Chapter 256: Everyone Has Work
A row of people knelt on the muddy and damp ground, each with an armed soldier behind them.
There were no imagined cries of wailing or begging everywhere.
Most people were just dragged over and knelt down on their own, trembling all over, not to mention getting up—they couldn’t even stand.
They also didn’t have the strong conviction to hold their heads high before death.
He Jie felt his pocket, pulled out a flat cigarette pack, and his gaze naturally fell on Old San in front of him. The latter synced with him and pulled out a cigarette, now clamped in his mouth.
Seeing this, Old San paused, then smiled bitterly and slapped most of his cigarette pack into He Jie’s hand.
The latter lit up contentedly, shouted loudly, “Open fire!”
Dense gunshots rang out at the same time, and the kneeling people fell down one after another.
But one remained intact, kneeling on the ground.
He Jie looked over and met the calm beast eyes of the Mongoose. He laughed angrily instead of getting mad, sucked the cigarette in his mouth down to the butt in one drag, drew the electric baton from his waist, and strode over. “Why didn’t you shoot? Promoted to private and you think you’re special? Weren’t you having a great time killing over forty people before? Now you’re hesitating on me?”
The Mongoose said neither humbly nor arrogantly, “That’s different. You didn’t announce their crimes. This is punishing without trial.”
“Punishing without trial?” He Jie laughed like he’d heard a joke, took two steps to run up, and flew into a kick.
“Bang…”
The Mongoose crashed into a pile of logs, rolling to the ground.
The watching soldiers’ hearts tightened.
Landing wasn’t for catching a breath, but the start of a new storm. The electric baton in He Jie’s hand swung shadows, crackling down on the Mongoose, accompanied by an angry roar, “Your task is to obey orders. I tell you to shoot, you shoot. I tell you to charge, you charge. Even if I tell you to fill a trench, you damn well jump in, instead of standing there asking why!”
Dull thuds sounded like rain hitting banana leaves. The Mongoose curled up and took the beating.
Realizing He Jie was truly angry, Old San, who had wanted to watch the fun, couldn’t stand by anymore.
He immediately stepped forward and advised in a low voice, “These people didn’t commit minor offenses. The one you ordered executed teamed up with others to kill a woman, then brought her daughter over just to get more supplies. Killing them all isn’t excessive…”
The curled-up Mongoose raised her head, blood flowing from her mouth and nose, her round beast eyes somewhat scattered. “They do deserve to die.”
This infuriated He Jie into another round of cursing.
Fortunately, he didn’t strike this time.
Old San listened from the side, his mouth twitching. He always felt like it was directed at him.
The dispute between the Mongoose and Old Wu had been settled.
The Train Conductor gave no instructions, but that already showed his stance.
No one brought up Old Wu’s matter again.
The overall morale of the Combat Group was high; they walked with chests puffed out even seeing the Armed Corps.
Anyone with eyes could see He Jie was “taking care” of the Mongoose. In a way, she was his apprentice. Losing such a big face now, He Jie had been stern-faced these past few days, like a volcano ready to erupt at any moment.
After five hundred soldiers each executed one, the remaining two hundred-plus with minor offenses were taken back by the Combat Group.
The corpses were buried on the spot.
A few soldiers had seen blood before, and under their lead, the rest gradually adapted.
There were no signs of tense vomiting or weak legs after killing.
He Jie pointed to a pile of logs behind him and said, “For the next seven days, these are your teammates. You have three minutes to gear up!”
Watching the soldiers scatter, the Mongoose also staggered away. He Jie sat on a log and sighed faintly.
The Goat walked over, doubtfully saying, “They are Evolvers after all. Is it appropriate to use the old training methods?”
He Jie shot him a glare and cursed, “Get the hell out. How many years have you been a soldier? Teaching me how to do things?!”
The Goat spat and turned away.
He Jie smoked while timing, one cigarette per minute.
In about two and a half minutes, everyone including the Mongoose stood neatly in front of He Jie.
Grouped in fives, cut into square blocks.
Pangtu saw He Jie’s gloomy complexion and sensed something wrong, rushing to the side to shoulder a log and return.
The other soldiers were stunned for a moment, then quickly reacted, swarming toward the log pile.
But time was up; only Pangtu made it back within three minutes.
