Chapter 335 - 233: Hold Your Ground!

Shu Wei added.

Zhang Min frowned, "Then what should we do?"

"We’ll have to use the clumsy method."

Su Huan sighed and sat back on the steel beam as a rumble of thunder descended, scattering the gathered crabs.

The crackling sound of explosions surrounded the entire Iron Mountain Shelter once again.

The storm grew even more intense, yet the armed train on the water hardly swayed.

Because the deck had already piled up into a mountain of crabs, the train’s waterline had deepened by a meter.

Zhang Min bit her pink lip, looking at Su Huan’s back, stubbornly expelling the crabs over and over again.

Besides her, Lin Jin was silently manipulating flames to bombard the crabs in the corner.

He was currently still a Tier One "Fire Manipulator."

But his abilities had already made significant progress, with all three main skills "Flame Control," "High Temperature Barrier," "Fire Seed" reaching Level 3.

In addition, he had awakened a skill called "Explosive Flame."

It could imbue flames with explosive properties.

Whenever he wished, he could cause any flame to explode in the most spectacular way.

"Fire Seed" was embedding a flame seed on a living being, allowing him to choose whether to ignite it within a certain time and distance.

The conditions for planting the fire seed weren’t stringent; as long as his flame touched the opponent, the seed would still exist even if the flame was extinguished.

"Fire Seed" wasn’t a physical flame but more like a mental imprint left by Lin Jin.

Now with the "Explosive Flame" skill, combined with the "Fire Seed" trait, he could ignite the "Fire Seed" like detonating a bomb.

Through personal trial by the train conductor, a Tier One Evolver could suffer minor injuries if caught off guard.

But the truly terrifying part wasn’t the explosion itself.

It was the flame that followed the explosion, with Lin Jin’s water-resistant flame traits, burning without means to put it out meant certain death.

In terms of abilities, only Shu Wei on the entire train could completely counter him.

However, Lin Jin had his eyes only on the train conductor.

But now...

Lin Jin felt that he and Su Huan not only hadn’t gotten closer but were instead getting further and further apart.

The roaring lasted another ten minutes.

Although Zhang Min was excited, absorbing too much negative emotion had already prevented her from properly controlling herself. Looking at Su Huan ahead, she gritted her teeth, continuing to persist in dispersing.

Lin Jin was a bit tired.

To blow up those crabs, he had to use multiple skills in conjunction each time.

The high-intensity output was a significant test on both energy and spirit.

Su Huan showed no change.

After half an hour.

Zhang Min had stopped dispersing, her gem-like eyes fixed on Su Huan, biting her nail, lost in thought.

Shu Wei watched cautiously from the side.

Lin Jin was already very tired, starting to reduce the intensity of the flames, no longer aiming to burn them all at once, but merely maintaining the explosive effect.

Ensuring that they could blast apart heaps of crabs.

Lin Jin looked in Su Huan’s direction.

The storm blew so hard it was difficult to keep one’s eyes open, yet that blurry black figure stood like a nail, unwavering.

Tall, mysterious, commanding.

The lightning snaked through the sky, steadily striking the gathering crabs.

After an hour of use, not only was Su Huan not exhausted, but his control over energy had become even more adept.

The currents that would occasionally injure his comrades initially now cleverly avoided them each time as they flowed from Lao San and the others.

Even with rain drawing them in.

Being able to see his progress with the naked eye, he didn’t even feel bored.

Two more hours passed.

The lightning not only didn’t weaken but became even fiercer. Initially, the crabs could maintain at around ten floors to tug at Su Huan, but now they could only barely rise about three meters above the water surface. Breaching this boundary invited thunderous strikes.

Watching the spirited Su Huan.

A single thought appeared in everyone’s minds at the same time.

"Is this guy still human?"

A power plant isn’t even this outrageous, right?

Lin Jin could no longer persist, sitting under a tin house, gripping a Pan-energy Crystal in one hand, eyes full of bewilderment at the vast flashes of electricity.

If this is evolution.

Then what are they?

Maladapted?

He had a strong illusion.

Perhaps they were the real evolution.

Su Huan is practically ascending to godhood.

Zhang Min had already gone downstairs, nothing about the train conductor’s performance surprised her anymore.

Even if Su Huan now ascended by stepping on his own feet, she would find it natural.

Yet her gaze on Su Huan grew increasingly strange.

