Armored train in the apocalypse

Chapter 301 Dean
"Although the name is lame, horse doctors are still useful in this small area. Most of these shops belong to horse doctors. We occasionally rent them for a few days to process the harvest."

"What about the vendors?"

"Scavengers who have paid protection money."

Su Huan seemed to be deep in thought.

Wen Biao's caravan survives by scavenging ruins everywhere, Ma Yi obviously relies on this place for exchanging supplies, and Ma Gong, though without a commercial street, should also have similar means of survival.

Each type of force has a different way of surviving, and the three caravans plus two fixed camps form a fragile but barely functioning balance in Xinma County.

His goal is clear.

This is the Singapore-Malaysia Automotive Engineering Vocational School.

This is the largest talent hub in the entire Xinma District.

Don't be fooled by the fact that it's a vocational college, placing it at the bottom of the academic hierarchy.

But just because the students are subpar doesn't mean the teachers are subpar too.

According to Donghuang's strict standards, teachers in vocational colleges in this region must have at least a master's degree, and most of them must have professional qualification certificates. Although their specific abilities are debatable, these people are considered application-oriented talents by the state, with an emphasis on technology transfer.

Even if there aren't many usable people, it's still good to collect some in advance.

The stall's square table was greasy, with three small iron plates on it containing leftovers from several people: one deep-fried food coated in batter, one pan-fried meat slices, and three meat skewers brushed with soy sauce, so dark that it was impossible to tell what they were.

As Su Huan drew closer, the group kept a wary eye on him while quickly stuffing the meager amount of food from their plates into their mouths.

A middle-aged man with graying hair, thinning cheeks, and a starving appearance emerged from behind the window, his greenish eyes fixed on Su Huan.

"What would you like to eat, boss?"

Su Huan raised an eyebrow. "What is it?"

"Fried green leaves, charcoal-grilled luncheon meat, and deep-fried pork belly."

Wen Biao gave two disdainful sneers.

"They are fried tree leaves, luncheon meat that was just put on the train, and as for the so-called 'big meat'..."

The middle-aged man stared at Wen Biao with a grim expression. "Boss Biao, why aren't you busy making money? What are you doing here tearing down my little shop?"

"Who do you think you are?"

Wen Biao turned hostile and cursed.

The middle-aged man glanced at the convoy members hidden in the shadows behind him, and his confidence grew.

Although Wen Biao's influence in the Xinma Gang was great, their horse doctors were no less capable than Wen Biao's.

So what if this long-haired young man got out of the car?
"Following the dragon who crossed the river, he really thought he was a winged tiger."

The man muttered in a hoarse voice.

Wen Biao's forehead creased with a ferocious aura. He grabbed the man's collar through the metal bars and yanked hard. With a bang, the man's gaunt face almost squeezed out of the bars.

Wen Biao's face was contorted with rage, "You fucking want to die!"

This action was like igniting a powder keg; the clicking and rattling of the bolts echoed through the street like a torrential downpour.

Wen Biao and his henchmen immediately became enraged, pulling out their pistols and confronting the horse doctors around them.

Wen Biao didn't bring many people with him because he was accompanying Su Huan. The enemy's men were everywhere, and his henchmen didn't even know who to target. Cold sweat poured down their heads.

"Crench."

A large, bony hand tore through the steel bars in front of it and took out a skewer of meat that was grilling on the charcoal stove.

Amidst a chorus of strange stares, the train conductor took a bite of the meat skewer.

"It's made with rats, so it's a bit fishy. You can add more chili."

Su Huan chewed with relish as he commented.

As small animals that are relatively difficult to evolve, rats are the secret to how the wilderness can support so many scavengers.

He ate plenty of this stuff in his past life, but in this life, Yu Yue has made him even more picky.

The woman squatting in front of another stall, picking and choosing, turned around in surprise. Her eyes, hidden beneath her messy hair, were like two warm glass lamps, calmly and steadily emitting a halo that gave no sense of aggression.

Aren't you afraid there might be viruses in the rat meat?

The woman who had been watching suddenly asked.

Su Huan looked in the direction of the sound and the first thing he saw was a pair of calm eyes before he saw the woman.

She had a surge of energy emanating from her body, and it appeared to be even larger than Jiang Rong's when they first met.

She was around fifty years old, thin, and a very agile old lady.

"Perhaps the illness isn't as severe as mine."

Su Huan's lips curled down to his ear.

He had a premonition that he would gain something from this.

While they were talking, "Universal Perception" had already scanned the woman's body seven or eight times.

That's surprising.

Women are first-order evolved beings.

Yes, a powerful old lady.

In addition, there was another detail that caught his attention: the stall in front of the woman.

They weren't regular supplies, but rather some oddly shaped, precision parts.

"Next time you come across any precision parts like these, bring them back to me. I'll buy them at a high price."

The woman handed two cans of luncheon meat to the man at the stall and said in a low voice.

