Armored train in the apocalypse

Chapter 266: Gun Test
"On May 6, the water level was low."

"We have obtained the truth that can break through the blockade!"

……

The sky was a deep blue, with a hint of pinkish-orange where the sea met the sky below, and the bottom layer was the yellow of Napoli, like a soft cake.

The train meandered across the water, heading towards the freshest colors.

The armed train had already left the flood zone and, following Shu Wei's directions, was heading towards the nearest landfall point in the storm zone.

Hundreds of meters below the surface, the scales churned, always maintaining a proper distance from the train.

On the vehicle's deck, Ban Yunzhang, who had just been promoted, raised his walkie-talkie with a serious expression. "[Thor-8] Railgun is ready. Requesting first test firing."

A moment later, the voice of the person wearing glasses came from the walkie-talkie.

"Control has approved. All personnel on deck, please evacuate."

"No, I have to see it with my own eyes."

Ban Yunzhang persisted.

"then you……"

There was a hissing sound from the walkie-talkie, indicating a poor signal.

Ban Yunzhang shook the new thing. "What?"

"...Be careful not to get electrocuted."

Hearing this incomplete sentence, Ban Yunzhang was stunned. His subordinates behind him stopped in their tracks when they saw him standing there.

The electromagnetic railgun mounted on car number 5 emitted a cold, eerie blue light from its distal section.

A low-frequency hum swept across the deck.

Everyone was startled. "Brother Ban, the railgun is starting to charge up; it's about to fire."

Ban Yunzhang waved his hand, "You can come in."

He fixed his gaze on the electromagnetic railgun, where the internal coils lit up one by one, and the capacitor bank emitted a buzzing sound of energy storage, like thunder about to awaken.

Ban Yunzhang felt a tingling, electric-like sensation all over his body.

His eyes widened in astonishment.

'what's the situation? ’

"Is there a... an electrical leak?"

In the distance, a crocodile is thrashing about in the water, its upper body floating above the surface, supporting its body with its tail.

A pair of beastly eyes stared warily in the direction of the armed train.

A terrifying sense of crisis swept over him, and he plunged underwater without hesitation, but it was too late. Suddenly, a ball of light appeared before him, larger than the rising sun on the horizon.

"boom--"

The water surface cracked, and a huge, bright red wave rose dozens of meters high. The crocodile, as if it had been punched hard, was sent flying backward through the waves.

His body was split in two by this blow.

Two speedboats left the train and sped towards the crocodile.

On the bow of each ship stood a person, one tall and handsome with wild long hair, the other strong but only wild.

Even though the speedboat was being tossed about by the waves and seemed about to fly away, the two people didn't sway at all.

"This power is really impressive, no wonder Vice President Deng has been thinking about it every day!"

He Jie wiped his face, which was wet from the splashing water, and laughed heartily.

Su Huan frowned slightly, and his penetrating voice rang in everyone's ears, "Something's not right. The universal energy level has weakened; there's no second-tier energy anymore."

"No second-tier units? What does that mean?"

He Jie's speedboat had already rushed to the location where the crocodile had been hit.

Su Huan licked his lips. "This one is just a first-tier minion. The second-tier one is hidden!"

Yu Yue's voice suddenly appeared in their ears, "A new target has appeared where you are standing."

He Jie reacted very quickly, looking down.

A shadow grew larger and larger beneath their feet, and with a loud "boom," a terrifying maw burst forth from the water, its upper and lower jaws longer than the entire speedboat!

The water surged wildly out of the giant white mouth.

"Roar--"

A chilling feeling from the ancient wilderness froze He Jie, the veteran, in place for a full second before he thought of picking up the anti-aircraft machine gun and pulling the trigger.

But even faster than the gun barrel in his hand, a terrifying, eerie blue light burst forth.

An electric arc pierced through the giant mouth, its end extending all the way to the armed train.

The sounds of gunfire and water filled He Jie's ears.

The world spun around him, and the speedboat beneath his feet had capsized at some point. He was now in the water, and fearing he might accidentally injure his own men, He Jie stopped pulling the trigger, hoisted the anti-aircraft machine gun onto his shoulder, and began to float upwards.

But the terrifying waves plunged him into an unknown depth.

The large patches of blood blurring the view even further.

Suddenly, a numbness shot through my waist. Before I could even react, I was pulled out of the water by a tremendous force.

It slammed onto the deck with a loud thud.

He looked up and saw the train conductor dispel the lightning-fast whip wrapped around his waist.

'This ability is really useful.'

Muttering to himself, He Jie sat up.

