Chapter 247: Whale Hunting
“Boom——”
A train bent into a “U” shape flew upside down underwater, then was gradually slowed by the terrifying suction of the vortex layer by layer.
Inertia disappeared, gradually coming to a stop in the water, accompanied by crisp “crack crack” sounds, the metal at the connection broke apart, melting like plasticine to repair cracks all over the vehicle body.
Compared to its majestic and mighty state when it first left the factory, the armored train now looked much more disheveled.
Large areas of vehicle armor were shattered, ordinary steel stuck to the dark gray vehicle body like plasters.
The carriage connections were directly sealed shut by metal, completely losing the flexible bending space.
Including the front of the train, the mechanical arms on the first few carriages were all broken, leaving only one or two mechanical mechanisms jammed and unable to retract as “stumps”.
Hammer of the Alps had dented a full meter deep into the front of the train.
If not for Deputy General Manager Deng’s reliable design, this row of trains would have disintegrated on the spot.
“Woo——”
An urgent and pained whale cry rolled in.
But it was directly drowned out by an excited and triumphant voice.
“Tier 1 blue whale hundred meters long, how much material can we extract from this damn thing, speed up for me, Liang Kuan, speed up!”
“Find a way to notify the other train, have it go around, today we must catch this fathead fish!”
Inside the vehicle, Su Huan gripped the command platform railing with both hands, his lips curled up, his dark blue eyes revealing fanatical greed.
The giant whale’s body was too big.
At first he thought it was a Tier 2 mutated beast.
Who knew that after one collision he had figured it out, the opponent’s energy intensity was only Tier 1 level.
Instantly a thought popped into Su Huan’s mind: absolutely cannot let it go.
This was tens of thousands of tons of material!
Using half and throwing half away could feed the entire armored train for a month.
Ever since upgrades, restructuring, and various other measures were implemented.
The train’s development entered a period of explosive growth.
All aspects were thriving, but the cost was the rapid consumption of various supplies.
The reason it hadn’t shown up yet was partly because the train had accumulated a lot before, and partly because along the way there were kind-hearted people’s donations, barely covering the issue.
But Hu Shuo sent Su Huan supply consumption summary data every morning, every weekend, and at the end of every month.
At first he didn’t pay much attention when looking at it.
But after seeing it too much, he started to feel anxious inside.
If it were a Tier 2 giant whale, he wouldn’t hesitate and would directly imitate blowing up Mo Jiang’s head, using all the explosives that paused the vortex on it.
Now it looked like he could save a batch.
Originally the armored train was being pulled by the whirlpool rotating toward the center of the water area.
Under Su Huan’s order, the train actively sprinted toward the center of the water area.
Speed surged.
Feeling the armored train returning, the mutated giant whale immediately let out an angry cry, but the voice was somewhat blustering but inwardly weak.
Increasingly urgent.
But the train showed no sign of retreating, and a trace of panic surged in the giant whale’s heart.
Why wasn’t the opponent afraid?
Hadn’t that previous collision damaged it?
He wasn’t without experience of “long strips” that discharged electricity, but this was the first time seeing one as big as itself that could discharge electricity, and moreover it was extremely hard, smashing him until his head was bloody.
Even with its size, it couldn’t help but feel waves of dizziness.
Seeing the opponent charging at it again, the giant whale’s survival instinct overcame the insignificant anger.
Tail flicked, stirring up huge currents in the relatively still water area, turning around and swimming toward the outer vortex.
A surge of general energy passed, black undercurrent spreading from the giant whale, reaching the range of the vortex.
Between tail flicks, it was already caught in the vortex.
Not only was its speed unaffected by the vortex, it even got some assistance from it.
But its massive body still hindered part of the water flow, and the armored train, driven by Su Huan, roared and followed along its tail into the whirlpool.
……
“Warning warning, vegetation protection layer isolation panel in Carriage 8 is broken, please repair immediately.”
“Warning, water leak in Carriage 24…”
“Warning, train’s overall airtightness is damaged, oxygen levels insufficient.”
“All train air conditioning paused, please all personnel stay quietly inside the vehicle and endure for a moment…”
Streaks of bright red alarm lights flashed in the corridor.
Survivors huddled in their own rooms, listening to the hurried footsteps outside and the muffled impact sounds outside the window, hearts pounding.
Various fears and muttering complaints filled the fourteen people’s “trait” compartment.
