Chapter 204 - 142: "Are you familiar with this place? Is there a level 4 mine here?"_2

It seems the highest grade mineral in this space might be level 3?

Just then—

"Hm?"

He saw a train wreck in the distance, consisting of seven carriages, all severely dilapidated and abandoned. He immediately commanded the Fixed Star train to slowly stop in front of it and jumped off the train with Doba and Ai to take a closer look.

The carriages were completely empty.

There was nothing inside the train either. No wreckage, no scattered resources, no food—utterly empty. The closer they got, the more they could smell an intensely strong scent of decay.

It seemed that the train’s level wasn’t very high, probably around level 2 or 3.

The only peculiar part was...

The wheels of this train weren’t Wind-Fire Wheels nor spider legs, but...goblin remains. Under each carriage were four goblin skeletons. It was uncertain how long they’d been there, but even till now, those dozens of goblin skeletons stood their ground, carrying the train on their shoulders.

It looked somewhat like a Ghost Bride’s sedan chair.

"This... This is...?"

Doba was slightly stunned by the scene before him. Then, a memory deep in his mind suddenly awakened, and he began to shout angrily with an extremely ghastly expression: "Those bastards, those bastards actually did it in the end!"

"What’s going on?"

Chen Mang frowned slightly, looking at the somewhat eerie wrecked goblin train: "Do you recognize this kind of special wheel? It couldn’t have been made from Goblin Merchants, could it?"

This was the first time he’d seen "humanoid" wheels. Though he knew of many special wheels, like "spider legs," using goblins as wheels was rather bizarre. He’d once thought about using Goblin Merchants as wheels, considering their strength and endurance, but it was just a fleeting thought, as Goblin Merchants, even when unburdened, could only reach speeds of 150 km/hour, much slower than other wheels.

The only slight advantage might be lower energy consumption: ten loaves of bread and a bottle of cola per hundred kilometers.

"No."

Doba took a deep breath, his eyes reddening, and his body tensed as he spoke with a trembling voice: "These wheels are made from Black Market Merchants."

"Before I died, I remember the goblin think tank proposed a concept—to make wheels from Black Market Merchants and build a train. Such a train would possess the ability to randomly teleport like a Black Market Merchant, infiltrate enemy lines, and become a Ghost Train invisible to gods and men."

"But—"

"When Black Market Merchants teleport while carrying heavy loads, they don’t teleport the load with them, only themselves. The only way is to embed the Black Market Merchants into the train, which is an extremely cruel act."

"Especially since each Black Market Merchant teleports randomly, making it impossible to gather them at a single point, not to mention numerous challenges to overcome, and nearly every goblin opposed using such a brutal plan against their kin."

"Especially Black Market Merchants, who are considered lucky children of the Goblin Race by divine favor, and using them in this way defies ancestral teachings!"

"The plan was shelved indefinitely."

"I didn’t expect that after my death, they’d overcome all obstacles and created this train with Black Market Merchants as its wheels. Black Market Merchants, unlike us, inherently lack strength, and the agony of carrying such a heavy train on their shoulders can only be imagined. They’d be crushed half to death, then kept alive by means more heartless than the enemy’s!"

"..."

A trace of shock passed through Chen Mang’s eyes as he gazed at the abandoned goblin train before him. Though somewhat inhumane, he had to admit the concept was perfect—a train that could randomly teleport, indeed becoming a Ghost Train, casting terrifying shadows upon the enemy.

However...

In a war of that scale, resupplying ammunition, suddenly teleporting into the enemy’s midst, and many other issues were glaring problems, including how to control all Goblin Merchants to teleport to a single point. He had no idea how to address these problems.

Indeed, as soon as war breaks out, creative minds emerge.

He sighed lightly, begrudgingly admitting that humans were similar. Once war starts, ideas pour out madly, and black tech constantly gets thrown out.

"Train Captain."

Doba, with red eyes, looked at Chen Mang: "I want to bury these clan members here. They’ve given too much."

"Mm, bury them."

Chen Mang watched as Doba started digging, then glanced at the goblin train again, not intending to let the Earth Core Melting Furnace consume the abandoned train—devouring an abandoned second or third-level goblin train wouldn’t yield much iron ore.

Especially since Doba was there, crying his heart out.

Swallowing the train would be akin to digging up the dead’s grave in front of their kin, then scattering their bones to the wind.

This team would become hard to manage in the future.

...

These goblin remains had been left for an unknown period; Doba gently tapped with a hoe, and the goblin skeletons scattered all over. The skeletons on the arms, however, had entirely fused with the train, making them difficult to extract, and could only be forcibly pried off.

"..."

Chen Mang leaned on his staff, unconsciously rubbing the smooth ruby at its tip, gazing into the pitch-black depths of the distance, lost in thought and silence.

Very soon.

Doba had thrown all goblin remains into the dirt and built a small mound, then walked over to Chen Mang with reddened eyes, his head bowed and voice hoarse: "It’s a pity, if they had met you, sir, their fate might not have been so tragic."

"Mm."

Chen Mang nodded without saying much, simply leading Doba and Ai back into the train compartment and continuing to venture into the darkness.

Thirty minutes later.

"Bang!"

The Fixed Star train heavily crashed into a wall, its spinning drill pressing against it and beginning to destroy it. However, after five minutes, the wall showed no signs of yielding.

Seated in the train compartment, Chen Mang gazed at the earthen wall before him, having reached the edge of this space. In front was an immensely tall wall, and even at an altitude of 5500 meters, he couldn’t get over it.

The same applied underground.

His drill had already been upgraded to Level 50. Even with the flesh map’s walls, he could forcibly drill through them.

But in front of this wall, it seemed utterly useless.

This was the end.

He slowly retracted the drill, choosing not to continue trying. Judging by the situation, even if he upgraded the drill to Level 100, it might not break this wall. He realized he had formed a bad habit.

Previously, when confronted with walls like region barriers, he’d simply detour or give up.

But with the Level 50 drill, he wanted to drill anything he encountered to see if it would yield.

What if it did drill through?

"Let’s return."

Chen Mang shook his head, putting the thought of the wall aside. This was clearly the boundary of this map. Attempting to break it from within wouldn’t just be challenging; even if broken, it probably wouldn’t lead to anything good...

He didn’t return by the original route, opting to trace along the wall’s edge instead.

...

An hour later.

The Fixed Star train returned to Biaozi and the others. As the headlights flicked on, the view brightened once more.

The train’s residents, who had been filled with dread, finally relaxed.

Throughout this journey, aside from the abandoned goblin train, they hadn’t seen any other goblin trains, only many goblin remains scattered on the ground.