Chapter 251: Silent Hunting

Kiki frowned slightly upon hearing this: "Then what if they can't be killed?"

"We can only try to weaken the mark level." Lin Xian's gaze wandered, and he said in a deep voice: "Other survivors should have encountered the same problem. They don't have the Hell Black Chrysanthemum yet and can only defend passively. In this situation, the death rate must be high!"

Lin Xian didn't expect that as soon as he entered the snowfield, the predicament given to him was one that was almost impossible to eliminate.

Kiki was right. Even if he left enough time, he couldn't guarantee that he could kill all the pursuing Snow Demons, which meant the Infinite would always be in an exposed state in the blizzard.

But thinking about it, there was no better way. The train couldn't stop, and the monsters under the snow layer couldn't be killed. The snowfield was as vast as the sea. As the snow layer increased, he didn't know if there would be anything more terrifying appearing.

"Let's do it!"

Lin Xian made a prompt decision, pressed his earphone and said: "Everyone stop firing, Brother Huo come back, Teacher Chen accelerate!"

"We'll stay put for now. If these things are just following, then they won't directly cause damage to us, and our protection is very thick, so it's not that easy to break through. My idea is to find a place where the terrain isn't so open before nightfall to conduct a wave of cleaning, trying to weaken our mark level before nightfall."

"These things are so hateful. They hide under the snow and can actually mark us..." Sasha said with an angry face.

"Hyenas are such group-hunting biological organisms. Their attack power and means might not be as good as jackals, wolves, tigers, and leopards, but through large-scale group encirclement, and then consuming the prey little by little, as long as the prey starts to bleed, then they are destined to be surrounded and die of exhaustion." Ding Junyi said at this time.

Hearing Ding Junyi's words, everyone felt a lingering sense of crisis. The train was surrounded by monsters but was helpless, as if they had been treated as some kind of must-die prey, marked by this group of Snow Demons, and after entering the darkness, they would swarm up and swallow them whole!

Lin Xian raised his voice to boost everyone's morale: "But what can be determined is that these things won't launch an attack before nightfall, and we can observe the changes in our marks, which allows us to occupy some initiative, at least allowing us to decide at what mark level we enter the night."

"I have a suggestion."

Ding Junyi listened to the fact that the whole train had stopped firing at this time and pointed to the Hell Black Chrysanthemum for Lin Xian: "Conduct a 'pressure relief' treatment by firing before the mark reaches Level 5. Level 5 might be a situation we can't handle. To be safe, let's not try it easily."

Lin Xian looked at the red light on the calamity plant changing and nodded:

"I think so too."

Then he looked at everyone: "Let's do it. Everyone stay alert. We'll fire again when it reaches Level 4. I'm worried that after the snow layer gets thicker, it won't be so easy to bring the mark down."

The most terrifying situation is that the rate of increase is faster than the rate of elimination. Then tonight, the Infinite will likely face a "dark hunt" of the highest level mark!

If that's the case, then everyone can only pray not to run into a monster of the level of an atmospheric cloud mother in this blizzard.

The hunting of the Snow Demon group made the hearts of everyone on the Infinite rise. Many people looked at the deeper snow outside, the bigger storm, and the snow layer, with solemn expressions.

Rustle, rustle, rustle~

More and more Snow Demons!

Inside the carriage, the atmosphere began to become incomparably heavy. The train kept moving, and every minute and second that passed seemed to be setting a countdown for the Infinite.

At this time, the whole train seemed like a pressure cooker that was gradually increasing. The heavy atmosphere made people gradually unable to breathe.

Lin Xian walked quickly to Carriage No. 12. What he could do now was to crazily manufacture bullets for the team, especially for the Roaring K23 electric Gatling guns, Thunder Rain A1 grenade launchers, and the large-caliber bullets needed by the 1130 and T8-Z Vulcan military attack type.

Facing group-hunting organisms, the best way is still heavy firepower.

At this time, most of the materials in his decomposition space were converted by him into materials needed for ammunition, and then under the ability of manual mechanical manufacturing, he manufactured ammunition with a clatter.

