Armed Train in the Apocalypse

Chapter 363: Chapter 246: Chasing the Whale

”Boom——”

A train curved into a ”U” shape and flew backwards underwater, then was gradually weakened by the terrifying suction of the vortex.

With inertia gone, it eventually stalled in the water, accompanied by a series of crisp ”snap” sounds as the metal connections broke, melting like clay to repair the cracks in the train’s body.

Compared to its majestic appearance when it first rolled off the line, the armed train now looked quite battered.

The body armor was largely shattered, with ordinary steel clinging to the heavy gray body like band-aids.

The carriages’ connections were completely sealed off by metal, losing any flexibility to bend.

The mechanical arms of the first few carriages, including the locomotive, were all broken, leaving only a couple of mechanical stubs jammed and unable to retract.

The [Alps Hammer] had dented the head of the train inward by a whole meter.

If it weren’t for Vice President Deng’s reliable design, the train would have disintegrated on the spot from that impact.

”Woo——”

An urgent and painful whale cry came rolling in.

But it was quickly drowned out by an excited and high-spirited voice.

”Tier One blue whale, a hundred meters long, how many materials can be extracted from this, damn it? Speed up, Liang Kuan, speed up!”

”Find a way to notify the other train, get around it, we must capture this big-headed fish today!”

Inside the train, Su Huan grabbed the railing of the command platform with both hands, the corners of his mouth curling up, a feverish longing in his deep blue eyes.

The whale was just too large.

At first, he thought it was a Tier Two Evolution Beast.

But after bumping into it, he gauged its strength; its energy level was only at Tier One.

Immediately, a thought sprang into Su Huan’s mind: He absolutely couldn’t let it go.

This was a treasure trove of materials weighing tens of thousands of tons!

Even if they wasted half, the other half could sustain the entire armed train for a month.

Ever since various methods of upgrading and remodeling were implemented,

the development of the train entered a boom period.

Everything was flourishing, but the price was the rapid consumption of resources.

Nothing had shown yet, partly because of the train’s previous ample reserves, and partly because along the way, there were charitable donations from kind-hearted people, which barely covered up the problem.

But every morning, every weekend, and at the end of the month, material consumption summary data would be sent to Su Huan.

At first, he didn’t pay much attention.

But after seeing it enough, it started to worry him.

If it were a Tier Two giant whale, he would have, without hesitation, mimicked Mojiang and used all the explosives for the vortex pause on it.

Looking at the situation now, he saved quite a lot.

Originally, the armed train was spiraling down into the center of the aquatic vortex.

Under Su Huan’s command, the train charged actively towards the water.

Speed increased rapidly.

Feeling the armed train’s return, the mutated whale let out an angry cry, but the sound was somewhat bluffing.

It became more urgent.

But the train showed no signs of backing down, and a hint of panic grew in the whale’s heart.

Why wasn’t the opponent afraid?

Wasn’t that collision harmful to it?

It had never seen a ”strip” that could discharge electricity, but this was the first time it saw one as big as itself that could electrify, and the opponent was hard as well; the collision had left it bruised and bleeding.

Even with its massive size, it couldn’t help but feel dizzy.

Seeing the opponent charging at it again, the whale’s survival instinct overcame its insignificant anger.

Its tail swayed, stirring a massive current in the relatively still water, then turned to swim towards the outside of the vortex.

A surge of energy passed by, the black undercurrents around the whale spreading outwards, touching the vortex’s range.

With a flick of its tail, it was already caught in the vortex.

Not only was its speed unaffected by the vortex, but it even gained some assistance from it.

But its massive body still hindered part of the water flow, and under Su Huan’s maneuvering, the armed train roared and followed its tail into the vortex.

...

”Warning, Warning, compartment 8 vegetation protection layer isolating board broken, please repair immediately.”

”Warning, compartment 24 leaking water...”

”Warning, train overall airtightness compromised, insufficient oxygen levels.”

”All train air conditioning paused, please stay quietly inside the train for a while...”

Scarlet warning lights flashed in the corridor.

Survivors curled up in their rooms, listening to the hurried footsteps outside and the dull thuds from the windows, their hearts pounding.

Various fears and murmured complaints filled the ”unique” compartment of fourteen people.

”It’s over, it’s all over now...”

”We’re all going to drown.”

”Drowning would be a blessing; we might get eaten by underwater monsters.”

”I said not to board the train, this armed train never seemed reliable from the start!”

”We’ve eaten through everything, stay and we’d starve to death if we didn’t board.”

Being rebutted, the initially murmuring man was still unwilling to concede, stubbornly saying, ”Just wait a bit longer, maybe things will turn around.”

Another person sneered, ”You’re just reluctant to leave your house and that $300,000 flooded car in the basement!”

”You had such a good position, if you had left earlier, maybe your wife and kids would be alive, but you lingered, and lost them...”

The middle-aged man curled up on the top bunk stood as if struck by lightning.

His face buried in his arms, the emergency light shone intermittently on his thinning hair.

The man suddenly howled like a wolf.

Then bit on something hard and held back.

The muffled sobs were like summer rain, intermittent.

The room’s noise fell quiet for a moment.

”...”

”...That was the house I spent half a lifetime paying the mortgage on.”