CHAPTER 44: CHAPTER 44: "WHAT ARE YOU BABBLING ABOUT?

"Yes!"

At the first moment of receiving the order, Biaozi had already led a group of thugs to block the way. After firing a warning shot, he looked at the group of survivors quickening their steps towards them and shouted loudly.

"Raise your hands, any movement and you die!"

His body was tense, the Soaring Dragon Assault Rifle in his hands was already loaded, the muzzle aimed at the group of survivors, his finger resting on the trigger, ready to fire at any moment. Compared to these unknown survivors, he preferred facing the Zombie Wolves.

After all, one of his trains had been wiped out because an enemy train sent a group of thugs disguised as survivors, who opened fire directly after infiltrating the train, causing heavy losses, with the Train Captain dying instantly.

Learning from past mistakes, he didn’t want to repeat them.

Biaozi’s eyes were fixed on the constantly approaching survivors. If even one person reached into their clothes, he would unhesitatingly open fire. It was already suspicious for such a group of survivors to appear suddenly in the wilderness.

But...

This group of survivors seemingly understood Biaozi’s thoughts, everyone raised their hands high and slowed down as they approached, shouting with trembling voices, "Don’t shoot, don’t shoot!"

When the distance between the two parties was just over ten meters.

The thugs behind Biaozi quickly stepped forward and pinned all twenty or so survivors to the ground, searching each one closely. After ensuring they carried no weapons, they turned to Biaozi, nodding to indicate everything was safe.

Biaozi also breathed a sigh of relief, picked up the walkie-talkie, and whispered.

"Master Mang, everything is safe."

...

Chen Mang got off the Constant Star Train parked on the wasteland, cloaked in an overcoat and leaning on a cane, walking up to the survivors lying on the ground, inspecting each one before speaking.

"Is there anyone who can speak?"

"I... I..."

As soon as he finished speaking, a man among the survivors raised his hand and stood up trembling, "We were originally slaves on the Longevity train. The train was attacked by a Corpse Tide last night, and the slaves in our carriage were abandoned as sacrificial scapegoats."

"But for some reason, those Corpse Tides didn’t attack us, but continued to chase the train."

"After the Corpse Tide passed, it was deep at night, and we didn’t dare move. Only in the morning did we think of finding another train in the wasteland to continue being slaves mining, we are all very healthy and capable!"

"..."

Chen Mang looked calmly at the middle-aged man in front of him, then at the other survivors, about twenty people, seventeen of them men, the remaining five women.

Their ages were mostly around thirty, not too old, not too young.

He was naturally happy to have more miners.

But...

He was more inclined to believe that among the survivors there was someone who possessed a "Handheld Zombie Perception Shield." It was with this Special Tool that he had escaped a Corpse Tide once before.

It’s just hidden too well and possibly wasn’t found during the search.

The thing isn’t big and could be hidden in one’s body.

Chen Mang tilted his head towards Biaozi and whispered, "Take off their clothes and search again, search the women carefully, many places can hide things."

Biaozi was momentarily perplexed, then quickly understood, and said in a deep voice, "Understood."

What Chen Mang didn’t see was.

Upon hearing this order, a flash of panic and anger appeared deep in the eyes of the man who had just stood up trembling.

...

Ten minutes later.

All survivors were stripped of their clothes and gathered in one area.

Chen Mang crouched down, using his cane to prod at an object resembling a walkie-talkie on the ground, which was covered in some sticky liquid. Next to it were a handgun, three magazines, and even a Train Order, all found on a middle-aged woman.

"..."

Chen Mang remained silent with a calm expression for a moment before waving his hand, Biaozi quickly dragged a woman to Chen Mang’s feet.

"Quite the actor, aren’t you."

He raised his cane and gently tapped the face of the middle-aged woman in front of him, saying calmly, "Bringing weapons on board without speaking the truth, what are you planning?"

The woman’s hair was disheveled, kneeling on the ground pathetically, her arms tied behind her by thugs, with no room for resistance, screaming in terror.

"It’s got nothing to do with me, it was him, he forced me to do it!"

"He’s the Thug Leader from the Longevity train!"

"He forced us to hide his identity, planning to join a train and take control one day, I was coerced by him!"

Chen Mang followed the gaze of the woman and saw the middle-aged man who had been speaking with him earlier. The unwillingness and fear in the man’s eyes were almost overflowing, perhaps already knowing he was doomed.

The man stood strong, stepping out from the crowd and standing two meters from Chen Mang, glaring at him, "I accept my fate, the situation is clear now, I have nothing left to say, give me a quick death!"

"What I admire most in my life is someone like you, meticulous and resourceful!"

"What a pity!"

"Pity that if I had met you earlier, I would have become your most loyal subordinate, but if you were willing..."

The next moment.

"Tat-tat-tat..."

The sharp sound of the assault rifle echoed across the wasteland, and Chen Mang casually tossed the rifle to Biaozi after, saying, "What a load of nonsense."

With the sound of gunfire, the man fell into a pool of blood.

...

Soon—

After interrogating them one by one, the truth became clear.

These people were indeed from the "Longevity" train, and when they encountered the Corpse Tide, the slaves were abandoned as bait, this thug happened to be working in the slave carriage at the time and was thrown off as well.

This thug had hidden quite a few things on the previous train, like the "Handheld Zombie Perception Shield" and a Train Order, which had always been hidden on his old lover’s body.

Originally planning to find a chance to kill the original Train Captain and take over but got abandoned due to the Corpse Tide.

After being left behind, the thug relied on the handheld shield to keep these slaves alive, with a simple plan to join another train and try to penetrate its ranks again, kill the Captain.

Then plunder the existing resources and slaves of the train to establish his own train using the Train Order.

This was because without sufficient resources, using the Train Order directly without leveling up to 2 would stall the train on the wasteland, joining a train and plundering its resources was the best way.

After all, the inside of most trains was the most vulnerable.

Especially without the "Built-in Fire Control System" component.

As long as he could get close to the Train Captain, a small handgun would be enough to kill the Captain, and with this group, there was indeed a chance to assume control through deception.

Chen Mang didn’t make much comment on this plan.

He just knew one thing, that he gained 21 slaves.

No, make that 20.

He also had Biaozi send away the man’s old lover.