Armored train in the apocalypse

Chapter 303 Progress
At their first meeting, Zhou Qing saw Su Huan as a dangerous young man.

This time, however, Su Huan was her only lifeline.

Is the promise you made still valid?

Zhou Qing asked directly.

Su Huan shrugged. "I don't remember making any promises to you."

Faced with the train conductor's near-rejection, the young man would have turned pale by now, but Dean Zhou simply repeated the question Su Huan had asked her earlier.

Lu Yu and the other students looked at Su Huan nervously.

Short footsteps sounded behind them, and Lu Xiao and Miao Qi arrived with their men. They immediately spotted Su Huan at the front.

Stop, unload the bullet, and lower the muzzle.

The chorus of voices kept the students on edge.

Amidst the terrified gazes of the teachers and students, the armed soldiers who had easily slaughtered their mercenaries walked up to the mysterious young man and respectfully greeted him.

"Conductor."

A small commotion suddenly broke out in the crowd.

Lu Yu's gaze passed over the teacher's shoulder and landed on Su Huan, his eyes filled with complex awe.

They looked to be about the same age as me, but they were already the leaders of a large power.

Not to mention him, even Zhou Qing couldn't help but show a hint of amazement in his eyes.

They knew about the armed train that had been making headlines these past few days, and had even made deals with it. They had speculated about the "train conductor's" identity more than once, and even she had a rigid belief that he should be a ruthless man who was at least over thirty-five years old, who understood human nature, and had a deep understanding of the world.

Or perhaps they are one of the few who know the truth about the apocalypse.

She never expected it to be a young man even younger than her student's student.

Although evolution has made everyone younger, Su Huan's vibrant vitality is impossible to hide.

She subconsciously compared him to her best students. Whether they were politicians in charge of a region, financial market tycoons, or writers who manipulated words to influence people's hearts, those names that she used to be proud of seemed somewhat insignificant in this context.

Because Su Huan only needs a single thought to determine the fate of humanity in a region.

Extreme power and influence are concentrated in him.

To move towards the future, or to sleep forever.

All decisions were made with a single word!

Wen Biao was completely terrified when he saw this scene.

His initial assessment of the armed train was that it could easily defeat the smaller forces in Xinma County, but he believed that if the entire Xinma County united, it could definitely withstand the train.

As a result, a lieutenant ate the horse handler to death.

Wen Biao subconsciously recalled the officer who had grabbed his car door and questioned him, it seemed to be...

Colonel!

The thought of his brush with death made Wen Biao's hands and feet tremble uncontrollably, but the thought of clinging to the Dragon King's leg made him excited again.

If a lieutenant is this fierce, what about the other officers?

Is this the true strength of an organization like the Jinfeng Chamber of Commerce?

As he indulged in his wild imaginings, Wen Biao's mind became increasingly excited.

My body was filled with anticipation amidst fear, and the alternating hot and cold temperatures caused me to break out in a sweat.

Su Huan lingered on Lu Xiao for a moment, nodded slightly, and then turned to look at the woman and the teachers and students.

So what's your answer?

Zhou Qing said earnestly, "I'm willing."

Perhaps hearing a satisfactory answer, Su Huan's lips curled up slightly, a smile like that of a devil weighing the weight of a soul.

"Then I refuse."

"what?"

Wen Biao lost his voice, and the teachers and students of the Ma Engineering Department sat on wax.

Zhou Qing looked puzzled. The young man in front of her really wanted to recruit her; at least she could tell from his attitude at that moment. But why was he refusing her now?

But Zhou Qing still wanted to try his best. "My name is Zhou Qing, and I am the dean of the School of Intelligent Transportation. I specialize in intelligent connected vehicle technology, drone application technology, and rail transit vehicle technology. If you hire me, all eight teachers and forty-six students behind me will work for you. I can't guarantee anything else, but we have extensive experience in mechanical repair. Under these circumstances, you definitely won't find anyone more professional than us..."

Su Huan narrowed his eyes slightly, concealing the glint in them.

Unexpectedly, he really struck gold.

Zhou Qing's words were definitely exaggerated, just like in a job interview, where he would exaggerate and praise the situation.

But the field she was involved in happened to be exactly what he needed.

If these teachers are at the average level she mentioned, then I've made a huge profit this time.

As for the students...

Who would be picky about free gifts?

Su Huan smiled enigmatically, "That was then, and now it's now. You've already rejected my invitation. Now that the situation has changed, you still want the same terms? There's no such thing as a free lunch."

