Chapter 60: The Plan to Intercept and Plunder

That meant Su Huan still had 24 days of preparation time.
After that, he would cross paths with the Iron Assembly.
Based on his knowledge from his past life, the Iron Assembly initially consisted of three core convoys, each with about a hundred members. However, these were nothing like the motley crew of the Mojiang Mutual Aid Convoy.
Instead, they were highly mobile armed forces composed of Evolvers and regular troops.
Even the most basic C-grade tactical squad had a clear and distinct division of functions, including scouts, medics, demolition experts, gatherers, and assaulters.
A convoy of a hundred people could easily sweep away a rabble like the Mojiang Mutual Aid Convoy.
By the time the New City Project was more than halfway through, the Iron Assembly had absorbed hundreds of thousands of survivors, yet its armed forces had expanded with extreme restraint.
By the time of his defection, the force still numbered no more than ten thousand.
Therefore, during the initial phase, he only needed to concern himself with these three hundred people.
Thanks to the strict control before the apocalypse, aside from the military and the law enforcement bureau, civilians did not possess high-leverage weaponry like firearms.
The Iron Assembly's first batch of equipment originated from an armory within Qingchuan Province.
Later on, that armory was converted into a bullet factory, and Su Huan had even served guard duty there for a period as an "Energetic."
The armory was expected to open around early January, which was roughly eight days from now.
Yet, judging by the helicopter that had just flown right over his head, Su Huan suspected that the armed assembly was far from well-behaved; perhaps they had already acquired a batch of firearms through other means before the outbreak of the apocalypse.
Combining this information, his subsequent plan became clear.
Su Huan needed to get his hands on this arsenal before the Iron Assembly did, and then heavily upgrade his armored train.
Along the way, he would rescue Lin Jin, who was on the verge of desperation, and pull him onto the train.
He was far too practiced at the art of extracting favors and demanding repayment.
Through a mix of peaceful and violent methods, he would obtain apocalypse-related intelligence from the Iron Assembly.
Then, he would amicably extort some heavy equipment from them—
Such as a bullet production line, for instance.
Driven by this exhilarating plan, Su Huan had pushed through a full day and night without sleep. Though he hadn't touched a single grain of food, he remained energetic and sharp.
After carefully reviewing the sheet of white paper one last time, he folded it and tucked it inside his logbook.
Su Huan stood up, stretched his limbs, and walked into the bathroom.
Facing the mirror, he let his palm glow with a reddish tint and swept it across his face.
The newly sprouted stubble was instantly singed away by the intense heat, filling the bathroom with the scent of roasted bristles.
Turning on the faucet and watching the clear stream of water gush out, he knew that Yu Jing had not been slacking off over the past two days.
A splash of clean water washed away the dark stains on his face, leaving it thoroughly clean.
Evolution had already changed his life down to the smallest details.
Looking at the vigorous and refreshed young man in the mirror, Su Huan finally stepped out of the compartment with a satisfied expression.
The train cars had now been reordered. Directly behind the engine was Su Huan's Carriage No. 1, followed by No. 2 the dining car, No. 3 the sightseeing car, while No. 4 and No. 5 hydrogen-powered cars were occupied by other members of the team.
The space was much more spacious than the old green-skin carriages. Ignoring gender considerations, a single car could sleep up to 16 people.
Carriage No. 6 was the food storage car, and Nos. 7, 8, and 9 were intended to be used as farming cars. Now that fellow Huang Hai had given him an unexpected pleasant surprise, the matter of food recycling could also be brought onto the agenda.
Of course, conventional crops could not possibly be grown in the apocalypse; by the time the vegetables matured, everyone would have starved to death several times over.
By then, he would acquire some mutated apocalyptic plants and have Huang Hai cultivate them.
If that fellow managed to mess this up as well, the son of a bitch could sleep on top of the train roof from then on.
Huang Hai, who was busy working in the dining car, suddenly shivered, completely unaware that the train conductor had already sworn in his heart to teach him a harsh lesson.
