Armored train in the apocalypse

Chapter 267 A Stormy Night

"Black Kite is very likely lying in ambush on us."

Shu Wei reminded her.

"You have absolutely no trust in your father?"

Su Huan's tone was somewhat flippant.

“Black Kite is not my father’s sole authority, and given his personality, if forcing you to stay would bring him greater benefits, he would definitely do it.”

"You don't even want your own daughter anymore?"

"You can have another child if you lose your child, but if you lose your rights, you lose everything."

Shu Wei's tone was indifferent.

"Oh."

It seems the father-daughter relationship isn't very good. Of course, it's also possible that she's putting on an act for him.

Su Huan smiled and replied, "If there are no problems, then let's adjourn the meeting."

Everyone was taken aback. Hu Shuo hesitated and said, "If we decide to go, how many people does the train conductor plan to take? I'd like to make some preparations."

"How many people?" Su Huan thought carefully for a moment. "The whole vehicle?"

Nonsense, "...the exact number of people entering the meeting room for negotiations is such that even if the negotiations break down, we can still ensure our safe exit."

"Then I can go by myself."

"No way, what are we supposed to do if they turn on us?" He Jie said sternly.

Hu Shuo and the others nodded almost imperceptibly.

Su Huan put his feet on the table, put his hands behind his head, and said calmly, "If I take you all with me, I'm not sure I can get out of here unscathed."

Everyone: "..."

"Damn it, you got away with it again."

He Jie slammed his fist on the table in frustration.

He then said solemnly, "However, I absolutely disagree with you going alone. This has nothing to do with whether I can beat you or not. If the other side is prepared to turn against us, they will definitely find a way to restrain your abilities. If we send more people, our abilities can complement each other. For example, Xiao Ba can help you open the metal, and Qu Hang can help you suppress it from a distance..."

Su Huan looked at Shu Wei beside him, "There should be quite a few Black Kite cultivators at Tier 2 by now, right?"

Shu Wei hesitated for a moment, "Before I set off, Hei Yuan had already explored several ways to enter the second stage. Now she should have achieved results, and not the flawed second stage like Zhao Kuo."

Su Huan spread his hands, "You've all seen the strength of the second tier before. There's already a generational gap. Going there would just result in being crushed. It's pointless."

"That won't do either. You have to bring at least two people with you. That's my bottom line!"

He Jie's brows furrowed into a deep frown, but his voice was incredibly resolute.

His entire family's safety now rests on the train, and no matter how much he dislikes Su Huan's explosive personality, the train really can't move without him.

Although everyone on this bus has irreplaceable qualities and stable emotions.

But to date, no one feels they can replace the train conductor.

Acid rain, storms, terrifying mutated beasts, mysterious and unpredictable powerful forces...

In this hopeless era, only a train conductor as strong and eccentric as him can provide a sense of security.

Normal people really can't do this.

Even normal people have their limits eventually being crossed.

Without that sense of mystery, there would be no anticipation.

But as a train conductor, no matter what dire situation Su Huan faced, people always harbored a glimmer of hope in their hearts.

I'm eager to see what crazy thing he'll do to break the deadlock!

Even He Jie, who is usually tough, is like this.

This glimmer of hope is a powerful stimulant that surpasses any real ability.

Irreplaceable.

"So who do you want me to bring?"

Su Huan said indifferently.

He Jie paused for a moment, his gaze sweeping over the crowd before finally settling on the giraffe and white deer at the end of his line.

"Let's take them both. Giraffe is good at taking the bullet because of his long neck and big head, and the other idiot is also suitable."

The giraffe stroked its long neck and muttered curses under its breath.

A few good-natured laughs broke the serious atmosphere.

"Alright, that's settled then. I'll take Shu Wei, Giraffe, and White Deer to negotiate. You guys keep your options as a backup plan. Meeting adjourned."

Seeing the unwavering smile on Su Huan's face, everyone feared the train conductor might have a relapse and stopped trying to dissuade him.

They went downstairs to eat in twos and threes.

Su Huan put his feet on the table again and looked up at the roof of the car.

His eyes were completely calm.

He didn't seem to be going crazy at all.

Going to negotiate alone was a matter he had carefully considered, even more seriously than fighting the Steel Council.

Shu Wei's father met with the military five years ago and was a real party involved.

Even if the other party doesn't bring up the negotiations, he'll still find a way to meet with them.

Secondly, even while he was sleeping, meditating, or eating, his strength was increasing rapidly during this period.

Although some energy was wasted on those randomly generated skills, the main class "Cyclic Vortex" was upgraded by one level on average.

