Armored train in the apocalypse

Chapter 311 Stud!

"Ah Shan, close the road!"

Li Xinlong, reeking of gunpowder, shouted menacingly.

A man with a cold and hard face responded and climbed out of the car. He was Chen Shan, one of the Five Tigers of Black Star.

He jumped into the SUV next to him, and a dark, chaotic look appeared in his clear black and white eyes. Three earthen walls rose up in front of Li Xinlong one after another. The first two were very short, only half a meter high, and they knocked the charging horde of corpses over, filling the crater under the barrage of bullets.

After finally managing to climb over the first two earthen walls, they bumped into the last earthen wall, which was 1.6 meters high.

With the limited agility of an unranked zombie, it could only futilely stick its head out from behind the earthen wall.

Then he was precisely harvested by Li Xinlong.

To avoid any accidents, they chose streets with low-rise buildings at both ends to prevent zombies from jumping down from both sides like dumplings being dropped into a pot and overwhelming them.

Without the first-tier zombies breaking through the formation, Li Xinlong, with dozens of guns, easily defended the earthen wall.

Once the corpses filled the ditch, the group retreated a little and built two more walls.

Twenty minutes later, three craters, each eight meters wide and one and a half meters deep, appeared in front of Li Xinlong. Layers of ash and blood covered them, and brass bullets were scattered all over Li Xinlong's feet.

Only a few scattered zombies were still stubbornly climbing over this "chasm," and the gunshots gradually subsided.

More intense gunfire came from across the street.

"Oh!"

Several zombies that were running forward suddenly stopped, and as soon as they turned around, they were hit and sent flying by a car door.

A man wielding a fire axe rushed out, carrying an empty rocket launcher on his back. He wore a denim jacket with the sleeves removed, revealing his strong arms. With one axe stroke, he cleaved open the skull of a zombie on the ground.

He kicked the zombies that surrounded him.

The sound of bones breaking rang out instantly, and the violent impact sent limbs flying.

"Pengpeng——"

Several muffled gunshots rang out from behind him, killing the last few zombies.

"You're already a first-tier evolved being, and you still can't let go of that broken axe."

The woman's voice had lost the gentleness she used when speaking to Jiang Rong; it was sharp and decisive.

A slender figure walked through the sandstorm, carrying a shotgun, and stood beside the man. A gray-purple suede jacket accentuated her strong shoulders, and her black-purple gradient hair was very distinctive.

"Brother Rong, we've slaughtered our way through an entire street, how are you going to reward us tonight?"

Yin Yinan looked defiantly at the woman behind Li Xinlong.

The latter, clutching his backpack, licked his lips defiantly.

Li Xinlong was certainly not foolish enough to get involved in the war between the two women. He turned to Chen Shan and shouted, "Shan, seal off this street, leave a few zombies for Lao Yang, plant the plague on them and spread them out."

Seeing Li Xinlong begin to direct the cleanup, Yin Yinan snorted coldly and gave up for the time being.

She's not that stupid. In the apocalypse, what matters is strength and value. So what if that bitch has a pretty face?
Li Xinlong will be hers sooner or later!

Fatty Ke and his group climbed down from upstairs, carrying a 12.7mm heavy sniper rifle they had exchanged from the armed train. His round, chubby face was flushed, and his small eyes were full of excitement. "Ah Long, three Butchers, four Night Demons, one Jumper, and four Dwarves! We took down a total of twelve Tier 1 zombies in one battle! This gun was definitely worth the money!"

Everyone, including Li Xinlong, looked at the 1.4-meter-long [Dragon Spine-2] weapon in his hand with eager eyes.

Most of the firearms produced by Donghuang after the millennium had a unified name, such as the Iron Falcon submachine gun, the Iron Guard assault rifle, and the Iron Eagle pistol, etc. However, after 2030, some advanced weapons produced by the military factory broke this naming convention.

For example, the [Dragon Spine-2] in Fatty's hands can achieve precise strikes within two kilometers.

The effective range of a regular sniper rifle is generally around 800 meters, while large-caliber sniper rifles, that is, heavy sniper rifles with a diameter of 12.7mm or more, have a kill range of 1200 meters, with a few reaching 1500 meters. The Dragon Spine-2 is a product of technological breakthroughs.

If it weren't for Mr. Shu's generosity, the armed train wouldn't have been able to get ten of them at once.

Without this gun, with their six Tier 1 Evolvers and the convoy's hundreds of guns, it would have taken them a week just to clear this street.

There's a risk of staff loss if we're not careful.

