Armed Train in the Apocalypse

Su Huan didn’t care about these superficial things, he restrained his presence and silently walked to the back of the crowd.

Chen Ziliang pinched the tip of the pen with his fingertips, then dipped it into the glass bottle in Wan Xing’s hand. The dark red liquid swirled, releasing a sweet and fishy scent, making Su Huan smack his lips. It seemed to be concocted using the blood of a Tier Three Evolution Beast as the main ingredient; the energy just on the pen tip was comparable to that of a Tier One Evolution Beast.

As Chen Ziliang started drawing new patterns, Su Huan ”saw” it very clearly this time. The energy first emerged from Chen Ziliang’s body, reached the tip of the pen, and was ”forced” onto the turtle shell. As the brushstrokes extended, the energy on the brush and the existing patterns formed a connection, allowing the energy to start flowing.

When the brushstrokes encountered other patterns, Chen Ziliang would adjust the intensity and speed of the energy input. This allowed new strokes to produce different results, either merging with or ”avoiding” the old patterns, even if they appeared to overlap in three-dimensional space, they were actually two unobstructed lines.

Just like the rule patterns on his own body.

Su Huan looked at Chen Ziliang with slightly bright eyes. He was well aware of the latter’s strength, having just reached Tier One, and being a ”Power Supplier” of the same origin as him. He absolutely couldn’t be mistaken about this. With the strength of Tier One, not only could he understand the rules, but he could also draw rule patterns!

It was like finding a gold mine!

Could this be the true essence of mathematics?

While Su Huan was contemplating silently, he suddenly noticed a momentary stutter in Chen Ziliang’s energy. Although he didn’t understand the rules of drawing patterns, he instinctively felt... something was wrong there, the energy wasn’t flowing smoothly.

But he didn’t interrupt, waiting quietly for Chen Ziliang to finish the entire pattern.

After a while, Chen Ziliang put down his brush, and a group of old men exhaled a breath of turbid air in unison.

If the brushstrokes were any longer, these old men and women might have suffocated.

The energy patterns on the turtle shell connected with each other, glowed slightly for a moment, then completely settled down, becoming inconspicuous lines on the black mysterious turtle shell.

”Truly amazing, it feels a bit like when we draw design sketches, but it’s much more complex!”

Planning expert Wang Duoyu exclaimed from the side.

”It’s like electronic hardware but scaled up by countless times.”

Professor Ma nodded in agreement.

Only Chen Ziliang stood frozen, staring blankly at the patterns in front of him, his hands stiff in mid-air, his eyes trembling violently, mumbling, ”No, no, something seems wrong, but I can’t find it, why can’t I find it, where’s the mistake... where?! Where?!!”

Seeing him in a state of anxiety, Director Xu quickly comforted, ”Don’t worry, check from the beginning.”

”Yes, yes, it might just be a small problem, don’t panic.”

”Let’s check it together.”

A group of elderly individuals quickly coaxed Chen Ziliang, more attentive than with their own grandchildren.

Yet Chen Ziliang became increasingly agitated, waving his hands randomly, ”No, it’s wrong here, and here too!”

Each time he spoke, he would swing his arm forcefully, as if wanting to throw his hands away.

”Is it here.”

A faint voice was followed by a beam of light pointing clearly to a particular energy node.

”Conductor!”

Only then did everyone notice Su Huan had arrived and they greeted him one after another.

Only Chen Ziliang looked at the node, elated, ”Yes, yes, right here.”

”Not just here.” Su Huan thought for a moment, then pointed with the light a total of one hundred and twenty-six times.

One node was even pointed at more than twenty times.

This display dazzled the experts.

Chen Ziliang’s eyes grew even brighter, not only was he not anxious, but he also looked at Su Huan with a kind of adoration. Then he put down the brush, took out a small notebook, and started chattering away in a language like celestial script.

Hearing those data, Director Xu’s brows twitched, he murmured quietly, ”It was the right choice not to choose the mathematics direction back then.”

The group of big shots all nodded emphatically in agreement, even Luo Jingyi, who considered himself a genius, was no exception.

Which one of them wasn’t a genius in their youth to reach their current positions?

But none of them could keep up with Chen Ziliang’s train of thought.

Before the end of the world, there was a classic quip that mathematics is a massive pit, and when you look up, you’ll see a bunch of deities flying above.

This description was not exaggerated in the slightest; in the world of mathematics, one step could mean the divide between human and divine!

Luo Jingyi looked at the composed train conductor, admiringly remarking, ”I never thought the conductor had such high academic accomplishments, truly, there’s always a higher mountain.”

Professor Ma and Director Xu, who knew Su Huan’s background well, exchanged a knowing smile.

They stepped in to interrupt the endlessly chattering Chen Ziliang, rescuing the conductor.

Director Xu couldn’t hold back from asking, ”But I am also curious, how did you discover the flaws in Chen Ziliang’s formula?”

Su Huan looked puzzled, ”What formula? Weren’t we discussing drawing symbols?”

What Chen Ziliang just said was so fast and lacking in coherent syllables that it was completely outside the conductor’s knowledge system and thus was subconsciously ignored.

Professor Ma had some guesses and smoothed things over, ”We accidentally discovered that Chen Ziliang can use mathematics to interpret the Rule Stone, and after testing over this period, we didn’t expect this approach to actually work.”

”Are you talking about the [Gravity] Rule Stone?”

”Yes.”

Su Huan looked at the mysterious turtle shell in front of him, the pattern just drawn was only about three meters square, insignificant compared to the hundred-meter shell. Hesitantly, he asked, ”How long will it take to finish drawing?”

Faced with this question, Professor Ma hesitated slightly, ”This, it’s hard to predict.”