Armored train in the apocalypse

Chapter 183 Framework Design
"Off the tracks?"

"hiss……"

The experts looked at each other in bewilderment, thinking that it would be better to discuss the issue of quantum levitation instead.

After a moment's hesitation, Vice President Deng said, "If the train doesn't run on rails, then we can only install tracks, but let alone maintain a speed of over 100 kilometers per hour, it will probably be difficult to exceed 60."

"Sixty?" Su Huan was somewhat surprised. It wasn't that it was too little, but rather that it far exceeded his expectations. He had even prepared for it to be only thirty. "What about the load capacity? Can it maintain the current weight of the armed train?"

If speed is lost, then weight becomes the last line of defense for the armored train.

A flood can wash away anything weighing less than 10,000 tons.

“Weight is not a problem. The current weight of the armed train is just over 10,000 tons, which is spread across 55 carriages. As long as we increase the ground contact area of ​​the tracks, the load-bearing capacity can easily double.”

Vice President Deng adjusted his glasses and said seriously.

Finally hearing the good news, Su Huan breathed a sigh of relief and then handed the floor to Director Xu.

He was responsible for coordinating specific goals with the manufacturing base.

The experts had just breathed a sigh of relief when they heard Director Xu introduce the densely packed and outlandish modification targets, and they gasped for breath again.

Now that they were no longer facing Su Huan, the experts had the courage to raise questions.

Director Xu and Professor Ma took turns answering the questions.

Xiao Zhao turned on a 300-inch video wall behind her and projected some detailed images of the armed train onto it.

At first, everyone was a little reserved, but they were gradually attracted by this imaginative transformation.

A group of elderly men with an average age of over fifty began a heated discussion.

"We could install some robotic arms outside the carriages, like those on the space station, which could act as cranes and perform auxiliary tasks."

"We have to take into account the factors of evolved beasts and zombies. In the face of that terrifying force, a mechanical arm is no different from a tree branch."

"Then make it foldable, so that it can be stored on the car body normally, and can be put down and embedded in the ground to stabilize the car body in some situations. I see that the trains now have two floors and the height is over six meters. We need to consider the balance issue."

"The balance problem is easy to solve. Since tracks have already been added, why not just widen the entire vehicle body to solve the balance problem? It can also expand the interior space."

"What about tunnel width restrictions?"

"Once you pass Qingchuan, there are basically no more mountains, so you don't need to worry about width or height restrictions."

"Besides, if it has tracks, just go on the road. What's with the width restriction? With such thick armor, just ram it!"

"I can't believe it!" said Vice President Deng, who had a round face, excitedly.

Clearly, this old man was quite daring when he was young.

"Cough cough..."

Director Xu cleared his throat, interrupting the heated atmosphere, and straightened the documents in front of him. "The idea of ​​a robotic arm is excellent, but right now we need to solve the problem of converting a train into a ship."

"Modifying a ship isn't difficult. I remember Chairman Wan has a ship parts manufacturing plant in Shun'an, right?"

"That's what Vice President Deng said."

Wan Hao, who had been silent, nodded. "They specialize in making propulsion system parts. We can get them over anytime if needed."

"But it's not as simple as modifying a ship. Based on the description, I feel it's more like modifying a submarine," an expert suddenly said.

Everyone looked at the description in the data again.

"It really is true. To face floodwaters more than ten meters deep and stay in a train carriage for more than thirty days, my goodness, getting off the train underwater is just like the science fiction stories I read when I was a kid."

The factory manager said jokingly.

Seeing Su Huan sitting with his legs crossed and a smile on his face, everyone laughed heartily, and the atmosphere became much more relaxed.

Scientific research is not something that can be forced into existence, and everyone here is a seasoned veteran who can understand things clearly even without pressure.

A more relaxed atmosphere might spark even better ideas.

Since he'll be the ultimate beneficiary anyway, why not?

Under the leadership of Vice President Deng, several difficulties in modifying the ship were quickly identified.

The first is sealing and corrosion prevention.

The second is the internal circulation.

The third is the propulsion system.

Fourth is positioning.

Fifth is security.

Su Huan listened with great interest, noting that each point was quite intricate.

For example, internal circulation.

If the floodwaters do not recede, the train will remain submerged in water.

The most obvious problem is oxygen consumption.

However, since trains don't have to worry about energy issues, this problem is much easier to solve.

All you need to do is bring a sufficient number of oxygen concentrators.

