Chapter 245: Vortex
Although the wind and rain were fierce, and that person looked very disheveled, the mongoose could still recognize that it was Li Han.
The mongoose was slightly puzzled, its round beast pupils following his position as it moved.
All the way to the deck under its own feet.
“What are you going to do?”
The mongoose asked.
Li Han tilted his head back, the heavy rain preventing him from opening his eyes, and without a raincoat, in just this short time, not a single piece of clothing on him was dry.
“Pull me up first.”
Li Han shouted loudly.
“The wind up there is strong, you won’t be able to stand.”
The mongoose’s voice was clear, but when it reached Li Han’s ears, it carried a vibration that rumbled deep in his chest.
“It’s fine, I have this!”
Li Han raised his hand, revealing a tender green vine from his sleeve.
Only then did the mongoose remember that the other was a plant-type manipulator. Although the vine was thin, its toughness was comparable to iron wire. After thinking for a moment, the mongoose leaned over the edge of the train and extended one paw.
Seeing the other pause for a moment, it then remembered to retract its nails.
Because it had used them too much, now she couldn’t even tell if this was a hand or a paw.
It grabbed the vine and yanked Li Han up in one go.
The two stood on the roof of the train, holding the vine.
The mongoose asked again, “What are you here for?”
Li Han scratched his head, “Oh, I’m here to find you.”
The mongoose’s expression turned serious, “Is there a task?”
After saying that, it prepared to jump down.
Li Han quickly tugged at the vine in his hand, “No, I want to share some good news with you…”
He told the mongoose completely about the news of him being in charge of the cultivation pod.
Listening to Li Han speak, envy flashed in the mongoose’s eyes, “That’s great.”
She was currently just a reserve in the armed corps. The temporary task from Major Yu Yue last time had allowed her to accumulate some task points.
But she was still a bit short of private.
The armored train had no concept of accumulating seniority by time. Currently, to promote military rank, aside from being spotted and promoted by the train conductor, one could only accumulate task points.
Task points had the same effect as normal points, but their cumulative amount could be used for military rank promotion.
After so long, her military rank hadn’t budged at all.
Meanwhile, Li Han, whom she had just rescued not long ago, was about to become a Level 5 Crew Member under the purser.
“What did you say?”
Li Han saw the mongoose’s lips move, but the rain was too heavy and the wind too loud; he couldn’t hear clearly.
The mongoose said solemnly, “Then do a good job. The train conductor has always been generous to capable people.”
Li Han wanted to say something more, but suddenly noticed many drones on the train rising into the stormy rain.
The propellers tore through the rain curtain, stirring up waves of wind and waves.
The mongoose turned to look into the distance; the water surface was empty, leaving only surging waves.
Vast and inspiring despair.
The heavy rain was so dense that it darkened the entire sky ahead of time, surpassing even the mountain collapse back then.
An immense terror surged overwhelmingly from all directions.
She didn’t know where the danger came from, but the beastly fear of nature’s instinct made it hard for her to breathe.
“Something’s about to happen, hurry inside the train!”
……
Inside the armored train.
Su Huan stood at the highest command platform, hands on the railing, watching the busy staff below.
Besides the original glasses guy, Xiao Zhao was also leading a large group of research group personnel in analyzing and surveying at the equipment.
“The storm has intensified.”
“Has the video footage been transmitted back?”
“It’s already packaged and stored in the database; experts in the rear carriages can access it themselves.”
“Monitor general energy reactions…”
“The storm is too big; we’ve already lost five small drones!”
“Damn, another one exploded!”
The drone operator shouted, but everyone was too busy to pay him any mind.
Xiao Zhao and Shu Wei shuttled between the various command platforms, one asking something in a low voice, the other silently observing.
Then they returned to Su Huan one after another to report information.
Xiao Zhao said, “Train Conductor, from the current situation, it seems the flood zone heavenly calamity has fluctuated. Next, the train will face a large storm. The experts on Director Xu’s side are calculating the train’s estimated losses.”
