Chapter 175: Complete Train Modifications (Request Monthly Tickets)

The outer armor electric blades were Lin Xian's own design, with no blueprint—purely based on the principle of that GK03 electric knife—but now, with the nuclear-powered locomotive's power supply, he could crudely mount this simple high-voltage blade system directly onto the train's armor.

When he had just reinstalled the entire train's armor, Lin Xian had pre-cut a groove lined with metal-embedded ceramic between the flange plates and side panels; now he only needed to insert the armored blade edges and connect the discharge modules.

It seemed simple, but Lin Xian thought the effect and power would be nearly identical—after all, that electric knife could slice through Tang Hai's evolved-level human-phantom defensive skin; even if a phantom slammed into it, it wouldn't kill the creature but would surely tear off a layer of flesh.

Scrape! scrape! scrape!

Lin Xian forged the silver electric blades—ten centimeters wide and several meters long—section by section, then mounted and secured them; with help from a few others, it took him over an hour before he finally finished, drenched in sweat.

Hss~

The automatic door opened, and Kiki stepped out, her face bright with excitement; seeing Lin Xian still working, she couldn't help saying:

"Wow, hard work, Mr. Busybody."

"On the elevated corridor, I was the only one resting—you all stayed awake, so of course I'm more energetic than you."

Lin Xian said to Kiki after finishing the installation.

Kiki glanced at the long blade he had installed, nodding happily: "This is the electric blade device you mentioned yesterday? You actually pulled it off."

Lin Xian warned: "Test the retraction and extension, but don't power it on."

"Got it~"

Kiki returned to Car 2, operated the system, and instantly, a faint electric motor hummed—on the side flaps of the "Infinity," a ring of silver blades slowly extended, glinting coldly, sending a chill down the spine.

Lin Xian watched, deeply satisfied: "Good. It's simple, but cold weapons might prove unexpectedly effective in a pinch."

【Congratulations! Mechanical Manufacturing has successfully upgraded to Level 3.】

The screen flashed before him; Lin Xian exhaled, checked the time—it was already 4 p. . and looked outside: the thirty-plus vehicles of the Fireline convoy still sat neatly lined along the roadside, their supplies already cleared out by Shu Qin and her team.

"Let's deal with these vehicles first."

If trouble came after dark and these dozens of cars couldn't be towed away, they'd be completely wasted—the train's main purpose is passenger transport, and it lacks the old flatbed trailers; carrying all these vehicles would be useless anyway, better to break them down for materials.

So Lin Xian grabbed a bottle of water from the car, gulped it down, and immediately began devouring the vehicles.

Aside from the heavy truck that had been driven off, one remained; Lin Xian walked to its side and started devouring the largest heavy truck first.

【Devouring progress: 1%】

The screen appeared; Lin Xian calculated the time and realized it would take less than twenty minutes to fully devour this heavy truck. In fact, his mechanical devouring had already reached Level 3 back in Yuchicheng; since fleeing from Da Luo Mountain No. 9 Underground City to Yubei, he'd only devoured his own Huanxing 7F electric locomotive once, with no significant progress in devouring level.

【Devouring successful. Mechanical Source Points +20. Mechanical Devouring skill proficiency +10. Bonus reward: Strength +2】

【Decomposition: Obtained High-Manganese Steel ×10, Hot-Rolled Forged Steel ×10, Cold-Rolled Dual-Phase Steel Plate ×5, Ordinary Carbon Steel ×20, Non-Metallic Foam Material, Non-Metallic Composite Material…】

"Huh~"

"One modified heavy truck only gives 20 Mechanical Source Points—looks about the same as the earlier dump trucks. No advanced mechanical structures beyond the engine."

Without hesitation, except for keeping two better-conditioned armored SUVs, Lin Xian devoured every other vehicle—each took roughly five minutes, some even less.

Just before sunset, all thirty vehicles had been devoured; the highway stood empty, littered only with bloodstains and tire tracks.

Lin Xian now opened his Mechanical Heart panel.

