Armored train in the apocalypse

Chapter 191 Armored Train!

February 1st, sunny.

"Power has its limits, but the unknown malice has no end."

Tong Zizhan and Gao Yuan returned and brought the train conductor some unexpected information.

A force symbolized by the iris flower.

There's one more thing that's completely beyond Su Huan's understanding since the apocalypse.

He had only heard of this faction in the Steel Council's database: Black Kite Labs, or Black Kite for short.

But he knew nothing about what this force did before the apocalypse, how big it was after the apocalypse, or what areas it was involved in. Even with Qu Hang's current level of authority, he couldn't access this information.

A powerful enemy is not scary; what is scary is an unknown enemy.

Especially in situations like this, where you're openly calculating the odds of winning while someone else is already rewriting the rules in the dark.

That's the most disgusting thing.

A hint of melancholy flashed in Su Huan's eyes.

In the previous life, other forces intervened in the acid rain zone several years later.

The real beginning of this should be the "Crown Pear Project," before which the entire acid rain zone was almost entirely the Steel Council's private domain.

Su Huan found it hard not to assume the other party was the most malicious.

They came specifically for Lin Xi...

Or were they coming for me?

However, the situation is not too bad. Black Kite's headquarters is probably even farther away than Deep Blue Data, and they only sent an elite squad.

There are twelve people in total, with an average level of first-tier evolved beings, and some may be at the second tier.

There is pressure on the current armed trains, but not absolutely.

Looking at the travel-worn Tong Zizhan and his companion, Su Huan's eyes flashed with many speculations.

"Based on your predictions, where is their target?"

Gao Yuan turned the ring around and replied somewhat nervously, "We don't know what mission the other party is carrying out. Their route is roughly from north to south, and they are traveling very slowly. They should pass by us in about ten days."

"Passing each other by?" Su Huan smirked, his sinister smile undisguised.

They came for him!

The train conductor never believed in coincidences.

"If we don't provoke them, there shouldn't be any major problems..."

Tong Zizhan added a sentence.

Su Huan looked at the two gently, "You two have worked hard on the reconnaissance mission that covered over a hundred kilometers. You will receive 500 points directly. If we need your information later, the armed train will provide additional compensation."

Although these two must have reported the news to DeepBlue Data, they should still be rewarded on their own.

Even if we're not as wealthy as their company, we should still express our respect for and appreciation of talent.

"It's not hard work, it's not hard work. Every day I serve the train conductor, I'm filled with hope! I feel a sense of pride in rebuilding order!"

Tong Zizhan said, moved.

The company's bonus is uncertain when it will be issued, and even if it is, I have to go back to collect it. But the train conductor's bonus arrives that very night.

The flattery came out of nowhere, even disrupting Su Huan's thoughts.

He could only wave helplessly, signaling the two to leave.

What was I thinking about just now?

……

"February 7th, torrential rain."

"The third phase of the armed train upgrade and renovation plan has been initially completed."

The cold blue indicator light shone clearly and steadily in the torrential rain. The violent acid rain washed over the iron-black watchtower, flowing down the diversion channel and into a very deep pit in the yard.

(Shunan Station Base - Watchtower)
Su Huan stood on the watchtower on the outer wall of the base, overlooking the entire train base.

The train depot has changed completely.

In addition to the outermost twelve-meter-high wall, the interior is also divided into different functional areas to prevent zombies and the like from rushing in unimpeded.

Compared to the original spacious and modern high-speed train manufacturing base, the current base is more like a military fortress.

All the metal surfaces were coated with a protective paint, giving them a cold, dark appearance without any reflection.

These constructions were carried out without affecting the train modification schedule, because the building materials were all available at the base, so Su Huan didn't pay much attention and let Wan Hao and the factory director do whatever they wanted.

He's going to take Vice President Deng with him; the manufacturing team is still short of a flight attendant.

Now it's all complete.

And those experts who participated in the train renovation and upgrading—if we miss them, we won't be able to find so many people to continue upgrading the trains in the future.

The acid rain in the crater has accumulated to a terrifying depth, and the storms can even create waves a meter high on the surface of the crater, which is hundreds of meters long and wide.

The murky water splashed against the edge of the pit, and the dark water seemed to harbor some kind of giant beast.

Suddenly, two cold blue lights appeared from the water.

The light refracted by impurities in the water scattered faintly, yet it grew brighter and brighter.

