Chapter 161: I Want To Build A City
Li Wangchuan looked at the mess before him, his eyes deep.
Seeing him like this, a flicker of heartache passed through the eyes of the woman who was accustomed to a expressionless face.
Only she knew how long the man before her had planned for the Steel Council, but years of effort had gone up in smoke. However, looking at the desolate figure of the man before her, a bit of secret joy appeared in her heart.
She quietly took a step forward, looking at the overlapping shadows on the ground, her heart pounding in panic.
“If it’s burned, so be it. It’s much cleaner now.”
Li Wangchuan said faintly.
The woman’s eyelids trembled lightly. Seeing the once high-spirited man become so dejected, a feeling of Hero’s End surged in her heart, just like watching the faith in her heart fall, the sky collapse, and all things topple. “Don’t be like this…”
Li Wangchuan lowered his head and looked in surprise at the hand wrapped around his waist.
“I don’t like this feeling.” The woman’s arms hugged tighter. “You can’t lose.”
“No one wins forever.”
“But you can’t lose, and you definitely can’t admit defeat!” The woman’s voice carried a low, hoarse sob. “Li Wangchuan, you don’t know how much I admire you. I’ve admired you since school days. I took exams step by step, defeating countless talents to get to your side. I don’t like this Hero’s End feeling.”
Li Wangchuan chuckled helplessly, his palm gently covering the soft hand at his waist. “But no one loses forever either.”
“Hm?”
Hearing the turn in his words, the woman lifted her head from his shoulder.
There were faint tear stains on it.
“Is that suit ready?”
“I brought it. That’s the formal suit you wore when you first took office at Qing Steel. But why bring that suit?”
Li Wangchuan raised his brows in surprise. “You even know that.”
A hint of small pride showed in the woman’s eyes. “I’ve watched every one of your videos, without exception.”
Li Wangchuan withdrew his gaze from the distance, speaking with a touch of reminiscence. “Back then, I made a bet with Xiao Tao. If one day I acknowledged he could take over for me, I’d give him this suit. In a bit, we’ll go to New City and burn it for him.”
“New City?”
“I’m going to build a new city there, a new city more magnificent than the original plan, including the Heavy Industrial Zone under our feet. I’m going to rebuild it all.”
Li Wangchuan’s voice was flat, but it carried an unquestionable determination.
Just like in the countless videos she had watched before where he made major decisions, full of high spirits.
Star-like brilliance shone in the woman’s eyes. “I’ll always be with you.”
……
“January 12, light rain turning to clear”
“Train Conductor prepares to face new disaster”
The train clanged and rattled. The heroic Train Conductor was now lying in the newly added Medical Carriage between Carriage 6 Storage and Carriage 7 Farm Carriage.
After leaving the Heavy Industrial Zone, the train traveled north for about a hundred kilometers before stopping somewhere.
It rested well for two days.
During this time, they mainly adjusted the carriage layout, dismantling the ten carriages Director Xu had prepared for his escape plus a ten-thousand-ton locomotive head into the Armored Train.
Since changing numbers was troublesome, these carriages were independently named by function.
For example, the Medical Carriage underfoot had equipment far superior to the old green-skinned carriage in every aspect.
After everyone voted, it was placed next to the Farm Carriage. Patients could occasionally stroll in the Botanical Garden to soothe their mood, but they had to be careful not to trip over the newly grown Wire Grass.
The Train Conductor had his own carriage, but the workers were constructing a second floor.
The clanging was annoying, so he moved in to stay for a couple of days.
After returning that day, Su Huan conducted an examination. According to Director Xu’s professional judgment, the Train Conductor could live about a year, much shorter than Lin Xi’s four years.
After all, Lin Xi could use the previously prepared potions to delay gene generation.
But Su Huan’s current problem was that the collapse speed was a bit faster than generation.
To sustain life, he had to keep evolving, but evolution required more energy and accumulation, as well as some conditions to maintain life.
