Armored train in the apocalypse

Chapter 326 The Mistress's Gift

Everyone's faces immediately lit up with anticipation.

Although everyone knows the train conductor is strong, without a benchmark, no one knows just how strong the train conductor is.

Moreover, Su Huan mostly displayed his berserk energy in battle, rarely taking the initiative, and everyone was curious about the extent of his basic attributes.

Lin Jin's eyes shone brightly.

"The second-tier 'Fighting Expert' should be the most well-rounded ability among the 'Defenders'."

Director Xu emphasized this point.

"But I have a Tier 3 class bonus, so it might not be accurate."

Su Huan gave a reminder and activated his "inner vision" at the same time, instantly seeing the energy flow lines that were even more accurate than his general energy perception.

The displayed numbers are also skyrocketing, rapidly climbing from 3000kg to over 5000kg.

But the speed also slowed down, gradually breaking through 8000kg. Everyone's expression became serious, and the flames in Lin Jin's eyes burned even more fiercely.

His weight just now was only 3100kg, which is almost three times less!
'Is this the train conductor's true ability?'

By the time it stopped, it had reached 8400kg.

He Jie immediately cursed, "Where the hell is this balance?"

Just when everyone thought it was over, Su Huan's psychic energy suddenly surged, and the numbers skyrocketed again, reaching 9000kg!

"what's the situation?"

"My grass!"

He Jie looked at Director Xu in shock, "Isn't this cheating?"

"A skill breakthrough has been achieved."

Su Huan frowned and sat up, his energy surging uncontrollably. The intense energy was even noticeable to He Jie and other evolved beings who were not good at perceiving general energy.

Genes are like a runaway carriage; once the reins are loosened, they can't be stopped.

The reason Su Huan had been suppressing himself was because he had a premonition of this crazy and evolving situation.

After being suppressed by the matriarch, it calmed down for a while, but I didn't expect that a simple test today would trigger a gene riot again after the skill upgrade.

Just as he was racking his brains about how to deal with it, a cool sensation came from his earring and spread throughout his body, putting layers of shackles on the surging energy.

It felt like I had returned to the time when I was advancing to the third rank.

"Hey, your earring has changed color!"

Yu Yue let out a soft gasp.

Everyone looked at the train conductor's earrings. The original gold and silver earrings had been transformed into pure black earrings, absorbing light and hanging quietly on his delicate earlobe, exuding a mysterious quality.

Su Huan removed his earring, and the icy sensation in his body gradually subsided, but his evolutionary rampage was brought to a halt.

"This also seems to be a special material that solidifies energy."

Director Xu asked in surprise.

The train first discovered this material in a flooded area. Su Huan used lightning to bombard crabs for three days, forcibly enchanting a second-tier crab. Later, Yu Jing took it, saying she wanted to make an exoskeleton, but there has been no progress since.

Later, Director Xu conducted small-scale research on this material, but due to its scarcity, progress was slow until recently when he obtained Black Kite's universal energy weapon and created a defensive device that consumed universal energy.

Currently used on the [Defender] power armor.

"Pretty much. There is a pure third-order energy, but it is hidden very deeply."

Su Huan's eyes also showed surprise.

I never expected that this little thing would solve such a big problem. I just don’t know how long this energy can last.

"That's all, let's move on to the next test."

The hiccup passed quickly.

The deck was once again filled with an increasingly enthusiastic atmosphere.

Each test has multiple components; for example, speed tests include sprinting, reaction speed, and limb frequency.

Defense requires testing skin toughness, impact resistance, bone strength, and so on.

Because there were too many people and too many test items, several assistants split up to help everyone with the tests, while Director Xu only took care of the train conductor.

Soon all the data was gathered together.

By the time the most complex energy direction test was completed, it was already past midnight, but no one present was tired. He Jie led a group of men around the strength testing area, sweating profusely. Regardless of whether it was physical or not, they were all having a great time, and every time they broke through the data, it was accompanied by enthusiastic roars.

The women weren't as interested in this. After the test, they brought up a bunch of snacks and started a tea party in a corner.

Tan Yunxi and Vice President Deng were arguing about something, getting a little carried away, with Tan Yunxi's big tail swishing back and forth.

A sliver of moonlight sat quietly in the corner until she was discovered by a woman with purple hair. Looking at the girl in front of her, who resembled a moon goddess, Yin Yinan felt that Li Xinlong didn't seem so appealing anymore.

