In the green zone, within the Kunlun Mountains.
"Whew..."
Inside a train floating on cloud-like wheels, a bald man gazed at the blueprint in his hand, his face filled with emotion.
This was the drop from the Green Dragon boss.
The Green Dragon spawned randomly across the various green zones, its tracks difficult to follow. After days of hunting, he had finally cornered it. Only by unleashing his full firepower had he managed to obtain this blue-grade vehicle accessory.
"Deep Sea Shield."
With this accessory, the train could submerge underwater.
Of course, whether it could move underwater depended on special wheel accessories, like the "Bunny Cloud" wheels his train was currently using.
He could finally return to his own "Sand River Plains" and explore the "Undersea Labyrinth" to see what that encounter was all about.
A few days ago, he had encountered an extremely peculiar Level 2 train.That Level 2 train, using the "Spider Legs" accessory, had climbed a nearly ninety-degree cliff face with ease. The sight had left him deeply shaken. He had initially thought that many powerful figures had come to this region and that he would face heavy competition for the Green Dragon boss.
But over the past few days, he found that not many people seemed to know about it.
That made more sense.
How could information he had paid a great price for become as common as cabbage, known to everyone?
And he hadn't seen that Level 2 train again, only a few Flesh Trains—a bunch of lunatics.
"Kunlun Mountains."
A green zone with no mineral resources whatsoever.
It was nothing but monsters, teeming with high-level creatures. The threat level was far greater than in other regions. No train liked to enter this area, except for the Flesh Trains that relied on collecting monster flesh and blood to upgrade their accessories.
The man shook his head, not thinking about it further.
He just picked up a razor from the side and carefully shaved the stubble that had just grown on his head—a habit from before the apocalypse. Then he entered the coordinates for the "Sand River Plains" into the control console. With a roar of the engine, the train, suspended in the low sky, shot toward the distant clouds!
The Azure Dragon Train, roaming the world!
Several hours later.
The bald man had successfully reached the Sand River Plains and parked his train by the lake. Then, with a sound of grinding gears, the cloud wheels of the train stationed by the lake began to retract slowly into the carriages. Several mechanical arms then extended from the sides of the carriages, rapidly twisting and hammering at the bottom. Soon, several propellers extended from the bottom of the carriages.
With a crisp 'clang,' the wheel change was complete.
The entire process took one minute.
"So convenient."
Sitting in the locomotive, the bald man looked at the "change complete" notification on the control console screen and couldn't help but smile with satisfaction. This was the charm of the yellow-grade accessory, "Mechanical Arms."
This accessory, paired with the "Train Auxiliary AI," could complete some high-difficulty actions.
For example—
Changing the wheels.
Before he had this accessory, every time he changed the train's wheels, he had to stop, and then have the onboard mechanics get out and go to the connection points of each carriage and wheel to replace them. The more carriages, the longer it took.
It always took more than ten minutes.
With this yellow-grade "Mechanical Arms" accessory, he could complete the entire process in just one minute.
As a Level 5 train, he had many more rare accessories than other trains.
Almost all Level 5 Train Captains' primary objective was mining and development. They spent most of their time mining, upgrading their accessories and train level as quickly as possible, and avoiding bosses whenever they could.
But he had always believed in the saying, "sharpening the axe doesn't delay the woodcutting."
He enjoyed hunting bosses when his train had enough ammunition, or actively seeking out encounters to obtain more rare accessory blueprints, allowing the train to develop in multiple directions. What was the point of having a high train level if the foundation was weak? It would shatter at the first touch.
Take this "Undersea Labyrinth" encounter in the lake before him, for example.
It was a goal he had been planning for a full month, and now, everything was finally ready.
"Let's begin..."
The bald man sat in the train, looking at the calm lake before him with anticipation. He slowly pushed the control stick, and the Level 5 "Auxiliary Omni-Wheels" at the bottom of the carriages began to roll slowly.
These were auxiliary wheels, unable to provide much power to the train.
They were mainly for assisting with turns. Using these wheels as a power source was like using a small horse to pull a large cart.
But in this situation, they were good enough to help the train enter the water. After all, he couldn't rely on the "propeller" wheels to get the train into the lake.
The next moment—
"Splash!"
The train slowly plunged into the lake. The moment it touched the water, a light blue curtain of light enveloped the entire train.
This was the effect of the "Deep Sea Shield," which could help the train resist water pressure and prevent water from entering.
At the same time, the several propellers at the bottom of the carriages began to spin furiously. The bright headlights formed two ultra-long beams of light, illuminating the path ahead. The train began to descend, its target the flashing "?" coordinate on the control console screen.
Twenty minutes later.
The train finally reached the bottom of the lake and saw a magnificent golden palace sitting in the center. At the entrance to the palace was a long road, and at the end of the road was a circular archway.
There were even guide signs on the road.
Above the palace entrance floated several huge, white, glowing characters.
"Undersea Labyrinth."
The train slowly landed on the road and drove along it into the palace. Miraculously, although the palace was built underwater, there was not a trace of water inside, and there was plenty of oxygen.
Then—
On the train's control console screen, a line of text appeared.
"Please disembark, Train Captain, and choose your labyrinth difficulty."
"How magical..."
A flicker of shock crossed the bald man's eyes. This was the first time he had encountered an underwater encounter. Not daring to delay, he walked out of the train and stood in the palace, which was a full ten-plus meters high.
The empty and huge palace.
The originally massive train behind him seemed a bit insignificant.
The next moment!
In the air of the palace, five huge light screens appeared, and above these five light screens was another light screen.