Chapter 302: Mentality Collapsed
Xinma County, outside a certain abandoned residential community.
The girl wearing a white skirt and green jacket gently knocked on the room door.
“Excuse me, is anyone there?”
In the messy room, the scavenger who had just finished drinking compressed biscuits soaked in water was thinking about what method to use tomorrow to scam some supplies from the train. This kind of fat sheep was rare, so he had to make a few more deals before she left.
Hearing the crisp female voice outside the door, the scavenger was stunned for a moment.
A woman?
Or the voice of a young woman?
It must be that he had rewarded himself too much recently, and his brain was having hallucinations.
How could there possibly be a young woman coming to the edge of the county town late at night.
There were only zombies and beasts here, plus scavengers like them who were even worse than beasts. Even the chickens protected by the convoy wouldn’t come to the outskirts to do business.
The scavenger rolled over, left foot pressing on right foot, indulging freely.
How long had it been since his wife died that he hadn’t touched a woman?
Over half a month, right?
The last woman wasn’t great, old and skinny.
Tomorrow after getting the supplies, go inside and find a woman to relax properly.
“Dong dong!”
The knocking sound came again, and the scavenger’s bloodshot eyes suddenly widened.
There really is a woman!
His lower body and throat reacted at the same time.
The scavenger cautiously walked to the doorway and looked outside.
He saw a well-behaved and serene girl standing at the door, her cleanliness making him dazedly feel like he was back before the apocalypse.
At that time, he would open the door and ask her doubtfully yet gently, “Miss, who are you looking for?”
But the stench around his nose and the saliva in his mouth clearly told him he was in the apocalypse.
Now he just wanted to pull this clean girl in, get her on the bed first, then into the pot!
The girl raised her fair arm, about to knock again.
The scavenger’s hand also quietly touched the door handle.
Just as he was about to suddenly open the door, the girl suddenly stopped and smiled cutely at the peephole, “I said she’s here!”
“Boom!”
The huge collapsing sound made the entire building shake three times.
In the scavenger’s dazed gaze, a youth wearing a special edition trench coat walked in, his eyes full of rich metallic color.
“Hello, I’m Lieutenant of the Armed Corps, Qi Xiao Ba.”
“How much was it again…” Xiao Ba unfolded a piece of paper and read solemnly, “Principal plus interest, a total of thirty portions of 340g luncheon meat canned food, forty portions of 200g compressed biscuits, and thirty bottles of 550ml purified water. Please return them immediately, or I will take compulsory measures.”
To ensure his persuasiveness, all the metal in the room had been twisted by Xiao Ba into thick steel bars, woven into a cage that perfectly trapped the scavenger in the middle.
At the same time, a clear voice appeared in the ears of everyone in Xinma County.
“I am Major Yu Yue of the Armored Train. Please return the illegally obtained supplies before sunset. The list is too long, so I won’t list it here. We will visit one by one next to ensure the train’s interests are not damaged.”
The clear voice wrapped in a layer of warmth, like sunlight-dried velvet, but it made many people break out in cold sweat.
But more people instantly understood what the gunfire outside represented.
The four words “Armored Train” were forcefully imprinted into everyone’s minds by the gentle voice at this moment.
Qu Hang on the rooftop tilted his head to listen for a moment, then turned and shot dead the opponent’s only Tier 1 Evolver with one shot. The wind carried his cold voice throughout the entire camp.
“Armored Train, Major Qu Hang, here to collect debt.”
……
Not just forces like Guangli and Daguang.
Everyone who had scammed the Armored Train, whether multi-person forces or single scavengers, as long as they were in Xinma County, were all visited by the Armed Corps.
Xinma County after sunset was not dark, but exceptionally bright instead.
While some small forces were still hesitating, three major convoys had already been flattened—two of them.
Two camps had been pushed halfway.
A swift figure roamed through the camp. Ordinary evolvers hadn’t even reacted to what happened when they saw a silver flash, and the only sound by their ears before death was the violent roar of a lion.
His speed wasn’t fast, not even catching up to the melee “Defenders” roaming around him, nor did he have the leisure and elegance of gunslingers in movies.
He had a total of six handguns on him: two under his armpits, two at his waist, two on his thighs. Bright Lion’s magazine capacity was nine rounds; six guns together were only fifty-four bullets.
He needed to repeatedly shoot and change magazines.
But these two ordinary actions were sped up countless times by him; the sound of magazines dropping and sleeves being pulled even formed a certain rhythm.
