Armored train in the apocalypse

Chapter 247 Chasing Whales
"boom--"

A train curved into a "U" shape and flew backwards underwater, then was gradually weakened by the terrifying suction of the eddy.

As inertia disappeared, it gradually came to a standstill in the water, accompanied by a series of crisp "crack" sounds. The metal at the joints broke off, melting away like putty to repair the cracks in various parts of the car body.

Compared to its imposing and majestic appearance when it first rolled off the production line, the armored train now looks much more disheveled.

The vehicle's armor was extensively damaged, and ordinary steel was stuck to the dark gray body like a plaster.

The connection between the carriages was completely sealed off with metal, thus eliminating any flexible bending space.

The robotic arms of the first few carriages, including the locomotive, were all broken off, leaving only one or two mechanical parts stuck and unable to be retracted.

The "Alpine Hammer" is dented a full meter deep into the front of the vehicle.

If it weren't for the reliable structure designed by Vice President Deng, this train would have disintegrated on the spot.

"Woo——"

A sharp and painful whale cry rolled in.

But it was immediately drowned out by an excited and enthusiastic voice.

"A first-tier blue whale is a hundred meters long! How much material can be extracted from that? Speed ​​it up, Liang Kuan, speed it up!"

"Find a way to notify another train to take a detour. We must catch this fathead fish today!"

Inside the car, Su Huan gripped the control panel railing with both hands, a smirk playing on his lips, and a fervent craving gleamed in his deep blue eyes.

The whale was too big.

At first, he thought it was a second-tier evolved beast.

Who knew that a single collision would reveal the opponent's true strength, which turned out to be only at the first-tier level.

Instantly, a thought popped into Su Huan's mind: We absolutely cannot let it go.

This is tens of thousands of tons of material!

Even if you only use half and throw the other half away, you can still feed the entire armed train for a month.

Since the implementation of various measures such as upgrading and restructuring.

The development of trains entered a period of explosive growth.

Everything was thriving, but the price was the rapid depletion of various resources.

The reason it didn't become apparent was partly due to the substantial funds accumulated beforehand, and partly due to the generous donations from kind-hearted individuals along the way, which barely overshadowed the problem.

But Hu said that he would send Su Huan a summary of material consumption data every morning, every weekend, and at the end of every month.

At first, I didn't pay much attention to it.

Seeing too much of this made him anxious.

If it were a second-tier giant whale, he would not hesitate to imitate Mo Jiang's actions and use all the explosives that would pause the vortex on it.

It seems we've managed to save a batch now.

The armed train was pulled by the whirlpool and spun towards the middle of the water.

Under Su Huan's command, the train charged into the water.

The speed increased dramatically.

Sensing the returning armed train, the mutated giant whale let out an angry roar, though its voice sounded somewhat weak and menacing.

It became increasingly urgent.

But the train showed no sign of reversing, and a sense of panic welled up in the whale's heart.

Why isn't the other person afraid?
Didn't that impact damage it?

He had seen "long strips" that could discharge electricity before, but this was the first time he had seen one that was the same size as it and could also discharge electricity. Moreover, the other party was extremely tough, and it smashed into him, causing him to bleed profusely.

Even with its size, it couldn't help but feel dizzy.

Seeing the other creature charging at it again, the whale's survival instinct overcame its insignificant anger.

With a flick of its tail, it created a huge current in the relatively still water, then turned and swam outwards into the eddies.

A surge of energy swept through, and the black currents around the giant whale spread out, reaching the area of ​​the vortex.

With a flick of its tail, it was already caught in the vortex.

Not only is its speed completely unaffected by the eddies, but they even provide some assistance.

However, its massive size still hindered the flow of water to some extent, and the armed train, driven by Su Huan, roared and rushed into the whirlpool along its tail.

……

"Warning! Warning! The vegetation protection layer partition in carriage number 8 is broken. Please repair it immediately."

"Warning, car number 24 is leaking..."

"Warning: The train's overall airtightness has been compromised, and the oxygen content is insufficient."

"All air conditioning in the vehicle is switched off. Please remain quiet inside the vehicle and be patient for a moment..."

A series of bright red alarm lights flashed in the corridor.

The survivor huddled in his room, listening to the hurried footsteps outside and the dull thuds of impacts outside the window, his heart pounding.

Fears and shoving whispers filled the fourteen-person "characteristic" cubicle.

"It's over, it's over, it's all over..."

"We're all going to drown."

