190: Chapter 190 Soothing Hearts and Skillfully Empowering Them!

Fan Sinian's worries weren't entirely about the surface-level issue of insufficient space.

The most significant problem was that letting so many Merfolk board the Astral Express would inevitably disrupt the current base of human passengers.

He had just secretly observed that there were at least three to five hundred Merfolk squeezed into the corridor.

And the number of currently surviving human passengers was less than three hundred.

If any irreconcilable conflict arose later and both sides actually started fighting, the humans wouldn't even have the advantage!

It wasn't just Fan Sinian; the other captains had similar thoughts.

Therefore, no one dared to respond to Lin Xiao at first.

The atmosphere at the scene appeared very strange.

Lin Xiao naturally noticed this phenomenon.

He couldn't help but chuckle, scanning the crowd: "Everyone, do not have any other concerns. Anyone who has boarded the train can become one of our own. If anyone harbors ulterior motives..."

As he spoke, he flipped his hand to take out his heavy battle axe and slammed it onto the ground with a clang, "My axe is the best lie detector!"

Jing Hua, who was to the side, tilted her head to look at Princess Xiyao, as if seeking her opinion.

However, this princess was still immersed in the grief of losing her country and her father, the Emperor, and made no reaction whatsoever to what was happening in the outside world.

With no other choice, Jing Hua had to bite the bullet and step forward.

"The surviving old Merfolk troops from the battlefield only number less than four hundred, and that's even counting the guard unit by the Princess's side..."

Less than four hundred?

Lin Xiao was very surprised and hurriedly asked: "Judging by the scale of your military formation earlier, you had at least a thousand people assembled, right? Why is the casualty rate so high?"

Hearing this, Jing Hua couldn't help but sigh and explained: "After all, they are all female Merfolk, and their combat strength is far inferior to those Merfolk Imperial Guards strengthened by source essence. Being able to have forty percent survive is already the best outcome."

"It is precisely for this reason that we have always been conducting guerrilla warfare and have never confronted the troops under Cang Ming head-on," Pearl Tear added from the side.

"I see..."

Lin Xiao nodded and began to ponder to himself.

In fact, his main purpose for wanting to take in these Merfolk was to consolidate his own power.

He held absolute trust in the few captains under his command who had been through life and death with him.

But he harbored a trace of wariness toward the other human passengers.

As the saying goes, one must always guard against others.

As for these Merfolk behind him, Lin Xiao was not worried.

With the jade slip in hand, they would naturally obey his every command.

Furthermore, besides being by his side, they had nowhere else to go.

If they stayed in the deep sea, they would only face a dead end!

Lin Xiao gathered his thoughts and then continued: "The number is even smaller than I imagined, so... let them all board the train!"

Fan Sinian opened his mouth, wanting to say something.

But seeing Lin Xiao's unquestionable gaze, he swallowed his words back down.

This top supporter big shot had always had a way of doing things; perhaps he had already made plans in his heart.

Fan Sinian thought this way and then reported the casualty situation of his team.

"The passengers who rushed to the battlefield this time were all drawn from various carriages, totaling one hundred people. This time, there were seventeen seriously injured, thirty-five lightly injured, and nine killed in action."

He paused and continued: "If it weren't for Brother Liu and CPUs Kongzhen holding the front, the casualties would have been even worse. Fighting in the water is really not our strong suit..."

Zhou Jun, who was responsible for tallying the situation on the Astral Express, immediately followed up: "We had Chen Pingan helping on our side, so the battle situation was much better. In the first half, there were five seriously injured, fourteen lightly injured, and no deaths."

"As for the second half of the train... twenty seriously injured, sixty-one lightly injured, and twelve dead."

Lin Xiao calculated the casualty ratio in his mind while slowly nodding.

The passengers in the rear carriages were not like Fan Sinian, Fang Yuan, and the others, who had experienced several battles together, had equipment, and had cultivated combat tacit understanding.

These people's average combat strength was not high to begin with, and facing Merfolk Berserkers whose combat strength far exceeded that of ordinary Imperial Guards, it was inevitable that there would be a large number of casualties.

If they had been placed under his command earlier, perhaps today's tragic situation would not have occurred.

"Old Fan, Yuaner."

