Chapter 31: Chapter 31: Driving the Train
When Ye Fan played the game, he knew that some supply boxes could unlock collective star upgrades.
However, this promotion was limited within a certain range, and not all units owned by him would be upgraded.
Only those who collected the supply box and those near it would receive the upgrade, while others wouldn’t.
When playing the game, Ye Fan was cautious and tried to send more troops to collect the boxes—it was a big win if they encountered a star upgrade.
Now, he had the money and planned to mass-produce soldiers anyway, so he might as well create more units to try it out.
Unexpectedly, it worked! The reward from this supply box was a collective star upgrade within a ten-meter range.
Five Army Soldiers had just emerged and instantly became One-star Soldiers.
The gap between Starless Soldiers and One-star Soldiers was substantial; each One-star Army Soldier had a supply capacity of 180 rounds, which equated to an additional 900 rounds of firepower for Ye Fan!
Even the newly born military dog turned into a One-star, and it looked quite large.
Ye Fan turned around and looked at all the units surrounding him, and his eyes immediately brightened.
In this Trojan defense battle, the total number of zombies eliminated had already reached nearly two thousand, and unknowingly, several of his subordinates had completed star upgrades.
With this collective star upgrade, it truly marked a significant transformation.
Wang Hu was already at the top of Three-star, unable to upgrade further, but the other eight conscripts collectively upgraded to Three-star!
The three under Li Biao went without saying, and the five produced later had advanced to Corporal during the battle, now collectively upgrading to Sergeant!
Each Three-star Conscript had a bullet supply of 210 rounds, forming a powerful fire group among these nine conscripts.
Two medics also upgraded to One-star, gaining an extra pistol magazine, but their primary skill wasn’t combat, but medical support.
"You two, has your medical level improved?" Ye Fan asked tentatively.
"Report, Commander! With our current level and equipment, we can now perform simple surgeries!"
Ye Fan was thrilled, patting their shoulders, amazed that they could perform surgeries so quickly. This star upgrade was truly profitable.
Beside him, Xu Haoran got promoted to Two-star in this upgrade.
His silenced submachine gun now had two magazines, totaling 150 rounds.
"What’s your main change?"
"Commander, my main change is agility. Now at Two-star, I can fight agile Quasi-Mutated Zombies barehanded, and if I upgrade to Three-star, I might even be able to single-handedly kill Agile Zombies!"
Ye Fan deeply understood the terror of Agile Zombies; their speed was too high for snipers to lock onto. He hadn’t imagined there’d be soldiers capable of killing Agile Zombies alone.
He then turned to Sniper Chen Chuan, who had also reached One-star.
"What about you? Any changes?"
"Report, Commander! My sniper rifle’s bullet count increased to twenty rounds, with improvements in all skill areas. Whether facing Armored Zombies or Agile Zombies, within 1500 meters, they’ll die in three shots!"
The initial purpose of creating the sniper was to deal with Armored Zombies, as they moved slowly, but unexpectedly, the first threat faced was Agile Zombies, leaving the sniper with little opportunity to showcase his abilities.
But after the upgrade, things changed; if he claimed that targets would die within three shots at 1500 meters, it likely meant that they could die in one shot.
In future battles, the main focus would be on dealing with Advanced Zombies, and the sniper’s upgrade was a huge gain, while the scout’s upgrade was largely intended for confronting human opponents.
Lastly, there’s Army Soldier Luo Fei and the military dog Xiaotian.
Military Dog Xiaotian became a Two-star Mutant Dog; if it previously looked as big as a female lion, it now resembles a male lion.
Nearby, Xiaotian gained a companion, another military dog sitting and panting by Xiaotian’s side, looking chummy.
Ye Fan knew that there was a world of difference between having one dog and two. A single dog faces enemies head-on, but two dogs can coordinate with each other.
A good tiger can’t withstand a pack of wolves—that’s the point.
Though dogs weren’t as efficient as soldiers when combating zombies, when it came to tracking, alertness, and confronting Mutant Beasts, dogs possessed skills that soldiers couldn’t match.
With money in hand, Ye Fan planned to further increase the number of military dogs.
Among everyone’s changes, none was as evident as Army Soldier Luo Fei’s transformation.
Luo Fei’s initial weapon was a semi-automatic rifle, but after upgrading to Three-star, his main weapon actually changed.
It became a light machine gun!
Ye Fan recognized that gun, a modified version based on foreign light machine guns, renowned worldwide.
High firing rate, large ammo capacity, light weight, and long lifespan were the advantages of this light machine gun.
Under the machine gun was a tripod that allowed convenient setup for use, or it could be retracted to function like a large automatic rifle.
The gun’s magazine was equipped with a circular turret and Luo Fei carried a belt of ammo around his body!
