The journey was free of mutant encounters, yet the abandoned vehicles on the road posed significant obstacles to the trio.
Following the map's guidance, the convertible car pulled up steadily at the entrance of Paddington Station.
"Remember where the central control room is?" Shao Ming asked.
"Of course. It's on the second floor of a single - story cottage," Lambert replied. "This is London's second emergency dispatch center. It can control all the railway junctions within the city and in the nearby 25 kilometers when the main station becomes ineffective."
"What about the backup generator?" Shao Ming inquired next.
"Um... well, it's probably near the building," Lambert said.
Shao Ming shook his head, grabbed his shotgun, and stepped out of the car.
Owing to Lambert's directions, the three bypassed the train station and made their way towards the railway tracks instead.
Shao Ming gazed at the platform. Each time he stood on the platform waiting for the train, he felt an overwhelming urge to jump down.
The trio traversed several railway tracks and finally reached the control room.
Shao Ming walked up and turned the door handle. It wouldn't budge.
The door was a stainless - steel security door, impervious to direct gunfire. Shao Ming resorted to smashing the glass window beside it with his gun butt.
"I really hope we can have the military help us attract zombies before heading to each city," Lambert lamented.
"If every city had the military, then there would be no zombies long ago," Shao Ming retorted, casting a glance back at Lambert.
Shao Ming reached inside to unlock the window. The three could've climbed through the window directly, but the shards of glass scattered about made it a precarious passage.
After opening the window, the three clambered into the room one by one, with Gordon leaping in.
The first floor appeared to be a staff dormitory, equipped with beds and daily necessities. Feng Yusheng, trailing behind, snatched two towels and stowed them in her bag.
Lambert followed the route etched in his memory and ascended to the second floor. Sure enough, a room with a large screen came into view.
"This is the central control room," Lambert said, shining his flashlight across the room. The air was thick with dust.
"Alright, I'll go see where the generator is," Shao Ming said.
"Just a little hint," Lambert said, already engrossed in checking the equipment. "It should be quite large."
Since Lambert said so, it wasn't hard to find.
Or rather, it was within plain sight.
As soon as Shao Ming descended to the first floor, he spotted the nameplate of the adjacent building through the window in the corridor.
"Emergency power supply room".
Shao Ming retrieved a key chain from the building and, after several attempts, managed to unlock the door of the power supply room.
Inside the room was a large and complex - looking power generation device. Shao Ming examined it closely. In truth, it wasn't overly complicated.
The backup generator's role necessitated rapid startup to replace normal power supply. Thus, a large fuel tank and power generation equipment were installed in the room.
He walked up and turned the valve. The fuel in the tank gurgled as it flowed.
Then Shao Ming yanked down a red lever that was impossible to miss. The entire generator roared to life.
Instantly, the lights in the room flickered on.
Shao Ming heaved a sigh of relief. He hadn't expected that electricity was still available.
He mused to himself that if he could haul this device onto the train and tow it away, it could provide a substantial amount of energy.
It was a pity that all they had left was the train head.
Back in the control room, the lights were on, yet the screen remained pitch - black.
"Hmm?" Shao Ming queried.
"Wait, wait," Lambert motioned for Shao Ming to stay quiet. "This kind of equipment is like this."
After a brief wait, the screen finally powered up.
"Ah, it's successful," Lambert exclaimed, beaming at the lit screen.
"I thought I could only control railway tracks and drive trains in games in my life. I never expected this."
Lambert eagerly initiated the central control system. In an instant, the railway signal lights on the tracks blazed to life.
Not far away, the alarm bell at a road and railway junction rang out, and the railing slowly lifted up.
In the desolate and lifeless city, this scene was eerily captivating.
The screen displayed all the railway nodes in London. The intricate web of lines was a dizzying sight.
However, Shao Ming noticed that almost all the nodes on the east and northeast sides of the city were marked as "no signal". Whether they were damaged by the military or not remained uncertain.
"Okay, okay, let's have a look," Lambert said, taking the tablet from Feng Yusheng's hand and beginning to check the route.
While Lambert was adjusting the route, Feng Yusheng whipped out a towel and started to wipe Shao Ming's head.
Shao Ming instinctively flinched away. Feng Yusheng quickly said, "I just washed it with rainwater. Look at you, like a drowned rat."
Shao Ming scratched his head and said, "It's nothing. Anyway, we'll get wet again when we go out later."
Feng Yusheng furrowed her brows and said, "I mean it."
There's a certain force that emanates from within without a show of anger.
Shao Ming reluctantly took the towel and wiped his head.
Feng Yusheng chuckled and handed another towel to Lambert.
"Ah, oh, thanks," Lambert said, pocketing the towel.
"All done," Lambert clapped his hands. "Now we can directly drive the train forward all the way to the undersea tunnel."
"Perfect," Shao Ming exclaimed, a sense of relief washing over him. Finally, today they could leave the UK.
The rain outside the window had abated significantly, and the sun peeked through the clouds, ready to make an appearance.
The three returned to the convertible car and drove towards the train.
By the time they reached the train, it was almost noon. Thankfully, the city was devoid of mutants. Otherwise, navigating the car - congested roads would've been a perilous affair.
It seemed Wellington hadn't lied after all.
Shao Ming was tempted to take the convertible car with him - he desired to take everything. But a train head couldn't carry anything.
Since he couldn't take a whole car, he opted to dismantle it into parts.
Shao Ming and Lambert jointly cut the M2 heavy machine gun along with its stand and welded it onto the train roof. They also punched a hole in the train roof and used the convertible car's stand and engine cover to raise the floor by one layer, allowing people to stick half of their body out to operate the machine gun.
Since there was a hole on the roof, to prevent rain from seeping in, they retrieved several stands and rain canopies from the convertible car and fashioned a new rain canopy on the train roof.
The M240 machine gun couldn't be left out either. It was installed on the window of the right - hand side driver's door.
All the large visible pieces of iron sheet on the car were cut off and welded onto the side of the train to strengthen the body.
It could be said that the Land Rover Defender, originally a convertible car, now only had four tires and the engine left.
The two even spared no thought for the tires. They were fixed in front of the train head to serve as a collision buffer.
After all this was done, the cutting machine was overloaded and required replacement of its teeth, and the welding gun ran out of fuel.