He Jie grinned, raising the timer. “I said three minutes to assemble, but you were a chaotic mess. You treating my words like fart?”
“Everyone, two hundred push-ups!”
The soldiers inwardly wailed, set down the logs, turned around, and started push-ups.
He Jie pointed to the logs again. “On the battlefield, you planning to leave your comrades in the corner to die?!”
The soldiers could only shoulder unpolished logs in groups of five and start push-ups.
Pangtu, for not reminding his comrades, had to do an extra hundred.
Push-ups unfinished, almost everyone except the “Defenders” collapsed from exhaustion.
The Mongoose even fainted.
The rough logs ground everyone’s backs blood red.
For abandoning comrades earlier, the punishment was to carry the logs from the west side of the island to the east.
Hearing this order, even the nearby officers like Qu Hang changed complexion.
These soldiers weren’t just carrying one log; they were fully armed.
Before the Apocalypse, a soldier’s marching load was around forty kilograms, never exceeding forty-five.
But armed soldiers, being Evolvers, had individual loads reaching sixty kilograms, with different supplies per role—like Assault Troopers carrying at least twenty magazines.
Sharpshooters carried less, but had to help machine gunners with ammunition belts or disassembled heavy machine guns.
A minimum squad of five ensured each carried around sixty kilograms.
But the post-Apocalypse environment demanded more from soldiers.
Teams also needed “Collectors” to gather high-value materials. If hunting Mutated Beasts in the field, those high-value materials had to be brought back.
Those Mutated Beasts or Mutated Plants were big lumps.
So individual loads breaking eighty kilograms was common.
Under such conditions, carrying several hundred kilograms of logs for dozens of kilometers of armed training was deadly.
The fainted were woken, only to faint again upon hearing the task.
But He Jie wouldn’t let them off.
If one in a group fainted, the other four not only carried the log but added a teammate on top.
Seeing four comrades below leaving bloody footprints with each step, even if truly fainted, they’d come down gritting teeth to join.
Of five hundred soldiers, only three ended up carried on the logs.
One of them was the Mongoose.
Though her wounds were simply treated, the internal injuries from He Jie wouldn’t heal quickly.
She had completely lost consciousness.
But her group had Pangtu next to them, so He Jie wasn’t worried about the Mongoose dying.
Before evolving, Pangtu had learned Level 2 field first aid.
He alone matched a frontline aid station—amputation, transfusion, anti-infection, all handled.
As for Level 3 and above—open chest, abdominal surgery, organ transplants—that was field hospital and rear hospital work; soldiers didn’t need to learn so much.
By now, daylight was full, cold wind brushing faces.
Sleepy-eyed soldiers were blown to tears by the wind.
“Seven-day special training officially begins!”
Seeing everyone prepared, He Jie shouted from atop a giant stone.
The soldiers below turned to advance, only to hear He Jie sneer, “Only caring about running yourselves? Not minding your commander?”
The soldiers looked at He Jie on the stone in bewilderment.
One minute later.
Five hundred soldiers marched east.
He Jie crossed arms, feet on the giant stone, below him ten armed soldiers with jaws clenched to bits.
……
While He Jie was tormenting the soldiers, Su Huan brought Shu Wei to Carriage 11.
Before entering, a graceful figure blocked them.
Silver hair past the waist, draped over a white silk long dress.
As the girl personally rescued by the Train Conductor, Lin Jin’s own sister, Lin Xi was almost the only one on the train wearing a skirt.
Due to lifespan issues, Yu Yue and others pitied her and almost never assigned her tasks.
Su Huan raised a brow. “Something?”
Busy lately, plus Lin Xi’s special ability, he hadn’t figured out how to use her.
Lin Xi nodded.
Su Huan waved, Shu Wei withdrew her gaze immersed in the young girl and entered Carriage 12.
Su Huan took Lin Xi a step back to the second floor of Yu Jing’s Carriage 10.
Yu Jing should be outside busy with train maintenance; the entire second-floor carriage was empty.
“Not making dumplings, what are you here for?”
Su Huan knew the girl wasn’t as pure and shy as she seemed, so he asked directly.
Lin Xi lifted her delicate little face, with a somewhat sweet smile. “Train Conductor, can I request a job?”