Regarding energy, the Train Conductor could still manage, but his accumulation was exhausted.
Now the Train Conductor’s ability was approaching Tier 2, far surpassing his previous life.
As for maintaining life, it was even harder.
Although he and Lin Xi were both Gene Primordia, there was an essential difference between them. The potion prepared for Lin Xi delayed gene generation, but if Su Huan used it, he would die from Gene Collapse that very night.
To prepare a potion suitable for Su Huan would be difficult even with an intact high tower laboratory, let alone on a train with limited space and incomplete equipment.
But the Train Conductor himself was not that pessimistic.
Problems he couldn’t solve in this life could only be answered from his previous life.
As the saying goes, the one who ties the bell must untie it. The last major task he participated in before defecting was the Crown Pear Plan.
The location was Wangjiang Peak north of Qingchuan Province, administratively under Guangren City, a city famous for producing mooncakes.
There was an evolved mutated Crown Pear Tree. Su Huan didn’t know the specifics, but many forces were vying for this tree at the time, with several small-scale clashes. He didn’t know what agreement was reached to divide it, but then the Steel Council produced an expensive Life Potion.
Its value was comparable to cultivating a Tier 2 Evolver.
The Train Conductor guessed the source was on this tree, so he planned to go to Wangjiang Peak to check it out.
Anyway, he could still live for a year, so where’s the difference in wandering?
At this moment, the atmosphere in the Medical Carriage was very harmonious. Nurse Yu Yue was cutting Pear Canned Food into smaller, easier-to-eat pieces and feeding them to Su Huan with a fork.
Changli County produced a lot of pears, so Director Xu’s supply carriages inevitably had many Pear Canned Food items.
Lying on the bed next to them was Lu Xiao, with Miao Qi maintaining firearms by his side.
Of course, enjoying medical services cost money.
Yu Yue occasionally exchanged sniper insights with Su Huan and Miao Qi across the space.
The two surprisingly got along very well.
Bed three was empty. The patient from above was now sitting by bed four, using a military dagger to carefully cut the Luncheon Meat Canned Food in his hand, with exquisite yet rough cutting technique.
The hard Metal Box and luncheon meat were sliced into delicate thin pieces, which He Jie picked up with the dagger and fed to Qu Hang’s mouth.
The irritable man showed unusual gentleness unlike his usual self. “Eat. Why aren’t you eating? If you won’t eat what I’m feeding you personally, who do you want to feed you? My daughter? Or my wife?”
Qu Hang looked at the blade flashing coldly under the meat slice, his mouth twitching. He glanced aside and saw Su Huan and Lu Xiao watching the spectacle with gleeful amusement, so he could only helplessly open his mouth.
Fortunately, He Jie was quite controlled, and no bloody incident occurred.
But the luncheon meat with metal-thin edges was really hard to swallow!
“Captain He, you’re injured too. Why don’t you go back and lie down?”
He Jie sneered, subconsciously wanting to touch a cigarette, but suddenly remembered Su Huan had banned them, so he gave up.
It wasn’t that the Train Conductor was considering his injury—the guy’s wound was almost healed. He was lingering here entirely because of Qu Hang. He used to smoke one pack a day, but since staying by Qu Hang’s side, it became three packs a day, nearly smoking out his lungs.
He almost smoked Qu Hang into Cured Meat. If Su Huan hadn’t come, he would have had to endure He Jie’s secondhand smoke longer.
But sending away a Tier 1 Evolver with secondhand smoke was way too difficult, and even directly inhaling something more intense wouldn’t work.
Footsteps came from the corridor, and soon the car door handle was turned.
“Doctor’s making rounds.”
He Jie stabbed the dagger into the luncheon meat and tossed it to Qu Hang’s bedside, gave him a warning look, and quickly jumped back to his own bed.
By the time the person entered, the quilt was already pulled over.