The secondary profession "Fighter" was also quickly completed, reaching the critical point of Tier 1.

The generation of skills from this gene prototype is not completely random. Instead, it is based on the existing profession and "makes up" for it. It fills in the gaps wherever they are lacking, and it does not directly and recklessly upgrade the skills required for profession advancement without any redundancy.

Even so, the conditions for the Primarch to evolve can be said to be exceptionally favorable.

As long as it doesn't die, it will keep growing forever.

As a result, Su Huan's skill levels and basic attributes are all increasing rapidly, forming a fairly well-organized system.

Even if his main profession hasn't reached its peak, Su Huan's strength is already at the ceiling of the second tier.

The absolute strongest at this stage.

As for the third tier, judging from Lin Jin's growth rate, he probably hasn't reached it yet.

Although Su Huan did not know the exact time of Lin Jin's evolution, Lin Jin was not yet at the third tier a year after the apocalypse.

Then, considering the time that Shu Wei, He Jie, and others started ahead, it has been about a year and a half so far.

Even a genius like Lin Jin only took a little over a year.

For other less talented individuals, two years isn't unreasonable, is it?

If the meeting were delayed for another six months, Su Huan would naturally lack the confidence to go alone.

Tier 3 is the limit for mortals, the smallest unit capable of threatening group combat, and there is a terrifying generational gap between it and Tier 2.

But now...

There's no generational gap, so what's there to be afraid of?

Even if the opponent has many second-tier evolved beings, as long as he wants to run, they can't kill him.

This is the advantage of having a dual career.

Most importantly, the armed train has now acquired a large number of electromagnetic devices.

They now possess electromagnetic armor for defense, unlike when they faced the Steel Council and were completely defenseless.

If negotiations break down, then use electromagnetic railguns to clear the way and bombard them directly.

Or rather, launching an attack was his initial preparation.

"Fighters" are best promoted during battles.

When only one person remained in the room, Shu Wei's indifferent voice rang out, "Are you really going to negotiate?"

"Don't talk nonsense."

Su Huan stood up and walked downstairs.

Soon, Su Huan's astonished exclamation echoed throughout the dining car.

Why eat plain porridge at midday?

Everyone looked at Su Huan with strange expressions, silently lowering their heads to drink the porridge in their bowls.

Although the main dish was average, the side dishes were quite exquisite, including fried crab legs, tempura, wakame seaweed, and various pickled vegetables.

It suited the tastes of several old men very well.

"Dong dong!"

Su Huan called Yu Yue over and slammed his fist on the table twice. "The train conductor has worked hard all day, and you give me porridge? Is that fair?"

Faced with Su Huan's reprimand, Yu Yue clasped her hands together in front of her, lowered her eyes, and looked stubborn, as if she would accept the punishment if he didn't punish her, but she wouldn't change her ways if he didn't punish her.

She looks exactly like Yu Jing.

I wonder what kind of family raised such a pair of aunt and nephew who look so alike.

Su Huan was so angry he almost laughed.

Make a mental note of it, then pick up your bowl and chopsticks and start eating.

……

Storm Zone, Deep Blue Twin Towers.

Inside the high-level meeting room, six people sat around a round table.

Compared to other factions, Deep Blue Data has maintained some of the functional divisions from before the apocalypse.

Although it has been simplified a lot, it is still mainly composed of three parts: front-end, middle-end, and back-end. The business development department where Haywood works belongs to the front-end business department.

The Vice President of Business Development was saying, "Currently, the matter of the Armed Train's dual-gene progenitors has been revealed to most of the forces we have contacted. Black Kite has already spread the word that it will hold a negotiation with the Armed Train when it enters the Storm Zone."

The general manager of the technology platform frowned. "Is Black Kite trying to hog all the benefits?"

The business vice president shook his head. "It doesn't seem like it. According to our intelligence gatherer, the daughter of the Black Kite No. 3 director was captured by the armed train."

The business general manager was taken aback. "Have our data collectors already infiltrated to the board level?"

The vice president smiled mysteriously, "Of course not, the information was reported by the data collector who infiltrated the armed train."

The business general manager fell silent again, seemingly lost in thought.

The others glanced at the two with amusement.

The business department is responsible for the most things. Initially, there was more than one vice president, but the other three either died unexpectedly or made mistakes and were removed by the head office, resulting in only one boss and one deputy remaining.

Although he was the deputy, the balance of power between the two began to gradually become unbalanced.

The vice president knows, but the general manager doesn't; this is a very serious problem.

