Chapter 195: Murmurs
He put down the test tube and looked up at the mirror hanging in the carriage.
The figure in the mirror had slightly smoother skin, so flawless that even with his eyesight he couldn’t find any blemishes. The slightly messy eyebrows at the corners were now neatly trimmed, there was no dead skin on either side of the nose wings, and even the tip of the nose was clean.
The only issue was that the hair and beard were growing too vigorously. The beard he shaved that morning had already stubble, and the ends of his hair had passed the shoulders, reaching the back.
“Dong dong”
There were two knocks at the doorway.
Yu Yue pushed the door open holding a stack of clothes.
“These are the new clothes prepared for you. Change into them later… Hey, wait until I leave.”
“Is that necessary?”
Su Huan lazily raised his eyebrows, casually taking off his unchanging black shirt and casual pants, and changed into the new clothes.
Yu Yue reached out to straighten his collar, grabbed his long hair, and said warmly, “Your hair has grown again. I’ll trim it for you later.”
“You know how to cut hair?”
“I didn’t before, but after taking care of kids for so long, I know how to do everything.”
The new clothes she prepared for Su Huan weren’t too flashy. The base was still a black shirt, but there was a dark red accent under the armpits.
Like throwing a string of firecrackers into the night.
The dim corner was no longer mysterious, gaining a touch of festivity.
Looking at the tall and handsome man before her, Yu Yue couldn’t help but be dazed, feeling that the strange attraction on him had grown stronger.
Her gaze slid down from her fingertips, and she lightly spat.
“Shameless jerk, hurry up and put on your pants. I’m going to prepare things first.”
Watching the woman leave quickly, Su Huan paused for a moment, then lightly scoffed and slowly put on his pants. He tucked the logbook close to his body, checked the status of each carriage via the system surveillance, and then headed to the rear carriages.
Car 2 was the dining car, and Car 3 was still the water purifier and Wan Xing’s workshop.
But it wasn’t so crowded anymore. Hanging various mutated beast furs gave it a warm forest cabin feel.
The central table had also been redesigned by the experts into an electronic manipulation high platform, with various professional dissection equipment hung on the table and the surrounding carriage walls.
They even designed a glass isolation hood, fully equipped inside, even considering things like blood drainage.
The material cabinet on the carriage had also been upgraded. No need to climb up; just tap twice on the system, and the motor would automatically transport the materials to the second level for sorting and storage.
Yu Yue still lived in Car 4.
Although the carriage was much larger, there were fewer rooms, only five.
They were for Yu Yue and daughter, Wan Xing and Xiao Ba, Liang Kuan, He Jie’s family, Lin Jin siblings, and people like Professor Ma had their own rooms in the laboratory.
The vacated Car 5 became a public carriage, with the two levels connected, housing some training equipment, bookshelves, and a piano.
That guy Old San even set up two game consoles in the corner.
On the wall was a huge white screen, said to be for watching movies later.
The only discordant things were the firearms hanging on the wall and the ammunition depot in the corner.
In the future, these things would become part of people’s lives, like the shoe rack in the wall corner or the toolbox on the balcony.
Before reaching Yu Yue’s doorway, he heard a soft singing voice.
“The flower hairpin grandma sits on a stool basking in the sun, deft hands string together a wisp of white orchid fragrance”
“Place this fragrance on your hair…”
“I sing for you, adorned with flowers this life, beautiful in every lifetime!”
“…”
Su Huan pushed open the half-closed door and saw Lin Xi sitting in the center of the room, her silver long hair cascading down, covering her lower back and the chair beneath her.
Yu Yue softly sang while circling Lin Xi, helping her braid small pigtails.
He Jie’s daughter was also sitting nearby.
Seeing Su Huan enter, she quickly stood up, “Train Conductor.”
Su Huan waved his hand, entered the room, and went straight to the bedside, leaning obliquely on it regardless of whose bed it was.
There were only two beds in the room, no doubt Yu Yue and Yu Jing’s.
Like the fat and lean layers on braised pork, just eat it in one bite; no need to separate.
He Jie’s daughter was sharp too. She looked at the Train Conductor, then at Yu Yue’s calm complexion, and stayed silent.
“Wait a moment, Xiaoxi just needs one more braid. It won’t take much time.”
