The "Survival on the Train" game has bugs, it's really laggy!

There are no lights at station number 19.

As the headlights of the Devourer swept across the platform entrance, the beams of light illuminated neatly arranged metal cylinders on both sides. More than one hundred and twenty. All were of uniform caliber, with smooth bodies and their bases embedded in standard ammunition rack slots.

There was no fuse. The tip of the warhead was completely empty. The bare, threaded hole faced upwards.

A small torch was used to project thermal images onto both sides of the cartridge case. At room temperature. No chemical reaction occurred. No thermal characteristics were observed from any time-delay device.

"No fuse confirmed. Cartridge casing intact, explosive charge present."

The cigarette butt at the corner of Wang Hu's mouth twitched halfway. "Over a hundred shells, all the fuses removed. Was it 009?"

"Supply Cart 009." Little Fire's paw swept across the control panel, re-typing the handwritten information from the old slip of paper onto the main screen. "Fuse taken away. Destination—Mobile Supply Ring 20."

There was a moment of silence in the driver's cab.

The system notification is still displayed on the old terminal screen. White text on a black background.

"A countdown timer has been detected in supply car 009. All unfused munitions will be automatically detonated after the lead car passes."

Su Yuan did not slow down. At 75 km/h, it cruised steadily. The newly fitted lightweight air-guided hull of the Devourer cut through the air ahead, and the high-speed bearing wheels hummed evenly.

"Fire catch?" Wang Hu leaned forward halfway, peering through the observation port towards both sides of the tracks. The missile rack bases were welded to the platform floor, twelve missiles per row, staggered. The spacing between the missiles was just enough for a person to squeeze through sideways. "How do you fire catch catch without a fuse?"

The camera cuts to the bottom of the magazine and scans. When the image is zoomed in, a very thin copper tube is visible at the bottom of the magazine slot. A miniature heating wire is embedded at the end of the copper tube.

"Electric ignition. Without a fuse. Directly heats the bottom of the charge."

Wang Hu hissed.

"This is a damn crude method. The dispersion is uncontrollable, the bullets don't spin, and they just fly around randomly after being fired."

"Precision isn't needed." The small torch projected the ammunition rack distribution map onto the main screen. One hundred and twenty shells, sixty on each side, evenly distributed across the entire platform. "Coverage is sufficient."

Su Yuan slightly moved his left hand on the steering wheel. The car speed remained unchanged.

"Countdown begins."

The small fire checked the old terminal and obtained the underlying parameters: "The detonation will occur six seconds after the front wheels of the lead vehicle run over the center line marker on the platform."

Six seconds. Running at 75 km/h for six seconds covers 125 meters. Station 19 is less than 300 meters long, with the center line at the 150-meter mark. After crossing the center line, there are still 150 meters left. Six seconds is enough to finish.

But the train formation doesn't just include the lead car. There's also the third car, and the tail cars 013 and 005. The entire train formation is over sixty meters long. The time required for the tail to leave the station—

"The entire formation will take fourteen seconds to pass through the platform." After announcing the number, Xiao Huo tightened its claws. "At the six-second detonation time, anchor number 005 will still be within the platform area."

Tang Lan's voice came from channel 013. "I heard you."

The voice of a young survivor followed behind. "005 won't take it off."

Su Yuan did not respond to those two sentences. His gaze fell on the distribution map of the ammunition racks on the main screen. Sixty rounds on one side. Equidistant. The heating wires at the bottom of the slots were all connected to the same busbar beneath the platform floor. The busbar extended from the centerline marker.

"Whether the shell hits or not is not important," Su Yuan said. "After the propellant is ignited, the shell casing will explode in the barrel. If 120 shell casings explode at the same time, the fragment density is enough to shave off a layer from the outer casing of the 005 shell."

Wang Hu placed his hand on the external magazine safety. "Interrupt the bus?"

"Need not."

Su Yuan moved his right hand from the steering wheel to the refining furnace control panel.

"have eaten."

Wang Hu paused for half a second. Then he looked at the ammunition racks on both sides. One hundred and twenty shells. No fuses. The shells were intact. The propellant was still inside.

The cartridge cases are good stuff. So are the propellant charges.

The speed of the Devourer decreased from 75 to 40 km/h. The segmented braking array partially locked. The entire train decelerated smoothly without any sudden braking impact.

"Lifting arm".

