Armored train in the apocalypse

Chapter 106 Logistics Center
The expressions on everyone's faces changed slightly, especially Li Tao's father, who looked at his son standing behind his brother and hesitated to speak.

A square-faced director with a large nose coughed, and before he could speak, the wrinkles between his brows deepened into a deep frown.

“I think starting the new city plan now is too risky. The armed train killed nineteen of our men, which is one-fifteenth of the company’s elite armed forces. Now it’s watching us like a hawk. What if it launches a surprise attack while we are clearing out Changli County?”

"This is our entire fortune. If we lose it, we will definitely be left behind by other companies within three to five years!"

As soon as he finished speaking, some people immediately voiced their agreement.

Li's father, who was standing to the side, did not speak, but there was still a hint of approval in his eyes.

Sitting at the head of the left, Li Wangchuan crossed his fingers and placed them together in front of his nose, his eyes coldly scrutinizing the sixteen directors.

Aside from Li Tao, he was the youngest person present, at thirty-five years old, which was considered quite energetic among a group of middle-aged people who averaged over fifty.

Four people had just spoken up in agreement, making a total of five including the one surnamed Zhang.

With seven people on our side, we could easily overpower the opponent. In this situation, the opinions of the remaining four are crucial.

Li Wangchuan turned his gaze to the woman on his right. The woman was not wearing a skirt suit, but rather an extremely neutral-looking suit. She was not wearing any jewelry, but she was well-maintained and looked like a strong woman in her thirties despite being over fifty years old.

Sitting there, he was like a weathered rock, silent yet commanding respect.

This is the third-party force in the board of directors, Wang Yi, who took over her father's position ten years ago and has remained there ever since, keeping a low profile and not revealing her true intentions. Even in such a turbulent situation as the apocalypse, her position has not been shaken in the slightest.

He had tested this woman a few years ago when he first came to power, but he didn't get any useful information from her. He knew she was a tough nut to crack.

For him to implement any plan in the Steel Council, the most important thing was to persuade this woman.

As for Chairman Zhang...

Li Wangchuan glanced at the man with his eyebrows furrowed in a "川" shape. He had lost twenty of his core armed forces at the beginning of the apocalypse, which basically meant he was out of the game. The reason he was still in the board meeting was because the remaining four people didn't want to confront him directly and were using his face for a while longer.

He tapped the table lightly, and the noise stopped. Pairs of eyes, some scrutinizing and others harboring ill intent, turned to him.

"Li Tao, report the information you've obtained to the board members."

Li Tao, who was behind him, adjusted his glasses and said loudly, "The armed train's current visible force is an elite team of evolved beings with a clear combination of abilities. Its leader is at the first level and his profession does not belong to any of the professions we know of. We will temporarily classify him as a 'manipulator' or 'power provider.' Moreover, the other party is holding back. There is another first-level evolved being in the room, and the remaining nine are unprofessional evolved beings."

"Impossible! How could just two Tier 1 Evolvers possibly wipe out my entire B-rank squad!"

Chairman Zhang immediately questioned this.

Li Tao was not bothered by it. "I think you directors have already received the detailed battle report. Although many traces have been erased, according to the trace detection reports from the four battlefields and the accounts of the returning soldiers, the company's 20-man armed squad had already had a skirmish with the zombie horde and consumed a lot of high-powered weapons."

"Then the forces were split up. Some of them were eaten by the hidden Tier 1 Evolvers at the armed train's stop, and the rest were ambushed by the enemy at the armory. This caused a lot of casualties in the battle, and our side was at a firepower disadvantage, which led to further casualties."

"Based on the course of the battle, the enemy was capable of taking down a B-level squad. Of course, as the highest commander on the battlefield, He Jie should bear the main responsibility."

Li Tao recounted the entire battle, though some details were missing, the overall account was largely accurate.

The only misunderstanding was that they mistook He Jie, who was hiding in the carriage, for one of their own.

After all, no one would have thought that an unprofessional evolved human could wipe out a well-trained C-level squad.

Chairman Zhang's expression grew even more unpleasant, but he still argued his case forcefully, "There's no need to go into the details of the process, but doesn't the result show that this force is hostile towards us?"

"After two days of evaluation by researchers, the second-tier evolved beast bones in the transaction are confirmed to be of good quality and possess extremely high evolutionary potential, making them highly valuable for research. The evolutionary path for the second-tier profession 'Berserker Veteran' has undergone multiple assessments and tests, and is over 90% feasible."

Li Tao looked up at Chairman Zhang, whose face was growing increasingly dark. "According to the analysis of the information experts, the other party comes from a much larger force. If He Jie's troops hadn't launched the attack that day, they wouldn't have even had any conflict with us."

With all the information laid out together, everyone is smart enough to understand it.

While launching an offensive, they suffered heavy losses.

On the other hand, they conducted transactions and acquired a large amount of resources.