Yu Yue explained apologetically.
Su Huan watched quietly.
Lin Xi’s face was already petite, and with her hair partially covering it, it looked even more delicate. Her light gray eyes blinked.
But there wasn’t much innocence in them.
Yu Yue braided a small pigtail at her ear, like a flower crown, slightly taming the long hair’s lines. Satisfied, she clapped her hands and was about to call Su Huan.
The train underfoot suddenly vibrated.
The side of the carriage suddenly unfolded like wings, docking with the side of another train to form a middle platform.
Seeing the space that appeared out of nowhere, Su Huan was momentarily stunned.
He casually pressed the button spread throughout the carriage, and soon connected to the other side, transmitting a clear male voice.
“Hello, this is the front of the train command station.”
“What happened outside?”
Su Huan asked.
Hearing Su Huan’s voice, the man on the other end immediately said respectfully, “Report to the Train Conductor, a large section of railway track ahead has been eroded by the iron-eating tree. To ensure train travel safety, Lieutenant Liang preemptively performed train merging.”
Su Huan was about to reply when he suddenly heard a few urgent dialogues in the background on the other end.
“…Detected a large number of abnormal signals, check again!”
“Vibrations are coming!”
His narrow eyes narrowed, and Su Huan looked at Yu Yue beside him.
She frowned slightly, clearly having heard something too.
“The iron-eating tree is rioting again.”
Yu Yue and the man on the other end of the line said simultaneously, though Yu Yue was three points faster.
“Got it.”
Su Huan hung up the communication, walked over to sit on a chair, and said flatly, “Cut my hair.”
Exactly two months had passed since the apocalypse outbreak, but the armored train was no longer the makeshift team it started as.
No longer did even a water leak require the Train Conductor’s personal attention.
After the Shun’an Station overhaul and upgrade, there was no longer a “passenger” class on the entire train.
Everyone had been incorporated into the train system.
These over a thousand people were no longer objects he needed to guard against; they had transformed into extensions of his arms and will.
For something like an iron-eating tree riot, he didn’t even need to give orders.
The combat group and armed corps should already be mobilizing.
……
The logistics group’s living carriages weren’t as spacious as the front ones, but much better than the previous cramped conditions. At least a family of five like Old Guo’s could have normal living space.
The rooms inside had partitions, so a nighttime snore wouldn’t keep the whole family awake.
Bright lights fell from the carriage ceiling, with two dishes and five bowls of white rice on the central table.
The woman checked the time and warmly instructed the two hungry children, “Dad will be back soon. Let’s wait for him.”
The old man sitting nearby knitted a ball of yarn while muttering, “I feel the apocalypse isn’t so bad…”
The woman chided affectionately, “Mom, what nonsense are you saying again?”
The old woman smiled kindly, then calmed down with a faint sigh, “Our family hasn’t eaten together for many years. If not for your dad passing away and you coming back to see this old lady, and then by chance ending up on the train, we might never have seen each other again in this lifetime.”
Hearing this, the woman’s eyes instantly reddened, her throat choking up.
She hugged her mother, tears rolling uncontrollably.
“Why are you crying…”
The old woman hugged her daughter and comforted her softly, “I was just speaking casually. Look how fragile you are. I didn’t cry this much when your dad passed…”
“It’s different.”
The two children became at a loss hearing their mother’s crying.
Suddenly the door opened.
Old Guo, dressed in worker clothes, walked in and was stunned seeing the mother and daughter hugging.
“What’s going on?”
The woman quickly stood up from her mother’s embrace, looked at her just-returned husband and the two children gazing at her eagerly, and suddenly broke into a smile through tears.
She said out of the blue, “This is great.”
Old Guo was about to ask when he was pulled by the woman to sit down for dinner.
“How’s work lately? Any big changes from above?”
Old Guo shook his head, “Too few people affects production progress, too many and not enough machines. The bullet workshop won’t change in the short term. Oh right, did you use the general energy crystals I brought home on them?”
“After using the crystals, Mom’s old leg pain improved a lot. She hasn’t complained of pain recently.” The woman said quickly.
“And the two kids?”