Heavy-duty lifting arm fully extended. Rapid storage gripper with three teeth extended to maximum.

The first row of ammunition racks on the left side of the vehicle entered the working range of the lifting arm. Twelve shells were inserted into the rack surface, with copper pipes at the bottom connected to the main bus. Wang Hu pulled the mechanical lever. The gripping claw pressed down in an arc, and three teeth locked onto the side of the shell—not just one. It was the fixing plate for the entire row of slots.

One pull.

The entire mounting plate detached from the ammunition rack base. The twelve shells, along with the mounting plate, were lifted up. The copper tube was torn off from the bottom of the slot, and a very thin heating wire popped out halfway, swinging twice in the air.

The material receiving slide rail inlet was open. Wang Hu loosened the gears. Twelve cartridge cases, along with their fixing plates, slid along the curved slide rail into the refining furnace bucket area.

The dark gold conduit extends. The first one pierces the side of the fixing plate, separating the steel plate from the copper tube. The second one wraps around the outer casing of the projectile and cuts it longitudinally. The explosive charge is squeezed out from the cut and falls into the chemical isolation tank specifically designed for the bucket.

The first batch is finished. The crane arm swings back.

Second plate. Right side. Three teeth engage. Pull. Insert into the slide rail.

The third board.

The fourth board.

The Devourer maintained a speed of 40 km/h, its crane arm retracting one pallet every three seconds. One pallet to the left, one pallet to the right, alternating grabs. The metallic clanging sound on the receiving rail was incessant, and spent cartridge cases poured into the bucket in rows.

The refining furnace operates stably at low power. The cycle time is adjusted every two plates of fuel added. The furnace wall temperature jumps from 800 to 920, then is pushed back down to 850. Once the charging isolation tank is full, inert gas is poured in for sealing, and the furnace remains stationary. Only the shell is processed.

The center line marker on the platform was run over by the train.

The moment the six-second countdown began—

The bus is out of power.

The copper tubing of the first six heating plates was physically torn off. The last six plates haven't arrived yet, but the end of the heating wire is already suspended in the air. It can't burn anything even when powered on.

Someone on the AM relay channel realized what was happening.

The communications officer for the Bonebreaker spoke with uncertainty. "He's...taken a shell?"

The adjutant of the Slaughterhouse pulled up the shared surveillance footage from the rear. In the footage, the Devourer's crane arm swung left and right at an extremely high frequency, each swing returning with a whole row of spent cartridge cases clamped in its claws. The flow of metal on the receiving rails was almost uninterrupted.

"It's not about eating," the fire control officer said, staring at the screen. "It's about collecting."

After crossing the center line, the Devourer did not accelerate. It continued to maintain a speed of 40 km/h, clearing out the ammunition racks in the latter half of the platform one by one.

Seventh beat. Eighth beat. Ninth beat. Tenth beat.

The last two plates were located near the platform exit, with the base of the crane rack welded deeper. Wang Hu pulled on the first try but couldn't budge it. He pressed the mechanical lever down as hard as he could, activating the main hydraulic cylinder of the crane arm to its full stroke. The three teeth of the gripper claw embedded themselves into the edge of the fixed plate, and the creaking sound of metal deformation echoed into the cab from outside.

Click.

The weld at the bottom of the mounting plate tore. Twelve cartridge cases, along with half of the base steel plate, were pulled off as a whole.

Last board. Treat it the same way.

Station 19. One hundred and twenty shells. All entered the mobile refining furnace.

The platform was cleared out. Only bare ammunition rack bases remained on both sides, broken copper pipes sticking out, and heating wires swaying in the air. When the system countdown reached zero, current flowed through the bus to the empty slots, heating a patch of air.

Nothing was blown up.

The refining furnace side chute has started discharging parts.

Group 1.

"Cast casing storage module".

A strip steel frame with twelve sizing clamping positions. Locks to the external beam next to the external magazine. From this external magazine, it is not only filled with ready-made ammunition—an additional row of storage slots is added next to it, which can temporarily store unassembled projectiles or semi-finished casings awaiting fuze.

Wang Hu took the first set of storage racks out of the side slot and carried them to the left outer beam. He aligned the locking pins with the holes and hammered them in. The twelve empty clamping positions were neatly open.

Second Group.

"Casing buffer armor".

