CHAPTER 530: CHAPTER 282: "PRESIDENT AI, THE 1ST ONE!"_6

"You need to kill these 1,000 zombies within fifteen minutes. If not all are killed, or if the train room is overrun, it is considered a failure."

"Starting from Level 1 zombies, each time a new corpse tide is born, the level of the zombies will overall increase by +1."

"And in front of you, in the ’Central Control Room’ of the ’Heavy Machinery Factory’, a giant gear set is jammed, causing the entire heavy machinery factory to remain in an abandoned state. You need to complete thirty-six small tasks and wait for the repair time to successfully clear the level."

"The Train Captain is required to stay on the train during this stage and is not allowed to go to the factory."

"In fifteen minutes, the first wave of corpse tide will arrive."

-

"Heir to the Mechanical Civilization?"

Chen Mang looked down and pulled out a cigarette from his pocket, lighting it. He had thought that the rewards for this Adventure Map would be substantial, but he hadn’t expected them to be so generous—it turned out to be a selection contest for the position of heir to the Mechanical Civilization.

At the very least...

Not to mention anything else, surely it would come with a lot of resources, like iron ore or something, give him a bit more.

But then, since they wanted to select an heir, why only choose so few Train Captains? Wouldn’t more people make it easier to select a high-potential heir? There wasn’t enough time to think about this.

He looked at the balance of copper ore on the train.

There were only 2.45 million units of copper ore left, too little. If calculated as one wave of corpse tide every 20 minutes, in an hour, the corpse tide would reach Level 4.

In two hours, the corpse tide would be Level 7.

In three hours, the corpse tide would be Level 10.

In four hours, Level 13.

In five hours, Level 16.

In six hours... Level 19.

The copper ore on the train isn’t enough, not enough at all, but thankfully there was still plenty of iron ore, more than sixty million left. He had 40 "Viper Unmanned Combat Aircraft", each equipped with Level 20 cannons, consuming Energy Stones, not copper ore.

Plus, there were mecha and other attack methods, all consuming Energy Stones.

He did some calculations.

If they used all their reserves, at most, they could last six hours!

After six hours, they would be dealing with zombies all above Level 19—each one alone would be like doomsday for the train, let alone a thousand of them!

"Whew..."

Chen Mang took a deep breath, then looked at Old Pig, Li Shiji, and others: "From now on, we rely on you. I’ll stay on the train to deal with these corpse tides. The corpse tide won’t enter the abandoned factory, so you need to complete the thirty-six small tasks in the abandoned factory."

"The tasks are unknown, and so are the decryption methods."

"12 minutes until the first wave of the corpse tide arrives."

"Ai will set a countdown on each of your Iris Chips: six hours. We have at most six hours, and if the countdown ends and you haven’t completed the tasks, it means we’ve failed this time."

"For this action, I need to stay on the train, so everything else depends on you."

"Having too many people is a problem; they can get in the way."

"Old Pig, first team, second team, third team, Li Shiji, Ai, Mr. Li, you all go. Old Pig, you’re familiar with the residents, pick a few who are sharp-minded. If three hours later the progress on tasks is still lacking, I’ll send all the residents into the factory for a thorough search."

"Any other questions?"

"Master Mang..."

Biaozi hesitated, "Shouldn’t I stay to protect the train? You know I’m not smart, and these decryption tasks aren’t suitable for me."

"You need to go."

Chen Mang shook his head: "You feel you’re not smart compared to Li Shiji, but in reality, you’re sharper than a lot of train residents, aren’t you?"

Biaozi tilted his head and thought for a while: "Seems like it’s true. Should Zhang Yi and Zhang Er go?"

"Oh, they won’t go."

"Now then..."

Chen Mang glanced at the countdown on the control panel: "11 minutes until the first wave of the corpse tide arrives. Communicate any issues to me and Ai immediately. Now, everyone, move out, quickly, quickly, quickly."

Biaozi and the others didn’t dare delay and quickly left the Constant Star Train, heading towards the ruins of the factory ahead.

"Good luck, everyone."

"The future of the Constant Star now lies in the hands of each of you. Anyone who solves a task, will be awarded 1,000 Fixed Star Coupons."

...

Subsequently, Chen Mang rested against the seat back, watching their figures disappearing into the abandoned factory, sighing lightly as he patiently awaited the first wave of the corpse tide.

Ai’s voice echoed inside the train.

"Train Captain, you seem a bit lacking in confidence."

"The difficulty is too high."

Chen Mang lit another cigarette; after some silence, he stared into the swirling smoke, "Within six hours we need to complete 36 tasks, and the objective of the tasks is completely unknown. We need to find the tasks first, then find the answers. The time is just too tight."

"The factory is also too big."

"But... I am waiting for a miracle to happen.

...

Li Shiji, whose face was terribly pale due to nervousness, was walking quickly into the depths of the factory, rapidly turning over the information around him and storing it in his mind as much as possible.

And took out an adrenaline shot from his pocket to inject himself, keeping himself awake.

He quickly dispersed from the main team.

He scouted the surroundings of the plant, and a few minutes later, he saw a locked little wooden house. The wooden house had a faint yellow question mark, a dial-code lock similar to a password diary lock, clearly one of the thirty-six small tasks.

"Password...password..."

Li Shiji’s lips trembled slightly, looking at the eight-digit code lock on the wooden house, eight...

He quickly ran frantically towards the factory gates, snatching out a "Soldier Card" from the remains of a human corpse in the security room. It had the soldier’s birth date: February 18, 7228.

Then he frantically ran back to the wooden house.

Using adrenaline as a stimulant, the effect was good.

His trembling hands quickly spun the dial on the lock, inputting a string of numbers.

"72280218."

The next moment—

"Clink."

A crisp sound rang as the lock opened. The pale yellow question mark on the wooden house slowly turned into a green exclamation point.

Li Shiji smiled, his voice hoarse but filled with excitement, as he clenched the Soldier Card, the veins on his hands popping out.

"President Ai, the first one!"