Armed Train in the Apocalypse

The feeling of a tremor came from the laboratory, but since Tianze Base was built entirely of alloys, apart from a bit of dust falling from the hole Su Huan had just broken open, there were no signs of collapse underground.

The researchers merely glanced up and continued packing various precious instruments and materials from the base.

Every top-tier power’s research lab concentrated the essence from before the apocalypse, even the most ordinary petri dish might contain research achievements that a train couldn’t replicate in ten or even twenty years.

Thus, to this day, Director Xu’s laboratory remains the core of train research.

The train conductor, with half a shirt and sleeve torn, casually pulled over a complete incubator, tore open the metal lid, and tossed Ma Hongyu inside.

But Director Xu, standing by, expressed concern, ”With the energy liquid, he could become a Tier Three ’Manipulator’. Based on his skill formula, I hypothesized he’s like you, with large-scale attack capabilities. Are you sure you can suppress him?”

Su Huan licked his lips, a hint of malice in his narrow eyes, ”If he were Tier Two, there’d still be hope in his heart. Only at Tier Three can he feel despair. I’m considering whether to cooperate with him for a while, build his confidence, and when he feels assured of victory, slap him away. His expression then would be wonderfully amusing, hahaha...”

Having just finished searching, Liang Kuan smacked his lips; it had been a long time since he’d seen the train conductor’s dark humor, truly nostalgic.

Su Huan waved his hand, and suddenly, a gap opened in the fungal carpet nearby, extracting viscous cyan nutrient liquid, then violently funneling it into Ma Hongyu’s mouth and nose.

Like a fish on land, the latter convulsed wildly. Afraid he might jump out of the incubator, Su Huan replaced the lid he had just removed, kicking down the edges that didn’t fit, the heavy metal shell under his feet behaving like cardboard.

Yu Yue said worriedly, ”But the outside has already entered a digestion phase, on the train’s side...”

Director Xu shook his head, ”Judging by the earlier tremors, the impact was indeed significant, but the train is entirely constructed from Tier One materials, and no matter how the big fungus carpet thrashes, it can’t breach the train’s defenses. At worst, we dig out a bit and free it.”

Su Huan clapped his hands, ”Alright, that’s enough energy to elevate him to Tier Three. Pack all the remaining nutrient liquid for me. This stuff is precious; once back, elevate your evolution stages. Don’t just up and vanish one day by mistake.”

Director Xu nodded thoughtfully. Although he’d been researching evolution for a long time, he hadn’t reached Tier One himself.

Now various formulas had undergone repeated tests, mostly stabilized, and he should accelerate his progress. A higher evolution level would also benefit research, especially certain abilities that aid research, something he’d considered for a while.

Director Xu said, ”I still need some preparation, but Yu Yue’s abilities can be appropriately elevated.”

Yu Yue lifted her drooping eyelids, her almond eyes widening, ”Me?”

Su Huan glanced at Ma Hongyu beneath him, then realized, ”Is her skill formula developed? I remember it required four abilities, didn’t it?”

Director Xu said, ”Back in Zhijin, it was deduced using a supercomputer simulation. There are two evolutionary directions, but without corresponding skill potions, it’s been shelved. I just saw that the most abundant skill potions in this lab are sound-related, which is enough for Yu Yue to advance to Tier Two. As for the other conditions, they can be met with the nutrient liquid.”

”Is her life force sufficient?”

Su Huan raised the most concerning question. Yu Yue’s ability was impressive, but initially went in the wrong direction, resulting in a Tier One profession with five skills, needing four more skills to advance to Tier Two!

It was twice as difficult as other evolvers, and naturally, her life force consumption was also twice as much.

Yu Yue looked at Director Xu with a mix of anticipation and nervousness.

Director Xu said solemnly, ”I must confirm one thing first.”

Su Huan raised an eyebrow, ”Ask.”

”I saw you inject nutrient liquid into Ma Hongyu earlier. Was it given randomly or accurately calculated to meet the energy needed for his advancement?”

”The latter.”

”Then there’s no problem, we can start now.”

Director Xu gave Su Huan a deep look and spoke seriously.

After prolonged contact, the fog surrounding this train conductor had not diminished; instead, it had grown denser than at the start. Even though every evolution was under scrutiny and plenty of genetic samples were collected each time, he still had a multitude of unsolvable questions. It felt like having the answers before him yet being unable to decipher them, a sense of powerlessness.

Director Xu selected four skills for Yu Yue, namely ’Penetration’, ’Precision Amplitude’, ’Environmental Mimesis’, and ’Multi-Echo’.

Adding to the Tier One five skills, ’Sound Wave Affinity’, ’Shared Acoustic Field’, ’Sound Wave Mark’, ’Sniper Specialization’, ’Trajectory Calculation’, making a total of nine, matching the quantity of Su Huan’s skills.

The Tier Two profession formed by these skills was named ’Soundwave Sniper’.

This profession focused purely on offensive evolution, where ’Penetration’ and ’Multi-Echo’ enhance Yu Yue’s sound power, ’Precision Amplitude’ allows her to sense the amplitude of each sound more precisely, and then through ’Environmental Mimesis’, she can reversely project these sounds, achieving sound-level invisibility in specific environments.

After advancing to Tier Two, even without a sniper rifle, Yu Yue could twist the sound into a line, piercing into someone’s mind, shaking their brain into a mush, particularly since skills like ’Shared Acoustic Field’ and ’Sniper Specialization’ almost ensured no misses.