Chapter 2

The next day, when the sky brightened, it was already 13:00 in the afternoon.

The black veil faded. Without a sunrise process, the sky was already filled with a slightly slanted sunny day.

The time of dawn was one hour later than yesterday. According to the daylight saving time calculation for the Jiang City area, if the sun sets around 18:45, then in about 5 more days, there will be no more dawn here.

In the apartment, Lin Xian picks up his dagger, puts it in his backpack, jumps from the balcony into the room next door, detours downward along a predetermined route, and enters a subway tunnel from the underground civil defense facility entrance of the apartment.

This is the maintenance section of the original University Town station. After the apocalypse broke out, it has entered a state of total paralysis.

The zombies in the station have all been cleared by Lin Xian, and this place has become Lin Xian's train preparation area.

Lin Xian walks deep into the tunnel. On the mottled, long-disrepaired railway, a Giant Whale 03e heavy gas turbine locomotive is parked.

This steel giant weighing 200 tons is the secret weapon Lin Xian has prepared to escape the polar night!

Click~

He turns on his flashlight, and a white light shines in the pitch-black, hollow tunnel. Lin Xian looks at the behemoth before him, his heart filled with rising anxiety.

This masterpiece, jointly built 30 years ago by Alstom Transport and the North China Vehicle Group, is a high-power traction locomotive for trunk freight, carefully developed based on Alstom's "Prima" locomotive technology platform, using a ten-cylinder gas turbine.

The locomotive is over 36 meters long and 3.2 meters wide, with astonishing energy hidden beneath its majestic body. Its traction power reaches 18,500 horsepower, equivalent to the sum of dozens of supercars, enough to pull tens of thousands of tons of heavy cargo!

This is almost the perfect adaptation platform for Lin Xian's mechanical ability, and it is precisely this discovery that has given rise to his Infinite Special Train Plan!

"Check the drive shaft, brake shoes, power turbine..."

Lin Xian's Mechanical Heart has three basic skills: Mechanical Scan, Mechanical Repair, and Mechanical Operation.

Simply put, for any machine he touches, as long as he understands the principles behind it, he can directly perform basic control, repair it, and even generate a holographic blueprint of the device through scanning. The three passive skills cannot be upgraded.

The Giant Whale 03e needs to be driven by fuel and assisted by electricity. Fuel is currently the scarcest resource in the apocalypse, but Lin Xian's "Mechanical Heart" ability can directly drive it with his own energy, requiring no fuel, which is extremely heaven-defying.

However, because the output power is limited by personal physical strength, there is a certain limit to the driving distance for Lin Xian's current physical limit. But with him as a human battery, plus devouring machines and collecting resources on the road, if he can collect power generation devices or even small nuclear power devices later, then this energy problem will be completely resolved.

In addition to driving the locomotive, Lin Xian has already arranged three traction carriages as living carriages to store supplies and serve as living areas, all modified from original passenger carriages.

Lin Xian comes to the last carriage, places his hand on the carriage body, and activates the Mechanical Heart. A custom hydraulic lifting plate is lowered. In the fourth carriage, a motorcycle is parked. This motorcycle is used to facilitate the collection of supplies after stopping later.

He climbs onto the car, takes down a welding machine. Beside the track, a pile of steel is placed, mainly rolled steel plates and high-hardened tungsten steel, as well as high-manganese steel. These materials, originally used for tank and armored vehicle protection, were found by Lin Xian in the warehouse of the Jiang City Special Steel Plant and are ideal materials for building his steel fortress.

Hum~

The light screen before Lin Xian's eyes flickers, and several armor blueprints drawn by himself appear. In addition, there are some firearm blueprints, such as a Glock 23 0.40in pistol blueprint, which he seized during a fight with a group of thugs and recorded into the blueprints after his 【Mechanical Scan】 skill.

But the problem is

"High-alloy chrome-molybdenum steel 120g, basic steel 300g, plastic 195g..."

Lin Xian's head hurts as soon as he sees this.

Compared to these standard tools after scanning, Lin Xian finds it most convenient to use his mechanical manufacturing skill combined with existing materials for DIY assembly.

Click~ click~ clank~!

A faint light shines in Lin Xian's eyes. The steel before him suddenly floats in mid-air, and then, under a powerful squeezing force, it is quickly rolled and compounded into one. Just ten minutes later, a 1.5*0.9 composite armor plate appears before him.

Manufacturing and assembly require extreme concentration, and since he is alone, Lin Xian can only seize the time during daylight to prepare the train.