This is normal. In the early stages of the apocalypse, the company's strength expanded rapidly, and the internal struggles were more intense than ever before. Everyone wanted to rise to the top and feared that their department would be cut by a single word from above. Naturally, everyone used their own unique methods to achieve their goals.

The chief talent officer of the back-office functional departments has changed six times in just over four months.

They are well-known at headquarters.

Fortunately, most of them were only reassigned or laid off, and there were no deaths, so people continued to follow suit.

The general manager of the technology platform tapped the table and laughed, "Old Wei, we didn't come all this way just to listen to you keep us in suspense. Everyone here has a ton of work to do."

The deputy manager in charge of back office sighed, "That's right. The Sanhe Association has recently been disbanded, and there's still a ton of stuff waiting for me to finish up."

Wei Shan, the deputy general manager of the business department, was shocked. "The Sanhe Association, the organization composed of alumni of Tianze University, is gone?"

"A bunch of arrogant idiots, led by that madman Ma Hongyu, chose a dangerous area and were wiped out by a special spore. More than 5,000 core personnel were all gone, and the remaining tens of thousands were scattered in the spore area."

"When did this happen?"

“A week ago, you were supposed to receive an official notification from the company in about three days. The spore area has now been designated as a restricted zone.”

Wei Shan took a deep breath. "Luckily, I've been in the storm zone the whole time. It's just that you guys have had a hard time."

The general manager said, "Let's get down to business. I don't recommend getting involved in the armed train issue. Because of your efforts, Donghuang Heavy Industry and Pan Asia are now eyeing this negotiation. Including Black Kite, that makes three top-tier forces, and there are all sorts of shady characters mixed in. Even Gunfire's partners have asked about this."

"Is the gap in the genome sequence really that large?"

"Everyone needs gene prototypes, and that tree that increases life force is the real treasure. If it weren't within our Eastern Empire, Pan-Asian would have tried to snatch people away..."

Wei Shan sneered, "With their level of evolution, they dare to enter Donghuang? They'll be wiped out before they even see a person."

The general manager of the platform said, "We also really want that tree internally, let's see if we can get in touch with it before Black Kite..."

"Hijacking?"

"trade!"

"Let's vote by raising hands. How many people agree to take direct action against the armed train?"

"Five to one, veto."

"How many agreed to make contact with the armed train?"

"Six votes in favor, good, then we will proceed with the policy formulation based on the meeting's decision."

"no problem."

……

On a stormy night, a steel dragon quietly arrived outside Yanbei Pass.

The white, ring-shaped exoskeleton parted the waves, and rows of windows emitting a faint light resembled the compound eyes of a giant beast.

Six pairs of high-brightness searchlights illuminated every detail of the century-old Guanguan.

Yanbei Pass is like a dam, firmly blocking the mountain pass, where the floodwaters stop flowing and can no longer advance.

There is still a thin layer of water on the road below Yanbei Pass, but due to the terrain, it is impossible to continue along the road into the storm zone. However, this water has nourished the plants on both sides.

The city, built against the mountain, has become lush and verdant with abundant vegetation.

Hundreds of monitoring devices were put into operation simultaneously, and the arrival of the armed train was also reported to the rear.

Behind Yanbei Pass, there is a relatively high square with a building shaped like a multi-tiered cake, on which hangs a sign for the Ningxi Grand Theatre.

Dozens of special vehicles were parked in front of the square, with sand still trapped in the tire treads, dividing the entire square into trench-like positions, with smartly dressed armed personnel standing guard.

Inside the theater, however, it was a completely different scene.

Crystal chandeliers, mimicking flowing silk, hung from the Baroque dome, casting a soft honey-colored glow in all directions. The air was filled with the faint scents of galbanum and wine, which were disturbed by the waiters in tailcoats moving about.

In front of a room on the side of the hall, a middle-aged man was helping a handsome young man with a cold and aloof expression straighten his collar.

But Zhongyou remained unmoved, coldly telling his superior, "Instead of having time to attend the ball, why not let me go to training? This time is enough for me to increase my strength attribute by another point."

The middle-aged man bluntly retorted, "You haven't made any progress in a month, so one more night won't make a difference."

"Also, didn't you want to see Miss Shu?"

Zhong You's pupils narrowed. "426 is back?"

(I took a day off yesterday, not exactly to be lazy, but mainly to relax a bit and sort out the upcoming plot. There hasn't been much plot progress lately because we're about to enter a new area. I mainly focused on filling in the gaps and clearing up some less important side quests. If you still have any questions, you can ask here and I'll check what I missed.)
(End of this chapter)