Chapter 258

The Snow Demon tide rioted, and the giant black worm crazily drilled into the ground. The torso, which was still swimming and exposed outside like a black hill, was focused on by everyone, setting off a rain of flesh and blood.

But this heavy firepower seemed completely unable to hurt the monster, not even piercing the black skin. The huge explosion seemed to ignite a small spark on its body. Everyone watched as the monster drilled into the ground with the momentum of shaking the earth and mountains.

Snow dust rolled, and a large amount of accumulated snow on the edge of the canyon began to collapse and slide.

As soon as Kiki made a move, she instantly attracted everyone's attention. At this time, overwhelming firepower swept over, forcibly suppressing the Snow Demons swarming out of the snow. Because the snow layer ahead had been washed away, these Snow Demons had no place to hide and were completely exposed to the surface as soon as they rushed out, being torn into fragments by the metal jets shot by various heavy kinetic weapons.

Because the terrain narrowed at the edge of the cliff, this defensive line presented a trend of being easy to defend and difficult to attack. These monster tides gathered and congested, unable to rush up at all in the face of the powerful kinetic energy thermal weapons.

Above the sky, the monsters with huge wings tried to sweep into the formation in the blizzard. The anti-aircraft heavy artillery on Shi Diyuan's Longshan No. 1 main weapon station began to exert its power. Thermal explosions continued in the air, and the entire ice valley was filled with a strong smell of gunpowder smoke.

Rumble, rumble!

The earth shook and the mountains swayed. The giant black worm underground began to make trouble. Shi Diyuan looked at the snow dust on the surface beginning to vibrate, spat fiercely, and turned to shout at a camp in the rear.

"Team Leader Yu, this thing is coming up, let the machine burn for a while longer!"

Hum!

Woo~

Not long after, a sky-shaking roar suddenly rang out from the giant mecha body. In the sky full of blizzard, a roar of a nuclear-powered turbine engine suddenly rang out, with a gradually piercing frequency, shaking people until they were numb!

Empty, empty, empty, empty!!

With the appearance of this sound, those violent Snow Demon tides suddenly fell into chaos, and the vibration underground also began to become more restless, making the entire snowfield float like waves. Not long after, the earthquake actually moved further and further away, and accompanied by this humming sound, large areas of Snow Demons and four-legged monsters began to drill into the blizzard, gradually disappearing from the firepower line.

"Cease fire!"

"Save ammunition!"

"Clear the way, let them in!!"

The firepower from all sides began to stop as the Snow Demon tide receded.

In front of the defensive line, a tracked truck with heavy armor started, drove out a distance, and opened a small gap in front of the line.

Lin Xian immediately drove in. As soon as he drove in, he discovered that there were quite a few vehicles parked inside the line, some of which even had Phoenix Society logos. A temporary camp was stationed here.

Woo~

The roar of the nuclear-powered turbine engine gradually extinguished at this time, as if carrying a bit of a wail, vibrating in the air.

Lin Xian and Kiki immediately looked up. That giant humanoid mecha was supporting itself on the ground with one hand, looking at the ground from a bird's-eye view. Just the part exposed to the ground was already over 30 meters, almost the height of a dozen floors.

The mecha was half-kneeling in the ice valley, supporting itself on the cliff with one fist. The blizzard swirled at the craggy cracks in its shoulder armor. The brand-new dark blue paint was already covered with traces of battle damage. On its chest was a huge nuclear-powered turbine engine, and a mass of orange-yellow halo was still curled up.

A huge tearing wound appeared on the left arm, revealing a large number of hexagonal hydraulic pipes like a torn honeycomb. Pale golden condensate dripped from the pipe mouth into ice icicles several meters long. The left shoulder armor plate rolled outward, revealing the carbonized drive shaft inside and the alloy skeleton capable of bearing ten thousand tons of pressure.

"I... fuck."

"The Phoenix Society actually really built this kind of terrifying weapon..."

Lin Xian looked at the steel giant in front of him, unable to help but tremble slightly in his heart. Even his Mechanical Heart felt like it was going to operate spontaneously at this moment.

