Chapter 170: Commander
Wang Fei’s complexion instantly turned ferocious. He kicked his subordinate flying with one foot and cursed loudly, “You damn thing, you still dare to fool me!”
Kicking him flying wasn’t enough to vent his anger, so he followed up with a flurry of kicks.
The subordinate begged for mercy repeatedly.
“Toot——”
The sharp whistle sound rang out again. Wang Fei’s expression instantly froze. He grabbed his subordinate by the collar, his voice trembling, “Did you hear the whistle sound or not?”
“No, no, Fei Ge, I misheard.” The subordinate, with a bruised and swollen face, hurriedly denied it.
Wang Fei’s already imbalanced mentality due to fear instantly collapsed. He landed two heavy punches with thuds, roaring, “I heard it, you dog bastard, and you still dare to deceive me!”
The subordinate whimpered and cried in pain.
Hearing the increasingly close whistle sound, he threw aside his subordinate and desperately pushed open the window.
Sure enough.
Beneath the sprawling metal buildings, on the railway track in the distance, that familiar Steel Giant Beast was spewing black smoke as it slowly approached. The ferocious ramming horn on the front of the train gleamed coldly in the sunlight.
“Fei Ge, the train doesn’t know we’re here. Maybe it’s just passing by?”
The subordinate said sobbingly.
It wasn’t that he was spineless; his nose just hurt too much.
This sentence was like a sedative to Wang Fei, calming him down considerably. Suddenly thinking of something, he asked, “Where is Ma Baozi?”
“He just took people down to prepare.”
Wang Fei’s vision went black, as if he saw again the scene that night of the Heavy Industrial Zone turning into ruins under the train wheels.
He kicked open the room door like a madman. In the living room of a bus where even the seats hadn’t been removed, more than a dozen subordinates were peering outside. They turned back and were stunned by his appearance.
“Grab your weapons and go stop Ma Baozi! Hurry!”
Wang Fei’s voice was so urgent it changed pitch.
The subordinates hurriedly grabbed their weapons in a panic. Someone asked puzzledly, “Fei Ge, didn’t we agree to talk about joining them today…”
“Join your ass!” Wang Fei slapped him across the face, gritting his teeth, “That idiot definitely went down to collect toll fees. That’s an Armored Train! The Steel Council was wiped out after they drew a massive zombie tide. If we piss off those living fathers, none of us can escape! We’ll all die!”
This sentence exploded like a bomb in the crowd.
The more than a dozen survivors who escaped from the Heavy Industrial Zone instantly turned pale as dirt.
The horrific zombie tide from a few days ago was still fresh in their memories.
Wang Fei ignored them, grabbed his shotgun, and rushed outside.
His heart pounded wildly in his chest cavity, his ears filled with his own heavy panting.
He knew all too well the nature of that Armored Train.
Wherever it passed, blood flowed like rivers. That wasn’t a train at all—it was clearly a mobile heavenly calamity!
He rushed out of the carriage, didn’t even go down the stairs, but flipped over and jumped down directly, flattening several temporary platforms made from car hoods, landing right at a narrow “suspension bridge entrance.” More than a dozen subordinates behind him jumped down one after another with thuds.
Ma Baozi’s signature floral shirt stood out glaringly in the crowd. He was waving the assault rifle Wang Fei had given him yesterday, spittle flying as he joked with his younger brothers.
Wang Fei had just jumped down from above, and even with his evolver’s physical fitness, he felt waves of nausea from the impact.
Seeing Ma Baozi like this, his heart raced with lingering fear.
This fool was really about to make a move!
Ma Baozi turned his head and saw him, grinning to reveal a mouth full of yellow teeth. “Brother Wang, perfect timing! Today we’re doing a big one!”
He walked over, supported Wang Fei’s shoulder, and pointed excitedly at the increasingly close train. “This fat sheep is enough to feed us for half a year!”
Wang Fei’s mind flashed with the soaring great fire in the Heavy Industrial Zone, the survivors swallowed by the zombie tide, and the overwhelming thunderstorm.
Fear turned into towering rage. He swung the gun stock and smashed it toward Ma Baozi’s face.
“Feed your ass!”
With a muffled “bang,” Ma Baozi’s nose sprayed blood as he toppled to the ground.
