Armed Train in the Apocalypse

Chapter 130: Chapter 120: Full-Train Surveillance

General-purpose Exoskeleton: Scavenger-I Model.

That’s the full name settled on.

Su Huan took down the customized version hanging there and asked, ”How do you wear this?”

Yu Jing pointed at her calf, ”Actually, the suitable method is to use it next to the skin, so the exoskeleton can fit closer to the muscles.”

”Is that why you’re not wearing clothes?”

”You can wear clothes, but it affects the feel. I plan to design a form-fitting combat suit, specifically to wear inside the exoskeleton.”

”Similar to yoga pants or workout gear?”

”Something like that.”

During the conversation, the conductor had already prepared, stark naked.

Yu Jing squatted and flicked a switch on the exoskeleton, looking up with her clean face and said, ”You can infuse energy first.”

Su Huan raised an eyebrow, and the pan-energy transformation current quickly poured into the exoskeleton beneath his feet, ”Like this?”

Before the words fell, the armor-like plates on the exoskeleton’s foot quickly opened to either side, revealing a black sole. At Yu Jing’s signal, he stepped onto it, and then a slight friction sound came from the foot. The plates began to close automatically, covering the entire foot up to the ankle.

Yu Jing explained, ”The shoes are fully sealed, and the plates are made of blue steel. If energy is infused, they will open and close according to your intentions. Without energy, they can only be operated manually.”

Su Huan found it intriguing, operated a few more times, ”Can’t these plates cover the whole body?”

”Currently no, the technology isn’t there yet.”

Yu Jing secured the straps around the waist and legs, and Su Huan immediately felt a difference.

It felt like gaining an extra set of bones; even if he did nothing but simply stood there, he could feel a force supporting him.

”Will it be corroded by acid rain?”

”We’ve considered that. A membrane coats the metal surface, and the joints use Tier One Butcher gelatin for lubrication, so it won’t be eroded by acid rain in the short term.”

Su Huan moved his body slightly, then quickly punched forward.

He showed a satisfied expression, not feeling the drag he anticipated.

The exoskeleton on his arm fit swiftly with his movements.

Then came a series of tactical actions like running, jumping, and rolling.

Su Huan tried out every movement he could think of, and if it weren’t for the occasional sharp sound of the exoskeleton colliding with ground components, he would barely feel any resistance.

Amazingly flexible.

Also, thanks to the special material of the bionic suction cups on the feet, he didn’t have to slow down his pace, and walking was silent.

”You can try walking on the wall, remember to maintain the energy,” Yu Jing reminded from the side.

Su Huan walked straight towards the wall, and his feet were like octopus tentacles. The moment they stepped on it, they adhered firmly, allowing him to walk along the ninety-degree wall.

As long as energy transmission is stable, even violent struggling won’t make him fall off.

For Su Huan, maintaining steady energy transmission is no issue; even in battle, he could supply stable energy to various devices.

Coming down from the train carriage wall, Su Huan openly praised the exoskeleton.

He decided to slip his clothes over it and didn’t take them off again.

Before leaving, he urged Yu Jing to make a few more as soon as possible.

Then he headed to carriage No. 11.

As he walked, he was still pondering over how many points would be appropriate to set the price for this thing.

Considering Jiang Rong and Lu Xiao’s speed at earning points, a hundred points seemed too cheap, while over a thousand they certainly wouldn’t attempt. Setting it at four to five hundred each might be reasonable.

It’s a level that they could reach with some effort.

It could temporarily harvest some of their points while ensuring the value of the points, without discouraging them from earning more.

Moreover, future maintenance and customization would be long-term business.

The passageway between carriages 10 and 11 was piled with a lot of debris, including various circuit boards, hard drives, monitors, and cables and equipment Su Huan couldn’t recognize.

This was purely chaotic.

Frowning, he navigated around these obstacles and opened the door to carriage No. 11, his brows jumping at the scene before him.

The students didn’t inherit a bit of Professor Ma’s refinement, or rather, Professor Ma’s refinement didn’t extend to their work.

This time he truly felt like he had intruded into a space station.

The original compartments on each side had all been dismantled, replaced with lots of equipment he couldn’t understand, like layers in a miniature building. Fans buzzed with noise, and densely packed wires interlaced on top, looking like his grandmother’s knitting yarn, operating with a logic he couldn’t comprehend.

There were also three students squatting there, continuing to add to this complex mass of wires.

Hearing footsteps, he turned and greeted Su Huan.

”Is Professor Ma inside?”

”Yes, the teacher is over in the monitoring room.”

Su Huan continued walking forward. The walls were lined with many small cabinets and various binding straps, with indicator lights suddenly flashing.