Other members were also busy, carrying ammunition crate by crate from Carriage No. 12, starting to prepare enough military arms for each firepower point. Grenade launchers, 12.7mm machine gun bullets, 30mm tungsten-core armor-piercing bullets were manufactured crazily in Lin Xian's hands as if they didn't cost lives.

At the same time, he also secretly prayed in his heart that the three convoys of the Eagle could listen to the dark mark theory he said and be prepared for it.

"They changed the line from Origin Pass to the west side of the Yunzhou Mountains. The wind and snow shouldn't be as serious as here..."

Lin Xian thought to himself.

Chen Sixuan, who was responsible for observing road conditions and driving, also learned about the situation at this time. She looked at the deepening snow ahead with a stern gaze, and the huge storm cyclone in the sky, pitch black as if to swallow the world, was suffocating.

"Before Dalat Town, we have to pass through the Uliyasitai Mountains. The altitude isn't high, only a few hundred meters. The terrain here..."

Chen Sixuan looked through her pre-made route records while driving.

Originally, entering the night, the best way was to find an open place to facilitate dealing with the appearance of strange entities, and also to facilitate running away.

But the situation in front of them was exactly the opposite. Both sides were boundless snowfields, and he didn't know how many Snow Demons were under them. If they couldn't conduct a "pass-guarding" style resistance in a relatively narrow terrain tonight, I'm afraid that even if all the bullets on the train were fired, it would only attract more hunters. Therefore, finding a very good defensive camp before nightfall tonight became a very critical task for Chen Sixuan in this vast snowfield.

In Carriage No. 5, Lu Xingchen, who couldn't kill to his heart's content, pinched his knuckles and looked at Dalou, who was seriously preparing ammunition at this time, and said solemnly:

"This looks like my fire control. Killing too much won't work; you must keep a surplus. Not killing enough won't work; it will leave future troubles. These evil monsters are really giving people a headache."

"You will also have a headache?"

Dalou buried his head and said: "I suggest you finish the tea you want to drink in advance. From now until night, this string of ours should be completely unable to relax."

"Roommate, rest assured!" Lu Xingchen sat cross-legged on his cushion directly, closing his eyes like a master: "I will always have a surplus. The Snow Demons and my divine fire are incompatible. Today, let's see how I kill to my heart's content!"

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh~

Above the sky, the terrifying and huge extreme cold vortex moved strangely, the blizzard blew violently, the howling wind carried cobalt-blue ice crystal particles and danced wildly under the sky, and in the center of the vortex, it seemed that violent spatial distortion could be seen!

Heavy snow howled on the train. With the continuous increase of temperature and wind speed, even the visibility began to gradually decrease.

From running on the snow layer under the sun when Lin Xian woke up to the dark clouds and heavy snow under the storm now, the Infinite only ran for less than two hours, which showed that the movement and diffusion speed of this extreme cold vortex was incomparably terrifying.

Click, click, click~

Fog kept freezing on the car windows, and the cold air penetrated into the interior from the carriage connection. Feeling the rapidly decreasing temperature outside, Lin Xian had to increase the temperature inside the train again.

"Team Leader Lin."

In Carriage No. 10, Shu Qin observed the Snow Demons gathering and swimming like a school of fish in the snow layer outside with a solemn gaze and said in the walkie-talkie: "The scale is starting to get big. You're right, the thicker the snow layer, the more of these ghosts there are."

Lv Chang on the side sighed with a worried face: "I'm just afraid there will be some big guys, then it will be troublesome."

Lin Xian asked Ding Junyi directly: "Director Ding."

"It has reached Level 2 mark. According to the growth rate, it will reach Level 3 in 30 minutes, and Level 4 within an hour." Ding Junyi reported in the walkie-talkie with a calm expression.

"Good."

Lin Xian closed his eyes and pondered: "After 1 hour, start moving. Shu Qin, pay attention to observing the movement patterns of those things. Fire as accurately as possible when we fire later."

"Received!"

Lin Xian looked at the time. It was 16:00. There were still about 2.5 hours before nightfall, but they had to clean up once after 1 hour. Lin Xian prepared to decide when to move next based on the situation of this action.

At this moment, he couldn't help but feel a bit anxious. In this situation, not only did the whole train need enough firepower, but also accurate judgment was needed. Otherwise, one carelessness would lead to a greater disaster.

