"Everyone, to your posts. Remember, this train is carrying returning warriors and special warfare school students. We absolutely cannot allow any mishaps!"
The duty workers nodded solemnly before dispersing to their respective positions.
The train darted across the wilderness, accompanied only by the howling wind.
The worker responsible for monitoring the radar had been staring at the screen for three consecutive hours, unconsciously becoming somewhat lax in his focus. Unbeknownst to him, a crisis was quietly drawing near.
At a checkpoint tens of kilometers from the train, a bloody massacre was underway. Monstrous beasts rushed in like a tide. The regular people and warriors stationed inside barely had time to react before they were torn to shreds by these brutal beasts. The chilling screams only lasted for a few brief seconds before abruptly ending.
Suddenly, the earth began to shake violently.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Several pangolins, their bodies akin to the size of elephants, slowly emerged from the wilderness, moving towards the direction of the railroad. Without uttering a word upon arrival at their destination, these beasts buried their heads into the ground and gave a fierce upheaval.
Swoosh!
In an instant, hundreds of meters of railway tracks were overturned, as fragile as sheets of paper.
Train on High Alert
Meanwhile, the atmosphere remained relatively calm inside the Apex Academy's special train.
Inside the locomotive's cab, a driver was operating the train with focused attention, while his co-worker started attempting to contact the inspection station up ahead. After four unanswered calls, no reply came from the other end.
"Slow down! No one is responding at the inspection station, I need to notify the train conductor!"
Saying this, the driver urgently picked up the walkie-talkie to call the train conductor.
Upon learning of the situation, the conductor immediately ordered to slam the brakes.
Screech~~
The piercing sound of the brakes cut through the air.
There was a stir in the carriage.
"What the hell, why is the train stopping?"
"Where the hell are we? I can't see a thing!"
"It's not breaking down, is it?"
Just as everyone was chattering away, the conductor's voice came over the loudspeaker:
"No response from the checkpoint ahead, so for safety's sake, we're going to stop here for a bit. I'm sending someone to check it out now, and we'll have an update in about half an hour. Everyone, please remain calm and stay where you are. No running around!"
The conductor repeated this a few times and then the loudspeaker went silent.
The special train was filled with soldiers and special enrollment students from martial arts schools like Ethan, so there was no panic. Ethan looked at his watch and promptly went back to sleep.
In several carriages, the snores could be heard one after another.
Unraveling Crisis
Meanwhile, in the carriage where the head of the train was located, the conductor quickly arranged for two staff members to ride electric motorcycles.
"He Yi and the rest, be careful on your way! Move quietly, don't attract monsters from the wilderness!"
Before leaving, the conductor reminded them.
The two staff members nodded their heads and disappeared into the vast darkness on their motorcycles.
Time slipped away every minute and every second; half an hour flew by in an instant. The two staff members had no news, and the phone was unreachable, causing the atmosphere to become tense instantly.
"Quickly use the satellite phone and contact the nearest base ASAP!"
The train conductor urgently commanded, with anxiety written all over his face.
However, when they took out a satellite phone ready to use it, the train conductor's expression instantly froze.
"How is it possible? The satellite phone has no signal either?"
He stared at the non-functional communication device in disbelief.
Everyone exchanged worried glances, their eyes filled with terror and unease.
The train conductor took a deep breath and issued a series of rapid-fire commands, "Immediately close all the doors on the train and activate the external armor! Some of you, keep trying to make contact through the satellite phone until it succeeds!
You with me, we need to launch a distress flare! Also, some of you, inform all the passengers about the situation and remember to calmly reassure them, do not create panic!"
Years of rich experience and intuition told the train conductor that the train could soon be in grave danger.
Under the calm command of the train conductor, the train staff members acted quickly like clockwork soldiers.
Suddenly, a low humming noise echoed throughout each compartment.
The top sections of each compartment slowly opened, and heavy steel plates extended from inside like the scales of an open-mouthed beast, rapidly covering each window seamlessly.
"Hm? What's this thing?"
Ethan, who was awakened by the noise, stared blankly out the window. "That's the train's outer armor, used to fend off the mutated beasts."
Clara Song, sitting by the window, took the initiative to explain.
Ethan frowned, "Uh? I don't see any mutated beasts."
Clara Song also knitted her brows together, looking out the window.
Just then, a staff member came in to inform, "Don't panic, the train conductor is contacting the nearest base, we're temporarily safe."
The female conductress squeezed out a smile.
Everybody breathed a sigh of relief.
But just as the female conductress was about to leave—
"BOOM!"
The entire carriage violently shook, as if struck by some gigantic beast.
The carriage's ceiling light suddenly turned on, its dazzling light instantly illuminating the surrounding wasteland.
Ethan and the other specially recruited students rushed to the window, staring intently out through the small piece of glass on the armor.
Under the illumination of the spotlight, a large, dense herd of beasts in the distant wilderness was surging forward like a tidal wave—the ground trembling under their hooves!
"We're done for! It's a beast tide!"
Someone shouted in horror.
With this statement, the entire carriage instantly descended into chaos.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
At this moment, several distress flares shot into the sky above the carriage roof, exploding and illuminating the surrounding night sky with their brilliant glares.