CHAPTER 66: CHAPTER 66: STEAMPUNK ARMORED TRAIN

Due to the impact of natural disasters, the original railway transportation system was severely damaged. Although the railway lines had been restored to operation after costly emergency repairs, the original electric locomotives were evidently unable to run. After all, most of the high-voltage power supply networks along the line were destroyed in the previous fires and impacts.

So now, what runs on the railway tracks in Flame Country are all old-fashioned steam locomotives.

Although they are not as fast as electric locomotives, under the current circumstances, these coal-burning vintage engines are much more reliable than electric ones. A steam locomotive, when hitched with a coal car, can move around anywhere, without needing the support of a high-voltage power supply network along the route, and the maintenance requirements are much less.

Railways aren’t just about laying down tracks and considering it done. The smooth operation of railway transport heavily depends on railway maintenance. It’s vastly different from before the disaster; maintaining the normal use of the tracks has become much more cumbersome than it used to be. Ensuring the transportation of essential supplies is already quite a challenge.

Hearing the rumble of the train, Li and the city’s official hurriedly adjusted themselves; one quickly finishing his cigarette and tossing away the butt to prepare to receive the supplies, while the other signaled his subordinates to heighten their alertness.

Accompanied by the "clank clank" sound of the train wheels, a locomotive spewing white steam emerged from the darkness like a beast. The driver blew the whistle, and the piercing sound shattered through the night sky like the roar of some colossal creature.

What emerged from the darkness was indeed a beast—a massive creature wrapped entirely in steel. The engine was spewing thick white steam, enveloping the entire platform in white fog, blurring the view in an instant.

Behind the steam-belching engine were segments of the beast’s "body" made of steel. These carriages were all heavily armored, dotted with shooting ports. Some carriages even had turrets, looming grotesquely through the mist.

"Is this an Armored Train?" Li, being somewhat knowledgeable, naturally recognized this thing he had only seen in war movies.

This was something that once appeared during the First and Second World Wars, arming trains with armor and cannons, using them as mobile fortresses and firepower strongholds. Relying on the train’s mobility during wartime could indeed effectively ensure the safety of the railway lines and also be used to transport important supplies, as it is now.

But such an armored train also had a significant flaw; it relied heavily on railways. As long as the tracks were sabotaged, the powerful armored train wasn’t invincible to destruction.

However, under the current circumstances, such an armored train can be of significant use for transporting important supplies and can indeed effectively ensure the security of these supplies.

"Really... Where did they drag out this old relic from?" Li couldn’t help but sarcastically comment as he watched the armored train slowly pull into the platform, even though he realized it must be newly built, the concept of the armored train could indeed be described as an old relic.

The city official also found it somewhat overwhelming to handle the scene in front of him. He had received supplies at the train station several times before, but those times involved ordinary coal cars and freight trains, nothing as extravagant as an armored train.

Looking at the turrets and firing ports on the armored carriages, he couldn’t help but feel a bit horrified, while also being intimidated by the aura exuded by this iron beast.

Unlike Li and the city official who were intimidated by the armored train, Qin Lan, watching this iron monster emerge from the darkness, only felt a sense of fantasy.

"Is this the steampunk that Xin always used to talk about?" Qin Lan couldn’t help but mumble; the scene before her could only remind her of this descriptor.

A steam-emitting, iron-clad armored train amidst a sunless post-apocalyptic world; if she wasn’t already residing in reality after the apocalypse, Qin Lan might have thought this was a scene from a disaster movie before the catastrophe.

But unfortunately, the scene originally only seen in movies or historical documentaries became reality in this post-apocalyptic world.

In this current climate with temperatures steadily dropping, where June feels like December, steam locomotives are indeed more practical than electric ones in certain aspects, especially now that the railway power system is virtually out of commission.

Currently, across Flame Country, aside from a few railway lines where electric locomotives can still run, most have been replaced by steam locomotives.

As for why this historical relic of an armored train is being brought back out, one reason is to ensure the safety of transporting important supplies, another is to deter those who think the times have changed and want to take risks by reviving the tradition of railroad guerrillas from doing so.

So far, incidents of railway sabotage and robbery of material transport trains have occurred across various regions, making the use of armored trains to transport these vital supplies a practical necessity.

Most of these individuals come from villages and towns, where they survived the catastrophe by relying on community shelters. After the disaster, in order to acquire supplies, organizing gangs to sabotage railways and intercept trains isn’t impossible.

Most of these community shelters were temporarily built three months before the disaster, and those residing within were mostly people from the same village or nearby villages, largely related by family ties. Group crimes were not uncommon.

Such incidents were not rare in Flame Country in the past—setting up unauthorized barriers on roads to charge tolls, causing accidents to overturn trucks for loot...

Usually, whole villages committed the crimes, relying on the common rule that the law does not punish the masses, rendering even the police ineffective in many places.

As for conflicts with the police, flipping police cars was infrequent but not unheard of.

Before the disaster, these people certainly didn’t dare to destroy railways to derail trains. But for trains stopped on the tracks, they never abandoned the idea of stealing from them.

Such was the situation before the catastrophe, and after the disaster, these people became even more reckless. Thus, it’s understandable why the Flame Country government would use armored trains to escort crucial supplies, especially since each train hauls equipment critical to the lives of tens or even hundreds of thousands of people.

Under such monumental responsibility, these armored trains received military orders, and those carrying out the missions were all soldiers. Military orders mean that if someone recklessly challenges them, they might indeed be subject to lethal force.

The heavy armored train came to a screeching halt on the platform.

The train doors opened, and the first to disembark were a group of armed soldiers. After quickly setting up guard formations on the platform, an officer holding a document emerged from the carriage.

Upon seeing the officer appear, the city’s official hastily approached him.