2: Mining

Lu Yang's luck was not bad.

When the Xinhuo Train arrived, this newly refreshed small Iron Mine collection point had not been preempted by others.

Under the supervision of five Train Police Officers armed with flintlock guns,

49 passengers, looking disheveled, got off the train with pickaxes and axes.

Their faces were sallow, their bodies were dirty, and they emitted an unpleasant odor.

Fortunately, none of them were sick.

Those who ran a little slower had already perished in the previous ghost attack.

After everyone had disembarked, Lu Yang stood on the roof of the driver's cab.

"Passengers, I know that on other trains, everyone is called a slave, living a life that is neither human nor ghost."

"I myself was a slave before, and I know that feeling. It's not the treatment a human being should receive. Even in the apocalypse, we shouldn't be treated like animals, so as long as conditions allow, I will try my best to improve everyone's living environment."

"But the premise is that the resources on the train are sufficient, and this requires everyone to work hard at mining."

"I promise here that from now on, regardless of whether there is work or not, everyone will have a daily food quota of two slices of bread for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. If you work a full day and manage to mine twelve units of Iron Mine, you will receive an additional two slices of bread for dinner that day. The person who mines the most on any given day will receive an extra two slices of bread."

"Really?!"

"It's not another trick to get everyone to work, is it?"

A strong man with a somewhat dull look in his eyes subconsciously asked.

Previously, on other trains, Train Captains would also make various promises to get the slaves to work hard, but few of them were ever fulfilled.

After all, to them, slaves were private property.

Coaxing them was enough; if you took it seriously, you were the fool!

Some who wanted to fulfill their promises would be beaten to death by the thugs on the train as a warning to others.

This led to most slaves on other trains slacking off when mining.

At normal efficiency, a slave could mine one unit of Iron Mine in an hour.

During a normal twelve-hour mining period, they could mine twelve units of Iron Mine.

But a slacking slave might only mine seven or eight units of Iron Mine in a day.

And that was considered working relatively hard.

If they slacked off even more, there were many who only mined five or six units.

As long as you produced value, and produced more than you consumed daily, the Train Captain wouldn't do anything to you.

At most, the batch of the most severe slackers would be sold off during the next trade with other Train Captains.

That could also generate a fair amount of value.

It was better than throwing them away.

Anyway, if they didn't work, each slave was only allotted one to two slices of moldy coarse bran bread per day, just enough to keep them from starving.

The dull-witted strong man, Dazhuang, was the kind who wasn't very bright. Because he was hungry, he was easily taken in by the Train Captain's words and always worked very hard.

As a result, he rarely received any rewards.

Now, hearing Lu Yang say this, he subconsciously blurted out the question.

Hearing this, a middle-aged man next to him quickly pulled his hand and said, "Dazhuang, what are you asking nonsense for?"

"Just listen carefully to what Master Yang says."

Then he quickly turned to Lu Yang, smiling profusely, and said, "Master Yang, I'm really sorry. Dazhuang isn't very bright and doesn't understand things. I apologize to you on his behalf."

"He may not seem smart, but he's a good worker and has plenty of strength. We'll definitely work hard later, work hard, and guarantee we'll mine 12 Iron Mines."

Lu Yang smiled, "I know everyone is still a bit skeptical, having been fooled in similar ways before, but it doesn't matter, time will prove everything."

"Once everyone finishes work and comes up, you'll know whether what I said is true or false."

"Now, everyone can go to work."

"Oh, and one more reminder: do not plunder the fruits of others' labor. If I catch anyone stealing another person's Iron Mine, the first time is a warning and your food for the day will be halved. The second time, you will be directly kicked off the train."

"If anyone discovers such a situation, you can report it to me. The first reporter will receive an additional reward of five slices of bread."

"Alright, that's all. Everyone, get busy!"

After speaking, Lu Yang got off the roof and returned to the Train Captain's carriage.

Seeing that everyone was still standing there, Yang Kui also began to act as the Train Police Squad Leader: "What are you all standing around for? It's light now, go to work!"

"Although you haven't known Master Yang for long, you should have an idea of what kind of person he is. Which other train would give everyone two slices of bread per meal when you're not even working?"

