Armed Train in the Apocalypse

As people flowed by, Jiao Ting was sitting on the edge of the Floating Land.

Ever since confirming that Wei Dong and Longyan couldn’t return, the last stone in his heart fell as well. He ate and slept well, checked on the roughspoon grass he had planted every day, and reestablished the Iron Wolf Corps.

Sitting high up, he saw more clearly than anyone else.

The crowd looked like tiny ants emerging from the ground, slowly merging together.

Strangely enough, the people who usually fought to the death for a few bites could sit together with smiles, sharing food scavenged from who knows which corpse. The once vicious Black Bandits would even give a ride to Scavengers heading to He Shui.

Grudges and enmity seemed to be set aside that day.

Even the timid, the cowardly, and the survivalists found a sudden courage, charging red-eyed at High-Tier Evolution Beasts, all to let others go a bit farther.

Jiao Ting took out the oil painting from his chest, lacking a frame and meticulous care, the person’s face on the canvas had become unrecognizably blurred.

But today, he saw it clearly instead.

The woman in the painting was in her twenties, with delicate eyebrows and a hint of expectation in her eyes.

He had spent half a month’s surplus to get a student to paint her portrait, which made her very happy at the time.

Although they couldn’t save much money back then, only living in a tiny house, arguing over who would turn off the lights or sweep the floor, he always believed things would get better. No one stays twenty forever, he thought they would have a sunny big house, a diligent twice-a-day cleaning robot, smart home systems that respond to a single call to turn off lights, and... lots and lots of time, to do what they wanted.

He really believed it.

Who would have thought those were the best times?

”Commander, they’re all headed to He Shui?”

Someone asked incredulously while looking at the crowd below.

”Yes, they’re all people heading into the snowstorm together.”

After expressing his sentiment, Jiao Ting got up to check the roughspoon grass again, ensuring that the Iron Wolf Corps would operate normally after his departure, then descended from the Floating Land with a rope.

He didn’t look back, his steps were not at all heavy. Instead, they became light, just as when he was young, jogging eastward.

He thought of her.

...

Spore Zone, Tianze Base.

Ma Hongyu stood atop a giant mushroom cap, staring strangely at the man before him, even exaggeratedly circling him a few times. At this distance, his eyesight allowed him to see every pore clearly, even hearing the blood flow in his capillaries, and the faint sounds of devices and energy operation.

”How many bodies is this for you? No, rather, which generation of Number 1 are you?”

The man sitting opposite, his gaze as calm as dead water, said, ”No matter how many generations, I am Number 1.”

Ma Hongyu chuckled, ”So you admit you’re not the original Number 1 anymore?”

Number 1 calmly said, ”Don’t waste time extracting information from me, this is what I choose to tell you, otherwise you would gain nothing.”

Ma Hongyu shrugged indifferently, ”Anyway, I never intended to gain anything, you came to me first, otherwise at this time I’d still be underground doing research.”

Number 1 went straight to the point, ”The Armed Train is blocking the Four Nations from entering, aren’t you going to intervene?”

Ma Hongyu paused momentarily, his gaze softened almost imperceptibly.

”So that’s it.”

Number 1 asked in a puzzled tone, ”You’re not planning to go?”

”Yes.”

”Why?”

”For what? If it collides in that man’s hands, it’s the Four Nations’ misfortune. But I’m more curious about you, what are you doing there?”

Ma Hongyu countered.

Number 1 affirmed, ”Observation, he was the first to step into Tier Three, and the only Genetic Primordial to reach Tier Three.”

”I must say, a new brain really is quite useful.” Ma Hongyu gave Number 1 a meaningful look.

The latter calmly responded, ”If you need, I can take some of your genes; I can cultivate some clones for you for free.”

”You play on your own, I’m going back to research, let me warn you, don’t damage my Fungus Carpet, even if he can’t find you, I can.”

Ma Hongyu turned and jumped off the mushroom.

Number 1 observed the gradually restoring ecology of the Spore Zone, waved his hand, and headed towards the Gravity Zone with his only two followers.

This was also why Ma Hongyu believed he was only observing, an almost powerless Number 1, along with two Tier One Evolvers, might achieve many things in certain Domains, but in the face of that man... they are nothing.

...

Gravity Zone, Northeast direction.

The giant Floating Land moved slowly amidst gravity changes, on its edge, three tiny figures gazed out at the traffic and people below.

The person in the middle wore a pristine, flawless custom military uniform, with double-breasted buttons stretching to her slender waist. As the hem was lifted by the wind, her snow-white, delicate skin was revealed, only to be tucked back into white boots.

Beside her, two heavily injured white bears lowered their heads respectfully, cautiously maintaining a standard two-meter distance from the woman.

The white bear on the right said fiercely, ”It seems the Armed Train can’t hold up any longer, such a sparsely populated force daring to simultaneously block four nations. Once His Highness Tasia appears before him, let’s see if he dares to be as arrogant as before!”

On the other side, Yuri frowned and said, ”We shouldn’t, as he’s a Tier Three Evolver no matter what. I’m not saying His Highness Tasia can’t beat him, it’s just that we don’t need to suffer that loss. Why not let them battle it out and then we can go over and thoroughly deal with him, recouping everything with interest.”