Chapter 304: Cooperation
Mechanical Laboratory.
“Your idea is good, but the span is too large. Exoskeleton and power armor are the same type of thing, but they differ greatly in design. You shouldn’t abandon the exoskeleton which has some foundation; perhaps make it compatible, shrink the size a bit more, which can also reduce the area exposed to attacks. No need to insist on myoelectric control; electric assistance is sufficient to achieve your usage goals…”
“This parameter is very vague. Male drivers generally weigh more than females, even exceeding over a hundred pounds, and this weight will affect the power armor’s endurance and ammunition capacity. But at this step, it’s not enough; you also need to consider evolver factors. Evolvers have stronger physical fitness, but their body density is also higher. These parameters all need to be recalculated…”
Zhou Qing, who had fully integrated into the train, explained various issues with the design drawings to Yu Jing and the others.
Even proud Tan Yunxi listened with full concentration.
In a short while, the blank spaces on the design drawings were filled with various parts schematic diagrams, covered in dense calculation formulas.
Old Jiang came in, saw this scene, didn’t disturb them, placed the box on the table, and left.
Yu Jing turned back and glanced, discovering the attendants were all staring eagerly at the three of them.
Subconsciously, she looked up at the wall clock; unknowingly, it was already time to get off work.
These attendants had been working continuously for thirty hours; not to mention them, even she herself was very tired.
Mental labor is also physically exhausting labor.
Yu Jing said straightforwardly, “Pack up your things, you all go back and rest first.”
The many pursers breathed a sigh of relief, packed up their things, and quietly dispersed.
Zhou Qing also stopped her explanation, watching Yu Jing pick up the one-meter-square wooden box.
Precise parts were placed one by one beside it.
Dean Zhou looked at the familiar items, walked over slightly surprised, “This seems like…”
Yu Jing looked up, “Did you make it?”
Dean Zhou nodded, “You all brought them up? These parts have slight flaws; I haven’t had time to adjust them.”
“This is what we initially exchanged for, with supplies.”
“Ah?”
Dean Zhou was somewhat surprised, then frowned, “These were all in my warehouse; how could they…”
As she spoke, Dean Zhou seemed to understand something.
She sighed faintly.
“Probably someone secretly sold them to the train.”
Tan Yunxi had seen a lot of such things, so she pierced the truth with one sentence.
“This is for you.”
Yu Jing finally found what she wanted, dug out a box of self-heating hot pot from the parts, and placed it in Zhou Qing’s hands.
Meeting her surprised gaze, Yu Jing said calmly, “Your salary is normally halved, but you’ve performed excellently recently, so I applied to the logistics group for extra supplies as a reward. It’s not much, but, um… it’s very tasty.”
Zhou Qing’s eyes softened, “Thank you.”
“No need to thank me; this is the train’s rule—exchange work for survival.”
Dean Zhou had an oval face; although her skin was roughened by the sandstorms in the storm zone, with fine lines at the corners of her eyes, it was clear she was extremely beautiful in her youth, like a warm Ru kiln porcelain—not dazzling, but withstands repeated scrutiny.
Unfortunately, she was much older than Su Huan.
“Let’s end it here today; I’m going back to sleep first.”
Yu Jing stopped talking and went straight out the door.
While Dean Zhou was still dazed, Tan Yunxi waved her little hand, “Teacher Zhou, I have a dinner appointment; I’m leaving first.”
Watching the girl disappear in a flash, Dean Zhou felt dazedly like she was back before the apocalypse.
After a moment, Zhou Qing sorted and placed the parts on the table, decided to repair them first, then continue researching power armor. Only by producing results could she gain a voice on the train and help more students.
……
Today’s train conductor performed exceptionally, completing this period’s work before midnight.
But this completion state could only last until five o’clock tomorrow.
Like the supplies provided by Black Kite, various rechecks and confirmations, then the destination and use of each supply item had to be reviewed by him, the applied projects needed his approval, and progress and results needed his acceptance. If not satisfied, he needed to provide feedback.
