This section is all cement road, so it's easy to walk on. The trouble is the weedy area between the railway tracks, which becomes muddy and damp after rain.

Su Huan mainly worried that things like Bloodthirsty Vine would puncture the tires.

Chaotic thoughts flew through his mind as he ran quickly in the over thirty-degree Celsius temperature, his chest feeling like it was on fire.

As if guided by an unseen force, Su Huan looked up at the side of the street.

The pitch-black buildings revealed nothing, but he could feel a fierce killing intent staring at him!

'Gao Zhe!'

As this thought flashed by, a sharp piece of rebar was already hidden in the night, shooting toward him.

But Su Huan was not one of those negligent guards. The moment he saw Gao Zhe, he already drew his pistol and fired at the other man, simultaneously ducking low to avoid the attack.

"Bang—"

The rebar pierced through the side window of the pickup and directly into the passenger seat.

But this also caused Su Huan's five retorts to all hit the wall.

The fight erupted suddenly, and Wang He and the others only heard a series of explosive sounds, not knowing what had transpired.

"Screech—"

Several vehicles stopped simultaneously, the silent night filled only with the sound of everyone's heavy breathing.

"I can't hear his voice."

Yu Yue quickly said.

Su Huan glanced at the shattered window glass, stood up, and calmly said, "Just stay back there, no need to come over."

"The train conductor still has the mind to care for women at this time, hehe..."

Gao Zhe's voice echoed repeatedly from the pitch-black building interior, though laughing, it sounded like a lone wolf snarling with its teeth bared.

Su Huan grinned and said, "I never thought you'd survive the Evolution Beast tide."

"As expected of the train conductor, while others are fighting desperately for a bit of food, you've already started utilizing the apocalypse's rules."

Gao Zhe's voice carried genuine admiration.

Su Huan squinted, recalling Gao Zhe's strike just now, both in strength and timing, it was truly heart-pounding.

"You've grown fast too, fast enough to keep me awake at night. Why don't you come out, and we have a proper chat? My gun is out of bullets."

The tone was sincere and honest, not like enemies who were just fighting to the death moments ago, but rather like two old friends having a casual chat.

"Pfft, the people who got on the train with me already have grass growing from their bones."

"Without me, they'd still grow grass."

"Do you know how many people were in that water plant?"

"Juan said over forty."

"All dead."

"Yeah."

"I killed them."

"Hmm?"

Su Huan raised an eyebrow in surprise.

Behind him, Yu Yue approached quietly, pointing to a location on the second floor, where the window was broken, and nothing was visible in the darkness.

Su Huan waved her away.

The opponent hadn't moved, that much was clear.

"So, Juan is dead?"

"What do you think?"

Su Huan smiled faintly.

He walked silently in that direction.

Upstairs.

Gao Zhe leaned against the low wall behind him, struggling to pull a cigarette from its pack with one hand and held it over his head.

"Light it for me."

The steps below from Su Huan halted.

For a long while, there was no sound; the cigarette just stayed there, waiting.

After a while, a high-temperature bullet flew over.

Gao Zhe's tense face finally showed a hint of a smile. He took a light puff, the red glow illuminating his face, the terrifying black patterns covering most of his skin, eerie and chilling.

Gao Zhe blew a smoke ring and called out softly.

"Su Huan"

"Hmm?"

A faint response came from Su Huan below; the two were very close, one above, one below.

"You're really a born scoundrel!"

"Heh"

Gao Zhe suddenly sprang up, throwing down something wrapped in clothing, and a glaring light filled his vision.

"Boom—"

The explosion blew the wall apart, masking the sharp sound of the bullet firing.

In the darkness, footsteps thudded heavily upstairs, while the people below quickly removed their coats.

Step after step, Su Huan retreated over ten paces without even looking back, pulling saline from a pack at his waist and pouring it over himself.

Only after a while, not sensing anything unusual, did he breathe a sigh of relief.

He chuckled lowly and cursed, "One defender, playing with poison now."

Liang Kuan hesitated nearby with his sniper crossbow, "Should we chase?"

Su Huan waved him off. In the bright light earlier, he clearly saw that Gao Zhe was poisoned, likely caused by the Evolution Beast from the river.

Coupled with taking one of his shots, even if he managed to escape, he likely wouldn't survive long.

Moreover, to break through that ruined wall, considerable energy had been consumed within him, pursuing a defender into narrow terrain—he'd have to be crazy to try that.

"Go, let's head back quickly!"

Due to the lingering threat from the White Snake Mojiang, the group promptly returned to the train.

The water purifier stood nearly five meters tall. To fit it in the rear car, they had to break through the roof, so they placed it in the No. 2 sightseeing car instead, taking up some of the second-floor space.

Though it was a far cry from Su Huan's initial plans, it was still a good choice.

When the water purifier was finally secured on the car, the weight in Su Huan's heart also settled.

With the water purifier, the train would no longer worry about water for use.

With a processing capacity of 10m³/h, not only could it be used for drinking, but they could also afford to let everyone on the train take a bath every day if they wanted.

"Boss Su, the work is done."

Beside him, Wang He interrupted Su Huan's contemplation. Looking up, he saw over twenty men drenched in sweat, as if they had been fished out of a water tank.

Their performance had not gone unnoticed by Su Huan, although Wang He would haggle with him, when it came time to work, they never slacked off; they were honest men who worked to the bone, even helping carry the water purifier into the car with the forklift.

Su Huan turned to give a few instructions to Liang Kuan.

Shortly thereafter, he and Yu Yue brought over several boxes.

Su Huan said to Wang He, "Each person gets a bucket of instant noodles, two drinks, and five compressed biscuits. This is their extra reward for the twenty of them, and everything I promised you earlier still holds."

Wang He smiled upon hearing this, "Thank you, Boss Su."

Su Huan continued, "No rush, later you can select a few more workers to help me install the water purifier overnight, and I'll provide a meal for them as well."

Wang He quickly agreed.

As for supervising the work, it would be left to Yu Jing and the others, he would not bother with it.

Returning to his room, he tore off his sticky clothes.

Using up all the remaining water reserves at once, filling the entire bathtub.

Sweating profusely, Su Huan slowly sank to the bottom.

Feeling the icy liquid enveloping his body, his overheated brain gradually cleared.

Slowly organizing the events of the day, carefully reviewing them.

"Splash," came a sound.

Su Huan emerged from the water, picked up the journal beside the bathtub.

He wrote down slightly damp words.

"December 20, Evening, 29°C—34°C"

"I seem to have become the villain in a novel"

—— "Train Conductor's Journal"

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