The precise and stable actions contrasted sharply with Bright Lion’s wildly jumping muzzle.
The violent recoil conducted from his fingertips to his arm, spreading throughout his body. When “Dynamic Calibration” was stimulated to its peak, Lu Xiao could even sense the differences in each roar of the Bright Lion in his hand.
‘Differences in the amount of gunpowder loaded’
‘The two guns differ by two grams in weight’
‘Rifling in the right gun barrel has a bump’
“……”
In an instant, various insights surfaced in his mind.
He even had a feeling that he could replace parts for another handgun in the gaps between shots!
That sense of control over the firearm’s limits exhilarated his spirit to the extreme.
The three skills “Combat Factor”, “Dynamic Calibration”, and “Overload Shooting” intertwined under the vibration, and the resulting effect was that Lu Xiao’s rate of fire soared another doubling.
One person’s suppression even exceeded three “Firepower Specialists”!
“Combat Factor” gave him strong combat literacy, “Dynamic Calibration” brought his firearm perception to the limit, improving his shooting accuracy, and “Overload Shooting” pushed the combined effect of the two skills to the peak.
A handgun with nine-round magazine capacity became comparable to a submachine gun in his hands.
Even more terrifying was the precision: over forty people hiding behind various covers—four sniped by Miao Qi, two killed by the roaming protective “Defenders”, and the rest all taken out by him alone.
At the moment the gunfire stopped, including the several Armed Corps soldiers providing cover, everyone fell silent in place.
Smelling the pungent gunpowder smell, Lu Xiao took a full three breaths before suddenly shuddering, snapping out of that exhilarated state, and only then realizing that the problem troubling him for so long was solved.
Tier 1 “Dual-wield Wanderer”, achieved!
“Dazed?”
Miao Qi pointed her muzzle downward and quickly ran over to pat his back.
“I did it!”
Lu Xiao said excitedly.
Miao Qi scanned the surroundings vigilantly while complaining, “Master, drawing sulfur won’t make you ascend.”
Lu Xiao was speechless, flipped his hand to show the Bright Lion, and lightly tossed it into the air.
Then, during the handgun’s fall, he swiftly reached out.
“Huh?”
Watching the man’s fingers turn into afterimages, Miao Qi’s gaze was subtle.
The handgun seemed to freeze in mid-air, “slowly” turning into a pile of parts.
The next instant, it became a complete Bright Lion again and landed in Lu Xiao’s hand.
“Tier 1!”
“Miao Qiqi, I beat you to it!”
Lu Xiao patted the woman’s shoulder and laughed heartily.
“Miao Qi!” Miao Qi emphasized, then said coolly, “All killed. If we can’t collect the debt later, you explain to the Train Conductor.”
Lu Xiao’s sweaty back suddenly chilled, “Forgot, any still breathing?”
“Old Da, all dead, you say?”
The medic who had checked around helplessly spread his hands.
The other two also looked at Lu Xiao. Seeing her own man looking a bit flustered, Miao Qi stepped forward and said, “Have the first NCO squad guard the exit, second NCO squad search the warehouse. One target I shot earlier fled; it should be a big fish. Let’s go catch her!”
……
On the other side, dozens of students and teachers stood at the end of the dark passage, waiting anxiously.
Soon, the woman with an injured arm crawled out from the dark passage.
“Dean!”
“Teacher Zhou!”
“Sister Zhou!”
A group of people hurriedly went up to support the woman.
The woman shook her head, “The bullet passed through, it’s fine. The opponent is very strong; our hired people won’t hold for long. While they’re striking everywhere, let’s hurry and leave Xinma County!”
Lu Yu hesitated, “Dean, we left them all behind to escape ourselves… isn’t that great?”
Dean Zhou said calmly, “We’ve been working day and night, using all earned supplies to feed them, just so they protect us when we’re in danger. Now the dangerous time has come; they should protect us to evacuate.”
Seeing the faintly unkind gazes from the surrounding classmates, Lu Yu waved his hands repeatedly, “I mean, without mercenaries or vehicles, we won’t survive long after leaving the county town…”
Dean Zhou glanced at the shelter painstakingly built with the students behind her, her mouth bitter. She wasn’t unaware of this reasoning.
But what could be done about it.
At the opponent’s speed of killing like mowing grass, not leaving meant death.
Early death or late death, had to struggle a bit.
Maybe there’s a turn of events.
At that moment, the sound of a car engine came from the end of the road.
An armored off-road vehicle stopped by the roadside, the words “Armored Train” printed on the body making their scalps numb even more.