“The supercomputer isn’t fully activated, otherwise the calculations would be faster.”
Su Huan looked at the storm outside on the panoramic screen and suddenly asked, “How much longer until Jingchao Lake?”
“About another day and a half.”
Xiao Zhao gave a rough estimate and replied.
“Then call me when we get there.”
Su Huan waved his hand impatiently, greeted Liang Kuan who was lying on a chair below, and walked straight to the back.
The carriage behind the front of the train was his No. 1 carriage, and it wouldn’t take much time to walk there.
But being woken from sleep for any reason left a resentment in his heart.
He hadn’t rested for many days already.
The armored train sinking to the bottom now wouldn’t be a problem.
A mere storm, how could it disturb his sleep?
The flood zone was nothing more than that.
The train conductor returned to his room, lay straight down on the bed, and subconsciously pulled out a pillow to hug, but the pillow was a bit too short—hugging the top didn’t reach the bottom, hugging the bottom didn’t reach the top.
And the lines weren’t quite conforming to the body either.
No matter how he adjusted it, it wasn’t comfortable.
After thinking for a moment, the train conductor crooked a finger at his secretary standing by the bedside.
The neat professional suit landed orderly at the bedside.
The curvaceous body was cool to the touch but carried astonishing elasticity; as soon as it was touched, a faint warmth emerged from inside the body.
Hand on the convex part, leg over the concave part.
Su Huan pressed his body as closely as possible to the soft new pillow.
He silently marveled in his heart at the wonder of the creator, who could produce a bastard like him and also a masterpiece like Shu Wei.
Every curve served a great purpose.
“Don’t shake!”
A low voice rumbled from his throat.
But it had no effect.
Listening to the sound of waves slapping the carriage and the low hum of the train body’s operation, Su Huan gradually adapted to this slight shaking rhythm.
After an unknown amount of time, a sensation of the world spinning came, and whispers appeared by his ear, like someone conspiring beside him.
Su Huan suddenly woke up, a pair of eyes silently opening.
Cold light bloomed.
A terrifying sense of crisis enveloped him.
Just like that night hiding in the garbage ruins, facing a hungry mutated beast.
Looking at the empty bedside, Su Huan gave a self-mocking smile.
‘Complacency.’
In the past, not to mention someone disappearing from beside him, even a few movements and he would notice.
This period of comfortable life had gradually eroded his vigilance.
Perhaps also due to overconfidence in his own abilities.
Since he had slept in his clothes, there was no need to put on clothes; he sat up directly, listening to rhythmic footsteps sounding in the darkness as a figure walked in from the front of the train, outlined in a graceful silhouette by the night light of the cabin door.
“You look a bit panicked.”
Hearing Su Huan’s voice from behind, Shu Wei’s heart skipped a beat, but she quickly recovered and turned around with a somewhat grave expression, “The train has run into real trouble.”
“Trouble?”
When Su Huan returned to the front of the train and saw the massive whirlpool on the water surface, he tried hard to recall the situation before sleeping.
“We’re on land now, right?”
Although the entire front of the train was packed with over forty people, Su Huan’s words were still clearly audible.
Accompanied by the drone perspective pulling up again, the large searchlight on the drone pierced the rain curtain, shining on the water surface swirling clockwise below. The terrifying vortex seemed pressed down by an invisible hand, suddenly sinking a hundred meters range, and this range was still gradually expanding in the rotation.
The water area in the center of the vortex was clearly much deeper than the surroundings.
The seawater at the edge bulged up, forming a steep arc-shaped water wall.
A tiny train was “struggling to approach” this wall.
Even separated by the thick carriage walls, everyone could hear the roaring boom of the waves outside.
“We’ve already reached Jingchao Lake.”
The reply came from Liang Kuan.
His deep voice was like a large bell, breaking the stagnant atmosphere and making everyone’s chests itch.
