Armored train in the apocalypse

Chapter 310 Earthquake
Su Huan narrowed his eyes.

It's difficult to find any more talent among the four leaders, so the only one left is Zhijin.

Needless to say, zombie materials are also available.

Everyone realized the problem, but they all fell silent and looked at Su Huan, who was deep in thought.

Su Huan pondered for a moment and said, "The four major clean-up operations on Zhijin have already begun. There will be a steady stream of materials being transported back to the scavenger market, so there's no need to worry about materials for the time being. We can finalize the third phase of the renovation plan and proceed steadily."

Armed Train is not incapable of clearing out Zhijin, but it has no forces in Zhijin that it needs to support, nor does it intend to set up a station there. Clearing it out would be tantamount to doing a favor for Black Kite.

As for the so-called "Four Greats," compared to the Train and Black Kite, they are no different from scavengers who don't know where their next meal will come from.

Imagine the storm zone as a chessboard, and the area around the gold-embroidered area has already been surrounded by black kites using chess pieces.

Jin Feng, Fu Yuan, Black Star... these small forces are nothing more than isolated pawns standing on someone else's territory. Only when they explore outwards will they discover that they are already surrounded by an impregnable wall of copper and iron built by Black Kite.

If they're lucky, they might manage to get one or two air pockets and barely survive.

If you're unlucky, Black Kite will clear out the area after it has circled the world on the map.

He had little interest in helping Black Kite clear its territory.

Moreover, judging others by one's own standards, Black Kite might stab them in the back. At the same time, facing five million zombies plus Black Kite's sneak attack, even a train is at risk of derailing.

Moreover, beyond Zhijin, there will be even more zombies in Jinfeng Province, so there will never be a shortage of materials.

The most troublesome thing is talent. As the apocalypse intensifies, talent will only become scarcer, and the few remaining will be divided up by far-sighted forces, just like in Zhijin.

……

Seeing that Su Huan was still thinking, Shu Wei stepped forward and spoke.

"Then let's adjourn the meeting for now. I'll summarize everyone's thoughts this afternoon, and then the departments will meet again tonight."

"The chief flight attendants and supervisors of each department have given me a preliminary list of the materials needed for the renovation and upgrade."

"The matter concerning the engineering team will be handled by Chief Flight Attendant Hu, with Lao Jiang assisting."

"The basic materials needed by the manufacturing team will be provided by..."

Shu Wei's gaze searched for a moment and landed on Su Leiya, who was leaning against the wall with her arms crossed. "The procurement work should still be left to your logistics team."

Su Leiya shrugged and agreed without any surprise.

She used to be ridden by her father in Black Kite, and now she has to be ridden on her head on the train.

She had given up hope of getting ahead, so she let it be.

Seeing that Su Huan was still deep in thought, everyone left quickly without saying goodbye.

Everyone has a lot of work to do, so naturally they don't have time to waste here.

"Then what do I do?"

Su Huan yawned lazily.

A thoughtful look flashed in Shu Wei's eyes as she flipped the tablet between her pale fingers. "There are many things to do right now, but not many that require your personal involvement. There will be some personnel transfer approvals tonight, but I hope you will spend more time in the lab and the train carriage."

"why?"

"Nonsense, the flight attendant mentioned an interesting phenomenon: the laboratories and workshops you've visited will see a slight increase in output over the next three days..."

Su Huan was slightly surprised, "My effect is that great?"

"You underestimate your prestige on the train. The lower-level crew members also hope that your merits and achievements will be recognized."

"You can go to the bullet workshop first; it might give you some inspiration for the train currency issue."

"Okay, as long as it's not for charging."

……

"Dang Dang Dang..."

The rhythmic tapping sounds echoed throughout the bullet workshop.

To save space, many automated devices have been dismantled and replaced by manual labor.

The workers here are mainly family members of researchers from various laboratories, and some are also family members of soldiers.

The eldest brother squatted in the corner next to a machine, instructing a thirteen-year-old boy on how to cut a whole copper plate into round copper sheets suitable for making bullet casings.

"You can go slower, but you must concentrate and not let this thing trap your hand, otherwise..." The boss stepped on the pedal, and a hole the size of a coin immediately appeared on the hard brass plate.

The boy pursed his lips and nodded cautiously.

The eldest brother wanted to demonstrate a few more times, but a black shadow suddenly flashed across his eyes. He told the two women next to him to take care of the boy, and then hurriedly walked towards the black shadow.

The train conductor, with his hands in his pockets, moved through the massive machine like a ghost.

