Armored train in the apocalypse

Chapter 246 "Whale!"

"With the amount of explosives on the train, is it possible to disrupt the balance of the vortex?"

As soon as he finished speaking, it was clear that the experts on the screen were stunned for a moment.

Professor Ma said uncertainly, "The pressure of a shock wave in water is three times higher than that in air, it seems possible..."

The factory director pondered for a moment, “It might not be enough. The energy of the vortex is distributed in millions of cubic meters of water. The energy of the explosive is concentrated but its range of action is limited. It would be difficult with the amount of ammunition on the train.”

Su Huan licked his lips, his eyes shining. "So, the idea is feasible, but the quantity isn't enough, right?"

The group had their students and assistants quickly calculate it and approved of Su Huan's idea.

"As long as the amount of explosives is sufficient, it is still feasible to contain the vortex in a short period of time, and we can take the opportunity to escape."

Director Xu gave his final verdict.

At this moment, a staff member shouted loudly.

"The train has already sunk two meters, and it is expected to take another three minutes to fully sink."

"With one minute and fifty seconds left, the train will be caught in the vortex."

Su Huan raised his eyelids slightly. "Then let's do it this way. Have He Jie take some men and bring out all the explosives from the warehouse."

……

Armed Hall.

Five hundred soldiers stood in formation, while a bear-like figure paced anxiously ahead.

Several officers and acquaintances gathered together, forming roughly four small circles.

One group was mainly composed of surrendered soldiers from the Steel Council, such as Goat and Qu Hang.

One was Tong Zizhan, and the other was Gao Yuan. They isolated everyone.

Then there were Lu Xiao, Jiang Rong, and the veteran passengers who were promoted later.

They were essentially a team trained by the armed train itself.

The last group consisted of Yu Yue, Lin Jin, and others who had just arrived.

These four groups roughly constitute the situation of the armed forces.

It seems a bit complicated, but it's not actually explained in such a clear way.

Yu Yue, for example, spent most of her time cooking for the train conductor in the dining car and basically did not participate in the management of the armed forces. Therefore, He Jie was the absolute authority in the armed forces.

Goat, Qu Hang, and the others had already determined who was better than He Jie, so they wouldn't waste any more time.

After being discouraged by the train conductor several times, Lu Xiao completely resigned himself to his fate, stopped dreaming of managing the train, and instead focused on improving his status within the corps. He also became much quieter.

Jiang Rong had never thought about these things.

Aside from exercising and doing tasks, she has almost no personal life.

As for Tong Zizhan, he wished he could dig a hole and hide himself away, and he would never stand out.

Therefore, a group of people from different backgrounds got along remarkably well.

Upon seeing Yu Yue, He Jie quickly came forward, but instead of asking directly, he gave her a questioning look.

Everyone behind him pricked up their ears to listen.

They were unaware of the experts' calculations.

They had no idea that the armed train was about to be torn apart by the vortex.

Because of their recent experience of being pulled underwater, many people didn't take the storm outside their cars seriously.

I was just curious why the train conductor suddenly made them gather together.

A legion of over five hundred evolved beings could easily wage a small war if they were all deployed.

Yu Yue lowered her eyes and swept them over the crowd, her usually gentle gaze now sharper. "Within one minute, concentrate all the explosives on the train in the armed hall."

Hearing the explosion, Lu Xiao, standing in the crowd, inexplicably thought of the day he crossed the Mojiang River, and the figure laughing wildly amidst the flames of the explosion on the roof of the car.

This made his heart tighten suddenly.

Has the crisis really gotten this bad?
Lu Xiao searched Yu Yue's face carefully, but couldn't find any clues.

He subconsciously glanced at the people around him, and then found the same doubt in Miao Qi's eyes.

What is the train conductor planning to do?

But they didn't have that much time to think.

Upon hearing the time limit, He Jie had no questions and immediately ordered the officers to disperse and lead their teams to carry out the mission.

He Jie knew the location of all the armories like the back of his hand, and he knew exactly how much explosives were left in each one!
The sound of thunderous footsteps immediately filled the armed hall, and the train's descent speed increased several notches.

He Jie stood still, waiting until everyone had left before asking, "Is the situation very serious this time?"

Yu Yue's tense expression did not ease at all. "Let's go in together."

He Jie paused as he reached for his cigarette, then bit it between his teeth and followed him into the front of the car.

It felt like entering a large military command center.

The staff members were shouting out certain data in turn.

Water depth, temperature, train status, etc...

A countdown was flashing on a screen hanging on the wall.

There are only one minute and thirty seconds left on the timer.