The component is an arc-shaped plate. The inner layer is made of high-carbon steel recast from shell casing fragments, while the outer layer is a low-carbon sandwich made from the residual material of the fixing plate. A three-millimeter gap is left between the two layers—filled with copper powder from the fusion of the copper tube at the bottom of the shell casing.

The maintenance team took it and handed it to number 013. Tang Lan looked at the damaged area on the outer wall from inside the carriage. The scratches from the maintenance arm at the previous station hadn't been repaired yet.

The cartridge case buffer armor was snapped on. Four locking pins. Thump. Thump. Thump. The right outer wall of No. 013, which had been exposed with old welds, was now reinforced with an additional layer of curved armor.

Tang Lan patted the surface of the new armor. The echo was deep. "I accept."

Group 3.

"Explosion-proof copper ring".

The entire structure is a ring. The diameter matches the outer main beam of the No. 005 tail anchor. All the copper in the copper tubes and heating wires has been extracted and forged into a dense, explosion-proof flow guide ring.

The young survivor leaned halfway out from behind the tailgate of No. 005 and took the brass ring handed to him by the maintenance team. He couldn't move it by himself. An older mechanic crawled out from under the third section to lend a hand. The two of them slipped the brass ring onto the outermost anti-pull sub-beam of the No. 005 tail anchor.

locking.

The stress in tail beam No. 005 dropped from 21.4 to 20.7.

The young survivor looked at the numbers. He pressed his hand back to the pod. He didn't speak.

Group 4.

"Lightweight shock absorber with padding."

Thin-plate sandwich components. After the stabilizer in the propellant charge is separated in the refining furnace, it is mixed with fragments of the cartridge case base plate and forged into an elastic sheet. It is not thick, but its shock absorption coefficient is three times that of ordinary steel plates.

The veteran mechanic tucked the first piece between the bottom of the third guide frame and the old shock absorber. The second piece was placed under the right-side reclining chair lock bracket of the third section. The sleeper's heart rate monitor showed no fluctuations.

The main screen refreshes.

"New addition: Shell storage module ×2"

"New addition: Shell-casing buffer armor (right side of No. 013)."

"New addition: Explosion-proof copper ring (outer side of tail anchor No. 005)."

"New addition: Lightweight shock absorber with pads (bottom of the third section x2)."

"Inert storage of propellant: 96 rounds equivalent."

Wang Hu returned to the passenger seat. He twirled the cigarette butt between his fingers twice.

"A charge equivalent to ninety-six rounds." He glanced at Su Yuan. "Saving it up?"

Su Yuan did not respond to the question. His gaze was fixed on the map on the main screen. The marker for Mobile Supply Ring 20 was three kilometers ahead.

As the Devourer sailed out of the perimeter of Station 19, its speed returned to 75 km/h. The platform behind it turned black. Empty bomb racks, broken copper pipes, dead heating wires—the same fate as Station 18.

The AM relay channel crashed.

But this time it wasn't amazement. It was debate.

Someone from the Bonebreaker spoke first. Their speech was half a beat faster than before.

"Wait—009 took the fuse, leaving the spent cartridge case. Now Su Yuan has taken the cartridge case too. So 009 only has the fuse left?"

The slaughterhouse adjutant took it. He kept his voice low.

"The fuse doesn't have a cartridge case; it's just a bunch of detonators. It can't be put into the gun barrel. It won't fire."

"So it was a trap set by 009—"

"It's ruined. All 120 shell casings from Station 19 were swallowed by the Devourer. Even if 009 comes back, there's nothing left to carry."

The channel was silent for a second. Then another voice from the Bonebreaker emerged, deeper than the previous one.

"wrong."

Everyone waited.

"009 took more than just the fuse." The man lowered his voice to a minimum. "It took the fuse from Station 19—but the nameplate says the destination is Mobile Supply Ring 20."

It paused for half a second.

What's at station number 20?

No one answered.

In the control room of Base 04, the veteran engineer retrieved the old files for Mobile Supply Ring 20. The files were incomplete; they only contained the frame number and basic parameters.

"A circular track," he read. "1.8 kilometers long. Self-circulating. Used for the mass production of ammunition for the old Expeditionary Force—"

He stopped.

The technician came closer. The parameters on the screen were displayed in the last column:

"Equipped with 24 ring loading arms. It can simultaneously load fuses for 24 warheads."

Lu Mingyuan turned to look at him.

