Chapter 213: Warm Sun

At 6 a. ., Lin Xian and Ding Junyi had both stayed up all night, monitoring the energy leakage of the Hell Black Chrysanthemum.

The duty team members had already risen; Shu Qin, Da Lou, and others were preparing for departure, each seeming to have slept well and radiating vitality.

Ding Junyi had already dressed; she and Lin Xian were respectively monitoring the Hell Black Chrysanthemum in Car 3 and the heteromorphic cube in Car 1.

The changes in other team members might not be as visibly apparent as the transformation of his heteromorphic cube.

【Non-mechanical energy converted. 200 mechanical source points acquired.】

【Ding! Non-mechanical energy being used for reflection detection.】

【Detection successful. No fear risk detected within the train. Dark-side energy intrusion has been blocked.】

After acquiring another 200 mechanical source points, the heteromorphic cube's conversion finally ceased. Lin Xian watched this, then followed the faint glow along the carriage until he reached Car 3—only to find the glowing leakage had vanished.

At the same moment, Ding Junyi looked up at him: "It's stopped."

Lin Xian nodded: "Yes."

"You didn't sleep all night?" Kiki floated slowly into Car 3, toothbrush in mouth. Seeing them still at work, she asked, "What's going on? Did that flower do something else?"

Lin Xian and Ding Junyi both turned their gazes sharply toward her.

"Girl, how do you feel?" Lin Xian asked seriously.

"Huh?"

Kiki looked baffled: "What do you mean, feel?"

"Your ability—have you noticed any changes?" Lin Xian added.

"Ability?" Kiki frowned, rolled her eyes, then twisted her neck. "Hmm… nothing special. But I slept really well—my energy's fully restored."

Lin Xian and Ding Junyi exchanged glances. Ding Junyi adjusted her glasses and whispered to Lin Xian: "I'll check everyone on the train first. This might happen again—more experiments should reveal patterns."

"What? What? What?" Kiki frowned. "What are you two talking about?"

Lin Xian exhaled slowly: "Nothing. Dawn's coming—get ready. We're heading to Hengshan Pass."

He didn't want to publicize strange, unverified matters.

If the Hell Black Chrysanthemum truly could enhance everyone on the train, its value would be incalculable. Now he understood why the Federation had taken such serious interest in the 01 Blood Calamity Plant.

This thought made him curious about the other Blood Calamity Plants. Rumor said they might grow in the Eternal Night Zone—perhaps he'd find one someday.

"Pfft~"

Kiki pouted: "Got it, boss."

At this moment, Chen Sixuan, who had risen early, came from the rear carriages and finished the inventory left incomplete from last night. Lin Xian took a deep breath and looked at her: "How's the inventory?"

"About what you expected yesterday."

Chen Sixuan sat down and opened the travel log: "Food is running low. Medicines are scarce too. A few teammates got minor injuries yesterday, and since that town had parasites, I took out antibiotics and anti-inflammatories. Rough estimate—if we keep two meals a day, food will last about fifteen days. Even if we cut back further, no more than twenty."

"More people, less to go around," Lin Xian nodded. "We found plenty on the earlier Fireline convoy vehicles, but not much in Rain Town. Food is always a problem for any convoy."

With the team expanded, basic supplies were no longer as plentiful as when he'd only had four or five people.

"No problem. Hengshan Pass is a major transportation hub. There should be many survivor convoys there. We've got plenty of weapons and Blood Essence—we can trade ahead of time."

The train now had strong combat power. As the saying goes, grain and fodder are combat power. To prepare for future crises, he couldn't just maintain bare subsistence—people like Da Lou, key fighters, needed substantial rations.

"Also, medical equipment. We need a medical carriage or an intelligent medical pod—even just a doctor. Otherwise, with more people, injuries and illness can't be handled by just antibiotics and bandages."

"Mm. We need to pay attention to this."

Chen Sixuan nodded. She'd spoken with Shu Qin—no one on the train had professional medical or nursing knowledge. Beyond random pills, disinfection, and bandages, they had no other options.

They had passed a quiet, peaceful night—not only slept comfortably, but everyone felt extraordinarily energized upon waking, as if their bodies were brimming with strength.

!

Car 2, the information center, became Lin Xian's meeting hub. Before dawn departure, he gathered all key members, monitoring official and survivor radio channels while discussing the next steps.

"Federation Radio, Yunjiang Plain Area Bulletin: The S-class anomaly in Palma Grassland has been officially designated as Entity 17. Current movement trajectory: southwest…"

"We provide safe refuge. If you're still alive, contact us anytime. We are the Iron Protectors Alliance. We accept any survivor willing to survive together—men or women, ability users or normals. We survive together, gather supplies, guarantee two biscuits and one 100-gram dried rat per day, one canned ration per week. We're stationed at the Hengshan Pass City Longshan District Police Headquarters and will depart for Phoenix Assembly Dawn Center in six days. We await your arrival…"

"Xiao Organization recruiting ability users exclusively. Join us, become brothers for life. Uniforms provided. Every ability user gets one canned ration daily. If you're a brother, come join… Coordinates: east shore of Shijiu Lake, marked by red maple forest!"

"Fulu Shou Mobile Convoy offers: Blood Essence, Soul-Checking Devices, water purifiers, weapons, ammunition, food, medicine, vehicle equipment, generators, gasoline… Whatever you need, we have it. We accept any valuable item in exchange. Location…"

…

"Whoa, ability users get only one canned ration a day? Has food really gotten this scarce?" Kiki exclaimed.

"This…" Shu Qin's expression was complex. "This is actually normal. Two biscuits and dried rat per day already provide substantial protein."

"So what did you eat before? Also dried rat?" Lin Xian frowned.

Shu Qin nodded: "Dried rat's already good meat. We also had lizard jerky, insect jerky—anything not heavily infected by the Dark. We'd store it all. Canned rations were precious—usually issued once a week, or given to the injured."

"Food and water have always been huge problems. Sometimes survivors fight to the death over a single crate of canned food," Shu Qin said, gazing meaningfully at Lin Xian. "So after last night's feast, I felt like we'd boarded a heavenly train."

(End of Chapter)