Armored train in the apocalypse

Chapter 340 Prelude to a Large-Scale Transaction
"July 17th, the wind suddenly picked up."

"Ability is not a gift, but a whip that urges us to evolve."

The factory manager died of natural causes, but it wasn't entirely natural.

The awakening of his abilities further consumed his already dwindling life force, and the remaining time was insufficient to support his advancement to the next tier.

When he first joined the company, the factory manager was already quite old. However, there was a shortage of staff everywhere, so the elderly man had to take on the management role.

During the meeting some time ago, Su Huan could clearly sense the factory director's waning vitality.

That's why his work was transferred to Zhou Qing and Wang Duoyu.

The factory director's funeral was quiet, with no mourning hall, no relatives, and none of the usual funeral rites to show respect.

When Su Huan arrived, the flames from Lin Jin's actions etched themselves onto the old man's calm face.

Qu Hang raised his hand, and the burning ashes were swept up by the gale, mixed with the sand and dust, and flew towards the place he wanted to go.

Professor Ma sighed softly, "How could it just suddenly disappear..."

Su Huan remained calm.

This is the second member left behind by Zhijin.

The previous one was Lao Liu.

Death is not a farewell; a grand farewell ceremony can be held.

Yu Yue stared intently at the gradually dissipating ashes in the sky, her eyes moist, lost in thought. But when she lowered her eyelids, she saw Vice President Deng using a twig to search through the black, scorched earth. Unfortunately, the fire had burned the ashes too cleanly, and the old man couldn't find what he was looking for, muttering to himself.

"What are you looking for?"

Su Huan asked casually.

Vice President Deng muttered, "The old man told me that he had surgery before, and a steel nail was implanted in his leg bone. He was afraid that his children would squander the family fortune, so he got a gold one, thinking he could pass it on to his children after he died. But his son is nowhere to be found. Why don't I keep it for him? If I can have a son in the future..."

"To ensure the factory director's lineage continues?"

Yu Yue asked, her eyes welling up with tears.

“No way!” Vice President Deng refused decisively, speaking with conviction. “Of course my son has to take the Deng surname. At most, I’ll give him a little more gold to eat.”

Yu Yue: "..."

Everyone: "..."

Su Huan turned and left, and everyone else quietly withdrew, leaving only Vice President Deng squatting there, sliding a small stick around.

He was muttering complaints under his breath.

"They clearly agreed that the factory manager would work for me, but he just sat there for over ten years, and the factory is gone now..."

"I've been waiting so long my hair has turned white."

"What's the use of saving up so much money, you old bastard? You just die like that."

"You didn't even leave me with anything to look forward to."

Vice President Deng's voice stopped abruptly, and a photograph suddenly appeared before his eyes, the ink on it still fresh.

The photo was clearly taken inside a train. It was dark outside the window, probably early in the morning when there was little wind and sand. The emergency lights on the roof were still dimly lit. The factory manager, wearing a gray sweater, sat by the window with his face slightly turned to the camera. He seemed a little reserved, perhaps knowing he was being photographed, but a gentle smile remained on his lips.

Water droplets fell onto the photo.

"This was taken by the old factory director a few days ago. He said if you cry too badly, then forget it; but if you're too happy, then he'll show it to you."

Xiao Zhao handed him the photo and quietly left, leaving the two old friends alone.

After a while, a hoarse thank you came from behind, but the voice was too soft and was quickly swallowed by the wind.

……

Since the factory manager passed away, time seems to have been sped up, and it has rushed to the beginning of October.

In addition to news about Zhijin and the train construction progress, news from the outside world gradually began to flow into Zhijin.

Two weeks ago, Deep Blue Data's primal entity went berserk and destroyed their "headquarters" in the storm zone. Now they are hunting them down all over the world.

A month ago, Donghuang Heavy Industry officially took over the capital of Yuchuan Province and established a large-scale human settlement in the post-apocalyptic world.

Various forces sprang up like mushrooms after rain, claiming to have established certain gathering places or camps, and then began to recruit soldiers and horses in a grand manner.

However, they were quickly brought back to reality by a message from Donghuang Heavy Industry, which publicly announced all the major forces within Donghuang.

This was somewhat unexpected for Su Huan. They had never done this in their previous life. Even four years after the apocalypse, these bastards were still hiding.

There are a total of five top-tier forces and thirteen large forces.

Armed trains were brazenly included, occupying a top-tier power spot.

