Tier One Light Armor

At seven o'clock, Xiao Ba arrived at the dining car right on time.

He had a good routine. Whether or not he was on night watch, he came to the dining car at seven every morning to wait for Su Huan to assign tasks.

By seven thirty, everyone had arrived one after another.

When Su Huan saw Yu Jing, his eyes lit up slightly. It wasn't because she was wearing a new outfit, but because of the Pan-Energy fluctuations around her.

Perhaps because she had only just evolved, the unconscious rhythm of her Pan-Energy had entered his range of perception.

"You evolved?"

"Lv. 1 Pan-Energy Erosion." After answering, she set a palm-sized piece of metal on the table.

Su Huan picked up the metal and weighed it in his hand. It felt unexpectedly light, perhaps only half the weight of ordinary steel. The sensation reminded him of certain large companies' armored vehicles from his previous life, though there was a subtle difference. A trace of curiosity showed in his eyes. "Did you change its weight?"

Yu Jing pinched her earlobe, her demeanor marked by the clear-headed rationality unique to researchers. "I fused the Night Demon's claws into this steel. The steel plate is now 52 percent lighter, and its strength and toughness have both increased substantially. But without measuring instruments, I can't give you precise figures."

High heat surged from Su Huan's hand, and the steel plate quickly turned red like a branding iron.

"Don't worry. I've already tested it at high temperatures. It can withstand a temperature slightly above steel's melting point without becoming brittle," Yu Jing said calmly.

"And I don't think this is the limit. I just didn't have much time, so I brought it to you early for testing."

Su Huan said nothing and continued fiddling with the steel plate. The red-hot metal cooled rapidly with a sizzling sound. Before long, it had returned to its original appearance. It was a little grayer than ordinary steel, but otherwise looked the same.

His eyes shone with delight.

Although its color and feel were slightly different, the data on Yu Jing's steel plate was already close to the Tier One Light Armor standard.

In his previous life, Su Huan had been a lone wolf and had no use for something like this. The big companies, however, had poured enormous resources into developing new materials.

They had used the Crafter trait and materials from the apocalypse to develop all kinds of new products.

Light Armor was one of them.

Its strength rivaled that of high-quality carbon steel, but it was far tougher than steel, less prone to fatigue, and only 40 percent as heavy.

If the Armed Train's steel plates were replaced with this Light Armor material, its armor could easily be stacked to a thickness of over 30 millimeters without adding any power.

It was immensely significant.

"How long does it take you to make a piece of metal like this?" Su Huan asked, raising an eyebrow.

Yu Jing rubbed her smooth chin and pondered. "This material hasn't reached its full potential yet. Once I determine its limits, I should be able to work faster. Taking my energy limits into account, a one-square-meter plate would probably take me most of the day."

Su Huan furrowed his brows.

That was still slow. Far too slow.

No wonder only major organizations could manage it. How could an individual or a small team afford to spend so much time on basic materials?

If Yu Jing didn't evolve, she could work nonstop for a year and still not finish plating the entire train.

It seemed he still had to find a way to get the passengers to take the initiative.

The current method of driving them like ducks clearly wasn't going to work.

He needed to organize them like a construction crew: set aside a group of people to form a dedicated research or production team, give them enough incentives, and keep them working around the clock.

One Crafter could make two plates a day. If they slept a little less, three plates a day might even be possible.

They were all Evolutionists now, with strong bodies. Staying up late was no problem.

Ten Crafters could make thirty plates a day.

Seen that way, there was still plenty of hope.

As Su Huan thought it over, his furrowed brows gradually relaxed. Then he suddenly remembered something and hurriedly looked at Liang Kuan. "Turn on the air conditioning in the rear carriages too. It'll keep getting hotter, so leave it on from now on."

He'd almost forgotten. The rain over the past two days had made the weather hot and humid, and the temperature was high.

People could easily die in that kind of weather.

If he worked them all to death, there'd be no one left to help him.

Liang Kuan agreed and got up to take care of it, though his steps seemed heavier than usual today.

Su Huan watched his broad back, deep in thought. Of the small team on the train, Liang Kuan was the only one who hadn't evolved.

"Maybe the method is wrong."

Take Gao Zhe, for example. He hadn't come into contact with Pan-Energy Crystals or spent a long time around zombies or Evolutionary Beasts, yet he had still evolved.

It was probably because of the Defender trait.

Lv. 1 Combat Factor.

He'd never paid much attention to how Defenders evolved. He only knew that Evolutionists of this type were more likely to break through in battle.

Unlike the other four types, they didn't need to slowly accumulate Pan-Energy Crystals. They evolved only under specific conditions.

Su Huan guessed his overly cautious fighting style was the problem.

It wasn't helping Old Liang evolve.

But there was no need to rush. They were entering the city today, and they'd have no shortage of life-and-death battles. He'd give Old Liang a few more opportunities then.

With that thought, Su Huan sorted out his ideas and continued.

"For now, you don't need to make them in large quantities. Just make one sample plate, then keep researching other things. I want you to explore two areas next."

Yu Jing raised her head with interest, her phoenix eyes tilting slightly upward, a spark of energy in them.

"What two areas?"

Su Huan raised a hand and pointed at the window. "The steel plates are in place, but a lot of the train's windows are broken, so it's poorly sealed. I want you to keep working on materials and come up with a high-strength transparent material to replace ordinary tempered glass."

"Second, I need you to find a solution to the problem of moving heavy objects."

"In the future, we'll often have to go into special terrain to transport supplies and equipment. At our current level, there's no way we can move those massive items."

They'd already gone to a great deal of trouble just to retrieve one water purifier.

If the terrain was narrow and they couldn't get a forklift in, they'd have to carry everything themselves.

But this was the apocalypse, full of danger. While they worked, they'd also have to guard against zombie ambushes. If they succeeded two or three times out of ten, they'd be lucky.

Su Huan didn't know whether this fell within Yu Jing's field, but she was the person on the train whose expertise came closest. He had no choice but to leave it to her.

Yu Jing frowned slightly. "If we want to improve an individual's ability to carry things, the best solution is a simple exoskeleton. But that requires a great deal of calculation and testing. There are only a few laptops on the train, they're all offline, and we can't even download the relevant software..."

Su Huan's fingers tapped rhythmically as he instinctively glanced around. But when it came to matters like this, Wan Xing and the others usually just listened in silence.

Only Yu Jing could discuss it with him.

He sighed inwardly. There were still too few talented people.

"Don't worry about the computers. We're entering the city today, so we'll try to find more electronic devices. I'm planning to set up surveillance throughout the train anyway, so we can take care of both at once."