Armored train in the apocalypse

Chapter 231 Blue Crab
Xiao Dong swallowed hard in fear.

He knew Su Huan might be very powerful, but he never imagined he would be this powerful.

He's already sixteen. Although there are some things he doesn't understand yet, he vaguely feels that being this capable isn't a good thing...

It seems... Grandpa Tieshan and the entire shelter are going to suffer.

Thinking of how Grandpa Tieshan used to take care of their family, Xiao Dong hesitated for a moment before asking, "Brother, you won't kill us, will you?"

Although his voice trembled slightly, it made everyone look at this unassuming young man with surprise.

The courage of young people is always remarkable.

Su Huan was taken aback for a moment, then smiled and patted his head. "Silly boy, how could we possibly kill them all? There are over five thousand people."

Zhang Min, standing to the side, curled her lips in a mocking smile.

This is what a train conductor should be like.

Qi Jianguo and the others turned ashen-faced.

"Let's find a place to sit down. This shabby room is too noisy, and there isn't even a chair," Su Huan said to the old man.

The old man gave the soldiers around him a deep look. “Let’s go upstairs and talk.”

Su Huan gestured for him to proceed.

The old man dropped his shotgun and slowly walked out of the bar.

He looked as disheveled as an ordinary old man.

Without Old Man Tie, everyone felt like they had lost their backbone.

His legs trembled under the cold gaze of the third brother.

"Commander, what should we do with the rest?"

Su Huan paused as he walked out with Xiao Dong by the shoulder, his fingers darting through the crowd before stopping under the bartender's horrified gaze.

“He ate my bread and said I didn’t pay. Third brother, can you pay for me?”

The third brother gasped, his eyes gleaming as he stared at the bartender in the crowd. "Alright, alright, Captain, don't worry about getting back to work. I'll definitely take good care of this young man."

As soon as he finished speaking, two elite soldiers pounced on the crowd like hungry tigers.

When he was dragged out, the bartender was already pale with fright and screamed for help from the old man.

"Uncle Tie, I didn't eat it, please help me, I really didn't eat it..."

The piercing howls even drowned out the howling wind and rain outside the window.

The third brother picked at his ear. "With all that wailing, do you think the train conductor would wrongly accuse you? Just cut it open and the truth will be revealed. Hang it up now."

Seeing the two soldiers draw their triangular bayonets, the bartender was utterly terrified and burst into tears.

"I ate it, I ate it, I only took one bite, please don't kill me, please don't kill me, Uncle Tie..."

The old man standing at the door opened his mouth upon seeing this scene, but upon seeing the ambiguous smile on Su Huan's face, he sighed and turned his head away.

Two military daggers pierced his arm, which was then hung on the wall.

The bartender began screaming like a pig being slaughtered, interspersed with his cursing at Qi Zhiyuan.

Listening to the intermittent cursing, the Qi brothers gradually realized that the root of the problem lay with Qi Zhiyuan.

Seeing the gloomy gazes of his father and uncles, and Su Huan's lingering finger, Qi Zhiyuan felt as if the sky had fallen.

No matter how much trouble he caused before, his grandfather and father would never actually beat him to death.

But if Su Huan picks him, he really will die!
When the thought exploded in his mind like a bolt from the blue, his knees buckled and he knelt on the ground.

"I was blind, I was wrong..."

"Bang bang bang."

Before Su Huan could even raise his hand, Qi Zhiyuan had already kowtowed four or five times.

"Stand up!!"

The old man with the iron belt let out a loud shout.

Qi Zhiyuan shuddered and looked up to see the bartender wailing on the wall.

Below him stood a group of elite soldiers with cold, sinister eyes, staring at him as if he were a dead dog.

Qi Zhiyuan raised his head and kowtowed again.

Upon witnessing this scene, the old man swayed, his lips trembling as he cursed "useless." His eyes seemed to be fixed on Qi Zhiyuan, but they had lost focus and become cloudy and empty.

Qi Zhiyuan's repeated kowtows seemed to have drained the old man of his last bit of energy, leaving him unable to even stand steadily.

Su Huan stepped forward and supported the old man's arm, saying gently, "If you can't stand, please ask someone to help you. Don't try to push yourself."

The old man stubbornly shook off his hand and turned to walk into the empty corridor.

Su Huan thought for a moment, then said, "Let's keep this for now."

Upon hearing this, Qi Zhiyuan instantly broke out in a cold sweat, collapsed to the ground, and soiled himself.

"There are two more guys who want to touch my butt, remember to find them."

As Su Huan led Shu Wei and the others away, the remaining people in the bar felt their hearts leap into their throats again upon hearing this.

Zhang Min's two men ran up behind her.

