Apocalypse: the Most Ruthless Person

”Alright, Godmother, Uncle Zhuzi, you can let go now.”

Pang Dakun half-bodied into the maintenance platform, easily brought up the ladder, and used the pre-modified hook to secure it firmly at the edge, setting up a convenient staircase for going up and down.

The ladder was less than half a meter off the ground, so even Wu Lue, who was the least skilled in body techniques, could easily climb up.

”Master Jia, you’ll stay behind to watch over the Fire-breathing Zombie.”

Zhang Su instructed Jia Shiqin to stay below to guard the fire-breathing zombie, while the rest gradually climbed onto the railway bridge. Although the altitude was just ten meters higher, the surroundings felt entirely different, with a refreshing sense of openness.

It seemed like everyone had a mutual understanding to deliberately avoid glancing at the carriage windows.

”Eh?”

Qi Xiaoshuai curiously looked at the ground: ”Why are there no crushed stones? Shouldn’t stones be used to press down the tracks?”

”This is called a ballastless track, more advanced, with better overall rigidity and higher stability, and lower maintenance costs. In short, it has many advantages, but the cost is relatively high, and drainage is average. However, our area has less rain, so it’s very suitable for building such ballastless tracks.”

Pan Guoliang explained, sounding somewhat professional.

After learning what a ballastless track was, everyone seemed mentally prepared and slowly turned their heads to gaze at the windows.

Before them was the fifth carriage, its opaque glass smeared with dried slime. Even though the sky outside was overcast, it was difficult for anyone to see inside, except for one person.

Through his sunglasses and the black glass, Zhang Su could still see the situation inside the carriage quite clearly.

Ju Mumio was secretly observing Zhang Su and noticed his deeply furrowed brows outside the sunglasses, knowing in her heart that the situation inside the carriage must be bad.

Of course, it was bad. The current state inside the carriage was beyond mere words like ”miserable,” with frozen limbs and viscera strewn everywhere, though not well-preserved.

At the onset of the disaster, the temperature was colder than in previous years, but overall it wasn’t cold. It was only after the subsequent drastic drop in temperature that it hit below zero. Therefore, the human remains in the carriages that weren’t consumed by zombies had already decayed!

The low temperature was like a camera, freezing the scene inside the carriage at a particularly tragic moment. Yet, for some unknown reason, the decaying bodies had not sprouted disgusting maggots.

On the seats, the backrests, the dining tables, the walls...

A truly expanded palette, with various colors washed pale over four or five months.

The incomplete ones were humans, and the complete ones were zombies, though there were also incomplete zombies...

The zombies had varied forms, but one common feature was that they seemed to be in a suspended state, maintaining a rigid posture without moving, like a hyper-realistic horror house without power, waiting for an encounter.

The brave Zhao Dezhu and Lu Yubo pressed their eyes to the glass, peering inside, yet still, they did not disturb the stationary zombies.

The skin of these zombies was drier and more wrinkled than zombies usually seen. They looked more like mummies than zombies.

”Whoa, damn… big brother, did you use to enjoy riding on high-speed trains?”

Zhao Dezhu seemed to have seen inside the carriage, asked an oddly irrelevant question with a twisted expression.

”Someone passed through the railway!”

Zhou Haotian chimed in from the side.

”Hmm? What do you mean?”

Zhang Su looked at Zhou Haotian, who was examining the body of the train.

”Brother Su, look, these fingerprints and smudges are clearly made later...”

Upon hearing this, everyone gathered beside Zhou Haotian, and indeed saw some relatively new marks. Compared to the thick dust around, the thin layer of dust indicated they hadn’t been there long.

”It should be someone who previously moved along the railway line to other places. I must say, it’s also a pretty good method.”

Zhang Su carefully surveyed the traces, feeling that they were leftover from about one to two months ago.

”The area along the railway is relatively quiet, with fewer zombies. Hmm... I wonder if anyone else will come through on the railway.”

