"I want to exchange for an Iron Eagle-3 tactical pistol, two magazines totaling 22 rounds of 9mm ammunition, and 30 rounds of 5.56 ammunition. Then, I want to add this person to my team. Please register it."

Hearing the request, Hu Shuo looked up.

A middle-aged woman in a neat, casual outfit stood before him, her eyes carrying a calm strength.

It was Jiang Rong, the captain of the second D-rank squad on the armed train.

Behind her was a middle-aged man, gray-haired, but looking solidly built, as if he often did physical work. There was a hint of nervousness in his eyes.

"D-rank teams have a discount on their first purchase of a pistol. The pistol only costs 10 points, and it includes a free magazine. Bullets will require an additional 6 points. There's no discount on assault rifle ammunition, priced at 0.75 points per round. But for your order, it rounds to 20 points, totaling 36 points."

"Are you sure you want to exchange?"

Jiang Rong nodded, "Yes, I'm sure."

"Alright, then I'll register it for you here. Please wait a moment while I retrieve your items."

Hu Shuo quickly noted down the exchange record and the man's name. This was his new job on the train.

He then walked towards the front carriage and greeted Zhang Kai, returning to carriage 15.

He was responsible for guarding the door between the service group and several squads further back.

Passing through carriage 14, the cook was chopping a large chunk of dog meat, splattering juices everywhere due to poor knife skills.

Hu Shuo's eyelid twitched, "Cook it longer today; yesterday's was too tough to chew."

The cook responded with a bloody grin, "Sure thing," then went back to wrestling with the bloody dog.

Hu Shuo continued forward, checking in with Lao Er from the three brothers, and entered carriage 10. If exchanging miscellaneous items, it was done in carriage 8, supervised by Old Huang. For food exchanges, it was done in carriage 6, under Yu Yue's management.

However, all exchanges involving weapons and ammunition required the conductor's approval.

Hu Shuo walked forward, greeting politely and subtly in each carriage he passed, knowing these courtesies might not bring him any benefits.

But they could certainly help him avoid some unknown troubles.

When he reached the dining car, the conductor was sitting on his exclusive sofa, listening to He Jie explain some battlefield construction details to Xiaoba.

Hu Shuo didn't interrupt, but stood silently aside, listening to their conversation.

If the conductor didn't want him to overhear their conversation, he would immediately pause to address the issue Hu Shuo reported.

If he didn't stop, it was a tacit approval for him to listen in.

During this time, he had already listened numerous times to the conductor's explanations about Evolvers.

This was considered one of the service group's hidden benefits.

Once He Jie was parched from talking, Su Huan turned his attention to the translator, "Another request for exchange?"

"Yes." Hu Shuo handed up the list.

Su Huan glanced over it, slightly surprised. Jiang Rong was quite formidable. Though her team was small and their combat power far less than Lu Xiao's, she had accumulated a lot of points and always returned with something on every outing.

Two days ago, they were set up by the Steel Council, attracting a horde of zombies.

They had to run for half a day until the zombie luring agent wore off, managing to shake off regular zombies, with only Tier One Zombies still in pursuit.

Su Huan made a strategic move, sniping the elites and harvesting materials.

And then let passengers get off for a breath of fresh air.

Interestingly enough, over the past two days, Su Huan stopped supplying food to the rear carriage passengers and reinstated the policy of paying resources to board, yet only a few left.

Old passengers just ran a few or a dozen daily, a stark contrast to the previous scenarios where hundreds would flee together.

Instead, they brought back many more survivors, each clutching resources, eager to board.

The rear twenty-seven carriages were forcibly packed with two thousand people!

Only when Su Huan drove the train to a more remote area did things ease up, but scattered survivors continued to arrive daily.

"You can proceed with the exchange, go to carriage 4's ammunition depot and collect it." Su Huan returned the booklet, casually asking, "Have you evolved yet?"

