Armed Train in the Apocalypse

”There seems to be something here that’s worth a good kill!”

The Mirror, who had disappeared somewhere, suddenly emerged from the shadows, eyes blazing with battle intent, and charged in wielding a Long-handled Axe, leaving a trail of wild laughter.

Soon a massive thud came from inside.

Then came the sound of shattering glass, crashing like a kitchen invaded by mice.

Ma Hongyu opened his mouth, but seeing that Su Huan had no objections, he remained silent.

”Let’s go.”

Su Huan walked ahead with hands in pockets, as if strolling through his own backyard, casually.

The Fungus Carpet here felt very different underfoot, softer and bouncier, like stepping on a mattress while wearing shoes; with Su Huan’s weight, every step sank in half the sole.

At the end of the corridor appeared a cylindrical structure connecting the ceiling and the floor, somewhat like a petri dish, now shattered, leaving only a thick layer of bulletproof glass, with the Mirror nowhere in sight.

Ma Hongyu stepped forward a few steps and said, ”Conductor, the left is the Energy Center, the right is the Control Center, shall we go to the right first?”

”No, we’ll go to the left.”

Su Huan, like a rebellious child, walked straight left, his striking black hair sinking into a pitch black.

Director Xu and the others followed unhesitatingly, leaving Liang Kuan and Lin Jin watching Ma Hongyu with expressionless faces, the latter giving a wry smile and joining them.

Their eyes were indifferently turned away.

...

Surface Hall.

The Bomb walked amid mushroom zombies, mimicking the Conductor by snapping his fingers, each snap accompanying the explosion of four or five mushroom zombies.

Liu Zi split a puppet with a Long-handled Axe as though chopping wood, then saw this ostentatious guy, scolding through team communication, ”Don’t waste your energy. If there’s a battle later, are you going to swing the Axe and hack away?”

The Bomb shrank his neck, immediately stopped his foolish act, and imitated Liu Zi, chopping away with the Axe bit by bit.

After months of combat training, Liu Zi had cleaned him out terribly, but from deep down, he admired this captain, young as them but far surpassing them in evolution and professional skills.

Yet the Bomb couldn’t restrain his jumpy nature, growing impatient after a while, looking at hundreds and thousands of dead bodies in the hall, he murmured, ”Thought I’d explore below with the Conductor, but ended up as a lumberjack up here.”

The Goose, who didn’t get along with him, immediately jeered, ”You? If the veterans weren’t out fighting too long, we wouldn’t even get to wear Power Armor, and accompanying the Conductor here has veterans gnashing teeth in anger. And you’re whining here, not wanting extra practice, are you?”

The Bomb snorted softly, ”I earned mine by strength. Our squad is just a bit inexperienced. When it comes to combat power, brains, where aren’t we one of the best on the train?”

The Goose retorted, ”Combat power? You have a few moves, then useless after explosion. Brains? If you greeted Brother Liu last time, you wouldn’t be beaten for half a month. The whole Armored Train knows your legendary nickname of being resistant to beatings.”

The Bomb’s face flushed crimson, instantly furious, ”You son of a...”

The other two in the team, Guo Susu and Xiao Hong, were used to their antics, silently doing their work.

Xiao Hong worked meticulously, unlike the Bomb’s perfunctory style, smashing each puppet’s head and limbs, tearing open the mushroom bodies.

Guo Susu asked puzzled, ”Why so slow, not sure when the Conductor comes up, underperforming might get us scolded.”

Xiao Hong shook his head, ”Slow but thorough. If these things really come alive, we’ll be in big trouble.”

Guo Susu smiled, ”They are completely dead, how would they come alive? Even if they do, come... come alive?”

Before them, a dry and skinny mushroom about 1.6 meters tall suddenly twitched. The Fungus Carpet beneath swelled, its wrinkled skin visibly filling.

The girl’s smile froze, she kept repeating ”come alive” like a stuck record.

Liu Zi’s boisterous shout came through team communication.

”Bomb, throw the most powerful one into the zombie crowd!”

No reply from the Bomb, only a deafening explosion.

In the center of the hall, awakening zombies were swept up by the blast, frail bodies ripped apart. This one explosion eliminated at least three to four hundred zombies. Before Liu Zi could give further orders, the Bomb threw two more blasts at the densest zombie area, but many of the zombies had recovered flexibility, reducing the blast’s effects, totaling a destruction of only more than two hundred.

Including previous destruction by the ten members, about four thousand were eliminated, yet thousands remained.

Ten were instantly surrounded.

”Bang!”

The mushroom before Guo Susu was split by a swing from Xiao Hong, who said solemnly, ”Cover me, move towards the captain!”

Guo Susu immediately focused, eyes calm, ”Understood!”

They barely took two steps when a shout from Xiao Hong rang through communication, ”I’m out of energy!”

”Goose! Where the hell are you? Get your damn self here!”

Followed by a series of explosions.

Xiao Hong and Guo Susu: ”...”

Guo Susu, ”Should we find the Bomb first?”

Xiao Hong, speechless, ”No hurry, he’s in Power Armor, even if those mushrooms figured it out, they wouldn’t catch up...”

Liu Zi’s voice came over the comms, calmly, ”Don’t worry about me, team two is already guarding the staircase. You two are closest to the entrance; go guard it now. No matter what happens, don’t let the door close, I’ll be right there.”

Apart from these zombies, the Fungus Carpet beneath started to stir, secreting acidic mucus, transforming the hall into a giant ”stomach” attempting to digest them.

The ten had to fend off thousands of zombies and attacks from the Fungus Carpet, the situation dire even in Power Armor.

The situation underground was similarly dire, but these were seasoned veterans traveling with the Conductor causing trouble far and wide; they showed no panic in facing sudden emergencies. Among them, six were Tier One Evolvers, the team was well-configured and amply armed; under two sergeant commanders, facing a group with average levels near Tier One mushrooms was a complete slaughter.

Even the Fungus Carpet was restrained by various Abilities, unable to advance or retreat.

The setup left by Lin Jin was also activated, incinerating all puppets on multiple floors, with no floors falling after more than ten minutes of battle; some elite squads even had spare strength to support other floors.

The subterranean eighth floor had become a fiery hell, large swathes of Fungus Carpet turned to charcoal in its struggle, revealing the base’s true visage.

Su Huan stood beside a large pool, the pool showing blue-green water with a bizarre structure like a Hive underneath, and a steel container resembling a boiler above. Though unfamiliar with the specifics, Su Huan could sense the massive energy produced beneath, constantly flowing to even deeper levels.

This indicated the base had not completely ceased operations.

A special energy filled the space; while Su Huan didn’t know its scientific name, manipulating it felt no different from other energies, obedient like little lambs.

Returning to the Control Room behind, Yu Yue and Director Xu had been waiting.

”How’s the situation outside?”

Yu Yue calmly replied, ”It’s under control, but the Fungus Carpet’s core is not found yet, perhaps deeper down, and Ma Hongyu accidentally got swallowed by the Fungus Carpet, we need time to search for the door leading below.”

”Accidentally?”

Su Huan’s face showed a hint of amusement.

He didn’t pursue the topic further, turning to Director Xu, ”This is a nuclear reactor, right?”

Director Xu cautiously approached, showing a hint of apprehension, ”It’s a functioning nuclear reactor, it’ll take some time to shut down.”

”Why shut it down, such a hassle? Let me find the door to the next level instead.”

Su Huan chuckled, his dark eyes shifting downwards.