With ten men wielding fully automatic rifles, taking down twenty-odd Zombie Wolves was an easy task. They were cut down before they could even get close.

But…

Biao frowned as he glanced at his men. Their coordination was still sloppy. Their fire was too scattered, with several of them often targeting the same wolf. There was nothing for it—they'd have to train more once they were back on the train. He wasn't a professional soldier, and neither was anyone else here. They could only identify problems in the heat of battle and improve as they went.

He ordered his men to aim at the spiderlings overhead and open fire. Meanwhile, he went to inspect each of the dead Zombie Wolves. When he finished, he let out a sigh of regret. They hadn't dropped anything.

This was his first mission leading an away team, and he'd naturally hoped for a bigger haul. It would have given him more confidence when he reported back.

However…

Biao's eyes soon lit up. He spotted the tobacco and liquor store not far away—the very one he'd mentioned that had a hidden compartment. He immediately broke into a run, deciding to do a quick search. They didn't need his gun for this part.

The fight ended quickly. The spiderlings were moving targets, but not by much, making them relatively easy to hit. Their defenses were also incredibly low.

When Biao returned, he had the others stand guard while he went around stuffing all the glowing dropped items into a burlap sack he'd picked up from a convenience store. When he saw one particular item on the ground, he froze for a second, then couldn't help but rub the back of his head and grin.

"Hot damn, we hit the jackpot this time."

Boss Mang... oh, Boss Mang. This is it. How’re you going to respond to a haul like this?"

There, lying quietly in an open patch of ground, was a token glowing with a milky-white light.

It was, without a doubt, a "Train Token."

Thirty minutes later, Chen Mang, who had been waiting anxiously by the train, finally saw Biao and his team running toward him from the city ruins. He let out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding.

To be honest, this place made him far more uneasy than the open wasteland. The collapsed buildings were everywhere, restricting the train's movement to just a few paths. It wasn't like the vast plains, where he could drive wherever he wanted.

Soon—

Biao and his men reached the train. With a wide grin, Biao dropped the heavy burlap sack from his shoulder onto the ground. "Boss Mang, this haul is huge. It's all in here."

"Oh, right. That tobacco shop I mentioned to the Vice-Captain was nearby, so I popped in and grabbed some smokes."

"Boss Mang, see if you can use these."

"Good, good, good!"

Chen Mang said "good" three times, smiling as he waved for someone to carry the supplies into his engine car. He glanced at the blood-soaked bandage on Biao's left arm and was about to say something when he felt the ground begin to tremble. He instinctively looked back and saw a black, oppressive mass of zombies that had appeared out of nowhere, now surging toward the city ruins.

"Get on the train!"

Chen Mang dove into the engine car first. The others wasted no time, scrambling into Carriage #3, the living quarters.

BOOM!

With a furious roar, the engine of the blood-and-grime-stained train came to life. It shot backward, retracing its path and roaring past the encroaching zombie tide.

The encirclement hadn't formed yet, and they'd spotted it early. With the zombies' speed, there was no way they could catch up.

Inside the cockpit, Chen Mang poked his upper body out of the skylight and looked back at the horde, which resembled a roiling black cloud. A strange sense of exhilaration washed over him.

This feeling of dancing on a razor's edge was the most lethal of poisons, and damn, it felt good.

Just you wait, he thought.

When my train is strong enough, I'll drive it right back here and slaughter every last one of you bastards for daring to chase me all this time!

Out on the empty wasteland, the Stellar sped forward. The city ruins shrank in the distance, and the intimidating, cloud-like zombie horde gradually faded from view.

"HAAAHHHH!!!"

In his excitement, Chen Mang cupped his hands around his mouth and let out a triumphant roar at the distant horde.

Only after doing this did he, feeling a lingering sense of satisfaction, duck back into the cockpit. This was the happiest he'd been since transmigrating. It had nothing to do with the haul or the train's upgrades—it was pure, emotional bliss.

The feeling was like…

Hiding in a small, cozy house during a lightning-filled thunderstorm.

Humans are naturally afraid of danger, but if you have a safe enough shelter when that danger arrives, the shelter itself becomes a trigger point. The more dangerous it is outside, the more thrilling it feels inside.

Back in the engine, Chen Mang took a deep breath before opening the burlap sack from Biao's mission. The first thing he saw was thirteen cartons of cigarettes.

He didn't recognize the brand. It must have been a local brand from this world.

He quickly tore one open, pulled out a pack, and lit a cigarette. Placing it between his lips, he closed his eyes and took a long drag. He then opened his eyes and exhaled a plume of pale blue smoke, watching it swirl in the cabin. A sense of peace settled over him.

Smoking wasn't a good habit.

But in a high-pressure environment like the apocalypse, you needed a few bad habits to serve as a spiritual anchor.

He finally had a steady supply of smokes.

He did nothing else, simply sitting on the control console and peacefully enjoying the entire cigarette. Only then did he open the window and flick the smoldering, crimson butt out. He looked at the wilderness rapidly receding outside the window and suddenly smiled. This world didn't seem so bad after all.

In this world, if you had enough power, you could do anything.

Life might be shorter, but it would be more interesting.

One more.

Chen Mang lit another cigarette. As he smoked, his mood gradually calmed, and with a smile still on his lips, he prepared to take stock of his haul.

It was worth mentioning that he'd already used his "Geocentric Furnace" to devour the abandoned carriages from the fight with the Level 3 Cannibalistic Spider, as well as the few wrecks on the edge of the ruins. In total, he'd gained 500 units of iron ore.

His current iron ore total was 813 units.

Not bad at all.

Devouring a normal carriage yielded about 50 units of iron ore, essentially recycling it at half price.

Looking at it this way, the main theme of the wasteland was still development. Plundering was not very cost-effective. No one stored large amounts of iron ore on their train—they used it as soon as they got it, so there was never much to steal.

Furthermore, ordinary people didn't have a Red-grade vehicle accessory like the "Geocentric Furnace," and any battle carried the risk of casualties and damage to the train.

This made the cost-benefit of fighting even lower.

It was still most efficient to find a mine and develop at your own pace.

Unless…

Unless your strength completely crushed your opponent's. Then, fighting became highly profitable. After all, even if you couldn't loot much iron ore, you could loot slaves.

He'd discovered that his furnace couldn't break down abandoned cars into iron ore, but it was an indiscriminate eater. It could be used as a garbage disposal to clear roadblocks, which was a new and useful application.

Besides the 13 cartons of cigarettes, the sack even contained a jar of chili sauce. He had no idea where Biao had scrounged that up.

"Now this is good stuff."

Chen Mang set the jar aside with satisfaction. He could finally have a change of flavor for dinner. But what he cared about most were the drops from the spiderlings. That was the main objective of this trip.

Soon, he'd finished inventorying all the supplies.

The total was—

300 units of Level 1 material "Fine Spider Silk."

200 units of Level 1 ore "Crimson Heart Ore."

One special item: a Train Token.

One Green-grade vehicle accessory blueprint: "Spider Legs."

"..."

Chen Mang stared at the pile of loot, momentarily stunned. He then picked the Train Token out from the pile of ore, weighed it in his hand, and couldn't help but let out a dry laugh. He glanced out the window and exhaled a long plume of smoke.

"That guy..."

"He's probably having a good chuckle to himself right about now, isn't he?"