“We used them on them too, but they seem to have gained very little, not like us…”
“Normal.” Old Guo picked up his rice bowl and said, “I asked our purser. He said evolution depends on personal physical fitness. Even if elderly and children evolve, they’re weaker than adults. Once they grow a bit and their bodies develop, they’ll catch up. But use them early, so the attributes grow more.”
The woman nodded, asking with slight worry, “But I heard this thing doesn’t have a 100% success rate…”
The man’s complexion darkened.
General energy crystals were already the safest evolution method, but during the whole train’s evolution process, two elderly still didn’t make it.
Their families were devastated in grief. One family even went to make a scene with the crew, only to be shot dead by the passing combat group.
The news reached the top without even a ripple.
The purser told them to shut their mouths; times had changed, forget the old bad habits.
Old Guo picked up a chopstick of pickled cabbage stewed vermicelli for his daughter and instructed, “There’s a box of canned fruit under the bed. That’s what I low-price exchanged for before departure. Take your brother to deliver it to Sister Miao later. She loves canned food.”
The girl’s face paled instantly.
Old Guo noticed something wrong and pressed, “What’s up?”
Seeing the girl afraid to answer, he set down his bowl and chopsticks, went to check under the bed, and sure enough, one can was missing.
He slammed the table in anger.
“Greedy! Greedy! Greedy!”
“When it’s like this, still greedy! Huh?!”
The two children fell silent in fear.
The woman said nervously, “Can’t we just send a few less?”
The man said furiously, “Have you forgotten how our family survived? If not for Brother Xiao’s connections, would I have this 20-points-a-month job? Could you and Mom have a spot in the logistics group to eat?”
“You think the armored train really needs over 200 logistics personnel?”
The woman was anxious too, tears swirling in her eyes, “Then what do we do?”
Suddenly, the broadcast from the command station announced that activities including exchange were suspended. Except for combat personnel and certain functional personnel, everyone else stay quietly at home.
Old Guo was included.
Looking at his family’s fearful looks, he couldn’t help but sigh, “I’ll ask a colleague to spare one later. You two hurry to Sister Miao before full lockdown.”
“This is a life-saving favor. Keep it in your hearts, don’t forget!”
……
Miao Qi, who had received the notice and was about to head out, was slightly surprised seeing the two children carrying the canned fruits.
With Old Guo’s wage, a box of canned fruit wasn’t cheap. Even in private trades, its value exceeded 10 points.
Time was short, so she let the two children wait inside.
Lu Xiao casually checked his firearm. Seeing the two little ghosts carrying cans inside, he sighed faintly, “This Old Guo may lack combat power, but he’s clear-headed.”
Miao Qi covered her mouth laughing, “Say, should I eat some cheap stuff?”
Lu Xiao glanced at her, “No one’s currying favor with me now. Even if you want, there’s none.”
Since joining the armed corps, some captain perks were canceled.
Like independent carriages.
Xiao Ma and others shared dormitories with other armed corps members, not next to them.
They only gathered for special tasks.
In return, their treatment matched officers like He Jie, no more scraping by on a couple bullets.
The two dressed fully and quickly ran to the armory hall linking the two trains. It was a full six meters wide, so no worry of bumping things even while running.
In wartime, it was specially used for soldier mobilization.
As for the carriage command platform they needed to guard, the broadcast said Car 7, the carriage farm.
When they arrived at the armory hall, soldiers were already waiting for them.
After so many days of training, they were much more familiar.
Lu Xiao quickly directed everyone to check equipment.
Mainly the fuel tanks mounted in the carriage.
Extremely effective against iron-eating trees, with high-explosive combustibles added to the gasoline.
“Report Second Lieutenant, oil guns are ready.”
Lu Xiao said coldly, “To your positions, prepare for combat.”
The soldiers moved quickly to their combat positions per prior training.
Lu Xiao sat by the car window, manually lifting the windowsill, revealing something like a game console joystick inside.
This was the oil gun launcher, switchable to water cannon.
The sprinkler head was mounted on the carriage’s mechanical arm. They’d trained on it before the arm installation.
Initially awkward, but the familiar feel returned with use.
Watching the black shadows charging outside the window, Lu Xiao excitedly operated the joystick.
The polygonal mechanical arms on the carriage extended with manipulation. The electric drill tip at the end opened a mouth, splashing oil splatter ignited by electric sparks.
Instantly, a flame over ten meters long shot out.
