Armed Train in the Apocalypse

In the dense jungle, the Beard Tribe was fleeing desperately ahead, with gunfire flashing behind them, occasionally someone tumbling headfirst to the ground.

Some concealed themselves among the shrubs, their eyes fierce as they watched the soldiers of the Armed Corps approach from behind.

As the opponent neared, they puffed up their cheeks and silently shot the blow darts.

Without even a glance, they turned and left.

But as they turned, they locked eyes with a figure hanging upside down, who looked back at them playfully and snapped his fingers.

”Boom!”

In the moment the mutant hesitated, they were blasted away by a powerful explosion.

”Bang bang bang...”

Before the body hit the ground, it was precisely finished off by the soldier who had attacked earlier.

The soldier looked at the hanging Bomb and said in surprise, ”Kid, when did you get yourself an exoskeleton?”

The Big Goose, laden with various equipment, crawled out from the back, craning its neck for a glance, and said tartly, ”Scavenger-1 model, long outdated, no idea which old-timer he bought it from.”

Bomb shook his head, though his fiery red hair had long been shaved off, and proudly said, ”You wouldn’t understand; back then the Conductor wore this exoskeleton and snapped his fingers, blowing the world sky-high.”

Xiao Hong, concealed in the jungle at the back, felt slightly puzzled.

Wasn’t the Conductor’s Fusion Ability something only available at Tier Three?

If he was Tier Three, would he still wear something that cumbersome?

Since Thunder was unfinished, it was worn only once after being crafted, how could he wear something so simple.

Seems like Bomb let himself be fooled again; just don’t know how many points he spent.

Xiao Hong sighed quietly to himself.

Liu Zi shook his head, ”At the end of the month when we gather enough points, everyone can chip in a bit; let’s first get Big Goose a Sentinel-1 model Scavenger III Modified, as a Power Supplier, without an exoskeleton his combat capacity takes a hit.”

Upon hearing this, Big Goose immediately perked up, a smile spreading across his face.

”Big Goose, you scan the battlefield, see if there are any Beard Tribe left around, our mission is to guard here temporarily, not to pursue.”

”Su Su, stay by Xiao Hong, don’t let him be ambushed.”

”Bomb, you and I will clean up the battlefield.”

To the combat squad of the Armed Corps, the Beard Tribespeople from the second camp seemed no different from primates.

The battle’s outcome was decided the moment they encountered.

In no time, they were cleaned up, and under Mountain Goat’s command, most of the squad left to defend, while Captains Tong Zizhan and Gao Yuan led eight sergeant squads, over fifty people, to follow the battlefield trails towards the Traveler’s Tree assault at the Broken Barrel Camp.

Half an hour later, the second bout erupted.

The chief of the Broken Barrel Camp had just circled back, not pausing even to catch his breath, when he saw his camp surrounded; he didn’t even hesitate, abandoning the camp, taking the combat forces with him, fleeing into the jungle depths.

The current camp was actually newly established; where he was heading now was the original territory of Broken Barrel Camp. However, the surrounding resources were too limited to sustain many people, hence it was gradually abandoned, guarded by his own brother in a very hidden place, absolutely unreachable by outsiders.

Uncertain how long they had been running, only when the shadowy threat behind them dissipated.

Seeing the gradually familiar trees around, the chief finally relaxed.

This camp was underground, composed of the empty cavities among the roots of several giant trees, invisible from the surface.

Everyone crawled one by one into the camp from the tree holes.

...

The largest tree hole was fairly spacious, a full five meters in diameter, surrounded by exposed giant tree roots, with traces of excavation on the walls.

A roughly thirty-year-old Beard Tribesman leaned against the wall, with wooden textures evident on his temples in place of hair, connected to the roots overhead and behind him, playing with several rounds of 9mm pistol ammunition in his hand, their golden-yellow casings polished brightly.

The Beard Tribe chief sat cross-legged opposite him, a grim expression on his face, recounting the earlier events.

”When I ran back, I heard fighting over there; seems the people from Six Tower Camp also spotted the outsiders and are battling them.”

The Wooden Beard Tribe man opened his eyes and sighed, ”You’ve been tricked by that kid named Zou Ji.”

The Beard Tribe chief slammed a fist into the ground in anger, his face twisted with rage, ”I should’ve killed that kid sooner if it wasn’t for Li Huanzhi bringing him before; I wouldn’t have trusted him, and ended up losing the new camp.”

”It’d be better if it was just the new camp.”

The chief felt a chill in his heart upon hearing this, leaning forward, almost standing.

”What do you mean?”

”They’re coming this way.”

”Damn it!” The chief got up abruptly, hitting his head against the roots overhead, the little flower in his eye opened its big mouth, revealing sharp teeth.

”Hui, you folks better hide here; I’ll go lead them away.”

The Wooden Beard Tribe man said in a deep voice, ”Can you guarantee you’ll lead them away?”

The chief gritted his teeth, ”I’ve got to give it a try.”

”They might have even more advanced ways to track people, just like I communicate with trees.”

The chief hesitated, his face growing even more grim.

”What should we do then?”

”Surrender.”

Upon hearing those words, the chief was stunned for a moment, looking at his own brother in disbelief, asking again, ”Surrender?”

The other detached the root from his head, ”You said they have a structured armed force and high-tech equipment, and they’re far more evolved than us. Even gathering everyone from the surrounding camps couldn’t beat them, so why fight?”

The chief voiced his concern, ”What if they annihilate us all?”

”Then we resign to fate... but we can add a bargaining chip for survival, like...”

”The Grand Building Camp.”

...