If it was a field he was completely unfamiliar with, Su Huan had to take lessons.
Yes, lessons.
Su Huan might not understand the details, but he needed a general idea of what the people below were doing; he couldn’t fully rely on “professionals” to freestyle.
In short, everything happening and about to happen on the train would be summarized here with the train conductor.
Twisting various forces and plans into one, advancing toward his goal.
Although the various pursers and Shu Wei had already taken on much for him, there were still a large number of decisions needing him.
‘Perhaps I should form a staff advisory group?’
Su Huan thought while walking toward the rear carriage.
The restaurant was quiet, with a row of small lights on in the corridor; a spotlight shone on the cabinet counter, perfectly illuminating the tray below, which held a plate of spicy boneless chicken feet—Yu Yue’s prepared nighttime snack for him.
Picking up the plate, Su Huan walked to the back.
Wan Xing had gone to rest; the No. 3 carriage at night felt somewhat eerie.
Various zombie and mutated beast parts hung on the train, accompanied by slowly flickering lifting lights, creating a full atmospheric vibe.
Su Huan ate the spicy, crispy chicken feet tendons while looking with interest at the skinned mutated beast on the wall; after a moment, he walked to the back.
The plant corridor at night had a beauty vastly different from daytime; unfortunately, few could appreciate it.
Yu Jing’s mechanical workshop was brightly lit.
But there were very few people.
Calculating the time, today was exactly rest time.
Su Huan crunched the tendons on the chicken feet with his teeth, walked in with interest.
The mechanical laboratory, besides researching Yu Jing’s exoskeleton, more often acted like the train’s executive department; whether batch production of materials for the manufacturing group or the train’s upgrades and modifications, the execution part was led by the mechanical laboratory.
This was also why, despite the mechanical laboratory not having strong research capabilities, Su Huan still allocated it a large amount of supplies.
It gathered the train’s most skilled hands-on talents.
“Xiao Ai, adjust according to the parameters I just mentioned, then hang up No. 12 exoskeleton.”
The woman’s voice was unhurried, with a warm tone.
Su Huan raised his eyelids in surprise; it wasn’t Yu Jing, nor that girl Tan Yunxi.
Accompanied by the sound of track sliding, an exoskeleton was moved to the center of the room, and in front stood a woman wearing a gray-toned camel knitwear, hair pinned up behind her head—silver-white and translucent, but roots black and shiny—carrying a gentle and steady aura.
Black hair regrowth only appeared on those older tier 1 evolvers.
On the train, only one person met this condition.
Magong Dean, Zhou Qing.
Dean Zhou also noticed Su Huan’s presence, turned around, and said respectfully, “Train Conductor.”
Su Huan walked over with the chicken feet, nudged toward her, “Want some?”
Dean Zhou politely said thanks, unhesitatingly grabbed one with her hand, and chewed it carefully.
Su Huan’s mouth curved up.
Not dissatisfaction; on the contrary, he was very satisfied.
Sharing food is the highest courtesy in the wasteland, and not refusing is the highest trust in the wasteland.
“Where’s Yu Jing?”
Eating the plate of chicken feet, the train conductor started chatting casually.
“She hasn’t rested for two days; she’s sleeping now.”
“How’s it on the train?”
“It’s very good here.”
Feeling her words weren’t sincere enough, Dean Zhou emphasized her tone and repeated, “There’s order, supplies, work. Maintaining such a place in this era takes a lot of effort.”
“I’m very fortunate to work on such a train with my students.”
Su Huan had heard too many crude flatteries; this understated praise made his pores relax.
But he always wanted to make things difficult for others a bit.
“After all, you’re working for me. You could have lived for yourselves; without me, you might gradually become the number one force in Xinma County, build a larger shelter, protect more people…”
Su Huan’s voice was like a devil’s whisper, depicting a beautiful picture.
Dean Zhou stared at Su Huan, even her gentle brows hiding strangeness.
Why did someone like… disparaging himself so much?
