Armed Train in the Apocalypse

Li Wangchuan looked at the mess in front of him, his eyes deep.

Seeing his expression, a hint of pain flashed in the eyes of the normally expressionless woman.

Only she knew how long the man before her had been planning for the Steel Council, and yet years of effort went up in flames. But looking at the desolate figure in front of her, she felt a bit of secret joy in her heart.

Quietly stepping forward, she looked at the overlapping shadows on the ground, her heart pounding with anxiety.

”Burned, it’s cleaner this way.”

Li Wangchuan said blandly.

The woman’s eyelids quivered slightly, seeing the once high-spirited man become so desolate, a feeling of a hero meeting his end surged in her heart, like watching her faith fall, the sky collapse, all things topple, ”Don’t be like this...”

Li Wangchuan looked down curiously at the hands wrapped around his waist.

”I don’t like this feeling,” the woman held tighter, ”You can’t lose.”

”No one wins forever.”

”But you can’t lose, nor admit defeat!” the woman’s voice carried a low, crying tone, ”Li Wangchuan, you have no idea how much I admire you, ever since school. I stepped up to you through exams, beating countless talents, I don’t like this feeling of a hero at an end.”

Li Wangchuan let out a dumbfounded smile, gently covering the delicate hands on his waist with his own, ”But no one loses forever either.”

”Hmm?”

Hearing the change in his tone, the woman lifted her head from his shoulder.

It bore faint watermarks.

”Is the suit ready?”

”I have it, it’s the formal wear you wore when first appointed to Qingtie. But why bring that suit?”

Li Wangchuan raised an eyebrow in surprise, ”You know even that.”

The woman had a touch of pride in her eyes, ”I’ve watched all your videos, without exception.”

Li Wangchuan retracted his gaze into the distance, said with a hint of nostalgia, ”Back then I bet with Xiaotao, if one day I acknowledged him as my successor, I would give him this suit. Soon we’ll burn it in the new city for him.”

”New city?”

”I am going to build a new city there, a city more magnificent than originally planned, including the heavy industrial area underfoot, I will rebuild it just the same.”

Li Wangchuan’s voice was calm but carried undeniable determination.

Just like in countless videos she’d watched of major decisions being made, full of vigor.

The woman’s eyes sparkled like stars, ”I will always be with you.”

...

”January 12th, light rain turning clear”

”The train conductor is preparing to face new disasters”

The train clanged and clattered, the brave conductor now lay in the newly installed medical car between the 6th reserve carriage and the 7th farm carriage.

After leaving the heavy industrial area, the train traveled about a hundred kilometers north before finding a place to stop.

It rested well for two days.

During which the carriage layout was mainly adjusted, dismantling Director Xu’s ten escape carriages and a megaton locomotive into the armed train.

Due to the complexity of changing numbers, these carriages were independently named according to function.

For instance, the medical car underfoot had equipment far more advanced than old-fashioned green carriages.

After a group vote, it was placed next to the farm carriage, allowing patients to occasionally stroll through the botanical garden to ease their mood, though care needed to be taken not to trip over the newly grown iron grass.

The conductor had his own carriage, but the workers were constructing a second floor.

The clanging was frustratingly loud, so he moved in here for a couple of days.

After returning that day, Su Huan conducted an examination, and according to Director Xu’s expert judgment, the conductor had about a year left to live, far shorter than Lin Xi’s four years.

After all, Lin Xi could delay genetic generation through previously configured drugs.

But Su Huan currently had a problem where the collapse speed slightly outpaced generation.

To sustain life, constant evolution was needed, but evolution required more energy and accumulation, as well as certain life-sustaining conditions.

Regarding energy, the conductor had his ways, but the accumulation was already exhausted.

Now the conductor’s abilities were approaching Tier Two, far surpassing his previous life.

As for life maintenance, it was even more difficult.

Though he and Lin Xi were both Genetic Primordials, there was a fundamental difference. The agent configured for Lin Xi was to delay gene generation; if Su Huan used it, he would die of gene collapse that night.

Configuring a suitable agent for Su Huan was difficult even if the Tower Laboratory was intact, let alone on a train with limited space and equipment.

However, the conductor himself wasn’t so pessimistic.

Problems unsolvable in this life could only find answers in the previous life.

As the saying goes, only the one who tied the bell can untie it, and before defecting he participated in the last major task, the ”Crown Pear Plan.”

The location was on Wangjiang Peak, north of Qingchuan Province, under the administration of Guangren City, a city famous for its mooncakes.

There was an evolved mutant Crown Pear tree there. Su Huan didn’t understand the exact situation, but back then quite a few factions were competing for the tree. There were a few minor clashes, and no one knew what agreement was reached to divide it up, after which the Steel Council came out with an expensive Life Potion.

Its value was comparable to cultivating a Tier Two Evolver.

The conductor suspected the source was connected to this tree, so he planned to visit Wangjiang Peak.

After all, he still had a year to live, where wasn’t an adventure?

At this moment, the atmosphere inside the medical car was very harmonious. Nurse Yu Yue was cutting canned pear into bite-sized pieces, feeding them to Su Huan with a fork.

Changli County was rich in pears, so inevitably many cans of pears were among Director Xu’s supplies carriages.

Li Xiao lay on the adjacent bed, with Miao Qi attending to firearms maintenance beside him.

Of course, receiving medical services came at a cost.

Yu Yue occasionally exchanged sniper insights with Miao Qi across Su Huan.

The two unexpectedly got along well.

The third bed was empty, its occupant was currently sitting beside the fourth bed, meticulously carving spam cans with a military knife. His cutting technique was both intricate and rough.

The hard metal can and spam were sliced into delicate thin slices, which He Jie held up with his knife to Qu Hang’s mouth.

The usually gruff man displayed an unusual gentleness, ”Eat, why aren’t you eating? Since I’m feeding you personally, who else would you want feeding you? My daughter? Or my wife?”

Qu Hang looked at the knife glinting menacingly under the meat slices, his mouth twitched, glancing aside to find Su Huan and Li Xiao watching gleefully, and could only open his mouth helplessly.

Fortunately, He Jie was in control, preventing any bloody mishaps.

Just the metallic-edged spam was really hard to swallow!

”Captain He, you’re hurt too, why don’t you go back to bed?”

He Jie sneered, instinctively reaching for a cigarette, suddenly remembered that Su Huan had banned it, and had to give up.

It wasn’t for the sake of his injuries that the conductor banned it. This guy’s injuries had almost healed, staying here entirely because of Qu Hang. Originally it was one pack a day, but since moving in next to Qu Hang, it became three packs a day; his lungs couldn’t handle it.

Nearly smoked Qu Hang into becoming jerky, if not for Su Huan’s intervention, he would still be enduring He Jie’s second-hand smoke.

But trying to send a Tier One Evolver off with second-hand smoke was too difficult, even inhaling something stronger wouldn’t help.

Footsteps came down the corridor, and soon the door handle was turned.

”Doctor’s rounds.”

He Jie plunged the knife into the spam, tossed it onto Qu Hang’s bedhead, gave him a warning glance, and quickly jumped back into his own bed.

By the time someone came in, the blanket was already covering him.