Li Han had long since lost the nervousness he felt when he first got into the car. He proudly showed off to Huang Hai the new plant he had recently cultivated. The green vines grew taller and taller in his hands as if by magic, quickly reaching a height of more than two meters. A pale yellow flower bloomed at the top, drooping down and radiating a warm glow.

The enormous, glowing flower attracted a small figure. It braced itself on its tail, glanced around furtively, and then crawled into the hollow cavity in the flower's center, as skillfully as if it had returned to its mother's pouch.

Hu Shuo smiled as he looked at everything before him, and put everything he saw into words.

[...Compared to the very beginning of the apocalypse, people prefer to wear pre-apocalyptic clothing—looser, more comfortable, and more stylish—rather than constantly preparing for unpredictable dangers.]

As I was writing this down, Hu looked up and suddenly noticed that Xiao Zhao was standing on a chair, holding a camera.

Hu Shuo walked over, a hint of curiosity in his eyes, and asked, "Where did you get that camera?"

Xiao Zhao came down and said with a smile, "I fixed it myself when I had nothing else to do. Although many functions are no longer working, the most basic functions are still there. Do you want to give it a try?"

Hu Shuo shook his head. "I prefer to record things in words, but photos are great too. Can they be developed?"

"A printer is all you need."

Could I have one of the photos from tonight?

"Of course, I also filmed many of the previous ones."

"You took photos at every party?"

Hu Shuo's eyes lit up slightly.

"You might miss one or two, but you should miss most of them."

Hu Shuo smiled and said, "Thank you for your trouble."

……

Su Huan did not disturb his subordinates' cozy little space. Instead, he and Director Xu sat around Professor Ma, who was holding the basic data that had just been calculated using the supercomputer. Several other newly recruited talents, including Lao Jiang and Wang Duoyu, were also standing nearby.

Unlike the elderly, they need to make a good impression on the train conductor. Director Xu remarked, "This data is quite different from my budget."

Wang Duoyu: "The formula seems correct, but I'm not sure about this. Does anyone have any thoughts?"

Professor Ma, "We're still short-staffed, especially in some basic disciplines, but the formula should be fine. What do you think, conductor?"

Su Huan picked up a stack of papers, frowned, and said, "Why are they all symbols? There isn't a single Chinese character?"

"Ahem, that's the test strip; the data is below."

Turning to the next page, Su Huan glanced at the document and put it down, saying seriously, "Alright, give a brief summary."

Many scholars asked: "...Didn't you understand?"

Of course, they wouldn't dare say that; everyone says the train conductor is particularly vengeful.

Director Xu explained, "Based on data comparison, I found that each type of evolver has a relatively balanced class, such as the 'Fighter' within the 'Defender' class. Then, based on the basic attributes of this class, I performed a comprehensive calculation."

"Then we obtained the data for basic attributes such as level 1 strength, level 1 speed, level 1 defense, etc., and then derived the basic attributes of each person based on this data."

"The conversion method for ranks is the same as that for skill levels."

After his explanation, Su Huan immediately understood the principle behind it.

Then he picked up a report on his basic attributes. "So my attributes are: lv7 Strength, lv8 Speed, lv5 Defense, lv6 Stamina, lv6 Constitution. That means my speed is close to level three, my defense is below level two, and the rest are slightly above level two, just above the standard?"

Director Xu nodded, "According to the conversion of Level 3 to Level 1, that's correct."

"I understand now." Su Huan pointed to the question mark after the total energy amount. "What does this mean?"

Director Xu said helplessly, "That's why I said the budget deviation was too large. The estimated data was too far beyond the target, so I'm not sure if I calculated it wrong."

What conclusion can be drawn from this?

"lv13".

Based on this total number, Su Huan should be a fourth-tier evolver, but not yet a beginner fourth-tier evolver.

This is not an arithmetic sequence; there are huge differences between each level. There may be hundreds of Tier 3 Evolvers between lv12 and lv13.

So Director Xu kept wondering if there was a mistake in the data.

Su Huan pondered for a moment, "I think I've calculated it correctly. My profession isn't a conventional 'energy provider,' but rather a profession focused on maximizing total energy output. This data isn't surprising."

The scholars nodded; this was the only explanation at the moment.

"By the way, didn't we previously speculate that career advancement was related to basic data? Could we use the results of this test as a reference?"

