Armed Train in the Apocalypse

Chapter 544 - 333: Scorched Earth and Swept Nests (Part 2)

The high-intensity floodlight swept over, and a coyote rider emerged within the sandstorm.Upon seeing the iconic coyote, several sentries exchanged discreet glances. One immediately stepped forward and urgently said, "Director Xie, a huge pit suddenly collapsed in front of the plaza, and insects emerged, biting many people to death. Vice Captain Chen Shan has already gone over there."

The rider on the coyote was none other than Old Xie, who had recently been appointed as the Director of the Food Production Bureau, a position that granted him control over the city’s food production, placing his status even higher than when he was second-in-command at Jinfeng Peak.

But at this moment, hearing these words made cold sweat pour down from Old Xie’s forehead, so heavy the sand couldn’t stick. When the wind blew, it brought a chilling cold to his entire forehead.

Apart from managing food production, one important task he had was to restrain the underground giant beetles!

Thinking of the consequences of the beetles sweeping through the city, Old Xie felt half of himself turning cold.

But in order to save his other half, he still quickly rushed to the scene.

The sentry quickly moved aside, clearing the way for the coyote and two Tier One giant beetles.

By the time Old Xie arrived, he found the ground had already been covered by layers of yellow earth. From the edge of the earth, it was evident that the sinkhole’s diameter exceeded ten meters, surrounding it were market stalls resembling ruins which had been cleared to one side by the Evolvers.

A circle of temporary City Guard Army soldiers surrounded the edge, with Li Xinlong leading a group of station management inside.

Among them was the President of Jinfeng, who served as the head of the Academy of Sciences.

At the tense forefront of the crowd was a figure dressed in a casual shirt, with wild long hair hanging behind him, blown slightly wild by the sandstorm, resembling a lion’s mane.

The conductor within the crowd suddenly turned his head and beckoned Old Xie over.

Coming here, Old Xie had made many assumptions. Although he knew the conductor wouldn’t kill him over such a minor issue, confronting this young man, much younger than him, felt like a drumbeat in his heart.

No conviction!

The coyote and beetles dared not approach the crowd, only standing at the edge watching Old Xie walk over.

"Conductor,"

Old Xie’s voice lost the confidence it had during the distribution meeting.

Su Huan studied him thoughtfully and, without making it difficult, directly asked, "What’s the situation?"

Old Xie looked at the swirling sandy earth, suddenly noticing mixed within were quite a few white grains of rice. Confused, he could only honestly state, "The giant beetle swarm has been quite stable these past two days. I almost stumbled upon their nest today..."

"Found it?"

"I have a general area, but it’s just a few Tier Two giant beetles."

"No queen or anything?"

"From what I’ve observed, although the insect swarms live in groups, they don’t have a king. Their moving and migrating behavior is driven by foraging, not by being commanded to attack a certain place. And there’s probably nothing here to attract them..."

Old Xie’s feeling of tension eased a bit, seemingly grasping a key point.

But after glancing around at the people around him, he didn’t say the rest.

Su Huan’s gaze turned to the opposite side as Yu Yue, with a sniper rifle on her back, elegantly walked over and nodded slightly to him.

"That’s very true. This group of beetles was temporarily driven here and did not establish a nest early on. I could hear some other things too..."

Listening to Yu Yue’s report, Su Huan’s eyes scanned Li Xinlong beside him, "Now you’re the mayor. How do you think we should handle this?"

Feeling the surrounding gazes converging on him, Li Xinlong felt immense pressure for the first time.

When managing a few brothers, he only needed to know where to find food.

When managing dozens of brothers, he needed to know how to survive.

Managing hundreds of people required him to know how to lead his subordinates to gain more benefits.

With two thousand people under his management, he needed a goal, any goal, to lead two thousand people forward.

But jumping from two thousand to a hundred thousand left Li Xinlong baffled.

So he dealt with administrative affairs late into the night, striving to do better, and trying to fulfill the rather cliched dream he blurted out on the train’s roof.