Shu Wei didn’t leave; she stood in the wind and rain, getting whipped by the tides for two hours.

Her entire body was numb.

She actually wanted to leave, but her body was in shock, unable to move.

Then nobody noticed her condition, and so she inexplicably stayed there listening to the thunder for two hours.

Lao San wasn’t particularly affected by this. In his simple worldview, the more impressive the conductor was, the more impressive he would be. As for how impressive the conductor should be?

As impressive as he could be!

So after arranging the soldiers’ patrols, he pulled a few officers to start playing cards and bragging.

At first, Qu Hang and the others were a bit restrained, but it wasn’t a big issue. Except for Lao San, the others were all soldiers from the Steel Council.

They also caught a couple of crabs, and after they were full and had some drinks, they chatted about their days as soldiers and cursed He Jie, loosening up.

A bunch of bloodthirsty killers who didn’t care about danger.

Even if the crabs charged at them, they’d just curse and take up their guns for a big fight.

If they died, they’d leave a patriotic remark, or depart cleanly.

"Four sevens, bomb!"

"Impressive!"

"Can’t beat that!"

"The conductor is the most impressive!"

"Brothers, let’s toast to the conductor."

"If there’s no wine, go downstairs and get some, doesn’t matter if it’s red or white..."

The people at Iron Mountain Shelter didn’t have such strong nerves.

The survivors on the rooftop were all driven inside the building—not because Su Huan was harsh, but because the wet iron sheets really attracted lightning and were hard to control at first.

So they simply drove them all down once and for all.

They weren’t like Lao San, who would just get a little energized by a shock or two.

A normal human body is too fragile; a random current could take a whole group.

After all, they decided to protect these people.

If they ended up killing half of them, it would be a big joke.

The Qi Family members were also hiding among the people downstairs.

Xiaodong was clinging to the window, eyes filled with longing, watching the lightning pour down outside.

Qi Jian Country asked in a low voice, "How long has it been going on?"

Qi Zhendong said, "More than three hours. It’s probably not an Evolver, it’s some unknown method."

Hearing their conversation, someone nearby chimed in.

"It must be; evolving, they’re still humans. This lightning is a force of nature, it’s definitely not something humans can control."

"Right, they must’ve used some means we don’t know about."

Qi Zhiyuan, squatting in a corner with his hands hugging his knees, lifted his head.

His eyes gleamed, as if he saw hope.

"That’s definitely it; they’ve just used some trick to deceive us. Dad, as long as we find the device they’re using to generate lightning, we can defeat them."

Yu Yue, busy upstairs cooking, felt a slight tremor in his sharp ears, and suddenly smiled.

Then his expression became serious as he contemplated how to handle the crabs on the counter.

The people around, hearing Qi Zhiyuan’s voice, made way.

That’s when Qi Jian Country saw his son huddled there, looking at his bruised and battered face, frowning deeply.

"Come here."

The previous events had been too chaotic, and he didn’t even know how his son’s face got injured.

Qi Zhiyuan quickly got up and ran over.

"What happened to your face?"

Sitting by the window, Iron Old Man didn’t turn around.

Qi Zhiyuan’s eyes flickered, but with his grandfather right there, he didn’t dare to lie, only explaining a part of the truth, "I made a mistake, got hit by Grandpa."

But Qi Jian Country, too, had been in the army and wasn’t so easily fooled.

Besides, he knew his son’s character very well.

The incident at Iron Mountain Shelter tonight, he was at least seventy percent involved, and if Lao San hadn’t killed all the insiders, he would’ve asked long ago.

Qi Jian Country’s gaze was calm, "Tell me exactly why you were hit, and how it happened."

Seeing his father’s expression, Qi Zhiyuan knew he was in trouble.

His legs couldn’t help but tremble, and his previously wet pants were cold, as if a chilling wind were piercing into him.

He chose his words carefully, skimming over the major points of the night’s events.

He didn’t dare to lie but would choose to speak about the least threatening aspects to him.

After listening, Qi Jian Country didn’t explode in anger as usual.

He merely said softly, "All these years, I’ve spent too little time focusing on you while being in the military. That’s my failing as a father."

Qi Zhiyuan was taken aback, suddenly lifting his head, looking surprised.

"Dad?"

"Zhiyuan, stand still!"

Just as Qi Zhiyuan was bewildered, a more vicious slap landed on the intact side of his face.