Armed Train in the Apocalypse-Chapter 290 - 213: Deep-Sea Hydrothermal Vent Tubeworms

A few rope-like objects extended to the surface of the water, entangling the few struggling zombies.

They appeared semi-transparent indigo, flickering on and off, with the ends stretching deeper underwater.

"Should we continue downward?"

"These zombies seem like bait."

A soldier operating the underwater detection equipment remarked unexpectedly.

As the most professional drone pilot, he was also tasked with the first underwater exploration.

"Get a little closer for a close-up observation of the vines."

Only a few people were lost in thought, while the staff below quickly captured screenshots, recorded videos, and systematically stored the data.

There were also a few small-scale discussions.

"What kind of mutant plant is this?"

"Hollow inside, capable of glowing, feels like a deep-sea worm."

"This is freshwater, right? How could there possibly be deep-sea…"

"Just speculating, the data has been uploaded."

The train's database is unified, and laboratories like those of Professor Ma, Vice President Deng, Director Xu can all access this data.

Based on the uploaded images, various experts quickly came up with a few relatively reliable answers.

The whole process took about three minutes.

Xiaozhao received the information and pulled up comparison images on a nearby monitor, saying to Su Huan, "According to the observation, the surface of the vines is covered with tumor-like suction cups, over twenty meters long, semi-transparent indigo in color, likely mutated from deep-sea hydrothermal vent tube worms."

"Worms?" Su Huan carefully examined the side-by-side images and asked with interest, "What is this thing? A bug? A plant?"

Xiaozhao swiped a few times, and various data on the worms appeared on the screen.

"It's an animal, lacking a cell wall, contains mitochondria, but currently just speculation, it's uncertain if the original form is a worm, further confirmation is needed."

"That's simple, have Lao San eat those baits."

Su Huan stroked his chin.

Yu Jing's eyes flickered, and the Mechanical Puppet behind her walked out.

As soon as Su Huan spoke, the struggling zombies on the screen were torn apart by the combat team.

The bodies hadn't had time to sink before being grabbed by the train's mechanical arm.

The vines below felt the tug, and a burst of blue light dragged the zombies underwater.

Before they could be pulled back, the Mechanical Puppet had already splashed into the water with a long knife slicing through the waves, cleanly severing the "vines," which were then lifted by the mechanical arm.

And that blue light spread underwater like lightning, instantly opening a huge "blue net" over forty meters in diameter.

At a glance, the number of "vines" exceeded over a hundred.

Much like startled water snakes, they fiercely attacked the armored train.

"Materials have been extracted, testing is underway."

"Then let's continue forward," Su Huan said casually.

No one paid much attention to the dozens of vines; for survivors, hundreds of twenty-meter-long deep-sea worms were a terrifying nightmare.

But for a train over a hundred segments and thirty meters long, they were nothing more than weeds underwater.

The detection equipment nimbly avoided a few waving vines, driving slightly ahead, capturing the scene beneath the train onto the screens.

The blue worms bared their teeth and clung to the train, finding they couldn't twine around it; they were only about twenty meters long in total, but the armored train was sixteen meters wide, ultimately futilely lashing against the train's heavy armor, seeking a gap to infiltrate.

But how was that possible…

Vice President Deng personally ensured not even a drop of water could get in, let alone such thick vines!

Everyone who witnessed this scene was enveloped by a profound sense of security.

Especially the staff below the command platform.

Their screens could switch between various scenes inside and outside the train; seeing the torrent roaring outside while sitting in the warm and clean space of the carriage, aware of the fierce and terrifying mutated creatures below but powerless against them.

The feeling was simply exhilarating.

Not to mention the importance of work on the command platform, even sitting in a safe corner, monitoring each situation in real-time, made people flock to it.

Su Huan felt nothing as he watched the few vines snapped by the train.

As his own strength increased, the safety the train once provided was gradually diminishing.

He even thought about how thrilling it would be to leap from the highest rooftop of an adjacent office building into the surging waters below.

To let those ink-black floodwaters completely engulf him.

As for the dangers in the water…

They were only dangerous to ordinary people; the train conductor could directly boil this entire water area!

The train continued forward, cutting through waves, entering the city's main road.

There were more debris on the water's surface, stalls, furniture, small vehicles… floating, while most things sank to the riverbed.

The screen's image transformed several times, becoming a new perspective of the underwater city.

Once-familiar streets, signs, and streetlights lay submerged in the currents, as if freeze-framed at once.

The greenery along the streets had only bare, pitch-black trunks left, gradually decaying underwater.

Lines of vehicles congested and piled up on either side of the road, covered with thick silt and unknown vegetation, with broken glass windows on either side's buildings, leaving only gaping black cavities, shadows flickering in and out.

The overcast skies made visibility on the water surface extremely poor, even darker below.

Fortunately, the searchlights at the mechanical arm's ends were powerful enough; while unable to illuminate the entire area, it sufficed for use.