Chapter 278: Sudden Outburst
“And there’s us from Donghuang Heavy Industry, sorry for the disturbance.”
A man and a woman hurried down from the rooftop. Compared to the others’ sharp killing aura, the woman carried a scholarly air, and the equipment she had on looked more like that of a scientific research worker. The tall, skinny man behind her was no different from the others.
Su Huan didn’t even need to use his ability; one glance was enough to tell that all three from Gunfire were Tier 2 Evolvers, and among the two newcomers, the tall, skinny man was Tier 2.
Only that old woman who had just walked out with Black Kite—he couldn’t gauge her depth.
She even had very little General Energy Fluctuation, and her whole body carried a decaying aura, like an antique from the last century that had crawled out. Every move she made clearly didn’t fit in with everyone else.
Based on the information Shu Wei had provided before the battle, she must be Director Number Two from Black Kite.
Xiao San rose to power and could suppress Mister Shu; there must be a story behind it.
Unfortunately, the Train Conductor had no time to listen to stories right now.
As for the Golden Kite beside the woman, Tier 2 “Roaming God,” his weapon was still gripped in his hand.
“Fuck, those useless bastards outside let in five people without a sound from over three hundred of them!”
Goat cursed under his breath.
Yu Yue gently shook her head and quietly walked behind Su Huan.
The others also gathered around the Train Conductor.
“Pretty polite.”
Su Huan smiled and removed the white bracelet from his wrist.
The terrifying aura of two Tier 2 Evolvers spread unchecked through the theater.
Thanks to Black Kite’s importance, Su Huan had perfectly advanced during the battle to become a Tier 2 “Fighting Expert.” It sounded ordinary, far less impressive than the dozen or so evolution paths like “Fighter,” “Death Gladiator,” “Iron Fist,” “Fist Tyrant,” and so on.
But the name was secondary; the key was how well the awakened ability matched his existing ones.
For example, the two new skills awakened by “Fighting Expert.”
The first was called “Gas Vortex.” As the name implied, it was a special fighting technique. “Fighting Expert” could incorporate it into ordinary moves, creating a vortex of gas on attack with effects like pulling, grabbing, and deflecting.
It could also be used purely as an “enchantment” to boost lethality.
At the “Fighter” stage, the main attack method was “striking,” but at the “Fighting Expert” stage, the primary combat method became “grappling.” Though still bare-handed, the difficulty to deal with skyrocketed.
Because reality wasn’t a game. “Fighting Expert” was powerful bare-handed, but no one really fought bare-handed; they would always train with a handy weapon to some degree.
Like Golden Kite’s type: thrust a spear, and one strike could shatter you—that was the mainstream way of fighting in the wasteland.
The second skill was even more direct, called “Internal Vision.”
Though there were many “Internal Vision” methods before the apocalypse, none were as direct as this evolved one.
It made this abstract concept concrete.
This skill was the core reason Su Huan chose this profession.
In his previous life, he’d heard that when “Internal Vision” evolved to high-level, Evolvers could use it to inspect hidden injuries and perform fine repairs.
Unfortunately, in his previous life, he’d never seen a Tier 2 “Fighting Expert,” and even that rumored “high-level” one was just a Tier 3 powerhouse living in others’ tales.
Legends like this abounded in the wasteland.
The advancement method in his hand had been traded in a Deep Blue Data bundle. He hadn’t paid it much mind originally, but after Gene Collapse, this evolution path entered his sights.
He was betting that “Internal Vision” could resolve bodily hidden dangers in its later stages.
As Su Huan fully released his aura.
The three from Gunfire, who had been relaxed, immediately tensed up like facing a great enemy. They activated their abilities to stay alert, manifesting outwardly as each looking like a beast that had crawled out of a mountain of corpses and sea of blood, exuding terrifying menace just by standing there.
The tall, skinny man shielded the woman behind him, looking warily at Su Huan.
“Clang!”
He casually swung the fencing sword in his hand, producing a rounded whoosh through the air.
Su Huan looked down imperiously at everyone. “Since everyone’s here, come at me all together.”
“Wait!”
Director Number Two immediately frowned. “Who said we came to gang up on you?”
Su Huan pointed at the Four-armed Fierce Ghost, Zhong You, and the butler on the ground with his sword tip, his lips curling slightly. “They said at first they came to maintain negotiation security. Hey, you’re not about to say you’re here to negotiate too, are you?”
