Chapter 262: Trench Crusher
“It was me who had them shape these for me. Throwing away these canned food jars would be too wasteful; they can be used to grow flowers.”
Yu Yue softly explained, her voice gentle, as if afraid of disturbing something.
“Boring, He Jie, what did you write in that report of yours?”
Su Huan turned to He Jie beside him.
The latter placed the shaped canned food jars aside. “It’s about the Armed Corps promotion professions issue.”
Veins throbbed on Su Huan’s forehead. “You wrote a whole stack of reports for just this?”
Luckily, he had backed off upon seeing that pile of paper.
He Jie crossed one leg over his knee and grinned. “This is called professionalism. By the way, you didn’t read a single word, did you?”
Su Huan took the cup handed to him by Yu Yue, took a sip—sweet, with the fragrance of pomelo.
“Didn’t even glance at it.”
“Should’ve known not to waste time. Qu Hang wrote all night for nothing yesterday.”
He Jie sucked his teeth.
Although Su Huan hadn’t read it, Shu Wei definitely had.
As the personal secretary, she had to give accurate answers and advice no matter what the Train Conductor asked, so even if a pile of crap was served up from below, she had to carefully savor it.
He Zhenzhen, sitting beside them, fell into a daze.
This was her first time listening in on her father and the Train Conductor discussing major train matters.
She had thought it would be that kind of commanding eloquence, passionate and stirring, every sentence carrying firm will, deciding the life and death of thousands and the continuation of human civilization.
Even if not that intense, it should at least be pearls of wisdom, laced with hidden metaphors.
But she hadn’t expected the real scene to be two social scraps discussing how to slack off.
“By the way, how is my profession arranged going forward?”
He Jie asked directly.
When it came to serious business, Su Huan’s strange expressions all vanished, his whole demeanor like a sculpture of an ancient Greek god—handsome and profound.
“The Steel Council originally arranged you for ‘Artillery Expert,’ right?”
“Yeah, it’s to supplement heavy firepower—poor mobility, strong output, suits my strategic command positioning. When I discussed it with Director Xu, he said your ‘Berserk Veteran’ was good too, but didn’t know if it had follow-ups, so he told me to ask you.”
He Jie said solemnly.
Su Huan stirred the amber-colored pomelo peel pickled in his cup. “I have both directions, but the highest is only Tier 3.”
He Jie rubbed his smooth lower lip. “Tier 3, huh? That’s enough. I heard Director Xu say Tier 3 is a threshold.”
“Oh, he knows that too. Makes sense—knowing vitality exists, it’s not hard to reverse-engineer that conclusion…”
“If vitality is low, can’t you just eat pears?”
Su Huan glanced at him. Though the crude words weren’t spoken, his eyes clearly conveyed them.
‘You’re dreaming.’
He didn’t have enough pears for himself—god knows how many it’d take for them to break through Tier 3.
“It’s not just vitality; there are basic attributes, skill levels… But that’s not important. What do you think of the ‘Berserk Veteran’ career direction? Can you accept it?”
He Jie pondered for a moment. “I think it’s good. Compared to ‘Artillery Expert,’ which can only sit at the rear, I prefer charging up front.”
“If that’s the case, ‘Berserk Veteran’ is pretty good for you. This profession’s follow-up is called ‘Trench Crusher.'”
Su Huan smiled and said.
In his previous life, He Jie’s famous battles were all fought by charging in with guns and cannons.
After he promoted to Tier 3 ‘Guns and Cannons Master,’ he had fewer chances to go to the front lines, mostly commanding from the rear.
Su Huan suspected this was a key reason He Jie struggled to break through.
Hearing ‘Trench Crusher,’ He Jie’s eyes lit up. “That’s the one—sounds badass just hearing it.”
“This one relies heavily on weapons. Don’t even think about using the heavy machine gun on the train.”
“Anti-air won’t work either?”
“It’s not power—it’s ammunition. How many gunpowder bullets can you carry? Even if you can wield it, there’s no time to reload.”
Su Huan shook his head.
He Jie suddenly understood. “So it’s electromagnetic weapon then. But doesn’t that still need charging?”
“Definitely needs modification.”
In his previous life, the Steel Council naturally didn’t have this profession type, but Su Huan had seen it when cooperating with other forces.
