Armed Train in the Apocalypse

In the High Temperature Zone, everything visible slightly twists, as if viewed through a layer of steam.

The black asphalt spreads like a river, winding around carbonized trees and integrating with the ruins of buildings.

Yet, even in such a harsh world, life still exists.

A rat as large as a medium-sized dog stands in the shade of the ruins, devoid of fur, its blood visible flowing beneath its skin. At this moment, it supports its body with its hind legs to watch the sky, always feeling like something flashed by, unsure if it can be eaten.

Just as it hesitated whether to chase after it, something soft suddenly pressed against its head.

Without any hesitation, instinct already stimulated its motor neurons, causing its hairless body to shoot out like a cannonball.

At the critical moment, it can still turn its head to look behind.

Instantly, its lively eyes were swallowed by an abyssal fear, its body stiffening like dry wood, crashing to the ground and rolling far.

A grindstone-sized cat paw silently landed beside it, the giant cat head disdainfully glancing at the rigid rat, hesitated for a moment, then picked it up and swallowed it whole. Then it looked at the sky, its vertical pupils slightly contracted, and with a leap, it vanished from the spot.

Where it treaded on the ground, not even a grain of sand was displaced.

Ah Duo surprised, said in midair, “Not only is this land not dead, but its vitality is rather thriving, even more so than the Plant Zone, almost on par with the Wind Snow Zone.”

Su Huan, looking at the scene of the cat eating the rat below, seemed thoughtful.

“Living creatures’ activity has decreased, resources are increasingly concentrated in the land.” Saying this, he opened his palm, as if holding something invisible, “This isn’t merely a collapse, it’s just energy operating under new rules.”

Hundred Beasts took a deep glance at Su Huan’s palm, feeling familiar with what lay there, even more than his own bones.

Rules, and the rules unique to the High Temperature Zone.

He just casually caught it like that, even if just a strand, it’s still awe-inspiring.

Tier Four Evolvers can only touch or observe rules with difficulty, let alone easily grasping a rule they don’t fully understand.

If Su Huan is at Tier Three limit, using this single rule as a seed, it’s enough to advance to Tier Four.

“The rule here doesn’t seem to be merely high temperature; high temperature is just an offshoot of the rule.”

Feeling this strand of rule, Su Huan stated assuredly.

This situation isn’t seen for the first time, just like how the Rust Area’s rule isn’t rust but [Metal], and the Flood Zone’s rule isn’t flood but [Energy].

“It’s [Anger].”

“Anger?”

Ma Hongyu first uttered in surprise, “Are there rules related to emotions?”

Su Huan wasn’t surprised, emotional rules are rare but not unheard of, the Wolf King in the Wind Snow Zone mastered [Pride].

‘Anger… Pride…’

Individually they seem harmless, but when these two words are combined, they create a subtle chemical reaction.

Anyone exposed to internet culture would instinctively associate with something.

—Seven Deadly Sins.

However, according to Yu Yao, there are at least twelve Rule Stones; from what he’s encountered, there’s material-based [Metal], conceptual [Enlightenment], mixed material and concept [Storm], plus the Seven Deadly Sins’ [Anger], it’s too chaotic.

It’s impossible to classify it under one system or theory.

It’s as if someone blended Eastern and Western cultures, shook it hard, and randomly picked these terms.

The only commonality is that they all appear in Rule Stone form.

Did the senior orchestrate this?

Last time he left too hastily, didn’t have time to ask about these trivial matters.

Perhaps this time when he returns, he can get clear answers.

“… There’s a lot of Evolution Beasts here, but they aren’t the Dominator. From this part adjacent to the Acid Rain Zone beneath us, several thousand kilometers south covering all of South Asia, it’s all zombie territory.”

Hundred Beasts introduced.

Upon hearing this, even the composed Su Huan raised his brows.

The High Temperature Zone isn’t small, covering around seven or eight provinces, all official provinces of Donghuang, with areas no less than northern provinces.

“Billions of zombies?”

“More than that.”

Hundred Beasts shook his head warily, “When I first advanced to Tier Three, I delved into the High Temperature Zone for a look and realized the so-called zombie tide was just an overflow due to their excessive numbers.”

Ma Hongyu exclaimed, “Does that mean there’s a Zombie Empire hiding in the High Temperature Zone? Do they have an emperor? Is there centralized control? I remember zombies evolve to higher tiers seem intelligent, are there any super intelligent zombies born?”

Su Huan’s eyes lit up, showing interest as he looked at Hundred Beasts.

“Yes!” Hundred Beasts said gravely, “And I’ve clashed with that presence once, nearly got eaten by the horde he commanded.”

Ma Hongyu gasped, “Really formed an empire?!”

“Not an empire, but there’s a controller, able to command Tier Four Lords!”

Su Huan: “Location.”

Hundred Beasts pointed to the ground, slightly helpless, “He’s underground, and really deep underground, a place we can’t reach.”

Su Huan heard and paused, squinted at the land beneath his feet.

At this stage, there aren’t many places in this world he can’t go, the deep core counts as one.

Not that it’s completely unreachable, but rather very troublesome.

Though he won’t die due to high temperature or suffocation, moving or fighting there normally is impossible.

In such circumstances, even if luck is on his side, finding the zombie controller would be futile.

Deep in the Earth’s core, casually releasing a skill would cause a disaster more terrifying than a zombie tide.

After pondering for a while, Su Huan still abandoned the tempting idea of eliminating the other side.

Then he thought of another question, “Is [Anger] in their hands?”

“No,” Hundred Beasts laughed, “If it was in their hands, I wouldn’t have had the chance to advance to Tier Four. Concerning [Anger], I need to introduce you to the dominator of the High Temperature Zone, in the Australia region.”

