Armed Train in the Apocalypse

Compared to the outside of the train, Su Huan’s carriage was already considered harmonious.

”Ka-ka——”

He Jie forcefully pulled the bolt twice, tossed the jammed assault rifle aside, grabbed the light machine gun mounted on the window and aimed it outside. He didn’t have time to change his cigarette, so he bit into the half-smoke he was holding. ”Ah Da, light it up!”

Boss at the back, who was frantically loading the ammo belt with a loader, shouted ”Received,” picked up a shotgun filled with incendiary shells, and fired outside the train’s breach.

With a ”whoosh,” the fire illuminated the grim, terrifying world.

In the darkness, skyscrapers crumbled, and corpse towers rose from the ground, surrounding the train like waves from all directions.

A Tier Two Butcher, standing five meters tall and several dozen meters away, hurled a lamppost like a javelin toward the train.

He Jie gasped, kicked over the dazed Boss, and then dove to the side.

However, the expected impact didn’t come.

He Jie looked up and saw Xiaoba’s electric wheelchair approaching steadily from the end of the corridor. The twelve-year-old boy, not fully grown, already showed a handsome outline. His slightly long black hair fell to his neck and ears, and the metallic tint was still fading from his calm eyes.

”Thanks, Master Eight.”

He Jie praised and got back on his feet.

The hole previously made by an engineering vehicle in the train was now patched with metal.

Feeling a bit overwhelmed by He Jie’s praise, Xiaoba squeezed his sleeve and shyly responded with a ”Mm.”

He Jie noticed Xiaoba’s discomfort and refrained from teasing further, asking seriously, ”How’s the situation in the back?”

Talking about business, Xiaoba secretly breathed a sigh of relief, ”The carriage breaches are mostly patched. The front carriages are fine, but the last section got chewed by a Tier Two Evolution Beast. We used a rocket launcher to temporarily shake it off. It might come again later. Yu Jing is leading people to block it.”

”By the way, it seems there are still people from the Steel Council alive, around the train.”

He Jie scratched his bushy chest hair, ”Evolvers?”

”All elite evolvers.”

He Jie opened the window beside him and fired another incendiary shell outside.

Sure enough, he saw an off-road vehicle racing near the tracks dozens of meters away, and he realized what was going on.

These zombies and Evolution Beasts surrounded the armored train like a massive net, leaving the remnants of the Steel Council soldiers with nowhere to escape, driving them towards the train like hunted beasts.

He Jie grinned and shouted, ”Wanna come aboard? Not only are there no zombies on the train, but you can also have a drink of cola.”

He casually turned on the cabin’s night light and grabbed a bottle of cola from a nearby rack, drinking it heartily.

He drank boldly, deliberately letting those soldiers on the train see him.

A booming voice came from the off-road vehicle, ”Boss He, keep it for yourself. Brothers still want to go home.”

He Jie’s face flashed with menace. He raised the light machine gun in his hand and sneered, ”Refusing a toast only to drink a forfeit!”

”Pa-pa-pa...”

A series of precise shots blew out the off-road vehicle’s tires.

Excited zombie roars mixed with drifting curses.

”He Jie, you old dog!”

”Bang!”

A Tier One Skull Breaker, wielding twin hammers, slammed the off-road vehicle’s front end hard.

The off-road vehicle bucked its rear high into the air. Even with the soldiers’ excellent driving skills, it managed to escape, though the vehicle’s condition was visibly off. Who knows what part was damaged, but its speed was significantly reduced.

Twenty seconds later.

Three soldiers, faces gloomy, squatted in Corridor 4 of the train, their thumbs locked behind them with an iron ring.

He Jie patted a slender, dark-skinned soldier’s head, sneering coldly, ”Weren’t you trying to go home, you little brat? Go on then. You’ve really grown bold, even daring to call me by my code name.”

The thin soldier grinned obsequiously, ”Boss He, you must’ve heard wrong. Everyone in the company knows that Long-Legged Rabbit respects you the most. If it weren’t for my old boss insisting on picking me back then, I would’ve followed you. Long-Legged Dog is way more impressive than Long-Legged Rabbit.”

”Such a brown-noser. From now on, you can be called Dogleg. Where’s your boss ’Baldy’?”

The soldier’s face twitched, ”Bad luck. During the second line of defense, he got taken out by a burst from the anti-aircraft gun on the train, killed on the spot.”

He Jie opened his mouth. That was probably a shot he fired.

But he spared no words, ”Looks like my shooting’s improved. I always wanted to blow that bastard away.”

The soldier quickly picked up on it, ”I’ll be Dogleg from now on. We brothers came from the same place, after all. Boss He, you gotta look after us.”