He asked in a low voice, "Boss, are we following them...?"

Zhang Min watched Shu Wei's swaying waist, biting her nails in frustration. Hearing this, she looked at him coldly, "You want to defect to the enemy?"

Thinking of Zhang Min's crazy and ruthless methods, his subordinates quickly shook their heads.

Zhang Min walked to the broken window, but because of her previous positioning, the soldiers in the combat team did not stop her.

Looking down, fifty armed trains, each over a hundred meters long, lay across the water, unmoved by the surging waves.

The heavy, angular front of the car and the wide deck silenced the three of them.

'It must feel very safe to be on a train like this, right?'

This thought subconsciously surfaced in my mind.

But he was quickly strangled to death by Zhang Min.

From now on, I'll go my own way.

"Find a boat and launch it."

"It's raining so hard tonight, should we just make do for another day?"

"Now!"

……

Hu Shuo nodded to the third brother, "Then I'll leave this place to you. I'm going upstairs."

"no problem!"

The third brother waved confidently.

The soldier asked in a low voice with a strange expression, "Flight attendant, then... how do we find the two of them?"

The third brother imitated Su Huan and pointed three times in the crowd, which happened to be the three Qi Jianguo brothers.

The soldier probed, "Kill all three of them?"

The third brother snorted coldly and said menacingly, "Kill all the rest except for those three and the train commander who we're keeping!"

He pulled out a dagger and walked toward the bartender hanging on the wall.

"Come on, let me see if you've eaten or not!"

……

Standing at the top of the stairs was a young man whom the old man had never seen before; he had short hair and a rugged, sunny face.

He was accompanied by two soldiers.

"Train conductor, there are many buildings up there, and we haven't gone deep into them yet."

Lin Jin said.

"Yeah, anyway, with the heavy rain, they can't go very far."

Su Huan waved his hand dismissively.

The group arrived at Old Man Tie's room.

Inside the tin-roofed shack at the very edge of the rooftop.

This person was unlike any other controller of a refuge or settlement that Su Huan had ever seen in his previous life.

It's not luxurious, it's simple, and even a bit shabby.

The room contained only a folding bed, a worn-out sofa, and a chair.

Su Huan sat down on the sofa without any hesitation. It was his favorite piece of furniture, which could be used for sitting or lying down, like a train conductor's throne.

The old man didn't sit down, but stood opposite Su Huan.

The small tin shack was crowded with so many people, making it feel somewhat cramped.

"So many people are treating us like we're bullying an old man. Except for Shu Wei who stayed to take notes, everyone else should leave."

Su Huan said.

Lin Jin led his men out to guard their positions, including Xiao Dong. Only three people remained in the room.

"Let me introduce myself. I am Su Huan, the train conductor of the armed train... a survivor."

Su Huan thought for a moment and added an identity that the old man would understand.

"Survivors...you're not from the military?"

The old man with the iron arm perked up instantly.

"No."

Su Huan lightly tapped the sofa armrest with his index finger, stirring up a cloud of dust.

"Let's get down to business. I have three requests for now. Do what you can as soon as possible, and find a way to do what you can't."

"Firstly, I need two thousand adults."

"Secondly, the remaining people need to find the equipment left behind in the information industry park for me."

"Thirdly, you don't need that batch of equipment downstairs, so I'll take it with you."

"Dig out the explosives you buried, and I'll take them with me."

……

Downstairs, an armed train was coiled on the water.

Because of this unusual stopping method, the train didn't shake much even when a storm was approaching.

A dozen ropes connect the train to the Tieshan Refuge Building.

The living room on the front of the building was completely destroyed, and the neatly packaged cannons were carried out through the windows.

Because of the harsh environment and the lack of time to install lifting equipment, more than thirty armed soldiers of the "Defenders" acted as cranes, pulling the equipment down by hand.

"Ready, one, two!"

Large artillery pieces, some weighing several tons and others weighing over ten tons, were loaded onto the train.

"Okay, relax!"

Upon hearing this word, the meerkat breathed a sigh of relief, put down the thick steel rope in its hand, and red marks appeared on its fair palm, with several milky white blisters squeezed out from the edges.

However, there's no need to worry; these red marks and blisters will disappear completely within two days.

Despite the grueling training He Jie had given her, her hands remained perfectly clean.

"Sister Cat, it's time to change shifts."

The young soldier walked over and said.

“It’s still early…” The meerkat saw the determination in the young soldier’s eyes. “Fine, take it.”

After handing the steel rope to the other party, the meerkat walked into the room.

Yu Yue was directing the soldiers to load the artillery when she heard footsteps and turned around.

"kitten."

"Here I am."