“It’s over, it’s over, this time we’re all done…”
“We’ll all drown.”
“Drowning would be lucky, might get eaten by an underwater monster in one bite.”
“I said from the beginning don’t get on the train, don’t get on, this armored train looks unreliable at first glance!”
“All the food is gone, not getting on the train means starving to death?”
Retorted once, the man who started muttering was still unconvinced, stubbornly saying, “Wait a bit longer, maybe after waiting there’ll be a turnaround.”
Another person sneered, “You just can’t bear to leave your house and that 300,000 waterlogged car in your basement garage!”
“Your spot was so good, if you’d run earlier maybe your wife and child could have survived, but you dawdled, and now wife and child are gone…”
The middle-aged man curled up on the upper bunk was struck as if by lightning.
His face buried in his arms, the emergency light flickering on and off illuminating his sparse scalp.
The man suddenly let out a wolf-like howl.
Then bit down hard on something to hold it back.
The muffled sobbing sounds were like summer’s heavy rain, intermittent.
The noise in the room quieted for a moment.
“…”
“…That was the house I paid half my life mortgage for.”
“From twenty-six to fifty-four, I hustled to save up for one house, one car, all gone… Who wouldn’t feel heartbroken…”
“Nothing left, house gone, car gone, wife and child gone.”
“Now nothing left…”
“I drove big trucks my whole life getting up early and staying late, and in the end nothing left.”
The one who started retorting him uncomfortably said, “But people are still alive, in this great disaster, who knows when something like this would happen…”
“Exactly, if I’d known earlier, I’d have withdrawn all my savings and spent them!”
“…”
“Cough, staying alive, really fucking useless…”
The man on the upper bunk tilted his head back and let out a few dry coughs.
Tears streaked across his face.
His hoarse voice carried deep confusion.
He didn’t dare think of his wife’s appearance, even deliberately blurring past memories, otherwise he’d lose even the courage to cling to life.
But every inadvertent recollection was like a dull knife, cutting him until flesh and blood were dripping.
Getting older was like this, more and more memories, less and less future.
Everyone felt the same sorrow, no one refuted, no one agreed.
The apocalypse was a carnival for a very few, very few ambitious people, bringing only pain to most, and only pain.
“Let’s talk about something interesting, that earlier topic was good, if you knew the apocalypse was coming, what would you do?”
If it were other topics, the people on the underwater train had no mood to care, but on this, everyone’s minds subconsciously turned.
Even if such fantasies couldn’t save the current situation.
But like hope, it always kept people’s emotions going forward.
The man looking at the emergency light’s gaze shifted.
If… knew the apocalypse was coming, what would happen?
“I’d find a high place, buy a bunch of food and stockpile it…”
“What’s the use of stockpiling food, haven’t you heard that saying, neighbor stockpiles grain I stockpile guns, neighbor is my granary! If it were me, I’d seize the chance to do a big heist…”
Someone immediately sneered, “With our organization’s reaction speed, you’d be locked up before the apocalypse even comes.”
“Isn’t it just money, aren’t there plenty of ways?”
“Make money to build a shelter?”
“No! Get a train, arm it up! Then stock it full of food, I’d take my wife and child and run far away!”
The man who had been silently listening suddenly said.
Everyone was stunned, looking at each other.
“Isn’t that exactly the armored train we’re on?”
“Don’t say, that’s actually a good idea, but how could you handle such a big train alone? This requires an organization…”
“I heard the armored train started with only two members.”
One person suddenly interjected with a piece of information.
Everyone was stunned, then started refuting noisily.
“Such a big train, how could it be just two people, all these modifications on the train, impossible without a big team, you made that up with your ass?”
“It’s not the whole train had only two people, it’s the earliest core members were only two, the train conductor and driver Liang Kuan, then step by step expanded to the current scale.”
That person earnestly argued.
Seeing his sworn assurance, everyone was half believing half doubting.
“Then how do you know?”
The shadow in the corner shifted his butt toward the light, revealing a slightly emaciated face.
A restrained and subtle smile hung on it.
Actually he didn’t really want to come out to face all this, but the train was in crisis, and the medical carriage’s various equipment had paused.
So he crawled out, although now he had met the train conductor, bearing a huge mission.
But his actual status was only one level higher than survivors.
He was also used to blending in with survivors.
“I’m Zhang Qiang, an old passenger…”
Everyone suddenly understood, immediately crowding over.