Sensing the mockery in the Train Conductor’s words, Director Number Two swallowed her negotiation words.
But thinking about it, any euphemism now would carry strong sarcasm.
‘Lived over a hundred years, first time meeting such an annoying little ghost!’
Director Number Two fumed inwardly, saying stiffly, “Force is the foundation of negotiation. I’m not forcing you this time. Black Kite admits defeat. We hope you give reasonable terms.”
“Heh…”
“Lightning Pool.”
Without warning, thick lightning nearly white with density centered on Su Huan and instantly spread to every corner of the theater.
Each time the lightning hit an obstacle, it burst into hundreds of branched bolts, ionizing the air within ten li into blinding blue-white.
The ground instantly covered with a layer of liquid lightning like water. When someone tried to flee upward, they suddenly found the sky blanketed by a rolling thunder lake.
Eyes filled with shock or disbelief turned to the brutal figure in the center.
“Want to fight? Fight. Want to negotiate? Negotiate. Who the fuck gave you the face!”
The Train Conductor’s voice was like ice over a deep pool, cold to the point of sharpness.
“This Energy Intensity—is it really Tier 2?!”
The woman from Donghuang Heavy Industry’s eyes flashed with intense shock.
But before she could approach to observe, the tall, skinny man yanked her away.
Zhong You in the corner stared blankly at the scene, his face starting to twitch uncontrollably.
His mind replayed the image of his just-formed Cold Abyss domain being covered by the Lightning Pool.
Lightning being fast was one thing, insane density tolerable, but why couldn’t even the pure water he’d refined with his ability block it?!
How was this skill like it was hacked?
The burly man from Gunfire hurriedly shouted, “We’re not here to fight you. We really think the Armored Train…”
Before he finished, a bolt of lightning struck his mouth.
Su Huan’s figure had already vanished from the spot.
Director Number Two jerked her head up and saw the Train Conductor grinning to his ears, laughing madly as he charged. Lightning traced radiant patterns at his eye corners, long hair whipping wildly, fencing sword in one hand, spear in the other—like a thunder ghost rushing forth.
Director Number Two felt her heart stiffen for an instant.
But she reacted, shaking her decorative parasol. Smoke rose from her skirt as she suddenly flickered backward a distance.
“Huh?”
Su Huan’s black pupils boiled with killing intent. He reversed his grip on the fencing sword, fingertip trembling. A terrifying Gas Vortex appeared in his palm out of nowhere, making the flickering Director Number Two fly back like a bird with broken wings.
“Damn it!”
A roar came from behind. Su Huan’s eyes narrowed to a thin slit. He flipped his hand and stabbed the fencing sword into his lower back.
The Golden Kite man hesitated, saw Director Number Two retreat far, then backed away.
But the electric glow on the sword tip instantly surged, catching him off guard and interrupting Golden Kite’s retreat.
“Thunderstorm.”
Lightning promptly engulfed the opponent.
The slender fencing sword pierced into the body almost silently, without even drawing a drop of blood.
Dropping the fencing sword, he switched the cold blue spear to his dominant hand. Spear tip aimed at Director Number Two flickering wildly in the field. In an instant, the sharp whoosh drowned out even the thunder snakes’ hiss.
“Boom!”
The wall was pierced with a huge hole by this spear thrust.
Director Number Two also slipped out from under the spear in a way Su Huan couldn’t comprehend.
Instinct told him that old woman was injured.
But how badly was uncertain.
Su Huan halted, spine straight like a drawn bow.
“Want to test my marksmanship too?”
The ghostly voice echoed through the field.
The four Tier 2 from Donghuang Heavy Industry and Gunfire were scared stiff, two clinging to the wall like geckos. Metal objects on them occasionally drew small strands of lightning from the Lightning Pool.
“Crack—crack—” striking their bodies.
But the two were like wooden statues, not daring the slightest movement.
“Come down.”
Su Huan said flatly.
They climbed down obediently, looking resentfully at Golden Kite frozen behind Su Huan.
A proper Tier 2 “Roaming God” couldn’t hold out even one breath?
From start to finish, Su Huan only made one move: thrusting the fencing sword backward.
So this battle with multiple Tier 2 Evolvers ended exceptionally briefly.
Everyone was terrified by Su Huan’s decisiveness and ferocity.
As the Train Conductor’s emotions calmed, the Lightning Pool quieted too.
The deep blue lightning liquid underfoot was like a moon pool, dreamlike and gorgeous.