Li Xinlong took a deep breath and, without looking at anyone, calmly said, "First, eliminate the beetles here, then account for the losses, tally the casualties, reassure the citizens, and reinforce security measures..."

He listed out all the solutions he could think of, approaching the problem most methodically.

But before he finished speaking, he felt a hand fall on his shoulder.

Hesitantly lifting his head, he saw Su Huan seriously addressing a few people, "There’s no need for the hassle of ’governance’; just scour and sweep."

As Li Xinlong was momentarily stunned, Su Huan’s gaze passed over his shoulder, calmly facing the many administrators behind, his mouth slightly curved, revealing a fine, neat row of teeth.

"Uncover it."

Chen Shan in the crowd didn’t ask why. With a wave of his hand, the sand and stones filling the pit flowed out like water, accumulating to the sides, revealing several giant beetles vigorously digging their way out.

The largest was over two meters long, comparable to an electric scooter.

Without Chen Shan’s sandy suppression, the beetles instantly went berserk, frantically climbing out of the pit.

Meeting them was a bright electric arc.

The arc initially looked like a small tear in the sky, then morphed into a slightly twisted longsword, and in the blink of an eye, transformed into a Sword of Damocles suspended in the sky!

Li Xinlong’s face turned deathly pale under the glare of the Thunder Sword.

The sword slowly descended, with the blade of high-energy lightning casting surrounding space into darkness and occasionally distorting.

The insect swarm below emitted explosive sounds, yet whether as non-evolved beetles or that Tier Two beetle, they all seemed like prisoners penned in, "watching" the Thunder Sword stab into the depths of the pit.

Around them, the sandy earth instantly turned into red glass. Fire erupted in the pit, gradually extinguished under the suppression of lightning, leaving only pure thunder slurry and a slowly sinking longsword.

Feeling their hairs raise and the alerts from the warning system inside their bodies, some couldn’t withstand it and shut their eyes, but the image of the Thunder Sword and the sardonic smile had already imprinted on everyone’s visual cortex, replaying repeatedly!

Moments later, even after the lightning dissipated, everyone still felt as though the Thunder Sword stood in the pit.

"Understand?"

Su Huan asked.

Li Xinlong sensed the deep meaning in Su Huan’s tone, yet didn’t know how to respond.

"Seems still unclear."

Su Huan said lightly, "He Jie, go help him, the standards are clear, right?"

He Jie’s cold gaze swept over the many administrators, Yu Yue’s report hadn’t evaded him earlier, the killing intent in his voice was clear, "Yes!"

In the crowd, someone’s complexion suddenly turned unsightly.

...

"August 1st, clear breeze."

"What constitutes founding a city?"

"Sufficient population?"

"Complete system?"

"Ample support?"

"..."

A rare clear day, Su Huan leaned against the orange cat sofa of the dining car, twirling a pen in hand, recording lines of text in the conductor’s log.

Rather than a log, it appeared more like the thoughts of the conductor at a given moment.

Sitting directly opposite him, Li Xinlong kept his eyes locked, staring intently at the coffee on the table.

"That storehouse accumulated over ten tons of rice, mainly sold at retail to city residents. They attracted the giant beetles to destroy these grains, causing panic within the market..."

"As Black Star loses the train’s trust, they intended to use this to replace my position."

Li Xinlong said with a heavy heart.

"Were they all killed?"

Su Huan suddenly asked.

"All heads of the three forces and their subordinates were eliminated."

"Were they all killed?"

Su Huan looked into his eyes and asked again.

Li Xinlong hesitated, "Except for the women and children, they also had over six hundred people... taken away by Colonel He."

Su Huan said lightly, "Then they were all killed."

"Why?"

"You are the mayor, to be a rule-maker rather than a rule-keeper. Once they realize the damage from you not playing by the rules is significant, they’ll naturally follow and uphold the rules."

As the conductor set down his pen and began savoring the coffee, Li Xinlong felt a shock inside, sensing he understood something, yet somehow grasped nothing at all.

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