"Are you interested in working for me?"

Su Huan asked directly.

The woman was taken aback by Su Huan's bluntness. She gently shook her head, put the parts into her black backpack, and got up to walk towards the end of the commercial street.

Su Huan tossed the remaining meat skewers back, clapped his hands, and said, "Let's go."

Like a young man who went out for a late-night snack, he strolled leisurely in the direction the woman had left.

"Aren't you leaving?"

Su Huan turned to look at Wen Biao, who was grabbing the middle-aged man's collar.

The latter shivered inexplicably after being glanced at by him, and followed behind him amidst pairs of eyes that held a hint of contempt.

"Is there anything else you'd like to know? I'll take you there."

Wen Biao quickly realized his place.

The transition from suddenly arresting people to smilingly leading the way for Su Huan was incredibly smooth, without the slightest hint of awkwardness on his face.

"No need, let's go directly to the horse grooming workshop."

Su Huan said calmly.

He already had a general understanding of the situation in Xinma County.

Everything can be faked, but these intricate interpersonal relationships and interactions cannot.

Once it's confirmed that Xinma County wasn't a trap set by Hei Yuan, nothing else matters.

As for Wen Biao's little schemes, that's perfectly normal.

A person without desires has no leverage over them.

A pot without a handle will be thrown away, and so will a person.

"Boom——"

An explosion was heard from a distance.

"This, eh?"

Before Su Huan could finish speaking, the bustling commercial street suddenly descended into chaos.

Shopkeepers started packing up their stalls in a flurry, while passersby used all their skills to make their way to the bank.

The vendor at the corner used a stick to toss his stall, turning it into a bundle in an instant. He slung it over his shoulder and rushed toward the electric scooter charging shed next to him, climbing up the shed to the second-floor balcony.

The group of people who had just been eating lifted the manhole cover and crawled inside without saying a word.

After a series of muffled crackling sounds, the bustling street instantly transformed into a ruined wasteland, a testament to the passage of monsters, showing no trace of human habitation.

Only on the hospital building of the horse doctor did hundreds of pairs of eyes coldly watch Su Huan and the others below.

"It must be the Guangli team that had an accident."

Wen Biao determined the direction and said confidently.

"A zombie horde?"

Su Huan was slightly surprised.

Wen Biao frowned. "It can't be a zombie horde. Although there are still many zombies in Xinma County, they are all hidden in nooks and crannies. We have cleared out the large-scale ones. Although Guangli Caravan is the weakest, it is not enough to cause such a commotion by fighting a few zombies."

"Tap tap tap..." Wen Biao turned around in surprise and doubt, "How come the Da Guang convoy also had an accident?"

"Quick, let's go back! The two convoys are in completely different locations; this must be a major event affecting the entire Xinma County!"

"Emm, no rush."

Su Huan's eyes were subtle. He wasn't sure about the explosion in front of him, but the "rat-a-tat-tat" of gunfire behind him sounded so familiar.

Turning back, he saw the same strange look in the eyes of both the white deer and the giraffe.

……

Guangli Motorcade Headquarters, Auto Repair Shop.

A man with a missing piece of flesh on his arm sat stiffly inside a tire rim, his buttocks and body soaked in scalding blood, yet he dared not move an inch.

They watched helplessly as groups of five soldiers coordinated and slaughtered the convoy members inside the auto repair shop.

A burly man, shirtless, crawled out from behind the pickup truck, clutching two grenades with the pins pulled, and roared arrogantly, "Damn it, catch them right now!"

No sooner had he finished speaking than a barrage of bullets came like a whip.

They directly ripped the burly man into a bloody mess, barely recognizable as a human.

"Boom boom——"

The sound of grenade explosions gradually faded, but the cold, cruel sound of bursts of gunfire remained, keeping the entire fleet of people in the auto repair shop too afraid to show their faces.

The sergeant in charge of sensing in the team glanced at the third brother sitting in the wheelchair and said coldly.

There is a person behind the pillar at the three o'clock position.

"Two people under the red car."

"There's a person in the cargo compartment of the black pickup truck to the left front."

"..."

As soon as the explosion occurred, the gunners immediately switched positions and began suppressing the fire.

Faced with the firepower of heavy machine guns, neither cars nor pickup trucks are more like thick sheets of paper.

The swept areas were quiet and still.

"Reload."

The gunner shouted and crouched down to reload.

"Cover!" The sergeant stepped forward, turned his gun, and filled the gap left by the gunner.

Because the soldiers' voices were made no attempt to conceal themselves, one by one, members of the Guangli convoy tumbled and crawled out from behind their bunkers, only to be met with more accurate bursts of fire from four assault rifles.

If you don't run, you'll only be waiting to die; if you run, you'll die even faster!
The team was stunned when their only Tier 1 Evolver was killed prematurely, and now they are completely devastated.

In just about a minute, the only sounds in the entire auto repair shop were the heavy breathing of Third Brother and the crisp sound of soldiers firing their guns.