Reflecting all the gazes from different angles in the theater onto the wild, domineering figure in the center.
The Gunfire leader wanted to speak, but his electrified numb tongue could only spit vague syllables.
He wasn’t sure when his tongue would recover, but he was sure this was the first major force to rise since the apocalypse. Though it had only two thousand people, though it was just a kilometer-long train in size, though their resources were less than one percent, even a fraction of a percent of Gunfire’s…
But as long as this man existed, everywhere the train passed would become their territory range!
‘The fight for Gene Primordium won’t ease after this battle; it’ll only get crazier.’
The same conclusion appeared in the minds of all the leaders of major forces present.
On the other side, the woman from Donghuang Heavy Industry said sincerely, “Donghuang Heavy Industry really has no intent to wipe out the Armored Train, or we wouldn’t have sent just us two. We just want to contact a force like yours that killed its way out in the apocalypse, learn about other major districts…”
Su Huan’s eyes shifted, then he suddenly shouted, “He Jie, if you’re not dead, level the nearby hills!”
The cold voice spread outward like sound waves from a stone dropped in water.
Though no reply from He Jie, the sky brightened abruptly several times. Cannon fire mixed with earth-shaking landslides deafened.
The woman was somewhat bewildered, not understanding what Su Huan’s move meant.
The three from Gunfire looked rather bad.
“Heartbroken?”
Su Huan asked.
The bearded man clutched his messy curly hair, grieving, “Those hills have our three’s vehicles. You don’t know how far Gunfire HQ is from here. Those vehicles mean everything to us.”
Su Huan instinctively wanted to throw shade, but seeing the man’s honest attitude, he said mildly, “If you head north, you can hitch a ride on my train.”
The bearded man shook his head firmly. “No can do. Besides watching your conflict with Black Kite, we have other tasks.”
Another suddenly said, “The people involved are right here. Can’t we just trade with them for some Mutated Plants that boost vitality?”
“Idiot, can you beat him?”
“Forget it then.”
The woman from Donghuang Heavy Industry immediately said, “We also want to talk some transactions with the Armored Train.”
“Transaction?”
Su Huan’s eyes swept over.
The woman looked at the wrecked field around and Black Kite’s unlucky Tier 2s, awkwardly saying, “My position in the company isn’t that high. I can only act as a simple middleman. Details depend on you and our leader…”
Su Huan wasn’t surprised by Gunfire and Donghuang Heavy Industry’s quick change in tune.
When he clearly showed overwhelming strength, no one with a functioning brain would want to fight him.
Especially since they couldn’t win.
But Su Huan still didn’t plan to give them a good face.
The more domineering and unrestrained now, the more obedient they’d be.
True power lay not in how much value you created, but how much destruction you could cause.
Director Number Two’s tiger skin was pulled well, but unfortunately, Su Huan didn’t buy it.
Killing them all here—what then?
They were already here anyway; two more pits wouldn’t matter.
Thinking some bullshit alliance could contain him.
As long as he kept leading in personal evolution, this group would only watch his back grow ever more distant!
“Wait then. I have some things to handle here.”
Su Huan turned, one hand gripping Golden Kite whose neck could only turn slightly, dragging him back to Liang Kuan.
That sword of his wasn’t just a simple through wound.
It was a proper heart-piercing strike, the fencing sword lodged right in his ribs.
Only hanging on by the powerful vitality of a Tier 2 Evolver.
Once pulled out without proper rescue, even a Tier 2 “Defender” would die on the spot!
“Replicate the wounds on Liang Kuan exactly on him, one-to-one. Make sure he doesn’t die.”
Hearing Su Huan’s words, everyone’s hearts chilled.
Secretly labeling Su Huan as cold-blooded and cruel.
After handling this, Su Huan came to face Mister Shu.
Whether his sudden attack or Director Number Two’s fleeing, Mister Shu had shown utter indifference.
Su Huan admired this steady demeanor.
Just wondering if he’d keep it when it was time to pay war indemnity next.
Su Huan rubbed his hands like a gambler doing a luck ritual before revealing cards, then pressed Mister Shu’s shoulder and sat back on the leather sofa.
“Come on, Old Shu. Let’s continue our negotiation.”
(Picked up relatives, drove three or four hundred kilometers. Those who know think I was settling a marriage; those who don’t think I was doing long-haul trucking. Tail lights shook my eyes so bad I can’t focus now. Whole body’s numb.)
