84: Chapter 84 Su Xiaoxiao's Anxiety and Ambition

Su Xiaoxiao extended her somewhat rough little hands, gently took off the heavy black-framed glasses on the bridge of her nose, and looked at herself in the mirror—with an ordinary ponytail and a body as scrawny as a bean sprout—and couldn't help but let out a long sigh.

In this elite harem group of goddess-like figures personally built by Su Chen, she, Su Xiaoxiao, seemed to have become the most insignificant and easily replaceable peripheral character.

As the combat power of the abyss roarer became more and more terrifying, the sense of crisis in her heart was like a venomous snake flicking its tongue, gnawing at her sense of security day and night.

She recalled the shocking scene of the one-sided massacre of regular army mechs on the plains yesterday.

Sister Chu Qingxue, wearing that ice-blue long dress fluttering in the wind, had just casually waved her hand, and her S-rank Extreme Cold Frost could instantly freeze dozens of tons of steel behemoths. Her cool demeanor exuded a nobility that one could only look up to.

Sister Zhang Man was even more like a humanoid female T-Rex; with her B-rank Steel Body combined with an exoskeleton armor, she could dent military-grade anti-explosion steel plates with a single punch. Her capable and heroic posture was handsome to the depths of the soul.

And then there was An Ye, who had just completed her bloodline mutation last night. Setting aside the terrifying talent of her SS-rank Void Assassination, just her devilish figure—so hot and seductive it could give one a nosebleed—and the nine fox tails behind her that could hook the Train Master's soul away were enough to make any woman feel deep despair.

Even Sister Liu Ruyan, who had always been in charge of logistics and medical care, not only mastered the core healer skill of S-rank Life Recovery, but also possessed exaggerated assets like a mature peach that her tight-fitting qipao could barely contain, enough to outshine everyone.

Although little sister Ye Qingyu had a tsundere temperament, her S-rank Mechanical Resonance was a priceless treasure that could personally build god-tier technology like a Hover Chassis for the train.

Even Lin Momo, who usually seemed the most useless, at least had her A-rank Vitality Notes, which could provide the entire team with irreplaceable top-tier group buffs. Moreover, her soft and cute Lolita appearance was the Train Master's favorite stress-relief tool to tease.

"And me..."

Su Xiaoxiao lowered her head, looked at her chest which was as flat as an airfield, and then pinched her short legs which had no allure to speak of. A layer of aggrieved mist couldn't help but well up in her eyes.

"I'm just an ordinary person who hasn't even awakened the lowest F-rank ability."

"Aside from being able to do the accounts and bargain with those rough men in the black market to buy some sanitary pads, I have no core value that is irreplaceable to this team."

In this cruel wasteland world where human life is cheaper than a dog's and which follows the principles of absolute strength and equivalent exchange.

Su Xiaoxiao knew better than anyone that once a person lost their utility, being heartlessly discarded like trash by the strong was her only miserable end.

She was too afraid.

She was afraid that one day, the Train Master Su Chen, who had pulled her out of the abyss of despair like a god, would look at her with those cold eyes reserved for trash and tell her to get off this warm and safe train.

"No, I, Su Xiaoxiao, absolutely cannot be a parasite who can only hide behind others and wait for death!"

Su Xiaoxiao abruptly raised her head, a flash of unprecedented stubbornness and frantic determination appearing in her bloodshot eyes.

She forcefully wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes with the back of her hand, put the black-framed glasses back on her nose, pushed the frame, and instantly entered a desperate combat state.

Just then, the cold, highest-level warning prompt of the AI big-sister-type Ling Yi suddenly rang out over the holographic broadcast.

"Attention all personnel: the abyss roarer will officially enter the high-risk abnormal weather zone—[Thunderstorm Radiation Cloud Layer]—in three minutes."

"The interior of this cloud layer is filled with irregular radiation lightning of up to 100,000 volts. All personnel, please do not approach any metal hatch doors that are not equipped with insulation coating."

Hearing this broadcast, Su Xiaoxiao's heart skipped a beat, and then a crazy idea to prove herself began to grow and spread uncontrollably in her mind.

She knew about this [Thunderstorm Radiation Cloud Layer]; it was an extremely lethal weather condition unique to the hundred-meter altitude of the wasteland.

In that pitch-black, eerie cloud layer, not only did violent radiation lightning—capable of instantly turning an armored vehicle into molten iron—roll year-round, but a terrifying lightning-attribute avian known as the [High-Energy Thunderbird] also resided there.

Although these High-Energy Thunderbirds were ill-tempered and extremely dangerous, their bodies contained lightning cores of astonishing purity and high-grade conductive feathers.

Just now, while passing the mechanical carriage, Su Xiaoxiao had personally heard Ye Qingyu muttering and complaining there.

