Chapter 128: Cannon Fodder? I Have Some Too
Qu Hang showed no hesitation, rolling continuously and directly hiding into the bedroom.
He suppressed his heartbeat and breathing to the lowest level.
After a full three breaths, the intense pain from his right arm and chest came like a bloody maw biting down hard. Even though he had been trained, he couldn’t help but let out a muffled grunt.
Veins bulged on his forehead, and waves of suffocation made him feel something was wrong. He endured it and reached out to touch the numb wound caused by the pain.
Muscles twitched uncontrollably.
But he also assessed his injuries: the bullet had entered under his right armpit, tearing his right lung, fracturing his right arm bone, and damaging the surrounding soft tissues to varying degrees.
He quickly sealed off the air leaking from his chest cavity, then controlled air to slowly fill the lungs, reinflating the lung that had been crushed by the pressure difference.
Although the blood flowed even more fiercely, that stifling sensation was indeed greatly alleviated.
Before bandaging the wound, he used his ability to transmit the last piece of information.
“The enemy has an electromagnetic anti-materiel sniper rifle with an electric arc paralysis effect, attack range over three kilometers, user is the leader Su Huan, Bai Yang is critically injured, withdrawing from the battlefield!”
……
Zhang Tie heard the weak voice carried by the cold wind, and his complexion turned ashen.
He had been thinking of charging head-on against them, but he hadn’t expected they couldn’t even rush in.
That bastard He Jie being alive was one thing, but damn it, he was on the opposite side, suppressing them with an anti-aircraft machine gun so their armored vehicle couldn’t advance.
14.5 caliber armor-piercing rounds, with an effective range almost matching an anti-materiel sniper rifle.
Now the team’s strongest sniper, Tier 1 manipulator Bai Yang, had been taken out by one shot from the enemy. What the hell were they supposed to fight with!
Although he was also a firepower specialist, his caliber was completely outmatched.
Who the hell carries an anti-aircraft machine gun into battle seriously!
Even if you could carry it, you couldn’t bring many bullets.
But now this awkward problem arose: Zhang Tie didn’t dare show his head either. For evolver “firepower specialists” like them, the recoil from any light or heavy machine gun didn’t exist. They could maintain extremely high accuracy even on full auto. Not to mention He Jie was holed up in turtle-shell-like armor, with the recoil borne by the thousands-of-tons train—he just needed to aim.
Zhang Tie glanced back at the attack helicopter still circling ten kilometers away and said sternly.
“Have the remaining snipers target He Jie, take him out first!”
“Five hundred servant soldiers go around and intercept the train from the front, create a charge opportunity!”
……
As the train moved along the railway track, He Jie continuously adjusted his firing angle. At first, there was some anger.
Later, watching over twenty people suppressed by him alone—hey, it felt great!
Their training on the island had always prioritized individual over teamwork. It wasn’t that they all hated each other, but relationships definitely weren’t harmonious, with only a few having some camaraderie.
So He Jie had no psychological pressure striking his former colleagues.
As soon as any dared to show their heads, a few bullets swept from his side.
Whether thin-skinned broken cars or cement concrete, the 14.7 caliber armor-piercing rounds swept through like demolition—explosions, shattering, dust rising, buildings beginning to shake and collapse.
Decades-worth of aging breakdown happened in the few seconds of pulling the trigger.
It felt like being a creator god controlling time.
“Whoosh—boom!”
A sudden bullet exceeded the speed of sound, tearing through thick water flow like, slamming heavily onto the armor outside the machine gun position.
He Jie reflexively ducked his head.
He was all too familiar with that sound; his team previously had an anti-materiel sniper like that, commonly called a heavy sniper rifle, using 12.7 caliber armor-piercing rounds.
After recovering, a thin layer of sweat broke out on his neck.
He observed the surrounding armor—no bullet holes at all. He instantly perked up.
12.7 couldn’t penetrate!
This was what real war felt like!
He finally understood why Su Huan always smiled—the best armor, the biggest caliber, the sense of security it brought would make anyone grin!
Former elite soldiers on par with him were now scurrying like rats under bullet rain, with no way to counter.
“Bang bang!”
The armor was hit twice more.
Still nothing.
He Jie grinned ferociously, and at the old buddies who showed their heads, he unleashed a steady sweep.
Like whack-a-mole, one shot and they went silent.