With a sound like a whale's roar, the water surface was suddenly shattered, and a black steel behemoth appeared on the surface. The turbid water flowed wildly along the metal edges, and two enhanced searchlights cleaved through the rain and clouds, hitting the wall.

The two trains, connected sideways, were steadily resting on the water, with the six-meter-wide iron and wooden deck at the connection point providing ample buoyancy.

The originally dull whistle sounded loud and clear on the water's surface, and water splashed everywhere.

Layer upon layer of sound waves impact surrounding objects and are eventually fed back to the train. Like sonar, the onboard system uses three-dimensional reconstruction to create a three-dimensional pattern for the driver to observe.

"Dudu-"

Liang Kuan played two short flute notes, as if activating some kind of signal.

On the other side, He Jie, on the watchtower, finished smoking his cigarette until only the butt remained, turned the armed train floating in the Iron Rain 14.5 heavy water tank around, and pulled the trigger.

Metallic sparks violently tore through the rain and shot onto the train deck.

On the other side, the third brother was also operating a heavy machine gun to fire at the train.

But whether it was a 12.7 or 14.5 bullet, there was no sign of it ricocheting off the vehicle after it hit the body.

Su Huan squeezed the handrail at the edge of the watchtower, when suddenly Vice President Deng's excited voice came from the communication device that Professor Ma had made beside him.

"Reporting to the train conductor, not a single bullet has penetrated the vehicle's armor. I request permission to proceed to the next stage of testing."

Su Huan smiled and said, "Okay."

As soon as she finished speaking, a red light emanated from her fair palm, and flames appeared out of thin air in her palm, coalescing into a small fireball. As time passed, the small fireball transformed into a flaming spear.

This fire spear was infused with half of his entire body's energy. With Su Huan's current level 6 "Universal Energy Conversion," that's 60%, equivalent to the entire energy of a second-tier ability user, and its power even surpasses some small-caliber artillery shells!
Pushing open the window, facing the torrential rain pouring into the watchtower, Su Huan looked down at the train below.

"boom--"

The moment the fire spear touched the front of the vehicle, it exploded into a huge firework.

The front of the car remained completely still.

The moment the high temperature came into contact with the acid rain, it turned into a viscous white mist that rose up, and thousands of raindrops were sent flying backward by the force of the explosion.

His flames didn't have as many additional effects as Lin Jin's.

Only the most extreme high temperatures.

After a few breaths, the acid rain regained control, suppressing the flames and white mist on the vehicle.

The upgraded armored train remained safely parked in the puddle!

A lightning spear that followed immediately illuminated the sky and earth.

Su Huan was weak because his energy had been depleted, but his eyes were fixed on the train in the puddle.

Deputy General Manager Deng's excited voice came from beside him, "Reporting to the train conductor, the carriage armor is normal, the equipment and instruments are normal, the sealing is normal, and the circulation system is normal! Our modification plan has been a success!"

Vice President Deng's voice was drowned out by the cheers of the workers and experts.

With a handful of energy crystals between his fingers, Su Huan walked down from the watchtower and headed straight for the armed train.

The underwater propeller of the armed train rotates, propelling the massive vehicle forward on the water's surface until the front of the train touches the shore. At this point, the tracks on both sides of the train, slightly higher than the rails, quickly lower down, and the propeller and tracks propel the train forward simultaneously.

The train seamlessly switched between amphibious and amphibious modes, emerging from the puddle onto the ground.

Looking down from the watchtower, the front of the train seemed rather tall, but when you actually stand before the upgraded armed train, you feel like an ant crawling at the feet of a steel dragon.

The 【Xuanjia】series locomotives were not originally designed for passenger transport, but rather were a new type of locomotive created to meet the ever-growing demand for industrial transportation.

One of them is 7.6 meters tall, which is equivalent to the previous two-story carriages.

Its width reaches 4.8 meters, which is comparable to the living room of some small apartments.

In addition to the high-strength vehicle frame, the outer shell is covered with a single piece of Tier 1 armor, which is made of steel and glass. There is no corner cut or substandard workmanship, and even the tracks underneath are protected by the armor.

To increase the overall buoyancy of the vehicle body, one expert suggested attaching ironwood wood to the inside of the armor.

Ironwood itself is not as hard as ironwood and has poor fire resistance, but its advantages are that it is light, has good buoyancy, high electrical resistance, and heat insulation. Most importantly, the material is easy to obtain.

Besides factories, Shun'an has the most ironwood trees.

They could easily cut down a hundred or so, and with a little processing by the evolutionists in the manufacturing group, they would become excellent boards.

