Chapter 36: Countdown: Day Four
The rear carriage was somewhat dim.
The old man stood grimly in front of the car window.
When he saw it open, he knew something was wrong, but he still harbored a sliver of hope in his heart.
He never expected the train to retreat, and for Su Huan to personally lead the team out. He was instantly overjoyed.
But an evolver was still left on the train, so he could only wait for good news from Gao Zhe’s side.
The result was obvious.
Su Huan returned. Whether Gao Zhe was dead or had escaped no longer mattered.
No one in the rear carriage was qualified to negotiate with Su Huan.
The train conductor’s authority was once again unprecedentedly consolidated.
……
A knocking sound rang out.
“Come in.”
Su Huan said indifferently, with no intention of getting out of the bathtub.
He never locked the door. When there were people around, there was no need to lock it; when there were none, even less so.
Yu Jing and the others often entered the room to fetch things for him.
Yu Yue pushed the door open and walked in. Her gaze swept around the room before landing on the bathroom in the corner.
Hearing the sound of water inside, she felt slightly awkward. “I saw that you seemed injured…”
Su Huan set down the logbook and glanced at his left shoulder, where a large scorched mark had appeared, like a hard shell attached to it.
Some of the poisonous liquid that Gao Zhe had thrown had flowed in through his collar.
To prevent the toxin from spreading, he had directly carbonized that part of his flesh and blood with high temperature.
He was used to such injuries long ago.
Once he evolved, or after some time passed, the carbonized part would flake off.
“Creak”
Su Huan pulled open the door panel and saw Yu Yue standing in the middle of the room holding a tray, on which were medicines like iodine and bandages.
“I want to help you treat the wound.” Yu Yue subconsciously thought of some cold healing processes upon seeing the naked Su Huan, her complexion tense.
Su Huan then remembered that she was a nurse.
After thinking for a moment, “Come over.”
He casually draped his injured arm outside.
Yu Yue stepped forward, prepared the items, and before she could start, she heard Su Huan say, “Missing something. Go get a bit of that whiskey from the dining car for me, and some ice cubes.”
Yu Yue hurriedly did as told and soon returned with a cup of ice cubes and whiskey.
With a conflicted expression, she said, “This alcohol can’t disinfect.”
Su Huan curled his lip. “That’s for me to drink.”
“Oh.”
Yu Yue said no more and crouched at the bathroom doorway to treat his wound.
Su Huan downed half a small cup in one go, crunching the ice cubes in his mouth.
Alcohol could remain purified water even in the apocalypse, but it was expensive. In his previous life, his supplies were meager, so he never had the chance to enjoy this.
Now that the most urgent matters for the armored train were settled, he could finally relax a bit.
After a while, Su Huan turned his head to look at the woman picking at his shoulder with tweezers. After half a day, she had only removed a small piece of charred flesh.
He frowned and flicked it with his finger.
A large chunk of charred flesh fell off, and blood surged out.
“Hurry and treat it. We’re entering the city tomorrow; you need to get up early to cook.”
Su Huan said calmly, as if the large pit on his shoulder hadn’t come from his own flesh.
The woman’s hands and feet moved much more deftly. “What do you want to eat for breakfast tomorrow?”
Su Huan shook his whiskey glass. “Wontons.”
Soon, the wound was treated. Yu Yue began packing up the items, stealing glances at Su Huan from time to time, hesitant to speak.
“Say what you want to say quickly. I’m going to sleep.”
Su Huan said irritably.
“I… really didn’t hear his position…”
Yu Yue looked like a child who had done something wrong, her face tinged with trepidation.
She had been thrilled to become an evolver, feeling like she finally had some use, but she hadn’t expected such a major blunder on her first task.
The enemy had been so close, yet she hadn’t issued any warning.
Thinking of Su Huan’s cold-hearted demeanor in the past, she had been on edge the whole way back, fearing that her mistake would get both her and her daughter kicked off the train.
After hesitating for a long time, she decided to admit her mistake first, lest the petty train conductor note it down in his notebook.
She had heard that his little black notebook recorded everyone he took a disliking to.
Su Huan was somewhat surprised.
‘Am I that scary?’
A dark voice slipped out involuntarily. “Did you really not hear… or were you hoping I’d die out there?”
Yu Yue’s almond-shaped eyes widened suddenly, her plump lips instantly losing color.
“I, I…”
Her vulnerable appearance,
His fingers twirled the hair at the woman’s temple, his tone eerie with a hint of desire. “You wouldn’t want your mistake to cause you and your daughter to end up wandering the wasteland together, right?”
Water splashed as Su Huan stood up.
The woman panicked and tried to stand to explain, but her legs were numb from squatting too long. She stumbled and knelt on the floor, her full thighs pressing out a plump curve.
His fingertip grazed the woman’s sensitive delicate earlobe, and Su Huan chuckled mockingly. “Good attitude.”
“…”
Perhaps Gao Zhe was right; he was just a bad seed.
……
The next day, Su Huan woke very early, in a foul mood.
Sitting in the cold chaos, Su Huan ground his teeth darkly. After a while, he walked to the window side.
Just like yesterday, it started raining again at midnight. The air carried misty water vapor and persistent stifling heat. The air conditioner running at full power had a strained, hoarse flavor.
He pulled open the steel plate and stuck the thermometer from the table out the window, watching the red line soar.
Su Huan’s bad mood gained another layer of irritation.
“December 21st, rain, 35°C”
“Four days until the heat outbreak.”
He left the private room and went straight to carriage 2, where a five-meter-tall integrated water purifier stood quietly, reassuring to behold.
He circled the water purifier. A metal nameplate on it listed the water purifier’s information.
It could filter river or lake water with turbidity ≤3000mg/L, equivalent to rivers carrying massive mud and sand after heavy rain or untreated lake water.
The end connected to the water tank inside the carriage.
Each carriage had two such water tanks, each holding two tons of water. Internally, they had baffles to prevent liquid sloshing, just like the nearby fuel tank.
On the second level, there was an opening where rainwater collected via the collector into the water storage tank.
This changed Su Huan’s view of rainy days quite a bit.
Later, adding a pH adjustment device at the end would solve purified water collection in acid rain areas.
He placed his palm on the water purifier, and the massive machine hummed to life, filtering all the collected rainwater and injecting it into the already prepared water tank.
But it only filled half a water tank.
By the time Su Huan came down, dawn was just breaking, and Yu Yue was already busy in the dining car.
Carrying a humble air of ‘please don’t make things hard for me since I’m working so hard.’
Su Huan sneered silently and sat nearby, staring at her.
Yu Yue was a bit nervous, tidying here and wiping there, not daring to idle even in brief lulls.
The hem of her ginger yellow shirt lifted slightly with her movements, revealing a creamy waistline.
The evolver-enhanced supple muscles tensed into a breathtaking curve when she bent over, like a willow branch bent by spring breeze, restoring to a full, smooth line the instant she straightened.
Finally, the wontons were ready.
Yu Yue carefully brought them over. “Brother Su, want some chili oil?”
Looking at her meek and submissive appearance, Su Huan’s anger flared. He scooped a large spoonful of chili oil into the bowl and stirred, then picked up a wonton and held it to her lips.
Yu Yue hesitated, then puffed her lips and blew on it for a long time until the wrapper wrinkled, revealing the glistening filling underneath, before taking a bite.
The wonton rolled in the spoon, skin and filling intact.
[This chapter has review edits]
