The abandoned guy wanted to climb onto the carriage, but was stopped by Su Huan.
"Where's your ticket?"
The man, like a mad dog, pointed at Su Huan and cursed, "You're in cahoots with them, tricking us into getting on the train, fuck you—"
"Bang"
The body fell to the ground.
Energy compression makes fighting Evolution Beasts a bit challenging, but for killing ordinary non-evolved people, it's a sure shot every time.
Su Huan dug his ear, "Wasting time, just get straight to the point, next one."
...
"December 18th, early winter, 26°C—29°C"
"It seems like people have elected a new leader."
—— "Conductor's Log"
Su Huan noted down the temperature at the hottest time in the log.
Out of 1,201 old passengers, only 624 have returned, the rest either died outside or fled, which is quite normal.
Su Huan was never afraid of them running away.
Just like an iron-clad train and flowing passengers; when the old leave, naturally the new come, just like that family yesterday.
With the newly arrived group of workers, there are a total of 744 people.
Maybe more will return tonight, but today's numbers won't reach a thousand.
The task of the crane was taken over by a young man named Gao Zhe, who won't be back until the evening, but Su Huan doesn't intend to waste time waiting in vain.
He looked at the new names on the roster and raised his head to check out this group of terrified workers, "There's a job, you want to take it or not?"
A bunch of workers looked at the corpse on the ground and didn't dare step forward.
They murmured softly while standing still.
"Let's just leave."
"Where to go? The factory has no food left, I'm starving here!"
"We can't go anywhere else, there are man-eating monsters everywhere..."
"But aren't there fewer zombies in the north? We can exit that way."
"Sure, there are fewer zombies, but there are giant cocoons everywhere there, looks creepy. Go if you want, I'm not going."
Su Huan was still listening with a calm expression when suddenly his eyes sharpened at a certain word.
He pointed at a skinny guy in the crowd, "What did you just say? Giant cocoons?"
The man startled, took a step back abruptly.
But seeing he wasn't suddenly collapsing, he sighed in relief and shouted from afar, "They're human-sized cocoons, look like large silkworm cocoons."
"How many are there?"
Seeing Su Huan only asking questions, the worker grew a bit bolder and stepped forward to answer, "There are lots, everywhere, on the road, inside houses."
Su Huan's face was uncertain.
The "giant cocoons" the worker mentioned are the inevitable path for zombies evolving to the second stage.
Zombies with enough stored energy form a special "Corpse Pupa" under high temperatures, and upon emerging, they reach the second stage.
Also known as Tier One Zombies.
Their power is vastly different from normal zombies, and some with special abilities can even hunt people with professions like Evolver.
In his previous life, always on the run, he didn't pay attention to the zombie evolution points and didn't expect zombies to begin evolving so quickly.
It's only been nine days past.
When this batch of Corpse Pupas hatches, humans without heavy firepower will truly face the apocalypse!
"This information is of great value, here's something for you." Su Huan took a deep breath and tossed the half-pack of cigarettes he had just seized.
The worker was overjoyed, not caring that Su Huan threw it on the ground; he picked it up and shared it with his coworkers.
Upon hearing the news, Su Huan had no mind to gently coax, and directly said, "Who among you is the leader, come and talk."
The workers glanced at each other, and finally, a man about 1.8 meters tall stepped forward.
Though his height wasn't much, his frame was broad like Liang Kuan's, his voice deep, "I am. You just mentioned there's work for us, but in the current situation, we don't want money."
"I'll cover your meals for three days..." Su Huan suddenly had a new idea and changed his offer, "You work one day, I'll give you two meals. If you don't work, you get one. As long as you stay on the train for a day, this promise holds, but only for your current numbers."
Although the man had an honest appearance, he was clever and asked, "I saw you collecting tickets earlier, does that mean staying on the train requires a ticket?"
"Of course, how can you board without buying a ticket?"
This time, Su Huan didn't beat around the bush but answered directly.
Saying the right things to the right people isn't always derogatory; it involves a lot of skills.
Being honest with honest people is often less troublesome than playing tricks.
"We want free tickets."
"Free tickets are impossible, you'll be ticket-free when there's work; without work, you'll have to earn the ticket."
Su Huan decisively refused. There are a total of 120 workers; if all of them ride for free tickets, what will he eat in the future?
Providing meals was already the biggest concession.
Tickets were his power over people; even if only nominally, he couldn't create a bunch of immunity privileges for others recklessly.
The man hesitated for a moment, glanced at his fellow workers, and gritted his teeth, "Okay, what's the job? We're all from a steel factory, not suited for brain work."
Su Huan's expression softened a bit, "It's all about steel plates. You're called Wang He, right? From now on, you're the leader of these 120 people. If there's anything, I'll only come to you, got it?"
Wang He agreed, "When do we start?"
Su Huan looked at the sky; the sun was already in the west, with over three hours until dark.
No one knew if the Corpse Pupas would hatch tomorrow or tonight.
There's not much time.
He didn't dare to gamble.
Staring directly at Wang He, he said solemnly, "Now."
...
The dark red train head reflected a cold light under the sunset, the 25mm shovel-style armor and the newly added 1.2cm steel plates formed a menacing collision angle, like an infuriated steel rhino.
On the crisscrossing tracks, a group of men in work clothes carried 1.2cm steel plates closer to the train, their blue uniforms soaked with sweat.
Fortunately, they didn't need to weld it; as long as they held it up for a moment, those steel plates would be "affixed" by a young man in a wheelchair inside.
Someone tried pulling at it and found it was firmer than welding.
Thus, the workforce held more awe for Su Huan, running the train, and worked even harder.
Su Huan tapped his fingers on the outer wall of the carriage, the metallic tremor mixed with heat waves spreading through the air, and the heavy steel gave him an extremely solid inner support.
He squinted at the chalk-drawn cutting lines by Yu Jing at the window, polished smooth as if buffed.
The steel plate openings covered the explosion-proof net and tempered glass inside, but didn't affect the window operation.
For this, Su Huan was very satisfied.
Sweat trickled down his Adam's apple, soaking into the collar, turning into salt stains at 29°C gradually.
A slight lick of the lips tasted salty.
"Have your mom make the workers' box meals, add more oil and salt."
"Already doing that." Yu Jing climbed up on the train roof, her jeans smeared with patches, "Give me a hand up."