Chen Mang raised an eyebrow slightly, feeling that he had already figured out the correct way to use this accessory. He truly was a genius.
Just then—
Xiao Ai's voice came from beside him: "Train Conductor, it seems the residents have dug up something strange while mining. Would you like to take a look?"
"Let's go."
Chen Mang replied without hesitation. He immediately put on the Individual Exoskeleton Armor under his sweater and walked out of the train compartment, heading toward the iron ore mine next to the train.
By now, the train guards had already cordoned off a specific area.
The other residents were still working.
Only that one spot, like Lao Zhu's former Mediterranean hairstyle, was left empty.
"Lord Mang."
The guards stood straight, their expressions respectful as they looked at Chen Mang and spoke in a deep voice.
Chen Mang walked into the crowd and saw a bronze door lying flat on the ground. On the door was an electronic lock.
The combination of the electronic lock and the bronze door looked extremely incongruous.
"Lord Mang."
Zhang Da Mei stepped forward to report: "One of the residents dug this up while mining. It seems like there's an air wall around this door. The pickaxe didn't have any effect when it struck."
Chen Mang leaned on his cane and remotely activated the Resource Detection Radar and Targeting Radar inside the train. They didn't detect anything beneath the bronze door. It was exactly the same as the ordinary ground—no red dots, nothing special.
He took the pickaxe from a guard nearby, walked to the side of the bronze door, and swung the pickaxe at the ground.
Clang.
It was as if he had struck metal. No dirt flew into the air. Although his eyes clearly saw the pickaxe hitting the soil, the sensation upon impact was completely different from striking dirt.
His arm tingled slightly.
He returned the pickaxe to the guard and crouched down, examining the bronze door, whose surface had already been cleaned. Experience told him that this was a fortuitous encounter map, similar to the one he had encountered in the Kunlun Mountains region, which was exclusive to the Flesh Train.
But...
He frowned slightly and looked at the "password lock" on the bronze door.
There were 10 digits, from 0 to 9.
Next to the password lock was a "Confirm to Open" button. Clearly, only by entering the correct password could the bronze door be opened. But what the password was, no one knew. There were no hints around.
"..."
After pondering for a while, Chen Mang said: "Zhang Da Mei, have all the residents stop mining and return to the train."
"Yes."
Today was the first day of mining for the 1,900 new survivors who had just joined the train. These people had already fully understood the train's promotion mechanism and were ready to work hard to improve their status and earn the right to obtain Stellar Coupons. However, they had barely started mining when they were abruptly called to stop.
Chen Mang controlled the train to drill into the ground, heading toward the area beneath the bronze door.
Sure enough.
Upon reaching the area below the bronze door, the drill bit seemed to hit an air wall. Although the front displayed what appeared to be ordinary soil, the Level 50 drill bit sparked without leaving even a trace of damage.
After circling around, he found that this fortuitous encounter, wrapped in an air wall, wasn't very large—about the size of four refrigerators.
Not the internal space.
It was about the size of four refrigerators stacked together, roughly the size of a burial pit. If this was a map of a fortuitous encounter, then it was the smallest one he had ever encountered. Forget about the Train not being able to drive in, even people could only fit two or three inside.
And that was if they went in sideways.
Since taking a shortcut wasn't an option, the only way left was to crack the password.
"Lao Zhu, from those 1,900 survivors, find someone brave enough to input the password I gave you. Whether it opens or not, they'll immediately be granted Level 1 resident privileges."
Chen Mang parked the Train about a kilometer away from the bronze door before giving the order.
He had a hunch in his heart.
With no password hints, the coordinates of the bronze door might be the password.
After all, there were no other numerical clues, and the bronze door had no patterns or anything that seemed like a decryption mechanism.
Having more people was indeed helpful.
Out of 1,900 people, there was bound to be someone fearless.
Soon, a burly man jumped off the Train, a Mechanical Eye pinned to his chest, and strode toward the bronze door a kilometer away.
Chen Mang, meanwhile, sat in the Train's control room, watching the first-person perspective of the burly man on the screen.
The moment the coordinates were input and the confirm button was pressed.
The burly man turned and ran without hesitation, but... there was no explosion, no movement at all. Only after receiving the command did he muster the courage to approach the bronze door again.
