Chapter 182: Back Home To The Family!
Plus, there was the information provided by Wan Hao.
In the time it took for the Train Conductor to drink a cup of coffee, He Jie had led people to break through the security of the High-Speed Rail Manufacturing Base. The bitter taste in his mouth hadn’t faded yet when the Factory Director of the Shun’an High-Speed Rail Manufacturing Plant already adopted an attitude of welcoming the leader’s visit and introduced the entire base to him.
“I heard the entire manufacturing base covers five square kilometers, equivalent to a town?”
Su Huan held a mug in his left hand, filled with half a cup of black coffee, and pointed at the huge factory building ahead as he asked.
The Factory Director felt bitter inside, but wore a solemn yet polite smile on his face. He responded eagerly, “You’re right, Train Conductor. The entire factory covers a total area of 4.8 square kilometers, with the production area taking up 2.5 square kilometers, and the rest being the support area. Not to mention in Qingchuan, even nationwide, our Shun’an is one of the top manufacturing bases.”
“How many people are there?”
“Over five thousand.”
“Only over five thousand?”
The Factory Director smiled bitterly, “Well… the disaster came too suddenly. It was chaotic at the beginning, and only recently has it gotten a bit better. A while ago, including the surrounding families, and gathering some more survivors, we reached over five thousand people.”
“How many workers?”
“Over three thousand of them here are workers, and there are quite a few high-speed rail-related experts.”
The Factory Director caught the implication and quickly said.
Su Huan asked some real and fake questions about base data while walking inward.
To preserve the base’s appearance, the Armored Train did not break through violently. Most of the base’s defensive buildings were intact: 3.5-meter-high reinforced concrete walls, with 1.2-meter high-voltage electric grids on top, infrared surveillance probes every 200 meters, and facial recognition gates at the entrances and exits.
The gates were useless, but the walls and cameras retained their original functions.
Unfortunately, for evolvers who could jump five or six meters, the walls were a bit short.
According to the practices of those bases in his previous life, they would either strengthen the armed forces or continue to build higher.
Build even harder and thicker, even completely sealing the entire base.
As long as the zombies didn’t evolve en masse to Tier 2, it wouldn’t be a big problem.
Upon entering, one could see the tall car body manufacturing center: a several-hundred-meters-long silver steel structure factory building with photovoltaic panels on the roof.
Next to it was the general assembly joint factory building, and further out was a 10-kilometer circular enclosed track specifically for testing trains.
“The core parts support area has three standard gauge lines directly connecting to the national railway network, allowing trains to bypass from there and enter the internal enclosed routes.”
After chatting a few sentences and seeing that Su Huan was quite approachable, the Factory Director reminded him in a low voice.
“No need for that trouble.” Su Huan raised his hand, “Just drive it in.”
“Drive it in?”
The Factory Director was stunned for a moment. Seeing the two armed personnel behind him not moving, he didn’t know who Su Huan was talking to.
Suddenly, the whistle sound rang out outside the base.
Gravel and sleepers flew up out of thin air, metal tracks were kneaded in the air like noodles with crackling sounds, laid into railway tracks extending all the way to the enclosed track ahead.
The Armored Train clanged and clattered right through the main gate and into the enclosed track.
The Factory Director watched this magic-like scene in stunned silence, only coming back to his senses after a while, feeling even more awe toward Su Huan.
A burly man as robust as a bear strode over.
He Jie hadn’t arrived yet, but his loud voice had already reached Su Huan’s ears, “The personnel in the manufacturing base are mainly concentrated in the employee living area. They not only have a residential area for families but also a supporting primary school and community hospital, which have now been controlled by us. Hu Shuo is conducting statistics, and the Armed Corps is clearing dangers within the base.”
Su Huan nodded, “Have Wan Hao and Professor Ma come over to meet the high-speed rail manufacturing experts.”
He suddenly discovered an interesting phenomenon.
Whether it was Wan Hao’s automobile manufacturing plant or the High-Speed Rail Manufacturing Base, neither had seen those horrific cases of humanity’s dark side.
Most people still maintained the order from before the apocalypse.
Occasionally, those with evil thoughts in their hearts would be suppressed by the order maintained by the majority.
But in areas where original interpersonal relationships were destroyed, malignant incidents were more likely to occur.
Indulging desires, degenerating into beasts.
……
Carriage 12.
Professor Ma’s experimental desk was like a space environment, with all miscellaneous items floating around him.
