Armored train in the apocalypse

Chapter 157 I Must Save Su
Zhang Min's pupils contracted sharply; that damned smiling face from her memory was right in front of her.

Why is he here?
That's a Tier 2 zombie with sturdy corpse armor.

Why is a monster that even bullets can't penetrate like paper in front of him?
She was already a first-tier evolved being, she had already gained power that ordinary people could only look up to, she was no longer the weak person abandoned by the train.

But why, when facing him, is she still like a cat being choked by the scruff of its neck, unable to even muster the courage to struggle?

She felt the "seed of hatred" surging within her, which should have been her source of power and her reliance for revenge. But at this moment, it was like a young beast terrified by a thunderstorm, cowering and trembling, not daring to send her even the slightest bit of malice.

Why doesn't this man in front of her have any ill intentions towards her?
Is there no killing, no desire, not even the slightest aversion?

Or is it that he's too strong, so strong that he exceeds the limits of his abilities...?

The difference... how could it be so huge?

She looked at the lingering lightning around Su Huan, at his teasing eyes, and suddenly realized—

What she thought was "becoming stronger" was probably just a laughable act of self-comfort in his eyes.

She struggled with all her might to climb to the first step, but he... was already standing at a height she couldn't even see when she looked up.

Why?
She bit her lip hard until the taste of blood filled her mouth.

Why is it that no matter how hard she chases after him, she can't even catch a glimpse of his back?
Why is it that the person she hates so much can reappear in front of her with such a nonchalant attitude?

Unwilling...

anger……

despair……

A torrent of emotions surged within her chest, but ultimately, they coalesced into a murmur she herself could barely hear—

"Train conductor, what...what kind of monster are you...?"

"The train conductor likes polite children, so he won't hold it against you this time."

Although blood kept flowing from his mouth as soon as he opened it, and his body ached as if it were being torn apart, Su Huan still managed to force a perfect smile.

I stood up, supporting myself on my knees, and my energy kept overflowing, like a deflated balloon.

The area within a ten-meter radius was Su Huan's minefield.

"Clap--"

The steady sound of a sniper rifle helped Su Huan clear out the approaching zombies and evolved beasts.

He looked coldly at Professor Xu in front of him, "The person, the medicine!"

When he rushed to the experimental tower, he bumped into the person in charge. He grabbed him by the collar and checked the accounts, only to find that the Gene Prototype was gone. He chased after him with lightning speed, like a 100,000-volt whirlwind.

Director Xu quickly pointed to the shattered cockpit next to him.

Although he couldn't see anyone, Su Huan sensed something "delicious" in the driver's cab that was attracting him.

They tore open the deformed car door and peered inside.

The girl in front of him bore a resemblance to Lin Jin, only with more delicate features and an extremely thin figure. She looked like a bean sprout whose food had been skimped on by the Steel Council. Although she was pretty, he had never been interested in that kind of girl.

"No."

The girl suddenly said.

Su Huan's eyes suddenly sharpened, a faint smile playing on his lips. "Nothing?"

The girl fell silent.

"Which two areas does she have expertise in?" Su Huan asked Director Xu.

The latter hesitated for a moment.

Another ability collapsed, but Su Huan showed no sign of panic. Instead, he said gently, "Is that your assistant or your student down there? How about I dig him out and you two have a quick quiz? The one who answers the least or the slowest will be eliminated. What do you think?"

Director Xu had never seen such a barbaric person before. Even the most powerful directors in the Steel Council would show him basic respect.

"It involves two areas: manipulation and data collection."

'Collect...' Su Huan pondered the two words carefully, then looked at the little girl with a mischievous smile.

"Lin Xi, right? Your brother sold you to me as his wife."

The girl's expression was subtle.

Su Huan frowned as he looked at the bloodstains on her skirt. He lifted the skirt and ran his hand down her knees to her shin. The bloodstains felt cool and smooth to the touch, like a piece of silken tofu.

Thankfully, it was just a minor scrape; no bones were broken, otherwise I would have had to carry her.

Lin Xi wasn't surprised by his actions; she simply observed him quietly with her light gray eyes.

After he finished checking her injuries, she took off her skirt, opened her arms, and said softly, "Hug."

"Um?!"

Su Huan narrowed his eyes.

He bent down, supporting the girl's lower back with one hand and reaching under her legs with the other. Just as he lifted her up, a large gushing of blood gushed from his mouth.

Without even trying to hide it, he turned around and vomited to the side.

This scene left Director Xu, who was standing nearby, deep in thought.

