Armored train in the apocalypse

Chapter 315 Weaving Gold
Just as He Jie uttered those words, outside the wall, artillery fire raged, and the dense barrage of gunfire and explosions drowned out the howls of the corpses, as if a massacre was taking place outside.

"Bang bang——"

The steel fortifications surrounding Dawn Square opened four gates, and armored personnel carriers carrying artillery roared in, reaping the zombies like wheat.

Even a Tier 1 Butcher is nothing more than a large water bag in the face of the voice of justice.

The second-tier zombies that could have stopped the artillery fire were all held back by Liang Kuan and his group.

This allowed the armored vehicles of the armed forces to move through unmanned terrain with impunity.

A gentle voice rang in the ears of the Black Star group, "Sister Rong, hang in there."

Hearing this voice, Jiang Rong felt a great weight lifted from her heart. She threw He Jie's last gift downstairs and then led everyone toward the stairwell.

At Chenxi Square.

The goat, standing on the roof of the vehicle, roared, "By sergeant squad, the one with the most kills goes back for a promotion and a paycheck! The last-ranked soldier goes back to the recruit camp, the bottom twenty get extra training, and the bottom five get extra training personally by He Jie!"

"The recruit camp is watching from the wall right now; they'll be your officers later!"

The officers' squads, who had initially been in high spirits, felt a chill in their hearts. Looking back, they saw that the second-in-command had already led two hundred new recruits to set up defenses on the ramparts, and the recruits were all eager to see what was going on.

Ordinary soldiers are alright, but the non-commissioned officers have gone completely mad. Although it looks bad when soldiers return to the recruit camp, they are still soldiers and their ranks haven't changed, but for them, it's like they've been stripped of their ranks!
Moreover, the goat doesn't mean it's with this batch of new recruits, but rather with the next batch of new recruits graduating.

By the time he came out, his subordinates' subordinates had all become leaders!
Under this pressure, the seventy-five sergeant squads demonstrated terrifying lethality.

The gains they made along the train journey were vividly displayed in their actions.

Firepower specialists unleash their ammunition, while perception-based commanders coordinate from the center, sniping high-value targets. Melee evolved individuals handle any stragglers that slip through the fire blockade, and medics and mechanical logistics personnel often double as assault troops to supplement firepower.

A basic five-person squad encompasses various combat styles, including close, mid, and long range.

Inside the iron walls of Dawn Square were seventy-five sergeant squads.

With the addition of He Jie and his elite squad, who were in charge of coordinating the overall situation, the battlefield instantly became one-sided.

On the zombie side, regardless of whether they are high-end or low-end, they are completely suppressed.

The only advantage in numbers became a joke with the widespread availability of "firepower" professional drugs on the train.

Li Xinlong witnessed three Tier 1 zombies charging at the defensive line formed by two sergeant squads. The first jumper became an easy target, being aimed at by three nearby heavy sniper rifles. In the end, only one arm "jumped" down, while the rest of his body flew off somewhere unknown.

The gunner didn't waste bullets on the two skull crushers at the front, but instead turned his gun to suppress the ordinary zombies behind, leaving the two skull crushers alone.

Then the "Defenders," who were at the forefront acting as the first line of defense, immediately went to meet them.

At this point, the two skull crushers were no longer facing two squads of "Defenders," but rather a Tier 1 "Defender" leading four melee fighters.

Four people were responsible for holding the enemy back, while the first-tier evolved beings were responsible for killing them.

In the blink of an eye, the heads of the two skull crushers were severed, and the five men returned to their respective squad lines.

The armed corps' combat methods were fully revealed to the Black Star group.

With a main force of less than 400 men, the calm and efficient teamwork drove the zombie horde into a retreat. In contrast, Black Star, who had brought more than 1,000 men and had more than 200 reinforcements, was driven down to just over 400 men.

If the armed train hadn't arrived in time, they would have been wiped out by the zombies.

Looking at the battlefield below, Li Xinlong's expression was complicated. He had thought that even if the train was stronger than their Black Star, it was just like the Jinfeng Chamber of Commerce, and he could catch up with it after a few more battles. The reason he was forced to hand over the people was just to avoid letting other forces reap the benefits. But now it seems that he was completely wrong.

Just like the steadily advancing armed forces below, tanks, artillery, equipment, coordination...

Each of these represents terrifying power.

At its peak, the Black Star convoy had thousands of guns, but its combat effectiveness was not even comparable to that of a militia. Compared to the armed regiments below, it was more like a group of women and children with guns.

It wasn't that he didn't want to train, but rather that he lacked the resources and personnel, and he didn't even have a stable base of operations...

