CHAPTER 45: CHAPTER 45: "SET OFF, HEAD TO THE GATHERING.

Inside the train compartment.

Chen Mang had already thrown the pistol and magazine into the "Earth Core Melting Furnace," while the handheld Zombie Perception Shield and Train Order had been cleaned and stored away by him, ready for trade at the gathering in a few days.

However, there was a matter he was unsure about and needed to discuss with Old Pig.

"Old Pig."

Chen Mang sat on the control panel, pondering, "I plan to attend the gathering six days from now to trade for some materials. What do you think, should we keep these slaves for ourselves, or sell them directly at the time?"

"Master Mang." Old Pig tentatively began, "Are you worried that the atmosphere on the train is currently quite good, and the slaves are working hard, but with a new batch of outsiders, the originally obedient slaves might start having unwanted thoughts?"

"Mm."

Chen Mang nodded slightly; he indeed had concerns about this.

"Actually, Master Mang, you don’t need to worry too much about this."

Old Pig took a deep breath and began to explain, "Firstly, the treatment of slaves on our train is among the best in the whole wasteland. If Doomsday had just arrived, many might have had different thoughts."

"But our batch of slaves has likely changed several Train Captains already, and they’re knowledgeable about how slaves are treated on other trains—not to mention, Master Kun wasn’t too long ago."

"Besides..."

"The term ’slave’ is something we will need to gradually change in the future. We should change it to a name that promotes cohesion and production motivation on the train, like passengers. But before that, I think we can first classify the slaves into three levels."

"Like Level 1 Slave, Level 2 Slave, Level 3 Slave."

"The higher the level, the better the treatment they receive."

"We can use the total amount of iron ore handed in as a promotion mechanism, and as the train develops, we can naturally shift this system to Level 1 Passenger, Level 2 Passenger, Level 3 Passenger, and so on."

"As for the newcomers, let them be Level 3 Slaves; our old ones can be Level 2. This way, those enjoying Level 2 treatment will find it hard to be incited, as the cost of revolt is different."

"Moreover, we will certainly be accepting more slaves in the future. We can’t disregard them just because their origins are questionable. In the wasteland, people are an extremely scarce productive force. And considering those who survive the wilderness, how many can claim noble lineage?"

"With this system, it will be much easier to integrate more slaves into the Constant Star Train in the future."

"In addition..."

"We can also set up some reward systems. Given enough contributions, they can exchange for many items such as women, delicacies, or even a day off."

"..."

After listening patiently, Chen Mang suddenly smiled. He finally understood why even a formidable figure like Cao Cao needed strategists like Guo Jia with their theories of endless victories and defeats.

He also vaguely had this idea, but it never seemed quite right. After hearing Old Pig’s words, he suddenly gained confidence. Often, people need to absorb some confidence from the outside world.

"That sounds good."

"Let’s proceed like that; you draft the promotion mechanism and corresponding contribution values yourself."

"You’ll handle the reception and basic training of this batch of slaves."

"Understood."

Old Pig said with a solemn expression, "I’ll get it done right away."

...

In the blink of an eye, six days passed.

It was now late at night; the slaves were returning from the mine with pickaxes in hand. By early morning, they would need to set off for the gathering at coordinates "239, 1923," 600 kilometers away.

It’s a journey of several hours, so they needed to start early.

These days had been fairly calm, aside from being chased away by the Corpse Tide twice, without any major incidents.

A total of 8100 units of iron ore were obtained.

With the addition of these new slaves, the mining speed increased significantly.

This batch of iron ore had already been used up by Chen Mang.

The "Constant Star Train" currently had four carriages besides the locomotive, namely the No. 2 Cargo Carriage, No. 3 Living Carriage, and Slave Carriages No. 4 and No. 5.

Chen Mang had invested heavily, spending 4000 units of iron ore to equip all four carriages with "Wagon Steel Armor."

"..."

In the wasteland.

Chen Mang stood with a cane on the open ground, gazing with satisfaction at the thick and dark armor covering the train like a mighty dragon.

The armor gave the train an appearance both fierce and solid, making it seem stronger.

Unlike before, when it looked like a rookie cub.

Of course, they’re still at Level 1; he didn’t have enough iron ore to upgrade the "Wagon Steel Armor" to Level 2, which would require 5000 units of iron ore.

Besides—

He also made three additional heavy machine guns. Together with the one captured earlier, there was one on top of each carriage, giving it formidable firepower and a full intimidating presence, exhausting 1500 units of iron ore.

However, he only had a few hundred bullets for the heavy machine guns, so they’re mostly for deterrence in most situations.

He also spent 1000 units of iron ore crafting a "Built-in Fire Control System." The Level 1 Built-in Fire Control System had a heavy machine gun embedded in the ceiling at the rear of each carriage, just like the standard external heavy machine guns but with higher cost-effectiveness, only capable of shooting inward though.

Yes, there were no bullets for now either, primarily for deterrence.

Without finding "copper ore," these heavy firepower weapons were largely for exterior deterrence purposes.

The Level 2 train components he could craft had essentially all been made. The next step was selective upgrades, which would fully upgrade to a Level 2 train, with 1600 units of iron ore remaining in the train.

He consumed another 1000 units of iron ore to upgrade the "Target Detection Radar" to Level 2, extending its range to a radius of 2000 meters.

The remaining 600 units of iron ore were kept aside.

Used for daily production of food and water.

Just in case they ran out of iron ore without finding new resources or other trains, everyone in the train wouldn’t starve to death in the wasteland...

...

"Phew..."

After organizing the achievements of these days, Chen Mang gazed towards the distant and gradually collapsing mine with some reluctance, knowing that with all the slaves leaving the mining site, it marked the end for this place.

All resources had been extracted; this mine had merged back into the wilderness.

Perhaps after some time, this mine would reemerge here.

But next—

They needed to seek a new mining site.

Chen Mang took a deep breath, stubbed the nearing-end cigarette into the soil, and stood on the wasteland, clasping hands in prayer, murmuring.

"Heaven above, bless us. Let everything go smoothly tomorrow."

"As long as we can successfully trade for enough spider silk at the gathering, we can go to the Doomsday Abyss to mine Level 2 iron ore and Level 1 copper ore."