#212 - Chapter 212: Train

On the desolate wilderness, scattered black rocks, the corpses of beasts, and human remains littered the landscape. Occasionally, a group of blood-soaked zombies wandered across the plain.

Clang, clang!

A black train, resembling one from the 17th century and nearly a hundred meters long, roared across the zombie and iron shard-filled wilderness, its engine spewing thick black smoke.

Lin Changqing was in the seventh car. The car was densely packed with people, men and women, all with sallow faces and gaunt features. He sat in a corner, observing the unfamiliar surroundings. The stench of decay and foot odor filled his nostrils, but Lin Changqing didn't care, remaining focused on observing these unfamiliar people and this world.

How did the Hundredth Level Jade Ladder Trial send him here?

[You never expected to find yourself on a train. You observe the people around you, each one as thin as a skeleton wrapped in skin, their complexions waxy. You overhear snippets of conversation that suggest this is a post-apocalyptic world, with zombies roaming the wilderness. To survive, one must become the master of a train.]

[In this world, the embodiment of extraordinary power is the train. Like the train you're currently on, it's a Level 1 train with ten cars and a population of about two thousand. The train conductor holds an extraordinary position in this world.]

[Owning a train allows you to freely travel across the zombie-infested wilderness, discovering various resources needed for survival in this post-apocalyptic world. After upgrading the train, you can accommodate even more people.]

[After understanding this information, you become even more confused. How could the Hundredth Level Jade Ladder send you to such a world? You vaguely recall hearing about the Train Apocalypse World, one of the myriad realms, different from the cultivation-focused extraordinary systems like the Great River of Immortality. They follow an external path, focusing on extraordinary items like trains.]

[Before you can dwell on your doubts, a disembodied voice echoes in your ears.]

"Inheritor, the Train Apocalypse World is a unique realm among the myriad worlds. It doesn't cultivate spiritual power, but rather focuses on external extraordinary items – trains. This world is a terrifying one, a world of apocalypse, filled with zombies and monsters. Ordinary people can only survive by owning their own train and continuously upgrading it to evade the monster attacks in the wilderness."

"And the great terror lies hidden deep within the Train Apocalypse World. To find it, you must possess a Level 5 extraordinary train, the highest level."

"Inheritor, when you arrive in this world, all the spiritual power within you will be sealed by me. All you have to do is survive by relying on your own personal abilities, then acquire a train and continuously upgrade it to Level 5. Once you reach Level 5, your train will automatically guide you to the great terror!"

"So that's how it is," Lin Changqing nodded, sensing that his dantian's spiritual power was indeed completely sealed, rendering it useless.

Moreover, his physical strength seemed to be sealed as well. Overall, Lin Changqing felt like he was just an ordinary person, at most a little stronger than the average person.

In that case, the Hundredth Level Jade Ladder Trial is indeed difficult.

Sealing all your spiritual power and throwing you into a Train Apocalypse World, filled with zombies and monsters, requiring you to survive and acquire your own train through your own abilities, then upgrading it to Level 5.

Just thinking about it makes him realize how difficult it will be.

A Level 5 train is almost the highest power in this world, equivalent to requiring you to climb from the bottom to the peak alone.

Lin Changqing spent a century, seven lifetimes, to climb from the Qi Refining stage to the current Nascent Soul stage in the Great River cultivation world.

Now, coming to the Train Apocalypse World, how many years will it take for Lin Changqing to climb from the very bottom to the highest level by himself?

What if he accidentally gets killed by a zombie along the way? Then the Jade Ladder Trial would be directly failed.

And this is just the beginning. Owning a Level 5 train is just the prerequisite for finding the great terror.

"Forget it, since it's the Hundredth Level Trial, how could it not be difficult? The ultimate reward is a treasure that even Da Luo Immortals would fight over, even the Ancestral Gods Gonggong and Zhurong would contend for. Such a treasure, naturally, would be difficult to obtain," Lin Changqing narrowed his eyes, then began to observe the other people in the car.

Since he's here, he might as well make the best of it. His current goal is to break through the Hundredth Level Jade Ladder and obtain the ultimate reward.

Now his primary task is to survive in this world, then acquire a train and continuously upgrade it to Level 5.

[Another ten minutes passed. You quietly stayed in a corner of the car, diligently listening to the conversations of the other people in the car, absorbing information about this world. In these ten minutes, you gained a lot of relevant knowledge about this world.]

[For example, the train conductor is the extraordinary individual in this world. Those who own trains are all extraordinary individuals in this world, possessing extraordinary status. When you own a train, a large number of people will flock to you, voluntarily becoming your subordinates, because the wilderness is filled with zombies and monsters, and at night there are black mists and various ghosts attacking. To survive safely in the wilderness, you can only be safe on a train, so the train conductor holds an extraordinary position in this world.]

[Like the train you are currently on, the train conductor is called Huang Er, originally just an ordinary person, a deliveryman, but because he was lucky enough to own a train, his status immediately began to change, becoming an extraordinary individual. At this moment, the two thousand people in these cars are considered his subordinates.]

[In addition, you also learned about the obligations of the people in your car. You live in Huang Er's car, and the train protects you, so you don't have to worry about zombie attacks in the wilderness. But at the same time, you also have to help Huang Er work. The train needs energy stones to attack zombies as it travels across the wilderness, so everyone in the car has to help Huang Er mine energy stones.]

[According to a pale-faced middle-aged man next to you, the daily mining time is twelve hours. You can't help but click your tongue in amazement. This is even stricter than 996! Working twelve hours a day is simply treating people like animals. But there's no way around it. The middle-aged man said that these people can only survive by getting the protection of the train. If they don't work and mine, they will be thrown out of the train and swallowed by zombies.]

[Afterward, you also inquired about how to obtain a train. To own a train, you only need to possess a train blueprint. After communicating with the heavens and the earth, a train will automatically appear. However, train blueprints can only be dropped by killing zombies. Of course, train blueprints may also be dropped while mining energy stone mines, but overall, it depends on luck.]

"It seems that if I want to own a train, I have to find zombies first," Lin Changqing narrowed his eyes. He felt that he had to own a train as soon as possible.

On the one hand, this is his main task, on the other hand, it is also for his own safety.

The middle-aged man just said that mining is a dangerous job. Energy stone mines are distributed in the wilderness. When these people go to energy mines to mine, they are sometimes attacked by zombies.