"Clang, clang, clang!"
The night was as dark as ink, so thick it seemed to devour the entire world. On the vast, endless wilderness, a train, like a steel behemoth, roared forward.
The sound of the train wheels colliding with the ground was like a symphony played by an unnamed hero in the night.
With each collision, the carriage trembled incessantly.
Chen Mang was curled up on a straw mat in the corner, trying his best to synchronize his body with the constant jolting of the carriage, which helped reduce a bit of the nausea, much like being on a ferry.
The entire carriage was extremely dimly lit.
There were no windows, and two dim light bulbs were installed on the ceiling.
The only thing one could smell was a strong, foul stench, a mixture of sweat, foot odor, excrement, vomit, and other smells, potent enough to rival a dry latrine in the dog days of summer, if not worse.
He had managed to occupy a relatively clean spot in the corner, but even so, his face was still somewhat pale.
In nearly three days, he had only consumed two cups of sandy muddy water and two moldy slices of bread, nothing else.
In this 3-meter-wide and 10-meter-long carriage, there were over a hundred people crammed inside. Everyone here was already driven mad by hunger. If he hadn't been protecting the straw beneath him, even that would have been eaten by these starving wolves.
These people were no different from madmen.
It was the third day since he had crossed into this world.
A world reduced to a post-apocalyptic ruin, where basic order had long been lost.
A burly man, reeking of filth and dressed in tattered clothes, somehow moved close to him, his eyes greedily fixed on the straw beneath Chen Mang, hoarsely saying, "Hey buddy, move over a bit, you can't possibly use such a big straw mat all by yourself, right?"
Seeing that Chen Mang didn't respond, he licked his lips and looked around at the others, "What do you all think—"
But the next moment, his voice suddenly cut off.
Chen Mang, sitting in the corner, suddenly sprang up, pinning the burly man beneath him. Without waiting for any reaction, he tightly gripped the sharpened tree branch in his hand and stabbed it straight into the man's eye socket.
Once, twice, three times.
After the fourth strike.
Chen Mang stopped, he didn't have much strength left, he needed to conserve it. The man was struggling violently like a rooster with its throat slit. Chen Mang didn't speak, he just sat on the man, using his hands to strangle his neck. After a dozen seconds, when the man's body had completely gone limp, he finally looked up, his eyes filled with ferocity, scanning each person around him.
Until everyone instinctively avoided his gaze.
Only then did he kick the man's corpse aside and sit back down on his straw mat, trying to make his chest rise and fall less noticeably, not wanting to appear too weak.
The people around, witnessing this under the dim light, didn't make a sound. The greed that had just surged in their eyes quickly faded, and they inadvertently tried to distance themselves from Chen Mang as much as possible.
In the originally crowded carriage, Chen Mang's spot had become relatively spacious.
Chen Mang leaned against the iron wall of the carriage, hiding the sharpened branch beneath the straw mat. If he had killed the man any slower, it might have been him who died. These people were no longer human; they were a pack of starving demons.
Once someone took the lead.
The evil thoughts in these people's hearts would be magnified infinitely. No matter how well he could fight, he couldn't take on so many at once.
This was the first time he had killed someone.
It was harder than he thought, yet simpler too.
He felt a bit panicked inside, his hands and feet trembling slightly. But he couldn't show any discomfort now, or else these people would swarm him like hungry wolves.
It wasn't just about the straw mat; it was also about his body, which was clearly cleaner than theirs.
With the death of the burly man.
The carriage fell into silence once more. No one spoke, no one had the strength to talk. It was better to save their energy, but—
The door at the carriage connection was pushed open.
Bright light streamed in from outside, revealing three men with pistols at their waists and batons in their hands, walking in expressionlessly. Their steel boots stepped on the people in the carriage without any concern, yet no one dared to make any sound of dissatisfaction or pain.
They walked straight to Chen Mang.
The leader looked down at the corpse, then at Chen Mang sitting on the straw mat, and said expressionlessly, "You killed him?"
Without waiting for Chen Mang to respond.
The man waved his hand.
The two men behind him stepped forward, swinging their batons at Chen Mang, each strike delivered with full force.
Chen Mang could only curl up in the corner, protecting his head as much as possible, clenching his teeth tightly, not making a sound.
After nearly a minute of beating.
The leader looked at Chen Mang, curled up in the corner without a sound, a flicker of something unusual in his eyes. He sneered and said hoarsely, "Everyone here is Kun Ye's slave. You've got some guts to kill someone here."
"But you're lucky. Kun Ye has taken a liking to you. From now on, you're the head of this batch of slaves."
"You're in charge of these slaves. If any of them slack off or cause trouble, you'll take full responsibility."
Then he waved his hand, and his subordinates quickly returned to the brightly lit carriage, bringing back a bag of pickles, two moldy hot buns, and a bottle of mineral water, which they threw onto Chen Mang's straw mat.
In front of everyone.
They threw the corpse out through the carriage connection, then closed the door again.
The carriage was plunged back into darkness.
Only the sound of "clang, clang, clang" could be heard.
Heading towards an unknown destination.
After these people left.
Chen Mang gritted his teeth and got up from the ground, sitting back on the straw mat and leaning against the iron wall. He tore open the small bag of pickles and slowly nibbled on the two moldy hot buns.
Though not exactly delicious, they were at least warm buns and pickles, tasting much better than the moldy bread slices he had eaten before. The moment the warm bun entered his mouth, his palate even ached slightly from the dryness of the food due to his extreme hunger.
He unscrewed the mineral water bottle and drank half of it in one go.
One bun down, his stomach didn't feel full, but he did feel much better physically.
Chen Mang narrowed his eyes, staring straight at the carriage connection. When the door had opened earlier, he had seen that the carriage ahead not only had bright daylight lamps but also rows of seats.
About twenty enforcers were sitting there.
While he was being beaten, those enforcers had turned around, watching him with amusement, laughing and chatting.
He had guessed right.
The reason he had suddenly killed the burly man wasn't just for self-preservation. He knew that in such an environment, the rulers often needed a lower-level manager, and he hadn't seen anyone like that in this carriage.
He needed that position, and the front carriage needed someone like him.
This position would allow him access to more information.
From the moment he was captured and brought into this carriage, and learned that their destination was a mine, he knew that even if he killed someone, those in the front carriage would most likely not kill him.
After all, killing him would mean losing two slaves, but not killing him would only mean losing one.
Chen Mang could vaguely see countless pairs of greedy eyes fixed on the steaming buns in his hands, the sound of swallowing rising and falling like the buzz of cicadas in summer, yet no one dared to approach.