Liang Kuan Awakens

Su Huan glanced sideways at the streamlined carriage. Its main color was white, accented with gradient stripes of water blue. It looked far more high-tech than the post-apocalyptic modifications of the Armed Train.

It appeared to stand a little over four meters tall, and each carriage was clearly much longer than those of the old-fashioned green trains.

He casually flicked out a few high-temperature bursts, giving Liang Kuan time to catch his breath.

At temperatures above thirty degrees, fighting with a shield was obviously a job that could cost you your life.

"Is this an electric train?" Su Huan asked, rapping his knuckles against the outer shell.

Liang Kuan wiped the sweat running into his beard and panted heavily. "A Hydrogen Train. Aluminum alloy shell, moisture-proof and waterproof!"

With that, he raised his shield and slammed it into the zombies ahead.

Hydrogen power—

That was a little beyond Su Huan's expectations. But when he heard the part about it being waterproof, his eyes lit up.

They'd be entering the Acid Rain Zone later, so the whole train would need to be sealed against water.

"Can you drive it?"

"Yeah. I can drive a bit of everything!"

"If it runs out of hydrogen, will it stop moving?"

Su Huan's unhurried question reached Liang Kuan's ears.

Liang Kuan shook his increasingly muddled head. It took him three or five seconds to find the answer in his memory.

"The train has a regenerative braking system. Its efficiency..." Liang Kuan swung his shield sideways, knocking two zombies to the ground. "Its efficiency is supposed to be between twenty and forty percent."

Liang Kuan went over and opened the train door. It seemed to be stuck, with a suitcase wedged in the way.

Holding his shield in his right hand, he reached forward with his left and pulled the jammed door open.

He had no idea that Su Huan's attention was now entirely fixed on him.

The moment the train door slid open, a thick, bloody stench mixed with the sour reek of rotting flesh rushed into his nose.

An instinctive shudder made his scalp prickle.

He jerked his head back.

Claws scraped past his Adam's apple, their blade-sharp draft slicing tiny beads of blood from his skin.

His pupils contracted. A Night Demon was hanging upside down from the narrow ceiling, its dagger-like claws driven into the lining. Beneath its arms, scarlet compound eyes split the darkness with eighteen streaks of blood-red light.

"Looking to die!"

The hairs on the back of Liang Kuan's neck stood on end. Having just brushed past death, he let his ferocity loose.

He planted his thick calf on the step and lunged straight into the train.

Su Huan, standing behind him, lowered his right hand from where it had been suspended in midair. One corner of his mouth lifted as he followed Liang Kuan inside.

He casually shut the door behind them.

As soon as he stepped aboard, he saw the Night Demon's claws piercing Liang Kuan's left chest. His brow twitched in alarm.

He was about to rush forward when he instinctively activated Pan-Energy Perception. He stopped abruptly, considered for a moment, then sent a streak of cold blue electricity snaking out from the side wall. It struck the Night Demon's foot without a sound.

The Night Demon, so fluid in its movements just moments before, suddenly stiffened.

Armed Train, Carriage No. 20.

The passengers were getting up and quietly gathering their belongings.

Whenever the train stopped, they had to be ready to get off and collect supplies—or run for their lives.

No one would leave their things on the train.

The heat was stifling, and hardly anyone spoke. Only the faint rustle of movement broke the silence.

"Su Huan just went out," Scarface said quietly, watching what was happening outside.

"Only for now. But I have a feeling he'll go out again."

The old man spoke after a moment's thought.

The oppressive heat had soaked his suit with sweat more times than he could remember. It clung to him, sticky and tight, and his once-sharp silver hair was slicked against his scalp. He no longer looked like a powerful figure; he looked more like a down-and-out beggar.

Only the calmness in his eyes hinted at something unusual about him.

"Mojiang City should have something he needs. This time we go out, it'll be our last chance."

"What are you getting at?"

Scarface's face twitched.

"He's known about us for a long time. Do you think that just because Gao Zhe is dead, he'll let us stay?"

"Sooner or later—even if Su Huan doesn't kill us himself, how many more search parties do you think you'll survive?"

"We've both been on this train a long time. You know how quickly new passengers replace the old."

The old man's gaze was calm, but his words showed no mercy. He punctured Scarface's ostrich-like fantasy of hiding his head in the sand.

Scarface's face darkened. He glanced at his two underlings, who kept their heads down, then gritted his teeth and asked, "What should we do?"

"Boom, boom, boom—"

It was as if two ferocious beasts had entered the train. Whether it was razor-sharp claws or a shield like a cleaver, the carriage's interior was being torn to pieces.

The pain in his left shoulder sent bloodshot veins bursting through Liang Kuan's eyes.

Yet the flames inside him burned hotter and hotter, as though they were about to melt him.

He tore off his clothes, baring thick, knotted arms and a body packed with powerful muscles. His veins bulged like purple snakes coiling around his limbs.

The suffocating heat inside the carriage made him feel as though he were trapped in an iron can.

His thoughts were like a can set over flames, his brain bubbling away inside.

He had long since forgotten Su Huan was behind him. He had even forgotten why he'd boarded the train. Only one thought remained in his mind: Tear open this damn can!

"Roar—"

The jagged edge of his shield bit deep into the sheet-metal roof. His already massive chest muscles swelled by another two sizes, while his shoulders and back became like sandbags stacked for battle.

With a crack like tearing muscle fibers, he ripped the entire section of roof apart with his bare strength.

Just as Su Huan's eyelid twitched, the Night Demon's claws pierced Liang Kuan's lower abdomen again.

"Die, you bastard!"

He clenched his white teeth around the torrent of blood pouring from his mouth. His once-gentle face was now nothing but savage fury and madness.

At that moment, he was like a skinned beast. Bathed in blood, he only grew more frenzied as he fought. The edge of his shield scraped along the carriage wall, spraying sparks as it smashed the Night Demon into the wreckage of the seats.

Leather and steel frames cracked under the pressure of his strength.

His size-fourteen boot slammed into the Night Demon's chest. The entire carriage groaned.

"Die!"

He flipped the shield in his right hand and brought it crashing down toward the Night Demon's head!

"Boom!"

Thick brain matter sprayed outward from the shield's flat surface. Liang Kuan suddenly felt countless shards of glass shatter inside his blood vessels.

It was like standing in northern China at the start of spring, with the crack of breaking ice all around him.

"It worked."

Su Huan watched Liang Kuan evolve, delight in his eyes.

Blue electricity abruptly burst from the ground beneath his feet.

A black shape beside him went rigid against the wall.

It was another first-tier Night Demon.

Su Huan stepped forward and placed his palm on the Night Demon's head. As heat poured from his hand, its head was burned to ash.

With nothing holding it up, the Night Demon crumpled to the floor.

Su Huan glanced at his palm and muttered, "Nice try. You really thought I couldn't take you out in one shot?"

Liang Kuan stood motionless, his muscle fibers wound tight as steel cables. The wounds that had been pierced through his body closed at a visible speed, leaving tender red scars.

His shield clanged to the floor.

Coming to his senses, Liang Kuan looked down at the body that had swollen by another two sizes. At the slightest movement, purple-red veins shifted beneath his skin like living snakes.

He raised a hand in a daze and clenched his fist. His knuckles cracked like popping beans.

He looked at the wrecked carriage around him and the patch of sky torn open above. Though he had hazy memories of what happened, he could hardly believe he'd done it himself.

As if remembering something, he turned toward Su Huan.

He hesitated. "That... was me?"

Su Huan gave him a thumbs-up. "You were fierce as a war god."