Disassembled old-fashioned telephones, remote controls, radios, signal source equipment, encoders… all parts floated neatly in mid-air. Directly opposite were general energy crystals and some electronic components connected by optical fibers. He was reconstructing this hardware using simple and primitive methods.
When the message came, Professor Ma raised his slightly graying eyebrows and meticulously recorded the experiment in a thick notebook.
“Okay, got it. I’ll head over now.”
The surrounding objects slowly descended, orderly landing on the desk and nearby cabinets.
After simply tidying the desk, he took the notebook, stood up, and looked at the busy students around, asking, “Where is Xiao Zhao?”
“Senior Brother just went to the back to coordinate with Director Xu and will be back soon.”
Xiao Hezi said crisply.
At that moment, a handsome young man who was 1.8 meters tall hurried in from the rear carriage, holding quite a few documents in his hands.
“Teacher, you called me?”
Professor Ma turned to look at his proud student and smiled faintly, “The Train Conductor wants me to interface with the high-speed rail experts at the manufacturing base. Come with me. Get the data ready, don’t make any mistakes.”
Xiao Zhao nodded, “It’s already prepared. I heard the news from Director Xu’s side too; they’ve already set off.”
“Okay, then let’s go.”
The two went directly down from the Car Door of Carriage 12, with the Giraffe who delivered the message following behind the old and young pair.
After just two steps, Professor Ma paused, “How is Li Hong?”
“Teacher is still worried about him…” Xiao Zhao hesitated for a moment, “Recently, I’ve reduced a lot of his work, all unimportant stuff.”
Professor Ma shook his head, “The more you need to guard against someone, the better relations you need to maintain with them, and the more you need to show that you value them.”
Xiao Zhao’s eyes showed contemplation as she quietly waited for her teacher to explain.
“Yu Jing’s teacher, Xiao Lu, is also very talented. He should have been promoted to professor five years ago…”
Xiao Zhao was smart and understood her teacher’s meaning, but she still couldn’t quite accept it and looked conflicted, “But Li Hong is my classmate after all; no need to make it so complicated…”
Professor Ma patted Xiao Zhao’s shoulder and said seriously, “You are all my students, but you are no longer students now. You are the Purser of the Armored Train. You must be responsible to the train and to the Train Conductor.”
Xiao Zhao looked at her stern-eyed teacher, swallowed her rebuttals, and turned resolute.
“I understand.”
The Giraffe deliberately lagged two steps behind, but he heard their conversation clearly.
His gaze toward Xiao Zhao carried a hint of envy.
If he had such a good teacher back then, he wouldn’t have gone to enlist.
But not enlisting might not have kept him alive until now either.
One sip, one peck—fate has its own decree.
The three headed toward the residential area of the manufacturing base.
The surroundings were filled with workers who had just gotten off the train. Excluding the two hundred absorbed into the Corps and the three hundred left to guard the station, the train still carried over two thousand people.
These over two thousand people would all converge into the manufacturing base.
Only by disrupting the original order could a new force centered on the Armored Train be shaped.
——Shun’an Station.
Led by the Giraffe, the two arrived at the base’s residential area. Due to its large area, the residential area didn’t have very tall buildings, just six-story slab buildings—the maximum height for general fire rescue. Anything taller would require other equipment.
The buildings had been extensively modified by the workers: windows were all welded shut with steel plates, and small metal fortresses extended around them, now manned by soldiers of the Armed Corps.
In the center were two stair-stepped office buildings encircling a tall structure.
Perhaps because it wasn’t occupied, it hadn’t been modified.
Some personnel were entering under soldier escort.
The three followed along.
Taking the elevator to the top floor, there was a large conference room of 500 square meters with a five-meter ceiling. Upon entering, one could see a huge oval solid wood desk.
Su Huan sat at the head, with Director Xu and Wan Hao already there, seated on both sides with over a dozen base experts.
Seeing Professor Ma, Su Huan nodded slightly and pointed to the reserved seat beside him.
Professor Ma took his seat, and Xiao Zhao stood behind her teacher.
The Giraffe returned behind the Train Conductor, and with White Deer, they scanned the conference room corners and everyone present like two bodyguards.
“Knock knock—”
Su Huan tapped the desk and smiled, “Since everyone is here, the meeting can begin.”
The combat group soldiers who had checked the room withdrew, conveniently closing the gate.
The numerous experts secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
They had attended countless meetings big and small in their lives, but participating under the muzzle of guns was a first.
