"However..."
Uncle Li turned to look at the young man rolling around on the bed behind him, his lips slightly parted but no words came out. He couldn't find a way to refute. After a long while, he muttered in a daze.
"But how dare you intercept Lord Mang?"
"Because I thought that compiling daily data for so many people must be an extremely troublesome task. Uncle Li, you happen to be proficient in this, and the train is just short of such a person. Of course, I had to recommend myself."
"You..."
"What about me?"
"This process isn't right! Success can't be this simple!"
Uncle Li felt as if his values were being shattered, finding it hard to accept for a moment: "If you had the ability to recommend yourself, why were you only earning a few thousand a month before?"
He had always believed.
Talent is like the shit in your belly; only when a tip peeks out from behind can others see that you have talent. Otherwise, even if your belly is full of shit, no one can tell.
So his approach had always been to showcase his talent.
But this young man had told him a more straightforward and crude method.
Throw it in someone else's face.
"Me?"
The young man lying on the bed spoke somewhat irritably: "Uncle Li, I'm just a young man from a no-name town with no skills. What can I recommend myself for? And I just recommended you, not me. It's you who have the skills, not me."
"But..."
"Well, in the end, it was my plan that succeeded, so I have some credit. Let me make it clear first, I don't understand any of this, so you'll need to be patient when you start teaching me."
"Alright."
After a long while, Uncle Li nodded heavily, took a deep breath, and turned to look out the window, his eyes filled with pride. Even his back straightened a bit.
No matter what.
The plan had finally succeeded, and he had finally become a middle manager of the Stellar Train. Now was his time to shine!
At this moment—
The door of Carriage 6 for high-level talents was pushed open, and Li Shiji walked in holding two steaming Roujiamo. Seeing Uncle Li and the young man, he was momentarily stunned, then suddenly laughed.
"Looks like your plan succeeded?"
"Huh?"
Uncle Li's body froze in place, his eyes filled with confusion as he looked at Li Shiji.
"What huh? I was lying behind you eating last time when you were discussing how to suppress the Slave rebellion. From what I gathered, you've been planning this for a long time, but kept failing. I didn't expect your plan to suddenly succeed now. Well done."
"Why were you lying down eating?"
"Digging ore all day makes my back ache. Can't a man eat lying down?"
The young man sitting next to Uncle Li stood up, his eyes filled with pride as he smiled: "Uncle Li and I are responsible for the daily data compilation and verification of the residents' Iron Ore and Stellar Coupons. We're both treated as Level 3 high-level talents."
"That's a good job."
Li Shiji sighed deeply, his eyes filled with envy: "This job can be done continuously. Unlike me, after finishing the maze, I don't know what to do next. Lord Mang hasn't given me any new tasks either, making me feel a bit guilty even eating steamed buns now."
"Before you came, this carriage was just me, quite lonely. Now I finally have someone to chat with."
"Want some Roujiamo? I just heated them."
"Well..."
Uncle Li hesitated for a moment before looking toward Carriage 5 behind Li Shiji and asking: "You came from Carriage 5? Train Conductor Zhu just told me Ji Chuchu is in Carriage 5 and not to enter it casually."
"Oh, that."
Li Shiji waved his hand: "Right now, only Ji Chuchu lives in Carriage 5. Lao Zhu set up a bed curtain for her. Passing by is no big deal, just don't casually lift the curtain and crawl in."
"I just heated two Roujiamo, here you go. Consider it a welcome treat. I'll heat a few more later."
"Heh"
"This is much better than bread slices. I've been eating a dozen a day these days, so satisfying!"
"Oh right, it's been a while since you had a smoke, huh?"
Li Shiji smiled, pulling out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and tossing it to the two: "Lord Mang just rewarded me with 100 Stellar Coupons. I bought two packs of cigarettes for 4 Stellar Coupons. Here's a pack for you to smoke."
"Aren't you saving up to buy a refrigerator?"
Uncle Li took the pack of cigarettes with both hands and handed it to the young man beside him: "Many people are planning to save the Stellar Coupons they earn to buy a refrigerator."