The veteran engineer's expression changed.

"The 009 doesn't just take the fuse and that's it. It loads the ammunition at Station 20."

Someone's breathing on the channel suddenly became heavier.

「19号站的弹壳没了——但20号站自己有弹头。」碎骨者号那个沉声的人把逻辑理完了。「009把引信带到20号站，用环形装填臂装进20号站自己的库存弹药里。」

"It is arming itself."

The AM relay channel died for two seconds.

Then everyone started talking at the same time.

How many fuses does a Type 009 have?

"More than 120 pieces—the entire batch from station 19 was taken away."

"What is the size of the ammunition stockpile at Station 20?"

no one knows.

In the control room of Base 04, the veteran engineer flipped through the old files to the bottom. The inventory column was blank. Not deleted—it had never been filled in. The inventory of the mobile supply ring fluctuated with each transport batch; there was no fixed quantity.

"Unable to confirm." His voice trailed off.

Lu Mingyuan stood still, his fingers resting on the table.

The technician added in a low voice, "If the ring-shaped loading arm is operating at full capacity, it can install four fuses per minute."

One hundred and twenty fuses. Loading will take thirty minutes.

How far ahead of schedule did 009 arrive at station 20?

no one knows.

Inside the cockpit of the Devourer, Su Yuan turned off the system notifications on the old terminal. Only the map ahead and radar echoes remained on the screen.

Little Fire's ears twitched twice. The radar moved forward one notch. Two kilometers. One and a half.

The shape of the echo in front is changing.

It is not a stationary target. It is not moving in a straight line.

Ring-shaped.

The little fire's claws slowly tightened on the control panel. Radar echo superposition frequency analysis. The trajectory of that light spot was neither a straight line nor a curve, but a complete closed loop.

"1.2 kilometers ahead," Xiao Huo reported. "Circular track structure detected. Diameter approximately 570 meters. Closed."

The light spot on the main screen moves at a constant speed along that ring. The rotation speed is not low. Each revolution takes about forty seconds.

"There's a moving target on the ring." The small torch displayed the parameters of the glowing spot. "Mass: Heavy. Speed: 160 km/h. Direction: Clockwise."

It paused for a moment.

"Number signal matching - Supply car number 009".

Wang Hu tucked the cigarette butt behind his ear. He sat up straight.

"Is it spinning in circles?"

The small flame continued scanning. Inside the circular track, twenty-four fixed positions were evenly distributed. Each position had a robotic arm extending from it, curved in shape with a rotating joint, and a fuse mounting head at the end.

Annular loading arm.

Each rotation of 009 passes through twenty-four loading arms. Each arm completes an action within 0.3 seconds—retrieving the fuse from the hopper on the side of the 009 vehicle, screwing it into the threaded hole of the warhead, and releasing it.

"Number of fuses installed per lap—" the little torch displayed the calculation result. "Twenty-four."

One lap takes forty seconds. Twenty-four per lap.

How long has 009 been hovering over there?

The small fire retrieved residual data from the entrance camera of the circular track. The image quality was extremely poor, containing only a blurry timestamp.

"009 entered Mobile Supply Ring 20 seventeen minutes ago."

Seventeen minutes. Forty seconds per lap. Twenty-five laps or more.

Twenty-four per circle.

Wang Hu's fingers clenched tightly on the armrest.

"More than six hundred?"

The small fire didn't respond to that number. It was looking at another set of data. On the outer side of the circular track, there was a launch port for each ring. Every time 009 passed a launch port, a batch of finished ammunition with fuses was launched into the outer collection rail.

The collection track is a straight line, extending forward from the outside of the circular track.

Extending direction—the track the Devourer is currently traveling on.

"Collection rail end position," Little Fire reported. "800 meters ahead of the Devourer. Finished ammunition is already piled up on the rail. Quantity—"

The numbers on the main screen jumped.

"472 pieces. The number is still increasing."

There is no sound on channel 013.

There was no sound from the tailgate of car number 005.

The AM relay channel crashed first.

The communications officer for the Bonebreaker's voice cracked. "009 is circling the supply ring loading ammunition—over four hundred rounds already loaded—and still loading—"

The slaughterhouse officer slammed his hand on the table. The scene was shocked.

"It's not setting an ambush. It's building an ammunition depot. A mobile ammunition depot."