Now he only hoped that the action 1 hour later could see effective results. If not, he could only stop early until the mark was suppressed.

And in this situation, ammunition became the key.

"Kiki, you and Brother Huo take action together later. Sasha, don't use the mecha, prepare to enable the 1130 close-in defense gun and the rail electromagnetic gun. Director Ding, report the mark situation at any time, so I can invest firepower according to the changes."

"Okay."

"Understood!"

"Received!"

Lin Xian wouldn't use all the firepower at the first time. He had to gradually increase it according to the suppression of the Snow Demons and dark marks. After all, the 1130 bullets were fired very fast, and most of them were projectile bullet rains, which were like using cannons to hit mosquitoes against these Snow Demons. He didn't want to waste them at the beginning.

Time passed minute by minute. Soon, on the snowfield on both sides of the Infinite, it seemed that a boiling sound could be heard.

That was the movement of a large number of Snow Demons swimming under the snow layer!

In Carriage No. 3, Ding Junyi focused on the spectral changes of the Hell Black Chrysanthemum with the mobile terminal, and was also recording the time.

Finally, after the Hell Black Chrysanthemum reached Level 4, she said to Lin Xian in the walkie-talkie at this moment.

"Lin Xian, our dark mark has broken through Level 4."

"Fire!" Lin Xian stopped manufacturing bullets without saying a word, got up and came to Carriage No. 11, and opened the automatic explosion-proof door.

Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat! Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

Everyone who had been prepared for a long time heard the order and fired immediately. 5 Roaring K23 electric Gatling guns and multiple M556 light machine guns roared at the same time. Dalou and Lu Xingchen in Carriage No. 5 also immediately started cleaning and showing their power.

In an instant, a metal jet like a violent storm splashed toward the boiling snowfield on both sides. The gunfire exploded, snow dust flew, and a large number of Snow Demons were blown to pieces and pierced!

Above the train roof, a great fire descended, burning to death the snow demons that had been provoked by the gunfire and were attempting to leap out. For a time, snow demons began to emerge continuously from the deep snow on both sides of the tracks; their bodies scorched by the sunlight, they shrieked as they clung to the train's armor, stabbing fiercely with the sharp needles on their long tails!

It seemed that under the suppression of the sun and the big fire, these ugly monsters that could move rapidly in the snow layer began to struggle frantically, actually jumping directly toward the direction of the train.

"Well come!"

Seeing these Snow Demons rushing wildly to their deaths, Lu Xingchen flashed a arrogant coldness in his eyes. He directly crossed his hands and pushed forward suddenly.

Boom, boom!

On the roof, Kiki, wearing cold-weather gear, flew from the front of the train to the rear, continuously releasing shockwaves from her hands, shaking all the climbing snow demons off and sending them falling into the sunlight and flames, where they were instantly charred.

On the carriage, with the firing of the Infinite, the red light on the Hell Black Chrysanthemum was also changing.

Just like Lin Xian guessed, these strange entities that didn't look big appeared in a group-based mode, and they could act under the dark snow layer during the day, marking the prey along the way with dark marks. After entering the night, they would enter their true hunting moment!

"Too many." Ding Junyi said at this time: "Our bullets aren't necessarily more than their quantity, and we can't keep the gunfire going from morning to night."

Lin Xian's face was somewhat solemn upon hearing this. Ding Junyi was right. They couldn't kill from day to night. Not to mention whether their energy was enough, ammunition was also a big problem. Lin Xian couldn't keep up with the team's firing speed.

"Looks like there's only one way."

Lin Xian immediately called all the key personnel into Carriage No. 3.

"Team Leader Lin, those monsters seem to be getting more and more, and they can't be killed at all!" Shu Qin walked over urgently and said.

Dalou also nodded: "Just like fish in the sea."

"The snow is also getting thicker, and many bullets fired are a waste." Sasha said.

"I understand the situation." Lin Xian simply synchronized the mark problem with everyone.

"Currently, there is only one strategy, and that is to stop attacking first, and then kill before nightfall!"

(End of chapter)

"You got it!"

Without a second word, Shasha immediately opened the rail electromagnetic cannon system.

Woo!