His subordinates were just about to move when Wang Fei’s people had already raised their firearms in unison. The dark muzzles scared them into not daring to budge.
Ma Baozi covered his face and crawled up, staring at Wang Fei in disbelief. “You fucking crazy…”
Clearly, they’d been getting along well these past two days, talking about building a scrap car graveyard together, but today he flipped sides?!
“You’re the fucking crazy one!” Wang Fei grabbed the collar of his floral shirt, pressing the muzzle against his neck, eyes bloodshot, ferociously saying, “If I came down a bit later today, you and your bunch of pig-brained subordinates would already be tied to the railway track getting juiced!”
“Who? The train below?”
Ma Baozi said in disbelief.
Wang Fei’s eyes bulged as he roared word by word right in his face, “The Armored Train crushed a force thousands of times larger than yours in one day with three battles!”
Ma Baozi’s face twitched. “Thousands of times? That’s at least over a hundred thousand people!”
Wang Fei’s complexion was sinister, itching to bite two chunks of flesh and blood off this bastard.
“Do you think we escaped from where?”
Ma Baozi recalled what the other had said at the wine table about the massive zombie tide, his face instantly paling. Ignoring the pain on his face, he wiped his nosebleed haphazardly and glanced at the increasingly close train.
The Iron Rain 14.5 up top immediately made cold sweat pour down his back.
His over a hundred people standing together couldn’t withstand one burst from that.
With such a large caliber, even hiding in the newly built Metal City underfoot, they’d be blasted open.
And those dark red marks on the train body weren’t rust from acid rain—they were bloodstains left from repeated washes!
Combined with Wang Fei’s exaggerated posture, Ma Baozi immediately believed most of it.
“Everyone, put down your weapons!” Ma Baozi gritted his teeth and said.
As for the hit he took today, he could settle it later.
This beast Wang Fei had struck truly viciously!
The atmosphere among the crowd eased, but more and more people from Ma Baozi’s side gathered, faintly encircling Wang Fei, each with suppressed fire in their eyes.
Wang Fei acted as if he didn’t see this eerie scene, tugging at his already soaked shirt and letting out a long breath.
His trembling hand fished out a crumpled cigarette pack, and it took three tries to get the cigarette into his mouth.
He turned to look at the train stopped in front of the gantry crane. There seemed to be a figure moving in the driver’s cabin at the front of the train, sunlight reflecting dazzling light off the windshield glass.
“So what now?”
Ma Baozi asked gloomily, covering his nose.
Wang Fei took a hard drag, nicotine temporarily suppressing his wildly beating heart.
He stared at the hatch slowly opening on the train’s side, a team of fully armed elite soldiers filing out.
He didn’t recognize these people.
Even up to today, he hadn’t seen a single member of the Armored Train.
He had simply been living under the shadow cast by the train.
“Did your people mention collecting protection fees?”
Ma Baozi hesitated for a moment. “They probably did; they’re just waiting for me to go over.”
Wang Fei’s hand holding the cigarette finally stopped shaking.
“Bang bang bang——”
“You fucking hit me again!”
“With so many of my brothers here, you still dare to hit me!”
“Didn’t I already hit you?!”
“Whatever it is, can’t we talk it out nicely in front of so many brothers?”
“Brother Wang…”
“Fei Ge, Fei Ge…”
……
This time, Ma Baozi was truly beaten numb.
The two, surrounded by a group of subordinates with strange complexions, walked toward the train in the direction of the gantry crane.
Seeing their appearances, the man wearing a leather apron was also stunned.
Wang Fei glanced up at him. “What did you say to the people on the train just now?”
“Nothing much, just that we want to collect toll fees.”
“No dirty words, right?”
“No, this is civilized charging; we don’t curse.”
“That’s good.”
“Bang!”
The leather apron man collapsed with a crash.
Ma Baozi’s heart chilled. “What does this mean?”
“Atonement.”
Wang Fei’s complexion was calm.
His people showed no reaction, but Ma Baozi’s subordinates were unhappy and wanted an explanation.
Several with guns hadn’t even raised their hands before Wang Fei’s subordinates shot them dead.
Five corpses instantly extinguished all discontent.