Previously in the game, Three-star Army Soldiers were extremely formidable ground units known for their fierce firepower; unexpectedly, in reality, they were equipped with machine guns.
"How many bullets do you have now?" Gazing at the soldier, Luo Fei with orange ammo belts hanging over him, like a miniaturized terminator, Ye Fan asked.
"Report, Commander! The daily bullet count for the light machine gun is 500 rounds!"
Ye Fan nodded happily. A machine gun is indeed a machine gun, with advantages that a rifle cannot compete with. Especially on the front lines, when a machine gun fires, it brings tremendous destructive power against the enemy army.
Several newly emerged army soldiers consciously stood behind Luo Fei, showing respect for their superior.
This collective star promotion transformed Ye Fan’s strength completely.
Touching the Type 23 at his waist and looking at the two medics who had somewhat enhanced their abilities, Ye Fan realized he seemed to have fallen behind again.
Originally, there were two people at a similar level to him, but now they had left him behind.
He finally couldn’t resist asking Nana, "Nana, is there any way for me to enhance my abilities?"
He didn’t hold much hope, but unexpectedly, Nana provided an answer.
"Sir, if you can construct a real combat laboratory, then it’s possible to develop it based on your commander’s constitution, though it’s not certain if it will succeed at present."
Ye Fan nodded, feeling a hint of delight in his heart. Although the construction of the real building was still some time away, at least there was hope.
Looking at his subordinates, with a whole twenty people plus two dogs, the unit was strong and vibrant, and Ye Fan felt there was no need to delay here any further.
"Get ready for action, eliminate the zombies downstairs completely!"
Chen Chuan was the first to lean out of the window, and with a shot from his sniper rifle!
"Report to the commander, the agile zombie has been eliminated!"
Ye Fan leaned out to see, and sure enough, the agile zombie that Chen Chuan had previously injured was now lying motionless on the ground.
The one-star sniper indeed possessed formidable strength.
Chen Chuan continued his actions, subsequently shooting and killing the remaining two quasi-mutated zombies, followed by the collective firing time for the soldiers.
On the ground, there were still three to four hundred zombies gathered, but they didn’t last five minutes before they turned into a pile of corpses.
"Let’s go, head downstairs to collect resources."
The group slid down the metal ladder, opened the iron door of the watchtower, and spread out to gather gold and silver for Ye Fan.
However, this time the amount of gold and silver was not much. Many of them were child zombies, having nothing at all.
Some elderly zombies, father zombies, and park employees also had nothing of value, with only a few pieces of jewelry found on some young mothers.
In the end, Ye Fan only ended up with a little over 400 in money.
"Alright, having something is better than nothing."
Looking at the amusement park now, there were very few zombies left, almost none to be seen, and if any, they were gathered on the rather distant other side.
Ye Fan didn’t feel like going to kill the distant zombies, as he had already wasted a lot of time on the road, with a long way still to go to reach home.
This watchtower was of no use if left here, so Ye Fan triggered the Red Alert to reclaim it at half price.
Built for 1200, now reclaimed for 600 in money.
Along with the money on hand, he had a little over a thousand now.
Ye Fan didn’t immediately use this bit over a thousand in money. It could be used to recruit more soldiers or produce an engineer. How exactly to use it, Ye Fan hadn’t decided yet, for now keeping it to see how things developed.
Ye Fan led the troop, climbing over the wall to leave Yida City Amusement Park.
Leaving here, the group, whose strength had greatly increased, advanced quickly, passed through a residential area, and arrived at the intersection of Airport Road and Front Station Road.
Checking the radar, Ye Fan already locked onto the next route forward.
In the city, there’s actually a road that is sparsely populated with zombies and very safe.
That is the railway!
The current trains and bullet trains are built with protective nets, which are difficult for zombies to climb over. By moving along the railway, they can even directly reach Ye Fan’s hometown train station.
Although it’s nearly a hundred kilometers away, their speed will increase significantly.
They bypassed the zombie infested station via a small path on Front Station Road, climbed over the railway protective net, and entered the station interior.
Here, he even saw two trains that had crashed into each other and overturned off the tracks. Luckily, it was inside the station, not blocking the distant railway.
Avoiding the zombie crowd near the platform, Ye Fan saw a white bullet train parked ahead.
This train hadn’t yet carried passengers, the cars were empty, so it avoided disaster when the apocalypse came.
There were train ends on both sides, with eight carriages in the middle.
Seeing this train, Ye Fan had an idea.
This hundred kilometers or so is rather slow on foot; if they could drive the train, wouldn’t it be much easier to get home?
"Xu Haoran, can you drive the train?"
"Report, commander, yes!"
"Good, let’s board the train and drive it home!"