The roof of Carriage 2 opened, and the main barrel of the G3 rail electromagnetic cannon slowly rose. The extreme energy capacitors below began to charge, and blue energy beams began to light up within the main barrel's rail lines. Immediately, the fire control system began to lock onto biological targets, aiming at a dense cluster, and began to fire.

Woo, zzz!

A powerful ionizing oscillation sound rang out, and the dazzling cannon light blasted directly at close range into an area over a hundred meters away where the snow demons were dense.

Boom!

Snow dust exploded, and the shockwave sent the hurricane and blizzard scattering. A crater several meters wide appeared in that area instantly, and over a dozen snow demons were reduced to nothing, their bursting green plasma spraying everywhere.

The addition of heavy firepower made the suppression of the snow demons even more powerful.

"Ah!!"

In Carriage 5, Da Lou stood at the automatic door entrance holding a Gatling gun, shouting as he swept fire at the snow demons outside. A belt of ammunition several meters long hung behind him, and the Gatling barrel erupted with intense heat waves, crazily harvesting these swarming, eerie creatures!

On the roof, Lu Xingchen and Kiki, two area-of-effect ability users, were each responsible for their tasks: one focused on burning and suppressing the snow demons that were leaping out of the snow layers like locusts, while the other cleared the snow demons off the train while using wide-range telekinetic waves to shake more snow demons under the snow layers to death.

"Dropped to Level 2, 3 minutes!" Ding Junyi's voice came through the communicator again.

The Infinite's firepower swept through, turning the snow plains along the way into an ocean of corpses and green plasma. The violent output of firepower continued to spray, almost completely drowning out the sound of the blizzard.

Da-da-da-da-da!

Bang-bang-bang!

At this moment, except for the 1130 close-in weapon system and the Vulcan mecha, almost all of the Infinite's deployable firepower had been used; what remained were the trump cards of the ability users.

Lin Xian did not dare to easily use the Isomorphic Rubik's Cube now, and certainly not on these small fry. The unknown giant creatures of the Parma Grasslands and Yaze Lake were like sharp swords hanging over his head; he had to save enough physical strength to supply the Infinite's ammunition.

"Dropped to Level 1, 1 minute!"

Finally, under the suppression of the powerful firepower, the dark marks branded by these tide-like snow demons were once again pushed below Level 1. Although the Hell Black Chrysanthemum was still emitting a faint red glow, Lin Xian ordered the entire team to cease fire.

Lin Xian checked the time: 17:05. It had taken about 12 minutes.

He calculated and immediately said to Chen Sixuan, "Chen Laoshi, nightfall should be around 18:35. Adjust the speed; we will enter Mount Uliyasitai at 18:00."

Based on the calculations for the encampment point provided by Chen Laoshi, the timing was just right. To avoid inaccuracies regarding the time of nightfall, Lin Xian had specifically set aside sufficient time to eliminate the marks.

"Okay!"

In the cockpit, having received clear instructions, the stone in Chen Sixuan's heart fell slightly. She began to increase the Infinite's speed.

Swish, swish, swish!

The thick snow layer was violently shoveled away by the Infinite's ice-breaking shield and cast to both sides of the tracks. This super-heavy rail fortress engine roared and began to accelerate crazily, racing against time to drive into Mount Uliyasitai.

At this very moment, every minute saved meant more time gained for pressure relief, and the cleaner these 'marks' were cleared, the safer the Infinite's situation would be after nightfall.

Throughout the train's corridors, figures moved constantly. A great battle had just ended, but the group had no time to rest or recuperate; they immediately began to reorganize ammunition, preparing for the next 'pressure relief'!

"Kiki, come to the cockpit."

"What for?"

Lin Xian brought Kiki to the Infinite's cockpit. As the train accelerated, Lin Xian needed Kiki to stand guard in front for Chen Sixuan against any emergencies on the tracks.

"Kid, use your ability to stabilize the train. If any foreign objects or other situations appear on the tracks ahead, blast them open without exception!"

"Mm, understood." Kiki understood Lin Xian's intention. At this moment, Chen Sixuan, who was to the side, said:

"The snow is already over 80cm deep. I estimate that at this rate, after tonight, it might exceed 1.5 meters or even deeper."

The situation she worried about was the train being completely buried, at which point it would be impossible to move an inch.

