The ability testing had concluded, and the Infinite Convoy reaped massive rewards—five Rampage-level, four Titan-level, and one Evolution-level ability users. Thanks to this, they received a significant amount of supplies and weapons from the Phoenix.
After providing blood samples in cooperation, Lin Xian’s team received a total of five pickup supply trucks, thirteen crates of standard survival goods, five vials of Cold Dark Reagent, four heavy machine guns with 4000 rounds, as well as five YJ-03 vehicle-mounted anti-aircraft cannons and 1000 shells.
This YJ-03 cannon was a dium-caliber 80mm weapon, capable of both altitude coverage (3000–7800 ters) and damage effectiveness. It had a firing arc from -10° to 85°, making it suitable for both low-altitude air targets and ground targets.
For a regular convoy, this level of firepower was already considered heavy. While it couldn’t compare to the 1130 CIWS or rail-mounted electromagnetic cannons, its advantages lay in its compact size and automated target acquisition and firing. The only drawback was the manual reloading process, which ant Lin Xian would need to build a few more PX-05 robots to support its use on the Infinite Train.
Over on the Dragon Mountain No. 1 side, they had a large headcount—four Rampage-level, a dozen Titan-level, and dozens of Evolution-level ability users. While most were genetic Evolvers, their combat capabilities were formidable. The team secured a huge haul from the Phoenix, much to the delight of Shi Diyuan, Ning Jing, and the others.
With five additional vials of Cold Dark Reagent in hand, Lin Xian decided not to trade his Eerie Blood Crystals with the Phoenix for more of the reagent. Instead, he sent Chen Sixuan to lead a group to trade for essential survival items with other convoys. Right now, there were many convoys gathered in Xilan City—basically, anything they needed could be bartered from soone.
The Infinite Train had a decent amount of space. Previously, they’d scavenged here and there, but their biggest gains had co from bartering with Tang Hai and at Hengshan Pass Station.
Now that the ability testing was done, Lin Xian shifted strategies and split the team into three groups.
Chen Sixuan, Big Luo, Miao Lu, and Xiao Yuan took a few others to purchase supplies. anwhile, Lu Xingchen wasn’t left to idle—Shu Qin and Lü Chang were tasked with escorting him and Shasha to safely transport the Phoenix-acquired goods back to the Infinite Train. The armor-welding work on the train should be wrapping up soon.
Due to the situation involving He Kun of the Golden City Convoy, Lin Xian also gave Shu Qin and Lu Xingchen a heads-up, asking them to keep a close eye on the Dragon-class Electric Locomotive they had recovered.
But with the testing at Michelle Plaza now over, the Infinite Convoy's reputation had likely spread far and wide. They were parked right next to Dragon Mountain No. 1, under the watch of over a thousand people on Shi Diyuan’s side. The Golden City Convoy probably wouldn’t dare cause trouble now.
At that mont, Lin Xian had KIKI take him to a separate location.
The Xilan Weapons Manufacturing Plant.
Tonight, he planned to upgrade the Infinite Train's armor, weapon systems, and internal facilities. Thanks to the Monica Queen’s blueprints, he had better designs for integrated power systems, air circulation, lifts, weapon bays—even blast doors. He had to make the most of this window of ti to get things done.
His goal at the now-abandoned plant was to search for any large-scale equipnt he could repurpose. If he could find sothing like a fully-automated shell pressing machine, he could dedicate an entire train car to ammunition production, drastically speeding up the reloading and remanufacturing process, sparing him the manual labor.
Cold wind howled as distant artillery echoed from Xilan City's defensive walls. The 7th Investigation Corps manned the anti-Eerie frontline around the clock. Phoenix had a well-stocked ammo supply, and the Dawn Center had kept military logistics running up until three days ago when the Extre Cold Vortex hit. For this massive migration, Phoenix had consolidated every combat resource from nearby regions.
“These monsters are attacking around the clock. The attacks are getting more frequent and more intense—probably tied to the approaching Polar Night,” KIKI said, watching the distant battlefront from high above.
Lin Xian glanced at the swirling vortex above—dark clouds lood, cobalt lightning occasionally flashing through the stormy sky like so cosmic beast pressing down on the snowfields and Xilan City, sending a chill through his chest.
