Born a Bad Seed

This stretch of the road was paved with concrete, making it easy to traverse, but the trouble lay in the weed-choked field between here and the railway tracks; it was muddy and damp from the recent rain.

Su Huan was primarily worried that things like Blood-Thirsty Vines might puncture the tires.

Disorganized thoughts flashed through his mind as he sprinted in the thirty-degree heat, his chest feeling as if it were burning.

Driven by an inexplicable instinct, Su Huan lifted his head and glanced toward the side of the street.

Nothing could be seen against the pitch-black buildings, yet he could distinctly feel a fierce, murderous intent locked onto him!

"Gao Zhe!"

The moment this thought crossed his mind, a jagged piece of rebar vanished into the night, hurtling toward him.

But Su Huan was not like those negligent guards; the instant he spotted Gao Zhe, he had already drawn his pistol to fire back while simultaneously ducking his body to evade.

"Bang—"

The rebar pierced the side window of the pickup truck, embedding itself directly into the passenger seat.

However, this caused all five shots Su Huan returned to strike the wall instead.

The battle erupted so suddenly that Wang He and the others only heard a series of explosions, having no idea what had actually transpired.

"Screech—"

Several vehicles braked to a halt simultaneously, leaving nothing but the sound of everyone's heavy breathing in the silent night.

"I can't hear his heartbeat."

Yu Yue said hurriedly.

Su Huan glanced at the shattered window glass, stood up, and said calmly, "Just stay in the back; there's no need to come over."

"The Train Captain still has the heart to care for a woman at a time like this, heh heh..."

Gao Zhe's voice echoed repeatedly from within the pitch-black building; although he was laughing, it sounded like a lone wolf snarling through gritted teeth.

Su Huan bared his teeth in a grin. "I didn't expect you to survive the Evolutionary Beast tide, either."

"As expected of the Train Captain. While others are still fighting for a scrap of food, you've already started exploiting the rules of the apocalypse."

Gao Zhe's voice carried a tone of genuine admiration.

Su Huan narrowed his eyes, reflecting on Gao Zhe's strike from a moment ago; both the force and the timing were enough to make one's heart race.

"You've grown quickly, too—so quickly that it's hard for me to sleep at night. Why don't you come out and let's have a chat? My gun is out of bullets."

His tone was sincere and frank, not like an enemy who had been fighting to the death a second ago, but like two friends chatting idly.

"Pfft, the bones of the people who got on the truck with me are already starting to grow grass."

"Without me, they would have grown grass all the same."

"Do you know how many people were in that Water Plant?"

"Hu An said there were over forty, I think."

"They're all dead."

"Mm."

"I killed them."

"Oh?"

Su Huan raised an eyebrow in surprise.

Yu Yue, who was behind him, crept over and pointed toward a specific spot on the second floor where a window was broken, revealing nothing but a dark, impenetrable void.

Su Huan waved his hand to shoo her away.

The opponent hadn't moved; he could at least judge that much.

"So, Hu An is dead, then?"

"What do you think?"

Su Huan's smile remained faint.

He moved toward that direction, his footsteps making no sound.

Upstairs.

Gao Zhe leaned against the low wall behind him, struggling to pull a cigarette from the pack with one hand, holding it by the filter above his head.

"Light it for me."

Su Huan, down below, paused in his tracks.

There was no movement for a long time, the cigarette just waiting there.

After a long while, a high-temperature round flew past.

A trace of a smile finally appeared on Gao Zhe's tense face as he took a light drag. The red glow illuminated his face, revealing terrifying black veins covering more than half of his skin, looking sinister and chilling.

Gao Zhe exhaled a smoke ring and called out softly.

"Su Huan."

"Hm?"

Su Huan's indifferent response drifted up from downstairs. The two were very, very close, separated only by the floor between them.

"You really are a born piece of shit!"

"Heh."

Gao Zhe suddenly lunged upward, hurling the bundle wrapped in his clothes downward, and a blinding radiance filled their vision.

"BOOM—"

The explosion shattered the wall, drowning out the crisp crack of a gunshot.

In the darkness, a series of heavy footsteps echoed from the floor above, while the man downstairs quickly stripped off his jacket.

Retreating a dozen steps, Su Huan didn't even look as he pulled a saline solution from the pouch at his waist and doused himself with it.

After a long moment, he let out a sigh of relief, having felt nothing amiss.

He laughed and cursed under his breath, "A Defender, and he's resorting to poison."

Liang Kuan stood nearby, holding a sniper crossbow, and hesitated, "Should we pursue?"

Su Huan waved a hand. He had seen clearly when the light was bright; Gao Zhe had been poisoned, likely by an Evolutionary Beast from the river.

Coupled with the gunshot wound he'd sustained from him, even if Gao Zhe managed to escape, he likely wouldn't survive.

Then again, it was hard to say; he just had a feeling this kid was tough as nails.

Besides, he had expended a significant amount of internal energy to breach that crumbling wall. He would have to be insane to chase a Defender into a narrow, confined space to finish him off.

"Let's go, get back as soon as possible!"

Because the oppressive aura left behind by the White Snake Desert River still lingered, the group quickly returned to the train.

Since the water purifier was too tall, they would have had to cut through the roof to place it in the rear carriages, so they simply installed it in the No. 2 sightseeing carriage, occupying part of the second-floor space.

Although it was drifting further and further away from Su Huan's original plan.

It was still a decent choice.

The moment the water purifier was officially set down on the carriage, the heavy stone that had been weighing on Su Huan's heart finally dropped.

With the water purifier, he would no longer have to worry about the train's water supply.

With a processing capacity of 10m³/h, it wasn't just enough for drinking; even if he invited everyone on the train to take a bath every day, it wouldn't be a problem.

"Boss Su, the job is done."

Wang He, standing to the side, interrupted Su Huan's deep thoughts. Looking up, he saw twenty-some men drenched in sweat, looking as if they had been fished out of a water tank.

Su Huan had seen their performance with his own eyes. Although Wang He would haggle with him, they didn't slack off at all when it came to the work; they were honest men who gave their all. When the purifier couldn't be lifted onto the carriage, they had worked with the forklift to hoist it up.

Su Huan turned and gave a few instructions to Liang Kuan.

A short while later, he and Yu Yue walked over carrying several crates.

Su Huan said to Wang He, "One barrel of instant noodles, two bottles of drinks, and five compressed biscuits per person. This is an extra reward for the twenty of them. As for what I promised you, it all still stands."

Upon hearing this, a smile spread across Wang He's face, "Thank you, Boss Su."

Su Huan continued, "Don't be in such a hurry. Pick a few more workers later and get the purifier installed for me overnight. The workers will also be provided with a meal."

Wang He quickly agreed.

As for the supervision, he would leave that to Yu Jing and the others; he wouldn't concern himself with it.

Returning to his room, he tore off his sticky, sweat-soaked clothes.

He used up the last of his clean water reserves, filling the entire bathtub.

Su Huan, covered in sweat, slowly submerged himself.

Feeling the cool liquid envelop his body, his brain, which had been sluggish from the high heat, gradually cleared.

He slowly sorted through the events of the day, carefully reviewing them.

Splash.

Su Huan emerged from the water and picked up the logbook beside the tub.

He wrote down the words in slightly damp ink.

"December 20th, Night, 29°C-34°C"

"Damn, I think I've become the villain in a novel."

--"Conductor's Log"