Whoosh~!

The battle to resist the monster tide had just stopped, and the defensive line quickly returned to position and adjusted. At the same time, a large group of people walked from all directions toward Lin Xian's polar vehicle. Shi Diyuan walked quickly in the front. Seeing Xiang Xiang Ningjing and Lin Xian get off the car, he said directly: "When I received the signal band, I thought the Phoenix Society's reinforcements had arrived. How could it be you guys?!"

"Of course we came to find you."

Xiang Xiang Ningjing looked at the people behind Shi Diyuan and frowned, saying: "Really, I thought you were all dead. How could so many of you hide here?"

"Eh, Sister Ning." Fatty Cat behind Shi Diyuan said very surprised: "How come there are only a few of you? Aren't you from Xilan City? Where are the Phoenix Society's reinforcements?"

"That's right, are there only a few of you?"

"Abai, Xiaoqing, where are the others? Where is our main force?"

"The main force is still where it was."

Xiang Xiang Ningjing sighed and looked at Shi Diyuan, saying: "Longshan No. 1 had a failure in the No. 3 electric traction locomotive because the blizzard suddenly increased and it encountered a monster tide attack. All of us were trapped in the wind and snow for two days."

"I didn't expect the Infinite to also take the north line. It just happened to wait for Lin Dui. He helped us fix the car. We thought about searching for you here before setting off for Xilan City. I didn't expect you to be trapped here too."

"Trapped in place?!"

Shi Diyuan slapped his thigh violently upon hearing this: "Oh my, damn it, such a big thing happened. This is troublesome. Now without the Phoenix Society's reinforcements, we can't rush out."

Lin Xian stood on the tracks and scanned the area, discovering that besides Shi Diyuan's team, there were at least four or five other survivor convoy members here, totaling more than two hundred people. Looking at this, it seemed that they were all trapped in this place.

"Brother Shi, what exactly is going on?" Lin Xian asked.

Shi Diyuan pinched his eyebrows with a headache and looked at Lin Xian helplessly: "Brother Lin, I'm really sorry, I've caused you trouble again. Now that you've come here, everyone has to be brothers in adversity again. We haven't rushed out of this place for two days, and we've already lost quite a few people. If we can't wait for the Phoenix Society's reinforcements, we might all have to die here."

"It's like this, Sister Ning, Lin Dui." Fatty Cat, the fat man behind Shi Diyuan, was wearing a thick leather jacket, very bloated, wearing cold-weather goggles, and his face was frozen red. He explained to the few:

"When we received the distress signal that day and rushed over, this place was simply like hell. This Phoenix Society organization seemed to be secretly conducting experiments on this giant mecha here, but it's unclear what exactly happened. Their people are almost all dead. An armed company of over a hundred people, a navigation transport group, basically wiped out. When we arrived here, Brother Qian and the others had already held this line for a night. Who knew this place was a dead end? Once you come, you can't get out."

"Oh right, Brother Lin, Xiang Xiang Ningjing, let me introduce you to a few brothers' convoys who have lived and died together. Although I've only known them for two days, everyone has made plans to die here together, haha."

Shi Diyuan didn't seem to have any negativity about being trapped in a dead end. As soon as he mentioned this, he pointed boldly at a man in the crowd wearing thick mink fur who looked a bit too exquisite: "Qian Dele, captain of the Joker convoy, an absolute master, awesome, very powerful. It all depends on his people that our group of convoys can hold on until now."

"He has a flight esper in his team who has already rushed to Xilan City to get reinforcements after dawn, so we all thought you were bringing people from Xilan City."

"Brother Qian," Shi Diyuan said and then introduced to this man named Qian Dele:

"Xiang Xiang Ningjing, Abai, Xiaoqing, these three are from my convoy. These two are the people I told you about who proposed the traction plan at the Yubei Airport, Lin Xian, Brother Lin, and this is his little sister, seems to be called Kiki, right..."

Little sister?

Kiki wanted to speak upon hearing this, but saw this man named Qian Dele looking at Lin Xian with a scrutinizing gaze, and said:

"My God, you are the young hero Old Shi mentioned who saved tens of thousands of people, but looking at it now, it seems... average."