In his mind, he vowed to kill that brat Qu Hang here, to prevent him from returning to harm his daughter.
……
Inside the carriage, Su Huan held the soft Yu Yue, but in his ears was the sound of Qu Hang tightening the bandage, and even the sound of him injecting himself with adrenaline was clearly audible.
That message transmitted via wind naturally didn’t escape his ears either.
Su Huan narrowed his eyes. This old superior lived up to being the Steel Council’s evergreen tree—four years and not only alive, but thriving better than ever.
His alertness was no joke.
“This gun’s effective output range is five kilometers, can penetrate 150mm armor, but useless through multiple layers of cement walls. Quickly find new valuable targets.”
Su Huan’s palm slid over her back, casually patting her perky buttocks, and instructed, “The charging backpack is in the reserve carriage, go get it yourself.”
Yu Yue felt the hot breath on her ear, her cheeks flushing red. “Okay, I’ll get it myself.”
Seeing she was fine, Su Huan’s hand left the gun, heading to the second floor of car 3.
Compared to the chaos on the enemy side, Su Huan here could leisurely arrange things—this was the advantage of home field in combat.
On the second floor, Old San was already there with Zhang Kai and a few others, hugging their rifles and squatting on the ground.
They cautiously peeked out with their eyes now and then, observing the outside situation.
Seeing Su Huan walk straight up, Old San grew anxious. “Convoy leader, they have snipers!”
Su Huan waved dismissively, unconcerned. “They can’t penetrate the armor. I’m mainly here to remind you…”
Before he finished, a crackling sound hit the train armor.
Various bullet heads rained down on the vehicle armor like a storm. Looking out the window, a large group of servant soldiers holding old-fashioned rifles appeared on both sides of the railway track, using infantry fighting vehicles and buildings to shoot at the train on the track.
Dressed in all sorts of ways, clearly survivors recently taken in by the Steel Council.
Because the train advanced slowly for mine sweeping, and with its massive size, few bullets missed.
But after shooting for a while, the servant soldiers noticed something wrong.
“How is this iron shell so thick? Bullets just leave white spots.”
“Idiot, shoot the windows, shoot the windows!”
“You’re the idiot, can’t penetrate the windows either. That hole up there was made by their heavy sniper later—none of our business!”
“The heavy machine gun on the roof is turning—hey? Hey?! HEY?!!!”
“That’s a fucking anti-aircraft machine gun for shooting planes—run!”
“Boom boom boom—”
He Jie’s muzzle showed no mercy. Standing atop the front of the train, his height exceeded five meters. Against these servant soldiers, it wasn’t even anti-aircraft firing level—it was top-down shooting!
Proper execution-style shooting!
Scorching bullet casings jumped wildly, piling thickly on the deck, but unable to burn He Jie’s thick skin.
Wherever the bullet rain passed, blood sprayed, various stumps indistinguishable in shape, blasted into blurry clumps of flesh and blood, mixing into the falling dust.
So-called armored personnel carriers were just sturdier toys before the anti-aircraft machine gun—three to five seconds, then a deafening explosion.
The servant soldiers’ wails drowned in the iron rain.
He Jie narrowed his eyes, his cigar burned to the end in his mouth, exhaled smoke mixing with the gunpowder.
Every bullet found a suitable enemy, almost no waste.
Under lv2 “ballistic correction,” ordinary people had no chance to dodge.
They didn’t even feel pain before bidding farewell to the body they’d lived with for years.
In mere moments, he single-handedly routed five hundred servant soldiers.
Over a hundred killed outright, over a hundred critically injured.
Life, under firearms, was just a rapidly depleting number.
The survivors now faced zombies and mutated beasts surging from all directions.
This war wasn’t just humans—there were also these predators eyeing them hungrily!
The train’s speed slowed further, and soon the driver’s cabin report came to Su Huan’s ears.
The drone for mine sweeping had been shot down by a sniper.
Xiao Zhao asked if they should switch to the third one.
Su Huan decisively refused. Though there were plenty more in the drone warehouse, they weren’t to be wasted like this—he ordered them all withdrawn.
External observation relied on the vehicle-fixed cameras.
The outside bullet rain was now just stray bullets, which couldn’t effectively damage the upgraded second-phase composite armor.
Never mind the soft glass that resisted armor-piercing rounds.