This is also the key to its ability to stop 14.5mm bullets.

For a bullet to penetrate a train, it must first penetrate the meticulously developed 50mm thick Tier 1 armor, which consists of two 20mm steel plates sandwiching 10mm of soft glass.

Then it needs to penetrate the 30mm thick ironwood board, and finally the 10mm thick composite steel plate of the carriage itself.

A full 80mm thick composite armor!

If Qinggang's production capacity weren't insufficient, Su Huan would have even considered replacing all the carriages and bodies with this material.

In fact, given the tensile strength and load-bearing capacity of the [Mysterious Armor], the thickness of the armor could be further increased.

But the price-performance ratio is already very low.

It would be better to save the carrying capacity to store more supplies, so that when we can mass-produce "manufacturers" to the first tier, we can manufacture second-tier materials.

It can be made lighter and stronger with a thinner thickness!
The two locomotives alone are ten meters wide, and with the iron and wooden deck connecting the two in the middle, the current armed train is a full sixteen meters wide!
Like a mobile land fortress.

The huge, protruding mechanical structure at the front of the train slowly sank down. This thing is called the "Alpine Hammer," a tungsten alloy obstacle-breaking cone. Theoretically, even if the train is blown up, it will be fine.

It was used to replace the previously welded steel plate breaching cone.

The hammer sank down, connecting with the ground to form a step, and the front of the car opened directly.

Liang Kuan's imposing figure stood at the doorway, and he exclaimed, "This is truly an armed train, but the space is too small to fully showcase its capabilities."

Su Huan chuckled lightly and stepped inside.

"Then let's go for a walk!"

……

Ten kilometers away from the base, in a small plaza formed by the near-civilian space.

Rows of simple shops line the street, offering a wide variety of services including plaster doll painting, flower arranging, and various specialty snacks.

The five-person investigation team from Deep Blue Data hid in the wedding design shop, observing the situation outside while silently munching on compressed biscuits.

The captain held the tactical tablet for a moment, then coughed lightly, and the remaining four quickly gathered around.

"According to intelligence, Black Kite's team appeared in Hongyi City, on the border of the acid rain zone, fourteen days ago. They are heading north at a steady speed and will pass through Shun'an in about three days, but they may not be able to enter. Our mission is to find out what Black Kite is up to without alerting the armed train."

"Regarding the local forces in Shun'an, the one thing to pay attention to is the armed train. The relevant information was sent to you before departure."

One of the team members whispered, "This armed train is quite interesting. It turns out to be a survivor force that rose up after the apocalypse, and they have a lot of information."

The captain's gaze remained calm. "He's probably a pawn cultivated by some faction, specifically to stir up trouble. By keeping an eye on him, you've actually achieved their goal. So just ignore him. At most, the Armed Train can only develop into a force like the Steel Council. Once it encounters setbacks, it will crumble."

"what?"

The exploration team member who was standing to the side with his eyes closed, flipping through the documents, suddenly exclaimed in surprise.

The four people, including the captain, immediately fell silent.

The other party's perception ability is the core of the investigation team. Relying on his ability, they were able to escape unscathed after investigating many dangerous areas after the apocalypse.

The reconnaissance team member said, "I just extended a sensory tentacle towards Shun'an and discovered that they have come out."

"They're out?" The captain was taken aback. "According to intelligence, the armed train shouldn't have been active recently."

"Could it be related to Hei Yuan? Are the two... going through some kind of handover?"

One of the team members suddenly spoke up.

The captain frowned. "We can't rule out that possibility. Ah Shan, lock onto him, let's follow him."

……

North of Shunan, three all-terrain infantry fighting vehicles race across the ground.

It was as if a certain goal had already been identified.

A faint smell of engine oil filled the carriage. All the rear seats had been removed, leaving only Zhao Kuo "sitting" there, his exoskeleton joints locked, making him appear as if he were embedded in the carriage.

He blinked and said with a faint smile, "The people at Deep Blue Data are like animals that look like deer. They want to see what happens no matter what. I wonder if they have the ability to watch the show this time."

HT-426 said calmly, "Based on our misinformation, they will only send out a reconnaissance team to try to identify our targets before sending out the real combat team."

(Monthly summary: I wrote 13.4 words this month, which is much less. Although there are indeed objective problems, subjective factors such as laziness also played a role. Next month is the last month of the new book's release period, and I will definitely work twice as hard!)

(End of this chapter)