Armed Train in the Apocalypse

Chapter 39: Chapter 38: Human Purgatory

Su Huan turned his head to look at Qi Xiaobai, handing him the steel plate in his hand, ”Try and see if you can manipulate this metal.”

Xiaoba focused on the palm-sized steel plate, and after a long while, it slowly floated into the air, transforming into a sphere shape as if being kneaded by large invisible hands.

”Bang.”

The steel ball fell onto the table, Qi Xiaobai shook his head, ”This type of metal is really difficult to control. Compared to ordinary metal, it drains four to five times more of my energy, as if it’s mixed with a lot of impurities.”

Su Huan seemed thoughtful, Qi Xiaobai’s words confirmed a certain suspicion of his.

In his previous life, Master Eight manipulating Tier One Light Armor and ordinary metal showed no difference, at least in his view.

But back then, Master Eight was already a Tier Two professional.

Even among wanderers in the Acid Rain Zone, he was quite renowned.

Perhaps when ”Metal Affinity” evolves to the higher ability ”Metal Control,” one condition is to devour these new materials.

If that’s the case...

If new materials are used to build train armor, then short-term, wild metal manipulators couldn’t shake the train.

However, whether those big companies have manipulators with skills as advanced as Xiaoba, he wasn’t sure.

This was a point of confusion for him.

The apocalypse started just four years ago, so why do these forces already have Tier Five Evolvers?

They also developed many synergistic job systems.

Even if they had ample manpower and resources, the overall environment has changed. Can they achieve so much in just four years...

Evolution is madness; is scientific research madness too?

Taking advantage of the pause in Su Huan’s speech, Yu Yue served her daughter a bowl of wontons.

Yu Jing noticed her mother’s flushed cheeks and was slightly puzzled, ”Mom, what’s wrong?”

Yu Yue sneakily glanced at Su Huan, her face embarrassed as she stuck out her rosy tongue, ”Tried something spicy, my tongue still hurts.”

Yu Jing sighed, ”If you can’t handle spicy, don’t try it. You sit and eat, I’ll get some water.”

As her daughter got up to head to the kitchen, the woman’s face instantly showed a look of panic.

Quickly stopping her, ”No need, no need, I’ll get it myself.”

Though her daughter was smart and had good practical skills, she inexplicably had an explosive talent for cooking. Even when preparing a cold dish, you could hear the celebratory fireworks of pots and pans as if it was New Year’s.

Yu Jing hesitated for a moment, but sat back down in her original spot.

After a while, Liang Kuan came back as well.

Su Huan shared the upcoming plans.

First, complete the first phase of the armed train.

Second, gather as many electronic products as possible to lay the foundation for the upcoming full train monitoring and subsequent modifications.

”Next, you should be prepared to welcome the true apocalypse.”

”Apocalypse? Isn’t it now already?” wondered Yu Jing.

Su Huan’s lips curled up, ”This?”

”It’s just the beginning.”

...

08:20.

The armed train left the outskirts of the water plant, quietly heading towards Mojiang City with a population of 7 million.

Due to the large steel plates and water purifiers, the train’s initial speed was very slow.

After who knows how long, on the tracks outside the water plant, a sound of heavy breathing appeared, and a mutated pig, three meters long, trotted out from the bushes, its massive and corpulent size like a small hill.

Dark red bristles stood up like steel needles, tusks protruded forming bone blades, and its hooves metamorphosed into a metallic texture, each step crunching the ballast stones beneath.

If Su Huan were here, he would recognize it as a Tier One Evolution Beast, the Gluttonous Pig.

Its combat ability is much stronger than a Bloodhound, but it doesn’t have as fierce a nature.

It spends most of its days foraging for food.

The Gluttonous Pig’s nostrils twitched, its tusks prying open a noodle cup to lick the remnants, its throat rumbling with satisfaction.

The enticing aroma of oil dulled its vigilance, making it unaware of the strange sounds on the railway track joints behind it.

A few ghastly white bone spikes tore through the air.

”Crash!”

The Gluttonous Pig reacted quickly, its hind hooves dug into the ground, its huge corpulent body agilely leaping, the metallic hooves colliding with the bone spikes with a muffled sound.

But one bone spike was missed and pierced about ten centimeters into its buttocks.

Before the Gluttonous Pig could wail in pain, a bone whip soared through the air, wrapping around the pig’s body,

With a forceful pull, tufts of mane broke off, and large cracks appeared on the skin, with blood flowing out.