Among them, the old friend, the Steel Council, disappeared, and a force called Chuantao rose to the bottom of the major forces.

Surprisingly, Black Kite was listed as just a large force on Donghuang Heavy Industry's list, which made some insiders' eyelids twitch.

In addition, there was news of a stun blast.

Two months ago, a massive zombie horde surged out of the high-temperature zone, only to be blocked by a single person leading a beast horde. The battle lasted for a week, leaving millions of corpses on the edge of the high-temperature zone. According to Deep Blue Data, that person was a third-tier evolver, whose profession was unknown.

Following Su Huan, he is the second publicly known human third-order evolver.

King of beasts.

If the announcement of Donghuang Heavy Industry's power information surprised Su Huan somewhat, the information about the King of Beasts shocked him.

He had never heard of such a person in his previous life.

There was a large-scale zombie horde, which was eventually resolved by the Steel Council's "Firewall Project." He Jie also became famous in that battle, but didn't the zombie horde appear a little too early?
People, time... nothing matches up.

Su Huan was a little confused. He knew that his little butterfly might have some impact on the world, but he never thought it would go so far astray.

He had barely survived and advanced to the third tier, and yet the other party had caught up.

Could this person be the main character?
Unfortunately, no one could answer his question.

Although news of the apocalypse was delayed, it was still circulating at a slow pace.

Information about the armed train's planned large-scale transaction in Zhijin also spread to various places in the past few months.

Furthermore, the train conductor will organize an auction featuring some valuable items.

Rumors abound of fruits that can increase vitality, class combinations from Tier 1 to Tier 5, a full set of gene potions, vehicles equipped with large-caliber weapons, abundant evolution materials, tree species that hunt on their own, and evolved plants capable of sustaining millions of people…

Everyone can find what they need at trading markets and auctions.

The shockwaves from this news far exceeded those from the Hundred Beasts Corpse Slaughtering Horde. After all, there was already one Tier 3 Evolver; while another would be powerful, it was no longer a novelty. However, the Armed Train Organization's trading market truly benefited everyone.

……

Deep Blue Data, Dual Towers.

It would be more appropriate to call it a single tower now, because one of them has collapsed.

The self-cleaning photovoltaic glass, piece by piece, shattered on the ground, and the coolant inside the tower was reduced to a shallow layer, which was also contaminated by wind and sand.

Wei Shan stood in the conference room at the top of another tower, looking down at the busy engineering vehicles and construction workers below, his face as black as the bottom of a pot.

He had just defeated the former front desk general manager and taken one of the highest positions in the company when an accident occurred at the experimental tower. The genetic prototype, which was the company's core asset, had escaped!

Deep Blue Data, a top-tier power, naturally has more than one Primarch, but every Primarch in the apocalypse is priceless, even more valuable than these general managers.

After all, a general manager can be replaced when he dies, but a Primarch is one less to go. The birth of a Primarch is a matter of luck, and with the current sharp decline in population, it's like finding a needle in a haystack.

The board of directors at headquarters should be reviewing their punishment now.

Thinking of this, Wei Shan took a deep breath and forcibly suppressed the turbulent emotions churning in his heart.

We have to do something before the punishment comes down.

The only feasible option at the moment is the trade fair organized by the Armed Train organization.

As long as he can bring enough benefits to the company, no one will care about the mistakes he made before. Besides, strictly speaking, it was a problem with the technology platform, which had nothing to do with their business department.

But at the time, he was the only person in charge of the Twin Towers.

He was truly unfairly blamed.

"President Wei, someone from the research lab has arrived."

There was a knock on the door.

"Tell him to get in."

A researcher in his fifties, with a receding hairline, walked in and said somewhat nervously, "President Wei, we've figured it out. The Primarch evolved into a Shadow-type ability and then escaped during the chaos..."

Wei Shan waved his hand impatiently, "Save those explanations for the people coming from headquarters. I only have one question for you: how important are fruits that can restore life force for evolution? Don't give me those technical terms!"

The researchers' eyes lit up immediately. "The company has been searching for months but hasn't found any fruit that can restore vitality. This thing might be the key to the train conductor's promotion to the third rank."

Wei Shan seemed to be deep in thought upon hearing this.

'It seems I absolutely have to go to this trade fair.'

……

Zhijin in the southwest, standing trees and ecology.

The standing tree ecosystem may not be the area with the most evolved plants within a radius of 100 kilometers, but it is definitely the most prominent.