In the control room of Base 04, the veteran engineer was pressed against the screen. He watched the movement trajectory of 009 and the working frequency of the loading arm, his fingers unconsciously tapping the table.

"Keep the loading arm running. Keep 009 running. Keep loading until all the fuses are loaded." He turned his head. "At this rate, all 120 fuses will be loaded within five minutes."

The technician added, "How many 009s still have uninstalled fuses?"

Xiao Huo's voice came through the channel. It was cold.

"Based on the number of ammunition already ejected—approximately twenty-six fuzes remain on the 009 vehicle. Current loading arm efficiency—"

Its claws paused on the control panel.

"Complete loading within sixty seconds."

Inside the cab, Su Yuan's left hand remained on the steering wheel. His right hand moved from the refining furnace control panel and pressed onto the main winch release lever.

800 meters ahead. At the end of the collection rail. 472 finished munitions are piled on the rail surface. And more are being added.

009 is spinning on the ring. Twenty-four more are added every forty seconds.

"It's not waiting for us," Su Yuan said.

Wang Hu turned to look at him.

Su Yuan's gaze fell on the direction in which the collection track extended. The track led out from the outside of the ring and went straight towards the direction the Devourer was traveling. But the end was not a dead end—it connected to another branch three hundred meters ahead.

The direction of the branch.

Mark the branching paths with a small torch.

The branch points downwards.

It bends downwards at a forty-five-degree angle. Leading into the deep, old railway network. Leading to—

"The Great Wall Main Road." The little torch displayed the destination on the main screen.

The deep-voiced man on the Bonebreaker finally uttered what everyone was thinking.

"009 isn't targeting the Devourer. It's arming ammunition with fuses and then sending it to the main road of the Great Wall."

"The warhead and fuse are split into two parts," the fire control officer's voice came from the bottom of the channel. "One part is waiting at Station 19 to bomb the Devourer. The other part is being assembled into live ammunition at Station 20."

He paused for a second.

"Number 19 was a sacrificial pawn. The real killing move is number 20."

"But the portion for the 19th has already been eaten by the Devourer," the adjutant added.

"Yes." The fire control officer's voice was flat. "So now 009 only has one option left—to get all the ammunition into the Great Wall main road branch before the Devourer arrives."

"What are you sending it for?"

No one answered.

In the control room of Base 04, Lu Mingyuan finally spoke.

"How much time is left for the loading arm?"

Xiao Huo's voice came from across the entire channel.

"Fifty-three seconds."

Lu Mingyuan stared at the uniformly rotating dot on the screen. 009's trajectory circled round and round, without acceleration or deceleration. Precise. Automatic.

"It's not a car." The old engineer finally sat back down in his chair, his voice weary. "It's a production line."

The Devourer is traveling at 75 km/h. It is 600 meters away from the entrance of the 20th mobile supply ring.

Fifty-three seconds.

Su Yuansong released the main winch. He then pressed the handle onto the core output knob of the Zhenshan control.

Turn the knob two notches to the right.

The output was increased from 70 to 95.

Dark golden flames spewed from the exhaust pipes of the Devourer. The vehicle surged forward abruptly. Its speed jumped from seventy-five to ninety. One hundred. One hundred and one hundred and one.

The third section of the reclining chair lock was strained. The secondary fixation straps for wounded soldier number 013 were tightened. The silenced drop number 005 swung half an inch due to acceleration inertia. The young survivor's hand was pressed tightly against the emplacement.

Tang Lan's voice switched in from the channel.

"It's all under control."

The tracks rushed past the train window. The heat from the dark gold exhaust pipes rippled the air on either side.

Four hundred meters.

The small flame continues its countdown.

"Thirty-seven seconds."

Three hundred meters. The outline of the collection rail begins to appear ahead. A silver-gray straight line curves into the main rail plane from the right, with neatly stacked metal cylinders on the rail surface. They are one size thicker than the shell casings from Station 19. The warhead is intact. The fuse is already screwed into the threaded hole.

Finished ammunition.

Row after row stretching forward.

Two hundred meters.

This is the last time Xiao Huo will report.

"Fourteen seconds. The last batch of fuses for 009 is being installed."

The Devourer's headlights shone on the entrance structure of Mobile Supply Ring 20. A massive circular archway. A metal frame. The tracks split into two at the bottom of the archway—one cutting into the closed circular track, the other continuing straight around the outside of the ring.

