Try This?

Brother Dog looked wary. Thinking of Su Huan's mysterious abilities, he lowered his voice and warned, "Keep it down in a minute. That Su guy's an Evolutionist. He's always appearing and disappearing without a trace."

Lao Hu looked amused. An Evolutionist?

Who wasn't?

But even Evolutionists feared the truth.

Lao Hu instinctively felt the cold weapon tucked into his waistband, and thought of the man who could control flames.

That fire had been freakish. It had roasted three of their men, but one shot from him had sent them all packing.

Now their corpses had been gnawed down to skeletons by the zombies.

That was why he had the nerve to come steal the train, even after hearing their target was an Evolutionist.

In the early hours of the morning, drizzle carried the oppressive heat and dampness as it struck them. Several figures crept through the mud, stumbling with every step.

At last, they reached the train.

Slanted Eyes's security uniform was soaked through and clung stickily to his back. He wiped his face and gazed eagerly at the steel-built train.

"This is the carriage!" Brother Dog pointed toward Car 3, keeping his voice low. The mechanical latch gleamed coldly in the rain.

"Don't get it wrong."

"We've watched it for a long time. That Su guy lives in this one. Once we take him out, the rest of the women and the cripple will be ours to do with as we please!"

Slanted Eyes privately scoffed at Brother Dog for being so small-minded. In the apocalypse, women were everywhere.

At first, they'd traded food for them.

Later, they'd stopped bothering to trade. They simply took whichever ones they liked.

"If we get the train, all those women are yours, Lao San!"

As Lao San edged closer to pick the lock, he stepped into a puddle with a wet smack. Slanted Eyes shot him a furious glare.

Lao San trembled as he pulled out his tool kit. With a flashlight clenched between his teeth, he swept the beam across the keyhole and breathed a sigh of relief.

"An old-fashioned mechanical lock. If it were electronic, I'd be out of luck."

Slanted Eyes raised his nose excitedly, a vicious glint in his eyes. "Then hurry up. Once we're inside, the boys are getting a proper meal."

The group crowded around the train, excited. Those nearest the windows even crouched down.

They watched eagerly as Lao San worked with his little tools.

Lao San said nothing, keeping his head down as he fiddled with the lock.

The tiny sounds were like the scurrying of a mouse.

Thirty seconds passed, and Slanted Eyes was still excited.

A minute passed, and his expression grew guarded.

Three minutes passed, and his face tightened.

Five minutes passed, and his expression darkened.

Ten minutes passed, and his cheek twitched.

"Maybe that Wang fellow's wife left the door open for you."

Brother Dog's jab was mild but unmistakable.

"By rights, this should've opened by now. These locks are supposed to work like this..." Lao San's hand shook as he tried to turn the tool with all his strength, but the lock didn't budge.

"Useless!" Boss Hu grabbed Lao San by the collar. The light in Lao San's hand cast a shadow over his face. "Didn't you say there wasn't a lock you couldn't open?"

"G-give me ten minutes..." Sweat mingled with rain and slid down Lao San's forehead as his screwdriver scraped against the keyhole with an ear-piercing screech.

In the distance, zombies dragged their feet closer. Their low growls mingled with the rain, and the hands gripping the machetes grew increasingly damp.

"Move faster!" Boss Hu cursed under his breath.

Another five minutes passed. Suddenly, the lock gave a sharp creak.

The others looked over. Lao San's screwdriver had snapped off inside.

Slanted Eyes's expression turned utterly grim. His face was so dark it seemed rain might drip from it. "Lao San, you've been with me for a year now, haven't you?"

Lao San looked ready to cry. "Boss Hu, give me one more chance..."

"Don't rush. Why not try this?"

Someone beside him held out a pair of needle-nose pliers. Lao San's face lit up, and he hurried to take them. "That'll work, that'll work."

His hand froze halfway there. He looked as though he'd seen a ghost.

A figure, concealed in darkness, stood inside the train window, holding out the pliers through the protective mesh.

A stray raindrop struck the window frame and bounced up. Its cold glimmer illuminated the young man's face, where a gentle smile lingered.

Slanted Eyes, standing nearby, was just as startled. He hadn't expected their target to have been right beside them all along.

Ignoring the cold sweat running into his eyes, he instinctively reached for the pistol at his waist.

"Don't need them...?"

The smile vanished from Su Huan's face. He released the pliers.

They struck the ground and splashed water everywhere.

Steel, rain, and the dead of night—this was his turf.

Su Huan marveled inwardly as a surge of high-voltage current rushed from beneath his feet and into the train.

A cold blue arc, like a long blade, was drawn along by the raindrops in the air, splitting into countless blue threads that suddenly slashed into everyone outside the train.

Every hair on Slanted Eyes's body stood on end. The pain felt like someone had stabbed him, and his muscles tensed.

He'd only halfway drawn his gun when his whole body began to convulse.

His hand clutched his waist, and his eyes rolled back.

"Thud, thud..."

A succession of bodies hit the ground.

After a while, Slanted Eyes recovered. His muscles finally unlocked, and he struggled to crawl up, ready to beg for mercy.

"Crack—"

Another arc of electricity flashed, snapping sharply.

This time, Slanted Eyes lay obediently in the mud, no longer struggling.

"Wouldn't it have been better to buy a ticket like an honest person? You just had to take the crooked path."

As Su Huan muttered to himself, an invisible wave of Pan-Energy spread out from beneath his feet. Its edge just brushed against Slanted Eyes's body on the ground.

"Lv. 1 Pan-Energy Perception"

In Storage Car 6, the night-lights provided steady illumination.

Gao Zhe stood in the passage between cars, the rebar clutched in his only remaining hand. He frowned at the metal door before him, which looked like a hedgehog.

The tips of its spikes were tinged red.

Through the gaps in the metal, he could see a boy in a black shirt sitting upright in a wheelchair. Beneath his tousled hair, his eyes held a look of focus.

If he still had both hands, he was confident he could break through the door with one strike and kill the boy in the next.

The boy could barely move, after all.

But now that he was missing a hand, forcing his way through would only end in a one-for-one trade.

"Su said you were dangerous," Qi Xiaoba said, watching Gao Zhe.

As he assessed the other man's condition, Gao Zhe shot back without hesitation, "You're even more dangerous than I am."

Clear footsteps sounded on the other side of the door. Seeing Su Huan strolling over, calm and unhurried, Gao Zhe knew his chance was gone.

He sighed inwardly. He'd thought Brother Dog might fail, but he hadn't expected it to happen so quickly.

From the start until now, he'd only exchanged one blow with Qi Xiaoba.

"Mr. Gao, what brings you out so late? The train offers late-night snacks, you know."

Su Huan wore his usual fake smile, his eyes cold.

Gao Zhe turned and left without even offering a threat.

He might not have been able to take on one of them alone. With the two of them together, in the narrow confines of the train, he stood no chance.

If he attacked by force, he'd end up like the Night Demon, locked down until he died.

Unless... Su Huan left the train.

"Wait. I've got a little job here. Would you be interested, Mr. Gao?"