An ancient crocodile, over thirty meters long, floated on the water's surface, most of its upper jaw torn apart by an electromagnetic railgun, writhing in agony as it died in the water.

Waves of surging water swept toward the speedboat.

A pair of cold, beastly eyes stared intently at Su Huan and the others beside him. He abandoned the wrecked speedboat and charged madly towards them.

"What a beast!"

He Jie turned his gun around and was about to fire at the giant beast in front of him again when he was interrupted by the train conductor.

"Don't waste your ammunition, you can stay here for now."

Su Huan squinted at the charging second-tier giant crocodile. Until the crocodile appeared and attacked He Jie, his "general energy perception" did not detect any general energy fluctuations. Obviously, this mutated beast has the ability to shield its own general energy.

It does resemble the habits of crocodiles.

The crocodile opened its mouth halfway open again, and a terrifying, fishy stench swept over.

But even faster than that is the long-range support of the electromagnetic railgun.

"puff!"

It's a pity it's a little crooked.

The tough crocodile skin was like cheese being sliced ​​by a knife in front of the railgun, without any resistance or stagnation.

The thick tail left the crocodile's body.

The pitiful crocodile, with a fierce and desperate intent, wanted to perish together with the tiny speedboat in front of it.

"Old Liang, its skin is quite nice."

"I'll try to peel it off."

Crouching at the very back of the speedboat, Liang Kuan, who occupied the entire seat, answered in a muffled voice.

As he stood up, carrying his shield, the ship sank slightly.

The shadow of the giant crocodile loomed over the small speedboat.

The next moment, Liang Kuan stepped onto the deck of the small boat with one foot.

"Oh!"

Centered on the speedboat, a huge splash of water erupted in all directions.

But faster than water is the cold blue lightning.

"Thunder Pool".

The speedboat, which was almost sunk by a single step, was lifted back to the surface by lightning. Su Huan looked up and shaded his eyes with his hand.

Just then, a powerful human silhouette appeared directly above the giant beast.

The newly thickened shield slammed into the crocodile's head with a ferocious force.

"Boom-"

Like the melodious tolling of a temple bell. A gust of wind swept in, making my earlobes tingle.

The giant beast flew backwards.

He Jie stared in shock at the scene before him. "Is this the power to reach the threshold of the second tier?"

"It's truly refreshing."

Su Huan gathered his disheveled long hair, a light smile playing on his lips.

"Oh!"

Liang Kuan was also turned back onto the ship. Hearing the conversation between the two, he was about to reply when he felt an itch in his chest and spat out a mouthful of blood.

Su Huan smiled faintly, "How do you feel?"

Liang Kuan gasped for breath, "It's really hard!"

"That's because your other attributes aren't up to par. As long as you improve your physique and stamina, even if this crocodile is at its peak, you won't be so badly affected by the backlash."

Hearing the train conductor's explanation.

He Jie then noticed that Liang Kuan's shield had disappeared and his right forearm was bent into a strange arc.

Fresh blood flowed down.

Unable to contain himself, he exclaimed, "Is the difference between first-tier and second-tier really that big?"

"Otherwise, what's the point of evolution?"

Two electromagnetic cannon attacks had already brought the giant crocodile to the brink of death, so Liang Kuan's attack was actually ineffective.

However, for "defenders," fighting against the strong is the easiest way to stimulate evolution.

"Bandage your wounds and get ready to clean up the battlefield."

After Su Huan finished speaking, he turned to look at the giant crocodile in front of him, which was trying to sink into the water to escape. His lips curled slightly, revealing his menacing white teeth.

Thunderstorm.

A bright and gentle ball of light bloomed in the water, then grew larger and larger, completely enveloping the giant crocodile, which was only about 20 meters long without its tail.

……

Light footsteps echoed on the stairs leading to the second floor of the dining car.

Yu Yue pushed open the door and placed a cup of coffee next to the first train conductor.

Su Huan pulled his feet back from the table and asked, "Has Ban Yunzhang woken up yet?"

Yu Yue listened for a moment, then smiled slightly, "He was briefly knocked unconscious by an electric shock and just woke up."

Su Huan took a sip of coffee and smacked his lips. "It'll teach him a lesson. I told him he couldn't control himself, but he still insisted on standing there getting shocked. Luckily, the deck was made of ironwood..."

"Okay, I'll go downstairs to cook. What do you want for lunch?"

"We can talk about dinner later. Sit down and listen; what's coming next is very important."

Su Huan gave the instructions.

Yu Yue glanced around and found that everyone she could talk to was there. She then politely declined He Jie and the others who offered to give her their seats and took a chair to sit to Su Huan's left.

