Chapter 161: Dead City

This was the first time Lin Xian's mechanical heart fully consumed his energy; the sensation felt as if the mechanical heart had activated some self-preservation protocol and forcibly shut itself down.

When that mechanical energy surged again, Lin Xian began to feel a chilling touch on his skin—and... weightlessness!

The Infinite was descending rapidly.

Whoosh!

The track hummed; the train trembled slightly.

Lin Xian opened his eyes to find himself lying on the bed in Carriage 1, hearing Chen Sixuan's soft voice from the cockpit: "Slowing down; no obstacles ahead."

"Hold on tight, Shasha, look after your Brother Lin!"

He turned his gaze and saw Shasha gripping his shoulders tightly, afraid he might roll off the bed from inertia, her small face tense as she stared out the window.

"Sis Chen, we haven't received any broadcasts related to Jiazhou City," came Kiki's voice from Carriage 2.

Lin Xian's head felt foggy; his subconscious told him this descent slope must be the ascent corridor.

Had they already reached Jiazhou City?

Ding~

The mechanical heart gave a prompt; only then did Lin Xian realize the R&D Center had completed the research progress on the M556 light machine gun hours ago, and a new blueprint package was ready for acquisition.

A flash of light—inside the R&D Center appeared a brand-new blueprint.

【Congratulations! You have obtained the Roarer K23 Electric Rotating Machine Gun (Blueprint)】

Lin Xian lifted his head to glance at it, his pupils trembling slightly, then collapsed back onto the pillow.

"Did I hallucinate?"

"What the hell is this? The firepower upgrade just spat out something like this..."

Lin Xian pondered for a moment, certain that the R&D Center wasn't merely upgrading blueprints—it was creating objects ex nihilo, just like the A1-class subcritical reverse osmosis water purifier.

He even began to suspect that the ultimate limit of the R&D Center's upgrades might not even be technology produced on this planet...

Huh!

In this critical moment, Lin Xian had no time to overthink; he shook his foggy head and sat up at once.

Shasha, seeing he was awake, gasped: "Brother Lin, you're awake?!"

"Where are we?"

"Jiazhou's No. 2 Airport descent track—we've been flying through the high-altitude corridor for seven or eight hours," Shasha said.

Lin Xian sat up on the bed; the entire carriage was tilted downward. He immediately activated his mechanical heart and saw that Chen Sixuan was controlling the descent speed using the horizon gate device—everything seemed to be proceeding smoothly.

The black armored train continued descending toward the ground; in the cockpit, Chen Sixuan noticed Lin Xian entering and her eyes flickered with surprise: "You're awake?"

"Is everything alright?" Lin Xian asked, seeing the train still hurtling forward; he dared not relax and began adjusting the train's posture.

"No other issues so far—I've pushed the train to maximum speed in the high-altitude corridor, but even so, we're still hours behind the others."

"It doesn't matter."

Lin Xian said gravely: "As long as we made it here, this is already our fastest escape from the Night and the greatest distance we've covered in the shortest time."

All vehicle traction platforms had been electromagnetically accelerated to 1000 km/h; trains like the Silver Star and Longshan No. 1, equipped with superior systems, were far faster than the Infinite's current configuration—falling behind was normal.

But for the squad that had already crossed the 4500-kilometer Da Zhu Plateau, they had temporarily escaped the threat of the Eternal Night.

"I wonder if anyone's still staying at Jiazhou Airport..."

"I don't know about others, but Shu Qin and the others should be waiting for us," Lin Xian said.

After this night at the airport, he decided to expand the train extensively, like the Silver Star and Longshan No. 1, to carry more passengers and fully unlock the potential of his mechanical heart. He also needed to solve one critical problem: the train's all-terrain mobility.

The Ring Orbit would pass through major cities and also many extreme zones, so he needed to be able to choose multiple routes, just like the Dawn Center of the Phoenix Society.

At that moment, the slope eased; the train exited the ascent corridor and began slowing down. A large track hall appeared in view.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

The train's roar echoed through the vast, empty track hall; the sight ahead was deserted. Jiazhou's No. 2 Airport was built atop a mountain, its tracks and underground tunnels following the subterranean rail line—soon, a beam of light appeared ahead!

The Infinite didn't stop—it burst out of the tunnel, and blinding sunlight instantly engulfed the train, illuminating every carriage, accompanied by a wave of warmth.

"Is it daytime?"

"So early a sunrise..."

Lin Xian and Chen Sixuan felt a sting in their eyes; then Shasha, Kiki, and the others rushed in.

Through the glass windows, beneath the morning sun, a quiet, vast city came into view.

The time was 7 a. .; the morning light was still chilly, but for the squad that had just raced out of the blizzard-cold environment of Yubei City, this temperature felt warm.

"Whoa, I haven't seen such an early sunrise in ages."

!

Kiki walked over, exclaiming.

Chen Sixuan gazed calmly: "It feels like being resurrected."

"We've gained so much more daylight now!" Shasha beamed.

Whoosh...

The train sped across the airport's elevated track; the distant cityscape came into view, feeling both unfamiliar and strangely familiar.

"4500 kilometers—we're nearly halfway between Star Abyss 3 and Star Abyss 5," Lin Xian said.

Shasha sighed enviously: "The people here must have such good luck—so much more daylight than anywhere else..."

"That's what you'd think..." Kiki frowned as she pressed closer to the window, staring at the distant city: "But why does this city feel so unnaturally quiet?"

"It looks like a dead city."

"Shouldn't the middle zone between Star Abysses have plenty of survivors?"

Lin Xian shook his head: "You're oversimplifying. Star Abysses 3, 5, and 7 are too close together. Even if the middle zone offers temporary survival space, it's just boiling a frog slowly—and the dangers of Night are the same everywhere..."

Cities farther from the Star Abysses do gain more survival space and time, but Night's infection is equally lethal. And because the distribution and expansion rates of the Star Abysses vary, some regions are covered by Eternal Night more slowly, granting higher chances of survival.

Jiazhou City, though distant from the rapidly expanding Star Abyss 3, is still close to Star Abysses 5 and 7. If those two also expand rapidly, this region will be swiftly surrounded and swallowed.

"Population and cities are factors," Ding Junyi walked over and spoke from afar: "Star Abyss 3 lies in Lucheng and Dingzhou, the most densely urbanized region of Tianhai Province—just like North America 1, Asia-Pacific 2, Europe 9, and Republic 11. These are the fastest-expanding Star Abysses. That's precisely why the Phoenix Society advocates searching for survival space through movement—like the Arctic ice cap, where the effect of polar day makes it likely to be the last region covered by Eternal Night."

"There's no Star Abyss there, but isn't it still in the period of Eternal Night?" Chen Sixuan replied.

"In four months, it will enter a six-month polar day, free from the influence of the Dark Tide—making it the most suitable refuge. The South Pole is the same."

Lin Xian nodded: "Not bad. For humanity, it's like a shrinking safe zone."

He thought, oddly, this felt just like some game from decades ago—where you had to run from the poison...

"You call that a safe zone?" Kiki stared in disbelief: "It's the polar region—nothing's there. How would anyone survive?"

Lin Xian turned to look at her, his gaze deep: "Believe me—when the entire planet is covered in Eternal Night and monsters roam everywhere, that sunlit, empty wasteland will be the one place everyone dreams of reaching."

(End of Chapter)