"If anyone still dares to slack off like before, and can't mine a few ores in a day, even if Master Yang spares you, I won't. I'll definitely shoot you, to avoid wasting the train's food."

"Hurry up!!!"

Frightened by Yang Kui's scolding, the passengers' steps noticeably quickened, and they filed into the dark mine shaft one by one.

After all the passengers had gone down,

Wang Hu, another young Train Police next to Yang Kui, quietly asked, "Brother Kui, are you really going to shoot the slackers? What if there are many slackers then, would Master Yang allow it?"

Hearing this, Yang Kui slapped Wang Hu on the head with a 'pah' sound, "You idiot, just take care of yourself first."

"Don't forget, we're all still on probation."

"If we can't perform our duties, do you think Master Yang will let you continue to be a Train Police? You'll be sent down to mine then!"

"This morning, Xiao Hu and Xiao Liu, you two go down and follow the mining, maintaining order. If there's any situation, I'll inform you immediately via walkie-talkie, and you should quickly evacuate the passengers."

"Qin Lei, you patrol with me."

"Zhang Fang, your eyesight is good, stand on the train roof and observe the surroundings."

"No matter who discovers a situation, you must notify Master Yang immediately, understand?"

"If the passengers don't do well, at most they'll go hungry, but we're different. The lives of everyone on the train are linked to us."

"If we relax our vigilance and a tide of corpses gets close, we'll all die! Understand?!"

"Everyone, snap to attention!"

"Yes, Brother Kui!"

After speaking, Yang Kui took Qin Lei and began patrolling, centering around the train's stopping point.

Zhang Fang stood on the roof as a lookout.

Now, everyone was working for themselves.

The ghost attack was still fresh in their minds, and no one wanted to escape one danger only to fall into another.

—

Inside the Train Captain's carriage.

Lu Yang observed Yang Kui's actions and nodded in satisfaction.

In his predecessor's memory, Yang Kui had always been a person with a strong sense of justice and responsibility.

It was said that he was a police officer before.

Therefore, in the previous carriage, even though he had good physical condition, he did not enlist as a thug to oppress slaves.

Instead, as a slave, he mined with everyone and helped the weak.

When Lu Yang became the Train Captain and was gathering the surviving slaves, he was leading a dozen slaves in a fight against several zombie wolves.

He even sent people to care for the injured.

So Lu Yang had a very good impression of him.

He made him the leader of the Train Police Squad.

The other Train Police Officers were either recommended by him, or were chosen by Lu Yang based on his predecessor's memories, being a few who still had some sense of justice.

After all, Lu Yang was different from other Train Captains.

The Train Police (thugs) he recruited were not only chosen for their physical strength; in the days to come, they would also have to maintain order both inside and outside the train.

If they themselves were not rule-abiding.

Then it was clearly not very suitable.

However, it seemed pretty good for now.

This way, once the 3-day probation period was over, Lu Yang would officially promote them to Train Police and improve their treatment.

Currently, because the Xinhuo Train only had three carriages.

Aside from the first Train Captain's carriage and the second production carriage, there was only one passenger carriage, the third one.

It was called a passenger carriage, but in reality, it was just a mobile iron plate covered with a layer of sheet metal.

The entire carriage was bare.

Both the Train Police and the passengers could only sit on the floor.

However, compared to the previous train where over a hundred people were crammed into a small carriage, their living space on the Xinhuo Train was much larger.

Coupled with Yang Kui and the others keeping an eye on things, there were no incidents of passengers bullying other passengers.

On other trains, even among fellow slaves, there was a lot of infighting.

Sometimes, for a piece of straw mat, half a slice of moldy coarse bran bread, or a small half-bottle of murky drinking water, they would fight to the death, resulting in several lives lost.

Of course, the Train Captains wouldn't care.

After all, slaves were just consumables.

A few more deaths could even save some food.

As long as it wasn't a large-scale riot that endangered the train's safe operation, even the thugs rarely went to the slave carriages.

They were filled with the stench of sweat, foot odor, and excrement, worse than a dry toilet in the dog days of summer, with no place to even step.

As loyal elites under the Train Captain's command,

They certainly wouldn't go there to suffer for no reason.