The meerkat stood with its legs together, its eyes becoming round and serious.

Yu Yue's face showed a hint of worry. "I hear something wrong with the sounds coming from downstairs. Could you go to the car and check if something has happened?"

"Yes!"

Without hesitation, the meerkat turned around, took a running start, and rushed into the downpour.

In mid-air, his toes touched a taut steel cable, and he quickly adjusted his falling posture.

With a crisp sound, he landed on the deck and, propelled by inertia, plunged into the train.

After verifying their identity at the partition door, they entered the front of the vehicle.

All the staff members were gathered around a screen.

"A meerkat?"

A staff member in his thirties stood up and waved to her.

Level 5 flight attendant, wearing glasses.

Originally a research staff member under the factory director, he was transferred to work at the locomotive because he was familiar with the various functions of the train.

He is also the highest-ranking manager at the front of the vehicle.

Although not well-known, he was one of the few people on the train who wielded real power.

Because the system was established relatively recently, there are fewer Level 5 flight attendants than flight attendants. Each of them holds an important position. These positions do not have the broad scope of management of the Level 4 flight attendants, but they are still crucial and cannot be separated from people.

Apart from Liang Kuan, everyone in the front of the car was under his management.

Liang Kuan belongs to the armed forces and is usually stationed at the front of the vehicle. In theory, he is under the command of He Jie, but when something really happens, He Jie always consults with him.

The only one who could truly mobilize Liang Kuan was the train conductor.

The meerkat hurried forward, trying its best to suppress its urge to look around.

It was also her first time getting into the front of the car.

The technological level here is completely different from that of the soldiers' dormitories, and the various high-tech designs made her feel very novel.

"Major Yu sent me."

"The major has already informed us; we hadn't noticed it before."

The staff member pointed to the densely packed dots of light on the screen and said.

The meerkat looked at the screen, a look of confusion in its eyes.

The staff quickly waved their hands, "It's not that we're negligent, but the general energy response of these targets is too weak, so we have to block their signal display when monitoring them. We usually only pay attention to targets with strong energy responses."

"So what are these?"

"The meerkat asked."

"The probe has just been launched into the water and we'll be able to see it soon."

The staff pulled up a screen.

Because it was late at night and the area was underwater, the scene was completely dark, with only occasional flashes of light from debris appearing briefly on the screen.

The robotic arm on the train plunged into the water, with the searchlights turned on at full power to assist in detection.

A moving "dark river" appeared on the screen.

"Adjust the angle of the lights."

"Camera zooms in."

As the image was zoomed in, everyone inside the car was stunned for a moment.

The so-called "underground river" consists of countless blue crabs, each the size of a washbasin, moving sideways across the streets and buildings in the water.

With a light tap of its claws, it can float several meters away.

"This looks like a blue crab?"

"It must be from Jingchao Lake next door. The mud crabs from here are very famous and supply the whole country. My mom used to buy mud crabs for my grandma all the time. The meat is so tender. I wonder how much meat you can get from a mud crab the size of a washbasin..."

"Stop gossiping, continue probing and see where the blue crab is headed. The rest of you, create a backup of the blue crab's data."

"Should we issue a capture order to the combat team?"

"Now that the order has been issued, I will request the train conductor to increase the priority of the task."

Under the guidance of the glasses, various tasks were issued and executed in an orderly manner.

"The combat team is upstairs on a mission and may not have time right now."

The meerkat raised its hand and said.

Glasses frowned. "This is troublesome. Many of the habits of the mutated creatures are completely different from those before the apocalypse. Without samples, it's difficult to determine whether they pose a threat to us."

The meerkat squeezed its soft palm and tentatively asked, "Can I do it?"

"We do not have the authority to issue orders to the armed forces..."

Before the words were finished, Yu Yue's gentle voice came from inside the carriage.

"Since no one else is willing to help, let's leave it to the kitten."

Upon hearing the sound, everyone's expression turned solemn.

Don't be fooled by the fact that the young cook is gentle and only cooks for everyone in the dining car all day. With Su Huan's tacit approval, she actually has authority that spans both the crew and the armed forces.

Second only to the train conductor.

However, she rarely uses it.

The man adjusted his glasses and said seriously, "I will draft the formal order now, which will be sent to your personal terminal. You can then log in to the system and approve it when you return to the train."

"Thank you for your hard work."

Yu Yue's gentle voice lingered in the air, then faded away.

The meerkat took a deep breath, its eyes turning vertically.

Only by doing more tasks can you have the opportunity to make contributions.

Finally, what she'd been waiting for came!
(Thanks to Orange White Bear for being the patron, I will add five more chapters totaling 20,000 words later.)
(End of this chapter)