Hearing this, Hu Shuo showed a slight, reserved smile, "Thanks to the conductor's opportunities, I've become a Maker. Besides handling point exchanges lately, my main work has been with Captain Yu."

Yu Yue wasn't in charge of people, so when the service group mentioned Captain Yu, it could only mean Yu Jing.

She practically oversaw all the Makers in the carriage.

"Alright, off you go."

Su Huan held the tablet and opened an offline map. Since he hadn't downloaded specific city maps, he couldn't zoom in, only view the city's relative position.

He could only pinpoint to the county level.

It would have been best if he had downloaded all maps offline at the start of the apocalypse, but too many things were happening, and he forgot about it.

Referencing the large map and the accurate Yijin map in hand, Su Huan roughly judged his position relative to the new city.

He had currently crossed about a hundred kilometers, nearly traversing all of Yijin City. To the north was Midstream City, and the location of the new city was in the northwest of Midstream City, in Changli County.

Since the damned map couldn't search anymore, the conductor had to rely on his excellent eyesight, "He Jie, can you see how far we are from here?"

He Jie looked at the destination marked and grimaced, "Are we really going to stir things up with a stick?"

"Tsk, cut the nonsense."

"Around 120 kilometers."

"Are you sure about that?"

"No doubt, unless the scale is wrong, my eyes can't be mistaken."

"Oh."

Su Huan responded noncommittally, rubbing his chin, calculating the timing.

Today was December 29th, and the original plan for the new city was January 10th. He might have triggered a change.

But from his previous observations, there was no fundamental conflict between the armed train and the Steel Council.

Postponement was unlikely, leaving only one option: advancing the plan.

Moreover, the trade had implied a friendly development where neither party interfered.

So, he should appear not to intend to meddle in their plan, then wait until the Steel Council confidently invested all their power into the new city plan. Only then would he turn the train around, driving the eight-thousand-ton stick to intervene.

This was the only way to achieve maximum impact.

By then, the Steel Council would be caught off guard, unable to advance or retreat, forced to fight.

His operations would become much more convenient.

The thought of his former employer's thwarted expression, akin to having eaten explosives, made Su Huan's eyes flicker with anticipation.

Now he had to wait for the right moment, exercising patience.

Su Huan directly asked, "He Jie, do you know of any large logistics centers nearby?"

"Large logistics center?"

Seeing those bright eyes, He Jie had a feeling this guy had mischievous intentions.

"I do know of a large logistics center, but it's not in Midstream City. It's in Dongping City, east of Midstream City."

"Alright, then we're heading to Dongping City!"

Su Huan used the map to slap his palm, stood up, and walked toward the control room.

Leaving He Jie there stunned.

Weren't we going to the new city to cause trouble?

Could he have changed his mind?

Doesn't seem right.

Absolutely doesn't seem right.

It's absurd he could understand humans if he had no designs on the new city. Then why ask about the distance?

...

The train began to move slowly, its immense weight pressing the sleepers and rails with creaks and groans.

Despite being washed by acid rain for three days, the rails remained mostly solid, with only some rust spots flaking under the high-pressure vibrations of the wheels.

Ten kilometers away, a patch of ground suddenly shifted, revealing a camouflage net on the surface.

A soldier holding a high-magnification electro-optical observation scope whispered, "Target on the move, moving direction to be observed. Notify follow-up personnel to proceed."

Another soldier quickly ran off and drove away.

On the fourteenth floor of the Steel Council Headquarters, the Cyan Steel Industry sign outside hadn't been taken down yet.

Inside was a heavy, long conference table, with sixteen suited board members seated at their respective positions.

Li Tao, who entered after knocking, immediately attracted everyone's attention. Li Tao didn't go to his father's side but instead whispered something in his uncle's ear.

The uncle smiled upon hearing and tapped the table with his fingers, "An hour ago, the armed train left Yijin City heading for Dongping City."

"I propose the new city plan officially begin on January 10th!"

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.