The abandoned guy tried to climb onto the carriage, but Silas stopped him.
"Where's your ticket?"
The man, like a mad dog, pointed at Silas and cursed, "You're in cahoots with them! You tricked us into getting on the bus, I'll f*** you—"
"Boom."
The body fell to the ground.
Silas picked at his ear. "Waste time. Just get to the point. Next."
...
December 18th, early winter, 26°C—29°C
It seems that people have elected a new leader.
— Train Conductor's Log
Silas noted down the temperature at the hottest time of day in his logbook.
Of the 1,201 original passengers, only 624 had returned. The rest either died outside or ran away, which was quite normal.
Silas was never afraid of them running away.
The train remains, but the passengers come and go. As old people leave, new people naturally arrive, just like that family from yesterday.
Including the new group of workers, there were a total of 744 people.
There might be another wave coming back tonight, but the number wouldn't exceed a thousand today.
The crane operation was taken over by a young man named Gideon, who wouldn't be back until evening, but Silas didn't intend to waste time waiting.
He glanced at the new names on the roster, then looked up at the group of fearful workers. "There's a job, want it?"
The workers looked at the body lying on the ground and dared not approach.
He stood there muttering to himself.
"Why don't we just go."
"Where to go? There's no food left in the factory. I'm so hungry I could eat someone! This is the only truck that's come here in all these days."
"We can't get out of there either; it's full of man-eating monsters..."
"Aren't there fewer
"There are fewer
Silas had been listening calmly, but his eyes suddenly sharpened when he heard a certain word.
Pointing to a thin man in the crowd, he asked, "What did you just say?
The man was startled and took a step back.
But seeing that he hadn't suddenly collapsed like the other person, he breathed a sigh of relief and shouted from a distance, "It's a
"How many are there?"
Seeing that Silas was only asking questions, the worker became bolder and stepped forward to reply, "There are plenty of them, they're everywhere, on the road, inside houses."
Silas's expression shifted between light and dark.
The
Also known as a
Their strength is vastly different from that of ordinary
In his past life, he was always busy running around and didn't pay attention to the evolutionary milestones of
Only nine days had passed.
When these
"This information is very valuable. Here, take this." Silas took a deep breath and tossed over the half-pack of cigarettes he had just snatched. The worker was overjoyed and, not caring that Silas had thrown it on the ground, picked it up and started sharing it with his coworkers.
Upon hearing this news, Silas lost all interest in patient persuasion and said directly, "Who is the leader? Come out and speak."
The workers looked around, and finally, a man who was about 1.8 meters tall stepped forward.
Although he wasn't tall, he was extremely broad-shouldered, comparable to Leon, and his voice was deep and resonant. "Yes, it is you. You just said you had a job for us, but given the current situation, we don't want any money."
"I'll provide you with three days' worth of meals..." As he was speaking, Silas suddenly had a new idea and changed his words, "If you work for a day, I'll provide you with two meals. If you don't work, I'll provide you with one meal. As long as you're on the truck for a day, this promise will be valid, but it only applies to the people you are now."
Although the man had an honest face, he was also quick-witted and asked, "I just saw you collecting their tickets, so you mean they need tickets to board the train?"
"Of course, there's no reason to get on the bus without buying a ticket."
This time, Silas didn't beat around the bush and went straight to the point.
The saying "speak human language to human beings and ghost language to ghosts" is not entirely derogatory; it also involves many techniques.
It's often easier to be straightforward with honest people than to try to outsmart them.
"We want free tickets."
"Free tickets are impossible. You can get free tickets when you have a job, but you still have to earn money for tickets when you don't have a job."
Silas resolutely refused. If all 120 workers were given free tickets, what would he eat in the future?
Providing meals was already the biggest concession he could make.
The train ticket was his power to control the crowd, even if it was only nominal, he couldn't just create a bunch of people with exemptions and privileges at will.
The man hesitated for a moment, looked at his coworkers on either side, and gritted his teeth, saying, "Okay, what kind of work? We're all from the steel mill; we can't do anything that requires brains."
Silas's expression softened slightly. "It's all about steel plates. Your name is Walter, right? From now on, you'll be the leader of those 120 men. If anything happens, I'll only come to you, understand?"
Walter agreed, "When do we start working?"
Silas glanced at the sky; the sun was already setting, and it would be dark in a little over three hours.
Nobody knows whether those
Not much time.
He didn't dare to gamble either.
He looked directly at Walter and said solemnly, "Now."
...
The dark red front of the vehicle gleamed coldly in the setting sun. The 25mm shovel-shaped armor and the newly added 1.2cm steel plate interlocked to form a menacing ram, like an enraged steel rhinoceros.
On the crisscrossing railway tracks, a group of men in overalls carried 1.2cm steel plates closer to the train, their blue clothes soaked with sweat.
Fortunately, they didn't need to weld them. After holding them up for a while, a boy in a wheelchair inside would "attach" the steel plates to them.
Someone tried pulling on it, and it felt even stronger than when it was welded.
As a result, the workers had even greater respect for Silas, who managed the train, and worked even harder.
Silas tapped the outer wall of the carriage with his finger. The metallic vibrations, mixed with the heat, spread through the air. The heavy steel gave him an extremely solid sense of security.
He squinted at the window, where Jade's chalk-drawn cutting lines looked as if they had been polished, extremely smooth.
The opening in the steel plate was slightly smaller than the window, just enough to cover the explosion-proof mesh and tempered glass inside, but it didn't affect the opening and closing of the window.
Silas was very satisfied with this.
Sweat rolled down his Adam's apple and into his collar, gradually turning into salt at the 29°C temperature.
Even a slight lick of the lips tasted salty.
"Have your mom make the workers' boxed lunches first, and add plenty of oil and salt."
"It's already in progress." Jade leaned out from the roof of the car, her jeans stained with dirt. "Pick me up."
(End of this chapter)
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Author - 莽签
Translator and Editor - Husband
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