Armed Train in the Apocalypse

Seeing the train conductor frown, Shu Wei immediately explained, ”Four are from the combat unit, two are from the manufacturing group. They were ambushed by zombies while collecting materials these past few days.”

Su Huan had a bad feeling, ”What about the last one?”

”It’s Old Liu, ambushed by a Night Demon while disassembling an abandoned vehicle, killed on the spot, leaving behind two apprentices, one of whom is pregnant.”

Su Huan remained silent for a while, ”Unlucky, burn it.”

”The pregnant woman is almost three months along, how should we arrange her?”

”Work, unless you expect me to support her?”

”A pregnant woman will have a hard time.”

”Who doesn’t have it hard?”

Shu Wei didn’t argue further, just unconsciously followed Su Huan.

Suddenly realized the other had stopped, nearly bumped into him, body swayed lightly to regain balance.

Su Huan muttered to himself, ”Isn’t there a gynecologist? Let him practice, if the fetus survives, fine, if not, forget it.”

”By the way, is the hospital ward still short of doctors?”

Shu Wei shook his head, ”The wards are full of wounded soldiers, no number of doctors is enough, Hu Shuo and I plan to recruit more in the next talent supplement.”

”This time the material loss is more severe than the last battle, especially firearms and ammunition, over two million rounds expended, accounting for two-fifths of the total, 12.7 is already in short supply, artillery shells inventory two-thirds depleted, guns, barrels, grenades, tactical equipment... each has losses, although the memory can be supplemented.”

Both of them headed straight for the train, the road from the hotel to the train had been cleared, covered with a thick layer of fresh soil, topped with a layer of iron plates, yet the intense smell of blood still lingered.

The manufacturing group on both sides was busy with corpse cutting and classification.

The train still spanned the plaza, the high platform became a temporary factory, being the ”main battlefield,” the train had the largest material loss, three carriages turned directly into scrap iron, seven severely damaged.

Luckily, each carriage had partitions, and with the armed train’s crew all being Evolvers, the loss wasn’t too great, just needed repairs.

With Xiaoba, even if it turned into a pile of mud, there was room for rescue.

...

In the evening, dinner on the dining car was a big pot of spicy mushroom chicken rice, a celebration for the liquidation work coming to an end.

Su Huan didn’t avoid Li Xinlong, laid out the upcoming key goals, two tasks, train upgrade and station construction.

This was the train’s largest upgrade, whether material collection or synthesis couldn’t be done by a mere one or two thousand people, it must leverage Zhijin’s strength of a hundred thousand, but even so, it would take at least three months.

During these three months, while the train was being transformed, the Zhijin station would also be constructed, two plans implemented simultaneously.

The myriad reconstruction tasks were headache inducing, yet more troublesome was Zhijin’s internal administrative structuring.

Direct control over a complex force was much harder than growing a force from small to large.

Like teaching a newborn versus a group of criminals, hearing this, Li Xinlong lost his appetite, luckily the train had the initial stage covered, but he needed to grow quickly during this time.

Su Huan explicitly told him, the train wouldn’t remain in Zhijin permanently.

When it’s ready, it’s time to depart.

That’s when the true test begins.

After dinner, everyone came to the deck, Director Xu had already brought people to prepare the testing instruments.

Su Huan looked at the temporary iron canopy on the deck, puzzled, ”Do we have to come up here?”

Director Xu shook his head, ”The physical needs space to exercise, energy power is too great, putting it in the car is too dangerous.”

Mountain Goat pawed the punching target, curious, ”What’s the testing standard? Each person’s evolution direction is different right? If it’s about shooting targets or something, too unfair.”

He Jie sneered, ”As long as it’s not a written test, no matter how it’s compared, I’m stronger than you.”

Mountain Goat spat fiercely.

Director Xu explained, ”I won’t explain the concept of basic attributes, based on these ten items I designed some tests, finally calculating data based on comprehensive assessment.”

In the crowd, Li Xinlong showed interest, ”Can my people join?”

Director Xu looked at Su Huan, the latter chuckled, ”Everyone can, but only Tier One and above, those below Tier One shouldn’t waste time.”

”Understood.”

Seeing Li Xinlong go to find his subordinates, He Jie stepped forward, ”Then I’ll start, what’s the first item?”

”You are a Defender, the first item is naturally strength.”

He Jie turned his head, looked at a silent mountain-like figure in the crowd, eyes revealing battle intent, ”Old Liang, shall we try it together?”

”Sure.”

Liang Kuan promptly stood up.

Director Xu stood by a special machine, it looked a bit like a barbell for bench presses, just more complicated, its casing had rough weld seams, made from evolutionary materials, it’s Tier Two tungsten steel.

”The first test might be complex, first test static strength, bench press, squat, deadlift... dynamic includes punching power, long jump, try them first.”

He Jie removed his coat, revealing dense chest hair and a strong physique.

Mountain Goat jostled jokingly from behind, ”Boss don’t embarrass yourself too much, if you’re crushed twice, tsk tsk tsk...”

Pang Tu and others laughed along.

He Jie’s face turned black, ”If your data isn’t two-thirds higher than mine, wash socks for a month!”

Mountain Goat immediately shut his mouth, but everyone laughed even louder.

He Jie rubbed his hands, grabbed the bar, indicated to Director Xu he was ready.

The latter cautioned, ”Not measuring explosive power, slowly exert force.”

”Got it!”

As He Jie exerted force, a string of numbers immediately appeared on the display, ending with kg.

Starting at 150kg, then the numbers rapidly jumped.

Su Huan was also the first to see the test of basic attributes, curiously activating ”Pan Energy Sensing,” observing the energy fluctuations within He Jie.

Even though He Jie was a ”Defender,” his body still contained Pan Energy.

This Pan Energy strengthened his body, supporting his combat.

Along with the Pan Energy fluctuations, the numbers on the panel soon exceeded 500kg, that’s the limit for most humans.

Although He Jie wasn’t a pure strength evolver, this data was far from his limit.

He Jie yelled, veins popped, muscles bulged, data broke the 1000kg barrier.

At this point, the data growth slowed down.

”Don’t reach the limit, feel and exert fully, otherwise it’ll affect data accuracy.”

Director Xu advised beside him.

He Jie exhaled, ”How much?”

”One thousand four.”

Su Huan glanced at the panel, the numbers frozen at around 1380kg, far exceeding the human limit before the apocalypse.

But without other data, he couldn’t compare.

He Jie got up, Liang Kuan took his place.

The latter started at 1200kg, when fully exploded, numbers soared by thousands, finally resting around 5100kg.

When He Jie exhaled, everyone felt a wave of heat hit them.

”How much?”

”Bench press, five tons.”

Mountain Goat swallowed hard and said.

”Damn, five tons?!”

Just arriving Pang Ke, Chen Shan, and others heard the numbers and couldn’t help but curse.

”Quick, quick, Old Liang, you get off, let me try!”

”I want to try too!”

After the shock, the group of men were instantly eager.

The original testing plan was interrupted, everyone tested one by one, even Yu Yue tried.

However, this quickly yielded some relatively ”standard” static strength data.

For ”Defenders,” those not yet in the tier typically had strength around 500kg, Tier One, non-strength direction occupation generally around 1000kg, data fluctuating greatly, skill level, quantity, whether strength direction passive, all affected the parameter.

Like Liang Kuan’s strength attribute was severely over the mark, although he’s Tier One, strength already reached Tier Two standard, but without specific comparative reference, Director Xu was unsure of Liang Kuan’s strength among Tier Two Defenders.

”Then I’ll be the reference.”

Standing aside watching the commotion, Su Huan suddenly spoke.