Looking at the teachers and students like frightened birds, Gao Yuan in the passenger seat turned his ring, somewhat awkwardly, “There are people ahead…”
A large group, gunshot wounds, and that obviously abnormal fear.
Clearly ran into a school of fish, and such a big one likely had a big fish inside.
Tong Zizhan’s face was taut, every word squeezed out through gritted teeth, “I! KNOW!”
“Damn it, how the hell did you lead the way.”
Gao Yuan got angry, “The steering wheel isn’t in my hands; you blame me for hitting such a big fish?!”
The several squad soldiers in the back seat looked at each other.
Soldier One: Isn’t it said that principal officer and adjutant board together, with the best relationship?
Soldier Two: How would I know?
Soldier Three: What’s a fish?
“Captain, we… not taking action?”
“Take what action?”
Tong Zizhan pretended to be calm, his mind frantically thinking of excuses.
“They’ve all prepared to be caught.”
Tong Zizhan looked at the students under the headlights, huddled tightly together, their expressions like they were about to be martyrs.
Veins bulged on his forehead.
‘Why don’t these idiots leave!’
The SUVs with guns mounted on both sides: “???”
“Right, is this our mission objective?”
Gao Yuan suddenly asked.
Tong Zizhan had a flash of inspiration and instantly agreed, “Mission objective is on you; check it.”
Gao Yuan picked up a stack of papers and quickly scanned, “No women, no such group of young people.”
Tong Zizhan’s complexion instantly relaxed, exhaling, “Wrong ones, withdraw!”
The two NCO squads poised to act looked baffled but instinctively lowered their weapons.
“So it was you guys making trouble, Tong.”
A lazy voice came from the street corner.
Tong Zizhan and Gao Yuan’s scalps instantly exploded, blood draining from their faces, trembling as they opened the car door.
Sure enough, they saw a figure as black as if merged into the night strolling toward the crowd. The man was tall, with narrow long eyes like ink dots, corners of his mouth seeming to smile but not, the only bright color being the earring on his earlobe like interlocking gold and silver fish.
Although he knew this day would come sooner or later, when it really arrived, Tong Zizhan was no longer afraid.
But his heart wasn’t relieved as if a stone was lifted.
Instead, it carried an indescribable guilt.
How had Deep Blue Data treated him?
Early on, it indeed gave plenty of resources, letting him evolve, but after he promoted to Tier 1, he hadn’t stayed long in the company.
Gao Yuan even more so; almost his entire career had been spent on the Armored Train.
Over time, the two sometimes subconsciously thought of themselves as Armed Train members, only occasionally remembering Deep Blue Data as that beautiful but unsuitable ex-girlfriend.
The resources provided by the train, though not as high-level as Deep Blue Data.
But the treatment inside the train was absolutely top-tier.
Standards all followed core member levels.
Now the train’s situation was good, and in evolution resources, it even surpassed Deep Blue Data.
And the Train Conductor treated them with utmost sincerity; every core meeting of the Armed Train had them, they had personally participated in every major battle and growth of the Armed Train, and…
Had great merit!
Otherwise, Tong Zizhan wouldn’t have been promoted to Captain.
“Train Conductor.”
Tong Zizhan’s mouth was bitter as he subconsciously pulled out a cigarette.
Wanting one last puff.
He knew, with the Train Conductor’s temperament of not tolerating sand in his eyes, he couldn’t go back alive today.
“Pa!”
“I thought a zombie horde came; turns out it was you guys making the noise.”
Su Huan smiled and took the lighter from his hand, igniting a bright flame.
Looking at the Train Conductor’s narrow long eyes under the firelight, Tong Zizhan was completely stunned, dazed in place until Su Huan lit the cigarette.
“We…”
Su Huan tilted his head, greeted the injured woman behind, then put the lighter back in Tong Zizhan’s pocket.
He smiled faintly, “Don’t worry, no one can take away your merit.”
“But you’re now officers leading teams; merit needs to be shared with subordinates.”
Tong Zizhan, Gao Yuan: “?”
Didn’t notice?
Tong Zizhan’s heart raced up and down, carefully observing Su Huan’s complexion.
Heart collapsing; he was prepared to confess.
It was just a misunderstanding?
(Sorry, brain was a bit foggy yesterday, wrote messily; just adjusted, plot unchanged, mainly tweaked text. Interested brothers can rescan; no impact if not.)
(Missed the point, full attendance broken this day, over two thousand gone, mentality collapsed.)