Then you need to add a "LiOH filter," which, according to Su Huan's understanding, is probably for purifying carbon dioxide.

Anaerobic digesters, used to process kitchen waste, can turn it into methane.

Non-biodegradable waste is compressed using a baler, placed in an isolation chamber, and then disposed of once it reaches the surface of the water.

It also has an air circulation system and a temperature control system.

They even considered the issue of using the toilet, proposing a solution of a vacuum toilet combined with an incinerator.

Positioning refers to the method of exploration and positioning in water.

After all, floodwaters are turbulent and polluted, so relying on visual observation is unreliable.

Traditional detection methods have been disrupted by ubiquitous energy.

Fortunately, evolution has solved many problems. What mechanics and science cannot solve, evolutionists and omnipotent beings can solve. For example, the mutated plants in carriages 7 and 8 can provide a lot of oxygen, which can serve as an extra layer of insurance in addition to the oxygen generator.

Before we knew it, night had fallen. Outside the window, the rain was still pouring down, and the dark clouds pressed the night even deeper. Looking out, we could only see the faint light from the sentry post.

The excited crowd in the meeting room was completely unaware.

"dong dong dong"

There was a knock on the conference room door.

Everyone was taken aback and subconsciously looked at Su Huan, who was in the main seat.

"Enter."

Hu Shuo, wearing an executive jacket, pushed open the door and walked in. He bowed to Su Huan and said, "Train conductor, the personnel have been settled and the train has been cleaned up. I asked the logistics team to prepare some food. Do you want me to bring it in?"

Su Huan glanced at the room full of old men and then realized they hadn't eaten yet. He was an evolved being, and could endure three or four days without any problem, but if these old men starved, it would be disastrous, and the train modification plan would be ruined!

He gave Lao Hu an approving look and said, "Bring it in."

Having received Su Huan's affirmation, Hu Shuo straightened up and smiled, "I'm sure all the experts must be hungry after a day of discussion. We've prepared some simple meals so you can eat and chat at the same time."

After he finished speaking, several logistics team members immediately pushed in several small carts and brought out plates of food to the table, which immediately made the experts stare in amazement.

It's not that they haven't eaten good food; with their status and position, what delicacies haven't they tasted?
But this is the end of the world.

There were over twenty dishes on the table in front of me.

Except for the lack of fresh vegetables, the abundance was comparable to that before the apocalypse.

These are all things that are not available in the manufacturing base.

The group gained a deeper understanding of the armed train's capabilities.

In times like these, whoever can feed people has the power!
If you can eat well, then you're the king of heaven!

While the others were being served their food, Hu Shuo placed the metal lunchbox he had been carrying on the table in front of Su Huan.

Upon opening it, he found a spicy braised chicken rice dish. Looking at the black sesame seeds on the rice in the middle, Su Huan knew who made it without him even having to say it.

Yu Yue was the only one in the entire carriage who had this thought in mind.

After discussing for most of the night, the order of the third phase of the armed train's renovation was finally decided.

First, the frame was modified to widen the train as a whole. Then, tracks were installed without removing the wheels, allowing the train to switch freely between railway tracks and other terrains.

Secondly, the train was divided into two sections, with additional carriages added to create two trains, each with fifty carriages.

When on the track, it travels normally forward and backward, with two locomotives on each side and two sets of powered carriages.

When a flood occurs, the trains will be derailed, and the two trains will be joined together with a high-strength material in the middle, which can expand the space to about six meters wide and fifty carriages in length.

With this design, the space of the armed train instantly more than tripled.

Moreover, in the event of a flood, the middle layer can serve as a deck and pontoon, which can improve stability and pave the way for the subsequent conversion of vehicles into boats.

It can be said to kill three birds with one stone.

This was Su Huan's favorite idea tonight. Although he hadn't slept for two nights, he was still too excited to sleep and eager to see the idea come to fruition.

(This damn AI doesn't understand such a great idea, so I can only show you the style. Don't take the details too seriously.)

Normally, just building this framework would take countless months, but with Xiaoba, the time can be shortened tenfold.

All projects involving cutting and fusion can be completed in a very short time, and where large equipment needs to be mobilized, the evolved beings can even carry it on their shoulders and by hand.

Therefore, the biggest challenge in the renovation is to design these ideas on paper first.

Fortunately, the country's top train manufacturing experts were sitting here. Each of them had their own expertise. After receiving their share of the tasks, they went back excitedly.

