Armed Train in the Apocalypse

Chapter 400: Chapter 264: Request_2

Didn’t they serve in the military too? Why aren’t they like that?

No, wait, they do seem to be.

Feeling the cold gaze of the conductor, everyone scattered, even the somewhat absent-minded Bai Lu pretended to be busy.

Even this group of blood-stained people intrinsically acknowledged Iron Old Man.

And from the moment of acknowledgment, Su Huan found a connection between them and Iron Old Man.

Clearly, this group has no blood relations, nor any vested interests.

Why can they have such a deep bond?

Strange.

Su Huan interrupted Shu Wei, who was about to report, and asked her with a frown, ”Aren’t human relationships supposed to be maintained by transactions?”

”... Uh, huh?”

The bizarre question left the usually professional secretary bewildered.

Looking at the conductor in front of her, Shu Wei didn’t know what kind of game he was playing and could only cautiously respond, ”It depends on what aspect you’re asking about...”

”What maintains the physical relationship between you and me?”

”What kind of relationship do you have with your dad?”

”Why do you have a bad relationship with him? Is it because you’re useless?”

”Or is it because his deal with your mom fell apart, leading to you being unappreciated?”

Shu Wei: ”...”

Luckily, Yu Yue’s arrival ended Shu Wei’s torment.

If discussing issues with a normal person has a difficulty of 1 and discomfort level of 0,

then with someone not right in the head, the difficulty is 3, and the discomfort level is 3.

Discussing with someone who’s not right in the head but extremely powerful, the difficulty is 6, and the discomfort level is 6.

But discussing with the conductor, the difficulty is 0, and the discomfort level is 20.

The conductor won’t kill you over a few words, but his weird manner of speaking and questioning gives a feeling as disgusting as swallowing a fly.

You never know from which angle he’ll strike you with nausea.

Yu Yue took a compassionate look at Shu Wei, obviously having heard what Su Huan said just now.

”The weapons are packed, ready to ascend.”

Turning to official matters, Su Huan could only purse his lips with a sense of unfinished business; this interesting topic would have to wait for another chance.

”Ascend.”

...

By the time everything in the lab was loaded onto the train, a full three days had passed.

These three days were not just about transporting supplies, as all departments of the armed train were operating at full capacity due to recently set goals.

Firstly, an electromagnetic weapon laboratory was established on the train.

It’s not required to advance Li Xiuhua’s experiments to any extent; just replicating seventy percent of existing results is enough.

The lab is set up in carriages 44, 45, and 46, conveniently opposite Director Xu’s laboratory.

A researcher named Ban Yunzhang was chosen to lead from Director Xu’s lab.

Though it sounds unimpressive, even assistants in Director Xu’s lab held doctorates; anyone who became a full-fledged researcher could easily achieve a senior title before Doomsday.

As for Yu Jing, a graduate student, her biggest overlap with the lab was in the word ”research.”

Even as an assistant, she’d just get in the way.

If the level of laboratories on the train were ranked, Yu Jing’s Mechanical Testing Laboratory would be at the bottom.

Research constitutes one percent, and capability constitutes ninety-nine percent.

Then there’s Professor Ma’s. It’s not that Professor Ma is lacking, but he brought a bunch of students.

The factory director, Vice President Deng, and others have relatively high professional levels, but due to integration issues, they’re somewhat specialized.

Director Xu’s team is comprehensive; after all, it’s the Steel Council’s personnel reserve, ensuring no specialization bias and having experts who can handle anything thrown at the train.

If not for Su Huan’s outrageous tactics in taking down the Steel Council’s base, the experts would’ve easily brought down the armed train after a few days of study.

They picked a deputy from under the factory director and another from the survivors.

Though not ideal, they’re the best available from a limited pool, so they’ll do.

In a whirlwind, they set up the train’s fifth lab.

Their first task was to install the two electromagnetic railguns, the [Thunder God-7] and [Thunder God-8], onto the train.

For most vehicles, dealing with a railgun over a dozen meters long would be tricky.

However, for the 1,500-meter-long armed train, it wasn’t even half a carriage—no big deal.

The crew and Armed Corps expansion was nearing completion.

The Armed Corps increased by a total of 200 soldiers, no officers.

Among them, Mongoose and two others were promoted to senior soldiers.

He Jie, for rounding purposes, filled in previous vacancies with officers, totaling 700 people.

They make up one-third of the total train population.

The crew numbers 1,300 in total.

The logistics team increased the least, adding a total of 80 people, reaching a number of 300.

Mainly, these numbers came from expansions in Huang Sea’s carriage farms and cultivation pods.

The logistics team’s tasks seem simple: manage supplies and support logistics.

But in execution, things are different.

Supply management involves fruit and vegetable production and ammunition storage, among other things.

Logistical support includes production and maintenance tasks.

The water purifier needs cleaning, right?

The vehicles need repairing, right?

Even workers like Old Liu are listed under the logistics team.

So in execution, departments need to be subdivided.

Currently, there are eight key functions: carriage farms, cultivation pods, dining car kitchen, supply management, train head scheduling, daily maintenance, living distribution, and the medical carriage.

Each function cannot be merged, nor can it be canceled.

Take the control station at the train head for example. All carriage timetables and major scheduling depend on this department.

Living distribution seems leisurely, but its more accurate name should be administrative management.

Anything that needs reporting or issues the crew can’t solve ends up here.

This is the department with the broadest contact with passengers on the train.

Surprisingly, the medical carriage is the most relaxed, even lacking full-time doctors.

Currently, including Lin Xia, there are only three people: a TCM doctor who can’t perform surgery, a resident doctor specializing in gynecology (not the attending physician), and a traditional Western doctor who can read films.

But even these three can’t be canceled.

The train may not be in a major battle now, but once high-intensity combat occurs, the medical team becomes the last resort for the Warriors.

One team, eight departments.

This is why Su Huan refuses further subdivisions.

Dividing this way is endless.

Currently, there are four conductors acting as a buffer, each with a pile of administrative work daily.

If he were responsible for dozens of departments simultaneously, he wouldn’t get anything done.

Daily document approval is already overwhelming.

The combat team has 50 people, straightforward, with no subordinate divisions.

The research team has 120 people, across five labs, no need for detailed counting.

The manufacturing team, at 830, is the largest department on the armed train.

There’s only one relatively independent bullet workshop; the rest are scattered, almost like a subsidiary to the research team.

Most work involves supporting the research team in manufacturing.

Due to the low level of technology, a large number of personnel, and many recruits from survivors, this department is very mixed.

The recovered Zhang Qiang joined this department.

The new generation of the Tongzhou Association has also been developing vibrantly.

Things like tailor shops and Old Liu’s car repairs have functions too small and personnel too few, so they don’t count as independent departments and are all classified under daily maintenance.

According to the rules, management positions in these subordinate departments should be elevated to Level 5 Crew, like Glasses.

However, those like Li Han, who haven’t been on the train long and haven’t contributed much, but are promoted due to vacancies, receiving Level 5 treatment, easily arouse dissatisfaction among others.

Though no one dares speak against Li Han, directly promoted by the conductor,

most others are recommended among the conductors through mutual consideration, which naturally struggles to gain universal acceptance.

Thus, these management positions are temporary; once someone performs excellently, they will replace the original manager.

The current managers maintain their original rank and benefits, and to secure their position, they must follow regulations and advance step by step like everyone else.