The electromagnetic weapons used were all modified; the user could directly infuse general energy into them, converting it to power, saving the trouble of charging backpacks.
Pre-apocalypse R&D on electromagnetic weapon ammunition had climbed countless steps.
Like that City Breaker inside the vehicle—despite its huge gun body, the actual projectile was tiny. Both production and carrying were far more convenient than traditional firearm bullets.
“Then that’s the one.”
He Jie nodded decisively and continued.
“During these days of research, we all agreed ‘Firepower Specialist’ must be preserved. Though it relies on logistics, this profession forms easily, has good combat effects, and high cost-performance. Hearing you talk about its follow-up direction today, it can be cultivated as a team core—I think it should be retained even more.”
“Doesn’t have to be ‘Firepower Specialist’—any profession that can maintain suppression works.”
“Standard five-person squad configuration, right?”
“Yeah.”
Su Huan thought about it. Though ‘Firepower Specialist’ as the gunfire-focused profession was a bit commonplace.
Mainstream meant stable combat power, guaranteeing a baseline.
He Jie: “Pre-apocalypse configuration was assault trooper, firepower specialist, marksman plus a medic—usually two assault troopers, sometimes adjusted, more anti-armor or swap marksman for sniper, covering close-range, long-range, special ops, and some logistics.”
“But after the apocalypse in this period of combat, I think some configurations need changing. The core spot should go to reconnaissance—that is, perception-type evolver.”
Su Huan agreed. “That’s the team’s brain. Firepower plus reconnaissance—that’s two. The remaining three?”
“Medic takes one. Besides combat, they can handle material collection. Most medics are ‘Collectors’; they understand mutated plants better and know which materials can be collected.”
“Good.”
“The remaining two…”
He Jie looked up at Liang Kuan and said gravely, “I want to equip every team with a pure ‘Fighter’ like Old Liang.”
Liang Kuan was slightly surprised, but only for a moment.
Su Huan glanced at the two and chuckled wryly.
Clearly, Liang Kuan had left a deep impression on He Jie.
Revering violence is man’s nature.
And Liang Kuan, to some extent, was the embodiment of violence.
“Liang Kuan is an exception. You’ve dealt with Zhong Cheng from the Steel Council—you know other ‘Fighters’ can’t reach his level. And to be precise, Liang Kuan’s profession differs from ‘Fighter.'”
“I know, but the team needs a close-combat evolver. Otherwise, off the train, getting closed in by other evolvers means instant kill.”
“Fine. The last one?”
“‘Mechanist'”
A clear voice came from the corridor.
The metal door opened, and a tall figure in a white-scaled tactical suit walked in, instantly drawing everyone’s attention.
Over the tactical suit was a set of dark gray exoskeleton, lines similar to [Engineer-I] by six or seven tenths, but more streamlined, not as bulky as the original, with some layouts changed—clearly fully redesigned.
“Jing-jie looks so cool…”
He Zhenzhen’s eyes were practically sparkling.
He Jie glanced jealously, then couldn’t look away.
“This is the new exoskeleton?”
Yu Jing’s gaze swept left and right in the room, then landed on Su Huan’s porcelain cup on the coffee table. Her phoenix eyes narrowed slightly, like locking onto prey.
She stepped forward, downed Su Huan’s honey pomelo tea in one go, sat aside, and lightly acknowledged.
“[Engineer-II], just rushed out. Some engineering fittings not installed yet—just brought for first-stage testing.”
Su Huan looked at his empty cup. “Wasn’t it just making progress in R&D? Finished product this fast?”
“Supercomputer was very capable. Parameters that would’ve taken long to compute were done in a day. Remaining manufacturing and assembly won’t take long.”
He Jie cleared his throat lightly, eyes gleaming at the exoskeleton. “When mass production?”
“Engineer series not for mass production—only for engineering use.”
“Train Conductor, this is good stuff—way better than that [Scavenger]. If equipped to all soldiers, overall combat power up at least thirty percent.” He Jie turned to Su Huan.
Su Huan irritably pulled up his pant leg, showing the fitted exoskeleton on his calf. “I’m still wearing [Scavenger]. Strictly speaking, combat exoskeletons aren’t developed yet.”
“Soon.” Yu Jing’s eyes flickered. “When [Engineer-II] is produced in a month, combat exoskeletons will be out too.”
