Chapter 231: Blue Crab
Xiao Dong swallowed in fear.
He knew Su Huan might be very powerful, but he hadn’t expected him to be this powerful.
He was already sixteen, and although he didn’t fully understand some principles, he vaguely felt that being powerful to this extent wasn’t a good thing…
It seemed like… Grandpa Tie Shan and the entire Shelter were going to suffer.
Thinking of how Grandpa Tie Shan usually took care of their family, Xiao Dong hesitated but still asked, “Bro, you’re not going to kill us, right?”
Although his voice trembled a bit, it made everyone look at this unremarkable kid in surprise.
A youth’s courage always draws attention.
Su Huan was stunned for a moment, then smiled and patted his head. “Silly kid, how could we kill them all? There are over five thousand people.”
Zhang Min on the side curled her lip mockingly.
This was the Train Conductor.
Qi Jianguo and the others looked even more ashen-faced.
“Find a place to sit. This rundown room is too noisy, and there’s not even a chair.” Su Huan said to Old Man Tie.
Old Man Tie glanced deeply at the soldiers around him. “Let’s talk upstairs.”
Su Huan made a gesture inviting him to proceed.
Old Man Tie tossed aside the shotgun and walked slowly toward the bar’s exit.
His slumping figure looked just like an ordinary old man.
Without Old Man Tie, everyone felt like they had lost their backbone.
They trembled under Old San’s icy gaze.
“Convoy Leader, how should we handle the rest?”
Su Huan’s steps paused as he draped an arm over Xiao Dong’s shoulder and headed out. His finger wandered over the crowd before stopping on the bartender amid his terrified gaze.
“He ate my bread and said I didn’t pay. Old San, help me settle the bill.”
Old San drew in a sharp breath, his eyes flashing as he stared at the bartender in the crowd. “Sure, sure, sure. Convoy Leader, go ahead with your business. I’ll make sure to entertain this little brother properly.”
As soon as he finished speaking, two elite soldiers charged into the crowd like hungry tigers pouncing on prey.
When he was dragged out, the bartender was already pale with fright, screaming for Old Man Tie to save him.
“Uncle Tie, I didn’t eat it! Save me, I really didn’t eat it…”
His shrill howls even drowned out the howling wind and rain outside the window.
Old San dug at his ear. “Wailing like a ghost. Could the Train Conductor have wronged you? Cut him open and see—truth will come out. Hang him up quick.”
Seeing the two soldiers draw their military daggers, the bartender completely lost his nerve and burst into tears.
“I ate it, I ate it! Just one bite! Don’t kill me, please don’t kill me, Uncle Tie…”
Old Man Tie at the doorway opened his mouth at the sight, then looked at Su Huan’s mocking half-smile and sighed, turning his head away.
Two military daggers pierced his arms, hanging him on the wall.
The bartender began squealing like a pig being slaughtered, interspersed with curses at Qi Zhiyuan.
Hearing the intermittent cursing, the Qi Family brothers gradually realized the root cause was Qi Zhiyuan.
Seeing his dad’s and uncles’ gloomy stares, plus Su Huan’s lingering finger, Qi Zhiyuan instantly felt the sky collapsing.
No matter how much trouble he’d caused before, his grandpa and dad wouldn’t actually kill him.
But if Su Huan pointed him out, he would really die!
As this thought exploded in his mind like a bolt from the blue, his knees buckled and he knelt on the ground.
“I was blind, I was wrong…”
“Bang bang bang.”
Before Su Huan could even raise his hand, Qi Zhiyuan had already kowtowed four or five times loudly.
“Stand up!!”
Old Man Tie roared.
Qi Zhiyuan shuddered and looked up to see the bartender wailing nonstop on the wall.
Below him were elite soldiers with chilling gazes, looking at him like a dead dog.
Qi Zhiyuan’s raised head slammed back down.
Seeing this, Old Man Tie’s body swayed, his lips trembling as he cursed “useless,” his eyes seemingly fixed on Qi Zhiyuan but already unfocused and cloudy.
Qi Zhiyuan’s few kowtows seemed to knock out the old man’s last bit of spirit; he couldn’t even stand steadily.
Su Huan stepped forward to support Old Man Tie’s arm gently. “Old timer, if you can’t stand, get someone to help. Don’t push yourself.”
