Chapter 303: Progress
The first meeting, in Zhou Qing’s eyes, Su Huan was a dangerous young man.
But this time, Su Huan was her only lifesaver.
“Is the promise you mentioned still valid?”
Zhou Qing asked directly.
Su Huan shrugged, “I don’t remember giving you any promise.”
Facing the Train Conductor’s near-refusal, if it were the young man at this moment, his complexion would already be pale, but Dean Zhou just repeated Su Huan’s previous question to her.
Lu Yu and the students nervously looked toward Su Huan.
Short footsteps came from behind, Lu Xiao and Miao Qi had just arrived with people, and at a glance saw Su Huan at the very front.
Stop, reload, muzzle droop.
The uniform sounds made the students’ nerves tense.
In the fearful gazes of the teachers and students, the team of armed soldiers who had easily slaughtered their mercenaries walked up to this mysterious young man and said respectfully.
“Train Conductor.”
A small commotion immediately arose in the crowd.
Lu Yu’s line of sight passed over his teacher’s shoulder and fell on Su Huan, his eyes filled with complex awe.
He clearly looked about the same age as himself, but the other was already the leader of a major force.
Not to mention him, even Zhou Qing couldn’t help but show a hint of astonishment in her eyes.
They knew about the armored train that had been in the spotlight these past two days, and had even done transactions with them. They had speculated more than once behind the scenes about the identity of the “Train Conductor.” Even she rigidly believed it should be a hegemon at least over thirty-five years old, who grasped humanity and had a profound understanding of the world.
Or one of the few who knew the truth of the apocalypse.
She never imagined it would be a young man even younger than her students.
Although evolution made everyone look younger, the vibrant vitality on Su Huan simply couldn’t be hidden.
She subconsciously compared him to her most outstanding student. Whether it was a politician governing one side, a flood dragon stirring up waves in the financial market, or a writer manipulating words to influence hearts, those names she was once proud of seemed somewhat thin in this scene.
Because with just a thought from Su Huan, he could decide the fate and rise or fall of humans in an entire region.
Ultimate strength and power condensed on his personal body.
Whether heading toward the future or slumbering eternally here.
All decided with a single word!
Seeing this scene, Wen Biao was already scared numb.
Originally, his judgment of the armored train was that it could easily take out the small forces in Xinma County alone, but if the entire Xinma County united, they could definitely contend with the train.
In the end, a single lieutenant took out Magong completely.
Wen Biao subconsciously recalled the officer who had grabbed him by the car door and questioned him back then—it seemed to be…
Colonel!
The thought of having walked once through the gates of hell made Wen Biao’s hands and feet tremble uncontrollably, but thinking of having latched onto the Dragon King’s thigh made him excited again.
If a single lieutenant was this fierce, then what about the other officers?
Could this be the true strength of a force at the level of Jin Feng Chamber of Commerce?
In wild fantasies, Wen Biao’s brain became increasingly excited.
His body anticipated in fear, alternating hot and cold, breaking out in a heavy sweat.
Su Huan lingered a moment longer on Lu Xiao, nodded slightly, then turned to look at the woman and the teachers and students.
“So what’s your answer?”
Zhou Qing said seriously, “I am willing.”
Perhaps hearing a satisfactory answer, Su Huan’s mouth corner lifted slightly, like the devil’s smile weighing the weight of a soul.
“Then I refuse.”
“Ah?”
Wen Biao cried out in shock, Magong’s teachers and students collectively froze.
Zhou Qing’s eyes held confusion. The young man in front of her really wanted to recruit her; at least the emotions she sensed at that moment were affirmative. But why refuse now?
But Zhou Qing still wanted to fight for it, “My name is Zhou Qing, Dean of the Intelligent Transportation College, specializing in intelligent connected car technology, drone application technology, and rail transit vehicle technology. As long as you hire me, including the eight teachers and forty-six students behind me, we will all work for you. I don’t dare guarantee anything else, but we have rich mechanical maintenance experience. In this situation, you absolutely won’t find anyone more professional than us…”
Su Huan narrowed his eyes slightly, retracting the divine light in them.
He hadn’t expected to really pick up a treasure.
There was definitely some exaggeration in Zhou Qing’s words, just like in a job interview—definitely saying it to the fullest, to the best.
But the fields she was involved in happened to be what he needed.
