The number of trains within the range of the Target Detection Radar was gradually increasing.

At first, a few trains stopped at a location about more than 1000 meters from the Fixed Star, which could be considered a safe position. They did not continue to approach but stood by as if waiting for something.

As the number of trains grew.

The Fixed Star was completely surrounded.

About a dozen trains had already stopped around the Fixed Star, each with a certain distance between them. Occasionally, some familiar trains would stop together.

...

"There's such a way to do it?"

Inside the train cabin, Chen Mang wasn't concerned about the trains surrounding him. According to the information from the Target Detection Radar on the Train Panel, none of these trains posed a threat to him. The highest one was merely a Level 12 "Comet Main Cannon"!

Still couldn't break through the defense!

He had Level 12 armor!

And many of the trains' Energy Shields were even "Wealthy Energy Shields". Clearly, they couldn't afford to upgrade to the "Star Ring Energy Shield," which made him pessimistic about this trade. It seemed everyone was... apparently very poor.

Could they afford to buy his iron ore?

His expectation was to sell a Level 1 iron mine for 2 million.

Two million, to buy an S-grade difficulty unknown reward, wasn't considered a loss, right?

But now...

It seemed like these people couldn't even fork out 2 million, each one was pinching pennies, was the Star Ring Energy Shield really that expensive?

"Ai."

"I'm here."

"Calculate the cost of upgrading the Star Ring Energy Shield from Level 1 to Level 12 if there are 10 train cars."

"3.2 billion units of iron ore."

"That's all."

Chen Mang silently lit a cigarette, turning his head to look out the window at those trains watching from afar. This was the second time he had seen this unit, and the number genuinely startled him.

3.2 billion...

And this was for 10 train cars. If it were 20 cars, it would require 6 billion.

He finally understood why these trains had become so concise. Many trains had only four or five cars, with hardly any exceeding twelve.

Equivalently.

If there was only one locomotive, the price of upgrading the Star Ring Energy Shield to Level 12 was 32 million.

Which equated to mining four Level 4 iron mines.

This price was much more expensive than his "armor"!

At the time, he had directly upgraded the armor of the Traveling Frog to Level 9 using Murphy Stone, which only cost him a few million units of iron ore. Even if he estimated up to Level 12, the cost was probably just under a thousand or slightly over.

After all, the Supermodel Effect at Level 10 still reduced the upgrade cost by half.

When he upgraded the armor of the Constant Star Train from Level 10 to Level 12 all at once, it only cost about 20 million.

No wonder there wasn't a single Level 12 "Star Ring Energy Shield" in sight, and not many had even the Star Ring Energy Shield. Many trains were still using the "Wealthy Energy Shield."

Some hadn't even upgraded the "Wealthy Energy Shield" to full capacity and were only at Level 7.

"Sigh."

Chen Mang suddenly let out a sigh. He usually didn't communicate much with other trains and truly hadn't realized how tough life was for these trains. He had always felt that upgrading his defensive components had already consumed a lot of resources.

Many times it left him gasping for breath.

Unexpectedly...

The fact that other trains could survive under these conditions was truly not easy!

Especially for that Level 7 "Wealthy Energy Shield". He really didn't know how it managed to survive in the "Crisis Valley." If he only had Level 7 armor, he wouldn't even consider going to the Zombie Basin, let alone the Crisis Valley.

He always believed that defensive components should match the restricted levels of the area.

The maximum level of monsters that could appear in this area was the level of defensive components required for a sense of security.

But others seemed to think differently.

He noticed that many trains had various acceleration components, indicating that their belief was as long as they could outrun threats, fighting wasn't important...

Under normal circumstances, this was natural.

But if they encountered an area crisis like the "Zombie Volcano," these trains would be wiped out, with nowhere to run. Oh, the Crisis Valley would still be accessible, as it had blue regions for transition and a considerable activity space.

All the trains outside had generally expanded.

Expanding was much cheaper than upgrading the "Energy Shield."

Once a train expanded, theoretically speaking, a single car could embed more components, thereby requiring fewer cars and making the energy shield more cost-effective.

Slaves and production lines could naturally be placed in the Gate of Space.

However, some components required embedding on the train, necessitating either a large enough train or a sufficient number of cars.

"..."

Inside the train cabin, Chen Mang patiently continued to wait. Not enough trains had arrived yet, and the protagonist hadn't shown up. He just glanced at the train screen and somehow, upon entering the blue region.

All the leaderboards disappeared.

Influence Value leaderboards, Supermodel Effect quantity leaderboards, all were gone.

This feeling was like...

It became more realistic.

...

"15 train cars, no expansion, this kid is a hothead."

In the Level 12 Mechanical Train "Steel Dragon," a middle-aged man stood inside the train cabin, carefully observing the configuration of the Constant Star Train not far away with his telescope, exhaling in exasperation: "What a wasted trip!"

He initially had high expectations for the Constant Star Train.

It enabled remote trading and could pin messages on the Train Radio, giving the impression of speaking rather assertively.

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