Ye Qingyu said that the corpses of those High-Energy Thunderbirds were excellent top-tier materials for upgrading the train's Electromagnetic Pulse Main Cannon. Unfortunately, the automatic mechanical arms on the exterior of the train weren't equipped with lightning protection modules. Once they were forcibly extended to retrieve the corpses in the thunderstorm clouds, it would cause a short circuit in the entire train's electrical system, so they could only watch helplessly as those precious materials fell to the ground.

"If... if I can personally retrieve the corpses of those High-Energy Thunderbirds."

Su Xiaoxiao bit her pale lip, her small hands clenched tightly into fists due to excessive nervousness.

"That way, Qingyu's experiments won't stall, and the Train Master will see that I, Su Xiaoxiao, am not a useless piece of trash!"

Having made up her mind, this little housekeeper, who was usually the most afraid of death and would want to crawl into a crack in the ground at the sight of danger, actually made the craziest decision of her life.

She immediately turned and ran to the deepest part of the supply warehouse, rummaging through everything to find a set of incredibly heavy, old-era Insulating Protective Suits that emitted a pungent smell of rubber.

This suit was originally intended as a backup for maintaining the train's external high-voltage lines. Wearing it on Su Xiaoxiao's petite frame, it looked exceptionally bloated and ridiculous, like a clumsy penguin.

She tightly pulled on the heavy insulation gloves, which could withstand tens of thousands of volts, took a deep breath, and while everyone else was still resting in their rooms, she quietly climbed toward the manual material collection port at the top of the train through the maintenance passage, like a thief.

By this time, the abyss roarer had already plunged into that [Thunderstorm Radiation Cloud Layer] that was rolling like the apocalypse.

Looking out through the train window, the entire world had turned a suffocating dark purple. Countless radiation lightning bolts, as thick as wild dragons, were frantically tearing through the air in the clouds, letting out deafening roars.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

The two twin-linked Vulcan Machine Gun Towers at the top of the train, under the precise control of Ling Yi, were frantically spitting out lethal tongues of fire.

Those [High-Energy Thunderbirds] trying to approach the train were torn into shredded meat in the dense hail of bullets, like moths to a flame.

Occasionally, a few downed thunderbird corpses would hit the train's smooth, dark-gold roof and roll along with the airflow, making dull thudding sounds.

Su Xiaoxiao climbed with difficulty through that narrow, dark maintenance passage. The earth-shaking thunder exploded right above her head, making her eardrums ache and tears well up in her eyes.

But she gritted her teeth hard and didn't make a sound, finally reaching the manual material collection port located under the roof of the middle section of the train.

This was a circular hatch about one meter in diameter. When opened, it would form a brief Air-lock, allowing a person to lean out halfway to pick up items on the roof.

Su Xiaoxiao tremblingly extended her hand in the insulation glove and entered the forced-open password on the oil-stained mechanical control panel.

"Hiss—"

Along with the sound of air pressure being released, the heavy armored door on the roof slowly flipped open. A blast of cold air, mixed with a strong smell of ozone and a violent gale, instantly slammed into Su Xiaoxiao's face like a heavy punch.

She was nearly blown back into the passage by the gale. She could only use all her strength to grip the edge of the hatch with both arms and with difficulty poked out her small head, which was covered by the heavy insulation helmet.

The scene before her was like a living hell.

The sky was filled with dancing purple electric snakes. Several [High-Energy Thunderbird] corpses, their bodies wrapped in electric light, were stuck in the armor gaps less than two meters away from the hatch.

"If I get these, I won't be useless anymore..."

Su Xiaoxiao struggled to open her eyes in the gale. Most of her body leaned out of the hatch as she extended her heavy insulated arm, desperately reaching for the nearest thunderbird corpse.

One meter... half a meter... ten centimeters.

Finally, Su Xiaoxiao's fingers in the insulation glove tightly grabbed the thunderbird wing, which emitted a burnt smell.

An unprecedented surge of wild joy flooded her heart. She pulled back hard, successfully dragging the thunderbird corpse, which weighed dozens of kilograms, into the Air-lock.

"I did it! Train Master, Xiaoxiao did it!"

She excitedly wanted to shout out in the gale, her small face, red from the cold, filled with the proud smile of a victor.

However, at the very moment she was about to pull back her body and close this life-threatening hatch.

From high in the heavens, deep within those rolling dark purple clouds, a ball of dazzling lightning, compressed to the extreme, suddenly formed without any warning.

That was no ordinary natural lightning, but a bolt of [Residual Radiation Lightning]—a terrifying phenomenon formed from the essence of lightning dissipated after the deaths of countless High-Energy Thunderbirds, mixed with wasteland radiation!

This lightning seemed attracted by the similar aura of the thunderbird corpse in Su Xiaoxiao's hand. It tore through layers of cloud explosions and, at a terrifying speed of light that was impossible to react to, struck straight down toward the collection port at the top of the train!

"Warning! Warning! Ultra-high-energy radiation lightning strike detected, about to hit the D4 area hatch!"

The holographic screens in the train's main control room were instantly filled with a piercing red color, and Ling Yi's shrill, highest-level alarm frantically exploded in every corner of the abyss roarer.