MDT Chapter 283 Part 2

Chapter 283 Part 2: The Gear Matrix and the Dead Faces

At this time, all the residents on the train had disembarked, each holding a huge pair of fire tongs forged by Boss Mang using the "Heart of the Machine," checking each face's mouth for hidden items.

The scene was lively. Some were on ladders, some were on high racks, and some were standing on the shoulders of mechs. The goal was to check all the faces' mouths for hidden items or any abnormalities as quickly as possible.

"Stop screaming, I'm serious, hey... I'll give you a whack." Biaozi was getting annoyed by the sounds of these faces. He raised the fire tongs in his hand and threatened the face in front of him. He didn't dare to actually hit it. "I see that these faces' throats are basically blocked off at the tonsils. How are they making sounds? There has to be some basic airflow for sound, right?"

"Just do it. As you do it, you'll find the answer." Lao Zhu seriously checked each face's oral cavity. "Boss Mang naturally knows the answer won't be so crudely hidden in someone's mouth, but we don't have any better ideas right now. We can't just sit and wait, right? We have to try something. Who knows, maybe the answer really is in one of the faces' mouths."

"True." Biaozi pried open another face next to him, looked carefully, then took out a... and moved on to the next one. "But then again, if we could take this wall, it would actually be a pretty good collectible."

"This wall has hundreds of thousands of collectibles embedded in it. What are you going to do with it?"

"Think about it, once a night. Isn't that great? Always a fresh feeling."

"Life is short, only thirty thousand days. You can try anything."

"Biaozi, be normal. There are a lot of male faces here."

"I was just kidding, Vice-Captain Zhu. Don't look at me like that."

…

Inside the train car, the cola can on the control console was already stuffed with cigarette butts. Chen Mang, his head aching, gently rubbed his temples, his eyes tightly closed.

He had just tried substituting the male and female faces with 1s and 0s and then calculating in binary, but he soon discovered this was a stupid idea. There were hundreds of thousands of faces here. And there was no clear starting or ending point.

Completely different from the first level. If the difficulty of the first level was 1, then the difficulty of the second level was 10.

He really couldn't figure it out.

The Mechanical Civilization was clearly wiped out because their firepower wasn't enough; they couldn't beat the Insectoids. Shouldn't you be screening for the train's strength and firepower? What's the damn point of screening for these things? Can these things help you fight the Insectoids?

And that "Tuo Tuo." Already 38 years old, and still some "little princess of the Mechanical Civilization." Can't you, old lady, set up some normal encounter maps?

Nearby, Xiao Fang came up, carefully took away the overflowing ashtray, replaced it with a new one, and quietly retreated without saying anything.

Just then, Xiao Ai's voice suddenly sounded in the train car.

"Train Captain, there's a new direction. After you upgraded the 'Mechanical Eye' to Level 100 just now, I entered all the faces into the database and began to compare them one by one."

"Not all the faces are in a state of screaming with their eyes open."

"There are 12 faces in a state of screaming with their eyes closed."

"And their foreheads are all engraved with extremely faint symbols."

"Two types in total. '↑' '↓'."

Chen Mang's spirits lifted. He quickly looked up at the screen, at a face magnified several times, constantly screaming. Its eyes were tightly closed, and on its forehead, hidden by its bangs, was a "↓" mark.

"Play all the faces with closed eyes."

"Yes."

He quickly picked up a pen and paper and noted down these marks. There were a total of 9 "↑" symbols and 3 "↓" symbols.

"This is it." Chen Mang looked tired, but his eyes were shining. "Default initial Hertz is 0. The correct sound frequency to pass this level should be on the basis of 0 Hertz, continuously add 9 times, then subtract 3 times, and that will be the correct sound frequency. The only problem now is, how much to add, and how much to subtract."

"Any other abnormalities?"

"None." Xiao Ai's voice paused for a moment before sounding again. "I haven't retrieved any other special abnormalities."

"I'll go take a look!" Chen Mang took a deep breath and jumped off the train, striding toward the stone slab in front of the plaza. He was going to see if the final answer was hidden on this stone slab.

An extremely simple stone slab. It just had the three sentences he had seen earlier.

He carefully counted each character. Perhaps the number to add was the total number of these characters.

But the next moment, he was slightly stunned.

Every corner of the entire plaza had been carefully searched. Li Shiji had come to this stone slab countless times.

But it seemed... there was one place that hadn't been stepped on at all.

That was under the train carriages.

Chen Mang looked at the Stellar train. He immediately used his cane to remotely control the train to levitate in the low air and strode under the train.

Sure enough. At the edge of where he had just entered the plaza, under the 14th carriage, he found an extremely blurry and faint number engraved on the ground.

"1892."

"Found it!" Chen Mang grinned. If he wasn't mistaken, there were only two possible answers. One was 1892 Hertz, and the other was based on zero, continuously add 1892 nine times, and then subtract 1892 three times.