【Current Mechanical Heart Level: Lv. (565/5000)】

Strength Level: 3【30%】 (Explosive Output: 300 kg)

Speed Level: 2【40%】 (Max: 13 m/s)

Defense Level: 2【26%】 (Iron Bones)

【Mechanical Awakening】: Mechanic

【Awakened Skills】: R&D Center, Fabrication Factory

Mechanical Devouring: 3 (466/1000) — Increases devouring efficiency

Mechanical Manufacturing: 3 (10/1000) — Increases construction efficiency. Mechanical Passive: Scan/Repair/Decompose

【Special Skills】

Wind Cannon (Common) (Level 3, Maxed)

Ice Shield (Common) (Level 2, 9%)

Flash Back (Rare) (Level 1, 30%)

Surge (Rare) (Level 1, 23%)

【Note: VOG grenade launcher blueprint is currently undergoing R&D upgrade. 3: 5: 4 remaining】

Devouring the cars added a total of 320 Mechanical Source Points and increased Mechanical Devouring proficiency by 160; attributes gained: Strength +20, Speed +15, Defense +18.

What surprised Lin Xian was that despite all this devouring, he hadn't gained a single new skill.

"Come to think of it, devouring cars has never given me a skill before?"

Lin Xian frowned at the panel: "Wind Cannon is maxed out too—my options are dwindling. I need to find a way to accelerate progress in mechanical combat."

As dusk approached, the train's external modifications were nearly complete—many hands made light work, and his mechanical ability proved astonishingly efficient for retrofitting.

So far, armor plating, sentry surveillance, and electric blade armor had been installed on all twelve cars; the automatic blast doors on Car 11 and Car 5, the roof Shengjiangtai on Car 5 and Car 2, were all finished; only the internal water-oxygen circulation pipes remained under construction, and many convoy members were still busy organizing their personal living spaces inside the living car.

!

Beyond that, only the roof-mounted machine gun turrets, the 1130 CIWS on Car 12, and the PX-05 robots remained uninstalled, along with the two intercity locomotives and several material cars still attached behind the Infinity.

But Lin Xian planned to handle all of these onboard—safety first.

Beep. Beep.

His watch chimed; Lin Xian sighed, wiped sweat from his face, and immediately called everyone aboard.

Nightfall is coming!

Hss~

The heavy cabin door of the cab, along with the blast doors of Cars 5 and 11, slowly closed; shadows moved busily inside as everyone waited for night to arrive.

"Good work."

Inside the cab, Chen Sixuan saw Lin Xian enter and said: "This should be our first night entering the Yunjiang Plain."

Oo~

Lin Xian started the train and nodded: "Dawn comes early—just hope the night brings less trouble."

"Do you want to reach Hengshan Pass tonight?"

"Yes. It's a major transit hub with multiple branch lines—we won't need to reroute. If things look clear, we can rest there. The weapons station hasn't been built yet, and I'm still uneasy about it." Lin Xian looked at Chen Sixuan: "Transit hubs like this usually have plenty of trains, supplies, and machinery. We have manpower now—we should gather what we can. You won't find food out in the wild."

Chen Sixuan nodded. As the train gradually accelerated, she asked: "What do you think of Zhou Yixuan's 'pack hunting' theory from earlier?"

"It's possible. I actually had similar suspicions before." Lin Xian exhaled, sat in the driver's seat, and stared at the darkening road ahead: "Before we entered Da Luo Mountain, I never thought this way—I just assumed phantoms appearing at night were too sudden, as if night itself was a spatial overlap: once darkness fell, they'd suddenly emerge. Maybe they exist in a higher dimension, able to see us even in daylight, while we can't see them…"

After accidentally seeing that corrupted beast on Frequency 1542, the thought had never left him.

These phantoms didn't seem to emerge from any nest—if there was a nest, perhaps the Star Abyss, the source of the Dark Tide, was it.

Chen Sixuan was startled by his idea and frowned: "If that's true, it's terrifying."

"Could it be simply that Yubei City's dense population triggered many phantom attacks? Or could these phantoms have been hunters chasing the survivor convoys before, only emerging en masse after entering Yubei's night?"

Lin Xian shrugged: "After entering Yubei Airport, I thought I'd been wrong—after all, so many survivors gathered at night, yet the phantoms never directly appeared at the airport. But now that I've heard about this 'pack hunting' effect, I'm starting to think it might actually explain things."

"If that's the case…" Chen Sixuan took a deep breath, her gaze fixed on the train's screen—the time showed only minutes until nightfall.

Then she looked back down the long, dark corridor behind them and said: "We've expanded our group—so the danger…"

"Is about to escalate."

(End of Chapter)