Lin Xian and Kiki felt a chill upon hearing this, not because of the content of what he said, but because this man spoke with a strong feminine tone. When he spoke, one hand liked to press on his chest, matching his exaggerated mink fur cloak, quite like a noblewoman's form. And at this moment, among the dozens of people present, only this Qian Dele looked the least like someone who had been fleeing for months in the apocalypse.

"Don't misunderstand, I just speak like this, straight and don't like to beat around the bush," Qian Dele said loudly: "But you charging over alone does have some guts, just a bit reckless. Now you are the same as us, just have to wait obediently for rescue."

Kiki shivered directly upon hearing this and responded with a frown: "Why can't we get out? We can just go out the same way we came in."

"Easier said than done. Do you think we haven't tried?" Another convoy leader was a middle-aged man wearing a set of industrially modified heavy power armor, who said: "See that big black worm just now? It's guarding us outside. As long as we leave this area, I'm afraid thousands of monsters will rush up. This is still daytime. At night, these guys are not like this."

"These Snow Demons and four-legged big Snow Demons move very fast at night, and they can gnaw through even the thickest armor..." another convoy person said.

"The most critical thing is that big black worm." Shi Diyuan looked at Lin Xian and Xiang Xiang Ningjing, his expression solemn: "Even if we can escape, the Longshan No. 1 and the Infinite can't block this guy, we can only run."

Lin Xian frowned upon hearing this: "Then why aren't we attacked when staying here?"

"According to Team Leader Yu, this guy is covering us." Shi Diyuan gave a thumbs up, pointed to the No. 0 mecha above his head, and then pointed to the right arm of the No. 0 mecha supporting itself on the ground. Only then did he see that on the heavy fist bone armor of the right arm, there was a huge folding high-frequency blade chain sword hidden, covered with green blood plasma already frozen into frost.

"Did you see it when you came? A big guy was killed by this chain sword!"

Xiang Xiang Ningjing was horrified upon hearing this: "Are you talking about that dead black worm?"

"Looks like you encountered it."

"So you mean that the reason why that one won't come near this defensive line now is because... it fears this mecha?" Lin Xian asked with a frown.

"Otherwise?"

That man named Qian Dele had a high-pitched voice and crossed his arms: "Little handsome guy, do you think we are all guarding here because we like to watch the snow scene?"

He pointed to the large snowfield in the distance just now: "That big black bug has been guarding outside. Our cars have rushed several times and lost quite a few people. If we could go out, we would have gone out long ago~"

Xiang Xiang Ningjing smiled speechlessly upon hearing this and looked at Lin Xian: "So, we saved people and ended up needing rescue ourselves."

Everyone was silent, looking at them helplessly.

"This is troublesome. Our plan only has three hours, and those two trains over there are waiting to set off." Xiang Xiang Ningjing looked at Lin Xian and said in a deep voice. Fatty Cat smiled bitterly: "So we received the signal and thought you brought the main force of the Xilan Phoenix Society."

"Hey~" Kiki said at this time: "Then let's just do a feint, use one car to lure that worm away, and then can't the others run?"

"Do you think we haven't tried..." Shi Diyuan said with a headache: "There are Snow Demons everywhere in the snow, plus those four-legged monsters. A car driving out can survive at most 5 minutes. The most critical thing is that those monsters are very smart. They can capture our scent. They can tell the difference between one person running and a group of people running. This method is useless. One car won't lure that big monster away."

Scent?

Lin Xian understood immediately upon hearing this. It was the Dark Mark, but this kind of monster in the snow could capture the mark on the prey during the day. Now it seems that Lin Xian and Kiki must have been marked with a high-level mark.

That giant black creature, I don't know what level it is. I'm afraid everyone present has been marked with this kind of mark.

"No way?" Kiki retorted: "We just encountered its attack with two cars just now, and it scared me."

"Really?" Qian Dele raised his brows, looking over with suspicious eyes: "How did your two cars escape the tiger's mouth of that thing?"