In some ways, this heavy sniper rifle is just as important to the team as three or four Tier 1 Evolvers.

Seeing Pang Ke casually holding the gun in his hand, Li Xinlong frowned. "If you're not going to use it, put the gun in the car. It's very windy and dusty here, and we'll have to rely on it for the cleanup mission!"

Fatty quickly threw the gun into the car and shouted, "Ah Long, let's go and take care of that Tier 2 Skull Crusher at Chenxi Square on Zhijin South Road."

Li Xinlong glanced at the sky. The sun was at midday, and the temperature was rising, but the sandstorm showed no sign of abating.

He said in a deep voice, "If we can clean this street today, we'll consider the task complete. According to the goals assigned at the meeting, we only need to clean Zhijin South Road, the main thoroughfare, within a week. We'll see how other places are doing first."

Yin Yinan asked, "So we're leaving today?"

Li Xinlong gave the order sternly.

"You and Wei Tian take the melee team to loot supplies from the buildings on both sides. Don't go beyond this street, don't linger in combat, and call me if you need anything."

After the two men led a team of two hundred men armed with steel bars, fire axes, and other melee weapons into the buildings on both sides of the street, Li Xinlong looked at Pang Ke beside him.

"Ake, bring in the bulldozers, pile the abandoned vehicles aside, then gather the bodies together and let Lao Yang handle them."

"understand!"

The Black Star convoy began cleaning up the battlefield.

Although not as formidable as the armed train, it had its own methods. Li Xinlong personally led four hundred gunmen to guard both ends of the street and clear out the wandering zombies.

Old Yang, one of the Five Tigers, led a group of "collectors" to start collecting polymorphic crystals and zombie materials.

He manipulated a dozen or so zombies that weren't quite dead, then threw them outside into the street.

The gunman ignored him, howled for a while, and the zombie, having lost its target, began to wander the streets, soon merging into the horde.

No one noticed the sticky, reddish-green spots on his back.

By the time dusk fell, the battlefield had been cleared, and thousands of corpses had vanished without a trace, leaving only a slightly elevated ground level.

Bulldozers painted with black stars led the way, and the convoy of a thousand people, fully loaded with cargo, began to leave Zhijin City.

If you raise your perspective and remove the obscuring sandstorm, you can see that the entire city of Zhijin has fallen into a frenzy of war.

Tens of thousands of scavengers, led by a large convoy, launched an attack on the five million zombies in Zhijin City.

Every now and then, convoys would retreat due to heavy damage or having looted enough spoils.

But soon more fully equipped convoys will join this grand event.

In just three days, the number of people from various factions, large and small, gathered around Zhijin exceeded 100,000.

As the howling wind and the sounds of gunfire gradually faded into the distance, the members of the Black Star convoy finally relaxed.

The convoy did not leave Zhijin City completely, but retreated to the edge of Zhijin, next to the city stadium.

After so many years of development, bustling cities like Zhijin no longer have any real "suburbs". Apart from the parks that have been preserved by humans, all the open spaces have been occupied by various urban facilities. The stadium is the most spacious place. If you extend a little further south, you will enter the area of ​​Xinma County, where buildings will become dense again.

Soon, a flashlight shone a few times, and two motorcycles rushed out of the stadium, guiding the convoy inside.

The stadium had long been transformed into a temporary base by Li Xinlong. A group of children and the remaining staff gathered around the convoy, their eyes filled with fervent admiration, following the convoy on both sides as if welcoming a hero.

First, Fatty Ke shouted loudly, and the venue was filled with excited screams.

Li Xinlong frowned and subconsciously looked up, only to find that the venue was completely enclosed.

Old Yang walked over silently and asked in a low voice, "Should we calm down? I'm afraid the noise will attract attention to the things around us..."

Looking at the children and women crowding in front of the supply truck, their faces showing as they carried supplies on their shoulders and in their hands, Li Xinlong sighed, "Everyone has been suppressing their feelings for too long. Let them release some of that tension."

Thinking about today's harvest, Old Yang smiled and said, "Then I'll take some men to check the surrounding area, so we don't miss anything."

"Call a couple more people. If anything happens, have General Manager Nan contact me."

"it is good."

After saying that, Li Xinlong headed towards the row of stoves in the middle of the venue, his steps becoming lighter.

Jiang Rong was leading a group of women in cooking. Thanks to the Black Star team's recent success, their meals had improved. Although it was just simple fried rice with pickled vegetables, it gave everyone a sense of hope for life.

……

Inside the RV, Li Xinlong ate fried rice while telling Jiang Rong about the events of the day, cleverly omitting all the dangers involved.

