Chapter 266: Test Firing
“May 6th, water slows.”
“We have obtained the truth that can break through the blockade!”
……
The sky was a deep blue, and at the point where the sea and sky met below, there was a hint of soft pinkish orange, with a slope of yellow like a soft cake at the very bottom.
The train snaked along the water surface, heading toward the freshest color.
The armored train had long left the Flood Zone and, following Shu Wei’s guidance, was heading toward the nearest Storm Zone landing point.
Under the water surface a few hundred meters away, scales churned, always maintaining an appropriate distance from the train.
On the deck of the train body, Ban Yunzhang, who had just been promoted, looked pale and grave as he raised the walkie-talkie in his hand. “Thunder God-8 railgun ready, requesting first test shot.”
Moments later, Glasses’ voice came from the walkie-talkie.
“Command platform approves. Personnel on deck, please evacuate.”
“No, I have to watch with my own eyes right here.”
Ban Yunzhang said stubbornly.
“Then you…”
There was a slight hissing sound of poor signal from the other end of the walkie-talkie.
Ban Yunzhang shook this new thing. “What?”
“……Be careful not to get electrocuted.”
Hearing this half-sentence that came out of nowhere, Ban Yunzhang was a bit stunned. His subordinates behind him saw him standing there and stopped their steps to enter the cabin.
The electromagnetic railgun installed on Carriage 5 emitted a dim blue cold light from its tail section.
A low-frequency hum swept across the deck.
Everyone was startled. “Ban-ge, the railgun is starting to charge, it’s about to fire.”
Ban Yunzhang waved his hand. “You guys go in, that’s fine.”
He locked his gaze dead on the electromagnetic railgun, watching as the internal coils lit up section by section, the capacitor bank emitting a charging buzz like thunder about to awaken.
Ban Yunzhang felt a tingling sensation all over his body like getting an electric shock.
His eyes widened in shock.
‘What’s going on?’
‘Leaking, leaking electricity?’
In the distance, the crocodile churning in the water raised its upper body above the surface, supporting its body with its tail.
A pair of beast pupils vigilantly stared in the direction of the armored train.
A terrifying sense of crisis swept over it. Without hesitation, it dove underwater, but it was too late. A light cluster suddenly appeared before its eyes, larger than the sun rising on the horizon.
“Boom——”
The water surface shattered, a crimson giant wave rising dozens of meters. The crocodile was like it had been punched hard, flying backward through the wind and waves.
Its body was directly split into two segments by this strike.
Two speedboats left the train, speeding toward the crocodile.
On the head of each boat stood a person: one tall and handsome with wild long hair, the other burly with only wildness left.
Even as the speedboats were tossed by the waves as if they might fly up at any moment, the two men’s bodies didn’t sway in the slightest.
“This power is really something, no wonder Deputy General Manager Deng thinks about it every day!”
He Jie wiped his face, which had been splashed wet by water, and laughed heartily.
Su Huan frowned slightly, his highly penetrating voice appearing in everyone’s ears. “Something’s off. The general energy level has weakened; it’s no longer Tier 2.”
“No longer Tier 2? What does that mean?”
He Jie’s speedboat had already rushed to the spot where the crocodile was hit.
Su Huan licked his lips. “This one is just a Tier 1 small fry. The Tier 2 one is hiding!”
Yu Yue’s voice suddenly appeared in their ears. “A new target has appeared at your position below.”
He Jie reacted extremely quickly and looked down.
He saw a shadow growing larger beneath his feet. With a “boom,” a terrifying mouth full of fangs burst out of the water, the distance between its upper and lower jaws longer than the entire speedboat!
Water flow frantically escaped from the white giant mouth.
“Roar——”
A primal shudder from ancient times froze the veteran He Jie in place. It took a full second before he thought to raise his anti-aircraft machine gun and pull the trigger.
But faster than the muzzle of his gun was a terrifying dim blue glow.
An electric arc pierced through the giant mouth, extending all the way back to the armored train.
Frenzied gunshots and water sounds filled He Jie’s ears.
The world spun. The speedboat under his feet had flipped at some point, and he had fallen into the water. Afraid of accidentally injuring his own people, He Jie stopped pulling the trigger, slung the anti-aircraft machine gun over his shoulder, and began floating upward.
But the terrifying waves didn’t know how deep they had smashed him underwater.
Large patches of spreading blood further blurred his vision.
Suddenly, his waist went numb. Before he could react, his whole body was yanked out of the water by a massive force.
With a “bang,” he smashed onto the deck.
He looked up and saw the Train Conductor dispersing the lightning whip wrapped around his waist.