“It could be related to the vortex too,” he muttered, brows furrowed. Though the city seed calm, unease gnawed at his mind.
Maybe it was the eerie entity A'Bai had seen. Or the strange snowfield Eerie Tide. Or those mysteriously wiped-out markers. All of it felt wrong.
So even though the city’s survivor convoys seed more relaxed now, Lin Xian stayed on guard.
“Hey, don’t you think those Nightwalkers are way more powerful than we expected?” KIKI recalled Zhou Wuer’s earlier performance, still shaken by it—especially since Long Dahei’s attack style had resembled hers, making the comparison feel personal.
Lin Xian looked at her and said, “That’s expected. The Nightwalkers’ biggest advantage over other ability users is access to information. Even though it’s only been 92 days since Apocalypse Day, humanity’s evolution has progressed rapidly. We’ve been groping our way forward in isolation, but they’ve been pooling data from over 40,000 Nightwalkers worldwide. Their understanding of abilities is way ahead of everyone else.”
“Plus, they’re already using things like Cold Dark Reagents to enhance their abilities. Combined with the intensive training they go through, it’s no surprise they’re so strong.”
KIKI nodded in agreent. “Yeah… makes sense.”
“You’re probably wondering why Long Dahei lost so fast, right?” Lin Xian asked.
“Kind of…”
Lin Xian let out a long breath, his gaze sharpening. “Don’t be fooled by Zhou Wuer’s carefree act. When he fights, he’s decisive. From his very first move, he went all out. Aside from holding back on the final strike, he fought like it was life or death against an Eerie entity. Long Dahei might’ve been cautious, but he was already a step behind in sheer montum.”
That told Lin Xian one thing—Zhou Wuer had clearly faced way more life-or-death situations than Long Dahei ever had…
“But going up against you wouldn’t be so easy,” he added, turning to KIKI. “Your psychic-type ability has full-range defense. You’re not that easy to pin down.”
“Well, duh~”
KIKI grinned. “But seriously, I learned a lot this ti. I can tell my ability has a lot of room to grow.”
“Of course. You’re only at the Rampage level—plenty of room to level up.”
As they talked, the two had already arrived at an industrial zone. What first ca into view was a cluster of rust-covered steel structures. The towering smokestacks lood like inverted black swords piercing through the curtain of snow. In the open spaces around the warehouses, camps from various convoys were set up, with thin streams of smoke curling up from scattered fires used for warmth.
There had to be at least a hundred convoys in this area. Lin Xian and KIKI even saw large vehicles cutting up steel plates and materials hauled out from abandoned factories, prepping them for vehicle modifications.
Everything useful in this industrial zone had long been stripped away. Even half-decent iron doors had been dismantled, leaving only towering lava towers, forging hamrs, and various conveyor systems behind.
Places like this were always the first to be scavenged by survivors. Lin Xian had expected this, so his goal was to find the kind of “stuff” survivors couldn’t take with them.
The two of them swept through the air and dove straight into the search, scanning various large workshops for their target.
Sure enough, it didn’t take long before they struck gold inside a weapons factory’s steel workshop, the air thick with the scent of rust.
An arc slting furnace, a CNC forging press, a triple-defense system filling line, a ceramic plate sintering furnace, a Kevlar weaving machine, a deep-bore gun barrel drill, and exactly what Lin Xian had been looking for—a fully automatic shell casing press.
The problem? They were massive.
The scale of the Xilan Weapons Manufacturing Factory far exceeded Lin Xian’s expectations. Even the six-axis robotic arms in the welding shop were monstrous.
“No wonder no one’s interested. This place makes stuff for tanks and rail cannons. You can’t carry it, can’t dismantle it. Even to run one of these, you’d need intelligent system debugging and at least a few hundred engineers just to maintain and operate them…”
“Hey~”
KIKI pointed at the six-axis robotic arm on the loading line. “Why not start with that one? Begin with the ‘small’ stuff.”
Lin Xian let out a helpless sigh. “Small,” she said. That thing was at least a dozen tons and more intricate than a car or train. Swallowing it was going to be a serious challenge.
“Alright, I’ll start with that…”
At the mont, this six-axis robotic arm seed like the easiest thing to take on. And if he got lucky and scanned a full blueprint, he could maybe install two in Carriage No. 11—dedicated to loading and unloading chas. That would solve a major logistical headache.
