Armed Train in the Apocalypse

Everyone contemplated this sentence in their hearts and unanimously gave a thumbs up to Secretary Hu.

Clearly, Su Yi was not going to give up so easily and continued to ask, ”Then why is it distributed like this now?”

Hu Shuo crossed his hands in front of him, calmly looking at Su Yi as if he were looking at a peer, and said calmly, ”The current distribution system was established by your father, who is the train conductor.”

”Can you decide everything by becoming the train conductor?”

Su Yi’s small palm pressed onto the table, his dark eyes full of seriousness.

”No.”

Hu Shuo decisively denied.

”The reason all of us are here might involve various factors, but the fundamental reason is solely one: the train conductor can lead us to survival. We follow him, and he protects us.”

”Therefore, the train conductor of the Armed Train isn’t me, nor is it your uncle He Jie, but your father.”

Upon hearing this, recognition appeared in He Jie’s eyes as he knocked his thick knuckle on the table, attracting Su Yi’s gaze before saying, ”To establish rules, protect everyone, and lead them to survive, that’s the train conductor’s duty.”

Su Yi was stunned on the spot, and just when everyone thought he didn’t understand, the little guy suddenly said seriously.

”I want to be the train conductor in the future too!”

Hu Shuo did not show any joy. Instead, he calmly asked, ”Why?”

Su Yi’s little face was solemn, ”I want to bring back more and more resources so that everyone can have food and not worry about points.”

The atmosphere in the dining car became solemn because of this sentence.

Huayang suddenly wondered aloud, ”Jiang Zhuo... seems to be a girl; isn’t this kid trying to chase girls?”

The playful comment elicited peals of laughter.

Little Su Yi looked at Huayang in confusion. He still couldn’t understand the meaning of the term ”chase girls.”

Su Han patted the boy’s head and gave Huayang a cold glance.

Xiaoba’s smile carried a trace of seriousness as he said to Su Yi, ”Wanting to become a train conductor isn’t as simple as saying it. Protecting everyone is something you can’t do yet, so start by protecting those around you.”

Su Yi glanced at his younger siblings beside him and Yu Yue smiling behind him, earnestly promising, ”I will definitely protect my younger siblings and Mom.”

”Oh, and the sisters too.”

Su Han, touched yet slightly dissatisfied, gently pinched Su Yi’s cheek in mock anger, ”How many sisters do you have?”

”There’s Ya and Zhenzhen too... ah, ouch!”

With Su Yi’s cry of pain, the atmosphere in the dining car became even more cheerful.

Xiaozhao seized the moment, lifted his camera, clicked a few shots, and then tinkered with it.

Mumbling in a low voice, ”Hmm, what’s going on, the exposure is correct, why are the photos so dark...”

Beside him, Hu Shuo glanced over and pointed helplessly at the lens, ”You left the ND on.”

[The filter screwed onto the lens can adjust light intake, used in daytime outdoor and other scenes.]

Xiaozhao gave it a couple of twists, unscrewed a piece of glass from the lens, and remarked in surprise, ”It really is.”

Hu Shuo shook his head and curiously asked, ”I remember you were using a vlog camera for photos, why switch to such an antique?”

[Vlog cameras are mainly for video, but can also take photos, though the image quality is slightly inferior]

Xiaozhao said awkwardly, ”Wanted to test if my skills are still there, so picked something simple.”

The two comments sidetracked Xiaozhao, making him forget what he was going to ask, so he let it go.

Halfway through the meal, Su Yi ran outside.

Many people noticed his sneaky act of concealing food, yet no one exposed him, except for He Jie, who watched for a long time and said sternly, ”This kid’s not bad.”

Vice President Deng rarely commented on people but agreed with He Jie’s view, ”Just don’t spoil him, he’s fine.”

Lao San muttered softly, ”He’s not too much like Fourth Brother though.”

Before he could finish, Boss stomped fiercely on his foot under the table, and he realized he had misspoken, smiled apologetically at Yu Yue, and fell silent.

Others didn’t know who he meant by ”Fourth Brother,” and assumed it was a slip of the tongue when they heard.