As long as these teachers were at the level she described, this trip would be a huge profit for him.
As for the students…
Who would nitpick free gifts?
Su Huan smiled ambiguously, “That was then, this is now. You already refused my invitation. Now that the situation has changed, you still want the previous terms? Where does such a good deal come from?”
Zhou Qing was stunned for a moment, thought about it, and yes, that made sense.
If it were ordinary people, they would consider future relations and awkwardly accept.
But Su Huan didn’t care about “getting along,” “face,” “propriety,” or such messy things. Anyway, for things not agreed to, refusing was without burden.
“Then…”
“You are now the soldiers’ military merits.”
Su Huan said indifferently, “After returning, each one will be screened as captives. Those with ability stay, those without go back where they came from.”
Among the teachers and students, many students’ complexions turned pale.
Zhou Qing lowered her head silently, accepting this situation.
Staying alive was always better than dying.
“Alright, fall back.”
Having completed tonight’s main goal, Su Huan left satisfied.
Watching the Train Conductor walk away, Lu Xiao passed by Tong Zizhan, hammered his chest, and said fiercely, “You bastard picked it up again. After we get back, will your military rank be higher than mine?”
Tong Zizhan felt bitter inside but had to put on a roguish face on the surface, blowing smoke rings, and said lazily, “When the time comes, I’ll make you run over.”
“Dog thing, fall back!”
Magong’s teachers, students, and supplies were all escorted back to the train. They had wanted to help collect the corpses from the fortress side, but hearing they were all combat personnel raised with supplies, they let it be. Even the shelter modified by Magong School was abandoned.
At nightfall, off-road vehicles returned fully loaded.
Only then did Su Huan learn about the supplies falsification matter. For the handling of Hu Shuo, he just gave a faint “mm,” indicating he knew.
But this single light “mm” represented the fragile balance of Xinma County being broken, and the era of three convoys and two camps ending.
……
By the next day, the twenty thousand survivors suddenly discovered that the “five giants” overhead were left only with Xinma Gang.
Combined with Yu Yue’s widely announced words, the armored train’s dominance chilled everyone.
But this uproar only lasted half a day.
Although the armored train bloodwashing Xinma County shocked people, every scavenger’s first daily task was how to fill their hungry stomachs. Having half a day to inquire about this was already good.
If not worried about being killed by the armored train themselves, they wouldn’t even have half a day.
There were also some ambitious people who felt their opportunity had come.
In an instant, more than a dozen large and small convoys formed in Xinma County, some without even vehicles, just a few electric scooters.
The armored train’s iron-blooded methods also scared off some scavengers, who fled outward in groups.
The population loss from this group was even more than those killed by the train.
Accompanying the scavengers fleeing toward the Zhijin area, news of the armored train’s existence spread to surrounding counties and cities. Some called it Zhijin’s fifth major force, others said the train was just stopping briefly, and they would eventually head to hell…
The Train Conductor didn’t pay attention to these rumors circulating in the wasteland, but Wen Biao sensibly compiled every daily bit of news and personally delivered it every night to Purser Hu Shuo or Secretary Shu Wei.
The armored train that had collected its debts continued trading with scavengers as usual.
But mostly through Xinma Gang.
The materials they collected were efficient and sincere.
Having the potential of Xinma County’s number one force.
……
“June 14, strong winds.”
“On the day before the Scavenger Market opened, a massive black storm engulfed us…”
The armored train was stationed in the very center of Xinma County, with five- or six-story commercial streets on both left and right sides.
Dark window holes whistled like ghost caves in the sandstorm.
Rows of mechanical arms and whale bones extended out to fix into the ground. Plus the armored train’s terrifying self-weight, even if the black storm toppled several high-rises and sand buried half the county town, it was still helpless against the train.
After half a year of accumulation, the armored train finally welcomed its first evolution wave.
According to Director Xu’s observations, ordinary people promoting to Tier 1, with sufficient evolutionary supplies, generally took three to five months, with differences mainly in profession difficulty, basic attributes, and awakening training of special abilities.
But this conclusion only applied after the apocalypse.
The reason He Jie and the others took over a year to become Tier 1 Evolvers was that the world hadn’t changed yet, and the general energy concentration in the air was insufficient.
The Armed Corps and Combat Group together had over twenty people promote to Tier 1, most being veteran soldiers captured by the Steel Council.
