Armed Train in the Apocalypse

Under He Jie’s irritable urging, everyone moved like spinning tops.

Mountain Goat passed through Iron Wall and was immediately baffled when he saw the convoy following the train.

The convoy was mightily grand. The front mostly consisted of modified off-road vehicles and SUVs, and behind them were all sorts of things: buses, sedan chairs, motorcycles...and two people riding dogs.

Reinforcements?

On the foremost off-road vehicle stood a man with dragon and tiger tattoos on his head, none other than Wen Biao. Seeing Mountain Goat running out, he quickly jumped down. ”Deputy Mountain Goat, it’s me, Ah Biao. Did the train conductor send a command?”

The battle behind had already erupted. Mountain Goat glanced at the disordered Scavengers and suddenly thought, ’Could these people be the spoils the train conductor talked about? Can’t scare them off.’

Organizing his words, he said tactfully, ”The upcoming battle will be fierce. The train won’t provide weapons for you, nor will it force you to become cannon fodder on the frontline. You just need to quietly wait for the war to end.”

Speaking that, he leaned over to whisper, ”The train conductor instructed you to keep an eye on his spoils.”

”Spoils?”

Wen Biao was momentarily stunned; the train conductor hadn’t asked him to safeguard any spoils.

As Mountain Goat departed, Jinfeng Chamber of Commerce’s president and vice president, along with Tiejian City’s remaining leader, brought leaders of various forces, all gazing with expectation.

The president of Jinfeng Chamber and Old Xie had bloodshot eyes; although they had narrowly escaped the zombie horde, the chamber lost its most elite vanguard, and the central army suffered over half casualties, not even getting a taste of soup. Now they were like gamblers who had lost most of their wealth, their eyes reddened, and they were just hoping to recoup by following the train.

Old Xie asked, ”What does the armed train want us to do?”

”What does the armed train mean by this? Why won’t they let us inside?!”

Upon hearing this voice, everyone turned their heads.

Seeing the red-eyed Tiejian City leader, they immediately shut their mouths.

Among the big four, Black Kite vanished, and Fuyuan Convoy was annihilated; the worst off was Tiejian City.

The elder of the Dragon-Tiger Brothers led over three thousand people inside, but none returned, and the zombie swarm arrived first. The remaining people in Tiejian City couldn’t survive and had to start fleeing; the territory they had built over half a year was entirely overrun by zombies.

As the force with the most old, weak, and women, only about three hundred people remained now.

Their downfall was beyond words of tragedy.

Though Fuyuan Convoy was wiped out, Fuyuan County’s base was still there; after some time of recuperation, they could rise again, albeit under a different name.

But Tiejian City might completely disappear today.

Led by him, some heads of small forces suffering losses immediately said, ”Zhijin has so many zombies; we don’t even want their spoils. Just return the zombies we killed before...”

”We don’t want much, just our share.”

”That’s right, let us trade them for Pan-energy Crystal.”

”They can’t leave us without a sip of soup, can they?”

”That’s too tyrannical.”

”...”

The armed train was followed by about a hundred thousand scavengers, numerous forces big and small, like cattle wool. A word from each of them quickly made the situation chaotic, and Wen Biao’s underlings didn’t dare to move recklessly.

But this reminded Wen Biao—what other spoils could there be? Aren’t these hundreds of thousands the best spoils?

Could it be the train conductor plans to incorporate them all?

Wen Biao’s heart suddenly surged with excitement. If so, wouldn’t his position as the first loyal underling be elevated?

No, no, no, that’s not stable enough.

He must earn merits—and big ones!

Looking at the increasingly urgent expressions of the leaders around him, Wen Biao felt as if an inspiration had pierced his mind, dormant for decades.

Standing on the off-road vehicle, he shouted loudly, ”The train conductor said, the armed train will protect us, but only those who contribute as our own. After the train withstands the first wave of the zombie horde, those who dare follow the train to counterattack, once we take Zhijin, everyone present will at least have a chance to become evolvers!”

Though he didn’t speak elegantly, the key information within his words made everyone’s eyes shine.

Leaders like those from Jinfeng Chamber heard that the train would first withstand the zombie horde and then lead them to charge.

