6: Small zombie tide

“Beep—”

After everyone boarded, the Xinhuo Train immediately started.

At this moment, the Zombie Tide had already advanced several hundred meters.

It formed a huge arc, surrounding the Xinhuo Train.

In the wilderness, wherever humans were present,

it seemed to emit a special 'human scent' that always attracted Zombie Tides and eerie creatures.

The longer humans stayed in one place, the greater this possibility became.

If a place's population exceeded a thousand, no matter how secluded it was, a month later, it would attract a Zombie Tide.

This was also why large human settlements could not be established.

No one knew where these Zombie Tides came from.

As a Level 1 Train, the Xinhuo Train needed about 60 seconds to go from starting to accelerating to its top speed.

If the ground was rugged, this time would be even longer.

Although the terrain around the small Iron Mine collection point wasn't too rugged, there were several gentle slopes.

Furthermore, the northwest was already surrounded by the Zombie Tide.

The Xinhuo Train was parked with its front facing west.

Now, it could only break through from the southwest direction.

Although there were zombies there, their numbers were not large.

There were only a few hundred scattered ones.

Now, the entire train was equipped with Level 1 Train iron armor, so even if it was surrounded by a small number of zombies, it would be fine.

As long as the front of the train wasn't blocked, it could carve out a bloody path.

If it were a Level 2 Train, with the 'Train Blade' vehicle accessory unlocked,

it could even fight its way in and out seven times against a Level 1 Zombie Tide.

However, eradicating the Zombie Tide didn't hold much significance.

Aside from a very small chance of dropping accessory blueprints, not even an Iron Mine would drop.

Additionally, accessory blueprints dropped within the zombie horde were difficult to retrieve.

Eradicating the Zombie Tide became an extremely thankless task.

Therefore, when facing a Zombie Tide, Train Captains mostly chose to break through.

Rather than fighting to the death.

“Bang—”

Yang Kui stood at the open skylight of the fourth train car, shooting a female zombie in the head that was lunging at the train.

Following Yang Kui’s shot, continuous gunshots rang out on the train.

Flintlock rifles had an effective range of 100 meters.

Skilled marksmen could fire 15 to 18 rounds per minute.

On the train, including the Train Police, there were over twenty people who could use flintlock rifles.

Without focusing on accuracy, a volley of shots would always bring down four or five zombies.

After all, they just wanted to clear a path.

Shooting in the direction the train was moving was always correct.

However, the Xinhuo Train's starting speed was still a bit slow.

By the time the speed reached 60 km/h,

hundreds of fast-moving zombies were already close to blocking the essential path of the train.

Although Level 1 zombies were not as fast as a Level 1 Train's top speed, they could reach 40-50 km/h when in hot pursuit, and they never tired.

So, even if Yang Kui led his men in continuous firing with flintlock rifles, it was difficult to clear the zombies blocking the path.

Seeing this, Lu Yang consciously controlled the Repeating Ballista, which had already reached Level 5.

He slightly adjusted its direction, aiming it horizontally at the area with the most zombies.

After aiming for 3 seconds, he silently chanted:

“Fire!!”

Three crossbow bolts, each over a meter long and as thick as a baby's arm, instantly shot out, raising a gust of wind.

With a few “whooshes,” the zombie horde diagonally ahead looked like cultivated land plowed by a harrow.

Suddenly, three distinct furrows appeared.

Immediately after, the Kuangfeng I Light Machine Gun at the front of the first car let out a fierce roar.

It swept back and forth with a “ Dadadada” sound, clearing the remaining zombies blocking the path.

In just a few tens of seconds, it completely cleared the remaining zombies blocking the way.

By the time the Xinhuo Train passed, only two or three stragglers were left struggling on the ground.

They were picked off by point shots from Yang Kui and his team.

The heavy train wheels crushed over the severed limbs and bodies, making a creaking sound.

However, because there weren't many corpses, it didn't significantly affect the train's progress.

A dozen seconds later, the train drove out of the encirclement.

The fourth and fifth carriages immediately erupted in a cheer that shook the heavens.

“Team Yang, this Zombie Tide was too weak.”

“No pressure at all!!”

Wang Hu propped his meter-long flintlock rifle on the ground, blew away non-existent gunpowder smoke from the muzzle, and said with a smug smile.

Hearing this, Yang Kui slapped him on the head again.

“You brat, it's only been a few days, and you're already getting ahead of yourself.”

“Is it that the Zombie Tide is weak?”

“It’s Master Yang who is amazing.”

“Just now, with that scale of zombies blocking the road, if we were on the Ziying Train, they would have thrown out at least a dozen meat baits to attract the zombies' attention.”

“Even if they had machine guns, they wouldn't be willing to expend precious machine gun bullets to clear a path.”

“That thing can fire hundreds of copper coins worth of bullets in a minute.”

“For them, scarce copper is much more valuable than slaves.”

This resonated with many people.

“That’s right, Master Yang is amazing.”

“Everyone, don’t forget, weren’t we abandoned as pawns before, and then, due to misfortune, we were blessed to board the Xinhuo Train?”

The middle-aged man who had been protecting Dazhuang echoed.

“It’s just as the ancients said in that proverb: 'Survive a great disaster, and good fortune will follow!'”

“Our encounter with the Specter was a great disaster, and boarding the Xinhuo Train was the blessing.”

“If we hadn’t been abandoned, we wouldn’t have had the chance to become a member of the Xinhuo Train.”

“In just two short days, the Xinhuo Train has already been equipped with a machine gun vehicle.”

“Its future development prospects are immeasurable.”

“Exactly, exactly, and more importantly, Master Yang is a good person,” another passenger added.

“Even if we don’t work, he’s willing to give everyone two slices of bread per meal.”

“Unlike other Train Captains, who treat us like dirt, deliberately giving us moldy bread and water mixed with sand.”

“It was only after I boarded the Xinhuo Train that I realized coarse bread slices don’t have to be moldy, and drinking water doesn’t necessarily have to contain sand.”

“And the quantity was pitifully small.”

“God knows why those damned people treated us like that, giving us so little to eat every day, yet making us do such heavy physical labor. Even immortals couldn't do it.”

Everyone spoke one after another.

Almost all of them were talking about the differences between the Xinhuo Train and other trains.

Although it had only been two short days, Lu Yang's actions had clearly given everyone a fresh perspective.

Coupled with the swift and clean breakthrough from the Zombie Tide just now,

everyone's sense of belonging to the Xinhuo Train was increasing at a visible rate.

In the Train Captain’s carriage.

Lu Yang listened to everyone praising him, one after another, through his exclusive Train Captain's perspective.

A smile couldn't help but spread across his lips.

This Train Captain didn't dote on you for nothing!

However, what made Lu Yang even happier was that,

through that recent clearing, the second Novice Train Captain mission—kill 100 zombies—was also completed.

“Congratulations, Train Captain, on completing Novice Train Captain Mission Two. Reward: 2000 units of Level 1 Iron Mine, 1000 units of Level 1 Wood, 3000 units of Level 1 copper, 'Wheel Suspension' Blueprint (Blue) x 1.”