Chapter 17: Midnight Zombie Tide
Su Huan called out to Yu Yue and casually picked up a boxed meal and opened it.
The potatoes were cut into rolling knife chunks, with a small amount of radish dice and shredded beef stewed together, all covered over the rice, the aroma hitting the nose.
There were also some radish pickles nearby.
“It’s all beef stew with potatoes?”
Su Huan asked.
“There aren’t many vegetables left, and the quantity is large, so I made a simpler dish.” Yu Yue was a bit nervous, paused, then added, “I didn’t put in too much beef, just chopped it up to make it look like a lot.”
Su Huan naturally wouldn’t be so petty, and said indifferently, “It’s fine. Those doing physical labor need to eat well to have strength. I’ll go with you.”
Passing by carriage 6, the storage carriage, Su Huan lifted five boxes of mineral water and followed her toward the back.
Although the consumption was high, it was only temporary.
As long as they weren’t working, this group of workers would still need to go find supplies. Drinking one bottle of water meant owing him three bottles—steady profit with no loss.
The carriage was dim, and only the sound of the dining car wheels could be heard.
“By the way, is the door reverse-locked or melted off?”
Su Huan asked casually.
Yu Yue said weakly, “I modified it a bit. As long as we don’t open the door from this side, they can’t open it from the other side.”
Su Huan looked up, and his eyelid twitched.
These guys did have some ideas. The originally simple door lock had been changed to an external one, with three horizontal metal bolts, looking like the gate of some vault.
Besides the lock’s ability, even the door’s strength had increased quite a bit—at least it wouldn’t be smashed by a blood hound in one hit.
Yu Yue sequentially opened the three overt locks and one hidden lock before entering the middle passageway carriage bridge.
Seeing Su Huan and the other, the workers on the opposite side quickly opened the door.
A wave of high temperature foul odor hit them in the face.
Su Huan’s complexion was as usual, Wang He was still in his usual outfit, but he looked like he’d been pulled out of water—hair drenched, sweat beads rolling down from time to time.
Upon meeting, he smiled bitterly, “The rear carriages are way too hot. Can you turn on the air conditioner?”
“The air conditioner is also a resource. Turning it on requires extra supplies.”
“The outdoor temperature is already twenty-eight or nine degrees, with so many people crammed in the rear carriages, and we don’t dare open the windows—it’ll heat people to death.”
“Don’t worry, the temperature will drop at night, down to at most twenty-six degrees. No one will die.”
Su Huan said calmly.
Wang He was stunned for a moment, could only sigh and go get the meal. Seeing the steaming beef stew with potatoes over rice improved his mood quite a bit.
He called out to the people in the back, and everyone came to get their meals.
After the water and meals were distributed, Su Huan and the other finally left.
……
Deep in carriage 9.
Gao Zhe looked at the bobbing heads in front, his gaze deep.
Soon, Scarface walked over, surprised and suspicious, “That Su guy actually came to deliver meals to those workers—beef stew with potatoes over rice! Damn! Hot meals, haven’t had any in ages. Made me want to rob them.”
Gao Zhe ate his compressed biscuits in small bites, his tone calm, “It’s just a tactic to divide us. They have 120 people— what do you have to rob them with?”
Scarface cursed under his breath, “Damn it, these workers squeezed a lot of our people to the back.”
Gao Zhe remained unmoved.
“How did you do today?” A low, steady voice rose from across Gao Zhe.
Gao Zhe looked up at the man opposite him—eyebrows streaked with some white, but those eyes were eerily black.
“Bad luck. I fell into a zombie pile, got a bit injured before escaping.”
“You were spotted?”
Gao Zhe hesitated for a moment, “I’m not sure, but he definitely remembered me.”
“Then he spotted you.”
The old man heavily tapped two index fingers on the small table, making a dull “thud” sound, “Always prepare for the worst case. Plan as if he spotted you.”
“His ability is too bizarre. The index finger is just a feint—any part of his body can emit high-temperature energy blasts…”
“You’re scared?”
“I just need an opportunity.”
“Opportunities are never waited for.”
“No need to rush me. I’ll make my move naturally.”
Gao Zhe finished the last bite of biscuit, casually grabbed a hoodie, pillowed it behind his head, and closed his eyes to rest.
……
Su Huan didn’t go to rest. He always had a feeling of unease.
Perhaps because of today’s corpse pupa news.
Normally, he would’ve run off long ago.
But today, completing one-fourth of the armored steel plates gave him quite a bit of confidence. He planned to stay here and make another batch of steel plates tomorrow.
He’d only made over seven hundred today, still short more than two thousand.
Changing places would make it tough to get so many standard steel plates.
Suddenly, a bout of inexplicable irritability rose in his heart.
Su Huan subconsciously glanced toward the seventh carriage.
His sole of foot tapped the ground, and he silently arrived at the door, lifted the curtain— a group of people were sprawled crookedly on chairs and the ground, snoring away, nothing unusual.
‘Perhaps every carriage should have an iron gate installed.’
Su Huan thought silently.
But the warning in his heart didn’t fade; instead, it grew stronger.
Soon he pinpointed the reason—it was his skill: General Energy Perception.
Last time, he’d inexplicably spotted the blood hound precisely because he sensed general energy, and his body instinctively sent him the warning!
Su Huan’s heart sank. He walked to the window side, lifted a corner of the curtain, and looked out.
His black pupils suddenly contracted.
Zombie tide!
Damn it, a huge zombie tide!
Countless zombies densely packed against the fence outside the railway track, one pressing on another, forming a second barrier. Zombies occasionally fell from the top.
They staggered toward the train.
Su Huan dropped the curtain and quickly ran toward the front of the train, shouting lowly, “Turn off all the lights! Liang Kuan, go drive!”
No need for further reminders—everyone had spotted the scene and was on high alert.
Liang Kuan, who was busy, didn’t hesitate for a second, dropped what he was holding, and flew over.
With the lights extinguished, the entire train plunged into darkness.
Everyone rushed to the front of the train, watching Liang Kuan complete each step to start the train, feeling the heavy roar of the train engine—finally, everyone relaxed a bit.
Su Huan stood at the window, looking down from above at the surging zombies, his face gloomy.
“Boom—”
The train slowly began to move, but it seemed to face enormous resistance—various slapping, scratching, and popping sounds like crushing bubble wrap.
“Too many zombies at the front of the train. Can’t pick up speed.”
Liang Kuan said gravely.
A flash of cold resolve in Su Huan’s eyes, “Xiao Ba, go seal the door of carriage 7. Everyone else stay at the front of the train.”
Qi Xiao Ba’s gaze firm, “Got it. No one will sneak over in the chaos.”
“Mm.”
Su Huan sat directly in the co-pilot seat, hand resting on the control panel.
He took a deep breath.
Surging general energy was continuously converted into electrical energy and forcefully infused into the train engine!
The originally muffled engine sounded like it had taken a huge breath.
It roared with full force, making the entire front of the train tremble slightly as it screeched forward.
In the night, a steel dragon strained with all its might to crawl forward!
Struggling to break free from the corpse tide like a quagmire!
(For temperature questions, see work-related)
