Chapter 72: Red-Eyed Rabbit Boss

"Plenty of bursts, but no stamina."

Inside the Stellar, Chen Mang sat at the control console, eyes narrowed as he watched the two rabbits in the rearview mirror, their pace flagging.

The creatures, which resembled red-skinned rabbits, had terrifying explosive power—their top speed even matched his train. But they seemed to lack any ranged attacks.

Their stamina, however, was poor. After just half an hour at peak speed, they were already slowing down, now only able to maintain about 150 km/h. Just then—

"Hm?"

Chen Mang noticed dozens of new red dots on the far edge of the Search Radar. It was the Level 1 train he had passed earlier. He immediately blasted his horn as a warning. To him, these two Level 3 monsters were just a nuisance, but to a Level 1 train, they were catastrophic.

Once, the captain of the "Electro-King Train" had done the same for him, sounding a warning in a similar situation. Now, he was passing that kindness forward.

The next moment, he saw the Level 1 train start up and flee into the night, just as he had done that day.

Chen Mang glanced back at the two rabbits in the rearview mirror. He had thought their attention might be drawn to the Level 1 train—it was slower, an easier target. But he had underestimated the fury of an interrupted tryst.

"I don’t remember rabbits being this vengeful," Chen Mang muttered to himself.

Aboard the Level 1 train, the white-haired young man stared at the receding Stellar and the two high-speed red rabbits behind it, his eyes filled with lingering fear and gratitude.

He remembered this train. Earlier in the evening, it had roared past him with its DJ music blasting. And now, it had warned him of danger.

Although the two red rabbits didn’t look particularly threatening, their speed was proof enough. He was a novice captain and still didn’t fully understand the changes in this new world. Most of what he knew, he had figured out on his own.

"Whew..."

The young man let out a long breath. He looked at his reflection in the mirror, at his full head of white hair. In the apocalypse, he didn’t have the luxury of dyeing it. It had turned white overnight, not long after the world ended, when the communication lines were still up. He had been on the phone with his parents when he heard the sounds of them being devoured by zombies that had broken into their house.

For a youth to turn white-haired, it meant their family had suffered an unbearable loss.

Translator’s Note: This is a Chinese folk saying that conveys the idea that extreme sorrow, trauma, or hardship can turn a young person’s hair white before their time.

—--

"We’re here!"

At the control console, Chen Mang saw the Apocalypse Abyss drawing near the screen. He deliberately slowed down, letting the two rabbits get closer to create a larger blind spot.

The next second—

With the help of the red-grade "Wheel Swapper," the Stellar rapidly deployed its "Spider Legs" and retracted the "Windfire Wheels." The process was fluid and seamless, with almost no impact on the train’s speed.

Then, the mechanical legs at the front of the train suddenly began to transform. Several nozzle-like openings appeared on their surface and, in the darkness, shot two thick strands of silk forward.

Like nimble snakes, the silk strands shot across the chasm, anchoring themselves firmly to the ground on either side.

An instant bridge.

The train, without losing speed, defied physics as its mechanical legs scrambled onto the silk strands spanning the abyss. The movement was as smooth and natural as a real spider on its web.

In the blink of an eye, it was suspended over the Apocalypse Abyss.

The two rabbits behind it, seeing this, tried desperately to stop, but their momentum was too great. With eyes full of despair, they plunged into freefall toward the bottom.

The Apocalypse Abyss was a full 6,000 meters deep.

At that height, few carbon-based lifeforms could survive the fall. Not even a Level 3 monster.

But—

It wasn’t over.

The Level 5 "Tripod-Mounted Heavy Machine Gun" on the roof of the Stellar instantly locked onto the two free-falling rabbits. The "Train Auxiliary AI" calculated its trajectory in a heartbeat. The gun barrel roared, spitting fire like a firework in the night.

A stream of bullets, like a rainbow piercing the sun, shot straight for the two rabbits.

In an instant—

BANG, BANG!

The moment the shots rang out, Chen Mang saw the two rabbits explode into bloody mist in mid-air. The items they dropped were instantly sucked into the carriage by the "Magnetic Harvester."

Then—

Several lines of scarlet text flashed across the Stellar’s control console screen.

—

[Congratulations, you have successfully secured the first kill of the Level 3 Red-Eyed Rabbit boss.]

[You may choose one of the following first-kill rewards.]

—

The scarlet text scrolled across the screen several times, but it didn’t end there. A line of text framed in gold slowly appeared at the top of the screen, accompanied by a shower of celebratory fireworks. At the same time, a voice echoed in his mind.

Or rather...

It echoed in the mind of every train captain on the "Ironridge Wasteland."

That night, countless train captains were startled awake by the sound.

—

[Ironridge Wasteland Regional Broadcast: Congratulations to the Stellar for successfully securing the first kill on the Level 3 Red-Eyed Rabbit boss, becoming the first train in any region to kill a Level 3 Red-Eyed Rabbit.]

—

"Whew."

Aboard the Stellar, Chen Mang sat at the control console, looking at the scrolling text at the top of the screen. He took a deep breath to calm himself, then lit a cigarette, took a long drag, and couldn’t help but chuckle amidst the swirling smoke.

He was extremely glad.

Glad that he had named his train "The Stellar" that day, and not something like the "Fuck-Everything Express."

"The Stellar" sounded impressive and dignified in a regional broadcast. If it had been the "Fuck-Everything Express," that would have been embarrassing.

After upgrading the "Spider Legs" to Level 13, its second advanced effect allowed it to shoot two strands of silk forward, up to 100 meters long, that could last for an hour, allowing the train to travel steadily on them.

It was this advanced effect that had allowed his train to cross the Apocalypse Abyss like a spider.

The only thing was, each use consumed 100 units of spider silk.

And that day, the dwarf had coincidentally given him an extra 200 units of silk, allowing him to pull off this maneuver.

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