"Listen," the train master of the Bloodthirsty Bull said, his expression serious as he studied Chen Mang. "I'm not pulling your leg here. She's valuable—otherwise I wouldn't have brought her to the gathering."
He continued, "The master of the Electro-King train is coming later. That guy's a dwarf with an irresistible weakness for tall women. You could sell this one to him at a premium. I saw on the train radio that he's looking to offload some spider silk."
"Offer him this woman, and you'll get every last strand of silk he has. If you try trading with iron ore, he might not be so generous, but for her? He'll be more than happy to deal."
Chen Mang chuckled. "Didn't you just say spider silk was a rare material? How is it suddenly less valuable than iron ore?"
The man cleared his throat, looking embarrassed. "Spider silk is rare, that's true. But its applications are limited—it doesn't have the universal utility of iron ore. You should know that."
"Deal." Chen Mang didn't waste words, sealing the transaction with a smile.
He already knew about the Electro-King's preferences. He'd noticed the man pop up on the train radio when another master announced he had a 1.78-meter-tall female slave for the "fated one." This meant the Electro-King's spider silk was as good as his. After all, his woman was even taller—a full 1.87 meters. He'd originally planned to trade a Train Token for it.
The Electro-King Train hadn't arrived yet.
Following the other train masters' example, Chen Mang found an empty spot, sat down, and scrawled on a wooden board:Stellar. Selling Train Token, Buying Spider Silk.
The name "Stellar" was mainly for the Electro-King to see, making recognition easier. He was quite satisfied with his trade with the Bloodthirsty Bull. His initial plan had been to trade the "Handheld Zombie Perception Blocker" for the silk. The actual outcome was far better—he'd even acquired a woman in the process.
He'd already collected 4,500 units of spider silk. He needed 8,100 total, meaning he was still 3,600 units short to upgrade his "Spider Leg" accessory to level 13.
Soon enough, he spotted a dwarf walking briskly toward him, followed by seven or eight enforcers. Before Chen Mang could say a word, the man's eyes were already locked onto the tall woman standing behind him.
"Brother," he said, enunciating each word clearly, "name your price. I'm buying this woman."
Chen Mang sighed softly. He'd thought the dwarf had recognized him, but he'd just spotted the woman from across the crowd and made a beeline for her. He had no choice but to point his cane at the words on the wooden board.
The dwarf followed his gaze, and realization dawned on his face before breaking into a wide grin.
"Ah, so it's you. Looks like you've done your homework on me."
"Let's get straight to it, then."
"I have 1,800 units of spider silk," the dwarf declared. "For your woman."
"Too low," Chen Mang said, shaking his head. "Do you have any idea what I paid for her? A woman who stands 1.87 meters tall—do you know how rare that is?"
The dwarf's brow furrowed as he pondered for a moment. "How much spider silk do you need total?"
"3,600 units."
"If I give you 3,600 units, is the woman mine?"
"Yes."
"Wait here," the dwarf said. "Last time, several trains came with me to Taiping City to hunt the cannibal spiders. I'll contact them. Give me a few hours—I'll be right back."
Without another word, the dwarf turned and strode away from the gathering.
Five hours later, he returned. He placed 3,800 units of spider silk in front of Chen Mang's stall, then took a deep breath, his gaze fixed on the tall woman with barely suppressed excitement. He licked his lips. "So? Is she mine now?"
"Pleasure doing business with you," Chen Mang said with a smile, shaking the man's hand to seal the deal.
By now, the gathering had mostly dispersed. Night would fall in a few more hours, and half the trains had already departed.
His Train Token remained unsold. Few people had inquired about it, and the highest offer was a mere 2,000 units of iron ore. Most train masters bought them as insurance—if their train was ever destroyed, a Train Token offered a chance to start over. But since it was just a safety net, they weren't willing to pay premium prices.
He wasn't in a hurry to sell anyway. Two thousand units of iron ore wouldn't solve any of his major problems; it was less than two days' output from his slaves. He might as well keep it.
Whoosh...
Standing at the edge of the Stellar, Chen Mang watched several trains rumble into the distance. The gathering was over, and for him, it had concluded perfectly. He'd collected more than enough spider silk, with 200 units to spare.
Next up: upgrading the Spider Legs and heading out to explore the Apocalypse Abyss in the wasteland.
It was worth noting that the entire gathering had been completely peaceful. Forget fights—there were hardly any arguments. Everyone exercised extreme restraint. No one was maintaining order; it was simply a consensus the crowd spontaneously upheld.
Every train master had trading needs. If someone broke this unspoken rule, it would mean that for a long time to come, no one would be able to trade with anyone else. Anyone who dared violate this rule would become a public enemy.
Given that there wasn't a huge disparity in power among them, this consensus served as very effective restraint. It also gave him a chance to witness the sheer diversity and variety of the other trains.
In the nocturnal wasteland, under a sky full of stars, the long, Stellar shot into the distance like an arrow loosed from a bow.
After inputting the coordinates for the "Apocalypse Abyss" into the control console, he traveled through the night for about four hours, finally approaching the chasm as darkness fell.
There was a Level 2 iron mine down there.
One unit of Level 2 iron ore was equivalent to ten units of Level 1. This meant that with the current number of slaves on the Stellar, one day of mining could yield about ten thousand units of iron ore. In five days, he could afford another Ji Chuchu.
By then, he could upgrade all the train's armor to Level 3 and all its accessories to Level 5, unlocking an Advanced effect for each. His train would truly become a fully equipped Level 2 train.
When he returned from the Apocalypse Abyss, the zombie hordes that once chased him all over the place would be as easy to slaughter as cutting grass.
Numbers would become meaningless. When the disparity in strength reached a certain point, quantity lost all significance.
Finally, half an hour later, the Stellar arrived at the edge of the Apocalypse Abyss.
Chen Mang stepped off the train, leaning on his cane as he gazed at the chasm before him. It stretched several thousand meters long and nearly forty meters wide. He looked out toward the horizon.
The surroundings were deserted. Under the starry sky, he felt a sense of extreme, desolate beauty. In peacetime, this place might have attracted countless campers.
And down in the bottomless abyss lay a Level 2 iron mine and a Level 1 copper mine, like untouched treasures waiting shyly for him to claim them.