Kiki said: "Just escaped like that..."

Xiang Xiang Ningjing explained: "It can be considered thrilling. Fortunately, Lin Dui and the others made a move. But if we ran back, we definitely wouldn't have escaped that thing's pursuit, and it's possible to bring trouble back to the train, which would be a disaster."

!

"Well said."

Lin Xian nodded. Now it's not a question of how to get away. If they can't completely get rid of or even kill that black underground worm, the Infinite will even face the situation of being overturned. In this case, it's even more impossible for him to bring trouble back like this.

"Looks like we need to think of other ways."

"The only way now is to wait for the Phoenix Society's support from Xilan City." Shi Diyuan turned his head to look at the giant humanoid mecha behind him: "Or pray that this thing can have a flash of brilliance, and then lead us to kill our way out."

"What do you mean, this mecha can't move at all?" Xiang Xiang Ningjing asked.

"Already broken~" Fatty Cat said: "Just now, Team Leader Yu lit a fire to make a show to scare that big bug away. In fact, this mecha can't stand up anymore."

"Eh!"

Shi Diyuan suddenly reacted, looked at Lin Xian with bright eyes, and immediately slapped his forehead: "Good guy, how did I forget this? Brother Lin, you are a mechanical esper. Oh my, maybe there's really a chance."

He said and immediately walked over and patted Lin Xian on the shoulder: "Quick, I'll take you to see Team Leader Yu. She is the person in charge of the Emperor Project group. She will definitely be very interested in you."

Lin Xian poured a basin of cold water on him upon hearing this: "Brother Shi, do you think I can fix this big guy? Isn't that overestimating me?"

"Uh, aren't you a mechanical esper?" Shi Diyuan looked at him in surprise.

"He is a mechanical esper, not a mechanical god. This mecha is at least several thousand tons in volume, how can it be so easy to fix." At this time, Kiki stood out against the norm to explain his esper ability for Lin Xian.

Kiki was right. This mecha's volume was too large. It was not just a repair problem, a scanning problem, but also a key point.

Material.

This kind of mecha uses composite armor, and perhaps it also needs a large amount of super-carbon acetylene alloy, nano-ceramic armor, etc. These are high-level materials. Where would Lin Xian have so much to use for repair and manufacturing?

Even looking at it roughly now, the mecha's core and main structure seem to be intact. There should be quite a few subsystems damaged, but the left arm tearing is particularly serious. Repairing it is a big project.

Shi Diyuan looked at Lin Xian blankly upon hearing this. Lin Xian then nodded and responded: "Yes, but... it's okay to understand it first."

"Hey, that's fine. Anyway, everyone has no way now, and I have mentioned you to Team Leader Yu before. Maybe everyone can think of other ways."

After speaking, Shi Diyuan said to Qian Dele: "Brother Qian, I'll take Brother Lin to see Team Leader Yu. Why don't you go too?"

"I won't go~" Qian Dele's gaze swept over Lin Xian and said: "I don't like that woman, cold as ice. I'll just watch outside. Maybe those Snow Demons will come again in a while."

"Haha, think on the bright side, at least we have a few more awesome espers. Everyone has seen how fierce this little girl of the telekinesis system is, right? Maybe there will be a way to rush out soon," Shi Diyuan boosted everyone's morale. As soon as his words came out, everyone nodded slightly, expressing agreement.

The move by Kiki and the others just now was indeed shocking. There are more than a dozen espers here, and their strength is not bad. Large-scale lethality weapons like Kiki and Abai indeed gave everyone a lot more confidence.

Consequently, people from each convoy began to return to the cars to keep warm. The defensive line has two nuclear-powered devices to supply energy, so there is no problem with heating.

One is the nuclear-powered locomotive with the TriangleTrack strong magnetic all-terrain drive module brought by Shi Diyuan, plus the traction locomotive. Lin Xian observed it carefully just now and found that this drive module is very high-level and manufactured precisely. The only problem is that the changes are huge. It can be said that except for the car shell, everything has been changed.

