Chapter 255: Opening The Meat Feast
“The general range of the Data Center has been determined.”
Shu Wei said.
Su Huan’s fingers moved slightly, and his brows relaxed.
After being busy for so long, it was all for this: one Cultivation Pod, one Data Center. Once these two important pieces of equipment were ready, the last piece of the Armored Train’s scientific research foundation would be completed.
Then he could go to the Electromagnetic Weapon Laboratory he had been longing for.
High-power Weapons had always been a sore spot for Su Huan.
Although a few howitzers and mortars had solved the immediate problem, they were all conventional stuff, far inferior in quantity and power to the cutting-edge equipment before the Apocalypse.
Not to mention that Black Kite had inherited a complete military district.
There was definitely a superweapon inside.
Without equal footing weapons, let alone “combat,” they didn’t even have the qualification to go down with someone.
Nicely put, the train was now accumulating strength; in reality, it had been damn well blocked in the Flood Zone by Black Kite.
Without equipping the electromagnetic weaponry, let alone going further north, they couldn’t even reach the Storm Zone.
“Where?”
Su Huan was calculating the progress of each project.
“Not far, about fifteen kilometers directly north.”
“Have each group’s Purser coordinate, arrange the matters, salvage it as soon as possible, then go to the Storm Zone to meet your dad.”
As the Train Conductor walked by, the various light strips in the corridor lit up in sequence, dimming slowly after he passed.
Hearing Su Huan’s frivolous words, Shu Wei furrowed her brows.
“I have no objection to you fighting him, but… what’s the meaning of doing it this way?”
“Meaning?”
Su Huan stopped in his tracks, raised an eyebrow, and asked, “What do you mean?”
Shu Wei said calmly, “If you just want to know the truth behind the Apocalypse, you could achieve that through negotiation.”
“Are you misunderstanding something? I don’t reject trading with Black Kite, provided the Armored Train has strength equal to Black Kite’s.”
Shu Wei looked at Su Huan’s amiable gaze and fell silent.
She wasn’t stupid; how could she not hear the killing intent hidden in those two words “meet”?
“Alright, alright…” Su Huan helplessly raised his hands. “I’m just curious how involved Black Kite is, how much, whether they should be killed, or deserve to die…”
“…Aren’t you afraid?”
Shu Wei knew she had said too much today.
But since she had started, she might as well ask everything clearly. The closer she got to Su Huan, the less she understood this person.
People should have desires, whether selfish or noble.
But Su Huan’s goal was just to upgrade the train and keep heading north.
Why was that?
If it was for safety, shouldn’t they stay in the Acid Rain Area? With the Armored Train’s current conditions, even the Flood Zone had nothing that could threaten him.
He knew full well that heading north would bring more and more dangers, whether Heavenly Calamities or people on the road.
No one would want such an uncontrollable force appearing in their territory.
So what was he doing it for?
If it was for the truth, with the Armored Train’s strength, the moment they left the Flood Zone, they would absolutely have the qualification to negotiate with Black Kite.
The truth wouldn’t be hard to obtain.
But Su Huan clearly wanted more than that, whether it was the fight over the Crown Pear Tree or the deadly battle with the Steel Council in the data.
Su Huan had better ways that wouldn’t harm himself.
But he still did it.
Only vigorous desires could give birth to strong will.
What desire was driving him behind all this?
“Afraid?”
Su Huan looked at his palm, the corners of his mouth unconsciously lifting. The cold blue sensor light reflected his pitch-black eyes in a strangely eerie way.
He should be afraid, right? If not, in his previous life when the Apocalypse just started, he wouldn’t have fled with the Convoy, and when he knew he might be captured by the Steel Council for experiments, he wouldn’t have fled in fear overnight.
Back then, there were so many things he feared.
Zombies, Mutated Beasts, pursuers, acid rain, floods…
But over four years, no one ever asked if he was afraid.
Now someone was actually asking if he was afraid.
Interesting.
This was truly interesting.
Logically, someone who had died once should cherish life more, but that thread of his seemed to have snapped long ago.
Caution was out of habit, but fear seemed to have been burned away long ago by the resentful fire in his chest cavity.
Even after four years of erosion, he hadn’t preserved that fire in his chest.
It had scattered too.
How long can hatred last?
One day, two days?
Su Huan thought until the next hunger.
Until the next brush with death.