Even the outer 15mm Tier 1 light armor couldn’t be penetrated.
Su Huan stopped Old San and the others who wanted to stick their heads out to counterattack.
“The enemy sniper isn’t suppressed yet—what are you rushing for, eager to reincarnate?”
“Yu Yue, connect me to Professor Ma’s student called Xiao Hezi.”
“Okay.”
Crew.
A girl in a gray zipper jacket suddenly opened her eyes, her originally dim eyes regaining luster. A magnetic voice suddenly appeared in her ear, making her somewhat flustered.
It took a moment to react.
“Are you the train conductor?”
“I’m train conductor Su Huan. Your teacher is at the front of the train. Remember what he told you before?”
“Yes.”
“Based on the person features I told you before, go check where he is.”
“Received.”
The girl’s eyes turned to the characteristic appearance of a collector. After a moment, she said hesitantly, “Train conductor, no sign of that person’s position. He shouldn’t be in my ability perception range.”
Receiving the message, Su Huan breathed a sigh of relief.
Looks like Lin Jin wasn’t among these five hundred servant soldiers. If Lin Jin got taken out by He Jie’s burst, that would be a real mess.
This girl called Xiao Hezi was the collector who stayed at the logistics center with Wan Xing last time.
The girl was tall, with a temperament not as quirky as Yu Jing’s.
Quiet personality, and pretty too.
The key was awakening an ability called “topological perception,” like an animal’s instinctive alert to intruders in its territory, but more complex and abstract.
It could retrieve the count of specific elements based on the girl’s cognition, then judge if the target was within her “territory” range.
Su Huan was encountering this metaphysical ability for the first time.
It gave him a big surprise.
The difficulty of finding Lin Jin dropped once more.
Su Huan pondered for a moment, then began issuing orders to each subordinate.
“Yu Yue, suppress the enemy sniper.”
“Got it!”
“Professor Ma, Xiao Ba, you two prepare. Enemy evolvers will come soon—get battle-ready.”
“Understood!”
“Xiao Zhao, swap in the drone, don’t deploy it—close-range mine scouting.”
“Received.”
“Liang Kuan, keep driving, slow down a bit. Even inching forward is fine, as long as we’re moving—that’s what they’re desperate for!”
“Understood!”
“All non-combat personnel return to your rooms.”
“Then transmit my next words to all passengers in the rear carriage.”
“Killing an enemy evolver soldier rewards captain permissions and two hundred points. Capturing one alive rewards the whole team becoming evolvers, plus a D-level weapons and ammunition pack for the squad and five hundred points. Killing the enemy commander adds a general-purpose exoskeleton, Scavenger-I, and one thousand points. Capturing the enemy commander alive rewards five exoskeletons, matching light firearms, and three thousand points!”
Ordinary people couldn’t claim these rewards anyway, so Su Huan didn’t mind pricing them high.
If you couldn’t even paint a pie, how could you lead?
Seriously, in terms of cannon fodder numbers, who was the train conductor afraid of?
……
The rear carriage stirred upon hearing Su Huan’s voice, then quickly calmed under suppression by a few leaders.
By halfway, everyone’s breathing grew heavy; when the last words fell, cheers erupted in the rear carriage.
Though they didn’t know how strong the outside evolvers were, how fierce the enemy firepower, or that the commander was flying overhead, they knew captain permissions were hugely important—representing survival, rights, violence, supplies, women…
And points had become, through word of mouth among passengers, a token exchangeable for anything!
Not just ordinary passengers—even Lu Xiao’s eyes turned red.
The two had only learned of exoskeletons on the exchange list recently and tried them personally—outstanding effects, but even the most basic one cost 500 points!
Exoskeletons had gone through many iterations pre-apocalypse. Even civilian versions shed the bulky rack-like mounting.
After train modifications, these exoskeletons had more functions, same weight, but better suited for combat.
Though no protection, they raised human load limits.
With one, hauling supplies or fighting got massive boosts.
Even if tackled by a zombie, the exoskeleton’s strong support might let you stand.
And this time the top reward was a full five sets!
But not everyone was so excited.
The two information collectors had been dumbfounded since the rocket explosions.
The two stared wide-eyed at each other.
Who was it that just said it definitely wouldn’t escalate, that the two forces were cooperating?
What kind of cooperation was this?
War drill?
