Armed Train in the Apocalypse

Chapter 43: Chapter 42: Liang Kuan Awakens

Su Huan turned his head to look at the streamlined carriage, primarily white, with water-blue gradient stripes. It looked much more futuristic than the wasteland-modified aesthetics of the armed train.

Measuring by eye, the height was just over four meters, but the single carriage was clearly longer than a green train.

He casually tossed out a few high-temperature grenades to give Liang Kuan a moment to catch his breath.

In temperatures over thirty degrees, swinging a shield in battle was evidently a life-risking endeavor.

”Is this an electric train?” Su Huan asked as he tapped on the exterior.

Liang Kuan wiped the sweat off his beard and gasped, ”Hydrogen-powered train, aluminum alloy shell, moisture-proof and waterproof!”

After speaking, he raised his shield again and swung it at the zombie in front.

Hydrogen power—

This was somewhat beyond Su Huan’s expectations, but hearing about the moisture-proof and waterproof features, his eyes lit up.

They would be entering the Acid Rain Zone later; the whole train needed to be prepared to be waterproof and sealed.

”Can you drive it?”

”I can... I know a bit!”

”Without hydrogen fuel, does the train stop working?”

Su Huan’s leisurely inquiry reached his ears.

Liang Kuan shook his increasingly muddled head, pausing for three to five seconds before finding the answer in his memory.

”The train has kinetic energy recovery design, the efficiency...” Liang Kuan swung his shield horizontally, knocking down two zombies, ”Efficiency is said to be between 20% and 40%.”

Liang Kuan walked over to open the train door, which seemed jammed, blocked by a suitcase.

Right hand holding the shield, he used his left to pull open the jammed train door.

Unaware, Su Huan behind him had already focused his entire attention on him.

The moment the train door opened, a dense smell of blood mixed with the sour stench of fermented rotten flesh hit his nose.

An instinctive shiver made his scalp tingle.

His head jerked back slightly.

Claws scraped across his Adam’s apple, the blade-like airflow scratching fine blood beads into his skin.

His pupils suddenly contracted; a Night Demon was hanging upside down on the narrow ceiling, its dagger-like claws embedded in the ceiling lining like steel nails, with eighteen crimson compound eyes splitting in the darkness beneath its flanks.

”Courting death!”

The hairs on the back of Liang Kuan’s neck bristled, a brush with death completely igniting his ferocity.

His sturdy calf stepped on the pedal, and with one leap, he was diving into the train.

Standing at the back, Su Huan withdrew his hand hovering in midair, the corner of his mouth quirking up, as he followed onto the train.

He casually closed the train door behind him.

As soon as he got on, he saw the Night Demon’s claws pierce into Liang Kuan’s left chest, making his brow twitch in shock.

He was about to move forward, instinctively opening his energy sense. Suddenly stopping in his tracks, he thought for a moment; a cold blue current shot out from the side wall, silently striking the Night Demon’s foot.

The Night Demon, moving fluidly, abruptly stiffened.

...

In the 20th carriage of the armed train.

Passengers stood up, silently organizing their belongings.

Every time the train stopped, they had to be ready to disembark for supplies or to run.

No one left their belongings on the train.

Because it was too stuffy, there wasn’t much talking, only a rustling of movement.

”Su Huan just went out,” Scarface said in a low voice as he watched the scene outside.

”Temporarily, but I sense he’ll likely go out again,” the old man said thoughtfully.

In the stifling weather, his suit had been soaked by sweat multiple times, sticky and tight. His once neat, crisp silver hair clung oily to his scalp, losing its initial stately appearance, looking more like a destitute old beggar.

Only the calmness in his eyes revealed a certain unusual presence.

”Mojiang City probably has what he needs, and this trip out is our last chance.”

”What do you mean?”

Scarface’s face twitched.

”He’s known of our existence for a long time. Do you think with Gao Zhe dead, he can still keep us around?”

”Sooner or later, even if Su Huan doesn’t kill us directly, how many more searches can you survive?”

”We’ve all been old passengers; the turnover of new and old people on the train is quite fast, as you know.”

The old man’s gaze was calm, but his words left no room for illusion, shattering Scarface’s ostrich-like delusion.

Scarface’s face turned so dark it seemed like water could drip from it. Glancing at the two underlings beside him, who kept their heads down, he gritted his teeth and asked, ”What should we do?”

...

”Boom boom boom——”

The train was like a battlefield between two beasts; whether it was the sharp claws or the axe-blade-like shield, everything tore the train’s interior to shreds.

The sharp pain in his left shoulder caused blood to burst from Liang Kuan’s eyes.

Yet the flames within his body burned ever hotter, seemingly wanting to melt him.

He tore off the clothes on his body, revealing knotted biceps and a body full of bulging muscle, veins surging like purple snakes coiled around his limbs.

The immense stuffy heat inside the train made him feel like he was trapped in an iron can.

All his senses felt like canned heat, brain bubbling up and boiling.

He had long forgotten Su Huan behind him, even forgotten his reason for coming up, with only one thought in his mind—tear open this damned can!

”Roar——”

The shield’s serrated edge wedged fiercely into the roof’s steel, his already robust chest muscles suddenly swelling two circles, his shoulders a bulwark of battlefield-like sandbags.

Amidst the explosive cracks of tearing muscle fiber, he ripped open the entire roof’s sheet metal.

In the instant Su Huan’s eyelids twitched wildly, the Night Demon’s claws once again pierced through his abdomen.

”Die already!”

Biting down on the blood flowing furiously out, his usually gentle face distorted with ferocity and madness.

He now resembled a skinned ferocious beast, bathed in blood yet more frenzied in the fight, the edge of the shield scraping the iron wall creating a trail of sparks, snapping the Night Demon in half into the seat’s wreckage.

Leather and steel frames burst under the immense pressure.

A massive size 44 boot kicked the Night Demon’s chest hard, making the whole carriage creak and groan.

”Die!”

The right-hand shield flipped over, crashing down fiercely on the Night Demon’s head!

”Boom!”

Thick brain matter sprayed along the shield’s surface, and Liang Kuan instantly felt as though a thousand glass shards had shattered in his blood vessels.

It was like standing in the thaw of the northern spring, the crisp sound of cracking snow and ice everywhere.

”Done.”

Su Huan watched Liang Kuan’s evolution, joy flashing in his eyes.

Beneath his feet, a burst of blue electricity suddenly erupted.

A black shadow beside him immediately stiffened against the wall.

It was yet another Tier One Night Demon.

Su Huan stepped forward, placing his hand on the Night Demon’s head, high heat spewing out, its head instantly incinerated to ashes.

The Night Demon, losing its support, collapsed to the ground.

Su Huan looked at his palm, muttering, ”Thought I couldn’t deal with you, huh?”

...

Standing where he was, Liang Kuan’s muscles were as taut as steel cables, the wound that had been pierced was healing at a visible speed, transforming into a tender red scar.

With a clang, the shield dropped to the ground.

The now clear-headed Liang Kuan looked at his body, which had swollen another two circles. With a slight movement, purple-red veins slithered under his skin like live snakes.

Distractedly raising a hand, he clenched a fist, joints cracking like exploding popcorn.

Looking around at the wrecked carriage and the sky torn open above, with lingering memories, yet disbelief that he had done all this.

As if remembering something, he instinctively turned back to look at Su Huan.

Hesitantly asking, ”Did I... do this?”

Su Huan gave a thumbs up, ”Fierce as a war god.”