45: Death Video

Because of the Knocking Ghost, even though the Black Knight and the Armed Thug both ultimately chose the northwest as their escape direction, not many trains followed them.

The number was less than a fifth of the total number of trains that attended the Train Assembly, and most of them were Level 2 Trains.

They did not know Train Captain Gao Feng's divination results, but they knew that the Xinhuo Train, carrying the Knocking Ghost, was also heading in this direction.

Level 2 Train Captains, due to their limited strength, mostly chose to follow the strong.

Many Tier 3 Train Captains knew no less than Train Captain Gao Feng and his group. Seeing that Train Captain Gao Feng did not want to follow Rui Ran, Train Captain of Ghost Princess to the southeast, they subconsciously felt there was also a problem in the southeast.

But they were even more reluctant to go northwest.

So, wavering between choices, many familiar Train Captains could only group together in threes and fives.

Finally, they scattered in all directions like birds and beasts.

The Black Knight and the Armed Thug, as veteran Tier 3 Trains, were the fastest.

They sped along, chasing the tracks left by the Xinhuo Train.

Under the suppression of the Tier 3 Eternal Night Disaster, the radar could only detect 10% of its original range.

The yellow dot representing the Xinhuo Train never appeared on the radar.

Combining this with the tire tracks, they could determine that the Xinhuo Train's speed had barely decreased since its departure.

This contradicted their original judgment.

It was undeniable that the Xinhuo Train had some tricks up its sleeve to escape with the Knocking Ghost.

But to be completely unaffected seemed a bit fantastical.

Even Train Captain Gao Feng's Black Knight, with its Psionic Shield upgraded to Tier 3, could only effectively isolate the Knocking Ghost's knocking attacks in its normal state.

If it were to endure alone, he feared it wouldn't last a minute before he would involuntarily go and open the door for the Knocking Ghost.

Under such circumstances, it was extremely difficult for a train to travel at full speed normally.

And once the Knocking Ghost entered the train, even if everyone on the Xinhuo Train had a Ghost Killer Flintlock Rifle, they would likely face a grim fate.

However, the divination result for the northwest direction was clearly auspicious.

It seemed the Xinhuo Train had many other unknown methods.

Filled with numerous questions, Train Captain Gao Feng drove the Black Knight as if he were flying a plane, chasing after the Xinhuo Train.

Even the Armed Thug struggled to keep up.

However, before they could catch up to the Xinhuo Train, a large number of dense red dots appeared on their targeting radar.

Through the long-range scope, they also saw the figures of a large horde of zombies getting closer and closer.

The number of these zombies was far from the super-large zombie horde that Train Captain Lu Yang had mentioned in the regional channel, only a few thousand.

However, their quality was very high, almost all Tier 3 zombies, and there were many mutated types.

They blocked the widest road from San Dao Town to the northwest river valley plain.

It seemed they had been cleared once, as many zombies were missing limbs.

Even more charred bodies lay on the ground.

Train Captain Gao Feng could tell at a glance that it was the work of the Xinhuo Train's Harvester Individual Grenade Launcher.

Thinking this, he immediately sent a message to Train Captain Train Captain Lin Jun of the Armed Thug.

He invited him to advance together and clear out these Tier 3 zombies.

With a large number of Harvester Grenade Launchers purchased from the Xinhuo Train, the Xinhuo Train could easily pass through the checkpoint, so it shouldn't be difficult for them either.

After all, many of those grenade launchers were Tier 3.

However, before they could officially engage the zombies, they were dumbfounded by the dense shallow pits covering several hundred meters ahead.

If they were ordinary shallow pits, given the trains' bulk, even if it was a bit bumpy, passing directly through would not be a problem.

But the yellowish-green liquid remaining in those pits was unusual.

As soon as the Black Knight drove in a few dozen meters, the Train Intelligent Auxiliary AI continuously sent out warnings of wheel damage.

"Warning, warning, crushing unknown strong acid composite, drive wheel damage 13%, traction power decreased by 8%."

