Armored train in the apocalypse

Chapter 334 Sweeping Away the Trap
Armed train, recruit camp.

The chaos was immediately noticed by the sentries on duty and quickly reported.

Although the recruits were exhausted from the daytime training, their post-apocalyptic vigilance instantly snapped them out of their daze, and they rushed out of their rooms and into the corridor.

"Holy crap, zombies have invaded the city?"

Bomb jumped out of bed, pulled up his pants, rushed to the window, and looked out. He saw someone rushing downstairs, calling for Xiao Hong and Da'e, while hurriedly trying to get out.

Xiao Hong was also awakened by the disturbance, but he did not rush out immediately. Instead, he subconsciously looked towards Shop No. 1.

A young man of about seventeen years old lay quietly on the bed.

He was breathing steadily and didn't open his eyes even though it was a chaotic mess outside.

This was personally brought in by the second brother. When he arrived, he was still wearing the standard trench coat of the armed forces, and he hadn't even taken off his gun. It's currently hanging above the bed.

Xiao Hong tentatively asked, "It seems something's happened outside. Shouldn't we go out?"

Liu Zi asked with his eyes closed, "Has the assembly whistle been blown?"

The goose, who was putting on its shoes to go outside, slowed down and said suspiciously, "No, but it's so chaotic outside, we..."

"What are the three rules about sleeping that I taught you today?"

"At 23:30, the lights will be turned off. Except for special training and combat readiness duty, all soldiers must go to bed."

"All personnel must assemble within three minutes of hearing the assembly call."

"You must fall asleep."

Because there were only three rules each day, Xiao Hong recited them very clearly.

At this point, he seemed to vaguely understand something.

But the goose was still puzzled. "I know this is military policy, but this is the end of the world. What if zombies really come in? Are we just going to lie there and get eaten?"

"That's something for officers to consider. You're a soldier, don't overthink it."

Liu Zi gave a soft snort.

No sooner had he finished speaking than a sound of wailing and howling came from outside.

The most jarring sound came from the bomb's crackling curses, which then turned into muffled thuds.

The roar of the second-in-command, the head instructor of the recruit camp, echoed in the corridor.

"Without orders, who the hell let you move?"

"Don't you want to sleep, huh?"

"Write down all the people who went out, we'll practice extra tonight!"

"If there are more than three students in the same dormitory, the whole class will have to practice extra!"

Upon hearing this sound, the goose stopped asking questions and scrambled back to its bed, secretly relieved that there were only four people living in their dormitory for the time being, meaning it wouldn't have to do extra practice tomorrow.

Not long after the two lay down, the door was pushed open.

Xiao Hong squinted slightly, glancing at the corridor out of the corner of his eye. Rows of new recruits were squatting in the corridor, while instructors with rubber rollers patrolled back and forth. The second brother even went straight into their dormitory.

The second brother saw the three people lying neatly on the bed. He walked to the front of Liu Zi's bed, tapped the bed with a short stick, and suddenly a mischievous look appeared on his tense face. "You've learned the rules the longest, but you remember them the best."

Liu Zi remained silent, as if he hadn't heard anything.

The second brother said seriously, "Stop pretending, get up and help me with something."

Liu Zi reluctantly opened his eyes. "Chief Instructor, I'm a new recruit now."

The second brother's face turned cold, and he slapped the short stick twice in his palm, the meaning of which was self-evident.

My rubber rollers are specifically for picking off new recruits!
Liu Zi could only sit up and say with a fawning smile, "Second Brother, please speak."

The second brother nodded in satisfaction, "Most of the instructors in the camp are on the vehicle. There are two hundred veterans, but they lack experience. I also need to take care of the new recruits here. You take the veterans to set up the defenses later."

Liu Zi glanced out the window but didn't see the blue light of the railgun or hear the sound of anti-aircraft fire.

It seems like nothing serious, just routine security to prevent new recruits from rioting.

During this period, more than two thousand new recruits passed the initial screening in the recruit camp, and they all only underwent simple class-based training without long-term training. If things get chaotic, something bad will definitely happen.

"Yes!"

Liu Zi lightly tapped his left shoulder in salute.

After the second brother left, I got up and put on my gear. Fortunately, I had slept in my clothes, so it didn't take long to get dressed.

The goose on the bed asked, "Then we..."

"You guys? Learn how to sleep first, you'll have plenty of opportunities to thank this skill later."

Xiao Hong squinted slightly, and against the light of the corridor, he could only see the sharp silhouette of Liu Zi's trench coat.

The seventeen-year-old boy exuded a murderous aura.