Anyone with a brain can tell which of Chairman Li and Chairman Zhang brought more benefits to the company in this incident.

As for the loss of an armory.

Those are unexploited resources, not yet accounted for, so naturally others don't care.

Everyone's gaze unconsciously lingered between Li Wangchuan and Chairman Wang.

Li Wangchuan spoke first, saying, "People may be worried that if we fail this time, the company's strength will be greatly reduced, leading to falling behind."

"But this is a time of great competition, where a hundred boats race and one must advance or fall behind! Every day we waste now is a gap between us and other forces."

"Qinggang Industry lags far behind other forces in terms of resources, manpower, and information."

"The New City Project is our most important step. Only by taking this step can we lay the foundation for our power. Otherwise, how can a power without a base make a name for itself? Without the protection of this brand, how long can you and I survive in this apocalypse?"

Some menacing voices echoed in the conference room.

The faces of the crowd were somber.

Li Tao watched his uncle's retreating figure, a glint of shrewdness flashing in his eyes. The woman finally stopped staring at her rounded fingernails and looked up at the young man with a hawk-like gaze. Looking at his familiar demeanor, a hint of reminiscence crossed her eyes. "In a race of a hundred boats, if you don't advance, you fall behind. Since you have this awareness, then go ahead and do it. The new city plan will be led by your Li family."

After saying that, the woman got up and left without any explanation.

"Next, the board of directors will express their opinion on whether to approve the launch of the new city plan."

"agree."

"agree……"

With the woman's stance, the tide turned in Li Wangchuan's favor, and even those who had recommended Chairman Zhang stopped resisting.

The meeting ended, and the building was deserted.

Li Wangchuan stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, looking at the gray sky outside the fourteenth floor, his eyes burning with the fire of ambition.

"Xiao Tao, bring me that set of gene serum."

Li Tao suddenly looked up, his eyes filled with worry, "But we don't have any further direction for advancement."

"I figured out the direction myself."

"I suggest we wait a bit longer. We've already discovered the prototype; let's culture it for a few more years..."

"Xiao Tao, I can't sleep at night anymore. It feels like there's a fire burning in my chest."

"I've forgotten when the last time I was so excited I was trembling was, but I don't want to wait any longer."

"I'm going to open my arms and welcome this new world!"

……

"December 30th, 24°C, no rain"

"A new order has been established, but I always feel out of place with them, emm... except for Yu Yue."

……

Gray clouds rolled slowly over the smart logistics center. A rusty sign was stuck on a ten-meter-high steel frame, and water-stained rust marks spread down the support like varicose veins.

Intermittent metallic clanging sounds came from afar, the abandoned overpass swayed in the wind, mixed with the cawing of a few ravens.

The clanging and crashing of the armored trains brought a touch of life to the place.

The train conductor, holding a bowl of mutton and vermicelli soup, leaned against the window next to the driver's cab, slurping the piping hot vermicelli while surveying the smart logistics center.

Although the main purpose was to lure the Steel Council into a trap, the choice of the logistics center was not without reason.

The armed train is now quite advanced in terms of hardware, but some of the equipment inside is still in the state it was forty years ago. Communication relies entirely on shouting, and transportation can only be done by adding more people, except for a small crane.

Although many of them are evolved beings, they can't do this kind of physical labor all day long.

However, most of the highly intelligent devices such as exoskeletons and robots that make it easier for workers to move heavy objects are in cutting-edge laboratories or military and aerospace bases.

Large-scale civilian use is really rare.

The only thing he knew of that existed in intelligent logistics centers was that they had such things.

So I plan to get dozens of them at once, which will also help me move some large equipment.

For example, large-scale oxygen production equipment, bullet production lines, and so on.

He doesn't have it now, but his former employer definitely does!
Moreover, his former employer was a heavy industry company, so their financial resources were definitely substantial.

If you don't have the right tools, wouldn't that be like entering a treasure mountain and leaving empty-handed?
There are no railway tracks inside the logistics center; trains can only stop at a platform one kilometer away.

The sound of the train naturally attracted the zombies wandering around. Led by first-tier zombies, they charged towards the armed train like small armies, howling, from a distance of several hundred meters.

The anti-aircraft machine gun on the front of the vehicle began its relentless reaping, its thunderous sound echoing throughout the entire intelligent logistics center.

Vast numbers of zombies were harvested like wheat.

Occasionally, a fish might slip through the net, but it would be caught by the firepower inside the vehicle.

The fastest Tier 1 jumper was shot in the head by Yu Yue.

She was already extremely talented in sniping, and after obtaining sniping specialization, her level completely surpassed Su Huan's, making her the number one sniper on the armed train.

Minced meat flew everywhere outside the train, while the train conductor ate with gusto.

When the gunfire stopped, Su Huan had finished the last sip of mutton soup.

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(End of this chapter)