Armored train in the apocalypse

Chapter 309 The Six Great Cycles
Shu Wei needs to participate in some departmental coordination work in the morning, and Shuang Lu was pulled away by He Jie for training, so today's train conductor is just one person.

The two went downstairs and entered carriage number 3.

A dozen or so logistics crew members were taking down the evolution beast materials hanging on the wall. Various storage boxes, furs, equipment, and knives were piled up in the corridor. Wan Xing, wearing an oatmeal-colored wool cardigan, hid in a chair behind the group, flipping through the round badge in her hand.

"Train conductor, Chief Attendant Deng..."

Upon seeing the two, the flight attendants quickly and respectfully greeted them.

Su Huan seemed to be thinking, "Is this about upgrading the water purifier?"

Vice President Deng replied, "The water circulation system upgrade is currently in the preliminary data measurement stage. You will see the specific plan at the meeting soon."

Several crew members removed the ceiling, revealing the pipes that transport clean water to the water tanks in each carriage. Pipes of various thicknesses were stacked on top of each other, with colorful electrical wires running alongside them, as well as the internal parts of the medicine cabinet lifting system.

To prevent damage to the water purification delivery system, two sets of transmission pipes were installed.

This resulted in a huge waste of space, and coupled with the tight schedule and design flaws, it made later maintenance much more difficult.

Su Huan originally thought these issues would take a year to resolve, but he didn't expect Vice President Deng and others to be so efficient, planning to resolve them all at once during the third phase of renovation.

Although the armed train is no longer essential for his survival, it is an indispensable tool for him to maintain his power and achieve his goals.

His long-term migration pattern meant that he could not increase his power through large-scale expansion.

Only by upgrading and transforming the train repeatedly can we improve its overall strength, keep up with its evolutionary pace, and provide it with a solid support.

The two entered carriage number 9.

Yu Jing's mechanical laboratory has a half-open space, which is specially used to house large mechanical equipment such as gantry cranes. Although the six or seven-meter interior space is a bit cramped, it is sufficient for the research of exoskeletons, which are generally about two meters long.

Today, the mechs and exoskeletons on the guide rails were all piled up along the edge of the wall. In the very center was a long white table, and around the wall were tables that were half a meter wide. At each end were two huge projection screens, projecting cross-sectional diagrams of the armed train, with various colored analytical auxiliary lines crisscrossing across them.

Fifty or sixty scholars in flight attendant uniforms filled all the empty seats, their whispers barely audible amidst the debate raging in the center.

To avoid interrupting the argument, Su Huan didn't even go inside. He stood behind the iron-eating tree archway, trying to conceal his aura as much as possible, and listened to the debate inside with great interest.

"Impossible. The excessive resource consumption is secondary. If we push all the projects forward at the same time, we simply won't have enough personnel. Although we've added quite a few to each studio, it's barely enough to keep the projects running. I need to work on perfecting the professional system, and Yu Jing needs to design combat exoskeletons. Electromagnetic weapons and general-purpose weapons haven't been produced yet..."

The voice was tight and sharp; it was Director Xu refuting what the previous person had said.

Old Jiang, the head of the manufacturing team, chimed in, "Some time ago, the train conductor instructed that all the materials on the train be replaced with those of Tier 1 or higher, mainly the body. The materials required for hundreds of carriages will be enormous, and what will be consumed even more are several fixed materials collected from zombies, which will take up four-fifths of the manufacturing team's future output."

"If the renovation project is too extensive, we won't have enough people in our logistics team."

Su Leiya's alluring voice carried a hint of weariness.

Clearly, the problems from the third phase of renovation have caused him considerable trouble.

The noise in the room subsided into a moment of silence.

"Perhaps we could form an 'engineering team'?"

Xiao Zhao suddenly said.

"It's best not to make any major changes to the system, but I can make a suggestion to the train conductor."

Even nonsense can be rigorous.

Su Huan, standing outside the door, casually pulled away the branch of the iron-eating tree that was reaching for his earring. "That's actually a good suggestion."

Vice President Deng echoed, "Xiao Zhao is a very good young man. Sometimes I'm even jealous of Lao Ma for having such an outstanding student."

"Getting students is easy. We've recruited so many, just pick one."

As Su Huan spoke, he walked into the room.

Vice President Deng quickly caught up and sighed, "They wanted a student, but that kid doesn't seem too interested in learning..."

Su Huan asked in surprise, "Who is it?"

"The young man who just got on the bus is named Liu Yu."

"Om..."