Each sound struck his heart.

What terrified him even more was the sound of cold, hard footsteps.

Every time the sole of the shoe hits the ground, there's a sticky, pulling sound.

As the soldier held up a photo and began comparing it to his face, then raised his gun, Third Brother screamed in terror, "I know Captain Lin! I want to see Captain Lin!"

The soldier hesitated for a moment.

He then reported the incident to the sergeant behind him.

The sergeant walked over, looked at the man sitting on the tire, and then compared it with the form in his hand.

The document printed with pictures of the third brother carrying large and small bags of medicinal herbs and trading with the caravan. Because the train's surveillance cameras were high-definition enough, they could even see the scars on his arms where flesh was missing.

"Using similar mutated plants as medicinal materials, the quantity... three catties, and the clothes are of inferior quality, twelve pieces in total, is that correct?"

The sergeant's cold gaze sent chills down his spine.

Third Brother's pupils contracted, and he exclaimed, "Just for this?"

"Just for these three pounds of medicinal herbs and a dozen or so pieces of clothing, you killed over six hundred people from our convoy?!"

"You dare to claim you know Captain Lin with such a paltry sum of money?"

The sergeant sneered, stepped forward, and slapped the paper onto Third Brother's forehead.

He drew the dagger from his waist, flicked his wrist, and plunged it, along with the paper, deep into Third Brother's head.

The paper fluttered a few times and was instantly soaked in a large amount of bright red blood.

The words written in black and white on white paper turned into words written in blood.

……

"Reporting to the fat adjutant, all of the more than one hundred combat personnel in the Guangli convoy have been wiped out. The remaining five hundred or so non-combat personnel have been taken into custody. The second squad is currently tallying the spoils of war."

The sergeant, exuding a murderous aura, reported loudly.

Fat Rabbit's lips twitched, and he turned to the sergeant, snarling, "Fat Rabbit is a code name. My full name is Huang Gang. If I hear the words 'Fat Lieutenant' again, I'll sew your mouth shut!"

"Yes!"

The sergeant's eyes remained fixed straight ahead.

There was a "crunch".

The door to the auto repair shop office opened, and a burnt smell of barbecue wafted out of the room.

Fat Rabbit wiped his hand and placed a leaf under his nose.

He looked up and asked, "Have you gotten anything out of the interrogation yet?"

Lin Jin shook his head.

Fat Rabbit exclaimed in astonishment, "How can it withstand that much?"

Lin Jin was speechless. "If the people are roasted, how can they carry anything? Is it possible that that warehouse contains all the belongings of their caravan?"

Fat Rabbit's face immediately fell. "Their little leader has scattered and exchanged a lot of medicinal herbs, all of which are high-value items. According to the train conductor's rules, all those junk items combined wouldn't even be worth ten times that amount."

"Cough cough."

A gentle voice came into my ear.

The two men immediately became serious.

"Two sergeant squads were left to move the spoils; there are still many objectives to be completed."

"understand!"

……

Schools of Marxism.

The tall bunkers were covered with menacing spikes, which became the sharpest fangs in the darkness, especially in the chaotic moments approaching dusk.

In fact, the teachers and students of the School of Mathematics had long discovered that these spikes were ineffective against zombies and mutated beasts, but they were very effective at intercepting those compatriots with ulterior motives.

Just when Lu Yu thought the day would pass uneventfully, he suddenly heard a series of explosions in the distance.

Meanwhile, a menacing-looking armored off-road vehicle arrived outside the school, followed by two six-seater SUVs.

"who?!"

After asking the question, Lu Yu didn't stand there foolishly. Instead, he climbed down the inner passage and observed the off-road vehicle from below using a periscope.

The car door opened, and a rugged combat boot landed on the ground.

Lu Yu sensed something was wrong, so he adjusted the angle and looked upwards through the periscope.

What caught my eye was a dark green oversized trench coat, followed by a cold, hard jawline, and the raised, silver-white muzzle of a gun.

"Lieutenant Lu Xiao of the Armed Train."

"Collecting debts."

"Oh!"

The flames bursting from the muzzle resembled a giant lion's head, roaring as it bit into the periscope and shattered it.

That's too brutal!

Lu Yu leaned against the cover, terrified and breaking out in a cold sweat.

He turned and crawled inside. The job of guarding the gate was to provide early warning. The gunshot was so loud that the whole camp could hear it, so there was no need for him to risk his life to give warnings.

Just run.

A large group of people rushed past him, but Lu Yu felt no sense of security whatsoever.

After thinking for a moment, I ran to the top floor, only to find the office at the end of the corridor completely empty.

Lu Yu grew increasingly uneasy, went downstairs, and ran in the opposite direction.

Before I even crawled out, I saw a woman carrying a black backpack returning from the secret passage.

Lu Yu was overjoyed, "Dean!"

(End of this chapter)