Soon, only Su Huan and a few others remained in the conference room.

Su Huan stretched and asked casually, "Have you figured it out yet?"

Hu Shuo respectfully replied, "There are a total of 5,230 people. There were no mistakes. The management team is still the original leadership of the factory. After the apocalypse, the factory manager and several managers used their remaining influence to quickly take control of the warehouse, and then led the security personnel to gradually clear the zombies from the base..."

"There were a few attacks by mutated beasts during that time, but they managed to get through them all, so the base as a whole didn't change much."

Su Huan glanced at the night outside the window and said calmly, "As long as these old men don't die, it won't be so easy for them to cause trouble. Did you find what I asked you to investigate?"

Hu Shuo shook his head. "The entire base has been searched. There are only retired security personnel; not a single active-duty officer is among them."

"Aren't there any law enforcement officers either?"

"No, but many employees at the base have some organizational background, including relatives of active-duty personnel, but they don't know where these people went."

Su Huan lowered his head slightly, his messy long hair covering his narrow eyes.

The entire Eastern Huang military and law enforcement, totaling tens of millions of armed forces, simply vanished without a word.

It's chilling to think about.

"Tell me, is it because they're not high enough in rank, or..."

Hu Shuo decisively denied it, saying, "This old factory director of the high-speed train manufacturing base is more than qualified, as are the vice presidents. They are all veterans, otherwise they wouldn't be in such crucial positions."

After a pause, Hu continued, "I looked at some data from the manufacturing base. The production of high-speed trains has been increasing year by year in recent years. But when I asked some people, they said that this is normal. The five years from 2030 to 2035 are a period of rapid development."

Su Huan's gaze suddenly shifted to Wan Hao's face beside him. "What does Chairman Wan think?"

Wan Hao speculated, "Could it be that the doomsday news isn't being relayed according to rank, but rather based on relevance?"

"Relevance?" Su Huan pondered these words.

What is the connection between the Steel Council and the apocalypse?

Why are they able to get the information, while factories like manufacturing bases don't?

And those powerful forces from the previous life, they don't seem to be more relevant at all.

“Yes, for example, my company is involved in shipping, so it’s not relevant and naturally it won’t be on the list,” Wan Hao said.

Hu Shuo remarked with a sigh, "Such a big event, yet there wasn't a single word about it among the people."

“The public is always the last to know, and it’s always a post-event summary,” Wan Hao sighed. “Only Donghuang could keep the mobilization of tens of millions of people secret to this extent.”

“Those who knew about it have probably all been taken away.” Su Huan stood up. “There’s no point in saying more. Chairman Wan, have you thought about how you plan to take over the manufacturing base?”

Wan Hao stood up and bowed slightly. "The matter of the manufacturing base is still up to you, the train conductor."

"I'll stay here for a maximum of one month. When I leave, I'll take a group of experts with me, and the rest of the team will number at least six or seven thousand. That's quite a large scale. Don't say I didn't give you time to build your own team."

Su Huan waved his hand.

……

Acid rain zone, Dongping City Logistics Center.

The car wreckage that was originally piled up haphazardly in front of the logistics center has been cleared away, and rows of trucks are now neatly arranged on the open ground.

The original metal fence has been replaced by a six-meter-high wall, with tactical compact electromagnetic cannons mounted on each sentry post, with an effective range of up to ten kilometers. There are also squads of armed personnel patrolling inside.

The logistics center hall, which was originally piled with corpses, was also cleared out, and the empty interior was re-divided to form a three-story armed base.

In an office on the third floor, Heywood stood in front of a special communication device, bowing and scraping as he spoke.

"That's right. The Steel Council is gone. Now, Li Wangchuan is trying to make a deal with us in his personal capacity. He has gathered the survivors who were lost by the Steel Council, and with the additions he has made in recent days, the number has recovered to five thousand."

“For the company, numbers don’t matter, unless he has something more compelling to me,” a deep male voice said on the other end of the communication device. “Right now, he’s less valuable than that armed train that narrowly escaped destroying them.”

Heywood sighed, "I never expected that the chosen company would be wiped out by a group of survivors. Fortunately, I sent two collectors in beforehand, and headquarters will receive a complete battlefield report in a few days."

"One stroke of luck doesn't guarantee continued success. Small forces that can't even reach the truth can only eke out a living in the safe zone."

(End of this chapter)