Xiao Zhao nearby reacted and quickly said, “Before the apocalypse, the maximum depth of Jingchao Lake during the flood season was only fifty-three meters. Now it’s increased by at least twenty meters, less than seventy meters deep, and it’s not a fault-type deep lake, so logically it shouldn’t form a vortex…”
Xiao Zhao opened a multi-person video call, and experts like Director Xu and Professor Ma appeared on the screen one after another.
Su Huan placed his hand on the railing, terrifying energy converting to electricity and injecting into the generator.
The supercharger whistled sharply, and all engines on the train overloaded simultaneously.
The train’s speed doubled forcefully.
On the blurry screen, it showed the train approaching the vortex at an even slower speed.
Seeing they couldn’t break free at all, Su Huan frowned tightly, “If we can’t break free and get sucked into the vortex, what will happen?”
Everyone in the carriage, including the glasses guy and others, looked toward this group of experts.
Although some of them already had their own judgments, they still hoped to hear different judgments from these people at the peak of experience and intelligence.
Even if hope was slim.
After a long time, the factory director said faintly, “Although we’ve considered some extreme situations, it still can’t change the fact that the train connections remain the weak points…”
“Just say the result directly.”
“If pulled in, the armored train will be torn into fragments section by section.”
Su Huan narrowed his eyes, “What about sinking to the bottom?”
……
Carriage No. 4.
A wheelchair blocked the window, with a small figure standing beside it.
“Brother Xiao Ba, I’m a bit scared.”
Xiao Ba withdrew its gaze toward the distance, pulled down the nearby metal blinds, blocking the terrifying heavenly calamity scene outside.
It lit the warm light in the room and gently touched the little boy’s head.
“Brother Xiao Ba, are we going to die?”
The little boy’s small hands tightly gripped the outer rim of Xiao Ba’s wheelchair.
Xiao Ba was just about to say no when it heard the little boy say disappointedly, “If I die, Mom won’t see me when she comes back.”
The boy’s voice was childish and sincere.
Xiao Ba seemed electrified, its tongue pressing against the roof of its mouth, taking a deep breath.
It tried to make its smile as sunny as possible.
“We won’t, there’s still the train conductor.”
“Is the train conductor very powerful?”
“Omnipotent!”
“Then can he bring Mom to me?”
Stars lit up in the little boy’s eyes.
Xiao Ba was silent for a moment at this question.
Not knowing how to answer.
The train conductor has the ability to take your mom away, but probably not the ability to bring her back.
“As long as you save enough points, Mom can come back!”
After hesitating for a moment, Xiao Ba still gave a disingenuous answer.
The little boy instantly cheered up, excitedly circling around Xiao Ba’s wheelchair, shouting, “That’s great! When I grow up, I’ll definitely work hard, save enough points, and then when Mom comes back, she can hug me and Brother Xiao Ba.”
Xiao Ba froze in place, eyes dazed.
A tear silently slid down from the corner of its eye.
Coming back to its senses, its small hand wiped messily at its face, “Brother Xiao Ba, why are you crying? I know you don’t have a mom; when the time comes, my mom will be your mom too…”
“Click—”
The room door opened, and Wan Xing mysteriously appeared at the doorway in a large jacket.
Looking at the two pairs of eyes turning toward her, she lifted the corner of her mouth, “Do you two need a hug?”
……
The porthole was blurred by the storm, but the massive basin-sized vortex in the distance was undeniable.
The entire train was nearly sucked sideways by the vortex.
If not for Su Huan injecting a batch of energy temporarily, it would have completely lost control by now.
That was no longer a harmless storm, but a vortex capable of tearing apart the armored train!
The flood zone finally tore off its usual gentle mask, revealing its true face to this group of invading challengers.
Carriage No. 27, the carriage for shelter survivors, was extremely narrow, with space utilized to the extreme, and very few windows.
All the passengers had their faces pressed against the few windows on all four sides.
The middle car window was crowded with seven or eight faces, the one in the center with a nose and face squeezed out of shape was Xiao Dong.