……

Most of the armed forces were deployed on the surrounding iron walls to guard against the zombie horde to the north and the night demons and jumpers that occasionally climbed up.

Compared to the beetles underground, these zombies are the real danger.

At least two senior officers should be in each squad to rotate at the same time, ensuring that they can quickly deal with the appearance of Tier 2 zombies and prevent the defense line from being easily breached.

Today, the garrison is composed of Qu Hang and Tong Zizhan's squads.

Lu Xiao and another squad of officers of the same rank were on standby, ready to support the two squads on the defensive line.

The combat team's mission is to guard the train; these people cannot move.

Therefore, He Jie only temporarily dispatched five sergeant squads to the square.

……

Morning Light Square, City Hall.

Li Xinlong, who was burning the midnight oil to handle government affairs, suddenly heard a loud bang. He stood up abruptly and realized that he was no longer the leader of a small motorcade when he felt the panicked gazes of the people around him.

So he sat back down and calmly arranged for people to contact the managers of the three bureaus and two institutes to mobilize the city guards according to the emergency plan.

By the way, I sent Fatty Ke with two trusted men to find out what was going on.

He suppressed his anxiety and handled government affairs in the city hall until everyone who could come had arrived, before rushing to the scene of the incident, which was not far from him.

……

The sound of panting and wheezing came from the sandstorm.

The tense sentry immediately turned his gun around, and only after hearing the command shouted from the other side did his expression relax a little.

A bright spotlight swept across the area, and a coyote rider appeared in the sandstorm.

Upon seeing the iconic coyote, the sentries exchanged a knowing glance. One of them immediately stepped forward and said urgently, "Director Xie, a large hole suddenly collapsed in front of the square. Insects crawled out and killed many people. Deputy Captain Chen Shan has already gone there."

The one who arrived riding a coyote was none other than Old Xie, who had recently been appointed as the director of the Food Production Bureau. He was in charge of the food production of the entire city, and his status was even higher than when he was the second-in-command in Jinfeng.

Upon hearing those words, cold sweat poured down Old Xie's forehead, so much so that even sand couldn't stay on it. A gust of wind made his entire forehead feel chilly.

Besides managing food production, another important thing he does now is to control the giant rock beetles underground!
Thinking about the consequences of the beetles sweeping across the city, Lao Xie felt like he was already half dead.

But in order to save his partner, he rushed to the scene.

The sentry quickly stepped aside to make way for the hyena and the two first-tier giant rock beetles.

When Lao Xie arrived, he found that the ground had been covered by layers of loess. From the edge of the loess, it could be seen that the entire sinkhole was more than ten meters in diameter. The surrounding market sheds, which looked like ruins, had been cleared away by the evolved people.

Surrounded by a circle of temporary city guards, inside was Li Xinlong leading a group of station management personnel.

President Jin Feng, who works as an administrator at the Academy of Sciences, was also among them. Directly in front of the tense crowd was a figure wearing a casual shirt, with long hair wildly draped behind him, slightly bristling from the wind and sand, like a lion's mane.

The train conductor in the crowd suddenly turned his head and waved to Lao Xie.

When he arrived, Lao Xie made many guesses in his mind. Although he knew that the train conductor would not kill him for such a trivial matter, his heart was still pounding like a drum when he actually faced this young man who was many generations younger than him.

I have no idea!

The hyenas and beetles dared not approach the crowd, only standing on the edge watching Lao Xie walk by.

"Conductor."

Old Xie's voice lacked the confidence it had during the allocation meeting.

Su Huan looked him over thoughtfully for a moment, then, without making things difficult, asked directly, "What's going on?"

Looking at the surging sand, Old Xie suddenly noticed that it was mixed with a lot of white rice grains. He was completely puzzled and could only tell the truth, "The giant rock beetle swarm has been quite stable these past two days. I almost managed to sneak into their lair today..."

"found it?"

"We have a general area, but it's just a few second-tier giant rock beetles."

"No queen insect or anything?"

"From what I understand, although the swarms are social creatures, they don't have a king. Their movement and migration are all foraging behaviors; they aren't commanded to attack any particular place. Besides, there shouldn't be anything here that would attract them..."

Old Xie's tension subsided somewhat, as if he had grasped the key point.

But after glancing at the people around him, he didn't say the rest.

Su Huan looked across at Yu Yue, who was carrying a sniper rifle and walking gracefully towards him, giving him a slight nod.

“That’s right. These beetles came here temporarily, rather than building their nests here earlier, and I also heard something else…”

As Su Huan listened to Yu Yue's report, his gaze swept over Li Xinlong beside him. "Now that you're the mayor, what do you think should be done?"

