Chapter 166: Same Boat Society
The world behind Carriage 20 was completely different from the cheerful barbecue atmosphere in the dining car.
The buffer layers inside the walls had all been dismantled clean, leaving only the outermost tier 1 armor. Each carriage had only four car windows left in the very middle, while all other car windows were welded shut with smooth synthetic armor, like the smooth inner wall of a can.
Although the armored train, not counting the front of the train, had a full 55 carriages, after removing the two rear fronts of the train, three bullet workshops, two garages, four research carriages, and two new carriages, the carriages actually available for ordinary passengers to live in were only about twenty.
Each carriage housed around 40 people. Although somewhat crowded, at least everyone had their own bed.
When there were more than a thousand people before, each carriage was stuffed with nearly a hundred people, with body odor, excrement, and the smell of rotten food fermenting in the enclosed space.
The passengers were squeezed together like sardines, with people lying on the floor and on the luggage racks, not even a place to set foot.
“Make way! Make way!”
An emaciated man clutched his stomach and struggled through the crowd.
There were already seven people queued in front of the toilet door. After finally reaching the front, a fat and sturdy woman pushed her way over. Due to years of heavy physical labor, she had a body full of solid tendons. Her man had an even heavier build than her, and the two were considered tyrants in this carriage.
“Is the dead one inside dead yet? It’s been half an hour!”
A weak response came from inside the door: “W-Wait a little longer…”
The woman cursed and kicked the iron door, which emitted a hollow echo.
Cold sweat beaded on the emaciated man’s forehead, his legs clamping together unnaturally.
“Get lost.” The woman turned her head and glared at him.
The man opened his mouth, but in the end silently retreated to the end of the line. Not to mention her man, even she herself was someone he couldn’t beat.
This was the rule in the carriages behind 20: whoever had the harder fist had the right to speak.
He returned to his bunk, covered himself with a tattered blanket, his teeth grinding with a creaking sound.
That fat and sturdy woman and her man were not far away, sharing a piece of dried meat from who knows where.
He cursed them in his heart but didn’t dare say it out loud.
The lights in the carriage were dim, only illuminating a small section of the corridor.
Just like his food—after buying the train ticket, only a little was left, barely enough to sustain life. Those hateful people always managed to get extra food and clean water.
“Hey, skinny.” A low voice sounded by his ear.
Zhang Qiang jerked his head up and saw a scarred man squatting by his bunk.
He knew this man, called Old Ma, one of the few in the carriage who dared to stand up to that bully couple.
“Something wrong?” Zhang Qiang asked vigilantly.
Old Ma glanced around and lowered his voice, “Want to eat your fill?”
Zhang Qiang’s eyes lit up, “You have extra food.”
“Where would I get that?” Old Ma’s eyes gleamed in the dim light as he slipped him a note, “Someone’s organized a mutual aid group. Go there and you can get a bite to eat. Ten o’clock tonight, Carriage 30.”
With that, Old Ma patted his shoulder and walked away as if nothing had happened.
Zhang Qiang stared at Old Ma’s back, his heart racing.
Mutual aid group?
On this train?
He had heard old passengers mention that a while ago, there had been a similar gang-like organization in the rear.
Later, it disappeared somehow.
The only group acknowledged on the entire train was Lu Xiao’s squad, but they looked down on skinny weaklings like him.
He had also heard how well the “crew” in the front carriages lived—with private rooms, ample food, even showers. That Old Liu, just because he had the skill to repair vehicles, could even brew a pot of tea to drink every day.
Before the apocalypse, he relied on several houses left from demolition plus a storefront, living comfortably. His greatest pleasure was finding an easy job, not for anything else, but to watch others work hard.
Then casually reveal that he had several houses, collecting tens of thousands in rent every month.
Harvesting envious, jealous, and hateful looks from colleagues.
While others avoided the leader, he cozied up to him, just waiting for the leader to assign him unreasonable work, then slam the table and storm out in anger.
Then the apocalypse came, the houses were still there, but useless.
He hated himself for being so lazy back then. If he had learned a skill, he wouldn’t be like this now.
Even his basic dignity was almost gone.
The clock pointed to 9:50 p.m., and Zhang Qiang quietly slipped out of the carriage.
The corridor was empty, with only the regular sounds of the train running.
He counted the carriage numbers and finally arrived at Carriage 30. Two people stood in the corridor. Seeing him sneaking around, one put a finger to his lips, signaling him not to speak, then pointed to a private room behind.
Zhang Qiang cautiously walked to the private room doorway.