"That's not as comfortable as living in this carriage. The store inside has a lot of good stuff."
Li Shiji suddenly thought of something, stood up, and walked over to the two: "Train Conductor Zhu put the store in a refrigerator. That refrigerator is in Carriage 11. I'll take you to see it. I'll pay for whatever you buy."
"We're all treated as Level 3 high-level talents, earning two Stellar Coupons a day."
"It's enough."
"Let's go, come with me to see. It's a good time now since everyone's working, the store is less crowded, and we can take our time looking."
Inside the Stellar Train.
Sitting at the control panel, Chen Mang was looking at the robot in front of him and... a loose iron box.
Yes.
That drone had dropped a box, and when the four sides opened, this robot crawled out. He took the box with him when he left. Though so far, he hadn't found anything special about it.
It's not a special item.
And the box can't be reassembled; it's just loose. But since it's something from an S-Rank Job Change Quest, he decided to collect it and stuff it in the refrigerator. There's a Level 10 refrigerator in his train room.
It's chilling some cola.
And other miscellaneous things he's collected, which might come in handy someday.
As for this robot...
Special Item: Life Robot.
Item Effect: Can serve as the body of a 'Train Auxiliary AI' and perform light physical tasks.
The robot's exterior is smooth blue steel, painted, with no exposed wires or armor. There are no interfaces for heavy weaponry; it's just a life robot with minimal combat capabilities.
It can be an assistant.
"Can you enter?"
"Yes."
The train soon echoed with the mechanical electronic voice of the AI. Then, a wire extended from the control panel screen towards the robot. Soon, the robot stood up, facing Chen Mang.
"..."
Chen Mang frowned slightly, tilting his head to look at the screen beside him: "Can you still control those accessories now?"
"Yes."
The robot's speaker emitted a slightly muffled mechanical electronic voice: "I'm a Level 10 AI, with higher computational power and intelligence. The robot only occupies a part of my consciousness. Most of my consciousness remains in the Train Auxiliary AI, and my powerful computational power allows me to multitask."
"Currently, activating all train accessories would only consume 37% of my total computational power."
"If I could eat."
"I could even leisurely crack a few melon seeds."
Chen Mang looked at the robot in front of him, pausing for a moment: "I'll give you a name."
"Okay."
"Let's call you Xiao Ai."
"Okay, Master. You can command Xiao Ai anytime."
This robot is just a side dish in this harvest, not even a snack. The real appetizers are the special item and two blueprints he got from that Level 4 train.
All special items have no grade or level; most are small auxiliary items for individual use.
Like the special item in his hand.
Special Item: Salted Fish Hairpin.
Item Effect: While wearing this hairpin, you can breathe underwater for ten minutes.
It looks like a salted fish hairpin, clipped onto the head. He tried it on, looked in the mirror, and immediately took it off, placing it in a drawer.
Wearing it makes one look a bit silly.
An item that might be useful at certain times.
Then he looked at the two blueprints.
The first blueprint is a green-grade accessory "Nitrogen Tailjet," and the second is a yellow-grade accessory blueprint "Bunny Cloud."
"Well, well"
Chen Mang looked at the second yellow-grade vehicle accessory blueprint, a flash of surprise in his eyes. This time, he really hit the jackpot.
Last time he went to the Kunlun Mountains, a train left an extremely deep impression on him. That train had cloud wheels and could fly in the air. He was still a Level 2 train then, and that scene left him in awe.
He had wondered when his Stellar Train could also fly in the sky.
He didn't expect it to be so soon!
"Bunny Cloud" is a special type of wheel, cloud-shaped, allowing the train to fly in the sky. However, it's temporarily unusable. Only when the train's maximum speed reaches 650 km/h can a train equipped with Bunny Cloud wheels fly in the sky.
Even if he upgrades "Bunny Cloud" to Level 10 now, he still can't reach that speed limit.
Normally.