Zheng Xinyu gazed at the fingerprints left on the car body, the prints faintly visible, and as a fellow survivor, she felt deeply emotional.

”Whether or not anyone comes, let’s focus on our tasks!”

Zhang Su beckoned to everyone and resumed observing the situation inside the carriage.

”Brother Su, why aren’t these zombies moving at all? Is it because they haven’t had nutrients for so long and died?”

Wang Xin shaded his eyes with his hands as he peered inside the carriage.

After some time for a buffer, everyone also stepped forward to look inside the carriage. Even with their robust mental state honed over more than a hundred days in the apocalypse, they couldn’t help but gasp upon seeing the grisly state inside.

”It would be nice if they were truly dead, but I don’t think that’s the case!”

Zhang Su raised his hand, signaling everyone to step back. Then he took the fire axe from Zhao Dezhu and swung it at the metal part of the train.

Thud!

A dull sound echoed, prompting the alert group to immediately scan their surroundings. The sound seemed minor but could carry a great distance.

”Come on, everyone, take a look!”

Zhang Su, holding the fire axe, pointed at the inside of the carriage.

Curiosity piqued as nothing moved inside the carriage. They couldn’t see it, but Zhang Su could see that those motionless zombies, feeling the vibrations and sounds, like machines sealed away for long, began jittering slightly, gradually regaining joint mobility, and then striving to stand!

By the time everyone pressed against the windows, they saw the zombies shuffling awkwardly, with twisted postures, moving towards the window...

Thud!

Pop pop, smack smack!

In less than half a minute, a pile of zombies crowded against the southern window of carriage No. 5, pounding forcefully. The double rows of teeth appearing exceptionally sharp against their withered lips.

”Crap...”

Zhao Dezhu swallowed hard, turning to Zhang Su: ”Damn, brother, what the hell do we do with this? If it doesn’t work, we should blow up the carriage, right?”

”No way!”

Wu Lue immediately vetoed upon hearing this: ”Our primary task is to dismantle various equipment on the train. Blowing it up would be a waste of explosives... better to leave it alone.”

Zhao Dezhu glared at Wu Lue, saying: ”Can’t you take a joke? Of course, I know we can’t blow it up... but how do we get in?”

Zhang Su looked towards Pang Dakun: ”Can that door be opened?”

Pang Dakun walked to the door, looked down, and felt around. Turning back, he showed everyone a strange smile: ”This thing... can only be forced open violently.”

Everyone felt dejected upon hearing this. Qi Xiaoshuai teased: ”Dakun, you’re still not skilled enough. Opening residential doors isn’t hard. Never mind high-speed trains; in the future, you might have to open a warship’s hatch!”

”This high-speed train has been stopped here for months; it’s long out of power. To properly open this door, it must be operated manually from the inside. From the outside, you’d need to use brute force.”

Pan Guoliang chimed in to help explain.

Unexpectedly, Pang Dakun said earnestly: ”Xiaoshuai is right. I am indeed not skilled enough. To open such a door, you can’t use conventional means. It requires more professional lock-picking equipment and a laptop, something I’m not too good at.”

When it came to professional matters, Pang Dakun seemed like a different person—meticulous and serious.

”So how do we get into this metal can? Should we break a window? But going in wouldn’t help with so many zombies—it’s too dangerous.”

”You’re really dumb. We could get the zombies to move aside from outside and have people enter from the other side...”

”Hey, that’s right. No, can we blast the door and have the zombies fall off the bridge, then kill them, and this way...”

”Shh!”

While everyone was discussing how to access the carriage to clear the zombies, Zhang Su suddenly pressed his palm down, motioning for everyone to quiet down.

”Someone’s coming!”

All voices immediately ceased, and everyone grabbed their weapons and crouched low. The two temporary members followed suit, their hearts in their throats, eyes alertly scanning all around. Alas, the surroundings remained calm and still.