These people were all old veterans who had killed their way out with him from Mojian. They might hesitate against zombies, but against their own, it was second nature.
Without such ruthlessness, how could they have escaped the massive zombie tide.
After they walked down the gantry crane, under the escort of a group of armed personnel, the two men approached.
The leading man had a steady and refined air, like a lawyer or diplomat.
The other was burly and robust, also quite tough, but clearly less important than the one in front.
Wang Fei’s eyes flickered as he vaguely formed a judgment in his mind.
“The man’s dead; we’ll pin it on him later. You act tough for me, got it?”
Ma Baozi beside him nodded repeatedly.
Wang Fei wasn’t worried he’d play tricks; he began calculating what to say later.
The train personnel were still four or five meters away when Wang Fei was about to step forward.
Ma Baozi beside him suddenly knelt down with a thud.
Sobbing, he cried, “All the road-blocking and fee-collecting was forced on us by this man. We’re just ordinary people. With the world in chaos, we just wanted to band together to survive. We had no intention of robbery. A couple days ago, he brought people here, and we kindly took them in, but he beat us if anything displeased him. If we didn’t obey, he’d kill us outright!”
As he spoke, he looked up, twisted around, and pointed at the few corpses behind him for Hu Shuo to see.
Wang Fei standing beside him was dumbfounded, his face twitching wildly.
‘When did this idiot get so sly?!’
Not just him—even Ma Baozi’s and his own subordinates were stunned.
Hu Shuo had come down for preliminary negotiations and never expected this scene.
Seeing Ma Baozi kneeling and crying like a little wife, he fell into thought for a moment.
After hesitating, he said, “I’ll consult the Train Conductor first.”
……
On the second floor of the train, Su Huan was currently leaning by the window, watching the kneeling and standing pair with great interest.
He had heard their entire conversation clearly.
He expected a twist, but not this kind of twist.
Still, it was reasonable.
Wang Fei was someone he had met twice in his previous life. He’d previously wondered where the Mojian Mutual Aid Convoy led by this guy had gone, only to find out by a twist of fate that he had dragged down the Steel Council with him to destruction.
If Hu An was a hyena, this guy was a jackal.
Insidious, cunning, black-hearted, and ruthless.
Wang Fei had long harbored intentions to kill that pockmarked leader. The pockmark must have seen it too, hence this move.
But Su Huan couldn’t be bothered. A character like Wang Fei wasn’t worth wasting his time.
When Hu Shuo came to ask, he simply told him to proceed with normal transaction.
In one hour, the train traded about one ton of purified water for a large amount of car disassembly parts and some information about the Shun’an Black Market.
After the transaction, the train, pulled by its two front cars, headed once more into Shun’an interior.
The entire process was handled by the crew; Su Huan and the core members didn’t show up.
At this moment, the Train Conductor was in the carriage conducting a new combat plan.
The control big screen in the dining car had turned into two, hung on a movable bracket. Su Huan pulled it to the dining table side and adjusted the angle. “Can you see clearly?”
“Yes.”
“No problem.”
“…”
Hearing the responses, Su Huan looked up at both sides of the long table: Yu Yue, Xiao Ba, Liang Kuan, Lin Jin, He Jie, Qu Hang, Goat plus Old San and Lu Xiao, Jiang Rong, and the two moles. All combat personnel on the train were in position.
“According to intelligence, Shun’an has four forces, ranging from several hundred to a thousand in scale. Our goal is the Train Manufacturing Base, including the research personnel and manufacturing base workers there.”
Su Huan pulled up the Shun’an map; Xiao Zhao in the backend of Carriage 12 had already marked the location.
He also listed some information beside it.
“Do any of you have questions?”
Su Huan asked.
The dining table habitually fell into silence.
Qu Hang was a sniper; even shooting him might not get a peep.
Seeing the big shots silent, Goat didn’t speak either.
Su Huan’s gaze swept over everyone, his index finger tapping the table lightly. “Before the combat plan is issued, discuss freely.”
Hearing this, Lin Jin spoke first, puzzled. “I get the research personnel, but why the manufacturing base workers too?”
Except for Xiao Ba who was also curious, the others at the table chuckled silently.
Su Huan shook his head inwardly; still too young.
But this wasn’t Lin Jin’s fault.