Su Huan felt something touch the corner of his mouth. He turned around and saw the girl carefully wiping the blood from his mouth with her sleeve.

The searchlights to the south had mostly gone out, leaving only a few scattered lights illuminating a corner of the raging horde of zombies.

A troop carrier stopped sideways in front of Su Huan, the door opened, and Jiang Rong's voice came out.

Ignoring her futile efforts, he said in a deep voice, "Take the gene serum and let's go!"

Director Xu hurriedly said, "There are all-around energy detection devices inside the vehicle!"

Upon hearing this, Su Huan's gaze immediately sharpened.

He had indeed heard of this thing; it was something the Steel Council had acquired at a huge cost before the apocalypse.

Let alone armed trains, even the current Steel Council cannot develop such a device that combines universal energy use.

Conducting scientific research in the apocalypse is no easy task.

In addition to talent, there also needs to be a variety of supporting basic industries.

In the short term, armed trains have absolutely nothing to do with scientific research.

Seeing the surging evolved beasts ahead, Su Huan made a decision instantly, "You two get in the car first!"

He turned and ran towards the back of the carriage.

He casually conjured a long whip of lightning, grabbed a first-tier night demon from a nearby building, and chopped off its head with a single stroke.

Using the momentum, he threw the longsword, the blade wrapped with leaping lightning snakes, pinning the bloodhound that was trying to ambush him twenty meters away to the concrete wall. The lingering electric current burned the corpse with a crackling sound.

They tore open the car body and quickly found the all-powerful monitoring device.

He carried the device back to the carriage, and with a casual wave of his hand, the condensed electric current brought the long sword on the wall back.

The troop carrier charged out fiercely.

The scene was left in a mess.

Zhang Min, lying in the wreckage, felt her consciousness becoming increasingly blurred, and the massive blood loss gave her the illusion that she was gradually falling asleep.

'Have I been...abandoned again?'

Out of the corner of my eye, a nimble shadow flashed by.

Just when she thought it was a zombie coming to devour her corpse, she discovered that it was actually a woman.

Dressed in tactical gear, carrying a sniper rifle, with slightly droopy eyes, she exudes a gentle and approachable aura, like a girl next door.

She remembered this person; it was this woman who was washing dishes when she got on the bus.

At the time, I foolishly thought I would replace her.

Before Zhang Min could react, the icy liquid was poured into her mouth.

The liquid that entered her stomach instantly turned into a warm, scalding current, the coldness subsided, and sensation returned to her numb limbs. Seeing that she was showing signs of improvement, Yu Yue moved the remains that were pressing down on her body a little further away.

With a flick of his wrist, he drew a pistol from his waist and precisely reaped several of the surging evolved beasts. Each bullet seemed to have eyes, piercing into their skulls through the weakest points.

"Why did you save me?"

A deep look of confusion appeared in Zhang Min's eyes.

Sheathing the gun, Yu Yue said softly, "You made him very happy."

A completely unexpected answer.

Zhang Min remained in a daze until Yu Yue disappeared from her side.

"I live... just to make him happy?"

"Why? Why should the best always be yours?"

"Hehe"

The howls of zombies mixed with morbid laughter echoed in the area.

……

After boarding the train, Su Huan's vision went black.

Two of the "Fighter's" three abilities collapsed immediately.

His eyes appeared completely crimson to others, making him indistinguishable from the zombies outside.

Seeing the look Su Huan was giving him, Director Xu felt a chill run down his spine. "Are you going to mutate?!"

Su Huan felt an excruciating pain as if his entire body was being torn apart, and gritted his teeth as he said, "Gene extract."

Director Xu was stunned for a moment, then quickly opened his briefcase, took out a gene serum, and explained, "Let me tell you in advance, once you use the gene serum, you can't go back. You can only maintain your lifespan for three to five years. There aren't many maintenance serums I brought with me, just enough for the two of you to use for a year."

"Ha... Three to five years, and there's still such a good thing?"

The medicine was in the shape of a syringe. After opening the needle, it was plunged directly into the heart.

The energy storage engine suddenly pounded, and everyone in the car felt a sudden tightness in their chest, as if the nutrients in the air had been squeezed out by something in an instant.

The icy liquid was injected into his heart, and Su Huan could no longer bear it, collapsing in the car.

Director Xu glanced at Jiang Rong, who was driving, sighed softly, leaned back in the car, and resigned himself to fate.

Seeing Su Huan fall into a coma, Lin Xi moved forward and stubbornly wiped the blood from the corner of Su Huan's mouth with her sleeve, muttering to herself.

"Liar."