"Drowning is already a good outcome; otherwise, we might be eaten whole by an underwater monster."

"I told you from the beginning not to get on the train, not to get on the train! This armed train looks unreliable!"

"We've eaten nothing left. Are we going to starve if we don't get on the bus?"

After being rebuffed, the man who started the argument still refused to back down and stubbornly said, "Let's wait and see. Maybe things will turn around after a while."

Another person scoffed, "You just can't bear to part with your house and that 300,000 yuan flood-damaged car in the garage!"

"Your position was so good. If you had run earlier, maybe your wife and kids could have survived. But you dawdled and now your wife and kids are gone..."

The middle-aged man huddled on the upper bunk was struck dumb.

His face was hidden in his arms, and the emergency light flickered to illuminate his barren head.

The man suddenly let out a wolf-like howl.

Then he bit down on something and held back with all his might.

The muffled whimpering sound was like a summer downpour, intermittent and continuous.

The noise in the room subsided for a moment.

"..."

"...That's the house I've been paying off a mortgage for half my life."

"I worked hard from the age of 26 until I was 54 to save up for a house and a car, and now it's all gone... Who wouldn't feel heartbroken..."

"Everything is gone. The house is gone, the car is gone, and my wife and children are gone too."

"Now everything is gone..."

"I drove a truck all my life, working from dawn till dusk, and in the end, I have nothing left."

The person who had initially criticized him said somewhat awkwardly, "People are still alive, aren't they? With such a huge disaster, nobody knew this would happen..."

"Absolutely! If I had known earlier, I would have withdrawn all my savings and spent it all!"

"..."

"Ugh, being alive is such a damn useless thing..."

The man on the upper bunk tilted his head back and coughed a few times.

His face was covered in tear stains.

His hoarse voice carried a deep sense of bewilderment.

He dared not think about what his wife looked like, and even deliberately blurred his past memories, otherwise he would lose even the courage to live.

But every time he inadvertently recalls it, it's like a dull knife, cutting him to shreds.

That's how it is when you get older; you have more and more memories, and less and less of the future.

Everyone felt the same way; no one refuted it, nor did anyone agree.

The apocalypse is merely a celebration for a very small number of ambitious individuals; it brings only pain to the majority, and nothing but pain.

"Let's talk about something interesting. That topic we discussed earlier was quite good. What would you do if you knew the apocalypse was coming?"

If it were anything else, the people on the train underwater wouldn't care, but when this was mentioned, everyone's minds started working.

Even if such fantasies cannot save the current situation.

But like hope, it always manages to keep people's emotions moving forward. The man looking at the emergency lights shifted his gaze.

What if... we knew the end of the world was coming?
"I'll find a high place, buy a bunch of food, and stock up on it..."

"What's the use of hoarding food? Haven't you heard the saying, 'If my neighbor hoards food, I hoard guns'? My neighbor is my granary! If it were me, I'd take this opportunity to pull off a big heist..."

Someone immediately mocked, "Given our organization's reaction speed, you shouldn't even live to see the apocalypse before you're locked up."

"It's just money, there are plenty of ways to handle that."

"Getting money to build a shelter?"

"No! Get a train, arm it! Then stock it with food, and I'm going to take my wife and kids and run far away!"

The man who had been listening silently suddenly spoke.

Everyone was stunned for a moment, then looked at each other in bewilderment.

"Isn't that the armed train we're riding in?"

"You know what, that's a really good idea, but how can you manage such a big train by yourself? This is an organized operation..."

"I heard that the armed train initially only had two members."

Suddenly, someone chimed in with an additional piece of information.

Everyone was stunned for a moment, and then they started to refute it all at once.

"How could there only be two people on such a big train? All these modifications on the train would be impossible without a large team. You must have made this up with your ass."

"It's not that there are only two people on the entire train; the earliest core members were only two people: the train conductor and the driver, Liang Kuan. Then it gradually expanded to its current scale."

The man argued earnestly.

Seeing his confident assertion, the crowd was skeptical.

"Then how did you know?"

The figure sitting in the corner shifted its position closer to the light, revealing a slightly gaunt face.

A reserved and demure smile was on his face.

Actually, he didn't really want to come out and face all of this, but the train was in crisis and the various equipment in the medical carriage had been shut down.

So he crawled out, even though he had now met the train conductor and was carrying a huge mission.

However, their actual social status was only one level higher than that of the survivors.

He also had a habit of blending in with the survivors.

"I'm Zhang Qiang, a regular passenger..."