The busy flight attendant felt a sudden pang of anxiety, but when she turned around, she couldn't see anything.

Muttering "What the hell?", he continued working on his task.

Su Huan stood next to a basin of freshly pressed bullet casings, casually picked one up and held it between his index finger and thumb. The brass instantly turned a fiery orange-red, slightly transparent, before he tossed it back into the basket, making a soft sizzling sound.

"Conductor."

The eldest brother stood respectfully behind Su Huan and said.

By now, the slightest resentment in the eldest brother's heart about being tricked into getting on the bus has completely disappeared.

As the armed train grew stronger, they became increasingly in awe of Su Huan.

Su Huan casually draped his arm over his boss's shoulder and clicked his tongue in disapproval, saying, "Boss, there's already a deep barrier between us..."

The eldest brother's face showed hesitation and doubt. He moved his lips and clearly said, "It seems to be a 'pathetic thick barrier'."

Su Huan's expression froze. "You actually studied literature?"

The eldest brother's eyes, beneath his thick eyebrows, revealed a hint of cunning and confidence. "I wasn't satisfied with reading gun magazines, and there weren't many books in the car, so I just picked up a few to read. I can also teach the kids a bit while I'm at it."

"You, you even teach children?"

Su Huan's eyes still held a raw, questioning surprise.

'Who's kind enough to entrust their child to you for tutoring?'

The leader pointed to the workshop with his thick fingers, his face full of pride, "That one, that one, and that one, I taught them all. I teach them every day during my break. Of course, I didn't teach them much, I just shared whatever I saw in the book with them."

The two men went into the small cubicle where the boss was making guns.

The leader's smile faded, and he sighed, "They have no parents and nowhere to go after work. Instead of hanging out with those drunkards, they should learn to read with me. If they get a little older and want to go down this path, I'll send them to Professor Ma. It's much better than fighting and killing in the military."

How many children are there in the workshop?

“Many? Of course there are.” The eldest brother swept the gun parts on the bed into a large box and made room for Su Huan. “But I can only take older children. The younger ones can’t understand what I’m saying, they can’t work, and they might hurt the machines…”

“Originally, I only wanted adults, but there was nothing else on the bus for them to do, so today I took in a little one, who is older than Xiao Ba, no, the same age as Xiao Ba, who is thirteen years old this year.”

“His father used to be in the armed forces, but he passed away last time. His mother works as an assistant in the kitchen and doesn’t have time to take care of him anymore. She doesn’t want her child to spend his whole life doing odd jobs in the kitchen, so she came to me for help.”

"But don't underestimate them because they're young. They're all quite obedient and work very efficiently, no less so than adults."

There are many miscellaneous things to discuss, and I can't talk to him about them at the meeting. Today, Su Huan finally came to visit, so the conversation took an unusually long time to begin.

Su Huan sat on the bed, listening silently to his rambling.

Looking at the quiet Su Huan, the eldest brother belatedly realized he felt a little guilty. "Did I say a bit too much?"

Ignoring the pile of smelly clothes on the bed, Su Huan found a comfortable position to lie down, propped his feet up on the wall panel at the far end, and relaxed, saying, "If the apocalypse is over, what are you planning to do?"

Seeing that Su Huan was still willing to talk, the boss was relieved.

"I was thinking that once things are peaceful again, I'd find a place, open a small tavern, fix up some guns, and teach some kids—that would be nice..."

“That’s good,” Su Huan said. “Better than most people who have no dreams.”

"And you, commander?"

Images of a raging fire in the acid rain, an old man with tears streaming down his face and his back bent, and that repeatedly crossed-out title flashed through Su Huan's mind subconsciously...

He grinned and said, "I'm just like the majority."

The leader paused for a moment, as if suddenly remembering something, and took out a box from the drawer and handed it over, "Commander, take a look at this."

Judging from the sound, Su Huan determined that it was a box of bullets.

To his surprise, there were some "weak" general energy fluctuations on it.

Its strength is roughly the same as that of an un-advanced universal energy crystal.

Picking one up casually and fiddling with it in his hand, Su Huan asked with a hint of surprise, "You've incorporated cosmic energy into bullets?"

The leader nodded. "This is being researched at the general-purpose weapon lab. It's currently only in the experimental stage. The bullets incorporating general-purpose energy have a slightly higher initial velocity, but it's still not significantly different from ordinary bullets. They're currently trying to integrate other abilities, but it's very difficult..."

The bullets are standard 7.62mm×51mm rifle cartridges with copper casings.

It looks no different from a regular bullet.