Su Huan turned and stepped into the engine compartment first.
The roaring engine carried a stifling heat, instantly inducing a sense of drowsiness in anyone who entered.
The young man in the wheelchair quietly nodded at him.
Then, fixing his gaze on the railway tracks ahead, a metallic gleam flashed in his eyes, and the control lever beside the driver's seat was pushed forward.
"Can you drive a train now?" Su Huan asked with a hint of curiosity.
Xiao Ba nodded. "I saw Uncle Liang was struggling to hold on, so I asked him to teach me some basics so the two of us could take turns resting."
"Not bad."
Liang Kuan was sitting in his chair with his arms crossed, eyes closed in rest, when he suddenly jerked awake. He opened his bloodshot eyes and asked, "Xiao Ba, how much time has passed?"
"You've worked hard. You can get a good rest today."
Hearing that measured and calm voice, Liang Kuan snapped to his senses. "Conductor."
Su Huan patted his shoulder. "Where are we now?"
"We just passed Fengshui City this morning and are about to enter Qingchuan Province."
"Driving for two days and two nights is enough. Once we park the train later, you and Xiao Ba come to the dining car."
"Understood."
The train began to decelerate gradually. Su Huan headed to the dining car first.
A woman wearing a floral apron was pouring milk into a porcelain cup, the metallic long spoon clinking crisply against the rim of the pot, mingling with the scorched aroma of whole-wheat bread drifting through the air.
Beside her, sugar cubes were stacked in a neat tower on a porcelain plate. Every time the train rounded a curve, the topmost cube swayed gently, casting a trembling diamond-shaped shadow against the edge of the celadon teacup.
Even amidst such busy work, the woman still managed to spare a hand to shell nuts, tossing them one by one into a bowl as she cracked them open. Clink, clink, clink—she sounded like a cheerful little sparrow.
Catching sight of Su Huan appearing out of nowhere, Yu Yue froze awkwardly, like a child caught sneaking a snack by an adult. Clenching a macadamia nut in her hand, she didn't know whether to put it down or keep going.
Because of the previous incident, she didn't dare use her ability to cover Su Huan's carriage, so his sudden appearance caught her off guard.
Looking at Su Huan's calm face, although she wasn't as terrified as she had been at first, her heart still fluttered with lingering anxiety.
Yet, upon second thought, it didn't seem like such a big deal.
Usually, she would take some food as supplementary rations on her own; she just hadn't reported it to Su Huan this time.
"You're out? Do you want to eat something? There's roasted snake meat and freshly baked bread."
Yu Yue tried to mask her subtle awkwardness with conversation.
However, this delicate flurry of panic had long been captured by Su Huan, who naturally had no intention of letting her off the hook. He stepped forward, grabbed a shelled macadamia nut, tossed it into his mouth, and said playfully, "It seems you've been living quite comfortably during the two days I've been busy."
*Crunch, crunch—*
The savory, fragrant nut was crushed between his teeth.
The young woman's pretty face flushed from her ears all the way down to her neck, her embarrassment glaringly obvious.
"No, I checked today and saw this pack of macadamia nuts was about to expire..."
Su Huan swallowed the food in his mouth, dropped a sugar cube into his coffee, and stirred it. "Ah, this cup of coffee is probably expired too, right?"
Yu Yue didn't dare to talk back anymore, silently pulling a fragrant, soft cake out of the oven.
Accustomed to dealing with bastards who had long since discarded all moral shame, looking at Yu Yue—whose skin was thin enough to blush the moment someone teased her—it was genuinely difficult for him to suppress his mischievous streak.
Su Huan reached out and grabbed the pastry directly, the soft cake deforming under his fingers.
Watching her meticulously crafted cake being kneaded like that, Yu Yue squeezed a tiny sound of panic through her teeth. But seeing Su Huan's half-smiling expression, she obediently shut her mouth again.