Lambert returned to the train and pulled out the tablet to check the map. His eyes finally landed on a station.
"I once visited Paddington Station in London City. The central control room there allows for the control of all railway junctions in London," he said.
"Is it computer - controlled?" Feng Yusheng asked. "But there's no electricity now."
"Large stations have emergency diesel generators," Lambert replied. "They're designed to handle sudden power outages. Generally, two sets of backup power measures are in place. Otherwise, if a train arrives and the tracks can't be changed in time, a major accident will occur."
"Since some so - called genius, who gave a one - star rating after only reading a few chapters of a book, thought only he knew that trains need refueling," Lambert continued, "generally speaking, large stations have special refueling facilities. And since there are usually quite a number of trains stopping at these stations, there's no need to worry about running out of fuel. Besides, replacing the locomotive can solve the problem of insufficient fuel. It takes half an hour to fill up a locomotive, and it can run nearly a thousand kilometers."
"Still, as I said," Shao Ming remarked, "I hope you're right."
"Wait, wait," Wellington interjected. "Are you planning to enter London City?"
Lambert nodded. "We need to change all the tracks to the correct positions so as to reach the Channel Tunnel smoothly."
Wellington seemed to have a sudden thought and said, "Let's go to Luton. There should be usable helicopters at Luton Airport."
"Helicopters?" Shao Ming queried.
Wellington quickly explained, "Many parts of the city have been bombed. Although the west side wasn't the main attack direction, it was the advance direction of another rescue team, so the road conditions in the city might not be very friendly."
"So you want us to go in by helicopter?" Feng Yusheng asked. "Won't the zombies in the city be attracted?"
"No," Wellington said firmly. "There are hardly any zombies left on the west side of the city. Even if there are some, we can quickly evacuate by helicopter."
The remaining three people thought for a while and decided to agree to Wellington's plan. Driving would also attract quite a number of mutants, and it wasn't the first time they'd been trapped in a room. Going by helicopter was safer from the sky. Moreover, Luton is only 15 kilometers away from where we are. It wouldn't be a loss to go and have a look.
"Alright, the plan is settled," Shao Ming said. "Let's set off after lunch."
After lunch, the several of them began packing up their equipment.
Wellington was standing at the back of the train, looking at a photo in his hand. When he saw Shao Ming approaching, he quickly put the photo in his pocket.
"Your family?" Shao Ming asked.
"Yes," Wellington nodded. A smile of happiness spread across the face of this tough soldier. "I can be considered to have served the country until the last moment. Now it's time to find my family."
"We'll be able to reach Germany soon," Shao Ming said.
Deep down, he didn't want this pilot to leave the team. If possible, he even wanted to tow a helicopter away.
The four of them prepared their weapons and ammunition, grabbed some food, and left the railway track.
To get from this track to the urban area of Luton, they simply need to head straight northeast and cross a small hilly area.
At first, the several of them were quite cautious. But before long, they found that the place they were walking through was really remote, and there were no mutants nearby at all.
Considering what Wellington had said, there weren't many mutants in the surrounding city either.
The several of them started chatting. The three of them seemed to have a lot of questions for the newly - joined member.
Walking on the country path, it seems as if the word "apocalypse" has no connection with them. They're more like people on a spring outing.
"So you didn't have any doubts after receiving the order?" Shao Ming asked. "To rescue a group of... leaders of a country that no longer exists?"
"Watch your words," Wellington said seriously. "This is the responsibility of the army, the bounden duty of a soldier. At that time, the army hadn't completely collapsed yet, and we needed to obey orders."
"Oh, okay."
Shao Ming was startled by Wellington's serious tone. "Sorry, I shouldn't have said that."
"It's okay," Wellington said. "If I had known it would turn out like this, I would have just found a plane and run away at the beginning."
"You said you sent your family away at the very beginning," Feng Yusheng asked curiously. "How did you manage that? I couldn't even get a plane ticket."
Wellington smiled slightly and pointed to his rank.
"After all, I'm also a junior officer," Wellington said. "Although it doesn't count for much in London City, I still knew a few friends in the airlines..."
Wellington took out the photo of his wife and children from his bag and handed it to the three of them. "Look, my wife and children. Aren't they good - looking?"
After saying that, he seemed a bit downcast.
"They'll be fine," Feng Yusheng said.
The country path after the rain wasn't too difficult to walk on. About four hours later, the several of them saw patches of houses not far away.
"That's Luton," Wellington said in a low voice. "The airport is on the outskirts of the city. It's quite large. There must be what we want."
Shao Ming could probably guess that. After all, although Luton is relatively far from the urban area of London, it is still part of London.
The three of them climbed up a hill, and the airport was already in sight.
Wellington took out his binoculars to have a look, frowned a little, and handed the binoculars to Shao Ming beside him.
Shao Ming took the binoculars. Through the binoculars, he could clearly see the airport terminal building.
The terminal building was crowded with mutants, a real sea of corpses.
"Look at the hangar opposite the terminal building."
Shao Ming looked in the direction Wellington indicated. A Bell 206 helicopter was parked in front of a hangar.
"Ah~ I see it," Shao Ming said. "The helicopter."
"A classic model, the Bell 206," Wellington said. "I've been able to fly this since I graduated from flight school."
"We have to go around to the other side to get in," Shao Ming said. "There are too many zombies on the side of the terminal building."
He then turned the binoculars to the other side. A C130 transport plane was parked there.
"It seems your people have been to this airport," Shao Ming said.