Only Xiaoba quietly affirmed to himself.

”Very similar.”

...

Perhaps due to the midday feeding, Su Yi felt the young lady Jiang Zhuo was slightly nicer to him.

But only slightly.

Unlike the enthusiastic attitudes of those older kids, it was as if she finally acknowledged his presence, no longer completely ignoring him.

After the afternoon lessons ended, as Su Yi stepped out of the classroom, he saw his mother speaking with a woman who bore a seventy percent resemblance to him but had a completely different demeanor.

”Mom, Aunt.”

Su Yi’s two short legs moved quickly.

Su Yan and Su Li also happily followed him, running into the woman’s embrace.

Yu Yue hugged the two children, her beautiful almond-shaped eyes smiling, making even the sunset by the window lose its luster before her smile.

Yu Yue gently looked at the ”daughter” in front of her, yet her tone carried a hint of playful scolding, ”You nest in the lab every day, making the children anxious. You don’t even care for your own kids.”

Yu Jing replied indifferently, ”They can come into the lab with me. It’s nothing.”

Upon hearing this, Yu Yue cautiously pulled the children to her side, ”Don’t even think about it!” She sternly warned, ”No matter what reason you use, don’t bring the kids inside, or don’t blame me...”

Seeing her aunt about to explode, Yu Jing said helplessly, ”I am their biological mother.”

”Good thing you know.” Yu Yue snorted, ”I plan to take them out for a trip in a few days.”

Yu Jing was stunned for a moment, ”Where to?”

”Home.”

...

Yu Yue’s ”home” naturally wasn’t the small town below the train or the southern pre-apocalyptic house. To her, there’s only one true home.

That is the small house she and Su Huan once lived in for a time.

It was the most joyful period since her parents’ divorce; she was no longer the extra one.

If the front line weren’t urgent and the Armed Train couldn’t leave, she would have wanted to go long ago.

Unexpectedly, such a long delay until yesterday when Su Yi’s words made her suddenly realize it’s been three years.

She no longer wanted to stay here; she wanted to go home, take the kids, and return to the place with Su Huan’s imprint.

Though the decision was brief, Yu Yue’s outing was akin to a major operation for the Armed Train. Though she repeatedly declined and wanted a simple process, the accompanying list prepared by Hu Shuo had already reached over two meters long, with it still growing.

The secretarial team halted all activities, studying the arrangements for two full days before finalizing plans.

The combat group temporarily expanded by ten people, reaching sixty in total, with twenty staying behind for patrolling, guarding prisons, etc. The remaining forty seasoned veterans joined the team.

These forty people averaged at Tier One evolution level, all donning Four Symbols Level armor and carrying heavy weapons capable of starting a small war.

Even the Black Kite Special Service team three years ago, encountering this scale’s escort, wouldn’t have returned.

Lao San led in person; Xiaoma stayed on the train as a deputy.

Since Lu Xiao and others got off, Xiaoma had been cared for by He Jie and others. Two years ago, after accumulating enough merit, he was directly transferred to the combat group as Lao San’s deputy.

From the Armed Corps side, Qu Hang led a twenty-person team consisting of four squads.

Combat personnel accompanying reached seventy in number.

Regarding high-end combat power, adopted daughter Su Han was certainly accompanying, followed by Hu Shuo’s arranged head maid Su Reya, who reluctantly reached Tier Three after three years of consuming resources, though only equivalent to a Tier Three goalkeeper in combat, given she’s an expert at replicating scenes, no one expected her combat skills.

Additionally, there’s Lin Xia from the medical compartment, Wang Bo from energy management, Wen Biao as the driver, teacher Zhou Qing accompanying, resource collector Huang Sea, and Professor Ma who had no tasks but just wanted to stroll.

Furthermore, Lao Er’s new recruits, a thousand strong, were needed for long marches in Wind Snow Zone, to test Transformation Potion’s adaptability to extreme conditions.

All in all, it amounted to five Tier Three, Lao San equivalent to Tier Three, more than a dozen Tier Two Evolvers, plus over a thousand soldiers with Tier One combat capability.