Chapter 215: If You Can’t Run, Just Lie Flat
The drone operator next to him, who was also assigned to the research group, looked at his screen and immediately sneered.
The scouting soldier said unhappily, “What’s so funny about it? If it happened to you, you’d lose the drone too.”
“Anyway, I don’t have to write the drone loss report.”
“Damn it, tonight on the deck, just you and me, one-on-one!”
“Stupid dog, the deck is already flooded.”
“Then the armory hall!”
……
Although there was no direct footage from the detectors, through the train’s composite scouting methods, it was still possible to see that the train was steadily descending.
Because the output voltage was too high, currents occasionally flashed through the air around Su Huan.
His clothes fluttered, and his long hair hung upside down.
His sharp brows furrowed; with the intensity of the current he was outputting, even a Tier 2 Butcher would be roasted by him.
Why was there no movement outside at all?
“Still descending?”
“Still accelerating the descent. The outer tube of the deep sea worm is made of chitin, with resistivity close to plastic insulators, so current doesn’t do much damage to them.”
Shu Wei reminded in a low voice. Looking at the currents around Su Huan, there was a trace of obsession in her eyes that even she herself could hardly detect.
“Oh, I see.”
Su Huan stopped his hand in realization.
This was the disadvantage of not having enough knowledge.
“High electrical resistance, then high temperature… Why are you standing so far away?”
Su Huan turned his head left and right, finally spotting his secretary behind the crowd.
Shu Wei stepped forward nonchalantly. “If I remember correctly, the chitin tube wall of the deep sea worm softens and collapses at 75~85℃, and the hydrogen sulfide gas inside expands and bursts, but mutants might be different; perhaps their high-temperature resistance has reached a terrifying level.”
Su Huan gave her a sidelong glance and looked at Xiao Zhao.
Xiao Zhao scratched her head and said, “I’m not in this field. After university, I basically didn’t study biology-related knowledge. I’d have to ask other experts, but after all, this is underwater; general heating methods might not work…”
“Lin Jin, you give it a try.”
Su Huan directly called him out.
He wasn’t sure about other fires, but in his previous life, what made Lin Jin feared was his unextinguishable fire. Whether it drilled into water or was buried in soil, Lin Jin’s flames would burn like a lingering maggot.
He just didn’t know if it had that property now.
Hearing Su Huan call his name, Lin Jin stood up somewhat nervously.
To be honest, he still hadn’t found his place in the team. His ability’s practicality was not as good as Xiao Ba’s, and his firearm shooting talent was even inferior to that of the mongoose from the armed corps.
His combat proficiency was also far behind elite soldiers like He Jie and Qu Hang.
But the train conductor seemed to value him highly, which put a lot of pressure on him.
Su Huan patted his shoulder. “Just do your best.”
Seeing this scene, everyone had mixed feelings. Su Huan’s speech was either sarcastic or coldly mocking; except for Xiao Ba, only Lin Jin got this kind of calm treatment from him.
Even Yu Yue felt a bit sour in her heart.
“Check which external cameras are still working?”
Xiao Zhao said to the staff nearby.
The staff immediately checked and soon pulled up footage from the mechanical arm on Carriage 1. Although the mechanical arm’s range of motion was limited, the end joint could barely see the situation.
Dense vines had completely wrapped the carriage and were wriggling, trying to tighten further.
“Stop the power input to avoid damaging the power system.”
Su Huan said upon seeing the situation.
“Before submerging, all activities were stopped. The reason it hasn’t sunk to the bottom immediately is because there’s ample air inside the carriage, providing great buoyancy. The deep sea worm can’t drag us down for a while.”
Su Huan nodded in satisfaction. This was the benefit of having many talents.
As long as the system was right, they could move on their own and solve problems Su Huan hadn’t even considered.
“It’s up to you now, Lin Jin.”
The latter opened a car window, looking at the blue vines wriggling against the car window outside. A touch of orange flame gradually rose in his eyes.
Illuminating the deep sea worm in the water outside through the car window.
After several breaths, the chitin outer tube gradually turned orange-red, and fine bubbles began rising around it. The deep sea worm seemed to notice something and quickly jerked that vine.
As a result, the outer tube at the red node actually collapsed and broke.
“It’s working!”
He Jie said excitedly.
Before he finished speaking, another vine squeezed over and took the previous position.
The flames in Lin Jin’s eyes burned even hotter. The vines in the entire car window area began to turn red, and visible flames directly appeared underwater!