The electronic screen below the archway flickered.

The number changed from "471" to "495".

It's still rising.

009 goes around inside one last time.

Little Fire's claws were dead.

"Zero. All fuses installed."

The dot on the main screen, 009, didn't stop. After completing the final reloading, it accelerated.

From 160 km/h to 180 km/h. Two hundred.

It is rushing towards the branch track.

"009 has exited the circular track and entered the collection track. Direction: Great Wall Main Road Downward Branch."

Su Yuan's gaze shifted from the archway to the entrance of the collection rail branch. Three hundred meters away. 009 was accelerating in that direction.

"It's going to run away with the ammunition." Wang Hu pulled the cigarette butt off his ear and tucked it back into his mouth.

Xiao Huo completed the last set of data.

"Total ammunition collected on the rails: 495 rounds. Current load of ammunition in the 009 vehicle's ammunition compartment: 128 rounds. Ammunition already loaded into the front section of the branch rails: 367 rounds."

Three hundred and sixty-seven finished ammunition rounds are already on the branch rails. The Type 009 itself has one hundred and twenty-eight more. In total, there are nearly five hundred complete shells with fuses.

It is falling towards the main road of the Great Wall.

The Devourer charged through the archway. The wind pressure dispersed the dust on the electronic screen. The number froze at 495.

All the circular loading arms stopped. The twenty-four arc-shaped robotic arms, suspended inside the circular track, stopped after their end-fuze mounting heads spun twice. The hopper was empty.

The radar dot on 009 rapidly moved away from the circular track on the main screen, heading straight for the branch entrance along the collection track. The speed was 210 km/h. And it was still accelerating.

Su Yuan did not pursue the collection track.

The Devourer cut across the circular archway on the right-hand straight track, bypassing the outer edge of the ring. Wang Hu, through the observation port, saw the interior of the circular track—a silver-gray closed loop, the loading arm suspended motionless, with remnants of fuse packaging fragments and lubricant stains on the track surface. The entire loading assembly line was clean and efficient, without a single extra fuse left behind.

"The branch entrance is 420 meters ahead," Xiao Huo reported. "009 is currently 180 meters from the branch entrance. The speed advantage is significant."

Wang Hu's cigarette butt paused at the corner of his mouth. "Can't catch up?"

The little fire didn't answer whether it could catch up or not. It was looking at another set of data.

"The branch track has a 45-degree incline. There is a deceleration curve at the entrance. The minimum speed for 009 entering the curve will not be less than 140 km/h."

Deceleration bend.

Su Yuan's gaze fell on the structure of the branch entrance. As the headlights swept across, there was a guardrail on the outside of the curve and superelevation on the inside. A standard heavy-load deceleration design. The guardrail bases were welded to the rail surface, with a post every two meters.

"Fence material".

A small flame swept over it. "Old Blue Star standard Q345 steel. Column diameter 12 centimeters. Welding strength medium."

Su Yuan did not ask any further questions.

The Devourer's speed is 115 km/h. The Mountain-Suppressing Core outputs 95. Most of the vehicle's vibrations are absorbed by the shock-absorbing honeycomb layer, but a low-frequency hum of metal friction can still be heard from the third section and the coupling of No. 013.

Three hundred meters.

009's beam of light hurtled into the deceleration bend at the branch entrance. The small fire detected a sharp drop in its speed profile—from 210 to 170. The bend restricted its movement.

But it was only limited to three seconds.

After exiting the corner, speed resumed. 180. 190.

"009 has entered the branching downhill track. Gravity acceleration."

The branch rails are tilted downwards. 009 doesn't need power. Gravity will push it faster and faster.

When the Devourer arrived at the branch entrance, 009 had already run three hundred meters on the downlink track.

Su Yuan did not turn.

The Devourer rolled past the branch entrance without entering the curve. It continued along the outer straight track.

Wang Hu turned to look at the branch entrance behind him. The taillights of 009 grew farther and farther away on the downhill slope, becoming a small dark red dot.

"Don't chase?"

Su Yuan's gaze fell on the main screen. Xiao Huo had already marked the distribution of ammunition along the collection rail. Three hundred and sixty-seven finished ammunition were scattered along the front section of the collection rail—a straight line of two hundred meters from the circular ejection port to the branch entrance.

The ammunition hadn't been taken away by 009 yet.

They lay on the tracks. Neatly. Stillly. Without any protection.

