Armed Train in the Apocalypse

Chapter 76: Chapter 75: Make Your Body Believe You’re About to Die

As Su Huan walked into the dining car, the entire car seemed to awaken.

The lights hidden on the ceiling softly lit up, and all the electric equipment buzzed to life with a welcoming ticking sound.

Su Huan pulled up his sleeves on both sides and placed the chubby sweet and spicy scallions to the side.

He pulled out a kitchen knife, laid it flat, and looked at both sides.

Yu Yue had cleaned it very well, with no residual food juice, but Su Huan habitually wiped it with high heat to prevent any taste contamination.

That would be disrespectful to the food.

He cut the sweet and spicy scallions vertically in half, setting one aside and chopping the other into fine strips with a crunch.

Outside workers lifted the last iron plate onto the car and closed the door.

”Screech—”

The knife rasped against the wooden chopping board, and the sweet and spicy scallions were placed into a bowl.

From the cabinet, he found a small piece of hotpot base, pressing it into the pot with a spatula, the sizzling oil crackling and popping.

Little footsteps approached from the corridor.

The hotpot base was heated by the oil, releasing a rich spicy aroma with added dried peppercorns and chilies, then the chopped scallions were poured into the pot.

The strong spicy aroma burst forth instantly.

The range hood automatically started, its low buzz overpowering the sizzling sounds.

He took out a carton of milk from the fridge, sniffing it at the nose.

Yu Yue stood in the dining car, staring blankly at the man behind the cabinet, quickly stepping forward, ”Let me do it...”

The creamy white milk was poured into the pot, colliding with the red butter.

”Sizzle...”

The bright red spicy oil instantly transformed into circular islands floating in a milky sea.

Su Huan tilted his head, ”What?”

Yu Yue came to his senses, using his ability to gather his voice into a line, drilling into Su Huan’s ear.

”I said, let me do it.”

Su Huan shook his head, ”Go cut some snake meat, and also some of today’s wolf meat, and get two cans of the vegetable cans we just had.”

Then he placed the hotpot base on the fire to simmer and went to prepare the dipping sauce himself.

After all, the wolf meat wasn’t bled, so it’s quite gamey.

A heavier flavored base can help balance it out.

When Yu Jing and others came in, they saw Su Huan and Yu Yue busying themselves there.

Not at all reserved, she simply sat at the table waiting for the meal to start.

Liang Kuan was the same; he had eaten Su Huan’s cooking plenty of times. Though Yu Yue’s dishes were varied, he preferred the smoky flavor in Su Huan’s meals.

The oil, that salt, somehow transformed in his hands.

Xiaoba, looking at Su Huan cooking, was a bit surprised, wanting to help but feeling powerless, so he resorted to using his ability to help clean up the dishes cast aside by the two.

The small dining car instantly turned into a magical kitchen.

Various knives and forks flew around in the air.

Lao San and Huang Sea were a bit reserved, helping to grab bowls and chopsticks.

Lao San’s two brothers and Huang Sea’s assistant didn’t come; they were eating with the service crew in the back.

Two large spoons of sesame paste, topped with finely chopped sweet and spicy scallions, didn’t need sugar, added sesame oil, vinegar, and soy sauce, stirred until it flowed slowly off the chopsticks, and Su Huan carried his secret sauce out.

”You can mix the sauce yourselves.”

He just liked the feeling of cooking, not being a chef serving others.

Yu Yue also placed the cut beast meat on the table.

The already translucent white snake meat was sliced thin as cicada wings, picked up by chopsticks, and the meat, visible through to the person opposite, dropped into the pot, curling up as soon as it was scalded.

Coated in sauce and tossed into the mouth, even the train conductor’s annoyance at being ordered around by Yu Jing all afternoon dissipated significantly.

He took the ice-cold Coke handed to him by Yu Yue and drank it down in one gulp.

In the apocalypse, food is the most direct demonstration of power.

”Eat more, although the pan-energy inside the Evolution Beast has dissipated, eating more helps improve physical condition.” Su Huan glanced at Lao San and the others as he spoke.

With Su Huan setting the tone, Huang Sea and Lao San exchanged a few words, and the atmosphere slowly opened up.

The expressions on everyone’s faces relaxed.

Even though the Mojiang Convoy and the Fearsome Wolves died fiercely, the security of the armed train brought considerable confidence to everyone.

No more of the previous tense feeling.

Midway through the meal, they talked about the issue of evolution, and Su Huan simply took out two ordinary Pan-energy Crystals and tossed them to the two.

Lao San quickly put down his chopsticks to catch the crystals.

He widened his eyes, looking at them for a long time, ”How do you use these? Eat them raw?”

Su Huan took a bite of the green bamboo that Yu Yue placed in his bowl, thought for a moment, and said, ”Well, it’s not impossible. The Pan-energy Crystal only needs to be near your body to use, and the success rate is high, over ninety percent.”

’At least, I’ve never seen anyone mutate from absorbing a Pan-energy Crystal.’

Su Huan mentally added.

Wan Xing and the others had become accustomed to Su Huan stating extremely accurate information out of thin air, without a hint of surprise.

”Doesn’t that mean becoming an Evolver is quite easy?”

Yu Jing suddenly looked up and asked, a bit of spicy oil on her thin lips, like a layer of lip glaze, paired with her faint expression, gave her a seductive appearance.

”Becoming an Evolver is easy in itself.”

”That doesn’t follow the norm.”

”It does follow the norm.” Su Huan pressed on the wolf meat dipped by Yu Yue in his bowl with chopsticks, the done-ness just right, chewy but not tough.

”Have you ever built a pyramid? Evolution is somewhat like building a pyramid, except for individuals, you only have one foundation.”

The crowd suddenly understood.

Though they still didn’t quite grasp it, they vaguely knew it was difficult.

Easy entry, tough advancement, especially increasingly so as you progress.

Su Huan looked at Xiaoba, ”Xiaoba, what skills do you have now?”

”Level 2 ’Metal Manipulation’ and Level 1 ’Metal Refinement’, the latter was added recently. It allows me to extract desired metals from alloys.” Xiaoba replied.

Su Huan raised an eyebrow, ”That’s a pretty good skill. Take Xiaoba as an example. If he wants to advance to an ’Iron Sword Attendant’, he needs to elevate both ’Metal Manipulation’ and ’Metal Refinement’ to Level 3, and he also has to awaken another skill called ’Field Perception’. This whole process would cost at least ten Tier One Pan-energy Crystals.”

”The wolf meat we are eating comes from a Tier One Evolution Beast. How many Tier One Crystals can be extracted?”

Wan Xing, on the side, chimed in, ”Based on my observation, about one and a half.”

Su Huan put down his chopsticks, resting his elbow on the table, lightly said, ”That means at least about seven Tier One Fearsome Wolves need to be hunted to gather the basic amount of Pan-energy, mind you, just the basics, not including ordinary Pan-energy Crystals to stimulate your evolution.”

”Among us, without a gun, who’s confident in taking on a Tier One Fearsome Wolf alone?”

Lao San looked at the ordinary Pan-energy Crystal in his hand, then thought about the ferocity of the Fearsome Wolf, taking a deep breath.

”Is there no other way; if evolution solely relies on these crystals, won’t it be impossible to advance further later on?”

Yu Jing furrowed her brows and asked.

”A Defender’s ’Combat Factor’ promotes body evolution during battle.”

”We can do it too, as long as you make your body believe you’re about to die the next moment.”