The gluttonous pig was completely enraged; its small eyes turned blood red, fixated on the intruder. It kicked the ground furiously, charging at the opponent like a rampaging tank.

”Boom!”

After the tremors subsided.

A gigantic figure, three meters tall, stood in front of the gluttonous pig. Its neck was absent, and its head sunk into its chest, only a pair of black and red eyes glowed eerily.

One hand was a bone whip entwined around the pig’s body, the other hand was inserted into the wild pig’s eye socket.

”Her...”

The towering figure let out a muffled syllable, flipped over to ride on the pig’s back, and a mass of bone spurs ejected from its knee joints, rotating like a meat grinder as they embedded into the pig’s abdomen.

The gluttonous pig wailed in agony, its waist’s flesh and blood splattering, yet it had no room to struggle.

The tall figure lay on the open flesh, its shoulders slightly spread, revealing a pitch-black human head inside.

It bared its sharp teeth, gnawing savagely at the flesh.

An hour later, large patches of flesh on the ground were evaporated by the high temperature into a substance like blood fat, the color gradually turning dark.

The towering humanoid zombie then lifted its head on the meat mountain.

The pitch-black face was covered with scarlet bloodstains, gazing at the railway extending into the distance, as if its eyes regained some clarity.

”Her... train... bastard!”

...

On the elevated tracks, the ”creak, creak” sound was incessant.

Twisted tracks straightened under some inexplicable force.

The armed train moved forward slowly. Aside from Liang Kuan, who was driving, the others stood on the second-tier observation car, overlooking the once-prosperous city.

Hundreds of cars piled up on the streets, some burned to nothing but charred skeletons, while others contained struggling zombies, and still others held survivors who hadn’t managed to escape.

Desperately trapped in a sea of vehicle wreckage.

On the right side of the tracks, a derailed train pierced through three office buildings in a twisted parabolic arc.

The locomotive plunged into the twenty-seventh floor of the Central Mansion’s concrete load-bearing wall. Sixteen carriages resembled a giant serpent’s skeleton of steel and iron, its glass curtain wall scales shattered, refracting countless points of phosphorescence in the noonday sun.

The glass curtain walls of the skyscrapers on both sides were shattered into pieces, revealing gaping black holes.

By the daylight, one could clearly see the white Corpse Pupae inside.

Vaguely visible, the twisted, curled-up humanoid outlines inside were pulsating violently.

The dense masses of ordinary zombies wandered within, and upon hearing the sound of the train, they rushed toward the windows, shattering the glass and tumbling down like dumplings, forming a mountain of corpses upon impact.

The passengers behind, each with expressions too complex to describe.

Fear, shock, bewilderment...

In various degrees.

The scar-faced man looked at the terrifying scene before him, his expression horrified, ”What is that Su guy trying to do?”

”The whole city is full of zombies now, is he bringing us here to feed them?”

An old man sitting next to him, gazing at the once-glorious city, showed a slight nostalgic expression on his face, ”No, if he wants to go north, this is the fastest route.”

”Mojiang Bridge?”

”Yes, to get to Mojiang Bridge, you must pass through Mojiang City.”

The old man looked solemn.

”How many people were in Mojiang City... Several million, right? Even if only seventy percent turned into zombies, that’s still millions. Is that Su guy insane!”

”If he wants to die, he shouldn’t drag us to die with him!”

The scar-faced man cursed madly, sweat pouring down his face in large beads.

Suddenly, he saw the pale-faced woman next to him. He grabbed her, smeared his sweaty face on her chest, then pushed her away, cursing, ”Filthy woman, such a sour smell! Disgusting!”

But even the little brother beside him could see his fierce appearance concealed his inner fear.

The woman was pushed to the ground, not daring to complain, instead showing a flattering smile as she leaned forward.

Her man was dead, Brother Dog and the tattooed man were dead too. Without relying on the scar-faced man, she couldn’t even scrape together the fare for the next trip.

The old man saw the woman being humiliated silently, sighed inwardly.

Ever since Gao Zhe died, there was no one to hold the scar-faced man in check.

Now, it was only because the time had been short, and his brain still somewhat useful, that the other showed surface respect.

His time was running out.

In the apocalypse, no one would waste precious food supporting a useless old man. Only by controlling the train and relying on the abundant resources could he survive.

Perhaps Mojiang City would be his last chance.