NOVPUBChapter 68: Chapter 67: Railway Ambush
Chapter 68 -67: Railway Ambush
11:50 PM, 2.5 kilometers northwest of Gaotian Smeltery.
“Hey, can you see where the Russians are?” Zhang Zhiyuan crouched in the bushes, peering towards the direction of the railway tracks.
“Can’t see. This fog is just too dense,” Zhou Zhi turned to look at Qianyuan Mingzi, “What about you?”
She didn’t respond, simply shaking her head.
The trouble in the Misty Zone was beyond their expectations; even with the special lanterns they had exchanged for, they could only disperse the fog within a ten-meter radius around them, but visibility still did not exceed twenty meters, almost the same as the clumps of fog in the mountains.
The ambush location Zhang Zhiyuan fancied was a small depression. To ensure the track was level, the railway needed to cross over a small wooden bridge. The bridge was not high, only about two meters, and its wooden structure meant it was more likely to become unstable.
The most direct and effective way to make a train plunge into the depression was explosives. They didn’t even need to destroy the tracks; damaging three or four of the bridge’s piers would be enough for the weight of the train to derail itself.
The one who took on this job was Anthony Chekhov.
Or rather, he actively seized the job, claiming he had ample experience in Siberian fish blasting, and whether it was homemade bombs or explosive engineering theories, he was skilled in both.
Zhang Zhiyuan always felt this man was unreliable, but with no better option at hand, he had no choice but to watch Anthony head into the fog with a heap of “domestic supplies” including thermite packs, black powder, and portable gas canisters they had all exchanged for.
“Do we have any points left?”
“Don’t know. Anyway, all my 2200 points are spent,” Zhou Zhi recalled, “Got myself a CQ-B rifle, got one for Anthony too, and the rest were all exchanged for materials.”
“Well, now we can only leave it to fate,” Zhang Zhiyuan said helplessly.
“Don’t you worry, Brother Zhang. Even if Plan A fails, we still have Plan B, right?”
Plan B… That could hardly be called a plan.
If the explosion failed, they would have to resort to climbing onto the train, then run along the roof all the way to the driver’s cabin to forcibly stop it. Zhang Zhiyuan knew that even a sluggish steam train was moving at a speed of forty or fifty kilometers per hour; climbing atop such a huge machine was no easy feat. “Do you think we’re shooting a film? One wrong move could get us crushed to pieces under the train!”
“With you and Miss Mingzi, I’m sure we can do it!” Zhou Zhi said with a chuckle.
This guy… When did he become so positive?
Zhang Zhiyuan glanced at him, only to see him sneak peeks at Mingzi behind them from time to time.
“You, getting quite familiar with her now?” he asked in a low voice.
“Not really, just talked a bit more yesterday,” Zhou Zhi also said mysteriously, “Don’t be fooled by Miss Mingzi’s cold demeanor; she’s just from a strict family background and usually has guardians around, not exposed much to outsiders. I feel she’s actually quite approachable.”
“Is that guesswork or did she tell you herself?”
“Of course, I figured it out. I have a bit of experience in this area; I definitely won’t misread it.”
“Judging by your previous social circle?” Zhang Zhiyuan rubbed his forehead, “Don’t blame your bro for not warning you, but you and her are not in the same league.”
He thought Zhou Zhi would become annoyed or outright deny it, but to his surprise, Zhou Zhi admitted, “I know, it’s really like that in reality. Although my family isn’t poor, compared to the real rich in Jiang City, it’s nothing, not to mention those truly rich and powerful guys.”
“So you…”
“But here in Paradise, the gap between her and me isn’t that big,” Zhou Zhi smiled easily, “So no matter what, I want to keep on staying in Paradise.”
Zhang Zhiyuan was left speechless for a moment.
He hadn’t expected that while he was still feeling his way through Paradise, brother Zhou had already figured out the path he wanted to take.
Could it be that this rich second-generation son was even simpler than he thought?
He shifted his gaze to the bushes on the right, where the new recruit Ailuodi was hiding.
Honestly, Zhang Zhiyuan felt quite suspicious about the identity of this newcomer—he didn’t understand why the others rarely mentioned Ailuodi. Was it simply because she was young and attractive?
Normally, in a completely unfamiliar territory, people tend to stick together to acquire information; it’s human instinct and the most suitable method for survival. Yet this new recruit was even more “aloof” than Qianyuan Meiko, almost always keeping to herself. What was more incredible was that she seemed to adapt quite well, with no signs of falling behind the group.
It was as if Ailuodi had her own unique source of information.
Who exactly was she, and through what channels had she come into contact with the Paradise game?
Unfortunately, he knew too little about her to make any effective deductions.
“Big Zhang, you’re knowledgeable, can I ask you a question?” Zhou Zhi brushed off his backside and shifted to a more comfortable sitting position.
“Go ahead.”
“My high school biology teacher said plants need sunlight to grow, right? But visibility is so poor in the Misty Zone, getting all hazy just a short distance away. The light should be much worse than outside.” He pulled off a leafy twig from a bush, “But look at these plants… they’re growing just fine, aren’t they? No difference from the outside. What’s the reason for that?”
“Uh…” Zhang Zhiyuan was also stumped. After thinking for a moment, he realized Zhou Zhi made quite a point! The problem was that he wasn’t a botanist and his understanding of the subject was at most a high school level, truly at a loss as to where to even begin his analysis. “…I don’t know either.”
“Could it be that this isn’t fog at all?” Zhou Zhi suddenly speculated.
“What else could it be if it’s not fog?”
“Some kind of transparent gas, or maybe microorganisms? But it also obstructs people’s vision, creating this illusion of opacity…”
“Your guess is completely unfounded.” Zhang Zhiyuan replied instinctively, “In our line of work, evidence is most important.” After saying that, he realized his words were somewhat sensitive and deliberately glanced at Qianyuan Meiko and Ailuodi before whispering, “In any case, without collecting some samples for analysis, we’ll probably never know the answer.”
After all, his power alone was just too limited.
This world was too vast; it required more professional personnel to explore… physicists, biologists, geologists, engineers… anyone coming would do a better job than him.
He had to find real evidence of the existence of this world as soon as possible to get those above to take this matter seriously.
Suddenly, Zhou Zhi patted his shoulder, “Big Zhang, look there!”
Zhang Zhiyuan followed the direction pointed out by the other—only to see a faint blue light appearing at the edge of his vision, like fireflies staggering through a storm.
“Is that… Anthony?”
They all looked on with anticipation for a moment, and Qianyuan Meiko was the first to sense something wrong, “That blue light is much larger than the lanterns we carry!”
“Could it be that the lamp’s power is different?”
“But who else could it be if not the Russians?”
For a moment, the three exchanged bewildered looks.
“Shush!” Zhang Zhiyuan suddenly made a silence gesture, lying down and pressing his ear to the ground.
Klang, klang, klang…
The dull sound of metal colliding rhythmically approached, like the heartbeat of a giant.
His expression changed dramatically, “It’s a train!”
As he whispered, a steam behemoth burst through the fog, thunderously entering everyone’s field of vision! It pulled a long trail of white smoke overhead, and the headlamp embedded in the center of its front emitted a dazzling blue light. The mist retreated behind the glow, remarkably creating a clear area of nearly two hundred meters around the train!
