Chapter 4: Level 1 Iron Ore.

"Big brother, your name is..."

"My name is Chen Mang."

"Okay, Mang."

...

After a brief conversation, the two stopped talking and continued to sit cross-legged on the ground chewing their food.

And indeed, Chen Mang felt a bit unable to eat anymore.

He left two buns and a bag of pickled vegetables in his pocket to eat later when he’s hungry, making his pocket bulge.

Soon—

They weren’t given much time.

Under the loud shouting of thugs, all the slaves entered the mine in a long line formation.

This mine, the entrance is just a hole on a small dirt slope, looking like an animal den, not conspicuous, but once inside, you can feel its peculiar traits.

The path inside the cave twists downward.

After walking for about a dozen minutes.

They came to a fork in the road, with three paths in front. As agreed beforehand, he led the slaves from car number seven to the leftmost path, while the other two paths were entered by the slaves from the other two cars.

Leading the slaves from car seven, they marched into this path for a good few dozen minutes before reaching their destination.

The scene suddenly opened up.

It felt like entering a giant cave with a height of seven or eight meters, a much more spacious area, and on the ground were large black iron lumps protruding.

About a meter high.

The shape somewhat resembled cauliflower affected by AIDS.

Its surface covered with bumps.

"Is this the mine?"

Chen Mang squinted his eyes slightly, observing the iron lumps on the ground in the cave, thinking that mining can’t work this way; this concept of mining seems different from what he had in mind.

"Yes, yes."

Old Pig weighed the pickaxe in his hand and said softly, "Big brother, you know that after Doomsday, the world has undergone some subtle unique changes, even supernatural ones, for example, the existence of ’Trains’. As long as one possesses a ’Train Order,’ you can bring into existence your own train out of nowhere."

"There are also lots of resource areas like mines."

"Mining in these mines is different from before; it doesn’t require any refining, just a slave wielding a pickaxe to keep hacking at the iron ore, and a normal adult male can basically acquire one unit of iron ore per hour."

"This is the most ordinary kind of low-level mine, a level 1 iron mine."

"Considered lucky, extraction from such mines poses no life-threatening danger, unlike some mines that require mining in lava, where the risk factor skyrockets."

"This resource is also the primary material for upgrading trains."

"For instance, Mang, look at this pickaxe panel."

"..."

Chen Mang took the pickaxe from Old Pig’s hand and weighed it, and a panel popped up in front of him.

-

"Tool Name": Pickaxe.

"Tool Level": Level 1.

"Tool Effect": Can mine level 1 mine.

-

This panel could only be seen by him as usual, but according to Old Pig, clearly, no matter whose hand this pickaxe was in, the panel could be seen, which means that after Doomsday, many supernatural changes have occurred in this world, which he can now understand.

"What channels are there to obtain a Train Order?"

Chen Mang asked softly.

"There are many channels for that, for instance, killing any monster has a certain chance to drop a ’Train Order’, although the chance is small, the higher the monster’s level, the larger the chance."

"So far, the monsters we encounter most frequently are level 1 monsters, ’Zombies’. A single zombie is not strong, any adult with a weapon can handle it, but in most cases, zombies don’t appear individually; they appear as a Corpse Tide."

"If you don’t break out before the Corpse Tide forms a circle, the train can easily be trapped to death."

"After all, I’ve carefully observed that the wheels of this train are level 1 wheels, ’Wind-Fire Wheel’. The advantage of these wheels is that they maintain the fastest speed on flat terrains like wastelands, but they have no handling capability on harsh terrains and can only run on flat ground. Plus, these wheels are easily blocked by zombies. If swapped for level 1 ’Tracked Wheels’, the situation would be much better, though not as fast."

"It’s all about trade-offs."

"Other than that, another way is through the ’Market’, where occasionally some Train Captains self-organize to trade their stuff, providing an opportunity to buy them, but of course, we slaves have no chance to go."

"These are the only two channels, for now, there’s no other way."

"Understood."

Chen Mang lightly nodded, pondering silently, while the surrounding slaves had already begun vigorously hacking at the iron lumps on the cave ground with their pickaxes. There was no need for him to say anything; everyone was conscientious and familiar with the process, picking up the pickaxes to start working.

There was none of the slack, requiring him to remind them to work.

Upgrading trains requires resources, and mining resources requires slaves. From this perspective, these slaves are even the only productive labor force in this world, and naturally, their value goes without saying.

"I’ll go mining too, Mang."

"Go ahead."

...

Nearly 100 slaves were currently bustling in the mine, swinging the noticeably iron-made pickaxes in hand, persistently striking the iron ore on the ground.

The clanging sounds gradually melded into one.

No dust.

And the iron ore on the ground did not change.

Chen Mang stood in the middle of the mine, glancing around before walking alone to a corner at the back of the mine to start studying the Train Captain Panel that came with his ’birthmark’.

There were three newbie Train Captain tasks in total.

Unlocking other functions could only be done after completing these three tasks.

The Doomsday in this world has been around for some time, and surely many people’s trains have upgraded to high levels. In such a clearly disorderly, survival-of-the-fittest environment, not having a train that provides even basic security means lacking basic safety assurance.

Being under someone else’s roof is never a long-term path.

He doesn’t want to be a slave either.

And this Train Captain Panel, to him, can provide much help in catching up after having a late start.

Of these three newcomer tasks, the latter two—recruiting subordinates and killing 10 zombies—don’t seem too difficult; it’s just the first one, owning a train of his own, that feels a bit challenging.

According to Old Pig’s explanation.

This ’Train Order’ is particularly hard to obtain, so he needs to come up with a plan.

"..."

As Chen Mang pondered, he pulled out that ’gls pistol’ from his lower back to study it, holding it in his hand with a solid weight, a fully black-colored standard-style pistol.

The magazine was full.

Containing 9 bullets in total.