Everyone suddenly realized what was happening and immediately gathered around.

"Then tell us more about how armed trains and train conductors made their fortunes."

"no problem."

At first, Zhang Qiang was a little nervous, but he became more and more fluent as he went on, as if Liu Ming had possessed him. Even the man in the upper bunk was captivated by Zhang Qiang's narration.

More accurately, I was drawn to the ruthless train conductor's rise to power.

The crowd gasped in surprise, filling the entire carriage with shouts of "Holy crap!"

Everyone listened with great excitement, wishing they could take his place.

"By the way, bro, what did you do before?"

Someone suddenly asked a question.

Zhang Qiang was about to say that he was a rent collector, but what came out of his mouth was, "I have a secure job in Dongping City."

"Gentlemen, would you like to join the Fellowship?"

"...The important thing is that we ordinary people must unite and help each other."

"We should stand up and protect ourselves in our own way!"

……

While Su Huan was still engaged in the thrilling whaling operation, he was unaware that Zhang Qiang had already taken up his post on the secondary train.

Since the armed train chased the whale to the surface, the force of the eddy has gradually weakened.

Whales manipulate water currents to stop trains, but inevitably disrupt the surrounding eddies as well.

Although the train was battered badly by the waves, without the terrifying suction of the eddies, its momentum only grew stronger.

Sparks flew and lightning flashed as they relentlessly pursued the giant whale.

By the time everyone realized what was happening, they had already escaped the vortex.

The whale felt its life force slipping away, and its voice grew increasingly desperate.

The whale's cry had long lost its initial power; each cry was more mournful than the last, sounding more like a plea for mercy than a threat.

It used every means possible, but its most crucial water control ability was completely countered by the "long strip" that controlled lightning from behind.

Water not only fails to stop it, but it also makes lightning strike its head faster and more accurately.

I thought things would be better once we got out of the water, but then three bolts of lightning struck us from the dark clouds in the sky, and the clouds started to thin.

The giant whale also became critically ill.

"The train is 76% damaged and needs to dock immediately for repairs!"

Glasses, lying on the explosives box, grabbed a connecting wire that appeared out of nowhere and shouted.

Su Huan turned his gaze to Xiao Ba, who was standing to the side.

The latter used a crisscrossing steel frame to support the entire train head; otherwise, the head would have already broken apart during the impact.

Xiao Ba let out a weary breath and said firmly to Su Huan, "I can still hold on."

"Isn't there a small island in the middle of the lake? Let's drive the giant whale there."

Su Huan said calmly.

When the glasses fell silent, he knew that was the case.

At first, people were worried about being blown up or being torn apart by the train and drowned.

As a result, they inexplicably rushed out under the train conductor's guidance.

How capable is the train conductor?

Very strong.

But is this how you use this ability?
The terrifying vortex didn't cause any damage to the train.

The greatest damage still comes from the collision with the giant whale.

After that, the giant whale lost its courage to fight and began to flee.

It ran, and he chased.

It ran away, and he chased after it.

They just stumbled out of there without really understanding what was going on.

The train floated to the surface of the water, and gravity returned to normal. Professor Ma then abandoned his attempt to levitate the explosive box.

The glasses-wearing staff member struggled back to their posts and began to cooperate with the train in tracking and control.

Should we report the loss?

The flight attendant suddenly asked.

Glasses turned around and looked at the train conductor, who was covered in crackling sounds and was determined to win.

He pushed up his glasses, which were broken on one side. "There's no time now. Just do the statistics, don't report the damage. Just report anything related to the giant whale."

Soon, the staff in charge of the energy monitoring equipment shouted, "There are a large number of energy reactions ten kilometers away, with a size comparable to that of a human."

Everyone's spirits immediately lifted, and the staff member in charge of the map checked it and exclaimed excitedly, "We've arrived at the center of Jingchao Lake!"

"Drone takeoff!"

"It's blown up! It's all blown up!"

"Where's the spare one?"

"The one that was blown up was the spare; the brand new one is still in the warehouse. It will take a little time to install it."

"Never mind, let's see how many of the vehicle's cameras are still working and project the images onto the control tower."

"..."

Su Huan looked down at the screen beside him.

Amidst a misty haze, a giant whale leaped out of the sea, with distant islands appearing and disappearing in the distance.

(I got up at 4:30 this morning, left at 5:00, and came back at 9:00 tonight. The new car is great, everything went smoothly. Besides updating, I still have to write after driving all day. It's really tough.)
(End of this chapter)