Old Man Tie stubbornly shook off his hand and turned toward the empty corridor.
Su Huan thought for a moment. “Then let’s keep this one for now.”
Hearing this, Qi Zhiyuan broke out in cold sweat, collapsing limp to the ground with shit and piss flowing.
“There are two more who tried to grope my ass. Remember to find them.”
Watching Su Huan leave with Shu Wei and the others, the remaining people in the bar felt their hearts rise again at these words.
Zhang Min’s two subordinates ran behind her.
They whispered, “Old Da, should we follow them…”
Zhang Min eyed Shu Wei’s swaying hips, irritably biting her nail, then looked at him coldly. “You want to defect?”
Thinking of Zhang Min’s crazy ruthless methods, the subordinate shook his head hurriedly.
Zhang Min walked to the broken window. Due to her previous position, the combat group’s soldiers hadn’t stopped her.
Looking down, the fifty-car, over hundred-meter-long armored train lay across the water surface. No matter how fiercely the waves surged, it remained unshaken.
The heavy, angular front of the train and broad deck left the three in silence.
‘It must feel very safe to be on a train like this, right?’
This thought instinctively surfaced in her mind.
But Zhang Min quickly crushed it.
From now on, she’d go her own way.
“Find a boat. Get in the water.”
“It’s pouring tonight. Should we wait one more day?”
“Now!”
…
Hu Shuo nodded to Old San. “Then this is yours. I’m heading upstairs.”
“No problem!”
Old San waved confidently.
A soldier asked weirdly in a low voice, “Purser, so… how do we find those two?”
Old San mimicked Su Huan, pointing three times into the crowd—right at the three Qi brothers.
The soldier probed, “Kill those three?”
Old San snorted coldly, menacingly. “Kill everyone except those three and the ones the Convoy Leader wants kept!”
He drew his dagger and walked toward the bartender hanging on the wall.
“Come on, let me see if you really ate it!”
…
Standing at the stairwell was a young man Old Man Tie hadn’t seen before—short hair, hard yet sunny features.
Two soldiers flanked him.
“Train Conductor, there are many buildings upstairs. We haven’t gone deep.”
Lin Jin said.
“Yeah, yeah. It’s pouring anyway; they can’t go far.”
Su Huan waved dismissively.
The group arrived at Old Man Tie’s room.
In a tin house at the edge of the rooftop.
Unlike any shelter or settlement controller Su Huan had seen in his previous life.
Not luxurious—simple, even a bit shabby.
The room had just a folding bed, a worn sofa, and a chair.
Su Huan unceremoniously sat on the sofa—his favorite furniture, good for sitting or lying, like the Train Conductor’s throne.
Old Man Tie didn’t sit but stood opposite Su Huan.
The small tin house felt crowded with so many people.
“This many people makes it look like we’re bullying an old man. Have Shu Wei stay to take notes; everyone else out.”
Su Huan said.
Lin Jin took the others out to stand guard, including Xiao Dong.
Only three remained in the room.
“Let me introduce myself. I’m the Armored Train Train Conductor, Su Huan… a survivor.”
Su Huan added an identity Old Man Tie could understand.
“Survivor… You’re not military?”
Old Man Tie perked up instantly.
“No.”
Su Huan tapped the sofa armrest with his index finger, stirring up a puff of old dust.
“To business. I have three temporary demands. Do what you can quickly; for what you can’t, figure it out.”
“First, I want two thousand adults.”
“Second, get me the equipment left from the Information Industry Park from the rest.”
“Third, don’t you need that gear downstairs? I’ll take it for you.”
“Dig up your buried explosives too; I’ll take them all.”
…
Downstairs, the armored train coiled on the water surface.
Due to this odd mooring, even with the storm approaching, the train barely jolted.
Over a dozen ropes connected the train to the Iron Mountain Shelter building.
The living room on the building’s front was trashed; well-packed cannons were hauled out through the windows.
No time to set up cranes in the harsh conditions, so thirty-some Defender armed soldiers acted as hoists, pulling by hand.
“Ready—one, two!”
One by one, large cannons weighing tons were sent onto the train.
“Good, release!”
At the word, Mongoose sighed in relief, dropping the thick steel rope. Her fair palms were marked with red welts, blisters forming at the edges.
