Chapter 54 Crossing the Desert River, Crisis

"If you guys aren't going to eat, I will."

Su Huan unceremoniously used his chopsticks to pick up a large piece of crab meat from the pot and popped it into his mouth.

The crab meat, having simmered all afternoon, was tender and juicy. The moment it touched the tip of his tongue, it melted into a delicate, rich savory balm, sliding smoothly down his throat.

A wave of savory warmth took root deep in his belly.

Old Three looked at Su Huan’s face, which was lightly veiled by the steam, gritted his teeth, and said to his brothers on either side, "Eat up. If we don't eat now, we'll be the ones getting eaten by others later."

With that, he picked up his rice bowl and dug in hungrily.

It had been a long time since he last had a hot, fragrant meal. Once he opened his mouth, this primal craving could no longer be reined in.

All thoughts of zombies and the reek of blood were cast to the back of his mind.

Old Three ate ravenously, as if he were about to swallow his own tongue.

The eldest and second brothers hesitated for a moment before picking up their bowls and chopsticks as well.

"Where is this train heading?"

Hearing this, Huang Hai and the others also looked up at Su Huan. This was what every single person who boarded the train cared about the most.

"In two hours, the train will charge out of Mojian City, then cross the Mojian River and speed northward. The temperature is lower over there, natural disasters are fewer, and it's easier to stay alive," Su Huan said.

Beside him, Yu Yue felt an inexplicable pang of panic at the mention of Mojian, the sound of cold scales sliding across the ground resurfacing in her memory.

It sent a chill shuddering through her entire body.

Subconsciously, she looked over at Su Huan, just in time to catch the trace of an eerie smile on his face.

"That is the 'Mojian River'. We are going to cross right over its head."

"Can't we go around it?"

Su Huan smiled and said nothing.

The Mojian River spanned three provinces; by the time they managed to drive around it, they would already be baked through.

...

Inside the eleventh carriage.

Wang He lay flat on the floor, the wheels beneath his feet transmitting dense vibrations, feeling as though they were crushing a dense field of watermelons.

Shrill shrieks surged in from all directions.

Like cold, slimy leeches, they wrapped around everyone layer by layer.

Viscous blood mixed with fragments of flesh seeped in through the gaps in the windows, the foul, fishy stench overpowering the body odor inside the carriage.

"Chief Wang, is the train going to flip?" A voice suddenly rang out.

Wang He recognized the voice instantly; the two of them had never gotten along back when they were working at the factory.

Now that he had become the leader of over a hundred workers, that guy found him even more unpleasing to the eye.

"How heavy is a standard steel plate? You know that better than I do. These carriages of ours are armored—how could they possibly flip?"

Though he spoke calmly, as he listened to the muffled thuds echoing from the carriage walls every now and then, his own heart was beating like a drum.

What kind of damn monsters could dent a 1.5-centimeter-thick steel plate?

"You can't be so sure about that. We are right in the center of Mojian City now, and there are a full seven million people here—even sheer numbers could bury this train!"

The voice said coldly.

The workers around who heard this grew heavy in their breathing.

The more Wang He thought about it, the less confident he felt. Furious, he pulled off his stinky shoe and threw it right at the man's face, cursing, "If you don't know how to speak, shut your damn mouth!"

That person showed no politeness either, kicking the worn-out shoe right back.

"No, given the weight of the train, zombies won't be a problem once it gets up to speed. Besides, I checked earlier; we've already passed the Mojian South Station, which proves the conductor has a way to bypass other trains."

A clear, logical piece of analysis instantly attracted the attention of everyone in the carriage.

The workers looked over. It was someone who had boarded the train new today; though dressed plainly, he carried an aura of confidence.

Seeing everyone looking at him, the man showed no stage fright and said in a deep voice, "However, judging by our direction of travel, we are heading toward the Mojian River Bridge. That is where the real crisis lies."

"Crisis? What crisis?"

A worker immediately asked.

They couldn't understand what crossing a bridge had to do with them.

The man continued, "I was trapped in my company before, and I noticed that besides zombies, a large number of animals have mutated as well. There was a girl in our office who often fed stray cats, so there were exceptionally stray cats in our area. Just downstairs from our building, there were thirty-four that frequented the place, and six of them turned into terrifying mutated beasts."

The eyes of the people around flickered.

Aside from the workers, most of them were escapees, so they naturally knew how troublesome mutated beasts were. Those things were far more dangerous than zombies.

For this man to slip out from under the noses of six mutated beasts, he was clearly a tough character.

"In other words, the probability of mutation among beasts is around one-sixth. Although my data might not be exact, you can use it as a reference. Just how many creatures are there in the Mojian River..."

"Hiss..."

Everyone instantly drew a sharp breath.

The surface of the Mojian River was a massive body of water over a kilometer wide!

Just how many fish and aquatic animals must be in there?

Even if the proportion were relaxed to one-tenth, or even one-twentieth, it was still a terrifying number.

Wang He asked hesitatingly, "Even if the fish in the river have mutated, they're still just fish, right? Can they really threaten a train on an elevated bridge?"

The man shook his head. "Based on my observation, those cats didn't evolve the ability to fly, but who knows..."

"Damn it, who knows what kind of monsters this damn world has bred."

"Even if fish can't fly, what if they manage to collapse the bridge..."

Imagining themselves plunging along with the crashing train into the Mojian River swarming with monsters, everyone's hair stood on end.

"Forget it, let's just see how the conductor chooses to handle this."

"Choose what? No matter how powerful he is, can he carry the train and fly across the Mojian River?"

Wang He's coworker sneered sarcastically.

The train suddenly shuddered, and everyone fell silent in unison.

...

"December 21st, 35°C–41°C"

"He is dead. He accomplished nothing."

"Time is getting a bit inaccurate. The extreme heat seems about to erupt at any moment."

Su Huan deliberated for a long time before writing these two sentences in his log.

Hearing that the outside had been quiet for a while, Su Huan pushed the steel plate open a crack.

With a swish, viscous flesh and blood dripped from the gap into the carriage, but what made him frown was the humid, scorching vapor. It felt like a bucket of water had been thrown onto the stove of a sauna room, unleashing an even more intense wave of heat.

"Can you hear anything?" Su Huan asked Yu Yue, who was tidying up the kitchen nearby.

"It's very quiet on the surface of the water, but the sounds beneath the surface are chaotic, like a mix of various seasonings, making it hard to distinguish specific noises," Yu Yue thought for a moment and replied.

"Hmm."

Su Huan opened his palm; the Tier 1 energy-condensed crystal on it had already been mostly consumed.

His eyes gleamed slightly as he swallowed the very last piece.

He turned to look at Old Three, who was hugging a rifle and keeping watch on the movement outside. "There are fuel barrels at the back of the train. Bring one up to the second floor of the sightseeing carriage. Also, go grab a grenade from the fire truck for me; I remember there are still quite a few left."

Old Three led his two brothers out.

Huang Hai and the young man looked at Su Huan.

"You two... go to the cab and deliver food to Liang Kuan," Su Huan said.

As for Yu Jing, before Su Huan could even speak, she had already picked up her pliers and gone off to fix the water pipes.