If the train let them become cannon fodder, or gave them no chance to contribute, they wouldn’t feel at ease, but now having avoided the greatest danger while still able to contribute was just right.

Ensures the train intends to share the profits.

Old Xie and the President exchanged a look, ”Do we gamble?”

The President’s face was clouded, ”What role did Black Kite exactly play here?”

”That group of bastards probably realized something was amiss and directly fled! Never mind them; just ask, are we going to follow the train this time?”

The President sighed deeply, ”We have no retreat.”

...

The sun has completely set.

Chenxi Square entered the beautiful blue hour; everything lay hidden in this melancholy blue, even the corpses no longer seemed sinister.

Behind Iron Wall, an even taller ”Iron Wall” rose as the armed train climbed to a six-meter-high steel base, stretching from east to west across the whole Chenxi Square, head to tail connected, forming a wall 1.5 kilometers long and 14 meters high in an instant, with Xiaoba exhausted and carried back inside the train.

Electromagnetic Armor was activated to its maximum, electric-tinged blue light occasionally flashing across the tracks.

Commands from a loudspeaker pierced through metal cabin walls, a hydraulic sound clicking as the turret rotated, a 125mm smoothbore cannon slowly lifting its black barrel, aiming at the twisted city silhouette on the horizon, while the electromagnetic cannon silently charged, and a 12.7mm heavy machinegun filled its ammo chain under an automatic loading device with a clatter.

And this was just the trivial part of Black Kite’s ”gift.”

It was Su Huan’s confidence in blindly forging onwards, knowing there was trickery.

At this moment, two young people sat on top of the train, their faces flickering in the light of gunfire.

The terrifying zombie horde faintly emerged in this blaze.

1.5 kilometers of heavy machine guns fired simultaneously, making the whole world seem eerily quiet.

The ground shattered, turning into slushy mud mixed with flesh and bone, then filled by iron-grey figures. They seemed less like they were launching an attack and more like they were consuming numbers to clear space for the main force behind.

Li Xinlong looked at the scene before him, the night wind stirred his emotions.

”She’s afraid.”

A faint voice fell into Li Xinlong’s ears; he turned back to look at Su Huan seated atop the train.

Perhaps due to the reflection of gunfire, or because of the train’s spotlights, the train conductor’s eyes no longer appeared pitch-black; instead, they carried bright and dynamic colors, reflecting everything happening right now.

Zombie horde, soldiers, Scavengers... and the interwoven, intangible things he could not comprehend.

Li Xinlong instinctively looked back; Jiang Rong was standing far away, too far to see her figure.

Yet he could still feel her overwhelming concern.

Li Xinlong moved his lips, unsure how to respond to the faint statement.

”Do you have ideals?”

Finally hearing a clear question, Li Xinlong intended to answer, but the things he often spoke seemed to vanish abruptly, leaving only Jiang Rong’s worried gaze.

”I...want to provide for my mom.”

Li Xinlong felt a bit unambitious.

But the gunshots were so loud, rattling his head, making it impossible for him to think of anything else.

The train conductor didn’t respond; he didn’t know if Su Huan heard—after all, the gunshots were deafening, the entire Zhijin echoed this violent sound.

But he thought he saw Su Huan nod, like an almost invisible tremor.

It might have been his illusion since the electromagnetic railgun just fired, the projectile tearing through the sky, leaving behind a trail of ghostly blue, scattering electric light, opening the night’s curtain.

Before he could react, a colossal, excessively elongated creature emerged from the shadows.

Most of its body presented a non-reflective black, as if someone tore the silhouette of an elegant lady from the canvas and casually stretched it a bit under the electromagnetic railgun’s light; thousands of waving threads woven at its rear instantaneously transformed into the same ghostly blue, forming a large crown like a jellyfish.

It wore a porcelain white mask devoid of any decoration on its face, eyes clear as ruby, coldly gazing at the castle walls formed by the armed train.

Its entire upper body bore a hint of human female features.

The lower part was a thick snake tail standing in a strange posture amidst the zombie horde, its feet being Tier Two Butchers serving as ”muscle.”

The terrifying aura spread like a tide, making each of Li Xinlong’s words laborious to utter.

”What is that?”

”Lord-level Tier Three zombie.”