Another student hurried over, grabbed a laptop mounted on a stand, and began to operate it.

The knowledgeable train conductor glanced over.

Hmm, can’t understand.

However, he was satisfied with this feeling, crossing through the crisscrossing equipment, looking at the dazzling interface of the monitors, giving him an inexplicable sense of security.

It’s a sense of security wrapped in civilization, steel, and information.

Carriage No. 12 was completely connected with Carriage No. 11, and the door in the middle no longer served as a partition. The room was divided into several workstations of varying sizes, with Professor Ma’s workstation at the very center.

Seeing him coming, the old man stood up and walked a few steps to greet him, smiling gently, ”A few days ago there was some progress, but I’m not sure if it meets your requirements. I’ve pondered it over the past few days and added some things.”

”Hmm, I’m looking forward to it as well.”

Su Huan brought a bit of seriousness to the conversation. If the steel train is a body, then the terminal system crafted by Professor Ma is the train’s nervous system and senses.

With this system, he could truly interact with the external environment.

And extend his reach into all aspects of the train.

If one does not understand it, how can they control the train?

In the center of the desk was a giant screen, but not the information center one. It was surrounded by a dozen screens of various models, and Su Huan even saw the tablet he used to view the map last time.

He didn’t know how they were all connected.

”This is the monitoring section for the entire train. Compared to the database and artificial intelligence, this is easier and more intuitive.”

After briefly introducing it, Professor Ma gave a signal to Xiaozhao.

The young man promptly responded, pressing a few keys on the keyboard, and the data on all the screens abruptly vanished, changing to a unified display.

Su Huan clearly saw the content on it, and his eyes lit up.

The central screen vividly showed workers busy on the roof of Car No. 7.

Although their figures were slightly blurred by rain, Su Huan could still clearly see Huang Sea conversing with Wang He, their expressions visibly discernible.

Perhaps attracted by the sound, everyone looked up, and Su Huan observed the astonishment on their faces, noting every detail.

The other dozen screens each displayed different views, some from a few dozen meters off the side of the train, overlooking the steel giant lying on the rails through the rain.

Others showed views from in front of the control room, peering into the interior through explosion-proof nets and new glass.

Still others viewed from angles on the train’s body, looking at the buildings on either side.

One screen appeared to lock onto something, with a red frame flashing on it.

Xiaozhao introduced, ”The framed ones indicate that a drone captured a moving object. A green frame indicates a human, whereas anything unidentifiable is red. Currently, this recognition system can only judge based on existing data and has a high error rate with the Evolution Beasts, which we’re working on improving.”

”The flashing red frame, for example, might be a zombie inside the building that we captured on camera.”

Curiosity flickered in Su Huan’s eyes, ”How did you manage to launch drones without losing signal? Has Pan Energy Technology made a breakthrough?”

On the side, Xiaozhao awkwardly glanced at the teacher, and under the other’s encouraging gaze, he truthfully said, ”Actually, the pan-energy problem is not solved. I just thought of a clever workaround, using wired drones for connectivity.”

Su Huan realized, ”So, all these drones are trailing wires behind them?”

”Yes, this way, not only is the image transmission stable, but energy can also be transmitted, ensuring that drones can hover for extended periods. The only downside is that their flight range is restricted, with the furthest drone currently reaching only about three hundred meters in height, which is shown on the central screen.”

As Xiaozhao explained, the drone gradually ascended, and the altitude in the lower left corner of the screen reached 300m before stopping.

The steel train in the footage transformed into a long line, and the workers appeared like tiny ants.

Xiaozhao picked up the tablet on the desk, tapped it a few times, and connected it with a data cable before passing it to Su Huan.

”Please take a look, Conductor; this shows our current location and the surrounding map.”

”Map?”

”We retrieved data from tens of thousands of electronic devices on the train to compile this electronic map, then added some parameters. For instance, areas flown over by our drones are illuminated, while surrounding areas are gray. Places with zombies or resources are marked.”

”How many drones in total, and how are they deployed?”

”There are a total of forty-four drones, one for each carriage, with three boasting extra-long cables. These are the main screen one and the two at the front and rear of the train. Currently, the drones are housed indoors. We’re thinking of creating fixed flight pods atop the carriages for placing and replacing damaged drones.”

”The flight pod design is feasible; you can start implementing it today if you have ideas. Where is the footage taken by the drones stored, and how many days’ worth can it hold?”

”All footage captured by drones is stored in the database. Due to the size of 4k material, only three primary cameras use 4k, while the rest maintain standard 1080p HD quality...”

Professor Ma smiled and nodded at the side.

Evidently, he wanted his student to showcase his skills before Su Huan.