Lin Xian assumes that this must have cost Shi Diyuan a lot. He thought about it. If it was purely by manufacturing, for Lin Xian, it would be an epic project. He could already imagine how troublesome it would be. He hadn't manufactured such a large mechanical structure, not to mention the Infinite has 14 carriages, which is simply not something that can be completed in a day or two.

So he prepared to ask him later how it was manufactured and refitted. If there is a chance, he will see if he can scan the blueprints.

In addition, the Joker convoy also has small nuclear-powered devices used to supply power to the convoy's electric vehicles. Besides that, many convoys have auxiliary solar energy storage devices, but at this time, it has to be nuclear power that makes people feel at ease. It can also supply heating devices for all convoys on the edge of the Terrakama Ice Valley under this blizzard.

Shi Diyuan took Lin Xian and Kiki toward the several large tent camps under the mecha. Xiang Xiang Ningjing took Abai and Xiaoqing back to their Longshan No. 1 car first.

"By the way, there is one thing I am curious about."

Lin Xian said while walking: "Isn't this Emperor Project also an organization of the Phoenix Society? Why do you need to seek help from Xilan City?"

Lin Xian had been thinking about this question just now. How does it sound like the action of this Phoenix Society organization here is completely unknown to Xilan City?

Shi Diyuan waved his hand: "I asked early on, the action of this Emperor Project is top secret."

"Keep it secret from your own people too?"

"No." Shi Diyuan looked at Lin Xian and said meaningfully: "I estimate they encountered some situation. The current situation must be outside the plan, leading to loss of contact with Phoenix Society organizations at other support points, so they used a full-band distress signal. The 7 convoys here are all here to support."

"So many people died and were injured, it looks like they encountered an S-level strange entity, such as that black worm." Kiki said at this time.

"That black worm is not an S-level strange entity." Shi Diyuan said eloquently: "At least according to the Phoenix Society's assessment, this thing hasn't reached the S-level yet."

Lin Xian's eyes narrowed slightly upon hearing this: "So the S-level strange entity in the Parma Grassland mentioned on the radio is not this thing."

"That's right..."

Under the wind and snow in the camp, a team of Interstellar Army soldiers wearing military power armor outside the large windproof tent were busy moving ammunition to the front. Lin Xian and Kiki scanned it and found that the uniforms on these people were special. Looking around, there were less than 20 people left. These people were all carrying heavy weapons, equipped with powered exoskeleton assistance systems and high-end cold-weather gear. It seemed that they had experienced battles for several consecutive nights, and these soldiers were full of fatigue and traces of battle damage...

The closer they got to that huge mecha, the more Lin Xian and Kiki felt that the surrounding wind and snow had weakened a lot. Facing it, they could feel the residual heat transmitted after the nuclear-powered turbine engine on the chest was started just now. Standing in front of this giant, they were like ants, and just by looking up, they could feel a mountain-like pressure.

Shi Diyuan saw Lin Xian and Kiki looking at the huge mecha in front with shock, and also stopped his steps, saying with emotion:

"Scary, hey, good guy, I was also shocked when I saw it for the first time. We humans can also build this kind of thing. Not to mention anything else, if we can build more, we can wrestle with those monsters in the dark night, and the remaining survivors around the world can also boost their confidence."

Kiki said bluntly: "But in this situation, doesn't it mean that this plan has failed?"

The super weapon built by the Phoenix Society's power died in the first test. This news sounds like it will only make people feel more desperate.

Lin Xian said upon hearing this: "I think the purpose of the Phoenix Society building this kind of weapon must be to contend with S-level strange entities, or to enter the Star Abyss for reconnaissance. If it's just this result, doesn't it mean it didn't reach expectations?"

"I don't know what this thing has experienced..." Shi Diyuan took a deep breath and said: "But being able to kill such a big black worm head-on, the power must not be simple."

Lin Xian nodded: "Judging from the wounds on this mecha, it must have fought with other monsters..."

"What is the name of this mecha?" Kiki asked.

"Their people said, it's called..."

Shi Diyuan looked up at the steel giant and said sternly.

"Emperor Project - No. 0 Mecha."

(End of chapter)