There were also a few smaller machines around, but Lin Xian was here for materials. He wasn’t too interested in injection molding machines or their blueprints. After he finished with the robotic arm, he’d check if he could get the arc slting furnace.
The arc slting furnace was built with high-grade silicon carbide and high-temp alloy steel, and its complexity wasn’t too high—good for material harvesting. The fully automatic shell casing press, on the other hand, was a bit large. He’d see if he could simplify it into sub-systems after scanning. Without a blueprint, he was basically clueless about how it worked.
No ti to waste. It was already close to 16:00—about two hours before nightfall. He had to move fast.
Lin Xian powered up his exosuit and leapt from the maintenance ladder of the loading line to the side of the robotic arm. Taking off his gloves, he reached out and started scanning and devouring it.
【Scan Progress: 1%】
As soon as he started, Lin Xian realized this thing would take over an hour to scan. Devouring it would take at least another hour. If he wanted to deal with the arc slting furnace and the shell press too, he’d be working past nightfall.
Seeing Lin Xian at work, KIKI, clearly restless, said, “You do your thing. I’m gonna look around, okay?”
“Don’t wander too far. I can’t be distracted.”
“I won’t~” KIKI knew full well Lin Xian needed protection right now, so she simply flitted about the massive factory, curiously peeking at everything.
Through the communicator, Shu Qin’s voice ca in, reporting that all the supplies from the Phoenix had been moved back onto the Infinite Train. At the sa ti, the right-side armor plating had been installed. Chen Sixuan, who was in charge of purchasing train essentials, had also returned and was asking Lin Xian what the next step was.
Lin Xian thought for a mont and decided to let the team have so free ti before nightfall—give everyone a chance to relax.
The team on Infinite Train was thrilled when they heard the news. It had been a long ti since they’d felt this safe. The tension everyone had been carrying started to ease at last.
Even the over-a-thousand-strong team on Dragon Mountain No. 1 got a break, as Shi Diyuan allowed the passengers to walk around the safe zones in the city and barter for items they needed.
For safety, Chen Sixuan made sure everyone going out moved in groups of three or more and returned before nightfall.
Soon, the crew on Infinite Train grouped up in twos and threes and headed into the city.
Fire Bro volunteered to stay and watch the train. He wanted to soak up so sun and study the ability growth manual they got from the Phoenix.
On the surrounding streets near Central Avenue, convoy camps had set up shop with stalls offering items for trade. While eerie blood crystals remained the hard currency, they were too valuable for small deals, so most trades were bartering. If both sides agreed, a deal was struck—simple as that.
Beyond bartering, many skilled survivors took the chance to make a little post-apocalypse cash—shaving, haircuts, quick dical services, chanical repairs, massages, bone-setting, and even ‘camp bars’ selling drinks. As Monica had ntioned, so even offered services for hire.
“Tire mushroom skewers, fried algae cakes in lizard oil, crispy green bark, snow-salt lizards, asphalt scorpion chips, beef soup with bat, freeze-dried slugs…”
“Good grief, what even are these?”
Miao Lu and Xiao Yuan were walking with Chen Sixuan, Da Lou, and Shasha down a supply trade street. The variety of post-apocalyptic “delicacies” had all the girls frowning in unison.
These made the lizard jerky, dried rat at, and cockroach protein bricks from before seem positively gourt.
Chen Sixuan looked at the food and couldn’t help but marvel at humanity’s creativity in the apocalypse. Judging by the expressions on Miao Lu and the others, the als aboard Infinite Train were borderline luxurious by survivor standards.
The Infinite Train crew wasn’t large, but they had tons of supplies. Combined with what they got from the Phoenix, everyone was practically swimming in resources.
The group strolled with a “window shopping” mindset, trying to unwind from the stress of survival. Da Lou trailed behind them like a bodyguard. Even for soone used to eating canned food every day thanks to Lin Xian, seeing things like asphalt scorpion chips still made him frown.
While the others browsed the camp stalls, Chen Sixuan stopped when she saw sothing familiar displayed on a stall that used a car hood as its stand.
The vendor was a woman wrapped in a thick down jacket. Her convoy was huddled nearby, a barrel fire burning behind them.