But Su Huan suddenly remembered Shu Wei's reminder.

The train's currency is a points system, but once the points leave the train, they become a bunch of worthless points that cannot be used for transactions.

When it was first established, Su Huan did not intend to create physical currency, as that would only lead to a waste of resources at that stage.

But now that the train wants to expand its influence, physical currency has become a necessity.

This requires careful consideration.

In the past, all the major powers issued their own currencies, but these were only valid within their controlled territories. For example, the currency issued by the Steel Council was not recognized by Deep Blue Data.

Transactions between major powers are conducted using only resources, not the currency issued by any particular power.

In the wilderness, "bullets," "food," "clean water," and "energy crystals" are used as currency, but only for small-scale transactions.

In theory, universal energy crystals should be the most suitable currency.

However, the Pan-Energy Crystal is a high-value item, and major powers will hoard it for their own evolved beings, never allowing it to circulate outside the region.

He also considered using bullets as currency, and the train's points system was also established using bullets as hard currency.

However, problems also arose.

One 9mm bullet equals 0.5 points, which is fine inside the train, but what if the system were opened to the outside world?

Someone with 200,000 bullets could buy most of the items on the train.

The entire points system collapsed.

Therefore, the price of points can be referenced to that of bullets, but they are absolutely not the same.

This bullet, incorporating universal energy, gave Su Huan a glimmer of hope.

If the research on special-function bullets is successful, then these bullets themselves will have "value," and because they are difficult to manufacture, the manufacturing process will be mastered by the train, thus creating the conditions for them to serve as currency.

The problem now is how to give these bullets a value commensurate with the currency.

……

"boom!"

A violent gunshot rang out, and a level one butcher who was banging on a metal box on the street of Zhinan District fell to the ground with a thud.

The horde of corpses on the street roared in a chaotic manner, but were quickly swallowed up by the sandstorm.

The horde of corpses was like a swarm of headless flies, running around aimlessly. Before long, unable to find the attackers, they reverted to their aimless wandering.

In a 20-story residential building directly opposite, Fatty Ke ripped off his night vision goggles and excitedly pulled back the bolt of his gun. "The big shipment is all taken care of. Tell Boss Rong to prepare to clear the area!"

The henchmen beside him quickly ran down the stairs.

Dozens of vehicles roared out of the underground parking garage, smashing through ordinary zombies wandering the intersection, and heading straight for the street where the butcher lay dead.

The moving vehicle attracted the attention of the zombies on the street.

It roared and charged toward the vehicle.

The lead SUV suddenly swerved, its body turning sideways across the street. The dozens of cars behind it split in half, circling around the back from both sides of the street, while the rest all stopped on the spot, forming a temporary defensive position.

Li Xinlong sat in the back seat, loaded the rifle with the newly filled magazine, rolled down the window, and opened fire on the charging zombies. The bullets seemed to be guided by God in his hands, each one piercing the zombie's forehead with precision.

Two per set, not a single one wasted.

With just an assault rifle and two magazines, they easily suppressed the first wave of zombies.

Hearing the commotion, more zombies began to surge towards the Black Star convoy.

Li Xinlong tossed the backpack full of magazines to the woman next to him, "Take the magazines and get out of the car with me!"

After saying that, he kicked open the car door and stood directly on the street, firing at the horde of zombies.

The woman next to him rolled her eyes, gritted her teeth, and followed after him, carrying a backpack full of magazines.

Hearing the noise from the next street, a Night Demon used the sandstorm to conceal itself and silently climbed over from the rooftop.

Sharp claws dug into the concrete wall, and it peered over the entire battlefield from below. Its scarlet eyes quickly locked onto Li Xinlong at the forefront, and without any warning, it pounced down.

Li Xinlong's ears twitched slightly, and he expressionlessly ejected the empty magazine. "Reload!"

"Boom——"

The earth shook violently, the concrete road cracked, and a stream of yellowish-brown sand emerged from the ground at an angle, like an earth dragon, roaring as it charged directly at the first-tier night demon that was swooping down from mid-air.

The two collided with a dull thud.

The soil, which nourishes all things, seemed to come alive, extending tendrils that frantically pulled at the Night Demon.

Faced with this sudden change, the Night Demon let out a struggling roar, but no matter how hard it tried to break free, it sank deeper and deeper into the soil.

The yellowish-brown soil submerged the first-tier Night Demon like flowing water, and its roars immediately ceased.

The bulging ball of soil retracted into the crack in the ground.

Moments later, a stream of dark red blood soaked into the sand on the ground.

(End of this chapter)