Feeling the gazes focused on him, Li Xinlong felt immense pressure for the first time.

When he was in charge of his brothers, all he needed to know was where to find food.

When managing dozens of men, he needs to know how to survive.

When managing hundreds of people, he needs to know how to lead his subordinates to gain more benefits.

When managing two thousand people, he needs to have a goal, anything at all, as long as he has a goal to lead the two thousand people forward.

But when the number jumped from two thousand to one hundred thousand, Li Xinlong was stunned.

So he worked tirelessly every day, burning the midnight oil to handle government affairs, wanting to do better and to fulfill the somewhat clichéd dream that he had blurted out on the roof of the car.

Li Xinlong took a deep breath, not looking at anyone, and calmly said, "First, deal with the beetles here, then take stock of the losses, tally the casualties, reassure the public, and then strengthen security..."

He offered the most appropriate solution he could think of.

But before I could finish speaking, I felt a hand land on my shoulder.

He looked up hesitantly and saw Su Huan say with a serious expression, "'Governance' doesn't need to be so complicated; a thorough crackdown is enough."

While Li Xinlong was in a daze, Su Huan's gaze passed over his shoulder to the calm group of managers behind him, and a smile appeared on his lips, revealing his neat and even teeth.

"Open it."

Chen Shan, standing in the crowd, didn't ask why. With a wave of his hand, the sand and gravel filling the pit flowed out like water, piling up on both sides and revealing a group of giant rock beetles struggling to dig outwards.

The largest one is over two meters long, about the same length as an electric scooter.

Without the restraint of the sand and soil from Chenshan, the beetles instantly went berserk, frantically crawling towards the pit.

What greeted them was a bright arc of electricity.

The initial arc of electricity resembled a small crack in the sky, which then transformed into a slightly twisted longsword, and in the blink of an eye, it became the Sword of Damocles, suspended in the sky!

Li Xinlong's face turned deathly pale under the light of the Thunder Sword.

The longsword slowly descended, its blade, composed of high-energy lightning, plunging the surrounding space into darkness, occasionally distorting.

The swarm of insects below made a popping sound, but whether it was the unranked beetle or the second-ranked beetle, they were all like prisoners who had been confined to a designated area, watching helplessly as the lightning sword pierced into the deep pit.

The surrounding sand instantly turned into bright red glass, and flames suddenly appeared in the pit, but gradually died down under the control of the lightning, leaving only pure lightning plasma and the longsword slowly sinking in.

Feeling the goosebumps and the warnings from their internal systems, some people couldn't bear it and closed their eyes, but the thunder sword and the sinister smile were already imprinted in everyone's visual center, replaying over and over again!

Even after the lightning dissipated, everyone still felt the Thunder Sword standing in the pit.

"understand?"

Su Huan asked.

Li Xinlong could sense the deeper meaning in Su Huan's tone, but he didn't know how to respond.

"It seems we still don't know."

Su Huan said calmly, "He Jie, go help him. The standards are clear, right?"

Jason He's cold gaze swept over the numerous managers. Yu Yue's report hadn't been kept from him, and upon hearing this, his murderous intent was revealed. "Yes!"

Immediately, some people in the crowd looked grim.

……

"August 1st, the wind was clear."

"What constitutes the establishment of a city?"

"Sufficient population?"

"A sound system?"

"Sufficient guarantees?"

"..."

On a rare clear day, Su Huan leaned back on the orange cat sofa in the dining car, twirling his pen as he recorded lines of text in the train conductor's log.

It's less of a log and more of the train conductor's thoughts at a particular moment.

Sitting directly opposite, Li Xinlong stared intently at the coffee on the coffee table, his eyes fixed straight ahead.

"That shop had over ten tons of rice piled up, mainly for retail sale to city residents. They brought in the giant rock beetles to destroy the grain and cause panic in the market..."

"Once Black Star loses the train's trust, he will take my place."

Li Xinlong said with a gloomy expression.

"Were they all killed?"

Su Huan suddenly asked.

"The leaders of the three factions, along with their subordinates, were all killed."

"Were they all killed?"

Su Huan looked into his eyes and asked again.

Li Xinlong hesitated and said, "Besides the women and children, there were more than 600 of them... who were taken away by Colonel He."

Su Huan said calmly, "That means killing them all."

"……Why?"

"You are the mayor, and you should be the rule-maker, not the rule-keeper. As long as they know that your breaking the rules will cause them great harm, they will spontaneously abide by and uphold the rules."

Watching the train conductor put down his pen and paper and begin to savor his coffee, Li Xinlong was deeply moved. He felt as if he understood something, but it was as if he hadn't grasped anything at all.

(End of this chapter)