A line of text appeared on the bronze door.
「Incorrect password. Two attempts remaining.」
"..."
"Meeting!"
Chen Mang furrowed his brows and immediately called Li Shiji, Lao Zhu, Biao Zi, and others into the Train's control room to discuss cracking the password. Although he didn't know what lay beneath, it was undoubtedly an opportunity. Since he had seen it, it was his.
Missing it would be a great pity.
Once everyone had gathered.
Chen Mang scanned each face in the room, the screen displaying a detailed image of the bronze door: "This bronze door has two password attempts left. Share your thoughts directly."
His gaze lingered on Li Shiji for an extra second.
He had high hopes for Li Shiji. Perhaps Li Shiji could figure something out.
Feeling Lord Mang's intense gaze, Li Shiji's back gradually broke into a cold sweat. His eyes were fixed on the bronze door on the screen, but the more he looked, the more clueless he became.
Think faster, think faster!
He was just a game designer, passionate about mazes and with a better sense of space than most, but that was it.
He wasn't God.
How could he possibly look at a completely clue-less password lock and immediately guess the password?
The biggest problem was that he didn't even know how many digits the password was. Even if it were six digits, there were a million possible combinations.
And without knowing the number of digits, it was like searching for a needle in a haystack.
Just then—
Li Shiji's eyes suddenly lit up: "Maybe it's the coordinates of the bronze door?"
"Already tried."
Chen Mang shook his head: "The first attempt was with the coordinates. It didn't work."
The light in Li Shiji's eyes dimmed, and he began to fidget nervously, staring intently at the bronze door on the screen.
"I think..."
Biao Zi hesitated for a moment before sharing his thoughts: "Take a look at this bronze door. It likely represents history, while the combination lock represents modern technology. These two are clearly polar opposites."
"And since the combination lock is placed above the bronze door, could the password be the two-digit number '09'?"
"Just like the two extremes."
"That makes sense." Lao Zhu glanced at Biao Zi with a hint of surprise before offering his own speculation.
"Lord Mang, I think Biao Zi's theory has some merit. From my perspective, there are no clues on the bronze door itself. The only clue lies right in the center of the Level 3 Iron Ore deposit."
"The regional tiers, from low to high, are white, green, and yellow."
"The 'Zombie Basin' happens to be a yellow zone, which corresponds to the number 3."
"And it's located in the middle of the Level 3 Iron Ore deposit."
"So the password might be '3' or '33'."
"..."
Chen Mang pondered for a while, finding both arguments reasonable. Finally, he turned his gaze to Xiao Ai, who was sitting in the corner. "What do you think?"
Xiao Ai's voice echoed through the train compartment.
"Both Lao Zhu and Biao Zi make good points, but I might offer a different perspective. This Level 3 Iron Ore deposit isn't freshly spawned; it has been respawned several times."
"That means during the previous respawns of this Level 3 Iron Ore deposit, many trains have already mined it, and they must have discovered this bronze door as well."
"They must have tried to open it too."
"But so far..."
"Not a single train has shared this information over the Train Radio. Setting aside the possibility that they simply didn't want to share, there's only one other explanation: entering the wrong password three times in a row might trigger something terrible."
"It could even lead to the destruction of the entire train."
"Of course, this is a rather pessimistic assumption. My guess is that the password might be the specific year and month when this apocalypse began."
"..."
After listening to everyone's opinions, Chen Mang remained silent for a long time before picking up the walkie-talkie. "Enter the password 33."
From the first-person perspective.
It was clear that the burly man's hand was trembling slightly, but he carefully pressed the number 3 twice before hitting the "Confirm to Open" button.
Soon.
Another line of text appeared on the bronze door.
-
"Password incorrect. 1 attempt remaining."
-
The password 33 was also wrong.
Chen Mang didn't speak, only furrowing his brows as he stared intently at the image of the bronze door on the screen. After a long while, he finally spoke again. "Don't enter any password. Just press the 'Confirm to Open' button directly."
On the other side of the screen.
It was obvious that the burly man was now shaking like a leaf, but he forced himself to stay calm and pressed the "Confirm to Open" button directly.