“A job?” Su Huan was stunned. He’d thought of many reasons, but not this.
“Any job will do.”
Su Huan leaned against the car window, his tall frame stretched out, a faint playful smile on his lips. “Empty-handed and you want to pull strings with me?”
Sensing the dirty thoughts flashing through Su Huan’s mind, the girl’s sweet smile stiffened.
With their current gap, unless Su Huan showed her, she absolutely couldn’t guess his inner thoughts. Clearly, this was deliberate teasing.
Lin Xi was shocked. “It’s just an ordinary job. Does it need pulling strings?”
Seeing she was serious, Su Huan toned down the playfulness.
“Tell me, what do you want to do?”
Lin Xi grabbed a strand of silver hair, pondered a moment. “I’m not sure, but I don’t want to interrogate prisoners…”
Seeing her fiddling smoothly, Su Huan grew curious about the hair’s feel and grabbed a strand to twirl on his fingertip.
Cool and silky like silver wire—nice texture.
Lin Xi’s eyes widened slightly, but for the sake of pulling strings, she pouted and endured.
“What are your specific abilities now?”
“‘Collector’ is currently Tier 1 ‘Mapper’, ‘Manipulator’ is currently Tier 1 ‘Perceptual Synchronization’.”
Lin Xi stated her professions.
Of these two professions, Su Huan had actually heard of the latter.
This manipulation ability was a bit odd.
Unlike other Manipulators who could precisely control one thing.
‘Perceptual Synchronization’ was somewhat like ‘Seed of Hatred’—an ability mastering abstract concepts.
She could control her own perceptions, like reducing her own pain sensation or enhancing a certain sensory organ. Similarly, she could enhance others’ sensory organs.
We often feel that cold and warmth are self-known; no one can truly empathize.
But this ability could adjust two different people’s perceptions to sync.
The ability wasn’t weak, just didn’t directly boost combat power much.
“‘Perceptual Synchronization’ next stage is ‘Sympathetic Web’, right?”
Su Huan asked uncertainly.
Lin Xi nodded in surprise. “I haven’t fully generated this profession’s abilities yet. How do you know?”
Su Huan sealed his mind and gave her a profound look.
He not only knew this profession’s Tier 2 name but also that Tier 3 was ‘Group Consciousness Resonance’.
Unfortunately, still no Tier 4 as usual.
“What’s your ‘Mapper’? How’s it different from Su Leiya’s profiling?”
“She’s inferring past events; I’m profiling minds. I’ve fully evolved this ability’s Tier 2, just haven’t met the promotion standard yet. What do you think sounds good?”
With no one around, Lin Xi spoke a lot at once.
“Mind profiling? Telepath… Singer?”
Su Huan tossed out a few casually, pondering what Lin Xi could do.
Lin Xi’s eyes lit up slightly. “Let’s call it ‘Mind Singer’. Brother Su Huan is amazing. Director Xu thought forever without a solid name, but Brother Su Huan got it instantly.”
“Snort!”
Su Huan tugged her hair, watching her adoring little eyes turn to veiled disdain.
Perhaps from experiment experiences, the girl was good at hiding.
But due to both being Gene Primordia, Lin Xi always showed her true side to him.
“Over the top. You got the bargain, emotional value, and now a little job isn’t too much, right?”
Su Huan pinched her collagen-filled cheek, squinting faintly. “I’ll tell Yu Jing later, give you an assistant job or something. But since you wanted the job yourself, show attitude. Slack one bit, and I’ll toss you to Director Xu’s Laboratory to boil bones for oil.”
Due to special gene attraction, Lin Xi sensed Su Huan was serious.
With him, exchange was the iron rule.
Once in position, one should seriously fulfill it.
Lin Xi nodded. “Can you let go of my face first?”
……
Carriage 12.
Professor Ma led his students, clearing a large space in the crowded carriage.
Right in the middle was a dirt-scented stone, about one meter cubed.
Around it were Professor Ma’s latest scientific research results: communication devices linking two trains.
Professor Ma tinkered with the equipment while explaining to his students; Xiao Zhao recorded personally beside him.
Shu Wei briefly noted the results on the tablet.
Suddenly, unexpected information popped up on the tablet.
Looking at the symbol for Black Kite internal communication.
Pale fingertips paused a moment before tapping it.