Looking at the distant vortex and towering waves, Xiao Dong felt his hands and feet go cold, cold sweat uncontrollably breaking out on his body.
He could only press his face harder against the car window, wanting to see more clearly.
To have something tangible to touch, to offset the fear in his heart.
“Xiao Dong…”
“Xiao Dong!”
A low shout brought Xiao Dong back to his senses.
Turning around, he saw Old Man Tie sitting on the bed calling him, with two uncles whose faces were ashen beside him.
Qi Zhendong sighed, “This time us three are really done for; good thing we left big brother at home.”
Qi Zhenbang wiped the fine hair standing up on his arm, saying with some optimism, “The train is so sturdy; maybe we can make it through…”
“Make it through?”
Qi Zhendong sneered, with a hint of self-abandonment.
“This isn’t a disaster, it’s a heavenly calamity!”
“Even if that Su guy is the reincarnation of Yu the Great, he’s still gonna die!”
“Everyone’s gonna die; no one can survive!”
Xiao Dong didn’t know how he left the window, walking to Old Man Tie’s bed like a walking corpse.
Qi Zhendong’s words hit his heart like the whistling waves outside.
The terrifying heavenly calamity turned into a tide of fear, swallowing the fluke in his heart.
Endless, with no light in sight.
Looking at Old Man Tie, Xiao Dong’s throat bobbed, and trembling sobs came from his voice.
“Grandpa Tie…”
But this crying wasn’t piercing; the train was already filled with uncontrollable sobs.
Some wept softly, some wailed loudly.
Others cursed heaven and earth.
Venting all the fears since the apocalypse through cries and curses.
This cry filled with negative emotions rumbled through the carriage.
Old Man Tie glanced at his son, but his complexion showed no change.
Still as hard and stubborn as before boarding.
“Scared already?”
Old Man Tie’s voice lacked its usual gentleness, like an old wolf with a roar from his chest cavity.
A pair of eyes glowing with eerie green light.
Xiao Dong’s crying caught in his throat, unsure whether to continue.
“I…”
“It’s right to be afraid.”
Old Man Tie suddenly smiled.
“Grandpa, aren’t you afraid?”
Xiao Dong asked.
“I’ve lived to seventy-eight; what’s there to fear, damn it!”
Old Man Tie swore.
But Xiao Dong didn’t find it offensive; instead, he felt it bolstered his courage.
The fear in his heart was driven back quite a bit.
His eyes also became lively.
Old Man Tie sat up from the bed, his pair of cloudy eyes gleaming sharply, “The first time I went to the battlefield, I was scared to death, couldn’t sleep. The squad leader had me stand watch, looking at the candle in the snow cave, waking him every two hours.”
“I held my gun, on edge all night, thinking if the enemy appeared, I’d blast him!”
“In the end, after staying up all night, my brain was foggy. When I really saw the enemy, I wasn’t scared anymore and charged forward with my gun.”
“Because of that battle, I earned merit and was called Guan Chong Iron Mountain.”
“The leader asked if I was afraid, and I bluntly said yes.”
“He laughed heartily, patted my shoulder, and said, ‘Didn’t expect Guan Chong Iron Mountain to have times of fear too, but fear is right—fear is just the last threshold before victory. Cross it, and it’s a new world!'”
……
Xiao Zhao’s voice was bitter, “We’re already operating it, but the train space is huge; sinking to the bottom can’t be done in just one or two minutes.”
Su Huan wanted to ask something more but was interrupted by the piercing alarm.
“High-intensity general energy fluctuation underwater!”
The person managing the general energy monitoring device shouted loudly.
Su Huan dug at his ear, “Can’t you turn off this shrill sound?”
The staff member was stunned for a moment, then quickly shut off the alarm.
Su Huan looked up at the experts on the screen and asked seriously, “With the amount of explosives on the train, can we destroy the vortex’s balance?”
(The key broke, pliers lighting the fire)