Su Huan watched Lin Jin thoughtfully; the energy in the other’s body fluctuated briefly.
It seemed like he had awakened a new skill.
What an admirable talent.
“All burned off!”
“Flames that can burn underwater—is this the three flavors true fire?”
“Don’t say it, human evolution really could recreate myths.”
Su Huan came back to his senses. The worm’s outer tubes in front of him were all carbonized and decomposed in the high temperature. The remaining sulfur crystals and metal sulfides were washed away by the water flow.
But before much light could be seen, a zombie was directly lifted by a vine and pressed against the car window, rubbing back and forth like holding a sponge.
The flames were completely wiped out.
Everyone fell silent instantly.
Shu Wei calmly calculated nearby, “It took forty seconds to burn off six vines ten centimeters thick. At this efficiency, full-power burning for about twenty hours could clear tens of thousands of vines. If lucky, we could get out in about 24 hours.”
Lin Jin opened his mouth, somewhat awkwardly saying, “Underwater environments consume more energy. This full release, I probably can’t sustain for an hour…”
Su Huan frowned. How long would this have to burn?
He had enough energy, but he couldn’t release it remotely.
So he looked at Xiao Ba again.
The latter shook its head. “I already tried earlier. This creature has very low metal content inside, but the outer tube is very strong. Relying on metal slashing, it’s hard to cut through.”
Su Huan didn’t waste words and had all the manipulators on the train try one by one.
One who could manipulate low temperatures was decent, but the freezing time was still too long. After trying all options, Lin Jin was still the most effective.
The armed corps also had quite a few good abilities, but without professions, they naturally couldn’t compare to Lin Jin, the Tier 1 Flame Wielder.
Looking at the zombie rubbing against the car window, the atmosphere in the carriage became heavy for a moment.
Su Huan asked in a deep voice, “How’s the situation with each part of the carriage? Any damage to the car body?”
Xiao Zhao flipped through the relevant reports and quickly answered, “No damage to the exterior of the car body. The deep sea worms are just numerous, but their squeezing force isn’t great—at least not for the specially reinforced carriage.”
In the crowd, Deputy General Manager Deng’s face immediately showed some pride.
This framework was designed by him personally.
Not to mention a mere twenty meters of water depth—even hundred meters could be withstood!
“What about food reserves?”
Xiao Zhao shook her head. “I don’t know about that.”
Shu Wei, holding documents nearby, calmly took over.
“Pure grain rice and flour exceed five hundred tons, enough for everyone on the train to eat for three years. With supplementary food, eating freely should last five to six years.”
“What about oxygen and water?”
“For oxygen, we use molecular sieve pressure swing adsorption (PSA) oxygen generators, mainly consuming energy to produce oxygen.”
“If we include you, Train Conductor, our energy is almost infinite, so oxygen is theoretically infinite too. The only limit is the molecular sieve lifespan, saturating in 3~5 years from adsorbing nitrogen, but we have spare parts—enough to exceed twenty years theoretically. We might starve to death, but we won’t die from lack of oxygen. The water purifier can even purify acid rain, so the flood outside is no problem.”
Everyone, including Su Huan, looked surprised.
Because among those present, Shu Wei had been here the shortest time; many hadn’t even memorized her name.
Knowing food reserve data was normal.
But knowing such obscure equipment data so well—whether she knew it before or memorized it after boarding…
It was somewhat terrifying.
Feeling the admiration in everyone’s gazes, Shu Wei’s lips curved into a faint arc. This time, she hadn’t just been pulling all-nighters.
Using her position as train conductor’s secretary, she could access all purser and precise train data.
Even with her experience, she had to say the armored train was an ideal shelter for a minor faction.
Except for being unable to develop too much heavy industry and cutting-edge laboratories, the train was nearly perfect.
Most crucially, it was mobile. As long as they found a relatively safe place later, the train could settle in place using its onboard equipment.
Even if a disaster like the Steel Council’s downfall occurred, it could maximally protect the faction’s core forces.
Combined with Su Huan’s background of escaping from the high-temperature zone, his various choices and decisions couldn’t be described simply as perfect—they were divinely assisted!
Shu Wei considered herself an elite, but even she couldn’t have done better than Su Huan.
She might not even pass the Steel Council hurdle.
As for Black Kite and the deep blue data’s stubborn old guard in power, they weren’t even fit to carry Su Huan’s shoes!
Shu Wei had a premonition: as long as she clung tightly to Su Huan’s tail and followed behind without falling behind, she could definitely surpass Mister Shu, even Black Kite, in the future!