Zhou Qing paused for a moment, thought about it, and realized that it made sense.

If it were an ordinary person, they would worry about how it would look in the future and would accept the offer anyway.

But Su Huan didn't care about things like "getting along," "face," or "discretions." Since he hadn't agreed to something, he could refuse without any burden.

"That……"

"Your military achievements are now a testament to your service as soldiers."

Su Huan said calmly, "After we get back, we'll screen them one by one as if they were prisoners of war. Those who are capable will stay, and those who are not will go back to where they came from."

Among the teachers and students, many students looked pale.

Zhou Qing lowered his head and remained silent, which was taken as an admission of his situation.

Being alive is always better than being dead.

"Alright, let's call it a day."

Having accomplished his main objective for the night, Su Huan left satisfied.

Watching the train conductor walk away, Lu Xiao passed by Tong Zizhan, punched him in the chest, and said fiercely, "You bastard picked it up again. Will your rank be higher than mine when you get back this time?"

Tong Zizhan felt bitter inside, but on the surface he still had to pretend to be nonchalant, blowing smoke rings and saying in a nonchalant manner, "I'll make you run over there then."

"You bastards, back off!"

The teachers, students, and supplies of the School of Mathematics were all escorted back to the train. Originally, they wanted to help collect the corpses at the fortress, but after hearing that they were all combat personnel supported by supplies, they gave up. Even the shelter converted from the School of Mathematics was abandoned.

As darkness fell, off-road vehicles returned fully loaded.

Su Huan then learned about the falsification of supplies. He simply grunted in acknowledgment at the punishment for Hu Shuo, indicating that he understood.

But this soft "hmm" signifies the breaking of the fragile balance in Xinma County and the end of the era of three car teams and two camps.

……

The next day, the 20,000 survivors suddenly discovered that of the "Five Giants" above them, only the Xinma Gang remained.

Combined with Yu Yue's widely publicized statement, the power of the armed train instilled fear in everyone.

But this huge uproar only lasted for half a day.

While the armed train massacre in Singapore and Malaysia was shocking, the first thing every scavenger had to face each day was how to fill their hungry stomachs. Having even half a day to inquire about this was already a blessing. If it weren't for the fear of being killed by the armed train themselves, they wouldn't even have half a day.

Some ambitious individuals also felt that their opportunity had arrived.

In an instant, more than a dozen large and small vehicle fleets were set up throughout Xinma County. Some of them didn't even have cars, only a few small electric scooters.

The armored train's menacing presence terrified some of the scavengers, who fled in droves.

This loss of life was even greater than the number of people killed by the train.

As scavengers fled to the vicinity of Zhijin, news of the armed train's existence spread to surrounding counties and cities. Some called it the fifth major force in Zhijin, while others said the train was only making a temporary stop and that they were ultimately headed for hell...

The train conductor didn't pay attention to these rumors circulating in the wilderness, but Wenbiao was very sensible and compiled the daily news, personally delivering it to the purser Hu Shuo or the secretary Shu Wei every night.

After collecting the debts, the armed train continued its usual routine of trading with scavengers.

However, most of them are transported through Singapore and Malaysia.

The materials they collected were efficient and sincere.

It has the potential to become the leading force in Xinma County.

……

"June 14th, the wind is strong."

"The day before the scavengers' market opened, a massive black storm engulfed us..."

The armed train was parked in the very center of Xinma County, with five- or six-story commercial streets on both sides.

The dark, gaping window howled like a ghost cave in the wind and sand.

Rows of robotic arms and whale bones extended out and were fixed to the ground. Coupled with the terrifying weight of the armed train, even though the black storm blew down several high-rise buildings and the sandstorm buried half of the county, it was still helpless against the train.

After six months of accumulation, the armed train finally ushered in its first wave of evolution.

According to Director Xu's observation, it generally takes between three and five months for an ordinary person to advance to the next level, provided there are sufficient evolutionary resources. The difference mainly lies in the difficulty of the job, basic attributes, and the awakening and training of special abilities.

However, this conclusion only applies after the apocalypse.

The reason why it took He Jie and his group more than a year to become first-order evolved beings was because the world had not changed and the concentration of universal energy in the air was insufficient.

More than twenty people from the armed forces and combat groups were promoted to the first rank, most of whom were veterans captured by the Steel Council.

