Armed Train in the Apocalypse

After ten minutes of standoff, Su Huan still gave up. No matter how much pressure he applied, the Crown Pear Tree remained silent.

It has consciousness, but due to its evolutionary direction, it lacks the ability to speak like the Traveler’s Tree.

Perhaps it can be brought over to the Tier Two Traveler’s Tree for interpretation.

Su Huan kept the matter in mind, somewhat skeptical.

On this train, be it human or tree, not one brings him peace of mind.

Watching Su Huan’s departing figure, the Crown Pear Tree shook its stomped branches, then infused the saplings below with a batch of Life Energy, watching them grow, delighting it tremendously.

Underneath the train, the crystallized platform burned by Lin Jin was perfect for the crew to decompose materials.

If the terrifying celestial disaster can be overcome, the Celestial Disaster Zone is a huge evolutionary treasure trove. The Flood Zone offers diverse aquatic materials, the Spore Zone has versatile mushrooms, and even more so in the Plant Zone.

Huang Sea and Li Han haven’t closed their eyes since entering the Plant Zone, remaining in a state of excitement every second.

The mutated plants the train accumulated over a year tripled in just these past two days!

Even the crew’s kitchen wagon luxuriously served three vegetarian dishes!

The Armed Corps guarded the outermost perimeter, the combat group following Old Jiang and the engineering team nearby, dragging out mutated plants from the surrounding jungle one by one, then a few experts would identify them, and Wan Xing led the team to collect and decompose.

Those with practical value would be sent to the platform, where Old Liu’s wife, Han Qin, and a group of women would clean and dry the vegetables, some being chopped and marinated.

Temporary safety hasn’t erased their vigilance; each step proceeded quickly, large batches of vegetables placed in baskets, a Tier One Evolver would blow over them, rapidly dehydrating them, moving them to the next step.

Evolution penetrated every aspect of people’s lives, hard to sever.

Little Qi Xiaobai squatted bare-bottomed beside his mother, head stuck in a large vegetable basin, curiously poking the vegetables inside with his little hands, each poke eliciting a long ”oh...” that amused the surrounding women into laughter.

Su Huan’s gaze circled a few times, naturally resting on Yu Yue’s belly. She was busy with Han Qin, chopping a bamboo-like radish, tossing chunks into a red tub, sprinkling in large amounts of bagged salt.

Feeling his gaze, Yu Yue rose, rubbing her hands twice on her apron, lightly leaping to Su Huan’s side.

”Um, I have a small request...”

When mentioning the request, Yu Yue seemed a bit embarrassed.

Su Huan lifted his hand to twirl the woman’s hair in front of her collarbone; this seemed to be the first time Yu Yue made a request since boarding, this feeling of being needed made him quite happy, ”Tell me.”

Yu Yue glanced at the women working around, compressed her voice into Su Huan’s ear.

”Could we take a lunch break later? I’d like to organize them for a picnic on the grass over there, won’t take long, an hour is enough.”

The grass she referred to was where he just planted trees, for it gets beautiful sunlight, just a bit overgrown, but after some tidying, it had quite the pre-apocalyptic camping feel.

Su Huan thoughtfully looked at the working crowd, suddenly realizing that women made up sixty percent, children and elderly another fifteen percent.

He sighed softly.

The Four Nations war claimed the lives of five to six hundred Armed Corps members, leaving hundreds of widows on the train.

But the train conductor disallowed despair, quickly initiating renovations after the war, using work to fill their emptiness, after all life must continue, the living must strive harder.

An hour’s break, not long enough for idle thoughts.

Su Huan agreed.

Yu Yue joyously announced the news, eliciting cheers.

Work progressed rapidly by thirty percent.

In survival, there’s never a divide between genders, only the smarter, harder-working will survive.

Around eleven, Yu Yue brushed the grass, women spread beautiful checkered cloths, then piled fresh fruit and accumulated snacks atop, arranging them stunningly and abundantly.

The cooks, hearing of the event, hurriedly prepared some treats, sending them down.

Children gathered around pretty cloths, like puppies waiting to be fed.

Even though the train never lacked children’s food, everything’s never enough for their age, let alone these rare treats.

Even nearby working men watched enviously.

They could only rest briefly before back to work, those with wives refrained from joining, else the cozy sight would sadden the hundreds of widows.

Xiaozhao stood beside the train, snapping pictures of the checkered cloths adorning the grass, briefly responded to her headset, then tapped the door, entering the materials room.

A graceful youth stood before a heap of discarded Metal, gazing with steely eyes, body slender yet subtly poised.

After two months, Qi Xiaobai formally turned fourteen.

Xiaozhao cheerfully greeted, ”Master Eight, Sister Xingzi invited you for a picnic.”

Xiaoba paused, ”I haven’t readied the scaffolding steel yet, won’t go.”

Xiaozhao leaned against the door, feigned, ”Then so be it, pity for Chengcheng, he’ll live on the train forever, never glimpsing the outside world...”

”Clang!”

Metal fell to the ground, Qi Xiaobai earnestly said, ”A picnic is necessary, notify Old Jiang I’ll fetch materials later.”

Watching Xiaoba head to his quarters, Xiaozhao quickly shouted, ”Chengcheng should be at the school now.”

”Thanks.”

Soon, Xiaoba appeared by the grass with two children, holding a hand each.

The other was his recent adoption, parents perished at the Four Countries Peninsula.

Younger than Chengcheng, just four.

Xiaoba explained as they walked, ”A picnic is an ancient spring activity, ancestors held celebrations in early spring, bathing by waterways with family and friends, enjoying the breeze, chatting and laughing homeward...”

”But Teacher Liu Yu said the outdoors is dangerous, even a blade of grass can kill us, we mustn’t approach rivers.”

Xiaoba opened his mouth, uncertain what to say.

Beside him, Chengcheng first chimed in, ”It used to be different, only now is it different.”

”How different is it?”

Chengcheng scratched his head, aware of the differences but linguistically lacking to accurately express these changes, stubbornly repeating, ”It’s just different!”

The two little ones bickered briefly, soon returning to giggling states.

Once released, they dashed to Wan Xing searching for food.

Children loved novelty and buzz.

Not far from Xiaoba, a woman knelt by the blanket’s edge, half her body in the air, tender gaze fixed on the child devouring a bunch of food atop the blanket, eyes flickering with sadness.

Glimpsing Xiaoba from the corner of her eye, she quickly rose with the child in hand, little hands still clutching a milk date.

Stopping Xiaoba, who was set to return to work.

”Do you need anything?”

Xiaoba’s gaze was pure and gentle, akin to the divine Bai Lu.

The woman hesitated, glanced at the child’s chubby face, regaining resolve, she knelt respectfully, ”I hope you can adopt this child.”

Xiaoba startled, reaching to support her, but the woman merely lifted the child.

The little girl, appearing only three or four, eyes round and pure, knew nothing, assuming the two played, offering her milk date.

Xiaoba helplessly accepted her, eyes signaling the woman to rise.

Only then did she stand.

Xiaoba sighed in relief, amusing the girl into giggles, softly asked, ”Is she your child?”

”My niece, I can’t support her.”