But the problem was that in the current situation, the Infinite could not continue driving through the night unless they had a death wish.

Lin Xian looked solemn and nodded: "Let's solve the current problem first."

"Hey, Lin Xian, where are you going?" Kiki asked at this moment.

Lin Xian turned and walked away, saying: "To repair the carriage that was pierced just now."

Those snow demons might not look large and were easy to eliminate, but the problem was their sheer numbers and their agility. The stingers on their bodies could cause a certain amount of damage to steel armor, which was truly a headache.

This was still during the daytime. Once night fell, according to intelligence, these things would enter a berserk mode and become even more unscrupulous. With the Infinite being such a long train and having so few people, facing a full-train encirclement would likely lead to being unable to attend to everything at once. Once a carriage was breached, the losses would be far from trivial.

"The outer layer of the research carriage uses nitrided steel + boron carbide ceramic layer + self-healing gel interlayer. This is interstellar aerospace technology. Actually, you could consider armor upgrades in this direction."

In Carriage 4, Ding Junyi was monitoring whether the planted crops were being affected by the infiltrating snow wind. Seeing Lin Xian repairing the outer armor carriage by carriage, she spoke up.

"It's not that simple."

Lin Xian focused on his work and said: "These things look good but aren't practical right now. Facing those monsters, we still need heavy armor for resistance. Upgrading the interior is far less important than the external armor."

Ding Junyi adjusted her glasses: "As far as I know, the high-grade armor steel currently used by the military is mainly tungsten-titanium alloy Type I and II. If it's for mechas, it's mainly super-carbon acetylene alloy, as well as the nano-ceramic armor used by individual soldiers. Perhaps you would be interested in these materials."

Lin Xian became interested upon hearing this and looked up at her: "Director Ding's knowledge is quite broad. Well said. If we could use these materials as a foundation, the Infinite's external armor protection would definitely rise to another level."

Lin Xian did not have molecular scans for these materials at the moment, so the preparation center could not convert them. But even if he did, the conversion of such high-grade materials was time-consuming, labor-intensive, and material-intensive, not to mention that Lin Xian wanted to use them to forge the external armor for the entire train.

Therefore, besides key issues like blueprints, mechanical manufacturing, and mechanical devouring, the material problem was also beginning to become important.

Originally, the Infinite only needed some forged steel, titanium alloy, high-manganese steel, and high-hardened tungsten steel to get by. These materials could be obtained by devouring cars, trains, or some large man-made mechanical objects. But for things like tungsten-titanium alloy, the first time Lin Xian obtained it was by decomposing that damaged 'Iron Guard 3' military assaulter mecha, which he used on key structures like the GK03 electric knife and the ice-breaking shield.

So to obtain this type of material, he had to find higher-grade things to devour. Cars and trains could no longer solve the bigger problems and could only be used to convert into materials for ammunition and weapons.

Rumble~!

Amidst the blizzard, the Infinite sped along, roaring against the cold iron tracks. In the snow plains, a large number of snow demons gathered again, following the train's movement and making a boiling, rustling sound within the snow layers.

After Lin Xian finished repairing the damage inside the carriages, he began to repair and reinforce the external armor to a certain degree. Additionally, regarding the firing ports, once the battle started and the automatic blast-proof doors were opened, the temperature inside the entire carriage plummeted. To preserve the temperature inside the train, Lin Xian set the passage gates between Carriages 3 and 4 to an automatic-closing mode for passage.

As for the living carriages in the back, there was absolutely no way; cold wind invaded through the firing ports, and the temperature in the living area quickly turned into an icy world. Many teammates who were firing had their hands frozen stiff. For this reason, everyone in the carriages began to wear thick body-temperature maintenance devices and cold-weather gear, waiting for nightfall.

"Lin Xian, we're almost there!"

In the cockpit, Chen Sixuan looked at several continuous large hills in the distance ahead of the snow plains, which were also covered in white by the wind and snow. Mount Uliyasitai was a ring-shaped hilly terrain, with the highest peak being only a few hundred meters. When the original Parma Grasslands were not covered by heavy snow, it was a place of beautiful scenery, but at this moment, one could only see a vast, towering expanse of snow hills.

(End of chapter)