‘This ability is really handy.’
Muttering in his heart, He Jie sat up.
A prehistoric giant crocodile over thirty meters long floated on the water surface, its upper jaw mostly torn apart by the electromagnetic railgun, writhing in agony as it died in the water.
Surging waves swept toward the speedboats wave after wave.
A pair of cold beast pupils dead stared at Su Huan and the others nearby. Abandoning the wrecked speedboat, it charged madly toward the group.
“You beast!”
He Jie turned his gun muzzle, aiming at the giant beast in front of him to fire again, but was interrupted by the Train Conductor.
“Don’t waste ammunition. You stay put for now.”
Su Huan narrowed his eyes at the charging Tier 2 giant crocodile. Until it revealed itself and attacked He Jie, his general energy perception hadn’t detected any general energy fluctuation. Clearly, this mutated beast had the ability to shield its own general energy.
It was quite similar to the crocodile’s own habits.
The crocodile opened its half mouth again, a terrifying stench sweeping in.
But faster than it was the electromagnetic railgun’s long-range support.
“Pfft!”
Unfortunately, it missed a bit.
The tough crocodile skin was like cheese sliced by a dinner knife before the railgun—without hindrance, without pause.
The thick tail separated from the crocodile’s body.
The miserable crocodile, with a tragic momentum, wanted to take the tiny speedboat before it down with it.
“Old Liang, its skin is pretty good.”
“I’ll try to peel it off.”
Squatting at the rear of the speedboat, occupying the entire seat, Liang Kuan replied in a muffled voice.
When he stood up holding the shield, the boat sank slightly.
The giant crocodile’s shadow enveloped the small speedboat.
The next moment, Liang Kuan stepped single-footed onto the speedboat’s deck.
“Bang!”
Centered on the speedboat, a massive splash erupted outward.
But faster than the water was the cold blue lightning.
“Lightning Pool.”
The speedboat, nearly sunk by one foot, was forcibly held afloat by lightning. Su Huan looked up, shading his eyes with his hand.
He saw a powerful human silhouette appear directly above the giant beast.
The shield in his hand, which had just been thickened, smashed down on the crocodile’s head with violent force.
“Dong——”
Like the resonant bell from a temple.
Mad wind assaulted, ears tingling.
The giant beast flew backward.
He Jie watched the scene in shock. “Is this the power of touching the Tier 2 threshold?”
“Truly refreshing.”
Su Huan smoothed his disheveled long hair, a light smile on his lips.
“Bang!”
Liang Kuan also flipped back onto the speedboat. Hearing their conversation, he was about to reply when he felt an itch in his chest cavity and spat out a mouthful of bloody foam.
Su Huan smiled faintly. “How does it feel?”
Liang Kuan gasped heavily. “Really tough!”
“That’s because your other attributes can’t keep up. As long as you improve your constitution and stamina, even if this crocodile was at full strength, you wouldn’t get shaken this badly.”
Hearing the Train Conductor’s explanation.
He Jie then noticed that Liang Kuan’s shield had disappeared, and his right forearm was bent into a weird arc.
Blood gushed down.
He couldn’t help but exclaim, “Is the gap between Tier 1 and Tier 2 this big?”
“Why else evolve?”
The two electromagnetic railgun strikes had already reduced the giant crocodile to near death; Liang Kuan’s blow actually had little effect.
But as a Defender, fighting the strong was the easiest way to stimulate evolution.
“Bandage the wound and prepare to clean the battlefield.”
After Su Huan spoke, he turned to look at the giant crocodile trying to sink into the water to escape, his lips curling slightly, white teeth gleaming coldly.
“Thunderstorm.”
A bright and gentle light cluster bloomed in the water, growing larger and larger, completely enveloping the “over twenty meters long without its tail” giant crocodile.
……
Light footsteps sounded on the stairs to the second floor of the dining car.
Yu Yue pushed the door open and placed a cup of coffee next to the head Train Conductor’s hand.
Su Huan retracted his feet from the table and asked, “Has that Ban Yunzhang woken up yet?”
Yu Yue activated her ability to listen for a moment, smiling slightly. “He was just briefly electrocuted and has just woken up now.”
Su Huan took a sip of coffee and smacked his lips. “Good to give him a lesson. I told him he couldn’t control it, but he insisted on standing up there to get shocked. Lucky the deck is ironwood…”
“Mm, then I’ll go make food. What do you want for lunch?”
“We’ll talk about food later. You sit down and listen too; what comes next is important.”
Su Huan instructed.
