Chapter 101: Prelude
It wasn’t until the off-road vehicle began to jolt that Zhang Min suddenly realized she had actually left that nightmare-like quagmire.
And she was now wearing a set of her own, well-fitting clothes.
The man with glasses was called Li Tao, who claimed to be a negotiator from the Steel Council. He gave her a chance at a transaction, and she exchanged information about the armored train for two conditions.
Become an evolver and join the force he belonged to.
Li Tao agreed to both, then took her away from the Mojian Mutual Aid Convoy’s quagmire. On the off-road vehicle, he explained some of the Steel Council’s rules to her, as well as… their formidable strength!
And the status she could gain by joining the organization, as well as what she needed to do next.
All of this gave Zhang Min a sense of unreality.
A ray of golden light burst from the clouds outside the car window, hitting the off-road vehicle squarely. Zhang Min strained to keep her eyes wide open, unwilling to look away even as tears streamed down her face from the stinging sunlight.
No longer needing to shuttle between men’s desires, gasping for breath beneath them.
But she hadn’t expected all of this to still be because of that man.
A small survivor organization actually attracting the attention of a major force like the Steel Conference.
What had he been up to lately?
‘Train Conductor, so should I hate you, or worship you?’
Her eyes, brimming with tears and glistening with moisture, revealed a sickly malice.
……
The train conductor, rich in personal charm, still didn’t know he had been targeted by a bad woman.
He was diligently writing at his desk.
Although Yu Jing’s plan was a bit hasty, he truly appreciated it.
The greatest threat in the apocalypse wasn’t actually heavenly calamity, nor those ferocious mutated beasts and terrifying zombies, but those compatriots who could talk and laugh just like oneself.
Like acid rain, eroding the railway track would take at least a few years; they had plenty of time to repair and escape.
But your enemies won’t.
They only appear when you’re at your most embarrassed, then use every means to harvest your life.
Although he had spoken lightly to He Jie last time.
That didn’t mean he didn’t take it seriously.
Given the Steel Conference’s style, losing twenty people wouldn’t make them retreat. Even if they couldn’t win, they would come to negotiate, assess the armored train’s strength, and then decide whether to go to full-scale war or coexist peacefully.
No force would rashly launch a major plan with a tiger lurking nearby.
So next, he had to figure out how to face the Steel Council.
Suddenly, golden light flashed outside the car window, passing through the metal blinds and falling on his notebook.
It listed various points rules.
At first, Su Huan didn’t plan to make it too complicated; he directly equated the armored train’s points with hard currency—for example, one ordinary general energy crystal worth 1 point, two 9mm handgun bullets worth 1 point.
For a D-level task, the train conductor generously set a limit of 10 points.
It’s an upper limit, not a lower limit.
After all, some tasks really weren’t worth that many supplies.
In other words, when Lu Xiao led the team to complete a D-level task, the reward they obtained could be ten ordinary general energy crystals or twenty handgun bullets.
This was already an extremely generous price.
Ten general energy crystals could cultivate at least 4-8 evolvers.
And twenty handgun bullets, used well, could take down twenty newly evolved evolvers or twenty ordinary zombies.
Don’t take bullets lightly.
These were brand new, unreloaded bullets; in his previous life, their value might have been even higher.
Cold weapons having higher potential refers to promoting evolution itself.
But the vast majority of people don’t have a later stage.
This is also the main reason why evolver professions combining firearms like “Firepower Specialist” became so prevalent.
With guns and bullets, they are complete evolvers.
Without bullets, they are just low-level evolvers with slightly stronger basic quality.
Su Huan used his judgment of future trends to list all the various supplies currently on the train, then marked a points amount that matched psychological pricing.
Of course, this was the ratio for exchanging points for train supplies.
If reversed, exchanging supplies for points wouldn’t be at this price.
“Bang——”
In the distance, a zombie suddenly fell headfirst from upstairs, crashing onto the awning below, making a huge noise.
It was probably Yu Yue practicing her marksmanship again.
Lately, she had been using the zombies around the train for practice—on one hand to clear out trouble in advance, on the other to improve her marksmanship and train corresponding specializations.
Su Huan only knew the names of some skills; he didn’t know the specific potion synthesis methods.
If not for borrowing the major’s permissions in his previous life, he wouldn’t have known so many professions.
He could only have them try training, or cultivate their own apothecary.
There was a big gap now for collectors and manufacturers.
He needed to push that progress.
Without the acid rain’s cover, the noise attracted some zombies’ attention; they howled, calling companions, and rushed toward the armored train.
Leading was a slender, tall Tier 1 zombie with two-meter-long legs, reverse-jointed knees. Its body crouched down, then it suddenly leaped seven or eight meters, approaching the train in two bounds.
The iron rain on the front of the train suddenly changed direction, swaying slightly and tilting thirty degrees upward.
Jumping!
Open fire.
In an instant, like iron rain pounding the sky.
The newly appeared Tier 1 zombie jumper bloomed into a fireworks of flesh and blood in mid-air.
