"Alright, let's go."

The two of them stepped out directly from the door of Car 12, with the messenger giraffe following behind the elder and the younger.

Just two steps out, Professor Ma paused, "How's Li Hong doing?"

"Teacher, you're still worried about him..." Xiaozhao hesitated for a moment, "I've reduced a lot of his workload recently, leaving only the unimportant tasks."

Professor Ma shook his head, "The more you need to be wary of someone, the more you must interact well with them and show you value them."

Xiaozhao looked thoughtful, quietly waiting for the teacher to explain.

"Yu Jing's teacher, Xiaolv also has a lot of talent, actually deserving of being a professor five years ago..."

Xiaozhao, being smart, understood what the teacher meant but still felt a bit uncomfortable, showing a conflicted expression, "But Li Hong is my classmate after all, there's no need to make it so complicated..."

Professor Ma patted Xiaozhao's shoulder, saying seriously, "You're all my students, but you're not just students now. As the conductor of the armed train, you must be responsible for the train and the chief conductor."

Seeing the serious gaze of the teacher, Xiaozhao swallowed back any words of defense and turned determined.

"I understand."

The giraffe intentionally lagged two steps behind, but still listened clearly to their conversation.

A look of envy appeared as he glanced at Xiaozhao.

If only he had such a good teacher back then, he wouldn't have had to become a soldier.

Yet, not being a soldier might not have allowed him to survive until now.

Every drink and peck has its destined course.

The three walked towards the residential area of the manufacturing base.

All around were workers who had just gotten off the train. Apart from the two hundred integrated into the Corps and the three hundred staying at the station, the train carried more than two thousand people.

These more than two thousand people would all converge into the manufacturing base.

Only by disrupting the original order could a new power centered around the armed train be established.

—— Shun'an Station.

Guided by the giraffe, the two arrived at the base residential area. Due to its large size, the residential area didn't have very tall buildings, consisting of six-story slab-type buildings. This is the highest for general fire rescue, any higher requires other equipment.

The buildings had undergone significant modifications by the workers, with all windows welded shut by steel plates, and small metal bunkers extending around the perimeter, currently manned by soldiers from the Armed Corps.

At the center was a tall building with two staircase-like office buildings intertwined.

Possibly due to being unoccupied, it hadn't undergone transformation.

Some personnel were entering under the escort of soldiers.

The three followed.

Taking the elevator to the top floor, a massive meeting room of 500 square meters in area and five meters in height, a giant oval solid wood table was visible upon entry.

Su Huan was seated at the head, and Director Xu and Wan Hao had already arrived, sitting alongside a dozen base experts.

Seeing Professor Ma, Su Huan nodded slightly, pointing to the reserved seat beside him.

Professor Ma took his seat, and Xiaozhao stood behind his teacher.

The giraffe returned behind the chief conductor, and along with Bai Lu, they scanned the corners and attendees of the meeting room like two bodyguards.

"Knock, knock—"

Su Huan knocked on the table, smiling, "Now that everyone has arrived, the meeting can begin."

The soldiers of the inspection team who were checking the environment exited the room, closing the door behind them.

The experts secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

They'd attended countless meetings in their lifetime, but attending one under the gun was a first.

Even for seasoned experts, the pressure was overwhelming.

Fearful that any wrong word might get them executed by the warlord before them.

To them, Su Huan was a warlord who had gained power after the apocalypse.

With no objections from anyone, Su Huan went straight to the point, "The reason for gathering all of you experts here is for the upgrade and transformation of my train. The detailed information on the train has been placed on each of your desks, and you can have a preliminary understanding."

Several experts, including the factory director, glanced at the documents on the table before them, and the sound of pages turning echoed in the spacious meeting room.

Surprise quickly appeared in everyone's eyes.

They looked around at their colleagues and found everyone lifting their heads almost simultaneously.

Su Huan raised his eyebrows, "Speak your mind freely, don't hold back."

Some turned their gaze to the factory director, who hesitated before speaking, "This SA-6 train was produced by our Shun'an Base, though it was several decades ago, which is why everyone's a bit surprised."

Su Huan's eyes lit up slightly, not expecting to return to his birthplace by accident, making a huge gain on this trip!

He promptly asked, "Is the original designer still here?"

"The train was led-design by the old factory director, who passed away two years ago, but Vice President Deng here was one of the original designers."

The factory director gestured towards an elderly man with a round face and glasses on the left.

Before entering, Su Huan had already gotten acquainted with everyone, and this Vice President Deng was the friend mentioned by Wan Hao.

Their relationship wasn't particularly close, having only met twice.

But any connection before the apocalypse was now extremely valuable.

Vice President Deng, mustering his courage, asked, "I was involved in the design of the power system back then, but I'm curious why the chief conductor doesn't choose to replace the head unit? There are quite a few newly produced head units in the base, and they are more powerful."

Su Huan was immediately intrigued.

He didn't care whether the train remained the original train as he continued to upgrade; he only cared if it could become stronger, carrying him further in this apocalypse.

"Let's hear it."

"For instance, our Shun'an-produced [Cyan Dragon] series superconducting magnetic levitation hybrid locomotive..."

Su Huan furrowed his brows, "Doesn't magnetic levitation become useless if it leaves the designated track?"

"But the [Cyan Dragon] series is a hybrid locomotive; it can generate electricity. Besides that, we also have the [Black Armor] series modular multi-energy shunting locomotive, which has three energy modes: supercapacitor, wireless charging, and diesel backup, though it has a slower speed, but a pulling force of 30,000 tons and extremely high stability."

"That sounds good, but..."

"Does the chief conductor have any other concerns?"

The director asked.

He had previously chosen the SA-6 type old head unit because it was a hybrid of oil and electricity, relying on abilities in critical times.

This [Black Armor] head unit was indeed superior in every way.

But since they had reached the manufacturing base, he wasn't satisfied with just an ordinary performance upgrade.

Su Huan tapped his index finger on the table and slowly said, "I'm not very knowledgeable about technical matters, but I have a few requirements. Could you see if they can be fulfilled?"

"Please, chief conductor, we'll do our best to fulfill them."

Everyone listened attentively.

"First, regarding the head unit, I hope for multiple power modes, such as universal energy drive, quantum drive, bioelectric drive, or photonic, but motor drive must not be discarded and should even be strengthened. Don't be afraid of energy loss; the more motors, the better, and this power mode should not depend on rails, and it must be collision-resistant."

After hearing Su Huan's words, everyone was taken aback.

Even the smile on Professor Ma's face couldn't be maintained.

He whispered a reminder, "Chief conductor, photonic propulsion is merely a concept, without even a concrete theory; quantum levitation mode is researched by some, but there's no known progress."

"Oh." Su Huan wasn't surprised; he didn't understand the technicalities, just casually mentioning it, "What about universal energy?"

Professor Ma hesitated for a moment, "Universal energy is a specific energy source, significantly less difficult than the former two, but requires some redesigning."

Their conversation delved into evolutionary topics, leaving several experts puzzled.

"Universal energy... is it the energy that awakens Evolvers?"

Standing aside, Xiaozhao quickly distributed some basic information on evolution to everyone.

The sound of pages flipping was heard again in the meeting room.

This time it was much faster.

"Apart from changing the head unit, you can also think of other ways for the train to move on land without tracks."

(The updates have been sparse lately, need to supplement 4k)

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