Chapter 221: Train Rules: The Instructor Doesn’t Count To Two
Chen Lei looked at the handsome and calm young man in front of him, a trace of confusion flashing in his eyes.
He hadn’t even shouted “begin” yet, and… he was defeated?
He hadn’t even seen how many enemies there were before he was knocked out by a flying shield. When he woke up, he was already kneeling on the deck, half his body faintly aching as if it had been trampled by an elephant.
The young man in front of him was opening and closing his lips, seemingly speaking, but why couldn’t he hear any sound?
His ears were buzzing nonstop?
He Jie pointed at Chen Lei kneeling in the middle, “It should be him. He has a Level 3 ‘Earth Affinity’ skill that can manipulate sand, soil, dust and such things, but he didn’t get to use it. Old Liang took him down directly, and it seems like he was beaten deaf.”
“Deaf?” Su Huan frowned. No wonder no one was answering him. “Then give him a proper apology and drag him down to be executed.”
He Jie scratched his head. “So particular about it…”
He tossed the heavy machine gun in his hand to the soldier beside him, stepped forward to grab Chen Lei by the neck, jumped onto the adjacent train, muttered a couple of sentences softly in his ear, pulled the pin from the grenade in his mouth, and kicked him down.
The water surface was smashed open by the heavy object, making a plop, followed by a muffled bang.
Everyone on the deck watched this ferocious scene, instantly filled with despair, especially the thin man and others kneeling in front, who had already begun to tremble.
Chen Lei’s evolutionary ability was the strongest among them.
Although the flood zone was mostly flooded, they survivors still lived in buildings on the water surface.
In this situation, Chen Lei’s ability was ridiculously strong.
With just a thought, he could make the entire building under your feet collapse.
Nowhere to run.
But who knew the armored train would be so ferocious? They felt a suffocating sensation before they could even make a move.
Then they were crushed and captured.
Su Huan clapped his hands, startling everyone.
“Alright, tell me who the next person in charge is?”
Before He Jie could point him out, everyone around turned their gazes to the thin man at the edge.
Even with the cool breeze on the deck, cold sweat instantly dripped from the latter’s forehead.
“Pa!”
A hand landed on his shoulder. Su Huan crouched in front of him with a smiling face. “So it’s you. After contacting them, what do you think of my subordinates? Any chance of taking them over?”
The thin man immediately choked, his pupils slightly dilating.
They all knew!
How did they know?
Su Huan was slightly dissatisfied with his reaction. “Why aren’t you speaking? Forgot I helped you take it out.”
Before the thin man could react, Su Huan had already pulled out the grenade pin from his mouth.
Looking at the metal ring spinning in his hand, the thin man was utterly terrified.
Ignoring the muzzles around him, he frantically dug the grenade out of his mouth with hands and feet, tearing his mouth open and bleeding, but before he could throw the grenade in his hand, he heard a muffled “bang.”
A bright flash of firelight flickered before his eyes and vanished.
The thin man felt the world slow down.
‘Is this the memory playback before death?’
After a moment of daze, he realized something was off.
The exploding firelight didn’t expand further; instead, it slowly contracted in front of this handsome young man, finally collapsing into an imperceptible tiny point.
And disappeared.
The thin man collapsed onto the deck, tears streaming down his face, not knowing if from fear or pain.
The surrounding time flowed normally; only he had slowed down in that moment.
“Right, what was I going to ask?”
Su Huan awkwardly scratched his head. He always dropped the ball on things requiring improvisation.
Hearing the gentle voice by his ear, the thin man felt as if he heard a devil’s whisper, his pupils uncontrollably filled with fear.
“A while ago the winds and waves were strong; we were blown here. Our boat was dragged underwater by a sea monster, so we could only stay here, hoping to hitch a ride on a passing ship…”
Watching him spill everything like beans from a bamboo tube, no one looked down on him.
Tong Zizhan, now promoted to captain, even gave Gao Yuan a thumbs up.
Approving of the train conductor’s interrogation methods.
He hadn’t even figured out what to ask, yet he broke the guy’s defenses.
The rest didn’t need Su Huan’s supervision; he could leave it to He Jie and the others.
