Armed Train in the Apocalypse

A medium-sized unmanned drone equipped with night vision goggles took off from the rear of the train, buzzing towards the direction of the tremors.

The clear and stable images were transmitted to Car 12, as well as the 32-inch screen in the dining car. Su Huan looked at the swarm of Iron-Eating Trees outside, his eyes revealing deep thought.

With Lin Jin, a Tier One [Firestarter], the Iron-Eating Trees wouldn’t pose much of a threat to the train’s forward base camp.

But isn’t it all too coincidental?

The armed train had just arrived at the station that afternoon, and by evening the Iron-Eating Trees were rioting.

It’s hard for Su Huan not to suspect there’s a human element involved in this.

’So who could it be…’

’The train manufacturing base, survivors, or the person met during the day?’

Su Huan contacted Xiaozhao in the backend: ”Get me a shot of the crowd outside.”

Xiaozhao: ”Got it.”

Soon, in the lower right corner of the original image, a bird’s-eye view of the asterisk-shaped base appeared.

Due to the lighting in the base area, everything was perfectly visible without any night vision equipment.

The main source of panic came from the passengers who disembarked from the train, now scrambling back onto it, while workers in other areas were only slightly uneasy, showing no major reactions.

Su slightly raised his eyelids and looked at Wan Hao, who had been waiting for some time, ”Does the Iron-Eating Tree riot happen often?”

A hint of surprise flashed in Wan Hao’s eyes, not expecting Su Huan to figure it out so quickly.

It’s no wonder he’s a train captain who can command so many powerful individuals.

And this term [Iron-Eating Trees] is indeed quite fitting.

Nodding affirmatively, Wan Hao responded smoothly, ”Every five days or so, the Iron-Eating Trees leave their original location to seek new metal. As it’s a collective movement, it may appear quite substantial, but it soon stops. The tremors usually last between half an hour to an hour.”

Su Huan manipulated the screen, clearly observing four Iron-Eating Trees diverging from the grove, heading towards the platform.

”Do they actively attack humans?”

Wan Hao shook his head, ”They’re only interested in metal. We once encountered them while hunting zombies, and we managed to avoid them by hiding in a building with a lot of concrete.”

”But if you end up in the middle of the grove, who knows…”

This aligned with the information Su Huan had in memory.

Iron-Eating Trees do consume humans, but they don’t actively hunt them down.

Zooming in with two fingers on the screen, Su Huan saw a blurry human figure on the crowns of the four approaching Iron-Eating Trees.

He tugged at his shirt sleeve, revealing a smile filled with interest.

Through the train’s PA system, he directly shouted outside, ”Lin Jin, due south, prepare to welcome our guests.”

In no time, the train captain’s voice echoed through the asterisk-shaped base. Lin Jin, who had just returned inside the watchtower, stood up, scanned the surroundings, and gave a thumbs-up gesture to the small drone hovering mid-air.

This meant the message was received.

He then proceeded along the steel structure towards the watchtower to the north.

After completing this, Su Huan turned his head to look at Wan Hao in front of him and handed over the booklet in his hand.

”This is what the train offers for exchange. You don’t have any points now, but you can trade other items, like the construction materials you mentioned earlier. If you have anything we need, it will be converted into points for you.”

Observing Su Huan, who now appeared much more amicable, Wan Hao curiously flipped through the booklet in his hand.

The basic supplies were still mundane, but the latter pages had already stirred a tempest within him—whether it was weaponry or those industrial tools, they were the pinnacle of what an ordinary person could access.

Like his own set of 2,000 people, with only a handful of guns.

It’s not that they didn’t want guns.

But around the auto-manufacturing plant, there’s just one large Law Enforcement Bureau.

The other bureaus had already been divided up by the locals.

Everyone knows guns are valuable in the apocalypse, but what you can think of, others can too.

There’s a Law Enforcement Bureau downstairs from where I live, and I can’t find it. How could you, a stranger unfamiliar with the area, find it directly?

It’s pure nonsense.

A Law Enforcement Bureau covers a population of no less than ten thousand, maybe a few thousand at the least.

There were always intelligent people around.

If it weren’t for the train fighting a battle with the Steel Council, not a single passenger later on would have been able to touch a gun.

In this nation with stringent anti-gun laws, acquiring guns was incredibly challenging, but the booklet from Su Huan not only listed the regular Law Enforcer firearms but even large batches of munitions!

Was this a complete armory?

As for the various grades of Pan-energy Crystals and gene serums for awakening abilities listed at the back, it proved that the other party’s understanding and exploration of the apocalypse far exceeded that of ordinary people.

’I need to carefully consider my own terms…’

After a moment of contemplation, Wan Hao cautiously asked, ”Is the train captain planning to take all these people away?”

”Take them away?” Su Huan glanced at the dense crowd of over three thousand people; even if the front carriages were cleared out, they couldn’t fit, let alone needing another carriage or two for other uses.

However, he also keenly picked up on Wan Hao’s underlying implication.

”Of course not, are you interested in these people?”

Flipping through the booklet once more, Wan Hao stopped at the last page.

This page represented other exchanges, without specific object information, only a few terms.

”Task delegation,” ”major transaction,” ”strategic cooperation”…

Wan Hao’s finger landed on ”task delegation” under Su Huan’s gaze.

Speaking earnestly, he said, ”I have an idea. If the train captain doesn’t intend to take everyone, could you support us in establishing a temporary settlement at this station?”