Death Train: SSS-level talent right from the start!

"Don't move! Stand still!"

A male voice came from the hall; it was deep and clearly wary.

"Don't be nervous, classmate, we mean no harm."

Zhao Hai continued walking forward, moving as slowly as possible, but his height of 1.95 meters still gave the five people a sense of oppression.

"I told you to stand still!"

The voice rang out again, deeper than before, carrying a tense sense of threat.

Chen Ye walked out from behind the corner and saw that the person speaking was a boy with a buzz cut, holding an entrenching tool in his hand. The tool was covered with black stains, which he couldn't tell were rust or dried blood.

Behind the boy with the buzz cut stood four people, two men and two women, all around twenty years old.

One of the tall boys was holding a steel pipe with a sharpened edge at the end.

Another boy, who was rather thin, was hiding behind, holding a utility knife in his hand, with only a small part of the blade sticking out.

The two girls reacted quickly; one had short hair, and the other had her hair tied in a ponytail.

The girl with the ponytail was holding a crossbow, which was now pointed directly at Zhao Hai.

The short-haired girl quickly stuffed the water and food on the table into a backpack.

Chen Ye stepped out from behind Zhao Hai, his tone calm: "Classmate, relax. We are also students of Yuncheng University. We have water and food; we won't take yours."

The boy with the buzz cut scanned them up and down.

He saw the silvery-gray metallic sheen that hadn't completely faded from Zhao Hai's fists.

They saw the bloodstained butcher knife in Li Zheng's hand.

I noticed the dark brown stains on Wang Shuo's fire axe.

His gaze lingered on these things for a significantly longer time than he spoke to Chen Ye.

"You didn't encounter any monsters along the way?"

The short-haired boy didn't put down his entrenching tool, but the hostility in his tone lessened somewhat.

Zhao Hai took a step forward: "We encountered them. We killed one, and then we were chased here by a group of monsters. What about you? When did you arrive?"

The boy with the buzz cut finally put down his entrenching tool, but his hand was still gripping the handle, ready to lift it up again at any moment.

The people behind him also relaxed a little.

"My name is Xu Shan, I'm from the law school. The five of us were all in carriage number one. We ran this way as soon as we got off the train. There are several underground shelters in this area. When we came in, the two next to us were already occupied."

Xu Shan turned to the side, revealing a corner of the underground hall behind him, illuminated by warm yellow lights.

"Someone's already here? Someone from our school too?"

Zhou Yating walked up from the back of the line.

"Yes, all of them." Xu Shan glanced at Zhou Yating, then at the others: "Where's that S-level talent in your carriage number three? Didn't the group chat say there was someone with S-level talent in your carriage? I think their surname is Zhao?"

Wang Shuo grinned and patted Zhao Hai's shoulder forcefully: "Our S-class from carriage number three is standing right in front of you."

Xu Shan's gaze returned to Zhao Hai, and he looked him up and down for a couple of seconds: "Well, you're pretty good, but it's a bit of a waste for you to be hiding here."

Zhao Hai frowned: "A waste?"

"That Jiang Ning, you guys should have seen his panel in the group chat, right? S-rank talent [Emperor Engine], when the talent is activated, all four basic attributes are doubled."

Xu Shan placed the entrenching tool on the ground and rested his hands on the top of the handle: "After he got off the vehicle, he started gathering a team in this area. Now he has seven or eight people around him, all of whom have A-level combat talent and specialize in hunting monsters outside."

"Hunting monsters?"

Qin Zhaoyang's eyes lit up.

"Yes, just this area. Didn't you guys see the messages in the group? Jiang Ning has people posting real-time updates in the group, telling us which streets have lone monsters, which areas have large gatherings, and which directions we shouldn't go. He has people posting all of that in the group."

Xu Shan paused for a moment, then continued, "We who are hiding in the underground shelter are also under his protection. While he was killing monsters, he was also helping us clear the area. Otherwise, why do you think we'd be able to stay here safely?"

Chen Ye recalled the attribute panel that Jiang Ning had posted in the group.

S-rank talent [Emperor's Engine]: Base attributes: Strength 5, Agility 5, Constitution 4, Spirit 4. When the talent is activated, all four base attributes are doubled.

This means that he can have 10 points of strength, 10 points of agility, 8 points of constitution, and 8 points of spirit for a period of time.

Zhao Hai's current strength is 5 points. After activating [Iron Armor], he will deal three times the damage, which is equivalent to the effect of 15 points of strength.

Although Jiang Ning's strength of 10 points is not as high as Zhao Hai's, his agility has doubled to 10 points and his physique has doubled to 8 points. This means that his speed, reaction, balance and physical strength are twice that of Zhao Hai.

One is a powerful, explosive weapon, the other is an all-around war god; it's hard to say which is stronger.

Where is Jiang Ning now?

Chen Ye asked.

Xu Shan glanced at him: "I don't know, they've been moving around. You want to find him?"

Chen Ye shook his head: "Just asking."

He didn't want to look for Jiang Ning.

In an apocalyptic environment, a person with absolute power and followers is likely to develop a "those who obey me prosper, those who oppose me perish" mentality.

They are not necessarily bad people, but when a person holds much more power than others and a group of people surround him shouting "Big boss, take me with you," his mentality will inevitably change.

That's not arrogance, but a kind of alienation catalyzed by the environment.

Xu Shan leaned the entrenching tool against the wall: "You can rest here, it's spacious enough, but I must warn you, it's not absolutely safe here."

"As you saw when you came in, the outer door can't be locked. You can come in by turning the wheel. Who knows if those monsters will open the door? We're just looking for a temporary place to stay here. It's probably not safe to stay overnight."

Chen Ye nodded.

Xu Shan's assessment of the situation was the same as his; he wasn't the kind of fool who felt complacent just because he had a temporary safe haven.

"Thanks, we're just taking a break." Chen Ye turned to Zhao Hai: "Brother Hai, let's find a corner to rest for a bit."

Zhao Hai nodded and led his team to the other side of the hall, maintaining a distance that was neither too close nor too far from the five men with buzz cuts.

This distance is just right so that they can look out for each other without interfering with each other. They can see each other's movements, but they need to raise their voices to be heard clearly.

Chen Ye sat down against the wall, with the cleaver lying across his knees.

Qin Zhaoyang plopped down next to him, slumping down like a deflated balloon: "I'm exhausted. I've never run so much in my life."

"How far did you run to get this tired?" Wang Shuo sat cross-legged on the ground, placing the fire axe beside his legs. "You need to train more often, otherwise you won't even be able to run when the monster chases you next time."

"Training? I ran 1,000 meters in four and a half minutes during my physical fitness test in my first semester of freshman year, which almost killed me."

"Four and a half minutes? Did you run or walk?"

Qin Zhaoyang ignored him, took out the fluorescent green plastic slingshot from his pocket, examined it for two seconds, then put it back, muttering something under his breath.

Chen Ye brought up the system trial panel.

Name: Chen Ye

[Trial Setting: Corpse Capital]

[Trial Difficulty: ★]

[Kill Points: 0]

Survival Points: 0

Countdown: 20:08:33

Four hours have passed, and his score is still 0. It seems that he can only wait until the trial ends to get the basic survival points.

Zhao Hai walked up to him at some point and squatted down: "I just checked, the monster I killed gave me 10 kill points. The kill log shows that the monster is called Gray Mist Corpse."