Welcome to the Apocalypse

A moment later, the Blood Hound shook its head and staggered to its feet. Its entire lower jaw had been smashed into a mangled mess, yet it looked even more hideous and terrifying than before.

"Hrr-gh... Roar!"

The pain had stripped away even its remaining bestial instincts, and its hysterical howling made one's heart tremble.

It charged madly toward the train.

"Bang!"

Su Huan watched the dent in the outer wall of the carriage, his mouth twitching.

That was 3mm steel plating!

The sound drew Yu Jing and her daughter over from the forward carriage.

"Yu Jing, go get the sniper crossbow from my room."

Su Huan said, casting a glance their way.

"Bang-bang—crack!"

The next moment, the tempered glass in front of them instantly shattered into a pile of fine particles, hanging precariously from the window frame.

The metal window frame deformed violently.

The expressions of everyone in the carriage changed drastically.

Seeing this scene, even Su Huan, tempered by long experience in the apocalypse, felt a jolt of alarm.

"Bang!"

The tempered glass exploded into a pile of particles on the floor.

The carriage shuddered violently.

Canine evolved beasts possessed greater endurance, but their agility was inferior to felines; they could not retract their skeletons to nimbly squeeze into narrow spaces like cats.

Moreover, the train window was still too narrow for the Blood Hound's massive frame.

After struggling for a long time, the Blood Hound failed to crawl inside, its blood-red maw gaping as it howled madly, saliva streaming down.

Several passengers ran to the seventh carriage behind them and locked the corridor door from the inside.

Liang Kuan grabbed an axe and was about to step forward, but was stopped by Su Huan behind him.

"Don't go over there, everyone fall back with me!"

Su Huan said calmly.

Everyone retreated toward the fifth carriage.

Standing in the fifth carriage, Su Huan said in a low voice, "Wait until I shout to close the door, then do it. We only have one chance."

Liang Kuan dropped the axe, stared at the Blood Hound struggling to squeeze in, and nodded, gripping the door handle with both hands.

Yu Jing finally arrived from behind, carrying a Sniper Leica Crossbow that rivaled a rifle in size.

Seeing this, Su Huan felt a slight sense of relief.

The Sniper Leica Crossbow had an effective range of 160-180 meters and could even penetrate an elephant's skull.

It might be ineffective against evolved beasts in the late stages of the apocalypse, but against a Blood Hound in the early stages, it was more than enough; its only drawback was that it could only be loaded with one bolt at a time.

"Bang—"

The Blood Hound finally broke free from the constraints of the window frame and tumbled into the corridor.

It looked disheveled, blood from its mouth dripping onto the carpet and staining it in patches of crimson, its bloodthirsty, crazed gaze locking onto Su Huan and the others at the end of the corridor.

"Get ready."

Su Huan's gaze was icy; he knelt on one knee, braced the sniper crossbow against his right shoulder, and let the sweat run down his eyelids.

The Blood Hound let out a wild howl, pushed off with its hind legs, and lunged at the group!

"Now!"

Su Huan pulled the trigger decisively, the bolt whistling through the air and striking the Blood Hound square in the forehead.

"Close the door!"

Liang Kuan, prepared for this moment, yanked the carriage bridge door shut with all his might.

"Boom—"

The violent impact drowned out the sound of the bolt piercing flesh.

The Blood Hound's massive body slammed into the door; instantly, the glass shattered, the door twisted, and blood mixed with shards of glass sprayed backward.

"Clatter!"

Su Huan raised his hand to shield his face and fell backward.

The sound ceased for a moment, replaced by the Blood Hound's pained shrieks. The next instant, half the door was smashed through, and Liang Kuan, who had been bracing it, was sent flying.

"Damn it!"

Su Huan cursed inwardly.

These evolved beasts possessed incredibly tenacious vitality; even after suffering fatal wounds, they could still struggle for a while.

He scrambled up quickly, loading a bolt into his sniper crossbow.

The young man in the wheelchair stared at Su Huan, who stood at the very front fighting back stubbornly despite being drenched in dog blood, a strange glint flashing in his eyes.

Because of his disability, he had seen many wicked people, but none compared to the few days since the apocalypse began.

Fear, greed, desire, rage...

Yet, in Su Huan, he saw something quite different.

Qi Xiaoba raised a hand.

The metal door frames, twisted by the Blood Hound, came alive like pythons, winding around the dying beast with a screeching sound.

"I can't hold this for long, you..." Qi Xiaoba said with great effort.

But Su Huan didn't even turn his head; he jammed the sniper crossbow directly into the hole in the Blood Hound's head and viciously pulled the trigger.

"Bang!"

A mist of blood exploded outward, the Blood Hound's head jerked violently backward, and the metal bolt flew out, pinning itself into the carriage wall.

Its entire body twitched before it went limp, tangled within the metal coils.

Qi Xiaoba stood frozen in place, not knowing why, but he had the illusion that the two of them had worked together many times before; they didn't even need to speak to be perfectly in sync.

"Hoo..."

Su Huan let out a long breath; in that split second, his clothes had already been soaked through with sweat.

He slumped to the floor and cast an appreciative look at Qi Xiaoba in the wheelchair. "Su Huan."

Qi Xiaoba was stunned for a moment, then said somewhat shyly, "Qi Xiaoba."

Su Huan flashed an exaggerated grin. "Welcome to the apocalypse, Xiaoba."

Liang Kuan finally managed to climb to his feet, a trace of lingering fear on his face. "What the hell was that? It's fiercer than a grizzly bear."

"A Blood Hound. Something evolved from an ordinary stray dog, but far more dangerous than a grizzly. A sniper crossbow bolt capable of piercing an elephant's skull hit it square in the forehead, and it still struggled for that long."

Su Huan narrowed his eyes, the smile fading from his face.

This little episode had truly startled him. He had originally thought that with his status as an Evolver, he would be invincible in the early stages of the apocalypse.

He hadn't expected to nearly capsize in a gutter.

In the early stages, an Energy Provider was still too powerless against things like evolved beasts.

The Armed Train project needed to be accelerated.

Collecting his thoughts, Su Huan stood up and said, "Check yourselves for wounds. The probability of mutation is much lower at this stage, but the incubation period has also lengthened."

"Of course, that excludes Evolvers."

Su Huan stared at Qi Xiaoba as he said the last sentence.

Qi Xiaoba's eyes suddenly lit up. "Why?"

"Because an Evolver is equivalent to a successful evolution; they have already passed that mutation stage."

Yu Jing, standing to the side, looked thoughtful.

"Then is there any way to become an Evolver?" Qi Xiaoba asked immediately after.

Su Huan gave him a suspicious look, then glanced at the nervous-looking woman behind him and narrowed his eyes. "How long have you been infected?"

The woman opened her mouth, hesitating.

Qi Xiaoba quickly replied, "About an hour."

"That's fine, there's a chance. All of you go to the dining car and wait. Xiaoba, you fix the hole in Carriage 6 first," Su Huan said.

Qi Xiaoba turned back to comfort her. "Sister Xingzi, you go ahead first."

After the others left, the hopeful light in Xiaoba's eyes settled, and he said earnestly, "If Sister Xingzi can survive, consider that I owe you a life."

"As expected of Master Ba, you're a straight shooter!"

The corners of Su Huan's mouth curled up.

Yet, his face remained calm as he said, "I didn't say it was a hundred percent; it's just a chance."