Chapter 175: Outpost Station
The sunset was like a rotting orange, squeezed and driven into the corner by dark clouds.
Viscous light and acid rain smeared onto the platform’s canopy almost simultaneously.
Light and fine rain fell through the holes, with light and shadow cutting the platform ground into a mottled pattern.
In the distance, the last personnel carrier had entered the platform.
As He Jie just jumped down from the car door, he saw a pretty young girl wearing loose jeans and a gray shirt standing at the edge of the station. Her originally tense face involuntarily broke into a smile, and she opened her arms.
The girl threw herself into his embrace like a swallow returning to its nest.
He Jie couldn’t help but frown. “It’s so chaotic outside. Why did you come out instead of staying properly in the carriage?”
Shadows of people moved around. Besides the more than two thousand people he brought back from the automobile manufacturing plant, there were also more than five hundred people Yu Yue brought back from the school, plus the passengers who got off to stretch their legs. There were more than three thousand people just at the station.
This was no longer the pre-apocalypse station, and the relationship between the train and the passengers wasn’t that harmonious either. People’s hearts were unpredictable; who knew what might happen.
“We were very worried about you…”
His daughter’s soft voice instantly extinguished He Jie’s anger.
“Besides, I came out only after seeing Hang Ge return.”
He Jie quickly scanned the crowd and soon saw a figure carrying a sniper rifle flash into the crowd. He cursed under his breath, “Little… bastard.”
Mindful of his daughter beside him, he changed it to something not quite so vulgar.
“Dad, what did you say?”
“I said my daughter is such a good girl.”
The girl lifted her head from her father’s embrace. “Come home for dinner. Mom temporarily borrowed the kitchen and made a lot of delicious food, just waiting for you to come back and eat.”
He Jie turned his head and saw Wan Hao and Old Yuan both waiting nearby. He instructed in a low voice, “You go back first. Dad still has some things to do; I’ll be back in about twenty minutes.”
The girl glanced at the soldiers around with smiling faces and nodded shyly.
He Jie first sent his daughter back, then took the two men to hand over the task.
After searching around, in Carriage 10 he found Su Huan, who was discussing with Yu Jing and others how to upgrade the train. Hu Shuo was also by his side at that moment.
Seeing Su Huan with long hair over his shoulders, incredibly young, Wan Hao and the others were truly shocked.
When they came, they had thought that the train conductor might not be a powerfully built man, but he would definitely be a calculating, sharp, and decisive figure.
But they hadn’t expected such a young man who smiled somewhat lazily.
After Su Huan finished speaking, He Jie reported the process and results, then turned to introduce the two men.
“This is the big boss who does ocean shipping?”
Seeing the habitual fake smile on Su Huan’s face, Wan Hao couldn’t help but feel a chill in his heart.
He prided himself on having met quite a few people, but this kind of demeanor he had only seen on those murderous armed leaders in South Asia.
Just two words: eerie.
He had seen plenty of fake smiles in the business world.
But for someone like Su Huan, the fake smile was just a habit, whether angry or sad, they were accustomed to wearing this inscrutable smile.
Even while smiling, those calm eyes were sizing you up.
Without hiding the coldness in them at all.
Wan Hao immediately stepped forward half a pace, slightly bowed, and showed a respectful yet elegant smile. “You’re too kind. Only after meeting the train conductor did I know what a hero is. The tactical literacy of the soldiers under you is ten times stronger than the special forces I saw in South Asia back then, especially Captain He’s double guns holding the line—that momentum really opened my eyes!”
A thousand arrows pierce armor, but flattery never fails, though the feeling is completely different depending on who’s saying it.
Hu Shuo beside him was the most moved.
A big merchant in his forties, nearly fifty, bowing and scraping to a twenty-something, using honorifics.
To be honest, if it were him in that position, he couldn’t say such words himself.
Su Huan was stunned for a moment, then hooked the corner of his mouth.
Though a bit cheesy, the feeling was pretty good.