Several hours pass, and several sets of "outer windows" with grilles and double-layer composite armor plates are finally assembled. Then, Lin Xian pushes a mobile small work crane from the rear carriage, moves these heavy armor plates one by one to the edge of the carriage, and then uses the welding machine to start welding them on.

The driver's passage of the Giant Whale 03e heavy gas turbine locomotive is connected to all the carriages behind it, and all are equipped with isolation gates.

The entire train is named "Infinite" by Lin Xian. Carriage No. 1 is modified into a simple living area, and most of the supplies he collected are on it. Carriage No. 2 is temporarily vacant, and he intends to use it to grow vegetables and cultivate some green plants.

The ideal state is actually a plant cultivation area that can perform water and oxygen circulation, but Lin Xian knows nothing about this, so it can only be left vacant for the time being. The final Carriage No. 3 is used for various tools, motorcycles, cranes, welding machines, and for storing materials later.

Just as he is busily building his mobile fortress, his phone suddenly vibrates.

Lin Xian is shocked, because most satellites have already died, and the satellite call function rarely works anymore. The main purpose of keeping his phone powered is to store data, maps, and for later emergencies, but he didn't expect a call to come through.

He answers the phone, and a somewhat nervous female voice comes from the other side.

"Lin Xian, are you still in Jiang City? I... I want to join your orbital train plan."

The person on the other end of the phone is named Chen Sixuan, Lin Xian's college teacher. In the days after the apocalypse descended, she was the only person Lin Xian contacted in his address book.

Chen Sixuan is twenty-seven years old, looks like a flower, and has no boyfriend. In the atmosphere of early marriage and early childbearing in Jiang City before the apocalypse, she belonged to a rare species.

In his memory, this college foreign language teacher has a tall figure and was born into a highly educated family. She belongs to the typical urban wealthy and beautiful woman and is a star-like figure in the college.

At the beginning, Lin Xian mentioned his train plan to her, but was rejected by Chen Sixuan, because Lin Xian did not reveal his ability to her, which made her think the plan sounded unbelievable. And at that time, Chen Sixuan still insisted on the naive idea that a rescue team would come to rescue her.

However, when Jiang City encountered the first polar night, countless people died in despair, and the bizarre in the dark night constantly swallowed the last sanity of the survivors. Lin Xian also witnessed many human tragedies after the collapse of social order. In this environment, if a woman is not a superhuman, her value in those survival teams is not even as good as a barrel of gasoline!

He originally thought Chen Sixuan had left with some team or had already died. He is quite surprised to suddenly receive her call. If she hasn't fled, how has she survived for such a long time?

At this moment, in an apartment, the door is locked, the curtains are completely drawn, Chen Sixuan has messy hair and is in home clothes, her expression nervous as she curls up in the corner of the sofa, looking at the last bit of battery on her phone. Her originally moist and full lips are now deathly pale, and she can't help but tremble.

For two months, she has experienced the darkest time in her life, food shortages, and endless nights.

She is awakened every night by the terrifying sounds in the dark night, her whole spirit is trance-like, and her figure has lost a circle.

At first, she was waiting for the appearance of the official rescue team, and many former admirers sent supplies to her door. But when she learned that the entire world order had collapsed and the polar night had arrived, Chen Sixuan realized that she had fallen into a desperate situation.

So, she started asking for help.

But after the polar night, most of the people in Jiang City seemed to have disappeared from the world, and the remaining people began to migrate and flee one after another. And those teams willing to accept her would ask her to send a nude photo first to see her quality.

At this moment, she finally realized that she was no longer the heartthrob teacher in the university, nor was she the Chen Sixuan chased by the young masters of Jiang City, but a burden. In this apocalypse, even if she has some beauty, she must take the initiative to offer herself to be chosen by others.

Just when Chen Sixuan was about to reach a dead end, she suddenly thought of Lin Xian.

All power banks were out of power, and the phone only had the last bit of battery left.

At this moment, no matter what crazy plan it was, as long as the phone could be connected, there was hope for her.

"Chen Laoshi, are you okay?"

Lin Xian on the other end of the phone sounds calm and steady, which immediately relaxes Chen Sixuan's heartstrings. "Student Lin, I... I'm still alive. Are you... still in Jiang City?"

Chen Sixuan bites her finger tightly.

After a long silence, Lin Xian's voice comes from the other end of the phone again.

"Yes."

Chen Sixuan trembles all over, her tense mood relaxes. Hope flickers in her eyes, and she quickly says to the phone,

"Where are you? Can you come and pick me up..."

As soon as she finished speaking, she immediately regretted it.

This sentence sounds simply ridiculous. She remembers that a few days ago she contacted a team preparing to flee east. When she called, she also subconsciously said this sentence, but the other side scolded her in a near-mocking tone, implying: It's this time, and you still think of yourself as a princess?