Su Huan hid several people within the Energy Tide, and saying they traveled ten thousand miles in a day would not be an exaggeration. After chatting for half a day, they had crossed South Asia, flown over layers of islands, and arrived in Australia.

The steaming sea formed a lingering mist at the edge of the continent, like a wall, isolating the entire Australia.

Although it’s hot here too, it’s actually slightly better than the edge of the High Temperature Zone, around seventy or eighty degrees.

Ordinary people still can’t survive, but the few tens of degrees let other creatures have quite a bit of living space.

For example, the kangaroos sprinting across the plain.

They gathered in their thousands, like the earth itself, and when they ran, it was like ten thousand war drums beating at once, making the ground shake.

Ma Hongyu looked surprised, “The dominator you mentioned, is it them?”

Hundred Beasts had a mischievous anticipation in his expression about the upcoming event, emphasizing, “It’s him!”

…

“Zhu Fengrui (Hundred Beasts), Zhu Fengrui…

“What have I done to make you disrespect me so? You don’t even want to call me Godfather.”

In a cathedral-like building made of pure white stone, a kangaroo dressed in a black suit supported itself on the ground with its tail, speaking in an elder Godfather tone to the group that entered.

Even though Su Huan was well-versed in the world, seeing this human-like kangaroo king left him silent.

Hundred Beasts, however, acted like he was home, casually thumping the kangaroo a couple of times, grumbling, “You actually finished watching all those movies; I thought you’d melt like ice cream in a couple of days.”

The kangaroo disdainfully pushed him away, tugging at his tie, “Knowledge changes destiny, you idiot who didn’t even finish compulsory education! I changed our species’ living environment with knowledge a year ago; don’t you feel that this cathedral is only fifty degrees?”

“It’s all still damn hot.” Ignoring his ridicule, Hundred Beasts introduced to Su Huan and the others, “This is my friend, Joey Kangaroo, the true dominator of this land.”

Then he introduced Su Huan and the others to the kangaroo Joey.

“He’s the legendary train conductor I told you about.”

Feeling Su Huan’s aura, not leaking the slightest bit, the kangaroo Joey’s expression became much more solemn.

“Constructing a train that connects twelve major zones from south to north, only someone powerful could imagine such a crazy plan.”

Ma Hongyu stood by, his eyes full of complexity and shock.

When the mushroom capable of learning human knowledge appeared, he wasn’t this shocked, as that was a clever trick; the Mushroom Men, or Fungus Carpet, were hard to consider an independent civilization.

But this kangaroo in front of him not only talks, learns human knowledge, but it damn well has its own family clan and has become the Godfather!

How is this any different from a whole new kind of “human”?

The apocalypse, evolution, Mushroom Men were crazy enough, and now the world seems to be in free edit mode, pushing the limits of human imagination, racing towards an unknown end.

He wanted to see how far this Godfather could go, as long as he wasn’t slapped to death by the train conductor.

“Information has been updated; actually, there are only ten disasters, with the eleventh being you, and the twelfth us.”

Su Huan calmly said.

Ma Hongyu realized he had misunderstood the train conductor; perhaps, in the conductor’s eyes, this crazy kangaroo was genuinely his peer.

Actually, Su Huan’s acceptance ability had always been high, as he was the only one present who had traveled through all the large zones and left Donghuang, even left this world.

Though he stayed only briefly in the gap between the two worlds.

Even if a native evolved kangaroo, if Joey said he was a traveler, he’d believe it.

Zombies, demons, gods, otherworld invaders…

After experiencing these, whatever appeared in this world rarely surprised him anymore.

“Us? Evolution Beasts?”

Joey seriously expanded on the topic started by Su Huan.

“It’s all life forms embarking on the path of evolution, except for humans.”

Su Huan quietly broadened the meaning a bit.

Joey pondered for a moment, “Is it because of an invasion?”

Everyone was startled, even Hundred Beasts exclaimed in surprise, “How did you know?”

He had only just learned about the otherworld invader, and besides him, no human could penetrate into the High Temperature Zone; Joey definitely had no other source of information.

Joey said with a surprised tone, “It really is? Your human films and works often fantasize about invasion; other than that, I can’t think of another reason.”

Su Huan briefly explained the root of the apocalypse.

After all, Joey was the first Tier Four Evolution Beast he met that held goodwill towards humans.

Of course, this also had something to do with the fact that he had raised two kangaroos himself.

After listening to the explanation, Joey said seriously, “Though I really want to help you, reason tells me leaving the High Temperature Zone is not a good choice, it’s quite likely I’ll be peeled and eaten by your human experts before reaching the Wind Snow Zone. So, do you have any other reason for coming to me?”

Joey’s way of speaking really appealed to Su Huan, no wonder he could be friends with Hundred Beasts.

Su Huan didn’t waste words, with a flick, he summoned the Rule Stone, “I want this kind of stone; as compensation, I’ll pay three corpses at Tier Four level.”

Joey glanced at that Rule Stone, eyes revealing understanding.

“Alright, but I don’t want zombie ones.”

“Then there’s only one.”

“Deal.”

Joey agreed straightforwardly.

Su Huan squinted his eyes, carrying a hint of examination, “If I’m not mistaken, the rule you mastered is also [Anger], right?”

Joey said sternly, “Precisely because of that, I’m trading this thing to you.”

Hundred Beasts unnaturally scratched his head, eyes dim.

“What do you mean?”

“This rule is strange.”

[In this book’s world view, South Asia and Australia are Donghuang territories, scaled up and connected in the middle]