Yu Yue scanned the room and saw that everyone who mattered on the train was there. She politely declined He Jie and the others offering seats, grabbed a chair, and sat to Su Huan’s left.
Her position was slightly ahead of Shu Wei to Su Huan’s right.
“Toot toot——”
Su Huan knocked on the table and said seriously, “The electromagnetic weapon issue is resolved now, and the crocodile following us has been dealt with. Next, we’re entering the Storm Zone. What ideas do you all have?”
Everyone looked at each other. He Jie, sitting first to the left, spoke first. “The electromagnetic railgun’s accuracy seems to have a problem…”
“Thunder God-8’s power is beyond doubt, but it fired twice just now—one at the head, one at the tail. If it hits, one shot could take down a Tier 2 mutated beast.”
Ban Yunzhang, sitting at the far right end, quickly said, “The aiming system was affected by general energy, but we recalibrated it just now.”
“This afternoon, find targets yourselves and calibrate twice more. No need to worry about wasting ammunition.”
Su Huan said.
This trip was an experiment anyway; some error was normal.
At this point, Su Huan seemed to remember something and looked at Wan Xing, who had been silent. “Disassemble the materials from these two crocodiles soon. I suspect its skin has some general energy shielding effect.”
“Okay.”
“Right, one more thing to notify you about.”
Everyone knew the main topic was coming and solemnly looked at the Train Conductor.
Su Huan thought for a moment and said, “Black Kite wants to negotiate with us. I agreed.”
The news was too sudden; everyone was a bit dazed. Many instinctively looked at Shu Wei behind the Train Conductor.
The latter remained icy cold in appearance, showing no intention of responding.
He Jie and the others felt it wasn’t great, but their soldier discipline made them accustomed to following orders, silently waiting for Su Huan’s next words.
On the crew side, Old Da and the three brothers followed Fourth Brother’s lead and naturally raised no objections.
Only Professor Ma, the Factory Director, and other old-timers frowned.
“I’m a bit curious—when was communication established?”
Yu Jing, still holding her notebook and doodling during the meeting, suddenly asked.
“When Professor Ma adjusted the equipment last time.”
Su Huan said.
“Does that mean the network can reconnect?”
“Not in the discussion scope.”
Su Huan interrupted Yu Jing’s diverging thoughts.
Hu Shuo asked, “So, when exactly is the negotiation, and what preparations do we need?”
Su Huan propped his cheek with one hand. “Shu Wei.”
The secretary turned on the projection screen opposite, quickly pulling up a map on it.
It was roughly the area where Ningxi Province bordered Lan Shu Province to the north.
“District 12’s boundaries aren’t strictly divided by provinces. The boundary between the Storm Zone and Flood Zone is within Ningxi Province.”
Shu Wei drew a rough line on the screen with a laser pointer.
Everyone understood.
“We’re entering the highlands now, no wonder…”
“Is this Yan Bei Pass?”
“Yes, the Flood Zone and Storm Zone meet at Yan Bei Pass, but some parts overlap; it’s not that precise.” Shu Wei explained.
Hu Shuo pulled out a pen to take notes. “So we’re negotiating with Black Kite at Yan Bei Pass?”
“Before Yan Bei Pass, a bit ahead. There’s an un-flooded county town that’s been turned into a temporary port by Black Kite. We’ll negotiate there.”
“Content?”
“Not settled yet.”
He Jie suddenly interjected, “Do we have to land in the Storm Zone via Yan Bei Pass? Knowing they’ve set up a firepower net there, why charge in? Can’t we just go around?”
Shu Wei shook her head calmly. “The boundary exists because the flood can’t spread past due to terrain and other reasons. Unless the armored train can fly, we can’t cross those special terrains; we can only go through Yan Bei Pass.”
He Jie frowned. “Northwest direction?”
“That’s a vast swamp area now; the train could get stuck.”
Seeing He Jie ask no more, Shu Wei continued, “If we refuse the negotiation, we’ll face Black Kite and other major forces’ blockade…”
Professor Ma sighed. “But this is a Hongmen Banquet.”
Director Xu agreed. “They’ll definitely take a hard bite out of the armored train, and I’m afraid they want more than one bite.”
The atmosphere grew tense. New managers like Li Han didn’t dare interject, instinctively looking at the quiet Train Conductor.
The Train Conductor propped his cheek with one hand, eyes downcast.
His face showed no fluctuation.
Li Han and the other newcomers sighed inwardly.
‘Worthy of the Train Conductor—facing such a thorny issue without changing expression.’
After three breaths, perhaps noticing the silence.
Su Huan came back to himself and asked, “Where were we?”