The woman noticed Chen Sixuan’s gaze and pointed to a box in the corner. “Brand new. Got five of ’em. Ultra-thin. Four cans and they’re yours. Deal?”
Few people would’ve expected condoms to beco as valuable as food in the apocalypse. Chen Sixuan gave her a knowing look, then pulled out four cans from her backpack and made the trade.
“I’ll take them.”
“Done~” The woman smiled. Seeing how pretty Chen Sixuan was, she leaned in and added, like soone speaking from experience, “As long as they’re not damaged, wash ’em, dry ’em, add a little petroleum jelly—you can reuse each one five or six tis easy.”
That comnt made Chen Sixuan’s usually cool expression flush red. She forced a smile, quickly stashed the items into her pack, and nodded.
“Nothing to be shy about,” the woman said casually. “We won already have it hard. Getting pregnant in this ss? That’d be hell.”
“Thanks.” Chen Sixuan smiled politely and walked away.
Just then, she saw a strange man chatting with Miao Lu and Xiao Yuan. Because Da Lou was standing right there, the man didn’t dare get too close. As Chen Sixuan approached, she realized he was promoting sothing.
“For Titan-class, that’s one bottle of Cold Dark Reagent a month, two veggie juices, a can of at every day, and a bunch of snacks. If you’re an evolved, we even provide a passive exoskeleton suit.”
“For Rampage-class, it’s two Cold Dark Reagents a month, four veggie juices, a full-power exo-armor, custom als with at every ti, and a personal living carriage, modified for privacy.”
“Also, our Nightwind Convoy is super safe. Over 600 people, ten big supply trucks, anti-air systems, heavy weapons—you na it…”
Then he turned to Da Lou. “With your 1120 ability rating, bro, we’ve got plenty of pretty girls who can be your sleep partner. Help you, uh, unwind. Not expensive—just treat ’em nice, share your food, and the Rampage-class girls will throw themselves at you. Two or three at a ti? No problem.”
That made Miao Lu and Xiao Yuan visibly uncomfortable. Miao Lu quickly covered Shasha’s ears—only for the girl to swat her hand away, scowling as she turned to the man.
“He’s my brother. If he gets that kind of treatnt, what about ?”
The man frowned, scratching his head. “You’re that young and you want a sleep partner too?”
“B*lls**t!” Shasha snapped. “I an—do I get Cold Dark Reagent? Veggie juice? at cans?”
“Well…”
The man pulled out a mobile terminal and sifted through what seed to be ability data from the Evolved Plaza. After a while, he finally found her file.
“Ohhh, you’re that 1.8 coefficient genius girl—Titan-class. Of course, you get the Titan perks.” He bead, crouching and speaking in a coaxing tone. “So, he’s your brother?”
Shasha nodded.
“Well, if both of you join together, I might be able to get you even better perks. What do you say?”
Shasha pretended to think, making the man’s eyes light up—only for her to smirk slyly.
“Thing is, my brother and I already each have our own 30-ter luxury carriage. We eat three at als a day. Lin-ge lets snack on whatever—candy, fruit, canned food, you na it. Oh, and I have a T8-Z Vulcan cha. Sooo... your offer’s kinda hard for us to accept~”
The man’s face froze. “A whole train car? Just the two of you?”
Shasha shook her head.
“I knew it…”
“Two people.”
“…Huh?”
The guy was totally dumbfounded. Two people sharing a whole carriage, eating at and snacks like royalty—were they refugees or tourists?
Miao Lu and Xiao Yuan knew Shasha was trolling the guy and couldn’t help but chuckle.
Knowing he had no shot, the man awkwardly excused himself and left.
At that mont, Chen Sixuan ca up and comnted, “Two Cold Dark Reagents and four veggie juices per month for Rampage-class… I rember Zhou Wuer saying the Nightwalkers offer the sa deal.”
“That ans this convoy must be pretty big,” Shasha said. “Two vials of Cold Dark Reagent would cost at least twenty Eerie Blood Crystals, right?”
Big Luo nodded. “Under the sa conditions, joining Phoenix is more dangerous, so a lot of people would probably choose a convoy like this.”
“No wonder these convoys are getting bigger and bigger. Looks like they’ve got so strong folks in there too,” Miao Lu chid in.