Pre-apocalypse social division of labor was like that. If he hadn’t dropped out, a twenty-something’s role in society would be student, and with highly specialized divisions, it was normal not to know many things.
Yu Yue beside him explained gently.
“Training a professional skilled worker is as difficult as training a university student; both require massive time and effort. The reason train modification is slow is the lack of enough mature workers. Wang He and his group are just from a single manufacturing plant and can’t handle some situations.”
Liang Kuan nodded approvingly for once. “Take me as a train driver for example: it’s not that the train can’t go without me—Xiao Ba can drive now too—but he doesn’t know what speed suits crushing a zombie tide, what force suits shoving vehicles off the railway track. Facing complex situations, he needs more time to judge.”
Lin Jin understood suddenly.
Seeing it was about enough, Su Huan timely cut off the topic.
He continued, “Any other questions?”
“I do have a doubt.” He Jie, who had been brewing for a long time, suddenly spoke. “The High-Speed Rail Manufacturing Base is fine—it’s just bigger—but Shun’an has over a dozen manufacturing plants, and the workers aren’t all gathered together. Do we have enough manpower?”
Su Huan interlaced his ten fingers in front of his face.
He had indeed considered this issue.
He had wanted to form the core members into two alternating small teams before, like the armory mission, so the Train Conductor didn’t have to risk his life personally.
With formed squads, there would be more tactical options too.
But manpower was too tight then; even adding support like Wan Xing and Yu Jing, they couldn’t form a second combat squad.
Now with He Jie and others, the combat power and manpower shortfall was filled.
From the seating, though, the core members were vaguely divided into two factions.
This helped short-term combat power form quickly but wasn’t good for long-term team development.
He Jie and the elite soldiers had higher combat literacy but lower evolution potential. They could outmatch Yu Yue and others short-term, but would lag later.
Lin Jin and others had high potential but, short-term, their mentality and combat power were far inferior to He Jie and his group.
If Su Huan didn’t intervene, with the two sides opposing, he even suspected Yu Yue and hers would be wiped out by He Jie’s group.
How to allocate these core members gave him a headache too.
He Jie, Tier 1 “Firepower Specialist,” his heavy firepower suppression on the battlefield was self-evident; several battles had fully shown his role—one man like a small army. With enough ammunition, metal torrent could fully take over the battlefield.
He Jie also had good military literacy, suitable for commander training.
Shortcomings: hot-tempered, logistics-dependent.
Another with command potential was Little Aunt. Though her personality was soft, her decisive judgments in several battles made Su Huan think she could be cultivated.
The others fell short compared to them.
Qu Hang and Goat had command ability, but their evolution professions were too niche, plus personality factors—they were lopsided talents, unsuitable as commanders.
Qu Hang’s ability was particularly unique.
Tier 1 “Windwalker Shooter,” manipulator domain ability, core skill lv3 “Windstorm Affinity.”
Another good seedling wasted by the Steel Council.
Short-range sound transmission, opening ballistics, or low-altitude gliding with wind were no problem; later, even takeoff from standstill.
But his ability overlapped a bit with Yu Yue’s, and as snipers too, they needed to be split.
Lin Jin and Xiao Ba were two big Cs; lacking rich experience and support means, just pure berserkers.
Definitely one per side.
As for Liang Kuan, he was a tough guy even Su Huan felt reassured by.
The team’s bottom-line assurance.
By this logic, the teams were basically formed.
Su Huan thought for a moment and spoke. “Manpower can be adjusted gradually. Now I’ll assign core combat member groups: He Jie, Qu Hang, Liang Kuan, Xiao Ba one group—He Jie as commander; Yu Yue, Lin Jin, Goat, Old San one group—Yu Yue as commander.”
Hearing this assignment, everyone was suddenly stunned.
They subconsciously looked toward Yu Yue first.
She was the most unexpected in this appointment.
But thinking carefully, everyone tasted some deeper meaning.
Only Yu Yue bit her lip somewhat troubled.
Just recently she’d thought herself too idle; now she had the most side jobs on the entire train.
First storage carriage manager, then front car cook, Train Conductor’s Secretary, and now adding commander.
She didn’t refuse immediately, just because she was caught in hesitation.