The iron rain stopped the next instant, having consumed almost no bullets.
This level of precise control, on the entire train, only He Jie and Xiao Ba could achieve besides that one.
But considering reaction speed, it was probably the latter.
Xiao Ba had gotten more and more familiar with that big guy these past two days. However, this also reminded Su Huan to prepare countermeasures in advance, to avoid hostile metal manipulators or some strange manipulators taking control of the anti-aircraft machine gun and turning it on them.
Rhythmic three-round bursts from an Iron Guard Assault Rifle sounded outside the car window.
Old San started leading his brothers down to clear the approaching zombies.
And drag the battered Tier 1 zombie back to the carriage.
This was the crew’s basic duty: guarding the train and doing some supporting train work.
Su Huan glanced at the time.
Afternoon 04:40.
He stretched lazily and walked out of the carriage.
The little chef was hugging a black sniper rifle, pressing bullets one by one into the magazine. A row of 7.62 armor-piercing rounds lay on the tabletop; she loaded each one with utmost seriousness, just like when she cooked—every step done meticulously.
Unlike Su Huan, who often left kitchenware scattered everywhere out of laziness.
Seeing her in good condition, Su Huan didn’t disturb her and headed straight to Carriage 3.
Wan Xing handed him another five Tier 1 general energy crystals.
Adding to before, Su Huan now had another Tier 2 crystal and five Tier 1 crystals in hand.
No way around it—with so many people on the train, everyone needed to evolve. No matter how hard Wan Xing worked, the general energy crystals were just a drop in the bucket.
Su Huan raised an eyebrow, “Your speed seems much faster. Has your main ability evolved, or did you gain a new skill?”
Wan Xing nodded, “‘Visual Analysis’ has been upgraded to level 2, and I gained a level 1 ability called ‘Energy Solidification’.”
Su Huan squatted down, leveling his gaze with Wan Xing’s.
“Regarding collectors, I know of three systems: the Tier 1 profession ‘Trace Expert’ focused on trace analysis and reconnaissance tracking, with a cap at Tier 2 and weak combat power; the Tier 1 ‘Decomposer’ focused on enhanced collection and decomposition, cap at Tier 3, with some combat power; the last one you know, the Tier 1 ‘Apothecary’ that synthesizes collected items, cap at Tier 2, higher applicability, combat power depending on potions.”
“Which one do you want to choose?”
A thoughtful look flashed in Wan Xing’s eyes, then she asked in return, “Which one do you hope I choose?”
“Apothecary.”
“Then apothecary it is.”
Su Huan said seriously, “You only get this one chance to choose.”
Wan Xing calmly shook her head, “Apothecary is fine. I don’t want to go out fighting. What do I need to do?”
“Quickly upgrade Visual Analysis to level 3; I’ll give you the follow-up skill matching.”
“Okay.”
Heavy footsteps sounded in Carriage 4, and Yu Yue’s soft voice appeared in Su Huan’s ears.
Looking up, he saw He Jie walking over with a grim complexion. “I feel like the company is coming to find us.”
Su Huan looked outside the car window; the sunlight that had just peeked out was again shrouded by dark clouds. The gloomy sky was like He Jie’s ugly complexion, with a small black dot hovering beneath the clouds.
Su Huan’s lips curved, “Didn’t expect their efficiency to be this high, but you got one thing wrong.”
He Jie was surprised, “Which part?”
“It’s your old employer coming to cause us trouble.”
He Jie’s face darkened further, “Hope you come up with some hard measures, or we won’t have a good end if we’re caught and taken back.”
Su Huan chuckled lightly, “Isn’t it just the Wall of Repentance? Nothing fresh.”
“You even know about this?”
The so-called Wall of Repentance was a slanted wall where the punished would be tied up, then corroded day and night by acid rain.
In less than half a month, they would turn into a pile of rotten flesh.
It was one of the Steel Council’s little tactics to intimidate scavengers and deserters.
“Forget it, I’ll steer clear for now.”
He Jie shook his head and turned into the carriage.
Su Huan didn’t stop him; for now, it was more useful for the other party to be “dead” than alive. At least the Steel Council wouldn’t kill his wife and daughter over his mission failure.
The roar grew from far to near; the small black dot on the horizon turned into a helicopter. Compared to the one on the bridge, this helicopter was clearly armed, with two massive three-barrel Gatlings and external rocket pods, all showcasing its robust muscle.
Xiao Ba’s electric wheelchair sound came from beside him, and Old San also rushed over with his men.
Yu Jing walked over and handed Su Huan his electromagnetic sniper rifle.
He opened the window, channeling energy from his body into the gun body. Su Huan closed one eye and saw through the scope a convoy racing toward them.
Leading was still an off-road vehicle, followed by an armored personnel carrier.
‘Looks like the old employer still has quite a few gains.’
“Come on, let’s give them a friendly greeting.”
A brilliant smile on his face, Su Huan decisively pulled the trigger.
Old habit flared up again, went to check the comments section, nearly broke my mindset. Updating more today to make up for it.
