...

Four days later.

They searched the entire suburbs of Taiping City, and almost all the survivors who could be brought out had been rescued, totaling 801 people.

The deeper they went, the fewer survivors were found.

Including the original slaves on the train, there were now slightly over 1000 slaves on the train.

As for the urban areas of Taiping City, the collapse of tall buildings was too severe, and the terrain was too harsh, making it difficult for even the Constant Star Train to penetrate.

Putting that aside...

The Constant Star Train is currently ranked first on the "Regional Rankings" with nearly 4000 Influence Value, completely crushing the second place, and this is achieved with a Level 2 train. The Train Radio has been buzzing over the past few days.

Over the past few days, Chen Mang has also roughly deduced where the survivors of Taiping City went based on calculations.

Data doesn't lie.

Even if the Influence Value of all trains on the "Regional Rankings" was calculated based on survivors, the total would be just over a hundred thousand. So, excluding the possibility of a high mortality rate, it's most likely that...

After the Doomsday, most survivors of Taiping City were randomly teleported.

Teleported to other regions.

This ensures that even sparsely populated areas have initial survivors for trains to accommodate, so that Train Captains won't wander for half a day without finding a single survivor.

A train without survivors is like a train without an Energy Stone; it will stall sooner or later.

This explains why Taiping City has so few survivors.

At this moment, the day just broke.

Chen Mang controlled the Constant Star Train speeding across the wasteland, the "Resource Detection Radar" continuously scanning for nearby resource points. He newly crafted 8 regular carriages to accommodate these slaves.

But this is clearly not a long-term solution.

He couldn't install Level 3 armor on all 8 carriages; the cost would be too high, and current resources don't support such extravagance. Moreover, 8 slave carriages posed too many risks, significantly affecting the train's maneuverability.

He planned to stuff this batch of newly recruited slaves into a refrigerator.

But crafting a Level 10 refrigerator with an "Inner Universe" effect requires 4500 units of iron ore.

With so many slaves, at least four refrigerators are needed, which amounts to 18,000 units of iron ore.

And he currently has...

1000 units of iron ore.

Too many slaves, not only increasing food consumption but also posing a placement issue. More thugs also need to be recruited; otherwise, the current ten thugs will have difficulty maintaining order. Over a thousand people are not a small number.

They could fill a square when piled together.

Finally——

"Beep beep beep..."

Accompanied by the beeping of the Resource Detection Radar, he finally found a Level 1 iron mine on the wasteland. Although he looks down on Level 1 iron mines now, any morsel of food counts at this point.

Quickly!

The original 200 old slaves on the train began to disembark one by one, carrying pickaxes into the mine to start a new day of mining. They hadn't mined for a few days, which was a long break for these slaves, and they were full of energy at the moment.

As for why not let the new slaves work.

The train currently doesn't have extra iron ore to craft new Level 2 pickaxes; making one requires 10 units of iron ore. Assigning a pickaxe to each of these 800 new slaves would require 8000 units of iron ore.

...

After dark.

When the old train slaves emerged from the mine carrying their pickaxes, they brought back 2400 units of iron ore...

This amount of iron ore wasn't even enough to craft pickaxes for the new slaves, not because the slaves were lazy, but because this Level 1 iron mine was like this. Unlike Level 2 iron mines, wherein one unit of Level 2 iron equals ten units of Level 1 iron.

With efficiency unchanged, the output is ten times.

On the second day, just after dawn.

Chen Mang crafted 240 pickaxes from the 2400 units of iron ore from the previous day, distributing them to 240 new slaves, so part of the new slaves could work with old slaves in the mines. This day brought back 4000 units of iron ore.

The work efficiency of the new slaves was noticeably poorer, due to multiple factors like mindset issues and physical fitness differences. But this was fine; they could be trained gradually later.

On the third day.

The 4000 units of iron ore from the previous day were transformed into 400 pickaxes, distributed to 400 new slaves.

This day.

Brought back 7000 units of iron ore.

Although it was a Level 1 iron mine, the output of iron ore was already about to match the daily output from a Level 2 iron mine beneath the Doomsday Abyss in the past. The daily output of that Level 2 iron mine was just over 10,000 units before the goblins came.

On the fourth day.

Chen Mang took out over a thousand units of iron ore, crafted another hundred or so pickaxes, and distributed them, and thus each slave had their own pickaxe, increasing the mining progress rapidly.

This day, 8000 units of iron ore were brought back.

On the fifth day...

There was no fifth day; at the end of the fourth day, the mine was exhausted.

Although the yield of a Level 1 iron mine isn't fixed, it generally ranges around 20,000 units of iron ore.

When accounting for the past few days' consumption of food and water.

The train currently has 9000 units of iron ore, which is still not enough to craft four Level 10 refrigerators, requiring continued searches for Level 1 iron mines.

...

On the wasteland.

The Constant Star Train races towards an unknown destination, continually operating its "Resource Detection Radar."

And Old Pig walks into the carriage, beginning to report daily consumption details to Chen Mang.

"Master Mang."

"Currently, all our Level 1 and Level 2 slaves have two meals a day, consuming twenty pieces of bread per person per day, plus four bottles of mineral water because strenuous labor leads to water loss."

"Ten pieces of bread comprise one unit of iron ore; making ten bottles of mineral water requires ten pieces of bread, equating to one unit of iron ore."

"On average, each slave consumes 2.4 units of iron ore daily."

"For over 200 slaves, including thugs, the daily expenditure is 500 units of iron ore."

"With the new batch of slaves, who are treated as Level 3 slaves, they receive ten pieces of bread plus two bottles of mineral water daily, consuming 1.2 units of iron ore. Totaling 800 people, they consume 960 units of iron ore per day."

"Master Mang, your initial instruction was that, whether mining was conducted that day or not, meals would remain unchanged; there wouldn't be a day when food supply was reduced due to no mining."

"So——"

"Basically, even if the Constant Star Train does nothing all day, opening its eyes accounts for a fixed consumption of 1460 units of iron ore..."

"If there are no mines to dig today, it's pure expenditure."

"Previously, with fewer slaves, it was manageable; now, with more slaves, unless a reserve of at least ten thousand units of iron ore is maintained in the train, those slaves would starve if no iron mines are found consecutively for several days..."

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