That was 11352 Hertz.

"Everyone, return to the train quickly and in an orderly manner!" His voice quickly spread throughout the entire plaza via the Vehicle Sound System.

He then strode toward the train car, sat down in his chair, and somewhat excitedly took the mineral water handed to him by Xiao Fang and drank it all in one gulp before looking at the screen.

"Xiao Ai, emit a sound of 11352 Hertz. Let's try it."

"No problem."

The next moment, following a piercing sound from the Vehicle Sound System, the continuous wailing from the hundreds of thousands of faces on the surrounding walls instantly stopped.

The originally ferocious expressions on their faces gradually softened, and their eyes closed tightly, as if they had fallen asleep.

Immediately after, the sound of gears turning came. The originally cage-like walls slowly parted from the middle, revealing a train tunnel large enough for The Stellar train to enter.

"What a pity." Chen Mang looked at the train tunnel in front of him with some regret. It was a pity the final answer was 11352 Hertz. If it had been over 20000 Hertz, that would have been great.

Only by upgrading the "Vehicle Sound System" to Level 10 or higher would it have the advanced effect of emitting sounds above 20,000 Hertz. Other trains definitely wouldn't have this effect.

Then he could have used this method to eliminate almost all of the other 19 trains here.

He didn't know how the other trains were progressing. This level had wasted more than half an hour of his time. He had to speed up.

He slowly pushed the control lever, and the train drove into this train tunnel, which seemed to be deep underground.

The front was unknown, but after continuously passing two levels, he was now somewhat confident. Even if the next level was more difficult, he wouldn't feel that complete sense of powerlessness.

The puzzle's answer definitely existed. As long as he had this prerequisite, the rest was just a matter of time.

"Boss Mang." Li Shiji, standing to the side, said with some guilt, "I'm sorry, I didn't help much..."

"It's fine." Chen Mang waved his hand. "In this situation of rapid data entry and filtering, how can manpower compare to AI? This level just didn't have a place for you to shine. No need to blame yourself."

"I think we did well in the first two levels. We should still be able to make it into the top three."

"Keep it up, let's keep going."

The train tunnel wasn't too short. The Stellar's speed wasn't too fast, either. At 500km/h, after driving for three minutes, it arrived at the location of this level.

The space in front of them gradually opened up. Driving out of the train tunnel, what came into view was a huge heavy machinery factory.

They were in the plaza in front of the factory's main gate. The steel main gate, covered in rust and in tatters, had collapsed to the side. Weeds grew around the toppled crane. The ground was covered in a liquid mixed with engine oil and viscous blood.

The whole scene looked dilapidated. In the corner of the factory, you could faintly see a small hill, slightly higher than the two-meter-high surrounding wall, made of mechanical wreckage and human bones.

After the train slowly came to a stop, a light screen appeared in front of them.

[Congratulations, pioneer. Making it this far is enough to prove your strength.]

[But—a train is a collective. If only the Train Captain is putting in the effort, this train won't have much potential. Stockpiling talent is an anti-human thing to do in the apocalypse, but it's also something that must be done.]

[Next, it will be very fun.]

[You can choose to exit this encounter map at any time, but please note that the moment you choose to give up, it means you are voluntarily and permanently withdrawing from the selection contest for the 'Heir to the Mechanical Civilization' position.]

[This level is the final level of the second stage. Pass this level, and you will have successfully passed the second stage.]

[Next, one thousand zombies will attack you, each wave lasting fifteen minutes. After one zombie horde finishes its attack, your train will have five minutes to rest and reorganize.]

[You must kill all one thousand zombies within these fifteen minutes. If you fail to kill them all, or if the train car is breached, it will be considered a failure.]

[Starting from Level 1 zombies, each time a new zombie horde is born, the zombies' level will increase by +1.]

[And in the 'central control room' of the 'heavy machinery factory' in front of you, a huge gear set is stuck, causing the entire heavy machinery factory to be in a state of disrepair. You need to complete thirty-six small tasks, and be in a rest period, to successfully pass this level.]

[In this level, the Train Captain must remain in the train and cannot go to the factory.]

[In fifteen minutes, the first zombie horde will arrive.]

Heir to the Mechanical Civilization?

Chen Mang lowered his head and took a cigarette from his coat, lighting it.

He had thought the reward for this encounter map would be generous, but he hadn't thought it would be this generous. It was actually a selection contest for the position of Heir to the Mechanical Civilization.

At least... if nothing else, it would definitely give a lot of resources, right? Like iron ore, give him a bit more of that.

However, since they were choosing an heir, why only screen such a small number of Train Captains? Wouldn't more people allow them to screen for an heir with higher potential?

At this time, he didn't have enough time to think about this.

