Armed Train in the Apocalypse

He Jie walked towards Su Huan after chasing away the officer.

His eyes were bright, ”I want to take this battle slower.”

Su Huan shifted his gaze from the multidimensional map, thinking, ”Last time, I remember you said the corps reorganization was complete. Is the combat strength not up to standard?”

He Jie shook his head, ”The elite mode of the five-person squad is fine, and the system for resources and battle merit oversight is also in place. But I’m talking about something else.”

”Me, Qu Hang, Pang Tu... most of us were non-commissioned officers before retirement, only that guy Licking Rabbit was a proper military academy graduate. If he hadn’t retired early for a woman... In other words, most of us were trained according to the soldier’s template, even in the Steel Council.”

”The most we can command are some small-scale localized battles, don’t mention hundreds or thousands, hand over ten people and most of us would be clueless...”

Su Huan said in surprise, ”Haven’t you commanded all those large and small battles as the train moved? Now you’re leaving it to me?”

He Jie casually pulled out a cigarette, hesitated for a moment, and held it near his mouth without lighting it.

”It’s different. At that time, I didn’t think I could command large-scale battles. I learned a bit but forgot most of it. Later, the situation forced us, and I had to throw myself into it. After fighting a lot, I got some ideas.”

”But there are also limitations. Qu Hang and the others are average in command, even worse at situational judgment than Yu Yue...”

As He Jie spoke, Su Huan roughly understood his thoughts.

With a light laugh of reassurance, he said, ”Why worry so much? In an apocalypse, there aren’t many people left for large corps command. Besides, that was obsolete decades ago. The future will focus on combat with fewer evolvers.”

He Jie said seriously, ”High-tier evolvers are indeed strong, but that’s just the current stage. If each major power has high-tier evolvers later, they’ll become deterrent weapons. Normal combat will still rely on more low-tier evolvers, and even ordinary people to complete.”

”If there’s a battlefield commander for a company-level hundred people, they can be trained to reach battalion-level thousand people. But for a squad leader to become a battalion commander, the resource consumption will increase by dozens of times.”

”Moreover, as you said, people will become fewer, lives will become more valuable; where can you find a battlefield to train campaign command, let alone war command?”

”The current issue is not whether it can be done, but whether there’s a possibility.”

Su Huan was thoughtful, ”So you’re looking for talents to cultivate? I thought you were just messing with them...”

He Jie snorted coldly, ”I’m not that idle. If one day I’m gone, and there’s no one to take charge on the train, that would be embarrassing.”

Su Huan was silent for a while.

”So you’re planning to train some soldiers?”

”Yes, it’s a rare opportunity. Anyway, we’re using people from Mao Bear. Let’s see if there are any commander candidates on the train.”

”Haven’t we fought quite a few battles, big and small? Can’t you tell?”

”That battle with Four Nations was too intense. We were short on people, so from top to bottom, including Lian Jin, I used everyone as mere soldiers. Even the best talents didn’t get a chance to show...”

Mentioning the last campaign, He Jie was visibly pained.

Too many died; if not for the good quality of the soldiers replenished later, the Armed Corps might not have recovered even now.

Right now, the conditions on the train are limited. We can’t teach them; we can only rely on fighting, and it has to be big, tough battles, using life after life to pile up, only then might we find such talents.

Su Huan let out a light sigh, ”Then you’ll have to work hard.”

He Jie’s cigarette almost dropped to the ground as he looked around Su Huan, left and right, until the latter’s mouth began to uncontrollably curl up before he quickly turned away.

Su Huan watched Xiaozhao walking towards them, pondering, ”Am I becoming too amiable now?”

Xiaozhao’s pupils expanded slightly; what made the train conductor misunderstand himself so much?

Feeling the change in Xiaozhao’s blood flow and skin surface tension, the train conductor seemed to understand something, waved his hand, ”Forget it, what did you come to me for?”

Only then did Xiaozhao snap back to reality, respectfully saying, ”There’s a long-distance communication from the Acid Rain Zone.”

”Acid Rain Zone?”

Su Huan was slightly surprised.

”Yes, the signal isn’t very stable. The teacher is reinforcing it, but you can make it in time if you go now.”

”Let’s go and take a look.”

...

Rust Area, Dragon Gate City.

The long-distance communication device was built very large, occupying an entire room. Every day, just maintaining this equipment consumes a tenth of the city’s energy, as vital as the Dragon Gate Colosseum.

The Business Alliance, Changbai Pharmaceutical, Iron Pine Forest... and all information from even farther north must be strengthened through this communication device.

Over a dozen communicators swiftly filled the machine with boxes of Tier One Pan-energy Crystals. In just this brief moment, they’ve used hundreds, each person sweating profusely with trembling hands.

”Has the supervisor returned yet?”

”Should be soon.”

”This is already beyond our authority...”

Just as the words fell, a man with a long nose walked in, waving his arms and said, ”Continue loading; keep the communication stable. The mayor said no matter how much the Armed Train uses, it will be supplied without limit, and costs will be doubly reimbursed by the Business Alliance!”

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, as they took out more Pan-energy Crystals and guessed who might be contacting the Armed Train.

...

Plant Zone, Armed Train outpost.

The Tier Two Traveler’s Tree stretched and slightly shook its head, causing a ripe Banyan Fruit to drop, hitting an absent-minded squirrel on the head. It hugged the fallen fruit and rolled several times on the ground, directly falling into a hole.