His position was slightly ahead of Shu Wei, who was to Su Huan's right.

"Dudu-"

Su Huan tapped the table and said seriously, "Now that the electromagnetic weapon problem has been solved and the crocodiles following us have been dealt with, we're about to enter the storm zone. What are your thoughts?"

The group exchanged glances, and He Jie, sitting first on the left, spoke up first, "The electromagnetic railgun seems to have an accuracy problem..."

"The power of [Thor-8] is beyond doubt, but it just hit twice, once at the head and once at the tail. If it had hit, it could have taken down a second-tier evolved beast in one hit."

Ban Yunzhang, who was sitting at the far right, quickly said, "The aiming system was also affected by the general energy, but we have already recalibrated it."

"Find your targets and calibrate twice more this afternoon. Don't worry about wasting ammunition."

Su Huan said.

This was an experiment, so it's normal for there to be some errors.

At this point, Su Huan seemed to remember something and looked at Wan Xing, who was sitting silently at the table, "We should disassemble the materials of these two crocodiles as soon as possible. I suspect that their skin has some kind of concealing and energy-diffusing effect."

"it is good."

"Oh, right, there's one more thing I need to tell you."

Everyone knew that the main topic was about to be discussed, and they all looked at the train conductor with serious expressions.

Su Huan thought for a moment and said, "Black Kite wants to negotiate with us, and I agreed."

The news came too suddenly, and everyone was a little stunned. Many people subconsciously looked at Shu Wei behind the train conductor.

The latter remained as cold and aloof as ever, offering no response whatsoever.

Although He Jie and the others felt uneasy, their military discipline made them accustomed to obeying orders, and they silently waited for Su Huan to continue.

On the flight crew side, the three eldest brothers followed their fourth brother's lead without question and naturally did not raise any objections.

Only Professor Ma, the factory director, and other old guys frowned.

"I'm a little curious, when was the communication system established?"

Although she was in a meeting, Yu Jing, who was still writing and drawing in her notebook, suddenly asked a question.

"When Professor Ma adjusted the equipment last time..."

Su Huan said.

"Does that mean the network will be back online?"

"Not within the scope of this discussion."

Su Huan interrupted Yu Jing's wandering thoughts.

Hu asked, "So when exactly will the negotiations take place, and what preparations do we need to make?"

Su Huan rested his chin on his hand, "Shu Wei."

The secretary turned on the projection screen opposite and quickly brought up a map on it.

It is roughly located where Ninh Tay Province borders Lhamo Province to the north.

"The boundaries of the 12th district are not strictly divided according to the provinces. The boundary between the storm zone and the flood zone is within Ningxi Province."

Shu Wei used a laser pointer to draw a rough line on the screen.

Everyone was stunned.

"We've entered the plateau region, no wonder..."

"Is this Yanbei Pass?"

“Yes, the flood zone and the storm zone are in Yanbei Pass, but some parts overlap, so it’s not that precise,” Shu Wei explained.

Hu Shuo pulled out a pen and began to take notes, "So we're negotiating with Black Kite at Yanbei Pass, right?"

"Before we reach Yanbei Pass, a little further ahead, there is a county town that was not flooded. It has been converted into a temporary port by the Black Kite. We will negotiate there."

"What about the content?"

"No agreement has been reached yet."

He Jie suddenly interjected, "Do we really have to land in the storm zone at Yanbei Pass? We know the enemy has set up a fire network there, why are we going to barge in? Can't we just go around them?"

Shu Wei shook her head calmly, "The reason for the boundary is that the flood cannot spread across due to the terrain and other reasons. Unless the armed train can fly, it simply cannot cross those special terrains and can only go through Yanbei Pass."

He Jie frowned. "What about the northwest direction?"

“That area is now a large swamp, and the train could very well get stuck.”

Seeing that He Jie didn't ask any more questions, Shu Wei continued, "If we refuse to negotiate, we will face a blockade from Black Kite and other major forces..."

Professor Ma sighed, "But this is a trap."

Director Xu agreed, saying, "They will definitely take a hard bite out of the armed train, and I'm afraid they'll want to take more than just one bite."

The atmosphere became tense, and even the newly appointed managers, including Li Han, dared not interrupt, subconsciously glancing at the quiet train conductor.

The train conductor rested his chin on his hand, his eyes lowered.

There was no fluctuation on the surface.

Li Han and the other newcomers sighed inwardly.

'As expected of the train conductor, he remained calm even when faced with such a thorny issue.'

After three breaths, perhaps they realized there was no sound.

Su Huancai snapped out of his daze and asked, "Where were we?"

(End of this chapter)