There was also the factor of tilting evolution resources recently.
The Crew side had fewer than ten, with evolution speed related to before and after boarding.
The “Firepower Specialist” profession recipe provided by Gunfire had been replicated jointly by Director Xu and Wan Xing.
Although the potion quantity wasn’t much, this was the train’s first batch of independently produced complete gene potions.
Downing a “Defender” one, as long as basic attributes and vitality were sufficient, one could steadily become an Evolver.
Wan Xing suspected the potion had a success rate issue, but the current sample size was too small to test.
“Firepower Specialist” was officially included as one of the train’s basic professions.
Some Defenders would be directly cultivated in that direction.
The second included profession was “Mechanical Apprentice.” Although there was no stable promotion method, the “Manufacturer” assigned by the Manufacturing Group to Yu Jing had a high chance of becoming this profession due to long-term contact with machinery.
The Crew side also fixed one profession: Tier 1 “Energy Charging Expert.”
To cope with the train’s high power consumption, the temporary Charging Group formed by Hu Shuo was turned into a formal department, led by the “Energy Charging Expert” captured together with Shu Wei.
Shu Wei’s dowry could be called quite complete.
Every member was an elite drawn from all departments of Black Kite.
Just this small team’s value exceeded an ordinary Tier 2 Evolver.
After testing by Professor Ma and others, Zhou Qing and the teachers basically passed the train’s tests, solving the train’s talent shortage to a certain extent.
The students’ levels were average, but after the apocalypse, they had developed some decent hands-on abilities. Hu Shuo assigned this group of students to various departments in the Crew.
Personnel expanded slightly.
But the total still didn’t exceed two thousand.
The Armed Corps had over a hundred casualties last time and still hadn’t filled them.
According to calculations by Hu Shuo and others, with the armored train’s current situation, the limit was three thousand people; more would affect the existing system.
So even though Wen Biao pleaded repeatedly, Su Huan didn’t relent.
Only accepting a few talented children aboard.
Ages generally over thirteen, having experienced great changes, mentally quite mature.
Because three of Magong’s teachers were drone experts, the “Train Hive” proposed by Glasses officially began design.
Yu Jing’s exoskeleton also started advancing at a slow pace.
……
Carriage 1.
“Although Tier 1 and Tier 2 Materials have some reserves, with the train’s scale, it’s hard to replace everything with Tier 1 Materials at once; can only replace step by step.”
Shu Wei tapped her brow with her pen and said.
“Include this in part of the Phase Three Plan: all-train Tier 1 or above materials.”
“Alright, after a full-train vote, the armored train’s logo has been selected.”
“Bring it for me to see.”
Su Huan sat up eagerly from his chair.
Although he didn’t care about logos at all, during work, anything besides work was interesting—like when coding, besides coding, even a stain on the mouse was worth studying.
Shu Wei placed the tablet in front of him, displaying a logo.
“This logo design takes the early train front as the iconic shape, metal and dark red color scheme, dotted with sharp elements and rust marks, quite dynamic, and received the most votes.”
(Armored train logo)
Su Huan raised an eyebrow, “Isn’t it a bit too complex?”
“This is the detailed version; there’s also a simplified flat version. Then Xiao Hezi designed the Armed Corps and Crew uniform badges based on this logo.”
Shu Wei swiped the picture.
“What’s the difference? Isn’t it just a color change?” Su Huan said speechlessly.
“Military rank badges need consistency. Red car windows represent Armed Corps, colorless car windows represent Crew. The horizontal and vertical lines on the train front are designed to express seventeen levels of military rank.”
(Armed Corps badge)
(Crew badge)
Su Huan blinked, “Alright then, proceed with this pattern.”
With the force growing, all aspects needed to get on track.
Fortunately, professionals were handling it, so he could worry less.
Shu Wei put away the tablet, hugged it to her chest, and said coldly, “That’s all the matters. I have a meeting later; hope you can approve these documents before I return.”
Su Huan glanced at the ten-centimeter-thick documents, his eyelid twitching.
He said unkindly, “Are you ordering me around?”
Shu Wei sighed, checked the time, and neatly tied up her hair with the pen, “I only have ten minutes.”
(Haven’t slept at eight or nine at night in a long time; there’s a thrilling sense of breaking a taboo. With the new season update for King of Glory these past two days, I indulged hard.)
