Under the veil of night, inside the Stellar, the radar beeped incessantly. In the distance, countless zombies were stampeding through the darkness.
Zzzzt—
The Carriage Blades extended from both sides of the train and began to spin at high speed, the air crackling with electricity arcing across their surfaces.
A zombie's sprint was no match for a train.
In the blink of an eye, Chen Mang steered the Stellar into the horde. It was like a tiger pouncing on a flock of sheep, a red-hot poker plunging into snow. In an instant, mangled limbs and fountains of blood were flung into the night air.
It was a one-sided slaughter.
Occasionally, a zombie's claws would scrape against the train's armor, failing to even leave a white scratch.
He retracted the Windfire Wheels and deployed the Spider Legs. This accessory ensured the train wouldn't get stuck on the growing pile of zombie corpses, allowing him to plow through the horde with impunity.
The blades on his Carriage Blades now had a width of 120 centimeters. Everywhere he passed, only dismembered bodies remained. The zombies could do nothing but flee for their lives; they couldn't inflict a single scratch on his train. But in terms of speed, there weren't many creatures on the wasteland that could outrun the Stellar, and these zombies were no exception.Still, their numbers were overwhelming.
He had lost count of how many he had killed, but when he looked ahead, the size of the horde didn't seem to be shrinking. Chen Mang's brow furrowed. The horde was still stampeding in a single direction, almost completely ignoring him.
It reminded him of a message he'd seen on the Train Radio a few days ago. It said that the zombie hordes on the wasteland had become unusually violent recently, not only besieging trains but also attacking other monsters—something that rarely happened before.
This bizarre scene immediately brought that message to mind.
Chen Mang's eyes narrowed, but he didn't slow his slaughter. The moment he'd encountered the horde, he had spent 500 units of iron ore to craft a green-grade accessory: the "Magnetic Harvester." The blueprint for it had dropped from the Level 3 Cannibalistic Spider he had killed.
Its effect was to automatically collect all loot dropped by monsters killed by the train or its crew within a certain range and deposit it into the carriages. He hadn't crafted it until now, since he hadn't needed it and didn't want to waste the resources.
But now, it was finally time to put it to use. After spending another 2,000 units of iron ore to upgrade it to Level 5, he unlocked its corresponding Advanced Effect.
[Magnetic Harvester Level 5 Advanced Effect]: Collects all items dropped by any monster that dies within range.
The effective range also increased from a 100-meter radius around the train to 500 meters.
Chen Mang's lip twitched as he read the description. This might be the most overpowered Advanced Effect of all his accessories so far. The original function was just to help him quickly pick up loot in situations like this, where stopping was inconvenient. The new effect, however, allowed him to collect loot from any monster killed within the radius, regardless of who killed it. It was completely unreasonable.
Unreasonable, but he liked it.
On the roof of the locomotive, a U-shaped magnet formed from glowing lines of light materialized. A few seconds later, the lines faded, leaving a dark, luggage-sized U-magnet embedded in the roof. After connecting it to the generator via the electrical system and activating it, the magnet began to emit waves of shimmering light into the night. As the train moved, all dropped items were sucked into the carriages.
He didn't bother checking his spoils, focusing instead on steering the train and continuing the massacre. He wasn't even sure if this was the same horde that had been harassing him before, but what did it matter? They were all zombies.
The train was controlled primarily through his mind—a stream of consciousness where his thoughts and the train became one. A thought was all it took to move it. However, there were also manual, mechanical controls like the accelerator and control stick. These weren't just for backup; a captain only lost their ability to control the train with their mind upon death. The manual controls were partly for fine-tuned maneuvers and partly to give the captain a more tactile driving experience, a sense of physical feedback.
About half an hour later, the horde had been thinned to a scattered mob of a few hundred. In the ruins of a city, this number would be a catastrophe for any surviving humans, but to the Stellar, they were no different from ants.
But then—
"Hm?"
Sitting at the control console, Chen Mang frowned. The horde, which had been running nonstop, suddenly came to a halt. He had been chasing them for miles. Looking back, he could see a long, red road paved with countless limbs and black blood.
The remaining zombies suddenly stopped, knelt on the ground like fervent cultists, and began to vomit. Piles of flesh and blood splattered onto the ground, creating a gory and nauseating scene. They completely ignored the threat his train posed.
It was only then that Chen Mang noticed the wasteland ahead was covered in a thick, viscous, blood-red substance. He could see mangled body parts everywhere—human, zombie wolf, Cannibalistic Spider, and even goblin. A small, green arm was easily identifiable.
"This isn't looking good."
He didn't know what was happening, but a sense of unease crept into his heart. He still knew too little about this world. It was probably best to leave. Time to head back to the Apocalypse Abyss and continue developing. The outside world was too dangerous.
Just as he had that thought—
BOOM! BOOM!
The ground suddenly began to tremble. The zombies kneeling on the ground started to howl. Then, a Level 2 zombie standing on the viscous, bloody ground suddenly opened its gaping maw, and a powerful suction force emanated from its mouth.
Like a blood-red tornado, all the gore covering the ground was sucked into its mouth. The Level 2 zombie's body began to expand rapidly, growing to a height of ten meters. Once all the flesh and blood had been consumed, it let out a deafening roar.
"ROAR!"
The ten-meter-tall zombie's eyes, filled with savagery and bloodlust, looked down at the Stellar. Its gaze passed through the carriage window, locking directly onto Chen Mang at the control console.