“Then tell us more about how the armored train and train conductor rose to power.”
“No problem.”
At first Zhang Qiang was a bit nervous, but later he became more and more fluent, just like Liu Ming possessed him, even the man on the upper bunk was drawn in by Zhang Qiang’s telling.
More accurately, drawn in by the ruthless train conductor’s rise-to-power history.
Everyone exclaimed repeatedly, filling the entire carriage with “holy shit”s.
Everyone listened with excited expressions, itching to take their place.
“Right, brother, what did you do before?”
Someone suddenly asked.
Zhang Qiang was about to say he collected rent, but what slipped out was, “I’m from Dongping City side, holding an iron rice bowl.”
“Everyone, want to join the Same Boat Society?”
“…The important thing is, we ordinary people need to unite, help each other.”
“We should stand up, protect ourselves in our own way!”
……
Su Huan was still in the heart-pounding whale hunt, naturally unaware that Zhang Qiang had already taken office in the deputy train.
Ever since the armored train chased the whale out of the water surface, the vortex’s power had gradually weakened.
The whale manipulated water currents to block the train, but inevitably disrupted the surrounding vortex.
Although the train was battered by the waves, without the vortex’s terrifying suction, its aura grew even more high-spirited.
All the way sparks flying lightning flashing, relentlessly pursuing and beating the giant whale.
By the time everyone reacted, they had already run out of the vortex range.
The giant whale felt its vitality draining, its cries growing more despairing.
The whale cries had long lost their initial momentum, each one more wailing than the last, not like scaring but like begging for mercy.
It used all its means, but its key water control ability was completely countered by the “long strip” behind that controlled lightning.
Water not only couldn’t stop it, but made the lightning strike faster and more accurately on its head.
Thought getting out of the water would help, but got three bolts of lightning hard from the dark clouds above, even the clouds above started thinning.
The giant whale also became listless.
“Train damage level reaches 76%, need to dock immediately for repairs!”
Glasses sprawled on the explosives crate, grabbing an exposed connection line and shouting.
Su Huan’s gaze turned to Xiao Ba beside him.
The latter used crisscrossing steel frames to support the entire train front, otherwise the front would have shattered in the collisions.
Xiao Ba exhaled tiredly, firmly telling Su Huan, “I can still hold on.”
“Isn’t there a small island in the lake center, drive the giant whale there.”
Su Huan said calmly.
With no follow-up from Glasses, he knew it was like that.
At first, everyone was still worried about being blown up or the train being torn apart and sucked into the water to drown.
In the end, under the Train Conductor’s lead, they inexplicably charged out.
Is the Train Conductor strong?
Very strong.
But is this damn ability supposed to be used like this?
That terrifying vortex didn’t cause any damage to the train.
The greatest damage still came from the collision with the Giant Whale.
After that, the Giant Whale lost the courage to battle and began to flee.
It ran, he chased.
It ran again, he chased again.
They just muddled their way out all along.
The train floated to the water surface, all gravity returned to normal, and Professor Ma gave up suspending the Explosives Crate.
Glasses led the Attendant staff with difficulty back to their posts and began cooperating with the train for tracking Manipulation.
“Should we file a damage report?”
His Subordinate Attendant suddenly asked.
Glasses turned his head to look at the Train Conductor, who was crackling all over and determined to succeed.
He pushed up his glasses, which were broken on one side. “No time now, just tally it up, no damage report, just Report the ones related to the Giant Whale.”
Soon, the staff responsible for the General Energy monitoring equipment shouted loudly, “There’s a large General Energy reaction ten kilometers away, body size comparable to humans.”
Everyone was instantly energized. The staff responsible for the Map checked it and excitedly said, “We’ve already reached the center of Jingchao Lake!”
“Drones, take off!”
“Blown up, all blown up!”
“What about the spares?”
“The spares are the ones that got blown up, the brand new ones are still in storage, installation will take some time.”
“Forget it, forget it, see how many good onboard Cameras are left, project the footage to the Command Platform.”
“…”
Su Huan looked down at the screen beside him.
In the mist of water, the Giant Whale leaped out of the sea surface, with small islands faintly visible in the distance.
(Got up at four-thirty this morning, set off at five, back at nine at night, the new car is very reliable, everything went smoothly, except for the update, coming back after driving all day and still have to write, really depressing)
