3: Novice train conductor mission

Once everything outside was on the right track, Lu Yang leaned back in the driver's seat and quickly dozed off.

Since obtaining the Train Order, he hadn't rested much, having to force himself to stay awake and control the train to escape.

Fortunately, the train obtained through the Train Order was very easy to control.

Even though Lu Yang's Level 1 train looked like a steam-powered train.

It could still auto-drive and be voice-controlled.

The Train Captain only needed to control the direction.

In fact, the train's appearance was related to its level.

Level 1 was a steam model, producing a lot of noise and having limited power, with a maximum speed of only 100km/h.

It would be much better once it reached Level 2.

Although it would still be a steam model, the noise from the steam could be greatly reduced after installing a [Steam Emission Optimizer], and the absorbed excess steam heat could be recycled through steam pipes to provide a small amount of hot water.

The maximum speed could also reach 150km/h.

By then, the Train Captain wouldn't have to worry like with a Level 1 train.

Because the huge steam exhaust sound would constantly attract hordes of zombies or strange monsters.

More importantly, the escape speed would be much faster.

In the wilderness, when encountering danger, trains mostly could only escape.

If the train's speed increased, the chances of escape would greatly increase.

Otherwise, being surrounded by a zombie horde would be a dead end.

—

By the time Lu Yang woke up, it was already one in the afternoon.

As a Level 1 Train Captain, his living situation was currently not much different from that of the passengers.

He still had to chew on dry, coarse bran bread slices.

The coarse bran bread slices produced by the coarse bran bread slice machine were only half a palm in size and one finger thick, looking blackish with some unidentifiable black spots.

Although they wouldn't kill you, the taste was indescribable and very difficult to swallow.

Lu Yang managed to swallow one slice with more than half a bottle of water.

The second slice, he couldn't eat no matter what.

After a simple meal, Lu Yang got off the train.

It was gloomy outside.

Yang Kui was a very dedicated fellow.

He was currently patrolling with Wang Hu.

After the shift change at noon, Zhang Fang and Qin Lei took over maintaining order at the Iron Mine, while Liu Shan was on lookout on the train.

Seeing Lu Yang, Yang Kui jogged over from dozens of meters away.

"Master Yang, you're awake!!!"

Lu Yang nodded: "I dozed off for a bit. How is it outside?"

"Aside from a few wandering zombies, no other dangers were found."

"And everyone is working very hard."

"At noon, I let everyone rest for half an hour, come up to eat something, and collect the Iron Ore dug in the morning."

"Guess what, a total of 402 units of Iron Ore were dug out."

"Everyone only dug for 8 hours in total."

"This efficiency, everyone is working their lives out!"

Yang Kui didn't mention that he had sent Wang Hu and the others down to supervise the mining.

That kid Wang Hu was very clever.

Although he knew he was there to supervise, because he was familiar with everyone, he didn't just relentlessly push them to work.

Instead, he chatted here and there, praised Lu Yang in various ways as a good Train Captain, and encouraged everyone to work.

The main point of evidence was that other Train Captains wouldn't give them, the lower-class people, two slices of bread per meal when there was no work.

So everyone should trust the Train Captain; as long as they dug enough 12 units of Iron Ore, the Train Captain would definitely fulfill his promise and give everyone extra food.

Plus, one passenger was exhausted and almost fainted, so Wang Hu took out his treasured half-slice of bread for him and let him rest for a while.

Everyone was even more convinced by Wang Hu's words.

Of course, this was also related to Wang Hu's good popularity before.

He was among those who rescued people with Yang Kui earlier.

Everyone wasn't familiar with Lu Yang, but they were very familiar with Wang Hu and Yang Kui, and they trusted them.

So everyone was working very hard.

That's why a lot of ore was dug in the morning.

After listening to Yang Kui's report, Lu Yang nodded in satisfaction.

He knew that Yang Kui and the others' efforts must have played a significant role.

This was also why he chose Yang Kui and the others to be Train Police.

"Hmm, everyone did a good job."

"The train's conditions are limited now; once resources are more abundant, I will improve everyone's treatment."

"You continue patrolling. While we have some resources now, I'll upgrade the train further."

"That is everyone's most fundamental guarantee."

After speaking, Lu Yang had Yang Kui and Wang Hu move the 400-plus units of Iron Ore onto the train.

Then he returned to his cockpit again.

As soon as the door closed, Lu Yang immediately thought: "Open System Panel."

When he became a Train Captain, Lu Yang's golden finger, the [Strongest Train Captain System], awakened with him.

It issued him three tasks for becoming a novice Train Captain.

[Task One: Collect 1000 units of Iron Mine (0/1000).]

[Reward: Various resources, one Blue-grade accessory blueprint.]

[Task Two: Kill 100 zombies (0/100).]

[Reward: Various resources, one Blue-grade accessory blueprint.]

[Task Three: Train passenger count reaches 100 (0/100).]

[Reward: Various resources, one Blue-grade accessory blueprint.]

The rewards for all three tasks were resources and blueprints.

These were what a novice Train Captain needed most urgently.

Lu Yang had originally collected over 600 units of Iron Mine sporadically at some scattered resource points.

The Iron Ore from scattered resource points and small Iron Mine collection points all looked the same.

Visually, there were irregular black cylindrical shapes, dozens of centimeters high, on the ground.

After miners continuously dug with pickaxes for an hour, an egg-sized Iron Ore would drop.

That was one unit of Iron Mine.

One cylinder could produce about ten units of Iron Mine.

Once dug, it would disappear until the next refresh.

According to the plan, Lu Yang thought he wouldn't complete the first task of 'collecting 1000 units of Iron Mine' until evening.

He didn't expect everyone to be so hardworking and complete it so quickly.

On the [Strongest Train Captain System] interface, the status of the first task had changed to—

[Task One: Collect 1000 units of Iron Mine (1010/1000) (Completed).]

[Would you like to claim the reward?]

"Claim reward!!!"

"Congratulations, Train Captain, you have received 3000 units of Level 1 Iron Mine, 2000 units of Level 1 wood, 1000 units of Level 1 copper, 'Gale' Type I Light Machine Gun Blueprint (Blue) x1."