The motor turned, and the heavy metal door slid open.

Everyone in the laboratory felt the train conductor's terrifying presence and quickly turned around.

Su Huan walked straight to the head of the table and said, "We can set up an engineering team under the manufacturing group to be responsible for train engineering, building construction, road repair, and so on. You can decide on the personnel yourself. Just remember to give me the list of supervisors."

"clear."

Su Huan looked around, took the folding chair that Shu Wei handed him, leaned back in the chair, and crossed his legs.

"Tell me, what are the current plans for Phase III, and what difficulties are we facing?"

The eyes of many flight attendants and supervisors swept over Hu Shuo and Shu Wei.

Shu Wei adjusted the tablet, and the projector directly opposite her switched to displaying the content from the tablet.

"Previously, the main goal of the third phase was to create a three-dimensional offensive and defensive network, but after this discussion, we have redefined the goal of the third phase of transformation as systematization."

Su Huan's eyes fell on the cross-sectional diagram of the train on the screen, signaling him to continue.

"Thanks to the supercomputer, the train's AI has been put into operation and is temporarily called Xiao Ai." As she spoke, Shu Wei called out Xiao Ai's name out of thin air, and soon a sweet little girl's voice came from the loudspeaker.

[Whoosh whoosh whoosh! King Ai has arrived! Speak if you have anything to say, otherwise the court is adjourned!]

"laugh--"

Su Huan almost lost his composure.

Looking around, he thought, "Who the hell is so talented?"

Yu Jing had anticipated this, saying, "I recorded an audio source from one of my old phones during the test that day."

I'm going downstairs now, don't bother me.

Xiao Ai's voice was filled with anger.

Su Huan suddenly remembered that when he came last time, Zhou Qing called out "Xiao Ai". At the time, he thought it was an assistant, but it turned out to be AI.

Yu Jingyue said, "Xiao Ai is something we just picked up off the ground, so many functions are not yet complete. Currently, only the mechanical laboratory is linked to Xiao Ai, and even then, it's limited to some simple functions..."

Su Huan asked directly, "Xiao Ai, what are your skills?"

"That depends on what you need," Su Huan thought for a moment, "How about accessing the entire vehicle's surveillance footage?"

【Won't】

"What's the weather like today?"

[That won't work either]

Su Huan had just frowned when Xiao Ai launched her attack.

Why don't you ask me something I know how to do?

Everyone wanted to laugh, but since the person they were talking to was the train conductor, they all forced a straight face.

Suspicion flashed in the eyes of several lab purser chiefs at the same time.

Xiao Ai was created by them; don't they know what level of conversation they're capable of?

They've even started using sarcasm now; this is a bit too intelligent.

Could it be that artificial intelligence in the apocalypse will also evolve?

Su Huan seemed to have discovered something, and said quietly, "Lin Xi?"

Who is Lin Xi?

[Xiao Ai is really going to sleep this time.]

After saying those two sentences, Xiao Ai fell silent.

The room was completely silent.

Only the train conductor's cold laughter could be heard.

"Ha, I can see the artificial intelligence now, but when will the AI ​​be launched?"

Professor Ma was slightly embarrassed. "It will take at least half a month, but it can only reach the level of about 20 years."

Su Huan frowned slightly. "Don't tell me your system is just an artificial idiot."

Shu Wei continued to explain, "Artificial intelligence is only one of the core systems. We also have two other systems. The first system is the original three-dimensional attack and defense network, which integrates all attack and defense capabilities and selectively connects to AI. It can be controlled through three methods: manual operation, remote manual control, and intelligent AI. The second module is the ecological cycle system."

At this point, Shu Wei turned her gaze to a middle-aged man at the end of the table.

The man's face was ravaged by wind and sand, making him look extremely old. His glasses were yellowed, he had a receding hairline, and the crew's uniform, which was the same size as the flight attendants' uniform, made him look thin and bony. Even his energy fluctuations were very weak.

Sensing the gazes of Su Huan and those around him, the man immediately stood up nervously.

"Train conductor..."

Shu Wei introduced, "This is Professor Wang Duoyu, who used to teach industrial design at Zhijin University. He's an expert in modular design, joined the team three days ago, and just became a 'manufacturer' yesterday. He's the one who proposed the ecological cycle system."

Su Huan nodded, indicating that they had met.

"Tell me more about it."

Wang Duoyu was thrilled. Sure enough, the train conductor had noticed him. All his hard work these past few days had paid off.

Clearing his throat, Wang Duoyu began to narrate, pausing a bit at first but becoming more fluent later.