"It's theoretically feasible, but we still need to test it out. We might waste some resources on those Sakura Empire people."

"Director Xu said."

As for the Sakura Empire people he mentioned, they are the Pan-Asian Alliance Evolvers who were packaged by Lin Xi and are currently working in Director Xu's laboratory, contributing to the train's development.

"Once things stabilize a bit more, we'll need to clean up the northern part of Zhijin City. The trains won't lack resources for a while, so let's go all out and get started,"

"Ah."

……

"July 11, no wind."

"With the seasons out of order and the twenty-four solar terms discontinuous, the world is left with only twelve types of natural disasters, which are divided by region."

Whether it was May when it first arrived or July now, the storm zone is either filled with endless sandstorms or scorching sun with only a few extremely short periods of precipitation.

The reason why the dehumidifier can still extract moisture is probably because it is near a flood-prone area, preventing this land from drying out to death.

Because of the universal energy, the zombie corpses decompose extremely slowly. So even if they are left for a long time, the corpses are still lifelike and retain their fresh appearance before death, only their muscles are somewhat withered and their blood is dark and dry.

However, at temperatures of over 30 degrees Celsius, the stench it emits is enough to make an ordinary person fall seriously ill.

Qi Zhenbang adjusted his mask, shouldered his spear and hoe, and headed towards his "battlefield."

As one of the few "outsiders" on the train, he was not treated poorly, and his work standards were all aligned with those of a first-class train attendant.

At first, he was a little unaccustomed to it and worried about the Tieshan refuge and whether he could find the army. Later, after living a regular life of going to work and leaving get off work on time every day for a while, Qi Zhenbang's mentality stabilized.

No more anxiety about the various messy things in the shelter, and even the evolution speed is much faster.

It's already at the final stage.

"Today we're clearing this short street. Avoid alleyways and do not enter any buildings. If anything happens, call for help immediately, understand?"

At a devastated intersection, the group leader of the manufacturing team gave instructions to his men.

Because it took several days, otherwise just explaining all the rules would take half an hour.

Qi Zhenbang felt it was great, even feeling like he was back in the army. Everything was arranged for him, and all he had to do was work against it. Even the job content was similar to when he was on peacekeeping missions.

Moreover, zombies don't lose control of their bladder and bowels before they die, so they don't smell as disgusting.

Bypassing a half-melted Tier 1 Butcher, Qi Zhenbang walked to a pile of corpses. The hideous zombies were mowed down by heavy machine gun fire, forming a strange shape where they were intertwined with each other.

He first took out a spear and poked at the corpses to make sure they were not alive. Then he stabbed each intact corpse hard in the stomach, making sure it went through and released all the remaining gas before proceeding to the next step.

First, two huge black bags were laid out on the ground, and then the whole corpse was dragged onto them.

Don't worry about the broken legs for now.

Some of the corpses that were mowed down by machine gun fire were difficult to drag, but they were relatively intact and could be used to extract a lot of materials, so they needed to be picked up and carried over in a princess carry.

Once the complete body was prepared, they took out shovels and spades and scraped off all the various organs and unknown grime stuck to the ground. In the scorching heat, these things were stuck tighter than glue.

These pieces of trash, along with the disabling limbs, were packed together in another bag.

Someone will come to tow it away soon.

Combat team members in power armor would come to patrol from time to time to prevent any potential dangers.

After a busy morning, the team cleared a distance of several dozen meters, getting close to the large pit ahead.

They've seen many of these giant craters in the past two days, the largest of which is in front of Dawn Square, all left by train conductors.

These kinds of potholes are the most difficult to deal with. They not only have to clean up the battlefield, but also repair the "wounds" left by the war. For example, a large pothole in the middle of the road involves important facilities such as urban wiring and drainage, and all of them must be carefully cleaned.

Otherwise, if we fill it in now, we'll have to dig it up again later, which will be even more troublesome.

The squad leader came over carrying a set of clothes. "Old Qi, take a break and let's go down and clean up this big pit. Let's try to finish it today, otherwise we'll suffer even more when the sand blows in a couple of days."

As the two strongest members of the team, they naturally had to take on more dangerous missions.

Qi Zhenbang took out the water bottle from his waist, took small sips, and squinted at the sky.

"Let's go down now, I feel like it's going to get windy soon."

(End of this chapter)