These elite soldiers were trained at great expense; none were fools.

In this situation, let alone if there were familiar faces on the train, even if there weren’t, they’d have to defect.

After all, they’re the same kind, and changing sides wasn’t hard on the conscience.

He Jie, though irritable, had a soft heart beneath his tough exterior, always good to his own people. He was among the most well-liked in the group of three hundred.

He could call out, and a dozen would charge with him.

If only his theory scores were better, he’d at least be in Team A.

He Jie glared, ”Don’t try to get chummy with me. Back during training, you and your bald boss liked to take potshots at me! And this is an armed train, you’re now a prisoner. If the train captain doesn’t like you, I’ll be the first to send you off!”

The three soldiers immediately felt a chill in their hearts and kept their mouths shut.

He Jie turned to look at Xiaoba beside him, explaining in a low voice, ”I know these three, one is a demolitions expert and the other two are medics. The train is short on such people, so the captain wants me to gather them up.”

Xiaoba nodded, but was somewhat puzzled, ”Then why are they tied up?”

He Jie shook his head, ”Friendship is friendship, rules are rules. They are prisoners now, and we don’t have the manpower to watch them, so it’s better for us to keep them under control.”

Xiaoba nodded thoughtfully.

”So, the more we capture now, the stronger the train will be in the future?”

”That’s the idea.”

Even He Jie was a bit more patient when speaking to Xiaoba.

A light gleamed in Xiaoba’s eyes as he pointed out the train window, ”It looks like there are more coming outside; I’ll help you capture them!”

...

Only a small warm light was on in the corridor of the dining car.

If Su Huan walked out of the room, he could see it exactly.

As for the kitchen, only the faint indicator lights on some appliances were lit.

Given Yu Yue’s current familiarity with the kitchen, she could make a delicious meal with her eyes closed.

Seeing the time reach 1:49 a.m., Yu Yue scooped a bowl of white porridge with a ladle and left it to cool on the table. Su Huan didn’t like food that was too hot; he preferred it at room temperature or chilled. However, if hot porridge straight from the pot were put in the fridge, the rice would become hard again, making it taste bad.

Letting it cool now, the timing was just right.

Then, she added some freshly cut beef, seafood, and freeze-dried vegetables to the white porridge.

This was breakfast for the others.

Of course, breakfast could not be just porridge; there were also some other pastries and such.

Preparing breakfast for more than a dozen people wasn’t an easy task, but for Yu Yue, it was much simpler than dealing with patients’ families.

Various kitchen tools exchanged hands with her in a methodically rhythmic way.

By the time she had prepared breakfast for everyone, it was already 2:20 a.m.

She took out her Night Owl X7 from a cabinet nearby, inspected it as He Jie had instructed, then loaded the armor-piercing bullets into the magazine one by one.

Even though she had never handled firearms before, she always felt particularly calm whenever she held this cold, lethal weapon.

It was even more effective than the meditation techniques her university professor had taught her.

Main weapon, secondary weapon, grenades, tactical vest...

Yu Yue methodically put on her gear, carefully wrapping each finger with bandages, leaving only the fingertips exposed like green onions.

After a moment’s thought, she went to Carriage No. 3 to retrieve two recovery potions and carefully placed them on her person.

Just as she returned to the dining car, she heard the door of Carriage No. 1 open.

The train captain, his long hair in disarray, came into the dining car, and seeing her dressed like this, looked slightly surprised.

Before he could speak, she preemptively said, ”I’m going out with you on the mission.”

She didn’t want to stay in the carriage anymore.

...

The white porridge, although unsalted, was still fragrant and delicious.

Just like Yu Yue before him, without a trace of makeup.

The night outside remained dense. The effect of the potion lasted longer than he had anticipated. Yu Yue had changed into a clean pair of high-elasticity black jeans, the ends tucked into tactical boots, her smooth legs together, exuding a faint elegance.

The same outfit looked entirely different when worn by a rough man like He Jie.

”How did you know I was going out?”

Su Huan asked calmly.

”I guessed.”

Yu Yue lowered her eyebrows, looking obedient.

But the train captain, for some reason, found this patient facade annoying today. He leaned forward, lifted her rounded chin, forcing her to meet his gaze, and said with a faint smile, ”If I die, no one would force you anymore. Isn’t that good?”

Yu Yue, long accustomed to Su Huan’s sarcastic remarks, which always seemed to mean the opposite of their words, would have hesitated silently in the past.

But she didn’t want to see Su Huan go out alone; the wait in the carriage was too unbearable.

”No, it isn’t.”

The train vibrated, causing the white porridge in the bowl to shake slightly, the overlapping reflections within it blurring gently.