So during this time, she memorized all the data.
All train-related data!
“What’s an official’s lifeline? Data! All the data accessible in your position!”
This was what her father’s friend, a high-level organization member, had told her.
Shu Wei deeply agreed.
Normally, even if you did nothing, when the leader asks, one who stumbles and one who knows every detail in the jurisdiction down to specifics—who do you think the leader would prefer?
Su Huan didn’t know what the leader would think, but he was a bit surprised.
He might not know detailed data like food, but he had a general idea.
But he didn’t expect Shu Wei to match it all.
This secretary was indeed well chosen.
Su Huan pondered and said thoughtfully, “So, the deep sea worm is just trapping us but has no means to breach the carriage, and it doesn’t affect our normal life?”
Shu Wei’s eyelids flickered slightly. “Theoretically yes. Just pay attention to supplementing some vitamin D3 and increase activities to relieve everyone’s psychological pressure.”
Everyone was stunned upon hearing this, but thinking carefully, it seemed true.
If it were an ordinary ship dragged into the water, panic would be warranted.
But besides the plan being delayed, they were used to living in the carriage. Plus, with the new spacious car body, the excitement hadn’t worn off, so it didn’t feel oppressive.
Calculating this way, they didn’t seem to have any urgent reason to escape…
He Jie touched his buzz cut. “So we’re not running?”
Su Huan looked around: lights bright, air conditioner working steadily, oxygen generator kicking in, continuously pumping oxygen into the carriage.
The onboard system electronically detecting all equipment, rows of green lights steadily on…
The original tension of the train being dragged underwater strangely dissipated.
Su Huan suddenly found the scene a bit funny.
His lips unconsciously curved up, then turned into a few inexplicable chuckles.
Waving his hand while heading to the rear carriage, “Forget it, forget it. Since we can’t run, let’s just play underwater for a couple days. Meeting adjourned!”
Leaving the bewildered crowd staring at each other.
Shu Wei glanced at everyone and silently followed.
White Deer and Giraffe followed like two door gods.
……
Su Huan, about to return to his room, slapped his forehead. “Right, how’s the Crown Pear Tree?”
Shu Wei immediately answered, “The planting issue has been resolved. All branches with pears have been cut for planting, only the trunk is bound on the deck. Experts have applied protective measures to the trunk; it should be fine short-term.”
Su Huan asked curiously, “How much has been planted in the carriage farm?”
“26 plant species, 13 usable; 4 animal species: chicken, duck, one bird species, one fish species.”
“Old Huang is raising birds now?”
“The first batch of edible plants has matured in bulk. If nothing unexpected, today should be the first day of trial operation for the train vegetable market.”
Su Huan grinned, a glint of interest in his eyes. “Have them lift the alert quickly. I want to see what our vegetable market looks like.”
“Yes.”
……
In the armory hall, five hundred soldiers stood fully armed in place.
The atmosphere was tense to the point of near solidification.
Only after hearing the news from Qu Hang and others and the broadcast did they suddenly breathe a sigh of relief.
Although it was their job, no one liked war.
Those who rejoiced at battle were either crazy or ambitious.
But not everyone thought that way. Mongoose, standing at the front, showed visible disappointment on her face upon hearing the dismissal.
“What, you still want to go big against those monsters underwater?”
A clear female voice came from ahead.
Mongoose looked at the slim and fiery figure in front, quickly catching up. She glanced around, confirming He Jie wasn’t coming, then sighed, “Ever since I became official, there hasn’t been a single operation. Who knows how long until my military rank surpasses that old bastard!”
Miao Qi gave her a white-eyed look. “Don’t get me killed too. If He Jie hears, I won’t escape either.”
Mongoose unwillingly drew her handgun from her waist, proficiently self-checked it, then put it back.
“Sister Qi, let’s train later.”
“No.”
“Why?”
Mongoose’s slender pupils dilated slightly, like a cat’s—round and a bit cute.
Miao Qi glanced at Lu Xiao walking ahead talking to Xiao Ma, and said flatly, “I heard the first batch of food came out from the carriage farm. Not sure if it’ll open today; I want to buy some vegetables.”
“Buy vegetables? Can’t we just eat at the cafeteria?”
“Change up the taste for the man.”
Mongoose frowned tightly. “Serving a man is more important than your own evolution?”
Miao Qi shrugged helplessly with a shallow smile. “No choice; who let me not live without a man.”
“Sister Qi, I think…”
