sea of greedy eyes, Chen Mang slowly ate both steaming buns with the pickles, then downed the rest of the water in one go. He let out a long breath, a sense of fullness finally settling in his stomach. He'd been on the verge of fainting from hunger for days.

He'd done his best to shield his vital organs during the beating. Now, though his body ached all over, his movement wasn't seriously impaired. Nothing was broken.

A cigarette would be perfect right now, he thought. Nothing like a smoke after a full meal.

He scanned the carriage, leaning his head back against the cold metal wall in silence. The shock of being thrust into this world, of everything that had happened, was immense. To go from a society of comfort and security to this hellscape... How to survive had become the only question that mattered.

As for cigarettes... What was he even thinking? In a place where you could starve to death at any moment, where would you possibly find one?

Just then—

"Boss."

A bald man with a grime-covered face approached him, stopping at what he deemed a safe distance. His face was plastered with a fawning smile. He carefully pulled a small cloth from inside his rags, unfolded it to reveal two wrinkled cigarettes, and offered them up with a mix of flattery and raw nerves. "Boss, care for a smoke?"

Chen Mang glanced down at the two sorry-looking cigarettes, then looked up at the bald man. He knew everyone in this car was on the brink of starvation, with no supplies to their name. For this man to have two cigarettes hidden away... if anyone had known, they would have been snatched from him long ago.

Sure enough, he could already see the greedy looks several men were giving the bald man's back. If he refused the offer now, the man's fate would be grim.

The bald man was clearly aware of this, his eyes filled with a pleading, anxious look.

After a moment's pause, Chen Mang took them. He put one to his lips and carefully wrapped the other in the cloth before tucking it into his pocket.

The bald man let out a visible sigh of relief. He quickly fumbled in his rags, producing a half-empty box of matches. He struck one, carefully cupping the flickering flame as he brought it to Chen Mang's lips. "Boss, a light."

Pfft.

Chen Mang took a long drag, then exhaled a plume of smoke, his brow furrowing as he let out a few uncontrollable coughs. The cigarette was stale, maybe even moldy. It was harsh on his throat.

But in a place like this, getting a smoke after a full meal... who was he to be picky?

He took another, deeper drag.

He flicked the ash onto the metal floor, then glanced at the bald man and gestured with his hand. "From now on, you can sit with me," he said softly.

The greed in the eyes of the others, which had been fixed on the bald man, quickly vanished.

"Yes, yes! Thank you, Boss!" The bald man's eyes filled with excitement. He quickly scrambled over and carefully sat on the metal floor beside Chen Mang, making sure not even an inch of his body touched the precious straw mat.

The red cherry of the cigarette glowed faintly in the dim carriage.

Soon, it had burned down to the filter. Chen Mang crushed the butt on the floor. After a moment of silence, he asked quietly, "Where'd you get the cigarettes?"

He knew next to nothing about this world and needed to learn as much as he could. He hadn't bothered trying to talk to anyone before; they weren't in any condition for a real conversation. This bald man, who had willingly approached him, was the first person he'd met who seemed capable of it.

He didn't mind someone pledging allegiance to him; in fact, he welcomed it. There was strength in numbers. As for whether the man's loyalty was genuine... dwelling on that was as pointless as a teenager's first crush.

"Well..." The bald man glanced around nervously before leaning in and lowering his voice. "Boss, I used to be a Deputy Captain. Just for a small train, mind you, nothing on this scale."

"We ran into trouble, and the train was destroyed. I was stranded in the wasteland when this train's crew captured me, made me a slave. I had a pack of smokes I hadn't finished... kept them hidden this whole time. Those were the last two."

He continued, "This train has three slave cars. A hundred people per car, so that's three hundred slaves total. It must be a Level 2 train, maybe even close to Level 3."

"We're heading to a mining site now. I know mining is hard work, and dangerous—people die all the time. But for those few days, they give us enough food to fill our bellies. Everyone gets to eat."

"It's just..." he pleaded, "when the time comes, Boss, if you could... maybe get me a less dangerous job?"

Chen Mang was silent for a long time, processing the information. He looked at the middle-aged man, whose head was practically at his ear but whose rear was planted firmly on the straw mat. The posture was ridiculous, an almost comical display of deference, but Chen Mang appreciated it.

This was a man who knew his place.

"Deputy Captain?"

"Yeah." The bald man looked a little embarrassed. "My whole life, I've always been the 'deputy.' Deputy class monitor in school, deputy manager at my company... After the apocalypse, I lucked into being a Deputy Captain. I've never been the head of anything, never wanted to be. I know my limits. Just lucky, I guess, always finding a way to get by, before and after."

Chen Mang said no more, his eyes half-closed. Based on his observations and the man's story, he had confirmed it: this world had only two kinds of people.

Train Captains and slaves.

And every train had a different level, with higher levels possessing stronger defenses and weapons.

To survive long and well in this world, he had to become a Train Captain. He had to get his train.

A Train Captain... He fell deep into thought. This bald man, this former Deputy Captain, was useful. He knew more about trains than any other slave here. He was a talent, someone who couldn't be allowed to die. Most importantly, the man had once held a position of some authority, yet now, as a slave, he showed no signs of resistance. It was as if he were a born subordinate.

The moment he saw a new power emerge, he immediately offered up his most treasured possessions to curry favor and seek protection.

A sly old fox.

The carriage fell silent again, the only sound the occasional shuffle of someone going to the corner to relieve themselves.

The bald man sat dutifully beside Chen Mang, resting his head on his arms to doze lightly. But his eyes were wide with anxiety for the journey ahead.

In this world, real safety could only be found inside a moving train. The moment they stopped in the wasteland or at a mining site, the danger level skyrocketed. They could be surrounded by a massive zombie tide at any moment.

He didn't want to die.

No one in the carriage wanted to die.

Nobody wanted to die.

But someone always had to.