Su Huan stood alone on the highest command platform, his eyes having turned an eerie blue-white color, his black hair slightly floating, and the terrifying atmosphere making people feel heavy-hearted.

If an evolved being were to cultivate alongside the train conductor now, their advancement speed could increase by 30%!

Seeing his appearance, He Jie sensed something was wrong.

Looking back at the panoramic screen, the cigarette between his teeth was snapped off!

"My grass!"

The pitch-black water was spinning wildly counterclockwise, containing terrifying force, and the train was getting infinitely close to the edge of the vortex.

The barometer needle inside the carriage trembled violently, and the carriage creaked under the rapidly changing pressure.

"Bang—Bang—"

The front of the car, which was originally submerged by the weight of the "Alpine Hammer", was instantly squeezed out by the water pressure, raised high on the surface of the water, and pulled into the vortex by the eddy.

A dozen or so drones, hovering high in the sky, were like birds with their feet tied, screeching as they were swept up by the storm above the vortex.

The connection between the locomotive and the following train groaned under the strain.

Inside the train, all the staff who were still holding on were thrown into the air, and as the front of the train rose up, they were violently tumbling like vegetables in a wok.

Only high-level evolved beings like Su Huan and He Jie could stand still in place.

Liang Kuan sat in a large chair, his hands gripping the control lever tightly, the warning lights on the dashboard in front of him glowing blood red.

The factory manager's voice rang out on the screen, "Don't fight the vortex, that will tear the train apart prematurely! Also, separate the two trains; there's too much air in the armored hall, which is affecting the descent speed!"

"How long do you have left with the explosives?"

Su Huan suddenly turned to look at He Jie below.

The latter shuddered and gritted his teeth, saying, "It would have been ready thirty seconds ago!"

"Have them take them to the front of the vehicle, not through the armed forces hall."

"understand!"

He Jie decisively turned around and rushed out.

The blue light in Su Huan's eyes dissipated, and the front of the car, which had been struggling, suddenly lost its power to resist.

The train was swallowed up section by section by the vortex, and the factory manager on the screen was also thrown off the screen by the tremendous force.

Liang Kuan also gave up controlling the train and began to submit to the terrifying power of the vortex.

The interface of the armed hall began to disconnect, and the two trains that had never been separated since Shun'an split into two like a zipper being pulled open.

The width was changed from 16 meters to two trains that are 5 meters wide.

The pressure I was under immediately lessened considerably.

Because the cultivation chamber is attached to the main column, the descent speed is much faster.

Armed soldiers carried boxes of explosives to the front of the vehicle, and although they were somewhat flustered by the vehicle's violent swaying, they were still able to get through it.

But seeing the train conductor standing on the control platform, he silently returned to work. "Bang bang bang..."

With only ten seconds left, boxes of explosives had already filled the entire front of the vehicle.

The staff watched the explosives with trepidation.

I don't know if I'll be blown up or torn apart by the vortex in the next second.

"The generalized energy reaction is enhanced under the eddy current—"

"Oh!"

The armored train seemed to have hit something, and it jolted violently in the water.

The tens of thousands of tons of steel were not "sucked" down, but rather "pressed" into the water by some force.

Like a giant pressing a coin into asphalt, slowly, resolutely, and irresistibly.

The train, which was on the edge of the vortex just a second ago, was sucked into the very center of the vortex by a terrifying force.

The riveted armor of the entire train began to groan. The bolts that had not loosened in the acid rain were now twisting and deforming at a speed visible to the naked eye, and then being pulled back onto the right track by another great force.

The explosives in the front of the train did not impact the roof of the carriage due to inertia.

Instead, it floats in mid-air.

An electric wheelchair squeezed through the gap in mid-air.

The ammunition box seemed to float in space, being jostled to the sides by the wheelchair.

Suddenly, a sharp, mournful cry rang out from the train's engine. A high-pressure water jet shot into the engine, shattering a monitor and causing the panoramic screen on the engine to flicker.

Xiao Ba, sitting in a wheelchair, raised his hand, his eyes filled with a metallic sheen, and the high-pressure water jet stopped abruptly.

"The vortex suction has increased; even if the entire train were blown up right now, it wouldn't be able to break the vortex!"

Professor Ma struggled to climb up the ammunition box behind Xiao Ba and shouted loudly to Su Huan on the command platform.

A long, drawn-out "whoosh" shook the carriage, interrupting Professor Ma.

The sound didn't enter the eardrums, but instead rolled directly over the ribs, forcing the heart to beat in sync with its rhythm.

Everyone instinctively looked at Liang Kuan in the driver's seat, but the latter did not make any move to sound the horn.

At the highest point, Su Huan suddenly raised his head to look at the panoramic screen in front of him, his narrow eyes squinting to the extreme.