Lin Xiao turned to the two captains, "How are those pieces of equipment I asked you to recover earlier?"

Fan Sinian slapped his thigh and hurriedly responded: "Brother Lin, according to your instructions, except for equipment broken beyond use, we picked up everything we could!"

Fang Yuan, who was next to him, added a few more sentences: "In addition to ordinary Bio-Armor, there are also a large number of blades and shields. We did a rough count: over three hundred sets of armor and over five hundred weapons."

Lin Xiao nodded and then looked at The three women, including Jiang Wanwan.

"You guys tidy up the equipment later, then distribute it to all the passengers on the Astral Express who participated in the battle. One set per person, and the rest will be confiscated."

"Huh?"

Wen Yiran stood up from the sofa with a "swoosh," her eyes wide open.

"Is it free?"

"Of course." Lin Xiao leaned back on the sofa, his tone calm, "Everyone has been through a battle, and everyone contributed effort, so there should be rewards."

"But..."

Wen Yiran almost blurted out "Then wouldn't we be losing big time?" but swallowed the words back at the tip of her tongue. However, the pained expression on her face couldn't be hidden at all.

She suppressed her inner unwillingness and changed the way she asked: "Brother Lin, if you really do this, then wouldn't the people who bought equipment earlier be taking a huge loss?"

Lin Xiao smiled, his gaze sweeping over the captains who were equally full of confusion, and spoke unhurriedly:

"Loss? How could it be a loss?

If you didn't have that Bio-Armor on you, would you still be able to stand here unscathed?

You wouldn't even be able to leave the carriage, let alone go head-to-head with the Merfolk Imperial Guards and Berserkers.

Therefore, those who bought equipment earlier made a very cost-effective investment. They spent the money for one set of equipment to save their own lives, and now they have earned an extra set of armor for free."

It seems... that is the logic.

Everyone nodded in agreement.

Fan Sinian looked down at the scratched Bio-Armor on his body, lost in thought.

"Old Fan."

Lin Xiao walked up to Fan Sinian.

"You bought one set earlier, and this time I gave you another one, right?"

Fan Sinian nodded: "That's right, but Brother Lin, holding two sets of armor in my hands is useless. I can't sell them either, after all, the whole Astral Express already has them."

The corners of Lin Xiao's mouth curled up slightly: "Aren't the sets everyone has all Level 2 sets?"

He paused and said mysteriously: "How about this, you can buy another set from me. After you collect three of the same sets, I can help you upgrade them to a Level 3 set for free."

As soon as these words were spoken, all the captains showed expressions of shock.

"Huh? Really? Brother Lin, don't kid me!" Fan Sinian opened his mouth wide, looking incredulous.

"Three Level 2 sets for one Level 3 set?"

Liu Bi, who had not spoken the entire time, couldn't help but exclaim, his voice even trembling.

Is there such a way of doing business?

Compared to everyone's shock, the expressions of The three women standing beside Lin Xiao became unusually colorful.

Especially Wen Yiran, her eyes were practically glowing green!

She immediately opened her private messages and simultaneously poked Jiang Wanwan and Tian Xiwei.

[ID 07-01 Wen Yiran: That's right! Brother Lin has that precious wonder item that can synthesize low-level equipment into high-level equipment!]

Jiang Wanwan blinked, her gaze toward Lin Xiao carrying a smile.

Tian Xiwei quietly gave a thumbs up.

Lin Xiao, standing in the crowd, picked up his coconut juice and took a sip unhurriedly.

"Everyone can spread this news." His tone was very casual, "Who wouldn't want to get a Level 3 set to wear?"

Fan Sinian, who was to the side, was already silently calculating in his heart.

Should he ask Brother Lin to buy another set?

Meanwhile, Lin Xiao had already arrived in front of Jing Hua.

"Does your Merfolk old troops' secret base still have any remaining supplies?" he asked.

Jing Hua nodded and replied respectfully: "Yes, there are still quite a few supplies in the base. There isn't much equipment, but a lot of food and medicine have been stockpiled..."

"There's food and medicine? Good, very good!"

Upon hearing this, Lin Xiao immediately revealed an innocent-looking smile.

"Since I am your master, then... shouldn't these supplies rightfully belong to me?"