The transport of the energy monitoring device caused some delays.

Even with Yu Yue and Liang Kuan escorting them, the two vehicles were gradually surrounded by zombies. From an aerial view, the inverted trapezoidal headquarters of the Steel Conference only showed organized resistance in the northeast direction.

This is the residential area for the families of the Steel Council.

Holding two heavy machine guns, He Jie stood on the pickup truck, firing at the chaotic zombies and evolved beasts in the family area, while shouting at the top of his lungs.

"Han Qin!"

The roar pierced through the noisy cries of the family quarters.

This drew the attention of the fleeing crowd.

A hundred meters away, a woman with blood on her face suddenly turned around.

"Old He?!"

Han Qin's voice cracked.

She dragged her eight-year-old son along, with her fifteen-year-old daughter following behind.

Five or six neighbors behind him erupted in cheers upon hearing He Jie's shout, "It's Captain He! He's still alive!"

"Quickly, move closer to Captain He, he's a first-tier evolved being!"

For reasons of secrecy, most people thought that He Jie had simply disappeared and were unaware that he had betrayed the Steel Council.

He Jie's eyes welled up with tears upon hearing the response.

"boom!"

The pickup truck knocked down the zombies chasing them, and He Jie jumped out of the truck and rushed into the crowd. His muscular arms wrapped around his wife and daughter, and the smell of gunpowder mixed with blood filled their nostrils.

"dad……"

His daughter buried her face in the crook of his neck, her warm tears soaking through her combat uniform.

He Jie, holding a gun, shouted, "Get in the car quickly, sit in the front!"

Han Qin quickly got into the car with her two children.

There were already two people in the car: a young woman sitting in the back and a regular Steel Council soldier as the driver. Although he was also an evolved being, he was only slightly stronger than an ordinary person because his main skill had just been activated.

They were a young couple whom He Jie had temporarily hired to drive.

The crowd surged toward the pickup truck like startled lemmings.

He Jie roared, "Women and children can sit in the front, the rest of you get to the back!"

Several men quickly shoved their wives and daughters onto the truck and then stood in the back of the pickup.

He Jie was retreating to provide cover when he was suddenly grabbed by his tactical vest. Han Qin turned back and stuffed a warm object into his hand.

"Take them with you!" Her wide eyes, reflecting the muzzle flash of the gun, glared as she turned. "If you leave my side and the child by even half a step, I'm divorcing you!"

He Jie looked down, and in his palm lay a peace knot woven by his daughter.

He grinned, smashed the attacking zombie flat with the butt of his rifle, and roared at the two off-road vehicles and soldiers rushing out in front of him, "Anyone who recognizes my face, get down and follow my orders!"

There were a total of twelve armed soldiers. Although they were not as elite as his previous subordinates, they had undergone two years of professional training and worked together very well.

With the addition of survivors, He Jie's firepower was much greater, but the pressure was also much higher.

More zombies and evolved beasts are targeting this group.

……

Freight station at the northern end of the heavy industrial zone.

A heavily armed train, stained with blood and riddled with craters, bullet holes, and acid rain corrosion marks, had been stopped for ten minutes.

It had already exceeded the planned forty minutes.

Inside the dining car, Xiao Ba said calmly but firmly, "Su needs our help."

Lin Jin, who had been anxiously waiting, stood up and said, "I'm going too!"

The third brother was stunned. He looked at the row of soldiers squatting on the ground and Li Tao, who was tied to a stretcher. "What about them?"

Xiao Ba spun his wheelchair over to Li Tao and said earnestly, "Su said you are in danger and very important, and she wants me to watch over you."

Li Tao looked at the metal manipulator who had caused him so much trouble with a hint of gloom in his eyes, and sneered, "He was insane and caused a million-strong zombie horde to devour humans. Now he's gotten himself into trouble. It can only be called retribution."

Xiao Ba pursed her lips and slowly said, "I don't agree with this method either, but I won't try to persuade him. He never stops me from saving people, and I shouldn't stop him from killing. He does what he wants to do, and I will do what I want to do."

Li Tao remained silent for a moment.

He surprisingly agreed with this view, even though it came from a twelve-year-old boy.

"So what are you going to do now?"

"Feel sorry."

A sharp pain suddenly shot through Li Tao's heart. He looked up in disbelief at the earnest eyes of the boy before him, opened his mouth but could not utter a word.

"I need to save Su, so I have no choice but to kill you."

(I'm moving and leaving Nanjing these past three days, so I'll only be posting four times a day. I'll catch up later.)

(End of this chapter)