Until the next time he closed his eyes.
…
Too many things could drown out hatred.
Before dying, he wanted to hate but didn’t know who to hate.
There wasn’t much to hate anyway.
Apocalypse Heavenly Calamity, after all.
Everyone was the same; no one else to blame.
So in the period right after rebirth, he just wanted to build a good Mobile Shelter to live better.
But the Steel Council’s helicopter instantly seized all his attention.
All that effort, all that struggle.
It was all a pre-set game.
Turns out only they lived miserably; turns out some lived better than them.
Turns out someone knew about the Apocalypse early on.
Turns out even the Apocalypse might be manipulated by someone behind the scenes.
Since that day, Su Huan always felt like there was an indescribable breath stuck in his throat.
Not uncomfortable.
Maybe a little.
Not that uncomfortable.
But just a bit uncomfortable.
He thought it over and over but couldn’t figure it out.
Because the self that could think, the self that could fear, had died long ago.
Wearing this “Su Huan” skin now was just that breath.
Stuck in his throat was the breath brewed over four years and three months, that is, one thousand five hundred sixty-four days!
This breath had to be let out eventually.
So who should it go to?
Although Su Huan’s smile was eerie, his eyes were uncharacteristically serious. “I have to find him, whether it’s one person or an organization, I have to find him.”
Seeing Su Huan fall silent, Shu Wei felt a bit regretful in her heart.
Suddenly hearing this out-of-the-blue remark, she was stunned and said, “Who?”
“…The person behind the Apocalypse?”
“Mm.”
“What if you can’t find them?”
“There has to be one.”
Shu Wei looked at the unusually mild Train Conductor today and shivered with chills down her spine.
Seeing her unnatural expression, Su Huan remembered to pull at the corners of his mouth with his hand.
He seemed to have formed a conditioned reflex: happy, smile; sad, smile. All his original emotions here turned into an irrepressible smile.
“So the purpose of our few thousand people is to build a perfect vehicle, cross layers of Heavenly Calamities, and go find him?”
“No, this is my purpose, not yours.”
Seeing Shu Wei lost in thought, Su Huan tilted his head. “Don’t you think it’s interesting?”
Shu Wei opened her mouth in confusion.
Interesting where?
“It’s like someone threw a stone from far away, scaring a dog crazy enough to run home, but unexpectedly that dog ran over ten thousand kilometers, crossed mountains and rivers, and bit him hard.”
Shu Wei was even more confused.
“Why bite?”
“Corresponds to the dog.”
“Why a dog?”
“Bites harder.”
Shu Wei was silent for a moment, then said in a slow tone, “In the end, you want to take down the mastermind behind the Apocalypse. That’s a good thing. Why not express it in a different way? Maybe more people would follow you.”
“You make it sound like I’m some hero.”
Shu Wei’s eyes brightened. “You could be!”
Su Huan patted Shu Wei’s shoulder, electric light crackling, and said in surprise, “Sometimes I think I’m like a hero too, but you said ‘you’ six times just now. Next time remember to use ‘you’ formally; I won’t hold it against you this time.”
With that, Su Huan walked back contentedly, leaving Shu Wei with a stiff expression standing in place.
Her neck flushed pink.
Hu Shuo came running over clutching a paper list, slightly surprised to see Shu Wei standing rigidly in place.
But he didn’t think much of it and chased after the Train Conductor ahead.
“This is the recently compiled list of personnel who made mistakes.”
“Yo, quite a few people.”
“How to handle them?”
“The principle is: if they can be punished or not, punish! If they can be killed or not, kill!”
Hu Shuo felt a chill in his heart.
“Understood.”
…
Six in the morning.
Waves crashed against the rocks on Guanchao Island’s shore.
A jungle had been cleared, and the simply repaired Armored Train was parked on it.
About a hundred meters away, a group of Armed Soldiers carried axes, huffing and puffing as they chopped wood, the creaking sounds rising and falling one after another as thick Mutated Trees toppled one by one.
Then they were dragged aside and stacked up. The officer held a rubber short stick and shouted countdowns in the crowd.
He Jie stood on a large stone, took the list Hu Shuo handed over, paused, and said there were so many.
Hu Shuo shook his head, meaning don’t ask.
He Jie’s gaze hardened. “All done in?”
“Handle the ones marked red; the rest watch from the side.”