"Mom, you didn't see it. A Tier 1 Butcher got blown up by Akali's single shot. His head shattered like a watermelon on the ground..."

"More than two thousand zombies, including twelve Tier 1 zombies, were wiped out by my team in just over an hour."

"The zombies lay scattered on the ground like wheat..."

"Then we ransacked the whole street and got more than a ton of canned meat, and enough rice, flour and cooking oil to feed our two thousand people on Black Star for several months."

In front of Jiang Rong, Li Xinlong completely lost his calm and composed demeanor as a subordinate, becoming like a talkative child, chattering on and on.

Jiang Rong listened silently to her son's description of the battle scene and found that it was similar to the daily mopping-up missions she usually led. However, at that time, the legion did not have many first-tier evolved beings, and her son was accompanied by five people, so she felt relieved.

While placing the salted duck egg yolk she had scooped out into her son's bowl, she instructed, "Although it's not very dangerous, you still need to be careful. Stay away from unfamiliar mutated plants. I have some... uh, some life-saving tools that a friend gave me. You can carry them with you. If you really can't fight back, just throw them out..."

Li Xinlong: Huh?
He opened his mouth but stopped talking.

I regretted hiding too much, and shoved my food into my mouth in frustration.

After talking for a while, seeing that her son had stopped talking, Jiang Rong suddenly remembered something and tentatively asked, "Which forces are involved in your base city plan this time? Is that train you often mention included?"

"Oh, no, they're from out of town, they'll be gone in a while."

That's fine.

Knowing that the train conductor wouldn't get involved, Jiang Rong felt a huge weight lifted off her shoulders.

"The main ones are the four major ones: Black Kite, Jinfeng Chamber of Commerce, Fuyuan Car Team, and Tiejian City, plus a small force like our Black Star. However, after this, our Black Star Car Team will be able to become the fifth largest, and even rank higher than Fuyuan and Tiejian City!"

Li Xinlong's voice was filled with absolute confidence and self-assurance.

"Black Kite?!"

Hearing Jiang Rong's exclamation, Li Xinlong looked up and noticed that his mother's usually amiable expression had changed, which made him somewhat suspicious.

"Do you know Black Kite?"

Jiang Rong concealed her unusual behavior and hesitated before saying, "I heard about the Black Kite organization on my way here. Its influence is vast, not as simple as it seems..."

Li Xinlong's expression immediately turned serious, and he put down his chopsticks.

"Mom, tell me everything you know."

Jiang Rong removed the information related to the train and selectively told her son about Hei Yuan.

After listening, Li Xinlong's face showed a hint of relief. "I see..."

Based on the information he obtained from the two deserters on the train, he knew that Hei Yuan had been severely injured by the armed train. However, he was puzzled as to why Hei Yuan was not quietly recuperating in a corner, but instead was pushing forward the construction of Zhijin Base City. He even suspected that there might be some kind of conspiracy involved.

But after Jiang Rong filled in the missing information, Li Xinlong suddenly understood.

Black Kite has a strong financial background, and although it suffered a setback in the war against the Armed Train, it still has the strength to fight back.

Establishing a base city would allow for a rapid recovery of power, so even though Black Kite knew that Train was lurking in the neutral town, she still decided to push forward with the base city plan and even accelerated its construction.

This explanation makes all the logic make sense.

The reason the armed train lingered in Neutral Town was to see if there was any opportunity to exploit the Base City plan.

The real purpose of intercepting the convoy that day to exchange for talent was to annoy Black Kite.

Make your presence known!
So that Black Kite would feel like he had thorns in his back, a fishbone stuck in his throat, or sitting on pins and needles!

Li Xinlong's eyes flashed. 'If that's the case, the standoff between Black Kite and the train has actually created a kind of balance. The real key lies in the advancement of the base city plan. With the train as a distraction, the Black Star convoy will have a chance to rise up right under Black Kite's nose!'

Seeing that her son seemed to understand her meaning, Jiang Rong gently suggested, "How about we..."

"All hands on deck!"

Li Xinlong's eyes shone with an astonishing light.

……

Another week has passed in the blink of an eye.

The market in Zhongli Town has flourished as a result of the base city plan.

But even newcomers to the scavenger market know that the biggest business in the entire scavenger market is neither the Big Four nor the recently famous Black Star Caravan, but the mysterious Armed Train.

The 1.5-kilometer-long armed train, like a city wall, encircled the neutral town before its massive rammed front end plunged into the town's main road.

Every day, a large number of scavengers come from afar to observe this steel behemoth.

(End of this chapter)