But no worry—they’d vanish completely in two days.
Her hands had been spotless despite He Jie’s grueling training before.
“Mongoose sis, shift change.”
A young soldier came over.
“Still early…” Mongoose saw the insistence in the young soldier’s eyes. “Fine, here.”
She handed over the steel rope and headed inside.
Yu Yue was directing soldiers loading cannons and turned at the footsteps.
“Little Cat.”
“Here.”
Mongoose stood at attention, eyes round and serious.
Yu Yue showed some concern. “I heard odd noises from below. Go check on the train for me—see if something’s wrong.”
“Yes!”
Mongoose didn’t hesitate, sprinting into the storm.
Mid-air, her toes tapped a taut steel rope, quickly adjusting her descent.
With a crisp thud, she landed on the deck and slid inside the train by momentum.
After verifying at the partition door, she entered the front of the train.
Staff crowded around a screen.
“Mongoose, right?”
A staffer in his thirties stood and beckoned her.
Level Five Crew, glasses.
Originally a factory director’s research personnel, transferred to the front of the train due to his knowledge of its systems.
Also the highest-ranking manager in the front of the train.
Low profile, but one of the few with real power on the train.
With the system new, Level Five Crew were rarer than Pursers, each at key posts—vital like the four group Pursers’ broad scopes, impossible without people.
Everyone in the front of the train reported to him except Liang Kuan.
Liang Kuan was Armed Corps, mostly stationed in the front of the train, theoretically under He Jie, but He Jie always consulted him.
Only the Train Conductor truly commanded Liang Kuan.
Mongoose hurried forward, suppressing her urge to look around.
Her first time in the front of the train.
The tech level here was worlds apart from soldier dorms—designs full of sense of technology thrilled her.
“Major Yu sent me.”
“The Major already notified us. We didn’t notice before.”
The staffer pointed at the dense light spots on the screen.
Mongoose glanced at the screen, puzzled.
The staffer waved quickly. “Not negligence—these targets’ general energy reactions are too weak, so we filter their signals in monitoring. We usually focus on strong energy reactions.”
“So what are these?”
Mongoose asked.
“The detector just went in the water; we’ll see soon.”
The staffer pulled up a view.
Dark as midnight in the water, only occasional glinting debris flashed by.
The train’s mechanical arm dipped in, searchlight at full power aiding detection.
A moving “dark river” appeared onscreen.
“Adjust light angle.”
“Zoom in.”
As the image enlarged, everyone in the front of the train froze.
The “dark river” was basin-sized blue crabs scuttling sideways over streets and buildings in the water.
A light claw tap propelled them meters.
“This looks like blue crabs?”
“Probably from nearby Jingchao Lake. They’re famous here, supplied nationwide. My mom used to buy them for my grandma—tender meat. A basin-sized blue crab… how much meat could you get…”
“No chit-chat. Keep detecting their goal. Others, archive and backup blue crab data.”
“Issue capture order to combat group?”
“Issue it now. I’ll request the Train Conductor raise task priority.”
Under Glasses’ command, tasks issued smoothly.
“Combat group’s upstairs on task; they might not have time now.”
Mongoose raised her hand.
Glasses frowned. “Trouble then. Mutated creatures’ habits differ hugely from pre-apocalypse. Without samples, hard to gauge threat.”
Mongoose squeezed her soft palm tentatively. “Can I do it?”
“We lack permissions for Armed Corps tasks…”
Before he finished, Yu Yue’s gentle voice sounded in the carriage.
“No one else free anyway. Leave it to Little Cat.”
At her voice, everyone straightened up.
Don’t let the Little Chef’s soft demeanor fool you—she cooked in the dining car daily, but with Su Huan’s default, her permissions spanned Crew and Armed Corps departments.
Second only to the Train Conductor.
Though she rarely used them.
Glasses adjusted his glasses seriously. “I’ll draft the formal order now. It’ll go to your personal terminal; approve via system when back on the train.”
“Thanks for the trouble.”
Yu Yue’s gentle voice curved through the air, fading faintly.
Mongoose took a deep breath, eyes turning to slit pupils.
More tasks meant more chances to earn merit.
She’d finally gotten her shot!
(Thanks to Orange White Bear boss for the alliance leader; will add five chapters, twenty thousand words later.)