"...The ecological cycle is divided into six specific cycle systems. The first is the atmospheric cycle system. Currently, the train uses three types of systems: machine conversion, ecology, and external atmosphere. At present, it relies most on external exchange. According to my calculations, the first two are not enough to support the current population of the train. This aspect needs to be supplemented. High-oxygen evolution plants can be planted on a large scale, and emergency oxygen supplementation chambers can be set up."

"Secondly, there's the water recycling system. The train's water supply relies entirely on water purifiers and stored water. At the current rate of water consumption, this is far too weak. A water recycling system should be designed, with three types of water tanks—clean, grey, and black—set up according to RV standards. The grey water tank should be recycled, and the black water tank should be specially treated to nourish plants... Some scavengers use dehumidifiers to extract moisture from the air. Although this is energy-intensive, it can provide at least 6 to 10 liters of clean water per hour..."

"Thirdly, there's the food cycle. Trains already have a certain foundation in this area, so there's no need to rush. We should build upon the first two aspects..."

"Fourthly, there's the issue of energy recycling. The daily energy consumption of trains is staggering. Although there are numerous 'energy suppliers,' it's still a drop in the ocean. It's like saving money—it's all about increasing revenue and reducing expenditure. Increasing revenue could involve designing energy harvesting devices on the outside of the train. Reducing expenditure is more complex; we could utilize temperature differences in equipment, the train's kinetic energy, and so on, to collect the energy. While this might not solve a huge problem, it could cover some of the energy consumption. Also, the train's energy supply network should be redesigned; the current waste is far too severe."

"Fifth is waste recycling. Currently, waste recycling for trains is limited to metals, but other waste can also be further utilized."

"Finally, there is the circulation of currency. Currently, the train is open and willing to communicate with the outside world. Relying solely on virtual points will limit this circulation to some extent. Therefore, it would be best to have physical currency, preferably physical resources that can serve as a general equivalent and that only the train can produce, so that the train's influence can truly circulate."

There are six cycles: five specific and one slightly more abstract.

But it wasn't an abstract idea; Su Huan had actually considered the concept of currency, but at that time, the armed trains were neither qualified nor capable of doing so.

With the collapse of the Donghuang economic system and the resulting vacuum in the currency market, this might actually be a good opportunity.

As Wang Duoyu finished speaking, everyone present fell into deep thought, and the quiet atmosphere made him slightly nervous.

"That's a good idea, what do you guys think?"

These six cycles are based on considerations of the entire train ecosystem, taking into account not only inanimate objects but also living people. Su Huan is quite satisfied with them, but he still plans to ask for professional opinions.

Director Xu spoke first, saying, "There are some discrepancies between the actual situation and the design of some equipment manufacturing and personnel allocation. However, overall, the framework of these six cycles is correct."

Yu Jing readily agreed, "I also approve of this framework."

Professor Ma, Vice President Deng, Dean Zhou, and others nodded in agreement.

Seeing that everyone shared the same idea, Su Huan made the decision, "Then the three-phase framework will be filled in according to this, with artificial intelligence as the core, and a three-dimensional attack and defense network and ecological cycle as the pillars. If the three phases are not completed, then the fourth and fifth phases will be completed."

Hu Shuo promptly reminded him, "Train conductor, we still have a shortage of personnel and supplies."

Su Huan recalled the argument before entering the room, "It's evolution material, right?"

Hu nodded, "Especially the zombie materials. This part is the main material for synthesizing various metals. All the materials collected before were processed into standard materials and stored by the manufacturing team, but it only covers one-tenth of the overall transformation, leaving a huge gap."

Black Kite's war reparations could not be offset by zombie materials, as zombies were everywhere, but the opportunity to extort Black Kite was only once.

Therefore, what is needed are rare items, resulting in a large shortage of basic materials required for modification.

It will be difficult to fill the staffing gap.

He had already purged the talents from the four teams once; the rest were in the camp.

He can't exactly go into someone's territory and rob them.

It's not impossible to do it this way.

However, their main forces are all in Zhijin, and if we can't wipe them out all at once, there will be great trouble in the future.

(My first book to reach a million words has been completed! Some readers asked how long it would take to write. The entire book is expected to be around two million words. The ending was conceived before I even started writing, and it's progressing steadily. The plot holes regarding the military's whereabouts and the protagonist's background will be filled in the main text. The epilogue will explain the fates of some characters, and I'll try to give it a proper ending.)
(End of this chapter)