He looked at the train's Copper Ore balance. There were still 2.45 million units of Copper Ore left.

Too little.

According to the 20-minute-per-wave calculation, after one hour, the zombie horde would all be Level 4. After two hours, the zombie horde would all be Level 7. After three hours, the zombie horde would be Level 10. After four hours, Level 13. After five hours, Level 16. After six hours, Level 19.

The Copper Ore in the train was not enough, not nearly enough.

But fortunately, there was still enough iron ore. There were still over 60 million units of iron ore. He also had 40 "Viper Unmanned Fighters." Each fighter had a Level 20 machine gun and consumed energy stones, not Copper Ore.

There were also mechs and other attack methods, which also consumed energy stones.

He calculated. If he went all out, at most... he could last for six hours.

After six hours, the zombies he would face would all be Level 19 or higher. A single one of them would be a doomsday-level threat to the train, let alone 1,000 of them.

Chen Mang took a deep breath and put his gaze on Lao Zhu, Li Shiji, and the others. "Next, it's up to you. I'll stay in the train to deal with these zombie hordes. The zombie hordes won't enter the abandoned factory. You need to enter the abandoned factory to complete the thirty-six small tasks."

"The tasks are unknown, and the decryption methods are also unknown."

"In 12 minutes, the first zombie horde will arrive."

"Xiao Ai will set a countdown on each of your Iris Chips. Six hours. We have at most six hours. The moment the countdown ends, if you haven't completed the tasks, it means we've failed this time."

"I need to stay on the train for this operation. The rest is up to you."

"Too many people will just get in the way and be a hindrance."

"Lao Zhu, Sentinel Team One, Team Two, Team Three, Li Shiji, Xiao Ai, Uncle Li, you go. Lao Zhu, you're familiar with the residents. Pick a few smart ones. If, after three hours, the total progress of the tasks is still far from complete, I'll send all the residents into the factory to conduct a carpet search."

"Any other questions?"

"Boss Mang..." Biaozi hesitated. "Why don't I stay and protect the train? You know, my brain is slow. This kind of decryption work isn't for me."

"You have to go." Chen Mang shook his head. "You feel your brain is slow compared to Li Shiji, but in reality, your brain is already much more flexible than many of the train's residents. Think about it, isn't that right?"

Biaozi tilted his head and thought carefully for a long time. "You seem to be right. Are Zhang Yi and Zhang Er going?"

"Oh, they're not going."

"Then right now..." Chen Mang glanced at the countdown on the control console. "There are 11 minutes until the first zombie horde arrives. If you have any situations, communicate with me in time through Xiao Ai. Now, everyone, move out immediately, quick, quick, quick."

Biaozi and the others didn't dare to delay. They quickly left The Stellar train and hurried toward the abandoned factory in front of them.

"Good luck, everyone."

"The future of The Stellar is now in each of your hands. Whoever solves a task will be rewarded with 1000 Stellar Vouchers."

Only then did Chen Mang lean back in his chair, look at the backs of the group as they drilled into the abandoned factory, and let out a light sigh, patiently waiting for the first zombie horde to arrive.

Xiao Ai's voice sounded in the train car. "Train Captain, you don't seem very confident."

"The difficulty is too high." Chen Mang lit another cigarette. After a moment of silence, he looked at the lingering smoke. "Completing 36 tasks in 6 hours, and the mission objectives are completely unknown. You have to find the tasks first, then find the answers. The time is too tight."

"The factory is also too big."

"But I'm waiting for a miracle to happen."

…

Li Shiji, his face pale with nervousness, was walking quickly toward the depths of the factory. At the same time, his mind was racing, storing as much information about his surroundings as possible in his brain.

He took a stimulant from his coat and injected it into his arm to keep himself clear-headed.

He quickly split up from the main group.

He circled around the factory building, and a few minutes later, he saw a locked small wooden cabin. There was a faint yellow question mark on the cabin. It was a combination lock, the kind you'd find on a password-protected diary.

This was clearly one of the 36 small tasks.

"Password... password..." Li Shiji's lips trembled slightly as he looked at the combination lock on the wooden cabin. Eight digits, eight...

He quickly ran toward the factory's main gate, and from a human skeleton in the security room, he pulled out a "Soldier Tag." On it was the soldier's birthdate: Year 7228, February 18th.

He then ran back toward the wooden cabin as if his life depended on it.

Using a stimulant as an energy drink also worked quite well.

With trembling hands, he quickly dialed the combination lock, entering a string of numbers.

"72280218."

The next moment, a crisp sound came. The lock opened. The faint yellow question mark on the wooden cabin also gradually turned into a green exclamation mark.

Li Shiji laughed, his voice a bit hoarse but extremely excited. He gripped the Soldier Tag in his hand tightly, the veins on the back of his hand bulging.

"Chief Ai, the first one!"

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