“Actually, our lives aren’t as easy as you seem to think.” Dean Zhou sighed faintly, “Because I took an extra piece of bread from the supermarket, my son was eaten by a zombie horde; my husband was stabbed to death by a group robbing food. If you’ve been to the streets below Mayi, you should see rat meat skewers—that’s the food for most scavengers, but there’s an even easier-to-get, lower-risk source of meat…”
“No other family?”
“Before the apocalypse, my daughter said she was meeting friends for dinner and never came back.”
“I’m sorry.”
Su Huan said insincerely while eating chicken feet.
Although knowing Su Huan’s apology was just linguistic habit, Dean Zhou still shook her head.
“I used to have many students; some were playful, some rebellious, but they were all young, with plenty of time to experience and change. But the apocalypse took their chances. Even giving our all, it’s hard to reach the bottom line of ‘survival.’ What frightens me more is children losing learning opportunities, youths losing growth time, while we old people gradually die, our knowledge not passed on in time…”
“We took hundreds of thousands of years to leave the era of eating raw meat and drinking blood, but overnight we regressed a hundred years. What if one year, ten years, or generations later?”
“So what do you want?”
At this point, Dean Zhou’s face showed piety and determination, “Initially, I wanted to build a shelter to protect my students, more children and youths, rebuild the school, pass on my knowledge, let them have food and live with dignity, not degenerate back into beasts. But on the armored train, I saw the best possibility for this stage…”
Su Huan finished his chicken feet and had no reason to listen further.
He said dryly, “Very nice ideal.”
But he didn’t think it had a chance of realization.
The current decline was just the beginning; after Dean Zhou’s generation dies, the wasteland will become complete barbarism, like the Warring States thousands of years ago, where “savages” surviving in the wasteland are treated as beasts by “citizens” of major forces for killing and amusement.
In his previous life, besides killing mutated beasts, Su Huan mostly cleared violent mobs in the wasteland.
As for whether mobs or scavengers, it was just a word from the organization.
But he had no psychological burden.
No one would consider those with various weird evolved organs, cunning and ferocious personalities, plundering and cannibalistic, as their own kind.
“I’m just the ideal; you’re realizing it.”
Dean Zhou extended her right hand with burning gaze.
“Hiss…”
Su Huan felt it hard to face such expectant eyes; racking his brains, he couldn’t figure out which step went wrong to cause her misunderstanding.
And usually he invited others; what was the situation today?
Reversed?
But the train conductor still reached out and shook hands.
Dean Zhou’s hand was very “delicate”; fingerprints worn flat, but very warm.
Suddenly felt like being cared for by an elder.
The train conductor felt extremely weird.
“Let’s talk about the power armor instead…”
……
At the border of Zhijin City and the three counties, neutral town.
Clanging sounds were drowned in the storm.
A group of people in jeans and black leather jackets bustled in the town; some held shovels and carts, piling street sand into abandoned buildings or pushing it farther to roughly heap on both sides; some held tools repairing defenses.
Steam hissed from a noodle shop’s range hood by the road; the faint noodle aroma was extinguished by the sandstorm before anyone could smell it.
Inside the noodle shop, the fifty-year-old master scooped scalding hot oil, poured it into a large noodle bowl; sizzle, the chili powder’s aroma burst out from the hot oil.
He added a plate of peeled garlic, brought the noodles to the front; here sat the noodle shop’s only guest.
The man had a broad build, also wearing leather jacket, with three items by his hand: car key, baseball cap, handgun.
“President, noodles are here!”
The master placed the noodles and garlic on the table.
“Hey, why follow with nonsense; call me as before.” The man feigned dissatisfaction.
The master smiled, “Boss, try if my skills have declined.”
The man mixed the noodles, laughed, “Smells right. By the way, how’s business lately?”
The master smacked his lips, “Eh, only a bit during market days; other times I don’t even need to fire up the pot. Not many breathing in whole Zhijin City now; who can afford white noodles? Or like others, sell some little things?”
The boss bit garlic, shook his head, “A person can do one thing well in life; don’t mess around. Selling this bowl of noodles well is enough; if supplies run short, tell the association, I’ll replenish.”