Of the entire convoy, only Chen Shan, one of the Five Tigers, is a veteran. But to train a group of ordinary people into elite soldiers, there's still a galaxy to go!

He simply cannot do the part of off-the-job training.

'Could it be that the armed train itself is composed of military personnel?'

Seeing the tactical details displayed by those soldiers, Li Xinlong couldn't help but feel a jolt in his heart.

"Ah Shan, make sure those who didn't die learn from this, and we'll train using this method from now on!"

The shock in Ashan's eyes had not yet faded. After realizing what was happening, he quickly went to notify the others.

Even without his reminder, all the able-bodied members of the Black Star convoy were craning their necks and watching the armed forces' battle from the windows.

Compared to their agonizing struggles amidst the horde of zombies, the armed corps' battles were the best interpretation of war.

"They have so many Tier 1 Evolvers. I've seen more than a dozen in just a short time. The ones entangled with Tier 2 zombies are the most ridiculous. They're clearly only Tier 1, but they've already killed two Tier 2 zombies!"

"I can't help but sigh," Pang Ke remarked.

“Observe those soldiers, do you notice that each of them has a different combat role?” Yin Yinan pointed to the soldiers below and said, “That melee soldier was injured, but the one who saved him was not the soldier closest to him, but the one behind him with the rifle. He should be their medic.”

"Wait a minute, that's clearly the commander, why did he rush to the front with two pistols?"

Old Yang pointed at Lu Xiao, who was carrying two guns and leading the charge alone.

"Because he was performing the duties of a commander and gunner."

A woman with cat ears and golden eyes suddenly hung upside down from the window, her feet touching the top edge of the window frame. "Make way."

Seeing the gray-green trench coat on the other party, Li Xinlong and the others did not attack rashly, but instead took a step back cautiously.

The meerkat's ears twitched suddenly. It turned its head to look at the woman walking from the other side of the corridor, then jumped down, tucking its fluffy tail under its trench coat. Its brows relaxed. "Long time no see, Sister Rong!"

'It turns out it was hung on by its tail.'

This thought simultaneously crossed the minds of Li Xinlong and the others.

A gentle smile appeared on Jiang Rong's face as if they were reunited after a long separation. "Cat has become so amazing."

Faced with the praise, the meerkat clapped its hands calmly, "It's just a tiny bit of progress, I'm still a long way from becoming a general."

But the swaying tail under her trench coat betrayed her joyful mood.

Jiang Rong smiled but didn't expose her.

The meerkat's golden eyes scanned the crowd before finally settling on Li Xinlong's face with a hint of curiosity. "Sister Rong, is this your son? What's it like having a son this big?" Jiang Rong knew she couldn't hide it any longer, so she reluctantly introduced him, "Yes, Longlong, this is my former colleague... the meerkat."

Li Xinlong's lips twitched, and he forced himself to call out, "Auntie Cat..."

The people around them had strange expressions, their gazes shifting between the three.

To ease his good friend's embarrassment, Fatty Ke grinned and greeted, "Hello, Aunt Cat!"

Since both Master Rong and Fatty Ke had greeted them, all the underlings around them, regardless of their age, could only follow suit and say "Hello, Aunt Cat."

The embarrassed meerkat's tail bristled, and it stiffly suppressed its body's reflexes, saying, "No, no, no, each according to its own, each according to its own!"

"Time for reminiscing is over, Mongoose."

Qu Hang's calm voice suddenly rang in everyone's ears, followed by the metallic sound of a gun bolt being pulled, and with a bang, the head of a second-tier Night Demon outside was smashed.

The meerkat's pupils contracted slightly. "Yes!"

He turned and rolled off, leaving Jiang Rong speechless.

However, everyone's attention was soon drawn to an SUV. Ignoring the surrounding horde of zombies, the SUV cut diagonally across the battlefield and headed straight for the hotel. Armored vehicles in the field escorted it on both sides, blasting a bloody path through the battlefield.

The SUV crushed the half-dead mountain of corpses, driving all the way up to the second floor of the hotel.

The car door opened, and a leg wrapped in black stockings surprised everyone.

A figure, completely out of place in this bloody battlefield, emerged from the car. A sharply tailored suit skirt draped along her waistline, and the back slit of the knee-length pencil skirt was no more than three fingers wide. She held a tactical tablet in her hand and a stack of documents under her arm, her calm eyes scanning the various windows of the hotel.

It was as if she was standing not on a mountain of zombies, but on the gleaming floor of an office building!

This crazy and disconcerting scene left everyone bewildered.

As if she had found her target, the woman jumped straight up to the floor where Li Xinlong and the others were. With a few leaps, she stood on the windowsill that the meerkats had just stepped on, one on top and one on the bottom.

