Armed Train in the Apocalypse

In the morning, Shu Wei needed to participate in some departmental coordination work. Double Deer was pulled by He Jie for training, so today the train commander was all alone.

The two went downstairs and arrived at carriage number 3.

A dozen or so staff from the logistics group were busy taking down the evolution creature materials hanging on the wall. Various storage boxes, furs, equipment, and knives were piled up in the corridor. Wan Xing sat on a chair behind the crowd, wearing an oatmeal-colored wool cardigan, flipping through a circular badge in her hand.

”Conductor, Vice President Deng...”

The crew members saw the two and quickly greeted them respectfully.

Su Huan mused, ”Is this to modify and upgrade the water purifier?”

Vice President Deng replied, ”Upgrading the water circulation system, this is the preliminary data measurement. You’ll see the detailed plan in the meeting soon.”

A few crew members dismantled the ceiling, revealing the pipes that transported purified water to the water tanks in each carriage. Pipes of varying thicknesses were stacked layer upon layer, flanked by colorful wires and internal components of the pharmaceutical cabinet lift system.

Initially, to prevent the water transmission system from being damaged, two sets of transmission pipelines were installed.

This resulted in significant space waste, coupled with hasty design flaws, adding considerable difficulty to later maintenance.

Su Huan originally thought these problems wouldn’t be solved until a year later, but unexpectedly, Vice President Deng and others were so efficient that they planned to solve it all in the third phase of the upgrade.

Although the armored train was no longer essential for his survival, it was an indispensable tool for maintaining his influence and achieving his goals.

The long-term migration mode determined that he could not strengthen his power through massive expansion.

He could only improve the overall strength of the train through repeated upgrades, to keep up with his evolution speed and provide him with a solid backing.

The two entered carriage number 9.

Yu Jing’s Mechanical Testing Laboratory had half an overhead space, specifically for large mechanical equipment like the gantry crane. The six to seven-meter internal space, although a bit cramped, sufficed for the research of generally two-meter-tall exoskeletons.

Today, all the mechas and exoskeletons on the rails were piled at the edge of the wall. In the center was a white long table, surrounded by half-meter wide tables against the wall. At the front and back were two large projection screens, projecting cross-sectional diagrams of the armored train, with various colored analysis auxiliary lines intersecting.

Fifty to sixty scholars, wearing crew uniforms, filled every available seat, with murmurs failing to suppress the debate at the center.

To avoid interrupting the argument, Su Huan didn’t even enter, standing behind the Iron-Eating Tree archway, listening with interest to the debate inside.

”Impossible, the resource consumption is secondary. If we push all the projects simultaneously, we simply don’t have enough personnel. Although various studios have been supplemented significantly, it’s just barely maintaining project operations. I need to push the career taxonomy perfection, Yu Jing needs to work on combat exoskeleton design, and both electromagnetic and Pan Energy weapons are not yet in production...”

The voice was tight and sharp, as Director Xu refuted the previous speaker’s words.

Old Jiang, the manufacturing group chief conductor, chimed in, ”Some time ago, the train commander instructed to replace all the materials on the train with Tier One or above, focusing on the main body. The materials required for over a hundred carriages are immense, and more resources need to be extracted from several fixed materials on zombies, taking up four-fifths of the future production of the manufacturing group.”

”If the workload of the modification is too large, our logistics group doesn’t have enough manpower either.”

Su Reya’s alluring voice carried a hint of fatigue.

Obviously, the issues of the third phase modification were also giving him a hard time.

The noise indoors lapsed into a momentary silence.

”Perhaps we could form an ’Engineering Group’?”

Xiaozhao suddenly suggested.

”It’s best not to make too many systemic changes, but I can propose it to the train commander.”

Hu Shuo remained cautious.

Outside the door, Su Huan casually brushed aside an Iron-Eating Tree branch reaching for his earring, ”This proposal is actually not bad.”

Vice President Deng agreed, ”Xiaozhao is a very promising young man. Sometimes I envy Old Ma for having such an outstanding student.”

”Wanting a student isn’t difficult, after recruiting so many people, just pick one.”

Su Huan said as he proceeded into the room.

Vice President Deng quickly followed, sighing, ”I do want a student, but that kid doesn’t seem interested in learning...”

Su Huan was surprised, ”Who?”

”A kid who just got on board, named Liu Yu.”

”Buzz...”

The motor turned, the heavy metal door slid open.

The people in the laboratory also sensed the fearsome presence of the train commander, hurriedly turned around.

Su Huan walked straight to the front, ”We can establish an engineering team under the manufacturing group, responsible for train engineering, construction, road repair, etc. You all can allocate personnel as you see fit, just remember to give me the supervisor list, Hu Shuo.”

”Understood.”

Su Huan looked around, took the folding chair handed by Shu Wei, leaned back against the chair, crossed one leg over the other.

”Let’s hear it, how is Phase Three planned, and what difficulties are there?”

The gazes of many crew chiefs and supervisors swept over Hu Shuo and Shu Wei.

Shu Wei adjusted the tablet, the projector opposite switched to show the content on the tablet.

”Previously, the main goal of Phase Three was to create a three-dimensional offensive and defensive network, but after this discussion, we have redefined the goal of the Phase Three modification, defining it as systemic.”

Su Huan’s eyes fell on the train cross-sectional diagram on the screen, motioning to continue.