This wasn’t their first ti being approached for recruitnt. Ever since the Ability Test ended, people from the Infinite Train had run into several teams trying to poach them, offering all sorts of bizarre deals. Most of them were friendly attempts at communication, so nothing had turned hostile.
And it wasn’t just top-tier fighters like Big Luo, Shu Qin, or Lu Xingchen—there were even offers for soone like Xiao Yuan, who only scored 260 points. Her ability peak and limit coefficient were just average Evolution Level, yet soone still ca looking for her. It seed like just showing your face at the testing plaza was enough to get you noticed by one of the thousands of convoys in Xilan City.
The one who approached Xiao Yuan was a small convoy captain, and his reason was totally ridiculous: he said she reminded him of his first love. Even weirder, the offer he gave was surprisingly generous.
Though she found it super random, Xiao Yuan turned him down without hesitation.
“Wow, there are so many convoys parked around here,” Shasha said, clearly in a great mood. “We probably won’t get through all of them before nightfall. Let’s check out what’s up ahead!”
After that little detour, the group continued exploring the “comrcial street” set up by the various survivor convoys, checking out all kinds of new and strange goods.
Xilan Weapons Manufacturing Plant, Loading Bay No. 3.
[Scan Progress: 65%]
Lin Xian sat with his eyes closed, focusing completely as he activated his chanical Heart, not wasting a single second. At the sa ti, he monitored the ssages on his communicator. Even though it was supposed to be free ti, he still felt like the “parent” of this group, and kept tabs on where everyone was.
Other than Fire Bro who stayed behind to watch the train, the Infinite Train crew had split up and gone off exploring. According to Shu Qin, Lü Chang, and Chen Sixuan, a bunch of them had also run into recruitnt attempts—so were there to ask about benefits, so looking for Lin Xian, others wanting to team up.
But since the team leader, Lin Xian, wasn’t around, all those people left disappointed.
Hearing this, Lin Xian couldn’t help but consider whether to bring in a few more people. Logically speaking, the Infinite Train had plenty of supplies and space. Plus, with his chanical Ability, he could enhance their combat abilities, which would boost their survival chances.
Still, he was torn. More people ant more responsibility—and he didn’t want to end up like Dragon Mountain No. 1, losing dozens of people after every major battle…
Most importantly, Lin Xian felt that the terrifying pressure Infinite Train faced was often beyond imagination, sotis practically a death sentence.
Since they left Jiang City, even with his ga-breaking chanical Ability, and S-Class telekinetic KIKI by his side, plus the heavy armor of Infinite Train, they still had countless near-death experiences. He couldn’t imagine how other convoys survived with just a few Xinghuo rifles or light machine guns. Even after seeing ordinary people like Shu Qin evolve into powerful fighters, that alone didn’t explain it—because Shu Qin’s burden hadn’t lightened at all…
The truth was, Lin Xian had just taken most of the risk onto himself.
And so, what really worried him was that any newcors might face even greater danger. That kind of contradiction made him cautious about expanding the team, especially if it ant luring survivors with “benefits” only to turn them into cannon fodder—or one of the daily “5%” casualties…
“Ugh, so boring~”
KIKI floated lazily in front of Lin Xian, then perched on the edge of the chanical arm, her legs swinging in the air.
“I just walked around outside. All the convoys are either taking things apart, cutting, welding, or repairing. I heard Sis Chen and the others are out shopping. I haven’t gone shopping in so long~”
Lin Xian smiled slightly. “Once I finish the train modifications tonight, you can have the whole day tomorrow to do whatever you want.”
“Really~?” KIKI squinted a teasing smile at him. “You better not stand up.”
“Why would I do that?”
“Aren’t you coming with ? It’s boring to shop alone…” KIKI stared at him with wide, expectant eyes.
Lin Xian: “…”
“We’ll see,” he said, letting out a slow breath as he looked out beyond the factory. “These people are using every second to upgrade their convoy defenses. One more steel plate might keep a whole team alive for another day. Even the Snow Wraiths’ stingers could pierce my armor now. If I don’t upgrade it, I can’t sleep at night.”
KIKI gave him a soft, shining look and said playfully, “Yes yes, we all know you're super responsible and always worried about our safety. Captain Lin, you're working so hard—want a back rub and leg massage from yours truly?”
“Followed by a good whack with a stick, right?” Lin Xian said with a chuckle.
