Armed Train in the Apocalypse

Su Huan waved his hand, and the two assistants retreated, leaving only Su Huan and Lin Xi in the room.

The lab bench was somewhat larger than a typical operating table, covered with a green sterile cloth. Su Huan sat on it naturally, testing its softness by pressing down.

”If Director Xu saw this, he’d be angry.”

”He’s not here anyway.”

Su Huan said nonchalantly, ”Where is he?”

The girl smiled, her silver eyelids blinking, ”He went for a check-up.”

Su Huan grunted, unsure of what to say. Typically, there wasn’t much to say, as Lin Xi could always ”see” for herself.

”Are you leaving?”

Lin Xi said, without any warning.

”What?” Su Huan was taken aback, then grabbed Lin Xi’s hand, feeling the seal he had left. He frowned, ”It’s loosened this much. Why didn’t you tell me?”

The girl replied innocently, ”I really don’t know. But are you really going to abandon us?”

Su Huan reinforced the energy seal firmly, expressionless, ”It’s just some intrusive thoughts. Stop analyzing my thoughts all the time. Thousands of ideas flash through my mind every minute; it will stimulate your ability.”

”I can’t sense it now.”

”That’s a good thing.”

The girl pouted.

Su Huan got up, intending to find Director Xu to ask about the situation, but suddenly felt a tightness on the skin of his back. He restrained the impulse to leave quickly and stood still.

”What’s wrong?”

Su Huan frowned.

Lin Xi hugged him from behind, her small face buried into the broad back, inhaling deeply twice.

In a nearly whispering voice, she said, ”Safe travels, brother.”

Su Huan stood there dazed, the girl already sitting back on the lab bench, as obedient as if nothing had happened.

...

The night wind was bitterly cold, blowing across the face like it wanted to scrape off flesh.

Only the sporadic artillery fire from the train and distant explosions added a touch of color to the snowy plains. Su Huan gazed for a moment, then, together with Lian Jin, fell into the snow.

He had accepted Song Zhiyue’s invitation.

Compared to the Hua family’s exquisite dishes, he more desired some rustic home-cooked meals.

However, as soon as they entered the camp, Su Huan felt something was amiss. The sentinels were already stationed in the top corridor of the camp. Even with layers of snow as insulation, the temperature here had reached over minus forty degrees, making it uncomfortable to stand there.

The two were politely stopped at the door. Considering Su Huan’s face, Lian Jin didn’t erupt, but his thick eyebrows already formed a character of ”川”.

Soon, a livid Song Zhiyue came out to welcome them inside.

Even inside the camp, it was chaos. Grown men stood on either side of the corridors with weapons, smoking cigarettes. Their breaths replaced the cooking smoke, and their gazes towards Su Huan were wary with hostility.

Women were rummaging through each household, not even sparing the abandoned stoves in the corners.

A middle-aged woman saw Song Zhiyue as a savior. She hurried over, crying and wailing, ”Chief, we’ve searched everywhere, and can’t find those two children. We don’t know where they ran off to. If something happens to those little rascals, how can I go on living...”

”He called me ’Uncle.’ Rest assured, whatever happens, I will find him and bring him back.”

Song Zhiyue softened his tone and comforted her a bit more, but the woman cried even more energetically, as if it would never end. Song Zhiyue’s already unpleasant face turned even darker.

He waved his hand, and soon women came over, half coaxing and half dragging her away, not forgetting to cast a resentful glance at Su Huan and Lian Jin as they left.

Song Zhiyue apologetically explained, ”The Zhang family’s boy is missing, the one who relayed messages for me. His family was wiped out, leaving only him and his mother. Losing her son suddenly, she was flustered. Please bear with her...”

Su Huan squinted, ”Aside from us, has anyone else recently been to the camp?”

Song Zhiyue nodded, sighed, ”I’m not suspecting you, Trainmaster, but this situation is just too damn coincidental. Who knows why it ended up like this, sigh...”

Beside him, Lian Jin suddenly understood. No wonder these people were hostile towards them. They arrived in the morning, and by afternoon children were missing. If it were him, he’d suspect them too.

Lian Jin followed with persuasion, ”Brother-in-law, you have no idea; they’ve been at this for decades, nurturing their only children. There are few kids, and each child is the lifeline of three families, all of them are precious.” He turned his head to ask, ”Could it be the work of the Pale Demon?”

Song Zhiyue shook his head, ”I’m afraid of that, but no one has left, and I’ve led people to screen the entire camp for living beings. No puppets possessed. Could those things have slipped in to take the kids away?”

Su Huan was noncommittal, his dark eyes already faintly glowing. The entire three-dimensional topography of the camp quietly emerged in his mind.

During the daytime, he saw those two kids, and their energy fluctuations wouldn’t easily confuse him.

He quickly scanned the entire camp and found no trace of the children. He then began to perceive further, with invisible energy waves radiating outward from him as the center, bringing back various feedback. He distinguished by the density and texture of the different energy feedback.

The data volume was vast, but given his current mental capacity, it wasn’t complicated. Almost instantly, he had swept five kilometers around—with still no sign of the children.

The ”Pan-energy Perception” range continued to expand.

The scan transformed from precise to rough, six kilometers, eight kilometers, ten kilometers...