Interrogation was meticulous work. Even if the psychological defenses were broken, it required extensive questioning for verification to avoid errors from slips of the tongue.
The train was quite thorough in this regard. He Jie’s elite soldiers went without saying, and among the Black Kite defectors, there was an interrogation expert and a profiling expert, both masters at it.
And finally, Lin Xi as insurance.
Her mind reading ability was practically a bug.
But unless absolutely necessary, he generally wouldn’t use her. On the train, besides him, perhaps only Director Xu knew Lin Xi could read minds.
The latter was, after all, the Steel Council’s chief research expert. After researching for so long, it was normal to have some guesses about Lin Xi’s ability.
Su Huan went to the dining car to wait.
In the carriage, besides him, only Yu Yue was there, silently grinding some beans behind the cabinet.
In about the time to drink a cup of coffee, Shu Wei walked in with a stack of data.
“We’ve got the information. These survivors are in two groups. The six leaders are newcomers from recently. Their settlement is in a county town outside Guan Chong City. They got scattered by the storm while gathering supplies. As for the ‘New Eden’ they mentioned, it’s a religious force not on the leader forces list.”
“It should be a small new force born after the apocalypse, with their settlement on a small island in the middle of Jingchao Lake.”
Hearing “religious force,” Su Huan’s eyes flickered as he interrupted, “Heard of a force called the Mechanical God Cult?”
Shu Wei thought for a moment and said decisively, “No. All pre-apocalypse leader forces are transformed companies or special institutions—none with religious elements, including our long-inherited Dong Huang ones. None of them.”
The Mechanical God Cult was a major force in his previous life. He originally thought it was a frontrunner like Deep Blue Data or Black Kite.
Unexpectedly, it was newly born after the apocalypse.
That made it interesting.
To catch up to these big companies in just a few short years after the apocalypse, a “religious force” itself was abnormal.
Another important clue.
Su Huan smiled happily.
He wanted to see how long these demons and ghosts could hide.
Seeing the sinister smile on Su Huan’s face, Shu Wei suppressed her urge to ask and continued reporting.
“There are 216 surviving local residents from Nanshan Highlands, four evolvers, two special talents. Upstairs there are some food and living supplies. How to handle them?”
Su Huan raised an eyebrow. “So few evolvers?”
“Most were killed by Chen Lei and his group.”
“Oh, the tough ones were killed, leaving a bunch of softies…”
He’d seen this many times. To survive in this hellish world, you had to give up something.
Before, he would have taken them on the train, but now the train’s population was saturated and could self-sustain well. Su Huan naturally wouldn’t take these burdens.
Just as he was about to say send them back where they came from, Shu Wei suggested.
“Perhaps we can establish a flood zone station like Shun’an Station.”
“I go to great pains to build a station, and a big flood comes and washes it away. Better to make a couple small boats for them to follow beside the train. Let them scout sea vortices, sea monsters…”
As he spoke, Su Huan thought his idea was pretty good.
He’d fallen into a thinking trap before—tasks were only for passengers, but there was no need to put them on the train.
As long as the train provided what they wanted, they could be driven via tasks to do underwater digging or scouting—labor-intensive and life-risking work.
Good method: no need to feed them, no waste of train space.
Like the rhino and oxpecker bird relationship—the latter pecks parasites off the rhino, the former provides them stable food.
“Have the manufacturing group and research group make some small boats or whatever that can float. No need for propellers. Give them a rope to tie to the train. Then find some small tasks to get them moving. After all, they’ve lain around for days—warm up first so they can eat later.”
Su Huan pinched his chin and said clearly.
Shu Wei’s eyelids twitched wildly at his words.
Float?
Tie them with a rope?
It sounded just like chumming before fishing…
With the things in the water, could these 200 survive till tomorrow morning?
She thought driving everyone to dig pits that night made him a tyrant, but now he seemed mild to his own people…
Even Shu Wei, who considered herself cold-hearted, felt guilty for those 200 survivors.
If she hadn’t mentioned it, they’d have been thrown back upstairs by now.
Though they might not survive anyway.
But not die so straightforwardly.
As she was noting it down, a message came on the tablet.