Even the shrewd ones felt immense pressure.
Afraid that anything they said poorly might get them executed by the warlord before them.
To them, Su Huan was a warlord who had risen to power after the apocalypse.
Seeing no objections, Su Huan got straight to the point, “The purpose of gathering all you experts here is to upgrade and modify my train. The detailed data on the train has been placed on your desks for your initial review.”
Several experts, including the Factory Director, looked down at the documents on the desk. Rustling page-turning sounds filled the spacious conference room.
Surprise quickly appeared in everyone’s eyes.
They glanced at their colleagues left and right, discovering almost everyone lifted their heads at the same time.
Su Huan raised an eyebrow, “Say whatever comes to mind, speak freely, don’t hold back too much.”
Several people turned their gazes to the Factory Director, who hesitated before saying, “This SA-6 train was produced by our Shun’an Base, just decades ago, so everyone is a bit surprised.”
Su Huan’s eyes lit up. He hadn’t expected to unwittingly return to his hometown; this trip was a huge gain!
He quickly asked, “Is the original designer still around?”
“This train was led in design by the old Factory Director. He passed away a couple of years ago, but Deputy General Manager Deng here was one of the designers back then.”
The Factory Director pointed to a round-faced old man wearing glasses on his left.
Before Professor Ma arrived, Su Huan had already met everyone. This Deputy General Manager Deng was the friend Wan Hao had mentioned.
They weren’t particularly close, just met twice.
But they had a connection.
In the current situation, that pre-apocalypse connection was invaluable.
Deputy General Manager Deng mustered courage and asked, “I was involved in designing the power system back then, but I’m curious—why doesn’t the Train Conductor choose to swap for a new front of the train? The base has plenty of newly produced ones with stronger power.”
Su Huan immediately became interested.
He didn’t care if constantly replacing parts meant it was still the original Armored Train; he only cared if the train could become stronger, carrying him further in this apocalypse.
“Tell me more.”
“For example, our Shun’an-produced [Qinglong] series—superconducting magnetic levitation hybrid power locomotive…”
Su Huan frowned, “Doesn’t magnetic levitation fail without specific tracks?”
“But the [Qinglong] series is a hybrid power locomotive that can use electric power generation. Of course, besides that, we have the [Xuanjia] series—modular multi-energy shunting locomotive, with three energy modes: supercapacitor, wireless charging, and diesel backup. It’s a bit slow in speed, but it can pull three ten-thousand tons, and has extremely high stability.”
“That’s not bad, but…”
“Does the Train Conductor have any concerns?”
The Factory Director beside him asked.
He had chosen the old-style SA-6 front of the train before precisely because it was oil-electric hybrid, which could rely on supernatural abilities in critical moments.
This [Xuanjia] front of the train was indeed superior in all aspects.
But now that he was at the manufacturing base, he wasn’t satisfied with mere performance upgrades.
Su Huan lightly tapped the desk with his index finger and said slowly, “I don’t know much about the technology, but I have a few requirements. See if you can fulfill them.”
“Please go ahead, Train Conductor. We’ll do our best to make it happen.”
Everyone at the table listened attentively with serious expressions.
“First, regarding the front of the train, I hope for more power modes, like general energy drive, quantum drive, bioelectric drive, or photonic ones, but don’t abandon motor drive—strengthen it. Don’t worry about energy loss; the more motors, the better. And this power mode shouldn’t depend on railway tracks, plus it needs to be crash-resistant.”
After hearing Su Huan’s words, everyone was dumbfounded.
Even Professor Ma beside him couldn’t maintain his smile.
He reminded in a low voice, “Train Conductor, photonic propulsion is just a proposed concept without even a solid theory, though quantum levitation has been researched, but I’ve heard of no progress.”
“Oh.” Su Huan wasn’t surprised; he didn’t understand it and had just said it offhand, “What about general energy?”
Professor Ma hesitated, “General energy is a concrete energy form. The difficulty is much lower than the other two, but it would require a redesign.”
Their conversation touched on evolution-related information, leaving several experts baffled.
“General energy… is the energy that awakens evolvers?”
Xiao Zhao standing nearby quickly distributed some basic information on evolution to everyone.
Rustling page-turning sounds filled the conference room again.
But this time much faster.
“Besides swapping the front of the train, you can also think about whether the train can travel on land without railway tracks using other methods.”
(Fewer updates lately, supplementing with 4k)