In the wilderness and yellow sand of a vast area of ​​abandoned buildings, a group of giant trees, some forty or fifty meters tall, stand on the ground, one every four or five meters, their lush canopies joined together to block the endless sandstorms from the storm zone.

Upon closer inspection, one can see black solar panels in the tree canopy. A little below, there are watchtowers built of wooden planks, connected by suspension bridges, with armed guards standing on them.

Further down, on the tree branches, you can see miniature stilted wooden houses, built in a staggered manner between 20 and 30 meters above the ground.

This height allows you to avoid being attacked by hordes of zombies roaming underground, and also to escape the endless raging winds.

(Illustrative image of the wooden cabins; they may be more concealed than shown in the picture, and they are interconnected.)

Among the giant trees, three mutated ancient banyan trees are intertwined with each other, making their already massive bodies even more majestic. The trees are over 100 meters tall, the area where the trunks intertwine reaches more than 100 square meters, and the diameter of the canopy exceeds 200 meters.

The three trees together form a magnificent and spectacular structure.

It has also become the core area of ​​the standing tree ecosystem.

At this moment, an important meeting is taking place in the tree hollow, or more accurately, a group of people are sitting in a circle, listening to a young scavenger recount the changes that have taken place in Zhijin.

To make their words more credible, scavengers added a lot of body language.

"...The train alone is several kilometers long, and it takes more than an hour to walk from one end to the other. Each carriage is equipped with a heavy machine gun, the kind that's on warships. If I were to be hit by one of those guns, I definitely wouldn't be able to scream."

"Moreover, their troops all have uniforms, and everyone is fully armed with standardized firearms and tactical equipment. If it weren't for the fact that it's different from before, I would suspect that they are a regular army."

"They are all evolved beings, even the logistics personnel are not ordinary people, and first-tier evolved beings are as common as dogs..."

"..."

"Alright, we know the armed train is strong, otherwise they wouldn't have been able to capture Zhijin, but I want to know how they support more than 100,000 people. Don't tell me they do it by looting supplies."

Pan Yue, the forty-year-old "crown holder," interrupted the scavenger's speech and asked directly.

Feeling the scrutinizing gazes of those around him, the scavenger swallowed hard.

Although he didn't speak, he clearly expressed his desire.

Pan Yue gave a look, and someone immediately handed him a water bottle. The scavenger took it and drank it down in big gulps. The cool water had a sweet, plant-like taste that invigorated him.

After reluctantly putting down the water bottle, the scavenger continued, "The Food Production Bureau grows a kind of grass that matures very quickly. It can be ground into powder, and it's incredibly delicious with just a little sauce and chili oil. However, eating too much of it can easily cause constipation."

The one-eyed woman beside him coldly rebuked, "How did you obtain such crucial information?"

The woman's name is Chen Hong. She is a former law enforcement sniper and currently the third-in-command at Limu Ecology, as well as the overall commander of the force's defense.

The scavenger said nonchalantly, "It's no secret. Everyone in Zhijin knows. After all, the Food Production Bureau has several thousand people. It was bound to get out sooner or later..."

"By the way, there's some news you might be interested in, but I need food, and I only want food in its original doomsday packaging."

Pan Yue and the one-eyed woman exchanged a glance, and Pan Yue said in a deep voice, "As long as the information is valuable, I will give you some compressed biscuits, all of which are military grade."

Military-grade compressed biscuits are notoriously unpalatable, but they have a much longer shelf life than civilian-grade ones.

It can be considered one of the hard currencies of the apocalypse.

Upon hearing this, the scavenger said with satisfaction, "The Zhijin Auction will feature a special tree species. I heard that feeding it some metal will allow it to grow, move, and even have some fighting ability..."

Pan Yue, who had initially been somewhat dismissive, suddenly narrowed his eyes. Not only him, but another young man present also began to breathe heavily.

The reason why Pan Yue was able to establish a standing tree ecosystem was partly due to his own abilities, but the most important factor was his younger brother's plant affinity and the group of trees beneath his feet.

If the mutated plants that could provide a large amount of food were merely what attracted them...

These mobile, combat-ready trees alone were enough to ignite their frenzy.

The managers exchanged glances and reached an agreement almost instantly.

We must participate in this trade fair!
[Some readers have reported that the plot has been disjointed and lacks foreshadowing in the past two days. Chapter 335 has been updated with 1200 words from a gang perspective. This is free content; simply refresh the page.]

(End of this chapter)