‘Perhaps I should cultivate a couple of sycophant-type talents by my side.’
There were so many people on the train now, but not one had ever flattered him as train conductor.
Yu Jing and her daughter couldn’t do such a thing.
Little Lin Xi wouldn’t work either; that girl could only pretend for a while.
As for rough men like He Jie and Old San, forget it. When their damn tempers flared, they’d dare yell at him; they were only fit as fighters.
He Jie standing to the side somehow felt that Su Huan had just given him a disdainful look.
Seeing there was nothing for him, he hurriedly went back to accompany his daughter.
He didn’t know what that little bastard Qu Hang was busy with; he couldn’t be away from home too long.
Seeing Su Huan not speaking, Wan Hao knew it was time to show his value. He quickly pulled a leather notebook from his suit’s inner pocket and offered it with both hands.
“Over these years, I’ve built twelve large warehouses around the world, storing massive supplies, plus various ocean shipping routes. I also have some heavy machine gun production lines and even finished cannonballs, all stockpiled in overseas warehouses.”
Seeing Su Huan’s gaze sweep over the notebook, he lowered his voice and added, “Additionally, I have a large batch of building materials stored in Shun’an, which might provide a little help to the train conductor.”
Professor Ma, Director Xu, and the others around were used to such scenes and silently waited.
“Boss Wan’s business is quite large?”
Not understanding why Su Huan suddenly asked this, Wan Hao still nodded. “I have some reputation, but there are too many big players in ocean shipping; I’m just a small fry.”
What Su Huan was thinking about was something else.
Wan Hao’s scale might not be as big as the Steel Council, but it was comparable. Why hadn’t he gotten any apocalypse intel?
What conditions exactly did that mysterious black hand use to select these apocalypse “early runners”?
This standard might relate to the most fundamental secret of the apocalypse.
But there was no need to rush. As long as he kept heading north, these things couldn’t stay hidden forever.
The most important thing now was to modify and upgrade the train, preparing for the upcoming flood zone.
Su Huan said with some seriousness, “Tomorrow I need to borrow the train manufacturing base up front, then stay in Shun’an for a while to upgrade my train. If you can get the more than two thousand workers outside to cooperate, I can open the train’s exchange permissions to you all at the passenger standard.”
Wan Hao was slightly pleased in his heart. Though he didn’t know what the train exchange permissions included, his intuition told him that this bet was the right one.
He gently tugged at his old brother beside him.
Old Yuan repeatedly guaranteed.
Watching the two leave, Su Huan looked at Hu Shuo beside him. “Later, have He Jie run one more trip after eating, see if there are any building materials we can use, and bring them all back.”
“Understood.” Hu Shuo noted it down, then asked, “How to handle the workers outside? The train can’t fit them now.”
Su Huan walked to the car window, and someone immediately pulled open the metal blinds, giving the train conductor a good line of sight for observation.
The station with three thousand people was very quiet.
The grimy survivors gathered in groups of three or five, exchanging information with the passengers on the train.
Occasionally letting out cries of surprise.
Some huddled together, pulling out two decks of poker and playing enthusiastically, but the stakes were no longer ink-scented paper bills, but a candy, a biscuit.
Those with families looked a bit more decent, either holding their loved ones or leading their children in whispers.
As if they wanted to say all the words for a lifetime.
Those without families curled up alone by the cement pillars, silently staring at the crowd in a daze.
Su Huan was silent for a long time, then said faintly.
“Have Old Er lead the combat group to clean the station thoroughly, leaving no hidden dangers in any corner. Build dormitories for the workers. This platform will be our outpost station in Shun’an from now on.”
……
With Su Huan’s order issued, the entire armored train crew, including the passengers in the rear carriages, all sprang into action.
The combat group had already done an initial sweep of the station interior, shooting dead all threatening zombies and mutated beasts.
This time the sweep was even more thorough, including bathrooms in corners, abandoned train carriages…
Ensuring the entire platform was safe.
