CHAPTER 43: CHAPTER 43: "NON-COOPERATORS WILL BE EXECUTED ON THE SPOT.

In the wilderness, one is inevitably lonely.

Even though there are many people on the train, they seldom see other trains. The entire train drifts like a lone boat on a vast ocean, no one knowing what will be encountered next, nor knowing if they will see the sun tomorrow.

When daylight broke.

The slaves in carriages number 4 and 5 also awakened. Underneath them, the train was speeding across the wasteland. They didn’t know their destination, only that if there was a mine, they worked; if not, they stayed in the carriage.

Finally—

When the train slowly came to a stop, the slaves stepped off and found themselves yet again at the familiar mine from yesterday.

That wave of corpses had receded.

They were back again.

The middle-aged man, whose life was decent before the apocalypse, looked at the familiar mine outside the carriage, put the cigarette he had been fiddling with back in his pocket, and smiled as he patted the young man next to him on the shoulder: "Let’s go, grab your pickaxe, and get ready to work."

This young fellow had been chatting with him quite a bit these past few days, and they had grown familiar with each other.

"Alright."

The young man was happy to follow this uncle, listening to stories of his glorious past before the apocalypse, a world he never knew.

Before the apocalypse.

Capital dubbed him a "small-town youth."

He didn’t like this title much. He tried voicing himself online for recognition. The title indeed changed but to "societal scum."

"Small-town youth" sounded a bit better.

He always harbored resentment about it; someone had to be the scum, why couldn’t it be him?

...

It was daylight when the train stopped again at the mine from the night before.

A new day of mining began once more.

The thugs also started a new day of patrolling and keeping guard around the train.

Inside the train.

After finishing breakfast, Chen Mang sat at the control panel, silently eavesdropping on the chat among Train Captains in the "Train Radio." This was his only form of entertainment, as there was currently none other.

The women on the train didn’t quite meet his standards.

He wasn’t starving enough to eat anything.

However, the "Bloodthirsty Bull Train" sent him a private message late last night, saying it encountered dozens of Cannibal Spiders, and after dealing with them, acquired a lot of Spider Silk. They could trade him more Spider Silk later.

Sounds good.

Chen Mang turned his head to look at the thugs patrolling outside the train and the slaves who had already entered the mine. Everything seemed to be developing steadily in a better direction.

...

On the other end of the wasteland.

Inside the "King of Electronic Music Train," a dwarf man sat at the control panel, browsing the Train Radio information listlessly. A few days ago, after being chased out of Taiping City by a level 3 Cannibal Spider, he hadn’t been back to that area.

He happened to find a mine and had been stationed here mining these past few days.

And just moments ago...

He saw on the Train Radio, a Train Captain saying he had a female slave standing 1.8 meters tall, waiting for the right person to trade at a meeting. This news subtly stirred his originally uninterested mind about attending the gathering.

"1.8 meters, huh..."

The dwarf man murmured. He was born this way, far shorter than a normal person. Before the apocalypse, his livelihood was playing an NPC in a "Little People Country" themed amusement park.

Many dwarfs like him were in that amusement park for tourists to see.

Perhaps many have a degree of psychological issues.

He was extremely fascinated with tall women. He never dared to imagine such things before the apocalypse, but after doomsday, last month he was lucky to acquire a Train Order and, with some opportunities, came to control a fairly strong train.

With power, many thoughts he never dared to think began to sprout gradually.

He liked sufficiently tall women, making him feel a sense of conquest. No matter how tall, they must submit to him.

The more one lacks, the more they pursue.

After a prolonged silence.

He sent a private message to the person in the Train Radio to chat about the trade at the gathering. He currently had two women, the tallest being only 1.76 meters, totally inferior to the 1.8-meter woman. With high heels on, she would be nearly 1.9 meters tall.

Virtually a giant.

He liked that.

Just at this moment—

A Train Captain suddenly announced in the Train Radio that the level 3 Cannibal Spider in Taiping City was dead, its body almost entirely devoured by the Corpse Tide, leaving only an empty shell.

No photos, as the chatroom couldn’t send pictures.

Coordinates for the Cannibal Spider’s body were also attached.

"Huh?"

Entering the coordinates into the control panel, the dwarf man realized the coordinates seemed to be on the route where he fled? Moreover, it wasn’t far from that level 1 iron mine.

He remembered encountering a train mining by the level 1 iron mine during his escape that day.

He wanted to warn that train to quickly escape back to the mine, to survive the disaster, but since the train was level 1 and lacked a Train Radio, he couldn’t make contact, letting it pass unaddressed.

With that train’s speed, it couldn’t outrun the level 3 Cannibal Spider.

It must be crafting trains in hell now.

Some big shot with level 3 Vehicle Accessories must have passed by and took down the level 3 Cannibal Spider boss?

But, why...

With that Cannibal Spider’s size, even a level 3 heavy machine gun might not suffice; at least a level 3 cannon was needed. Such a waste of ammunition, just to kill a boss? Totally not worth it, unless you have an abundance of copper mines.

Though the boss drops something decent, it surely didn’t match the expenditure of so many copper mine resources.

The man shrugged and thought no more about the matter, planning to stay here mining these days and later attend the gathering, dealing with the batch of "Spider Silk" along with the "Spider Leg" blueprints he obtained this time.

Just last night someone in the chat mentioned wanting to acquire Spider Silk.

Contact them later.

Not knowing how much Spider Silk they could consume, given it’s mostly needed for crafting the "Spider Leg" green accessory, which requires 600 units of level 1 Fine Spider Silk to fully upgrade.

He already had his "Spider Leg" fully upgraded.

...

Inside the "Fixed Star" train.

Chen Mang originally thought that after last night’s encounter with unexpected events, they would surely be safe today.

Like a stolen phone should come with a safety period where it’s unlikely to be stolen again, right?

How could a bad thing happen so frequently to the same person?

But—

When noon arrived.

Chen Mang saw dozens of red dots slowly approaching on the Target Detection Radar. He grabbed a telescope and looked out the window, seeing twenty or thirty ragged survivors supporting each other, approaching him.

These survivors seemed to spot his train parked on the wasteland, appearing as if they found their target, with overt excitement as they quickened their steps towards him.

"Hmm?"

His brow furrowed, the nearest city ruin being Taiping City, it took him about five hours to drive here at full speed from Taiping City. How could these survivors have made it over here?

On foot?

Did they not encounter any monsters on the way?

However, there wasn’t any more time to contemplate these questions. He only knew a batch of slaves had delivered themselves right to his door, so he first needed to stop them. Immediately, he grabbed the walkie-talkie: "Biaozi, stop these people."

"Search them thoroughly, disarm them."

"Non-compliant ones, shoot on sight."