“Director Xu hopes you come over soon. The crown pear tree’s vitality is gradually weakening.”
……
Li Han lay numbly on the floor, arms spread at his sides, face plastered ungracefully to the ground. Even faintly smelling the damp, fishy ironwood scent, he had no intention of getting up.
He’d never thought lying down was so comfortable. As for dirt, elegance, dignity—he didn’t care about any of it.
“Get up!”
Li Han felt someone calling him.
But his sluggish nerves had no urge to move.
Anyway, survival wasn’t guaranteed. In his final moments, whatever was comfortable.
No movement after a while.
Perhaps the person lost patience. What awaited him?
A soldier’s muzzle?
Li Han barely rolled over, facing up to check his guess.
Unexpectedly, he saw two tall figures and a face with a hint of seriousness.
Before he could react, a hard object was stuffed into his mouth.
His dry throat rolled for a moment, and a long-missed sweet taste filled his mouth.
“I can give you some water. Blink if you need it. If possible, stand up before the senior colonel arrives to prove you’re healthy…”
The mongoose reminded him in a low voice.
While Li Han was dazed, He Jie strode over and stood behind her.
“What are you doing?”
The mongoose calmly said, “He seems to have low blood sugar.”
He Jie didn’t care about that. He wouldn’t miss any chance to mock the mongoose. “I thought you were sweet-talking him. And you, pretty boy playing dead—the train won’t waste a pill on you, but I don’t mind giving you a bullet. If you’re not up in three counts, I’ll blast you!”
Then he shouted to everyone on the deck, “Same for you all. If you’re not up after three counts, executed and fed to the fish!”
“Three!”
He Jie bit half a cigar, growling low from his throat.
He drew the handgun from his holster and racked it with one hand in a swift flick.
Li Han’s sluggish brain hadn’t figured it out when a huge force hit his shoulder. When he came to, he was already standing.
“One!”
“Bang!”
Li Han jumped in fright and looked down.
A 9mm bullet was embedded in the ironwood deck.
Right where his head had been; the water stain from his head was still there.
If he hadn’t been pulled up, he’d be dead now.
Thinking this, cold sweat seeped from Li Han’s back.
He Jie sneered, tapping Li Han’s forehead with the muzzle. “Kid, you got lucky.”
Then he walked toward the crowd behind.
Passing a fat man still sprawled on the ground, he aimed at his forehead and fired.
This made the slowly hesitating survivors scramble up.
Li Han gratefully looked at the mongoose beside him. “…Thanks. I’m Li Han.”
The mongoose shook her head and walked forward. “He never counts to two. Remember the train’s rules. Their killing intent won’t go soft no matter what. Hide any thoughts—survival is everything. I’m called the mongoose now.”
‘Mongoose.’
Li Han silently repeated it twice in his mind, remembering the name.
The soldiers didn’t torment them further.
They even had some water sent—very little, about a disposable paper cup per person, barely quenching thirst.
Li Han held it in his mouth half a day before slowly swallowing.
The cool purified water slid into his stomach, immediately rumbling loudly.
Every cell in his body activated, massive hunger surging. He felt he could eat a cow now.
But the train didn’t issue food; instead, two candies per person.
Being near the front, he got two small pieces of chocolate. Behind, there were soft and hard candies, even popping candy.
Besides that, a fingernail-sized transparent crystal.
No explanation of what it was for.
After drinking the water and eating the chocolate, Li Han felt his energy much restored. Still starving, but not on the verge of death like before.
Seeing everyone more or less ready, He Jie gave the licking rabbit beside him a look.
She held up a Tier 1 General Energy Crystal and said to everyone, “What you hold now is the key item to become evolvers!”
“Next, I’ll teach you how to use it. I’ll say it once—listen well!”
Li Han, who had doubts, focused intently, gripping the General Energy Crystal tightly.
This was the way to become an evolver!
The neighborhood committee folks and Chen Lei’s group lorded over them because they were evolvers!
He’d always thought becoming an evolver was random awakening. Didn’t expect it relied on an item.
Even more unbelievable—the train gave such precious items to them!
Over 200 people!
(Sorry, neck not feeling great today, update late. Extra 2k tomorrow to compensate.)