"Collection rail ammunition—still in place?" Wang Hu realized.

Xiao Huo confirmed. "009 only took 128 rounds from the vehicle's compartment. The 367 rounds at the front of the collection rail remain in place. 009 accelerated too quickly, and the feeding rhythm of the ejection port could not keep up with the vehicle's speed, so the second half of the ammunition was not loaded."

009 ran too fast.

As the Devourer approached, it chose to accelerate and escape, but the mechanical rhythm of the annular ejection port was fixed. When 009 accelerated to over 200 km/h in the last few laps, the ejection port did not have time to deliver ammunition into its onboard compartment.

Three hundred and sixty-seven finished munitions were dropped onto the collection rail.

Su Yuan turned the steering wheel two degrees to the right. The Devourer cut into the front section of the collection rail from the outer straight track.

Rows of silver-gray projectiles lay on the rails. The warheads faced forward, fuses tightened, and explosive charges fully loaded. Each one was a complete lethal weapon.

"Lifting arm. Material receiving frame."

Wang Hu was already standing on the outer beam. The mechanical lever was pulled down. The heavy-duty lifting arm was fully extended. The quick-release receiving frame was thrown out from the secondary hook, and the folding frame popped open.

First claw. Three teeth engage the nearest row of ammunition on the rail. Six rounds. Lift. Place in the rack.

Second claw. Eight pieces. Framed.

The container is full. The flap opens. Ammunition slides in batches into the refining furnace bucket area.

But Su Yuan didn't let the refining furnace eat.

"The propellant charge is separated. The cartridge case is placed in its storage location. The fuse is sealed separately. The warhead is placed in the external magazine."

The small fire claw operated rapidly on the control panel. The refining furnace switched to sorting mode. Three dark gold conduits extended—the first unscrewed the fuse, the second cut the bottom of the cartridge case to eject the propellant, and the third pushed the projectile out of the casing.

The three items are separated.

The fuse enters the chemical isolation tank. The propellant is filled into the inert gas storage chamber. The spent cartridge case is placed in the side storage compartment. The warhead—a complete heavy armor-piercing warhead—is directly fed into the external magazine loading rack.

Wang Hu's movements became faster and faster. The crane arm swung back and forth. The material collection frame was overturned and reloaded, loaded and overturned again.

The Devourer traveled slowly along the collection track, its speed reduced to thirty per hour. It collected data as it went.

Three hundred and sixty-seven.

Four minutes.

All collected.

The external magazine was now fully loaded, instead of being half-empty. Armor-piercing warheads were stacked in three layers. One hundred and twenty fuses were stored separately. The amount of propellant stored was doubled. Two rows of cartridge case storage modules were fully loaded.

When Wang Hu used his last claw to retrieve the six remaining rounds from the end of the collection rail, a different sound came from inside the box. They were lighter than the other rounds.

He looked down.

One of the six rounds is not silver-gray; it's black. It's three centimeters shorter than standard ammunition. It has a serial number on the casing.

Switch to close-up monitoring with low heat.

Enlarge the number.

"009—ARM—001".

Xiao Huo searched the database. No match found.

Wang Hu carefully removed the black projectile from the case and held it up under the headlight. Besides the serial number, there was a line of very small etched text on the outer casing:

"Specifically for Ring 20. Loading arm calibration cartridge. Contains a circular track master control frequency."

Calibration rounds.

When 009 rotates on the ring, the loading arm needs this type of ammunition to calibrate the installation accuracy. It's not a weapon; it's a tool. It stores the control frequency for the entire No. 20 mobile supply ring.

Wang Hu handed the calibration round into the driver's cab.

Su Yuan took it and flipped it over. On the back of the etched characters, there was another half-line of even smaller characters, almost illegible. Xiao Huo zoomed the screen to its maximum magnification.

"After frequency matching, the annular loading arm can be started and stopped remotely."

Start and stop the loading arm.

Remote.

The cigarette butt fell from Wang Hu's mouth for the second time. This time, he didn't pick it up.

Su Yuan placed the calibration cartridge into the shockproof slot next to the old terminal. No further action was taken.

The main screen refreshes.

「弹药收缴完毕。」「外置弹仓满载。穿甲弹头×367。」「引信封存×120。装药惰性封存量×463发当量。」「获取：009号校準弹×1。含20号环主控频率。」

The AM relay channel has been running non-stop for the past four minutes.