“Got it.”
Once Hu Shuo turned and left, He Jie irritably roared at the busy crowd.
“All come over and assemble!”
One by one, the Armed Soldiers who hadn’t slept all night trudged over wearily. Though they desperately wanted to collapse and sleep, they still forced themselves to stand neatly in front of He Jie.
The two trains had merged these past two days.
The Armed Soldiers’ combat performance had also reached He Jie’s ears.
That very night, without even eating, they were pulled over to work.
Whether they participated in the action or stayed behind, whether injured or unscathed, all Armed Soldiers were here.
Though everyone was an Evolver, Guanchao Island was no City Ruins.
The Apocalypse had just begun after all; the steel bars and cement buildings in the city restrained Mutated Beings to some extent.
But on the island, after three months of free evolution, most human traces of survival had been erased.
Soldiers had to perform high-intensity physical activities while staying alert for various Mutated Plants, animals, and the suddenly appearing He Jie.
One second, nine strikes wasn’t a joke.
“Two things. Why is the front standing so high? The people in the back can’t hear. First three rows, push-ups, get ready!”
‘Grass!’
The soldiers’ hearts wailed.
But almost as soon as the words were out, they were already in the most standard push-up ready position.
“Last three rows, duck steps.”
Seeing everyone squat down, He Jie nodded in satisfaction.
“One!”
The first three rows went down uniformly; the last three rows slightly rose into a half-squat, half-stand.
“First matter: Mongoose, Tian Jia You, Li Wei… and twelve others, for outstanding combat performance, officially promoted to Private!”
Mongoose, lying in front, was slightly stunned, a surge of joy rising in their heart.
After enduring so long, they finally raised their military rank a notch.
Seeing no one speak, He Jie sneered, “You can cheer now.”
Though very fatigued, the soldiers still erupted in cheers for their comrades’ promotions, as if cheering for their future selves.
Mongoose took the chance to glance up at He Jie’s complexion, vaguely feeling unease.
“Heh, everyone seems pretty happy.”
As soon as He Jie’s sarcastic cold laugh came out, the crowd immediately fell silent.
“This is the Armored Train’s decision, but it doesn’t mean I recognize you bunch of trash! Less than twenty kilometers of a small island, and we nearly lost ten damn people, and one was an officer! Pangtu, get out here!”
Pangtu, in the officer ranks to the side, stepped forward with a tense face.
He Jie pointed at the soldiers below. “You, get in there too!”
“Yes!”
Pangtu silently dropped down beside them.
He Jie continued, “The train leaves Guanchao Island in seven days. I’m giving you seven days of special training. If you survive, get promoted as you should; if not, blame your short life!”
“Understood?!”
“Yes!”
A sinister smile appeared on He Jie’s face. “Second matter: I know most of you haven’t had meat yet. Today, I’ll let you have a good time.”
Old San, face stern, led the Combat Group to drag up a group of people.
Seven hundred or so in total.
Most were pulled from the survivors on the train, with some from New Eden.
A few old passengers from the train were mixed in.
All were people who broke the rules during this time.
Hundreds to thousands crammed in the carriages produced problems galore every day.
And the Armored Train’s rules weren’t too strict; some things were hard to define.
Cases like Old Wu and Mongoose that reached the Train Conductor were rare.
Most of the time, it relied on each group’s Pursers to manage themselves.
Skill levels varied widely.
Hu Shuo was stricter, Xiao Zhao gentler, Old San more gangster-like.
But not everything was let slide.
Like the Same Boat Society members who tried to hijack Yu Jing last time—they’d been cleaned out.
But survivor conflicts didn’t have that much time to handle. Each Purser had a ton of matters and couldn’t manage five thousand people, so whatever happened was suppressed first and recorded.
Unified handling when the Train Conductor had time.
This was the first concentrated handling in three months, coinciding with the Train Conductor not in the best mood.
Most survivors and passengers were pulled out during work shifts.
The escorting Combat Group members didn’t know what they’d done, so naturally said nothing.
By the time they arrived here, this group finally sensed something was wrong.
These Armed Soldiers, besides chopping trees, had spent a lot of time digging many trenches on the island with its tangled root systems.
Each could hold one soldier standing.
Seeing the scene, even the dumbest were scared legless.
But they still clung to luck, thinking it was just minor punishment.
“Starting from the first row, one per person!”