The master sighed, “If not for you valuing…”
“Enough, go wait in the back kitchen; you’re affecting my meal.”
The boss ate big mouthfuls of oil-splashed wide noodles while waving him off.
The master had just left when a low wolf howl came from outside.
Claws scraping ground sounded at the doorway.
The noodle shop’s roller shutter clattered up; man’s hearty laughter and sandstorm poured in together; the boss quickly hugged his bowl.
Outside stood a man in gray woolen coat, followed by four over-two-meter earth wolves harnessed like cart yokes; several leather-jacketed patrol members were unhitching the yokes from the earth wolves.
The four earth wolves entered, shaking fur.
Sand and dirt fell rustling.
“Knew you’d be here!”
The woolen coat man said, shouting to the back kitchen, “One bowl hu la soup, four fatty-lean with green peppers!”
“Coming right up!”
The master’s response came from the back kitchen.
The boss glanced at the four majestic earth wolves, muttered while eating noodles, “Four now?”
The man took off his coat, “Else what do you think I was busy with in the west; yesterday’s storm was huge, if not smaller today, couldn’t return. Market will probably be affected.”
The boss looked at the sky, “Not necessarily.”
The man was surprised, “What, Black Kite brought good stuff this time?”
“Heard of the armored train?”
“I actually heard from Black Kite; a very fierce wandering force, elite of the convoys. Heard that train conductor has three heads and six arms, fights with lightning and thunder, like thunder god and lightning mother…”
Seeing his old friend excited, the boss set down his half-eaten noodles, eyes serious.
Not believing the thunder god nonsense, but surprised the armored train’s fame had spread to the west.
The original estimate probably needed upward adjustment.
“This force is now in neighboring Xinma County; recently leveled whole Xinma County, leaving only Wen Biao’s Xinma Gang.”
The boss said.
The man took a big bite of the meat wrap from the master, mumbled, “That Xinma sign?”
“One of the double biaos, Dai Biaozi, was hung on Mayi’s signboard and dried into jerky.”
The man was slightly puzzled, “Indeed some real stuff, but leveling Xinma County, Jin Feng Chamber of Commerce could do it too; no need to be so surprised.”
The boss said calmly, “Old Xie, if you to level Xinma County, how many people, how long?”
Old Xie drank soup to clear his throat, calculated, “Xinma County average strength, evolver side only Dean Zhou famous, but her profession can’t fight; just too many leaders, clearing troublesome. At least one-third personnel busy two-three days; to ensure total wipe, best full assembly, within a week, can handle clean.”
“Half an hour.”
Old Xie shook his head like a rattle, “Impossible, absolutely impossible; even pigs, that’s thousands of pigs, catching takes two-three days…”
Wait, Old Xie felt something off.
Looked up at the president, throat bobbing, “You mean the armored train leveled Xinma County in half an hour?”
Jin Feng Chamber of Commerce president sighed, “Verified by multiple testimonies, even less than half an hour.”
Old Xie frowned tightly; although Jin Feng Chamber of Commerce could crush and split Xinma County, couldn’t do simultaneous all-around attack and resolution like the armored train.
“This only shows they have enough tier 1 evolvers; leveling Xinma County doesn’t mean crushing us, right?”
Watching his neck-stiff old partner, Lu Kuang shook his head.
Since apocalypse, the two passed various crises, but similarly changed much by apocalypse.
Old Xie evolved fast, now increasingly believing in his strength.
“Just be prepared; soon all forces arrive, let’s first allocate Zhijin cleanup zones.”
“I feel base city is excuse; Black Kite probably after Zhijin’s”
Seeing Old Xie almost done eating, Lu Kuang greeted the back kitchen master, walked out the door; his subordinate had parked the off-road vehicle by the road. Opening the car door, one of Old Xie’s earth wolves jumped in, another three on the roof, remaining two following behind the car.
Each perked ears, narrowed ferocious eyes scanning surroundings.
This was another cooperation between humans and mutated beasts after turmoil.