“Wasn’t this slow before.”
He Jie was puzzled.
“Before was modification; now it’s all self-R&D and production. This speed is already good.”
Yu Jing explained.
Su Huan was noncommittal. As his own strength grew, exoskeletons’ value to him would only decrease; they could only be used to develop subordinates, so he wasn’t very interested.
“Continue with the earlier topic. About time to eat once discussed.”
Yu Jing said flatly, “Just heard. When Armed Corps discussed this, Director Xu called me in too. Last profession settled as ‘Mechanist.'”
He Jie nodded. “Yes, the last spot needs to control lots of machinery—vehicles, electronic devices. After thinking, only ‘Mechanist’ has that ability. And Director Xu said there are multiple evolution paths for ‘Mechanist.'”
Su Huan knew the evolution paths for ‘Mechanist’ well.
The train’s evolver database, besides Deep Blue Data and Steel Council, the rest were provided by him.
“No ‘Manipulator’ or ‘Energizer’?”
He Jie explained, “After discussing with experts, we found ‘Controller’ ability good but too uncontrollable. For stable organization, must rely on replicable professions. So these five mostly from ‘Defender,’ ‘Collector,’ ‘Manufacturer’—’Controller’ and ‘Energizer’ only included if they meet those conditions…”
“Summary: fire suppression, medical collection, reconnaissance analysis, close-combat fighting, mechanical manipulation…”
…
In the dining car, as Su Huan and He Jie discussed Armed Corps future evolver cultivation directions.
In the room, Shu Wei slowly woke, subconsciously feeling around nearby.
She picked up the tactical tablet and swiped casually a few times.
Suddenly remembering Su Huan’s instruction before leaving, she frowned.
She opened the system upgrade failure log and typed below it for a while.
Through the train’s internal comms channel, she dialed the phone in Carriage 12.
“Hello Professor Ma, this is Secretary Shu Wei. Requesting one minute of comms amplification… Yes, already reported—your personal terminal should have the Train Conductor’s approval record…”
Seeing the comms icon light up, Shu Wei bit her lower lip and sent out the near-ultimatum negotiation document.
‘Arrogant man.’
Shu Wei sighed faintly, lying back, sheet slipping down, snow white dazzling.
…
Storm Zone, Black Kite Headquarters.
A room about 180 square meters embedded in the cliff face, excellent house design making every corner brightly lit by sunlight, but not uncomfortably hot.
Room decor mostly deep yellow wood-grain wall panels, edges black piano baked-lacquer feel integrated tiles.
Not like built on a cliff face—more like a high-end residential community pre-apocalypse.
No kitchen in the room, but a black walnut sideboard. Mister Shu, with graying temples, stood at the sideboard fiddling with pour-over coffee.
Suddenly, a blue light lit at the cabinet edge.
Mister Shu frowned. “Xiao Yi, open the door.”
Moments later, a woman whose voice was seventy percent like Wang Yi’s suddenly said, “Okay Xin-ge, opening the room door for you.”
Voice lively and pleasant—Wang Yi’s voice source recorded for him in her youth.
Electronic room door opened silently. A tall secretary stood respectfully at the doorway. “Miss replied.”
Mister Shu asked while brewing his coffee, “Where is she?”
“Armored Train.”
Mister Shu paused. “How’s the negotiation?”
“Armored Train agreed to negotiate with us, but time TBD.”
Only sound of coffee dripping into the cup in the room. After a while, Mister Shu’s low husky voice rose.
“At least not totally useless.”
The secretary continued, “Madam wants to see you.”
“Just wants to scold me again.”
Mister Shu sighed.
The secretary fell silent upon hearing this.
“Xiao Yi.”
“What’s wrong Xin-ge, are you unhappy?”
Voice with a young girl’s coquettish lilt.
“You always make me feel this uncomfortable now.”
“Sorry Xin-ge, did I do something wrong… Xiao Yi won’t do it again, don’t be mad, okay?”
Bang.
The just-brewed coffee was thrown into the sink cup and all.
Mister Shu wiped his hands with a towel. “Help me schedule Number Four.”
“Director Number Four not at headquarters currently—cannot schedule.”
The secretary replied.
Mister Shu frowned. “Who’s here now?”
“Director Number Two.”
