Chapter 15: Devouring the Large Freezer

Huang Jie's eyes turned red. He stood up immediately, grabbed his gun, disengaged the safety, gritted his teeth, and unleashed a full magazine at the car window!

Rat-tat-tat!

Sparks flew everywhere and stray bullets ricocheted, yet the windshield remained completely unaffected.

Naturally, he did not know that this Whale-03e heavy gas turbine locomotive was the first generation of gas turbine locomotives originally designed for the orbital ring. Its top speed could reach 450 km/h, and the windshield was made of a special composite fiber combined with high-strength glass; ordinary rifle bullets could hardly pose any threat to it.

"Keep your damn voice down!!"

The massive sound of gunfire echoed throughout the entire cargo platform, infuriating his older brother, Huang Zhaojian, who cursed, "Are you trying to get us killed? If you draw those monsters here, we're all dead!"

"Brother... there's a babe!"

Huang Jie was impatient now. He kept swallowing hard as he looked at Chen Sixuan inside the carriage, his face full of unwillingness.

Big brother Huang Zhaojian climbed up as well. When his gaze swept inside, his pupils trembled, and his heart stirred with complex thoughts, but he quickly put on a stern face again.

"Don't be impatient, she can't run. Once we get that man out and get the train keys, won't we have everything?"

"Right, right, right!"

Huang Jie nodded repeatedly. "Ptooey!" He looked at the interior of the carriage again with burning eyes. By now, Chen Sixuan had hidden herself, so he could only spit fiercely.

"Little beauty, you just wait for me..." Just as he was about to leave, he suddenly stopped, unzipped his pants with a lewd grin, and urinated against the car window as if satisfying a perverse craving, before finally leaving with his gun.

【Scan complete. Obtained blueprint for the Ice-Er TG-56 commercial freezer.】

Inside the cold storage, Lin Xian listened to Chen Sixuan reporting the situation outside, a cold glint flashing in his eyes.

"Don't worry about them. Just rest well in Carriage 1. If you're hungry, help yourself to some food."

"Lin Xian..." Chen Sixuan's voice trembled slightly. "Will you be alright?"

"I will," Lin Xian said calmly.

He put away the walkie-talkie. After finishing the scan and collection of the freezer blueprint, Lin Xian placed his hand on the freezer and began the mechanical devouring process, racing against time!

【Devouring progress: 1%】

As soon as the progress bar appeared, Lin Xian realized that the difficulty of this large freezer was on par with the small truck from before.

Moreover, there was more than one such freezer in this cold storage.

"I have plenty of time today, so I'll just let go and devour them all!"

Such an opportunity was extremely rare for Lin Xian. Although escaping the dark tide of Jiang City was the top priority compared to devouring, he was currently helpless to do otherwise. Since that was the case, he would make the best of this opportunity to quickly improve his ability.

"Where's that brat?"

Outside the cold storage, Huang Zhaojian returned with his younger brother, Huang Jie. His wife, Gong Li, and their son were guarding the outside. The old woman on the side asked irritably,

"He hid inside. Never mind him for now. How's the situation on that train?"

Huang Jie said excitedly, "Mom, my brother and I checked. There really is just one woman. I estimate there's a lot of supplies in those carriages. We've struck it rich this time!"

The old woman nodded. "You two brothers find some tools. While it's still light, see if you can pry open the door to this cold storage. Better safe than sorry; I'm worried that the longer we wait, the more trouble we'll have. I reckon it's going to be dark for a few more days without seeing daylight, and these old bones of mine won't be able to survive such a long night."

"That's what I was thinking too."

Huang Zhaojian was also a bit anxious. Since they had stumbled upon such a good opportunity, the faster they succeeded, the better.

The group discussed briefly and prepared to find some steel pipes and crowbars to pry open the cold storage door.

Time ticked by, one second at a time. It was already 17:00, with less than two hours left until dark. If they couldn't get the door open before nightfall, they would have to wait until tomorrow.

On the other side, in a dark corner inside the cold storage, Lin Xian endured the stench while devouring the freezers.

【Devouring progress: 80%】

【Devouring progress: 95%】

Finally, after spending nearly an hour, the giant freezer in front of him was about to be fully devoured. At this moment, a series of prying and kicking sounds began to echo against the cold storage door.