A sliver of light leaked through the door crack.
He took a deep breath and knocked on the door.
The door cracked open, an eye sized him up, then the door fully opened.
Zhang Qiang was pulled inside, and the door immediately closed.
He was surprised to find that this carriage had been transformed into a small meeting place. The private rooms on both sides had been knocked through, and more than twenty people were sitting or standing, or lying on bunk beds, gathered around a middle-aged man standing on a box.
But not a single person was speaking.
Soon someone handed him a note and shone a flashlight to illuminate the words on it, written in pencil: “Don’t speak. There are supernatural ability users at the front of the train who can hear our voices.”
Zhang Qiang’s heart tightened instantly.
He hadn’t expected supernatural ability users to be so powerful. Didn’t that mean all his secretly grumbled curses had been heard?
“Another brother has arrived!” The middle-aged man held up a note with a kind smile on his face, “Welcome to join the Same Boat Society. I’m Liu Ming. Before the apocalypse, I had an iron rice bowl in Dongping City.”
Zhang Qiang was stunned.
Dongping City?
Right next to his home city of Jinzong City, and this Liu Ming was actually an official?
Liu Ming saw his surprise and wrote, “Don’t be nervous. Here, we’re all equal. Since the apocalypse, those so-called statuses and positions have long lost meaning. What’s important is that we ordinary people must unite and help each other.”
The flashlight beam only illuminated Liu Ming in the middle; everyone’s faces were hidden in the shadows.
The light contrast was too great; Zhang Qiang couldn’t see their expressions.
Liu Ming continued his “speech.” The private room had only the scratching sound of the pencil, and a sense of solemnity welled up inexplicably.
“Everyone, look at our current situation!” Liu Ming spread his arms, “The people in the front carriages eat and drink well, but we have to queue even to use the toilet! They live in single rooms, while forty of us squeeze into one carriage! Is this fair?”
Pairs of bright eyes fixed on him.
“The crew serving the core members in the front carriages get fresh food every day, even hot meals, while us? We have to buy expensive train tickets for the biscuits we work hard to find, but no one cares if we live or die.”
“The reason we can have forty people per carriage—everyone knows why, right?”
“Because fully half of us died!”
“No one cares about us!”
“No one protects us!”
“Slaughtered like pigs and dogs!”
“Both old people and children fell in pools of blood!”
The handwriting grew more flamboyant, as if containing immense anger. Zhang Qiang didn’t know what others thought; he only felt something lodged in his throat, with surging flames rising in his chest cavity, burning his liver and guts to pieces.
“We’ve never asked for much. We just want the shelter we’re entitled to, food to sustain survival, a humble hope of staying alive!”
“But the train took our hope without giving us any shelter!”
“We should stand up and protect ourselves in our own way!”
“Crack—”
The pencil snapped from excessive force.
The room fell instantly silent, leaving only heavy breathing sounds and an increasingly heated atmosphere.
“What should we do?”
Zhang Qiang’s voice was hoarse, unbelievable even to himself.
Like a fuse, it instantly ignited everyone. Flames seemed to burn in every pair of eyes, ready to explode at any moment.
Seeing this, Liu Ming finally breathed a secret sigh of relief.
He had many plans next, but this groundwork was crucial. Without stirring the passengers’ emotions, he couldn’t twist this group into a unified force.
Fortunately, the apocalypse had only been a month; these people accustomed to freedom hadn’t yet been tamed by the train.
Next, he demonstrated his ability.
A bright flame rose from his palm, burning the papers filled with pencil writing.
Though not a very powerful ability, it was enough to shock the ordinary people present.
“The Same Boat Society’s goal is simple.” Liu Ming withdrew his ability, “Help each other and strive for better survival conditions. But to achieve this, we need more manpower and more resources.”
He signaled his assistant to bring out a box. When opened, it contained several packs of compressed biscuits and several boxes of clean water.
“These I got through ‘special channels.’ Join us, and good-performing members will get supplies every week. Those who want to join, raise your hand.”
Zhang Qiang swallowed, finding those ordinarily unremarkable biscuits so tempting for the first time. Even a bottle of mineral water held immense appeal for him.
He raised his hand almost without thinking.
Seeing everyone in the dimly lit carriage raise their hands, Liu Ming smiled satisfiedly.
The meeting continued until late at night.
Liu Ming explained the Same Boat Society’s rules in detail: confidentiality is the top priority, any betrayal will be severely punished, there will be a meeting every week to exchange information and distribute supplies, and most importantly, everyone must contribute to the organization’s growth.
