Armored train in the apocalypse

Chapter 15 Construction Team
The abandoned guy tried to climb onto the carriage, but Su Huan stopped him.

"Where's your ticket?"

The man, like a mad dog, pointed at Su Huan and cursed, "You're in cahoots with them! You tricked us into getting on the bus, I'll fuck you—"

"boom"

The body fell to the ground.

Compression of energy is a bit difficult to use against evolved beasts, but it's incredibly effective at killing ordinary people who haven't evolved.

Su Huan picked at his ear. "Waste time. Just get to the point. Next."

……

"December 18th, early winter, 26°C—29°C"

"It seems that people have elected a new leader."

— "Train Conductor's Log"

Su Huan noted down the temperature at the hottest time of day in his logbook.

Of the 1201 original passengers, only 624 have returned. The rest either died outside or ran away, which is quite normal.

Su Huan was never afraid of them running away.

The train remains, but the passengers come and go. As old people leave, new people naturally arrive, just like that family from yesterday.

Including the new group of workers, there are a total of 744 people.

There might be another wave coming back tonight, but the number won't exceed a thousand today.

The crane operation was taken over by a young man named Gao Zhe, who wouldn't be back until evening, but Su Huan didn't intend to waste time waiting.

He glanced at the new names on the roster, then looked up at the group of fearful workers. "There's a job, want it?"

The workers looked at the body lying on the ground and dared not approach.

He stood there muttering to himself.

"Why don't we just go."

"Where to go? There's no food left in the factory. I'm so hungry I could eat someone! This is the only truck that's come here in all these days."

"We can't get out of there either; it's full of man-eating monsters..."

"Aren't there fewer zombies to the north? Let's go out that way."

"There are fewer zombies over there, but there are giant cocoons everywhere, which looks sinister. If you want to leave, you can leave; I'm not leaving."

Su Huan had been listening calmly, but his eyes suddenly sharpened when he heard a certain word.

Pointing to a thin man in the crowd, he asked, "What did you just say? Big cocoon?"

The man was startled and took a step back.

But seeing that he hadn't suddenly collapsed like the other person, he breathed a sigh of relief and shouted from a distance, "It's a giant pupa that's taller than a person, and it looks like a silkworm cocoon."

How many are there?

Seeing that Su Huan was only asking questions, the worker became bolder and stepped forward to reply, "There are plenty of them, they're everywhere, on the road, inside houses."

Su Huan's expression shifted between light and dark.

The "giant pupa" that the worker mentioned is an essential stage in the second phase of zombie evolution.

Zombies that have accumulated enough generalized energy will form a special "corpse pupa" under high temperatures. When they emerge from the pupa, it marks the second stage.

Also known as a Tier 1 zombie.

Their strength is vastly different from that of ordinary zombies; some with special abilities can even hunt down professional evolved beings.

In my past life, I was always busy running around and didn't pay attention to the evolutionary milestones of zombies. I never expected that zombies would start evolving so soon.

Only nine days have passed.

When these corpse pupae hatch, the people who have lost their heavy firepower will face their true doom!
"This information is very valuable. Here, take this." Su Huan took a deep breath and tossed over the half-pack of cigarettes he had just snatched. The worker was overjoyed and, not caring that Su Huan had thrown it on the ground, picked it up and started sharing it with his coworkers.

Upon hearing this news, Su Huan lost all interest in patient persuasion and said directly, "Who is the leader? Come out and speak."

The workers looked around, and finally a man who was about 1.8 meters tall stepped forward.

Although he wasn't tall, he was extremely broad-shouldered, comparable to Liang Kuan, and his voice was deep and resonant. "Yes, it is you. You just said you had a job for us, but given the current situation, we don't want any money."

"I'll provide you with three days' worth of meals..." As he was speaking, Su Huan suddenly had a new idea and changed his words, "If you work for a day, I'll provide you with two meals. If you don't work, I'll provide you with one meal. As long as you're on the truck for a day, this promise will be valid, but it only applies to the people you are now."

Although the man had an honest face, he was also quick-witted and asked, "I just saw you collecting their tickets, so you mean they need tickets to board the train?"

"Of course, there's no reason to get on the bus without buying a ticket."

This time, Su Huan didn't beat around the bush and went straight to the point.

The saying "speak human language to human beings and ghost language to ghosts" is not entirely derogatory; it also involves many techniques.

It's often easier to be straightforward with honest people than to try to outsmart them.

"We want free tickets."

"Free tickets are impossible. You can get free tickets when you have a job, but you still have to earn money for tickets when you don't have a job."

Su Huan resolutely refused. If all 120 workers were given free tickets, what would he eat in the future?

Providing meals is already the biggest concession we can make.

The train ticket was his power to control the crowd, even if it was only nominal, it couldn't just create a bunch of people with exemptions and privileges at will.

The man hesitated for a moment, looked at his coworkers on either side, and gritted his teeth, saying, "Okay, what kind of work? We're all from the steel mill; we can't do anything that requires brains."

Su Huan's expression softened slightly. "It's all about steel plates. Your name is Wang He, right? From now on, you'll be the leader of those 120 men. If anything happens, I'll only come to you, understand?"

Wang He agreed, "When do we start working?"

Su Huan glanced at the sky; the sun was already setting, and it would be dark in a little over three hours.

Nobody knows whether those corpse pupae will hatch tomorrow or tonight.

not much time.

He didn't dare to gamble either.

He looked directly at the king and said solemnly, "Now."

……

The dark red front of the vehicle gleamed coldly in the setting sun. The 25mm shovel-shaped armor and the newly added 1.2cm steel plate interlocked to form a menacing ram, like an enraged steel rhinoceros.

On the crisscrossing railway tracks, a group of men in overalls carried 1.2cm steel plates closer to the train, their blue clothes soaked with sweat.

Fortunately, they didn't need to weld them. After holding them up for a while, a boy in a wheelchair inside would "attach" the steel plates to them.

Someone tried pulling on it and it felt even stronger than when it was welded.

As a result, the workers had even greater respect for Su Huan, who managed the train, and worked even harder.

Su Huan tapped the outer wall of the carriage with his finger. The metallic vibrations, mixed with the heat, spread through the air. The heavy steel gave him an extremely solid sense of security.

He squinted at the window, where Yu Jing's chalk-drawn cutting lines looked as if they had been polished, extremely smooth.

The opening in the steel plate is slightly smaller than the window, just enough to cover the explosion-proof mesh and tempered glass inside, but it doesn't affect the opening and closing of the window.

Su Huan was very satisfied with this.

Sweat rolled down his Adam's apple and into his collar, gradually turning into salt at the 29°C temperature.

Even a slight lick of the lips tastes salty.

"Have your mom make the workers' boxed lunches first, and add plenty of oil and salt."

“It’s already in progress.” Yu Jingpan leaned out from the roof of the car, her jeans stained with dirt. “Pick me up.”

(End of this chapter)