On the Bonebreaker, someone was repeatedly checking the numbers. "Three hundred and sixty-seven rounds—three hundred and sixty-seven armor-piercing rounds—"

The butcher's adjutant's voice carried a restrained tremor. "009 escaped. But the ammunition didn't."

The fire control officer brought the camera back. He watched 009's light point recede further and further away on the downlink orbit, then glanced at the full load status of the Devourer's external ammunition bay.

"009 has set a trap." He lowered his voice so that only his adjutant could hear. "Station 19, leave spent shell casings to bomb the Wasteland. Station 20, install fuses to arm yourselves. Be prepared for both scenarios."

The adjutant awaited further instructions.

"Both hands are useless." The fire control officer picked up the water bottle, then put it down again. The water was completely cold. "The spent cartridges were eaten. The ammunition was confiscated. 009 only took 128 rounds."

"Then it—"

"It's now an empty supply vehicle carrying 128 shells," the fire control officer said calmly. "Heading towards the main road of the Great Wall."

The adjutant thought for a moment. "Should we pursue them?"

The fire control officer did not answer.

In the control room of Base 04, the veteran engineer reviewed the ammunition clearing records from the collection rails twice.

"He's not chasing 009." The old engineer sat back down in his chair. "He's picking 009's pockets."

Lu Mingyuan stood behind him. He withdrew his fingers from the table.

「009把弹头和引信分开，逼着噬荒号追到20号站。」老工程员把逻辑理了一遍。「但苏元到了20号站没有追009——他收了009来不及带走的弹药。」

The technician whispered, "009 currently only has 128 rounds. The Devourer has 367 warheads, 120 fuses, 463 rounds of explosive charge, plus calibration rounds."

The veteran engineer nodded.

"Most of the equipment that 009 used to arm itself became the ammunition depot of the Devourer."

There was a two-second silence on the channel.

Then the people who modified the map on the Bonebreaker changed the marker for Station 20 from red "Enemy Occupied" to gray.

Same as station 18. Same as station 17. Same as all previous stations.

Gray – the color of abandoned platforms.

The Devourer departed the end of the collection rail and rejoined the main rail. Its speed climbed back to 75 km/h. The lightweight guide shell cut through the airflow ahead. The high-speed bearing wheel assembly hummed steadily.

Wang Hu picked up the cigarette butt from the floor and put it in the corner of his mouth.

On the radar ahead, the 009's spot of light has disappeared deep into the downlink orbit.

But Little Fire's ears suddenly perked up.

A new line of data pops up in the bottom right corner of the main screen.

It's not 009.

It's behind 009.

Deep within the downlink branch rail. The location 009 just passed. On the rail surface—

Something is falling from under the 009 car.

The small torch amplifies the radar echo.

Metal fragments. Not ammunition. Not spare parts. Thin pieces, about the size of paper. Shaken off from a gap in the chassis of the 009. One. Two. Three.

One leaf falls every fifty meters.

The flame is set to maximum resolution. The thin slice has scratches on its surface. (Text/images)

It's too far away. I can't read it clearly. But Xiao Huo can read the depth and characteristics of the engraving.

It and the handwritten words 009 left on that old note—the same force. The same tool.

While running, 009 throws things onto the tracks behind it.

"Master." Little Fire's voice changed.

"009 is placing markers on the downlink track. The spacing is fifty meters. The material is thin steel sheet. The surface is engraved."

It paused for a moment.

"The content cannot be read remotely. But the delivery direction is towards the main road of the Great Wall."

Wang Hu's cigarette butt remained untouched at the corner of his mouth.

Su Yuan made a slight adjustment to the steering wheel with his left hand. His gaze returned from the direction where 009 had disappeared to the main road ahead.

1.3 kilometers ahead. The sign for station number 21 gleams faintly in the darkness.

On the main screen, 009 is running deeper and deeper into the downward track, losing a steel plate every fifty meters. One after another, it's being laid towards the main road of the Great Wall.

The trajectory of the steel sheet being thrown by the small torch is marked by a dashed line. The dashed line extends from the branch entrance into the depths of the map. The endpoint of the extension direction exceeds the current map area.

However, the starting point of the dotted line—the branch entrance—is right where the Devourer just passed.

009 left a road sign.

It's not for myself.

It's for people who can read it.