Under the current he applied, the screen stopped flickering.

Everyone inside the car who witnessed this scene gasped simultaneously, a chill spreading from their chests to their entire bodies in an instant.

The horrific images shocked everyone.

Even the usually refined Professor Ma opened his mouth wide, unable to utter a word.

On the screen, in the deep, abyss-like water, two solitary beams of light leaned against each other, stretching endlessly towards the bottom of the eddy. The wisps of light were diffused by the water, reflecting the huge "flat beach" beneath the eddy.

The line of sight followed the extremely smooth "flat beach" forward, even exceeding a hundred meters.

The slightly undulating "flat beach" tapers downwards at the edges.

It's unbelievable.

But when this information is fed back into their minds, everyone simultaneously conjures up an image of a colossal behemoth.

"whale!"

"Ugh——"

The sound seemed to rise from the abyss, like a giant hammer striking a bronze bell sunk to the bottom of the sea.

Visible ripples spread across the water, and as they reached the train, the metal emitted a crisp, glass-like sound.

The in-vehicle displays and lights went out one after another like dominoes, extending all the way to the front of the control panel.

The entire train was plunged into darkness in an instant.

Heavy and deathly silent.

Two points of cold, eerie blue light suddenly lit up, and the scattered arcs of electricity resembled a spider web torn apart by some kind of ecstasy, outlining a pair of eyes with a sinister smile.

"So this is the person in question..."

The turbulent undercurrents were suddenly plunged into absolute silence.

The slender, armed train, holding aloft the [Hammer of the Alps], faces a colossal creature no less than itself in length.

That whale-like cry seemed to be searching for the location of the armed train.

The giant whale slowly raised its head.

In an instant, the entire body of water boiled.

A dark blue electric light suddenly burst forth around the armed train.

The giant whale that controls water and the dragon that wields lightning simultaneously send out declarations of war to each other.

Whales and dragons fight in the sea!

"Liang Kuan, speed up!"

Suppressed laughter seeped from the train into the entire body of water.

Lightning surged beneath the pitch-black waters.

The shadows of two enormous creatures collided, and terrifying energy surged forth from the deep water.

In the middle of the eddy, a jet of water suddenly shot out from the surface.

Soaring high into the sky, the water column, crackling with lightning, surged nearly a hundred meters into the air.

It stirred up the dark clouds in the sky.

In an instant, a bolt of lightning that seemed to reach the heavens and the earth struck the water.

……

Jingchao Lake, the island in the middle of the lake.

Amidst the raging wind and rain, a group of tiny figures knelt on the edge of the island.

Several figures dressed in black robes stood at the front. Upon hearing the earth-shaking thunder, the second priest, whose face was covered in paint, raised his head.

Just then, I saw a water column connecting heaven and earth.

With a fervent and high-pitched voice, he shouted, "My god has appeared! It is the perfect time to offer sacrifices! The ritual shall begin!"

The numerous figures kneeling behind him kowtowed in awe toward the direction of the water column before rising and leaving.

Those who remained moved closer to the priest in the black robe.

They were divided into three distinct groups.

A robust woman with horns growing from her head hurried to the priest, who was the least numerous among the group, helped him up, and said worriedly, "High Priest, the ceremony has already begun..."

The high priest stood up, grasping the woman's strong arm, adjusted his wide hood, and gazed at the distant column of water.

His cloudy, whitish eyes rolled around, and he mumbled incoherent babbling.

“Ado, just wait, just wait. God’s agent will appear at the sacrifice. This is a revelation my god gave me.”

"Then how do I find him?"

The woman pressed on, unwilling to give up.

"...There's no need to look for him. When he appears before me, I'll naturally recognize him!"

The high priest muttered incoherently.

The woman looked up at the increasingly large group of people around her, including the second priest, who was also looking at her.

It was a look of unwavering determination, like a jackal choosing its prey, its gaze cold and menacing.

Ado curled her lips, baring her fangs like a wild beast, intimidating the other party.

But an overwhelming sense of fear had already arisen in my heart.

If the sacrifice presided over by the second priest is successfully completed, the lineage of the high priest will be completely at a disadvantage.

Everyone else could leave, but as the chief warrior, she had absolutely no chance to surrender.

The second priest had been "coveting" her for a long time.

(I picked up my new car today, and I have to go to my future father-in-law's house tomorrow to prepare for the engagement. There's been a lot going on, and all the running around has made me a bit distracted. I've missed several updates. Actually, I had the outline written a while ago and was planning to do a lot of updates, but I'll have to wait until next month.)
(And by the way, could you please vote for me?)
(End of this chapter)