"Warning, warning, crushing unknown strong acid composite, drive wheel damage 31%, traction power decreased by 37%."

..."Warning, warning, crushing unknown strong acid composite, drive wheel damage 70%, traction power decreased by 100%, main locomotive about to lose power, please activate backup locomotive in time."

Several alarm sounds were issued almost simultaneously.

At the same time, the Black Knight train also slowly came to an involuntary stop.

Facing this sudden change, Train Captain Gao Feng and Train Captain Lin Jun, who had just been communicating via short-frequency video to assign zombie clearing tasks, looked at each other.

They couldn't help but smile awkwardly at the same time.

The scene momentarily seemed a bit comical.

"Train Captain Gao Feng, let's be more cautious."

"What Train Captain Lu Yang can easily do doesn't mean we can easily do it too."

"You also know how big the gap between trains can sometimes be."

Train Captain Gao Feng nodded.

Although Train Captain Train Captain Lin Jun's words were unpleasant, facts spoke louder than words.

At the very least, they hadn't even seen the Xinhuo Train's taillights yet.

This indicated that the Xinhuo Train had not stopped along the way, forcefully carving out a bloody path.

Originally, the Black Knight and the Armed Thug also wanted to do the same, but now they couldn't.

Before the corrosive area of the shallow pits ahead was filled in, they simply couldn't pass.

Thinking this, Train Captain Gao Feng immediately issued an order to his Train Intelligent Auxiliary AI, "Attendant, activate the backup locomotive and retreat to a safe area."

"Lay small blocking landmines along the way."

After speaking, he opened his interphone device, "Combat troops prepare for battle. After 30 seconds, once the train stops, immediately establish a defensive position centered on the train. The objective is primarily effective killing. If zombies charge, you are allowed to abandon the position and retreat to other positions for defense."

Train Captain Gao Feng had a crack combat unit of 100 people and a reserve unit of 200 people.

All had undergone specialized military skills training.

They were his trump card.

As for the Armed Thug, it was even more exaggerated, possessing a small mechanized unit.

This included three infantry armored combat vehicles and dozens of combat motorcycles.

Those combat motorcycles were produced via the train production line and then modified with added weapons.

The infantry armored combat vehicles were captured.

When clearing a bandit camp, the bandits drove infantry armored combat vehicles, attempting to kite the Armed Thug.

But these pre-disaster weapons could not play much of a role after the world's rules changed drastically.

Aside from bullying unarmed civilians, they simply could not break the Tier 3 train's iron armor.

Instead, the thick armor of those pre-disaster chariots was like paper in front of the train's weapons.

After a series of asymmetric battles, the bandits were slaughtered, and the Armed Thug captured three infantry armored combat vehicles.

To make them useful, Train Captain Train Captain Lin Jun modified the infantry armored combat vehicles' power systems, replaced their armor, and even had their weapons manufactured by the train.

Aside from the framework, almost everything inside and out was replaced.

Then, the Armed Thug gained three mechanical combat units.

They played a huge role in previously assisting the Armed Thug in encircling and suppressing mutated beasts.

Now, to achieve a quick victory, Train Captain Train Captain Lin Jun also deployed them.

Of course, the main reason was that he felt a sense of crisis for the first time.

Only a few minutes had passed since the trains scattered from the Train Assembly site.

But in the regional channel, a Train Captain had spent enormous resources to upload a dozen-second video before his death.

Uploading videos to the regional channel was extremely resource-intensive, requiring 1000 units of Tier 1 Iron Mine per second.

Unless one was utterly desperate, no one would waste resources like that.

In the video, three trains collided, the scene was ablaze with fire, and countless zombies surrounded the trains.

The sound of intense gunfire and cannons could vaguely be heard.

The recording train was still some distance from the exploding trains.

But it was also heavily surrounded by zombies.

In the video, directly above the three trains, a distorted figure in red stood in mid-air.

Originally, the Train Captain filming the video was fine.

But the moment the red-clad figure turned its head and looked at him, a sound like something bursting rang out.

Then the video instantly became static.

After a few seconds of pause, it ended.