KIKI snorted. “Still holding onto that? What a petty man.”
Since they’d co into the workshop, various survivor teams had wandered in, poking around. But after seeing nothing but heavy machinery, they left cursing under their breath. Every dismantlable item had already been taken—even the screws. Lin Xian and KIKI had stayed up high on the chanical arm, and no one had noticed them, so they got to enjoy so peace and quiet.
“Geez, these people don’t ss around. They even took the chandeliers.”
“Lights are important, especially the high-powered ones,” Lin Xian said. “So convoys light up their camps at night—they say it can help keep Eerie Entities at bay.”
“Does that even work?” KIKI frowned. “Wouldn’t that just be like a lighthouse in the dark? Drawing them right in?”
“Not necessarily,” Lin Xian said with a low voice. “Those creatures of the night don’t always rely on sight. Rember the ones we’ve encountered?”
The Pale Giant stood beside him for ages before reacting.
The Three-Headed Spider Monster appeared right above his head.
The Crimson Centipede only went berserk after they fled on the Infinite Train.
And the monster from Underground City No. 9 only tracked them down after the nuclear locomotive was activated.
Those monsters had eyes, but their behavior was unlike Zombies or Human Eerie Entities.
“I get what you an—they mark targets using Dark Mark. But I still think if they can’t see you even when you’re right in front of them, how do they tag you in the first place?”
Lin Xian nodded. “Exactly. That’s why we need to wait for Phoenix’s research results. We know there’s so kind of marking chanism, but how it works—there’s still a lot to figure out.”
“Yeah, true. So that ans—”
“Shhh.”
Suddenly, Lin Xian signaled KIKI to be quiet. He heard soone entering the factory. Wanting to avoid unnecessary trouble, they both decided it was best not to reveal themselves and to leave as soon as the scan was done.
KIKI imdiately quieted down, floated over to sit beside him, and waited silently.
But this ti, the people coming in felt… different. Just from the sounds, it seed kind of shady.
“Here’s good~” a man’s voice ca from a corner, hurried and excited.
“You’re way too eager—it’s broad daylight! What if soone cos in?” the woman said with a hint of annoyance.
“I can’t wait anymore. I’m on night watch tonight. C’mon babe, take your pants off~”
“Ugh, it’s freezing! My a** is gonna get frostbite. Couldn’t you pick a warr spot?”
“Then let’s go back to the car?”
“No way! Everyone’s there, and it’s not soundproof.”
“So what? We’re married. Old Wang and his wife do the sa thing every night—bouncing those shocks off the suspension. Let’s not pretend. Just let cop a feel~”
“Ugh, stop it! You’re shaless—just do it already!”
“Just let touch a bit! Otherwise, I can’t get it up.”
“You’re hopeless. Fine, stand still. I’ll do it.”
…
Up on the loading arm, Lin Xian was deadpan. Negative fifty degrees and they’re doing this? Not worried about frostbite, huh…
But then again, with how much stronger Enhancers had beco, maybe it wasn’t a big deal. Even Xiao Yuan could casually lift a 100-pound weapon crate. So maybe this kind of “activity” really wasn’t hard for these hormone-fueled n and won.
Then he noticed the weight on his arm increase. Turning his head, he saw KIKI’s face completely flushed, her expression one of teeth-gritted fury. She clamped down on his shoulder and muttered in a low voice:
“So shaless…”
Lin Xian chuckled and leaned in to whisper, “Didn’t you hear them? They’re a married couple. What’s shaless about that?”
“Shut up!”
Down below, strange moans and gasps began to echo through the empty workshop.
KIKI’s face turned even redder. She summoned a telekinetic shield to block out the embarrassing sounds, then buried her face in Lin Xian’s shoulder, covering her ears.
A minute later, the noises stopped.
With the woman’s annoyed complaints in tow, the two finally left.
Now Lin Xian was the one stunned. He muttered under his breath, “Guess evolution doesn’t cover the kidneys…”
“What did you just say?!” KIKI raised her head, eyes squinting suspiciously.
Lin Xian instantly put on a serious face. “Nothing. There’s still ti left.”
[Scan Progress: 80%]
“Okay then, hurry up.” KIKI tilted her face toward him, her eyes glinting with mischief. She smiled and teased:
“They were pretty fast, huh?”
Lin Xian: ?!?
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