"Secretary Shu..."

Jiang Rong was filled with trepidation. Shu Wei often relayed the train conductor's orders, so to some extent, her presence represented the train conductor.

Shu Wei's icy expression softened slightly when she looked at Jiang Rong. She jumped off the windowsill, and the faint scent of cedar and bitter orange even masked the stench of the corpse downstairs.

"The train is still on its way. We came as soon as we received the information. Hopefully, it will arrive in time."

Jiang Rong nodded gratefully, then asked with some hesitation, "What did the train conductor say?"

Shu Wei's gaze remained calm as she repeated, "I gave her the rank of captain."

A brief, almost indistinct statement, coupled with the booming sounds of artillery fire on the battlefield below, conveyed a suffocatingly powerful sense of oppression.

Although it was just a retelling, Jiang Rong seemed to see the train conductor sitting directly opposite her, his nose as sharp as if carved by a knife, his eyes filled with menacing malice.

No roaring or emotion is needed, because the sound of flesh being torn apart by steel is the best emphasis.

Shu Wei glanced at the time on the tablet, then turned to look at the man with a cigar in his mouth on the iron wall, and calmly said, "According to the train's detection, there is a larger energy fluctuation in the center of Zhijin City. The train will arrive in half an hour."

"Where are the orders?"

He Jie's voice seemed to be right next to me.

"After the support is successful, seal off the battlefield, harvest the Zhijin, and leave no one out, whether it's the Four Greats or zombies."

Upon hearing this order, Li Xinlong and the others gasped in shock.

So arrogant!

So domineering!

It's really... but when you put it in the context of that train conductor who brazenly stopped the four major companies from making a deal, it doesn't seem like much.

"Not a single one can be missed?"

Looking at the Dawn Plaza circle he had marked, He Jie realized his scope was a bit too narrow. Suddenly, he grinned maliciously and roared, "If there's still someone breathing in this circle within fifteen minutes, I'll personally give you guys extra training! Understand?!"

The goat, who had been leisurely observing the battlefield, heard the roar, drew its gun, and charged out with red eyes.

Don't even mention tens of thousands of zombies, even if there were hundreds of thousands, we'd still kill them all, even if it meant squeezing them between our legs!
……

On the other side, the armed train was struggling at a snail's pace, slowly crawling in from the outskirts of Zhijin City.

Although news of the zombie horde has spread, nearly 200,000 scavengers have gathered on the outskirts of Zhijin, and they cannot simply be evacuated.

Moreover, everyone had different information, and with Black Kite's interference, the information became chaotic as it was passed around.

Before they could make a decision, the surging horde of corpses bit the scavengers, making them cry out in pain.

Their equipment was not even comparable to that of the Four Greats. Many of them came to Zhijin City to make a living by carrying homemade cold weapons, thinking they could follow behind the Four Greats and scavenge for garbage. But before they could even pick up any garbage, they heard that the Four Greats had collapsed. Before they could even eat, they were about to be fed to the zombies.

With powerful forces like Jin Feng, Hei Xing, and Tie Jiancheng holding the line, these smaller forces and scavengers lost tens of thousands of people in a single encounter.

Even more unfortunate were the survivors who already lived in the Zhinan District.

Surviving in a city teeming with zombies was already difficult enough, but the zombie horde stirred up by Black Kite drove them all out.

For example, the universities hidden in Zhinan District and the Tiejian City, which was entrenched there, were all fleeing outwards under the pursuit of the zombie horde. The scavengers ran while frantically cursing the Big Four, while the Big Four ran while cursing Black Kite.

Some people stubbornly believed in their hiding experience and chose to stay in place, only to be discovered by high-level zombies.

Six months later, the entire Zhijin area was once again transformed into a purgatory, and everyone felt as if they had returned to the day the apocalypse began.

Natural disasters, man-made calamities, and various human tragedies unfolded one after another.

The strong, muscular man ran in front, followed by a group of teenagers who cried as they ran. The soft-hearted woman turned around and was pushed into the horde of zombies by the children.

In a collapsing era, the first to be eliminated are not the weakest, but the most spirited, the most compassionate, and the most easily moved.

The crimson blood was bathed in the orange glow of the setting sun, and the roars and clamor of the fleeing provided the most vivid music to the scene, making even despair feel tangible.

"Will pairing such a beautiful sunset with such a tragic escape dilute the horror or deepen the despair?"

A colossal steel beast, breathing in a foul stench, steadily moved against the flow of people toward the city bathed in the golden glow of the setting sun. Suddenly, a figure adorned with shimmering gold and silver ornaments asked a question.

(End of this chapter)