So she quickly changed her words, "No, no, no... I mean, where are you? Can I go to your place?"

To survive, she had to take a gamble. Otherwise, when the phone turned off, she would only have two choices: continue to hide in the apartment and wait for death, or go out aimlessly and be torn into a pile of rotten meat by zombies.

"Chen Laoshi." Lin Xian on the other end of the phone says, "Do you have supplies, or have you awakened any abilities?"

Hearing this, Chen Sixuan's heart turns cold.

!

She looks at the empty apartment, her lips tremble, and she says in a near-crying tone, "No... no."

"If, if you want me..."

Chen Sixuan would never have thought that one day she would say such fawning words to one of her students.

But before she could finish her words, Lin Xian on the other end of the phone interrupted her, "Sorry, Chen Laoshi, my supplies are also limited. If you want to join my plan, you must have corresponding value. Sexual needs are not worth mentioning to me."

Since no one believes in his train plan, he will build it himself to escape the polar night. He is not doing this out of kindness.

Lin Xian's voice is calm, giving people a great sense of security while also bringing Chen Sixuan endless despair.

"Alright then..."

"Good luck, Chen Laoshi." Lin Xian's expression is indifferent, he sighs in his heart, and prepares to hang up the phone.

On the other side, Chen Sixuan is freezing cold. Just as Lin Xian is about to hang up, she suddenly grabs the phone like a madwoman and shouts,

"Wait!"

She widens her eyes, her chest heaving rapidly, and shouts,

"The Star-Ring Orbit was built in 2039, covering 126 countries and 34 regions worldwide starting from Longguo, spanning nine continents and four oceans, including the thirteen Star Abyss annihilation zones currently appearing in the world. The total length of the orbit is over 320,000 kilometers. My father was a first-class maintenance engineer for the Star-Ring Orbit. I know the locations of all 1,266 stops and 625 spare track sections used for maintenance..."

"In addition, I am familiar with multiple languages. I can act as your translator, and I eat very little. I also know some cooking. As long as... as long as you take me with you, I can agree to all your requirements!"

She shouted the last part with all her strength!

On the other end of the phone, there is a long silence.

Chen Sixuan's expression is tense, her delicate body trembling, her fingernails digging into her thighs, leaving bloody marks from excessive force.

"Location, I'll come to pick you up."

With just six words, Chen Sixuan feels dizzy. When she comes to her senses, she quickly says urgently,

"I... I am at 901, Building 3, Yushui Garden, Jiangzhou Road!"

Beep~

Before she could repeat the address a second time, the phone screen went black and turned off.

She tries pressing it tentatively, but there is no response. Not sure if Lin Xian really heard her address, she bites her lower lip in anxiety.

"Ah!"

She screams like a madwoman and throws the phone against the wall, shattering it into pieces.

"He heard it, he must have heard it..."

At this moment, Chen Sixuan can only comfort herself. To alleviate her negative emotions, she immediately gets up and starts searching for all the books related to the Star-Ring Orbit in her home.

On the other side, Lin Xian looks at the hung-up phone and sighs.

The teacher he once admired and respected is now begging him in a near-pleading tone, even willing to provide sexual services. This ghost-like apocalypse really turns people into evil ghosts.

Chen Sixuan's words really moved him. The Star-Ring Orbit surrounds the entire Blue Star, and the journey is filled with unknowns. If someone is relatively familiar with it, it is better than a dead map that has lost its positioning and navigation functions. What's more, a map won't mark maintenance sections or special connecting routes.

Of course, there is another point: Chen Sixuan is an acquaintance of Lin Xian. In the apocalypse, people will unconsciously develop a sense of huddling together for warmth, and acquaintances are precisely the easiest to trust.

Putting away the phone, Lin Xian checks the time, then immediately throws himself into the welding work.

There is not enough time today, and the progress of the train preparation cannot be delayed.

Beep, beep~

18:00, 45 minutes until nightfall.

Lin Xian is covered in sweat, looking at the tank-thick armored windows on both sides of the third carriage, his heart filled with a sense of accomplishment.

"Next are the generator, heating equipment, water purification equipment, refrigerator, and an intelligent monitoring system."

"And armed protection, automatic firepower, radar systems, etc..."

"By the way, the living area needs a big bed, a bathtub, and it's best to plan an entertainment area, a game area, etc. Shouldn't we store tens of thousands of movies, TV shows, and games?"

Lin Xian's eyes get brighter and brighter. At this moment, he feels more and more that...

This apocalypse is becoming more and more promising!

New book, please collect and follow!

(End of chapter)