In the next moment—
A faint white light suddenly emanated from the bronze door, and the indicator light on the combination lock turned green. The bronze door slowly began to open.
The password was correct. It had opened.
Chen Mang laughed, immediately steering the train toward the bronze door. He had gambled correctly. Without any clues or hints, it was impossible for anyone to guess the password.
Since it was impossible for anyone to guess the password, the appearance of this bronze door would have been meaningless.
He had always believed one thing.
That is, everything that has appeared after the apocalypse in this world cannot be meaningless. It's impossible for an unopenable bronze door to exist in this world, so there's only one answer.
The purpose of the password lock is solely to mislead.
To open this bronze door is simple—just press the "Confirm Open" button.
"Huh?"
"Huh?"
"Huh?"
The moment the bronze door opened, several voices of disbelief echoed in the train compartment, including Xiao Ai's mechanical electronic voice. They never expected that the password for this bronze door was actually no password at all?
What were they guessing for so long just now?
"Fools outsmart the masters," Biao Zi said with a complicated expression. "If we had sent Zhang Er over, he wouldn't even need three chances. He would have opened it in one try. Who the hell would have thought that you don't need to input any password, just press 'Confirm Open,' and it would actually open?"
"Ahem."
Lao Zhu cleared his throat before reminding, "Uh, I'd like to remind you that it was Lord Mang who opened the password lock."
Only then did Biao Zi realize his mistake, and his expression changed as he hurriedly explained, "Lord Mang, that's not what I meant. What I meant was—"
Li Shiji took over, his face filled with admiration.
"The first realm: seeing a mountain as a mountain, seeing water as water."
"The second realm: seeing a mountain not as a mountain, seeing water not as water."
"The third realm: seeing a mountain still as a mountain, seeing water still as water."
"Although both are seeing a mountain as a mountain and water as water, Zhang Er is in the first realm, while Lord Mang, you are in the third realm!"
"Lord Mang, impressive!"
"Exactly!" Biao Zi let out a long sigh of relief and quickly added, "That's what I meant, Lord Mang."
Chen Mang didn't pay much attention to the minor incident. He simply parked the train next to the iron ore, jumped off, and strode toward the bronze door. As he passed by the burly man, he smiled with satisfaction.
"Not bad, Lao Zhu. You're in charge of handling his promotion in treatment."
"No problem."
Lao Zhu quickly nodded, then waved his hand to signal the burly man to return to the carriage. He remembered this man.
His resident number was probably 1998, one of the 1,900 survivors. He used to be a leader in funeral services, a tough guy. Back then, to demonstrate his ruthlessness, he smashed his head against a steel table, leaving himself bloodied.
Now, it seemed he really was tough.
He had already risen to first-class resident treatment, the fastest promotion among the 1,900 survivors.
Then Chen Mang looked down below the bronze door.
The interior space wasn't large, roughly the size of a tomb, and it wasn't filled with any explosives. This meant that even if you entered the wrong password three times in a row, it probably wouldn't explode.
At most, you'd lose the chance to try again, and the train wouldn't be allowed to make further attempts.
As for why no one mentioned it on the train radio.
It was simply because opportunities like this were never discussed on the train radio. Even if you couldn't get it yourself, you wouldn't talk about it. What if someone else got it?
Not getting it yourself is disappointing.
But seeing someone else get it is even more disappointing.
Inside, two items lay flat.
A blueprint and a voucher.
"Lord Mang, I'll go." Biao Zi, who was standing nearby, immediately jumped into the deep pit. He stuffed the two items into his chest, then took a running start and scaled the wall in three steps, climbing out of the burial pit.
The entire process was incredibly smooth.
And those three steps up the wall were executed with remarkable fluidity.
"..."
Seeing this, Lao Zhu curled his lips. The pit was over two meters deep, and if he had jumped in, it would have been quite difficult to get out. Biao Zi had once again shown off his skills. When he had some free time, Lao Zhu decided he would also go to the Combat Training Virtual Space to practice.
Although he was in a clerical position, there was no harm in improving his physical fitness.
"Lord Mang, here you go."
Biao Zi climbed out of the burial pit with ease and handed the two items from his pocket to Lord Mang.
(End of Chapter)