Childish Games

Dark blue daylight seeped through the gaps in the blast-proof netting, casting mottled, cold-toned shadows across the metal shelves.

The hum of the air conditioner maintaining 22°C intertwined with the rhythmic tremors of wheels grinding against the tracks.

Yu Jing curled up in the corner of the storage room's metal rack, resting her head against a large bottle of cola. The subtle chill radiating from the smooth plastic bottle created a delicate tension against the thin sheen of sweat on the back of her neck.

Su Huan fiddled with a small digital watch in his hand. His thumb brushed over the display, showing 05:27, before he casually magnetically attached it to the shelf beside him.

After standing guard all night, no other dangers had appeared besides the Night Demon that Gao Zhe had killed.

He continued to close his eyes and rest.

Su Huan was well-versed in pulling all-nighters; he could enter a state of light, semi-conscious sleep.

He left the sentry duty entirely to his body's instincts.

This state of light sleep had once sustained him through four days and two nights, lasting until an Evolutionary Beast grew too hungry and wandered off.

Suddenly, the sound of metal clashing came from Carriage 4. Su Huan's back tensed by reflex, and his Adam's apple only slowly descended once he heard the distinct, light footsteps of Yu Yue.

She must be preparing breakfast.

I hope to have a bowl of seafood porridge, his wandering thoughts suddenly mused.

Yu Yue's footsteps approached from behind. The woman looked at her daughter in the corner and asked softly, "Mr. Su, what would you like to eat this morning?"

Su Huan lay on the chair, squinting. "Don't be so formal; it makes me feel like you're being sarcastic."

Yu Yue bit her lower lip, feeling a bit awkward. She was much older than Su Huan, but she couldn't exactly call him "Little Su," could she?

"Su... Brother Su?"

Auntie Yu added a slight retroflex to the end, not very noticeable, but it was distinct from how the others in the group addressed him.

Su Huan suddenly felt that dwelling on this was meaningless and said offhandedly, "I remember there's plenty of frozen seafood in the dining car's freezer. Make some porridge; let's prioritize eating the frozen food from now on."

"Understood."

With this disturbance, Su Huan couldn't doze off anymore, so he simply got up and went to Carriage 5 to pull back the curtains.

The sudden, bright daylight cut the carriage into alternating patches of light and shadow.

Su Huan squinted and looked out the window. The wild grass and trees were lush, and many bright red plants had appeared amidst the original verdant green.

In the deep, dark places, it felt as if pairs of eyes were sizing up the train.

As the train moved forward, the earth and scenery were slowly left behind.

Su Huan returned to Carriage 6 and went to Yu Jing's side.

She had come in quite early last night to relieve her mother and had stayed up for half the night; by morning, she was exhausted, so she was lying here for a moment.

Her gray shirt was pulled taut by the peaks of her chest, revealing the delicate skin of her midriff.

A playful impulse struck Su Huan. He crouched down and gently rubbed his fingertips near her navel.

He didn't use force, just let his fingerprints graze her skin.

After a moment, Yu Jing opened her bloodshot eyes, glanced at Su Huan, and turned her head to sleep again.

Her graceful, fair neck was exposed right before his eyes.

Before long, Yu Jing felt a faint, ticklish sensation on her neck again. She let out a weary breath. "Why don't you just give me a quick death?"

"I won't."

Su Huan sneered, continuing his childish game of teasing her with a strand of hair.

Just because you offer it, does that mean I have to take it?

Who exactly is in charge here?

Besides, he felt that mentally tormenting Yu Jing gave him more pleasure than simply doing the deed.

In any case, she was a candy held in his mouth; the longer he savored it, the sweeter it would taste when he finally consumed it.

Yu Jing couldn't sleep at all anymore. She opened her eyes to look at the cold, mocking smile on Su Huan's face, feeling a surge of irritation. If she had known, she should have just gone along with him that night.

By now, they might have already grown tired of each other.

But look at things now—he had stirred up that damn possessive desire in a man, and she had no idea how long this trouble would last.

Yu Jing's lips curled up into a beautiful smile. "Brother, why don't we go into the room?"

"Shut up, disgusting!"

Yu Jing: "..."

This skirmish ended with Yu Jing fleeing in defeat.

Su Huan noted that while his body was exhausted from the all-nighter, his spirit and momentum were high.

He returned to his room first, set down his sniper crossbow, and then took out his notebook to record today's log.

"December 19th, early winter, 28°C—"

"I think I've molded a hero."

--"Conductor's Log"

Arriving at the dining car, the first thing that caught the eye was a khaki blanket on the sofa, printed with a chubby orange cat wearing a mischievous grin, which added a touch of domestic warmth to the carriage.

Yu Yue noticed his gaze and said, "I saw the blanket sitting idle and thought it would look nice here..."

"Sure, sure, feel free to do as you please; no need to ask me," Su Huan waved his hand dismissively.

He slumped onto the sofa, lost in a daze.

Around seven o'clock, Wan Xing and Qi Xiaoba emerged as well.

The train slowly came to a halt on the outskirts of the city.

Liang Kuan, his eyes bloodshot from exhaustion, walked into the dining car. "The nearest water plant is about ten minutes away; we'll be there soon."

Su Huan took the seafood porridge handed to him by Yu Yue and sniffed the aroma. "No rush. Let the passengers off first, then you go get some rest."

"Understood."

Liang Kuan took the porridge and began to gulp it down.

Su Huan turned his gaze to Wan Xing. "Later, go to the storage carriage and harvest the Night Demon corpses. Besides the Pan-Energy Crystals, see if you can salvage any other materials."

The greatest contribution of a zombie was not the Pan-Energy Crystal, but the various bizarre paths of biological evolution.

This was what a researcher from a major corporation had told Su Huan in his past life.

However, Wan Xing's current development of her ability was too low, and her utilization of zombies could hardly reach the genetic level.

Su Huan didn't have high expectations for her; as long as she could dismantle some useful materials, that would suffice.

Things like those claws were all high-strength materials.

Accumulating them would prove useful in the future.

Wan Xing nodded silently.

Su Huan understood what she was capable of better than she did herself; there was no need for questions, just follow orders.

Watching the steam rise from the seafood porridge, Su Huan mused, "There is only one task for today: inspect the damage to the train and continue with the first phase of the Armed Train project."

The group acknowledged the order.

The carriage before his eyes was very "transparent."

Su Huan thought for a long time before coming up with this accurate and vivid descriptor.

Hundreds of coin-sized holes were densely riddled across the surface of the green-skinned carriage, piercing through the buffer and insulation layers to create gaping voids.

Out of twelve pairs of windows, only two remained intact; the rest had shattered into various shards of debris.

The relatively fragile roof had also been clawed into a large dent by a Night Demon.

To be honest, Su Huan wanted to just detach this carriage entirely.

In any case, they didn't need so many carriages for the time being, and the passenger count had dropped by 63 last night.

What surprised him was that Brother Dog had survived, as had the daughter-in-law of that family; although she looked terrified, she didn't have a single drop of blood on her.

The tattooed man had died quite cleanly, killed in a single strike.

Aside from this, the carriages further back that hadn't been reinforced with steel plates had more or less sustained claw marks, but none were as severe as this.