Armed Train in the Apocalypse

”I am confident I can take them head-on.”

A fierce glint flashed in Lian Jin’s eyes.

He Jie looked toward the breach in the outpost. It was the largest pass into the Four Nations, the only place where an army could pass through on a large scale.

He said calmly, ”They are closer and arrived earlier than us. This outpost should have been heavily fortified long ago. It’s not something you can take down easily, even with all the Tier Two soldiers from the train combined.”

Lian Jin squeezed his thick knuckles, his gaze lingering on the battlefield map for a moment before he understood the enemy’s strategic intent.

The Four Nations Alliance, seeing that they were few in number, deliberately ceded the outpost to them, intending to drag the Armed Train into a brutal war of attrition.

If in the Cangling Mountains, the Armed Corps could rely on their superior individual soldiers to hold off tens of thousands, stringently controlling the Four Nations, but in this defensive battle, their troop quality advantage would be infinitely diminished.

Lian Jin hesitated for a moment, ”Then should we buy some time until Donghuang Heavy Industry’s support arrives?”

He Jie shook his head, ”That would be just what the enemy wants. In two days, the Four Nations Alliance’s mobilized troops will far exceed the current hundred thousand, and they hold the initiative in the offensive. Without Tier Three Evolvers, we might find ourselves encircled and overwhelmed.”

The reason the Four Nations Alliance hadn’t led their army directly into Donghuang was partially due to internal coordination taking time, and partially because they held the geographical advantage.

However, the train must fight. Only by seizing the pass before them can they talk about the future.

...

The Armed Train was split; one section carrying the Cultivation Pod and most of the research carriages remained in place, awaiting Donghuang Heavy Industry’s personnel to serve as a floating bridge, while the other section openly headed toward the outpost.

The remaining squads of soldiers on the train were all deployed by He Jie.

Lian Jin stood on one of the off-road vehicles, gazing towards the distant outpost. The once nearly abandoned outpost had been rebuilt, with tall watchtowers every ten meters, interconnected by ten-meter-high walls, and the flat ground outside dug into trenches two to three meters wide and several meters deep.

Flags of four colors fluttered in the wind, as soldiers of the Four Nations Alliance coldly stared at them from the firing apertures.

Higher up in the sky, shells from both sides crisscrossed, with only a few intercepted, while most fell within each side’s ranks.

”Boom boom boom——”

The already ravaged ground was further devastated by artillery fire.

The familiar energy barrier lit up on the rebuilt outpost, blocking the first impact.

Seeing this energy barrier made Lian Jin itch with anger; if not for its interference, he would have stormed into the outpost the day before yesterday.

However, recalling He Jie’s recent arrangements, he just quietly stood on the vehicle, waiting for the true protagonists of this war.

As the distance closed to around two kilometers, snipers from the Armed Corps began their first round of attacks. Crisp explosions sounded on the watchtowers, skillfully avoiding the energy barrier and causing some casualties to the Four Nations’ troops.

The ultra-long-range snipers of the Armed Train made a great impact on the Four Nations the first day they revealed themselves. The first breakthrough in the Cangling Mountains was torn open by Yu Yue and Qu Hang leading their team.

After several engagements, however, they also found ways to deal with the snipers.

They would hide their heads and rely on various defensive fortifications to withstand attacks, without even counterattacking.

Even if they did counterattack, at a distance of two kilometers, they could hit nothing, merely wasting ammunition. It was better left to the artillery units for bombardment.

The Four Nations also had snipers, but their guns lacked accuracy and couldn’t shoot as far, and their military quality was far inferior. Even with the boost from Evolvers, they barely reached the conventional level of pre-apocalyptic national snipers.

Once the vehicles entered a one-kilometer range, an inconspicuous fiery arrow mixed in the rain of bullets fell from the sky. In mid-air, the fiery arrow began to split into hundreds of small arrows, instantly covering an area hundreds of meters in radius.

It encompassed seven or eight watchtowers, and the next moment, these insignificant sparks connected with each other, flashing and flickering as they merged.

Just as someone noticed the anomaly, the next moment, a fire pillar over a hundred meters in diameter shot into the sky, like a mythical pillar to the heavens, piercing the skies and shattering the clouds, painting the world in red and light.

The frost-covered ground collapsed, waves of scorching air billowing outward, incinerating the terrain within a hundred meters into a wasteland.

The energy barrier, already faltering under bombardment, shattered under this destructive blaze, the watchtower turning into a torch, all material becoming the fuel for the flames, soldiers burning alive plummeting from heights.

The enemy’s counterattack was also ferocious.

About a hundred meters away from Lian Jin, an off-road vehicle suddenly had its body pierced by a large pincer rising from underground. Two armed soldiers, unable to dodge in time, were sliced in half instantly. From the ground emerged a massive black-purple scorpion over four meters long, swaggering across the battlefield, brandishing its enormous pincers and gleaming tail impressively.

This was a Tier Two Evolution Beast controlled by enemy Evolvers, its body exceptionally tough, able to withstand his punches.

The moment the scorpion appeared, it was targeted by concentrated fire from the Armed Corps. The officer who lost his comrades frantically pulled the trigger, wishing to throw the rifle itself to smash the creature.

But the rifle bullets only sparked off the creature’s iron-like shell, leaving no trace.

Only the heavy machine gun in the hands of the ”Firepower Hand” could suppress this thing, but unfortunately, the one who just died was their squad’s Firepower Hand.