When dispersing, Zhang Qiang was left behind alone.
Liu Ming put his arm around his shoulder, intimate like old friends, and slipped him a note.
Zhang Qiang looked at the content, his heart racing, hesitantly glancing at him.
Liu Ming smiled faintly, “In return, you’ll get more…”
“I’m willing!” he said indistinctly.
Liu Ming smiled satisfiedly.
Once everyone dispersed, besides him, four others remained.
Liu Ming stood in the middle, expression serious, took out a little thing, pressed it, then casually pushed the door open and went out.
“Follow me.”
Zhang Qiang glanced at the camera above the carriage corridor, thoughtful.
Liu Ming led them to the carriage bridge of Carriage 20.
After waiting a moment, the tightly closed door suddenly cracked open.
A person wearing a mask, sunglasses, and loose coat stood opposite, like a giant beast lurking in the darkness.
Holding two bulging backpacks in hand.
“I’ve brought the stuff.” The mysterious person’s voice was hoarse and strange, clearly disguised.
Zhang Qiang’s heart jolted, but seeing Liu Ming and the others react normally, clearly the mysterious person had a way to block that listening supernatural ability user.
Liu Ming took the backpacks and checked them: five kilograms of compressed food, ten liters of purified water, and a handgun.
A flash of greed passed through Liu Ming’s eyes, but he quickly regained calm, “What exactly do you want me to do?”
The mysterious person lowered his voice, “I need your people to sabotage the train’s water supply system and some internal facilities, like power supply and such. Make it look like it was caused by poor installation.”
Liu Ming’s gaze flickered, “You mean the front carriages, right? We can’t get in there.”
“Don’t worry, we’ll create an opportunity for you.”
“Good.”
The transaction ended quickly.
Liu Ming looked around at everyone, ambition gleaming in his eyes, “This is an opportunity, brothers. That mysterious person clearly isn’t alone, proving there’s conflict inside the front carriages too. We can exploit this to grow stronger.”
“Once we have enough strength.” Liu Ming’s voice was full of temptation, “It’s not impossible to even replace those good-for-nothings in the front of the train.”
Zhang Qiang listened, his heartbeat accelerating.
The future Liu Ming painted was too alluring: spacious space, ample food, even rights he hadn’t grasped before the apocalypse.
For these, what was a little risk?
Liu Ming suddenly called his name, “Zhang Qiang, what did you do before?”
“Just an ordinary person.” Zhang Qiang answered honestly.
Liu Ming’s eyes hid a sharp glint, “You won’t be ordinary for long.”
……
The barbecue feast in the dining car had entered a fever pitch.
Besides the massive consumption of meat, with Su Huan’s tacit approval, He Jie and others also consumed four cases of beer. Even Yu Yue and others drank a bit of fruit beer.
He Jie dragged Qu Hang into a drinking contest, while Goat and Old San quietly cheered from the side.
Huang Hai, drunk, lectured Xiao Ba on how to farm, and Xiao Ba accepted everything, learning whatever he heard.
Wan Xing, Yu Jing, and Director Xu were in a heated discussion nearby.
Lin Jin managed the barbecue grill on the side, flames obediently licking the meat skewers in his hands, sizzling meat oil forced out by the flames, soaking the entire skewer.
Yu Yue bustled about serving tea and water to the train conductor, while feeding the little girl circling around her.
Professor Ma held a small cup of baijiu at the edge, his face flushed, chuckling as he watched the scene.
“Xiao Zhao, look here: soldiers, doctors, scholars, drivers; adults and children. Regardless of status or social position, the apocalypse has gathered us here. Though the cause isn’t great and this situation won’t last, right now, it has meaning…”
Xiao Zhao fiddled with the screen nearby, casually saying, “No feast lasts forever, but Teacher, why the sudden sentimentality?”
Professor Ma smiled and shook his head.
Suddenly, he heard his student’s puzzled voice.
“What happened?”
“Some surveillance data seems off, but no anomalies detected. It’s from the rear carriages.”
“That’s not the attitude for research. If it feels wrong, find what’s wrong.”
Xiao Zhao said seriously, “Checking now.”
The old man’s eyes suddenly narrowed, “What has Li Hong been up to lately?”
Xiao Zhao was stunned, “No way…”
“Go check.”
“He’s currently doing routine maintenance in Carriage 11, nothing unusual.”
Professor Ma drained the baijiu in his cup and exhaled faintly, “Hope it’s just me overthinking.”