However, he wasn't particularly worried. When he first locked the door, he had scanned it. The thickness of this low-temperature cold storage door was 150mm, with an outer layer of stainless steel and aluminum, and a core of heavy polyurethane insulation and fiberglass. With the door core locked by his ability, it was almost impossible to open it with bare hands or simple tools like steel pipes and crowbars.

Unless they had hydraulic shears or a cutting machine—but if they had such things, they wouldn't have been banging away for over an hour.

Thus, Lin Xian simply endured the annoying noise and continued to calmly devour the freezer.

On the other side, a flustered Chen Sixuan could only pace back and forth in the carriage. However, she soon realized that being anxious wouldn't help. She first checked on the young girl's condition, then, taking advantage of the remaining daylight, began to organize the various supplies in the three carriages and tidy up.

【Devouring successful. Mechanical Source Points +25, Mechanical Devouring skill proficiency +8, extra reward: Strength +3, Defense +1.】 Deep in the cold storage, looking at the light screen, Lin Xian's eyes lit up.

A huge harvest!

He took a quick look; there were four such large freezers here. If he devoured them all, wouldn't he make a fortune?

【Mechanical Devouring lv. 1 286/300】

Mechanical Devouring was also about to level up. If the upgrade was successful, his devouring efficiency should improve further!

Thinking of this, Lin Xian was full of confidence. Without wasting time, he went directly to the second freezer and began devouring.

Meanwhile, outside the cold storage.

The Huang Zhaojian and Huang Jie brothers were red-faced and panting heavily, with various steel pipes and crowbars scattered on the ground.

"Damn it... it won't open at all..."

The old woman stood to the side, looking at the sky outside, her eyes flickering with uncertainty.

"Mom, we've been hiding in there at night for the past few days, and those monsters outside couldn't open it. Zhaojian and the others surely can't open this door either," Gong Li said anxiously.

!

"Yeah, this damn door is too hard, damn it!"

Huang Jie cursed and threw the steel pipe in his hand to the ground. Despite his cursing, he was actually praying every night that the door would be even sturdier; he was truly suffering from a bit of schizophrenia.

"Alright, stop messing around."

The old woman knew it was futile to continue, and the commotion they were making was too loud, already attracting several footsteps towards the warehouse.

"It's about to get dark. Let's hide first. Anyway, we locked him in with a chain from the outside, so we don't have to worry about him running away."

"It looks like the train can't be started without that man. As long as they can't run, they definitely won't be able to outlast us."

"Mom is right!"

"Then that's what we'll do..."

"Dad, are we not getting on the train today?" the little fatty asked, disappointed.

"Not today. Let's stay one more night."

This family had actually been hiding in the cold storage where they were fishing earlier for the past few days, but the lock on that cold storage door was broken, and they had only managed to survive the night by bolting it with a few steel pipes from the inside.

Beep, beep.

The watch alarm went off. Lin Xian, inside the cold storage, narrowed his eyes, knowing that night was falling.

On the train, Chen Sixuan pulled all the blackout curtains and waited anxiously for Lin Xian's response. Her gaze fell again on the sleeping girl, and she couldn't help but walk over to check her breathing. After confirming she was still alive, she revealed a look of astonishment.

This girl had been asleep for two whole days...

18:45, night descended, and the entire freight platform plunged into darkness.

The low growls of zombies and some strange, eerie footsteps—those rustling sounds were constantly amplified in Chen Sixuan's ears. She lay on the sofa, clutching the walkie-talkie, and covered herself tightly with a quilt.

The Huang family also hid in another cold storage, bolted the door with steel pipes and crowbars, and huddled in a corner deep inside, discussing their plans while eating.

Time reached 19:32, and Lin Xian finished devouring the second freezer.

【Devouring successful. Mechanical Source Points +25, Mechanical Devouring skill proficiency +8, extra reward: Strength +2, Speed +1, Defense +1.】

21:14, the third freezer was finished.

【Devouring successful. Mechanical Source Points +25, Mechanical Devouring skill proficiency +8, extra reward: Strength +1.】

Although this one didn't yield many attribute rewards, Lin Xian was more excited that his devouring skill had reached lv. 2!

New book, please follow!

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 16 =====