Armed Train in the Apocalypse

”Clap clap...”

Eight fifty-centimeter-long metal trays were placed on the long table.

Wan Xing helped Yu Yue, dividing the steaming marinated delicacies into several trays. Lao San and the newly arrived Lin Jin and others were also busy helping with the bowls and chopsticks.

Director Xu and Professor Ma walked along, discussing something heatedly with Huang Sea.

Xiaoba sat in a wheelchair, holding the hand of a somewhat shy boy, following behind them. When the boy saw the decor of the dining car and the marinated dishes on the table, his eyes noticeably brightened.

If it weren’t for the slight sway of the train’s body due to the floods outside the window, the atmosphere of the dining car would more closely resemble a family cafeteria.

Su Huan sat at the end of the long table, one hand supporting his chin and the other flipping through various documents handed to him by Hushuo.

Seeing this, the others didn’t disturb him, quietly conversing as they took their seats.

The conductor didn’t like an overly quiet environment; a bit of noise actually put him at ease.

The conductor, increasingly impatient from flipping through the documents, snapped his fingers, causing Shu Wei, who was setting out the bowls and chopsticks for Yu Yue, to tremble slightly. She calmly walked over to Su Huan and slightly bowed.

”Can you understand it?” Su Huan asked.

Shu Wei glanced at the open page he was holding. It contained data about personnel and resources, causing a focused gleam to flash in her eyes, even her demeanor turned colder.

Nearby, Hushuo’s face showed gravity, subtly sensing a crisis.

”No problem.” Shu Wei answered composedly.

”Read it all, highlight the key points for me.”

”Understood, I will summarize the information and point out any issues.”

”Okay.”

Su Huan lightly replied.

As the matters on the train increased, Hushuo’s statistics and charts grew more complex and professional, sometimes accompanied by pictures for explanation. Initially, it was novel to look through them, but eventually, it became increasingly tiresome.

Shu Wei, before the apocalypse, was at least the CEO of a publicly listed company. As long as there’s no trickery, handling these documents was no problem for her.

It also eased the load on him quite a bit.

...

On the other side, when Wan Xing saw the boy beside Xiaoba, she hurriedly stepped forward to stop them. Xiaoba looked up at Wan Xing, the black-and-white distinct eyes filled with confusion.

”What’s wrong, Sister Xingzi?”

Wan Xing lowered her voice, ”It’s not appropriate.”

Xiaoba paused for a moment, not quite understanding but also lowering his voice, ”Weren’t we here to eat? I wanted to bring Haohau to eat something tasty...”

Wan Xing shook her head helplessly, ”Do you see anyone else bringing family?”

Though it was conveyed as a meal, in reality, it was a meeting for the train’s senior leaders organized by the conductor.

Though Xiaoba was clever, he couldn’t grasp so many ambiguous adult matters.

Moreover, this boy’s identity was sensitive...

Thinking of this, Wan Xing sighed inwardly.

Seeing the two talking, the boy stood confused and reserved on the spot, clutching Xiaoba’s clothing hem with one hand.

Even though he didn’t understand, he vaguely sensed that perhaps he wasn’t supposed to go in.

Yu Yue walked over, squatted down, gently stroking the boy’s head and said warmly, ”Auntie made lots of delicious things; can you eat spicy food, little one?”

The boy’s tension eased a lot, ”I can’t eat chilies, many.”

”Then Auntie will pack some non-spicy food for you and take you back to the room, how about that?”

”Now that you’re already here, why send him away? How rude is that? Come, sit next to me.” Su Huan’s calm voice drifted from the end of the table. At this moment, he had just handed the work over to Shu Wei and flashed a warm smile at the boy.

Yu Yue’s slender brows slightly furrowed, watching Su Huan smile like that, she knew he wasn’t up to anything good.

But since everyone was present, she couldn’t undermine the conductor’s standing.

She could only reluctantly bring the boy over to sit to Su Huan’s left, then let Xiaoba sit next to the boy, standing between Su Huan and the boy, helping the two with the dishes.

Seeing the woman’s demeanor, Su Huan was slightly speechless, was he really that untrustworthy?

In this bizarre atmosphere, everyone began to eat.

Su Huan enjoyed the deboned meat that Yu Yue offered while conversing with Vice President Deng.

After all, the details about the train’s modifications were numerous and couldn’t be grasped just by skimming through data and reports.

Things like the train’s balance system and detection system have their complexities.

After eating till he was three or five parts full, Su Huan cleared his throat.

”There are two things in total, the first one, Shu Wei.”

Standing behind Su Huan, Shu Wei could only keep her focus on the data in her hand, not looking at the others enjoying their meal.

But a sense of sourness inevitably lingered in her heart.

It’s not that the marinated dish was particularly tempting, but the shift from being the center of attention to a mere sidekick at the dining table inevitably brought some disparity to her heart.

Hearing Su Huan’s voice, she immediately composed her emotions and stepped forward.

In everyone’s eyes, she remained the aloof commander of Black Kite.

”In the future, consider her my secretary, with equivalent duties to the chief steward, but the benefits will be suspended... for a while before being issued.”

Su Huan announced the appointment.

Everyone’s expressions were varied, wasn’t this working for free?

But considering her identity and purpose, it wasn’t much; being able to turn from a captive to one of theirs was already generous on the conductor’s part.

There are few historical instances of someone receiving high positions and riches right after defecting.

More often than not, they were simply eliminated.

Moreover, as the conductor’s secretary, her status wasn’t low.

This role was previously covered by Yu Yue and various chief stewards as well.

Hushuo always reported because the logistics team managed quite a few administrative tasks.

Professor Ma and a few other old figures had deeper thoughts; if she performed well and continued in her role, wouldn’t she essentially become the chief steward?

Though the armored train had only about a thousand people, still hadn’t moved away from the state of a makeshift operation, yet the resources and information it controlled, and its potential for future evolution, as long as this momentum is maintained, it would definitely become one of the critical pillars of human civilization.