Level 4 or 5 trains, even Level 6 trains, can't reach that base speed limit.
To achieve that speed, some speed-enhancing accessories are needed, like the green-grade accessory "Nitrogen Tailjet," which increases train speed.
Presumably, this Level 4 train also started collecting speed-enhancing accessories after obtaining the "Bunny Cloud" blueprint, preparing to reach that speed limit and fly the train in the air.
Unfortunately...
It was cut short halfway, poor kid.
After organizing all the loot from this train, he looked at the resource units on the train panel.
430,000 units of Iron Ore, 750,000 units of Copper Ore, 224,000 units of Wood.
120,000 units of Spider Silk, 180,000 units of Crimson Heartstone, 1,158 units of Corpse Meat.
He glanced at the conditions for upgrading to Level 4 train.
Upgrade Conditions: Need to have 18 carriages, four essential vehicle accessories fully crafted, consume 10,000 units of Level 2 Iron Ore, and the total level of all accessories in the train must exceed 80.
After crafting three ordinary carriages, he finally met the 18-carriage requirement.
Thus, all conditions for upgrading to Level 4 train were met. As for the condition that's quite challenging for other trains, "total accessory levels exceeding 80," for him... when he was a Level 2 train, he already surpassed that number.
As for now.
After consuming 100,000 units of Iron Ore.
The next moment—
A panel appeared before him.
Your train has upgraded to Level 4.
More craftable accessories will be unlocked, and you have successfully transitioned to a Mechanical Train with S-Rank potential.
On the train panel, a new section called "Reputation Points" appeared. His current Reputation Points are 30.
The detailed record shows that the regional announcement of "Iron Ridge Wasteland" increased his Reputation Points by 10, and the regional announcement of "Shahe Plain" increased it by another 20, totaling 30 Reputation Points.
And at the moment of successful upgrade!
The "Train Radio" finally fully joined the Shahe Plain. From this moment on, he could no longer return to the Iron Ridge Wasteland, and the abandoned Goblin Train at the bottom of the "Doomsday Abyss" would forever remain there.
Until one day, the Goblin Train, covered in dust and spiderwebs, long forgotten, suddenly welcomes its owner.
This is Doba's train.
Upon learning that this Goblin Train was crafted by Doba alone, groping in absolute darkness to find a pickaxe and then Iron Ore, bit by bit, spending who knows how much time, he couldn't bear to feed this abandoned Goblin Train to the "Geothermal Furnace."
It wouldn't give him much Iron Ore.
Better to leave it there.
Perhaps...
One day, he will return there and tell Doba.
"Now you are the Goblin King."
He doesn't know if he can achieve such a monumental task as helping Doba rebuild the Goblin civilization, but Doba's sincere, admiring, and fervent gaze made him somewhat unable to meet it directly. If, one day in the future, he can truly accomplish this, then this abandoned Goblin Train, lying dormant at the bottom of the Doomsday Abyss, will silently record everything like a cosmic historian.
At least leave a memento.
Suddenly, the "Train Radio" emitted a series of beeps. Many people were chatting in the radio, and the chat room's top-right corner showed a total of 289 trains in this chat room.
This number is about the same as in the Iron Ridge Wasteland.
Wait, it should be much less than the Iron Ridge Wasteland, since only Level 2 trains can craft a Train Radio, and there are still many Level 1 trains in the Iron Ridge Wasteland, as well as some Level 2 trains that haven't crafted a Train Radio.
"No way..."
Chen Mang looked at the chat records in the chat room, his mouth twitching slightly.
Why are there twelve scrolls of military documents, each scroll bearing my name again?
He had thought that the Train Radio in the Shahe Plain would be discussing something else, but it turns out they're still talking about him, no different from the Train Radio in the Iron Ridge Wasteland.
Everyone in the chat room is discussing the "Stellar Train" that completed the S-Rank Job Change Quest.
The regional announcement of "Shahe Plain" leaked his train's name, and now everyone knows that a train called the Stellar successfully completed this S-Rank Job Change Quest.
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