There is also the factor of the recent preferential treatment of evolutionary resources.

The crew consists of fewer than ten people, and their evolution speed is somewhat related to whether they board the train or not.

The "Firepower Hand" job recipe provided by Gunfire has been replicated by Director Xu and Wan Xing.

Although the quantity of the drugs was small, this was the first batch of complete sets of gene-based drugs independently produced by the train.

If a "Defender" fights and has sufficient basic attributes and vitality, it can steadily become an Evolver.

Wan Xing suspects that the drug has a success rate issue, but the current sample size is too small to test it.

"Firefighter" has been officially included as one of the basic occupations in the train industry.

Some defenders will be directly trained in this direction.

The second occupation included is "mechanical apprentice". Although there is no stable way to get promoted, the "manufacturers" assigned to Yu Jing's side of the manufacturing group have a high chance of becoming this occupation because they are in long-term contact with machinery.

The flight crew also has a fixed job title: Tier 1 "Energy Recharge Expert".

In order to cope with the train's high power consumption, the temporary charging group that Hu Shuo set up was transformed into a formal department, and the leader was the "charging expert" who was captured along with Shu Wei.

Shu Wei's dowry was quite complete.

Every member is an elite drawn from all departments of Black Kite.

The value of this single squad exceeds that of a typical second-tier evolver.

After testing by Professor Ma and others, Zhou Qing and his teacher basically passed the train test, which to some extent solved the problem of insufficient train personnel.

The students' academic level was average, but they had developed some decent practical skills after the apocalypse. Hu Shuo assigned these students to various departments of the flight crew.

A small expansion of staff.

But the total number still does not exceed two thousand.

The armed forces suffered a loss of more than 100 men last time, and they have not yet been replaced.

According to Hu Shuo and others' calculations, given the current state of the armed train, it can only carry a maximum of 3,000 people; any more would disrupt the existing system.

So even though Wen Biao pleaded repeatedly, Su Huan did not budge.

Only a handful of talented children were accepted onto the bus.

They are generally over thirteen years old, have experienced great changes, and are relatively mature.

Because three of the professors at the engineering school were experts in drones, the design of the "Train Hive" proposed by Glasses officially began.

Yu Jing's exoskeleton also began to advance slowly.

……

Car No. 1.

"Although we have a certain reserve of Tier 1 and Tier 2 materials, given the scale of the train, it is difficult to replace them all with Tier 1 materials at once. We can only replace them gradually."

Shu Wei touched her brow with the pen and said.

"This is part of the third phase of the plan, and all the materials used in the vehicle are of Tier 1 or higher."

"Okay, after a vote by the entire train crew, the logo for the armed train has been selected."

"Bring it to me and see."

Su Huan sat up from his chair with great interest.

Although he doesn't care about logos at all, everything is interesting when he's working, except for work itself. For example, when he's typing, even a smudge on his mouse is worth studying.

Shu Wei placed the tablet in front of him, displaying a logo.

"This logo design is based on the iconic shape of an early train locomotive, with a metallic and dark red color scheme, embellished with some sharp elements and rust marks, which makes it quite dynamic and received the most votes."

(Armed train logo)

Su Huan raised an eyebrow. "Isn't this a bit complicated?"

"This is the detailed version; there's also a simplified flat version. And then, based on this logo, we designed the uniform badges for the armed forces and the crew."

Shu Wei swiped through the pictures.

"What's the difference? It's just a different color," Su Huan said speechlessly.

"The rank insignia must be consistent. Red windows represent the armed forces, while colorless windows represent the crew. The horizontal and vertical lines on the front of the vehicle are designed to represent the seventeenth rank."

(Armed Corps Badge)
(Cabin Crew Badge)

Su Huan blinked. "Alright, let's do it this way."

With increased power, everything needs to get back on track.

Fortunately, there are professionals to handle the work, which saves him a lot of trouble.

Shu Wei put away the tablet, hugged it to her chest, and said coldly, "That's all for now. I have a meeting later, and I hope you can approve these documents before I get back."

Su Huan glanced at the ten-centimeter-thick document and his eyelids twitched.

"Are you ordering me around?" he asked, not without hesitation.

Shu Wei sighed, checked the time, and tied her hair up neatly with a pen. "I only have ten minutes."

(It's been a long time since I've gone to bed at 8 or 9 pm. It feels like breaking a taboo. These past two days, the King of Glory season has updated, so I indulged myself a bit.)
(End of this chapter)