Chapter 294: Silent Polar Night

Under the black curtain, only a few stars can see the outline of the city.

Yubei City, shrouded in darkness and death, is full of war ruins and wreckage. The temperature is extremely low. There is no blizzard, only extreme low temperature, because there is not even the sound of wind, and the entire city is as quiet as if it were frozen.

In the center of the city, in a giant nuclear explosion crater with a diameter of 6 kilometers, the liquid mixed with various blood and corpses has frozen into ice. Streets within a radius of several kilometers are tilted, melted, and shattered in a radial pattern outward.

Only in the city streets and alleys in the distance are there still a large number of zombies.

But these zombies are all motionless in the dark night, as if they have fallen into some kind of static state. There is no vitality and no sound around. Even if these zombies are "alive" in a sense, they have all lost their instinct to act, standing in large patches like dolls in the streets and alleys.

On top of an undestroyed high-rise building, Chu Yan, wearing a special full-coverage mecha, quietly watched the giant nuclear explosion crater in the distance, and a large amount of information constantly appeared on the holographic mask.

The mechanical female voice sounded:

"5650 kilometers away from the No. 3 Star Abyss of Lucheng, current Soul-Oscillation Value index 1156, radiation index 198msv/h"

"According to intelligence analysis, more than two S-level anomalies may appear here simultaneously, as well as the Corpse-Driver of the No. 3 Star Abyss."

"Corpse-Driver?" Chu Yan looked at a giant jellyfish tentacle that had fallen on the hill in the distance, her gaze pondering slightly. Then she turned her head and looked at the climbing passage that towered into the sky. Outside the entire airport, there were piles of charred corpses like mountains, and ashes covered the earth like dust. Just one glance was enough to see the tragedy of the evacuation battle at that time.

Her gaze was slightly cold: "Search for disaster plant fluctuations."

"Searching, no disaster plant growth fluctuations found yet."

"It seems to have been affected by nuclear radiation..."

"Should I guide the next polar night exploration path?"

Chu Yan didn't speak, looked in the direction of the nuclear explosion center, pondered for a moment, and then raised her hand and pointed:

"Warning, using the gravitational lens here is very likely to cause tidal resonance, and the risk index for subsequent paths is expected to increase by 13%"

"It doesn't matter, the people from the Phoenix Society's Polar Night Division 2 have already come to investigate, and that Corpse-Driver is no longer here."

After speaking, she prepared to take action, but at this moment, she suddenly sensed something and turned her head abruptly, only to find a young man standing quietly behind her without wearing any protective suit.

Chu Yan's pupils tightened: "You again?"

Lin Xian stood on the edge of the high-rise building, exhausted, looking at the familiar yet strange city outline in front of him, and then looked at Chu Yan.

"It seems our time is synchronized, and you are not a fictional illusion."

"I am not, but you are."

Chu Yan turned around and looked at Lin Xian through the mecha protective mask: "My mecha radar didn't capture you, which means only I can see you. Who exactly are you?"

Lin Xian saw two organization liveries on Chu Yan's mecha. One was the crimson phoenix seal of the Phoenix Society, and the one in front was a gray-blue shield mark—NAUF.

"My name is Lin Xian, a captain of a survivor fleet cooperating with the Phoenix Society."

"Lin Xian?" Chu Yan frowned: "Is that shelter in Jiang City your house?"

"So I want to know why you appeared in my house?" Lin Xian asked back.

"This point is not to be disclosed."

Chu Yan raised her hand and pulled a small flying blade from the left shoulder of the mecha, threw it, and whoosh, the flying blade passed rapidly across Lin Xian's face.

"There must be some kind of energy consciousness connection between the two of us, but I don't know your background. Since you say you are a fleet cooperating with the Phoenix Society, I will confirm it with the Phoenix Society side. When we meet next time, perhaps we can communicate more information. In addition, you had better keep this situation confidential."

As Chu Yan was about to leave, she suddenly looked at him: "The time you saw me this time is longer than last time?"

Lin Xian's gaze tightened, not answering her question, but saying:

"Wait, let me see this place."

Yubei City in the polar night, shrouded in absolute desolation and death, with no sign of life. On the edge of the airport platform in the distance, many human-shaped vaporized black shadows could be vaguely seen, like a heroic Great Wall painting engraved with charcoal on the defense outer wall...

Clang, clang~

Clang, clang~

Lin Xian rubbed his heavy head, struggled to climb up, opened his eyes, and found that he was lying in the bedroom of Carriage No. 1 of the Infinite. The lights were not turned on, all the blackout covers were closed tightly, and the entire carriage was pitch black.

He looked at the time on his watch.

16:00

Lin Xian tried to open a blackout cover near the window and looked outside through the special multi-layer bulletproof porthole he had installed.

Pitch black, only the snowflakes occasionally falling outside the window told him that it was snowing outside.

The temperature outside the carriage had risen to minus 32 degrees, and the fleet seemed to be moving away from the extreme cold vortex.

"Hoo..."

Lin Xian took a long breath, trying to suppress the splitting headache.

Over-operating the Unit-01 plus using the gravitational lens, Lin Xian felt as if he had experienced the terrifying experience of his soul being stripped away. The feeling of Chen Wei's death kept replaying in his mind, producing a physiological feeling of suffocation.

So he kept adjusting his breathing and sat quietly for a few minutes before finally feeling his body feel better.

At the same time, he recalled the madness when he bombarded the giant sea urchin. At that moment, he seemed to have used the nuclear power energy of the Unit-01 to release such a large-area AT field, but this was not Lin Xian's conscious behavior, and he didn't know how a superstring reactor phase rainbow ring appeared behind him...

Lin Xian opened the Heart of the Machine panel and saw the congested information on the light screen, and his face changed immediately.

【Non-mechanical energy converted, obtained 1000 mechanical source points.】

【Non-mechanical energy converted, obtained 1000 mechanical source points.】

【Congratulations, Heart of the Machine successfully upgraded to Lv. 5, Heart of the Machine fully upgraded remote control mode!】

【Remote control mode】: Can perform mechanical scanning, devouring, manipulation, and manufacturing from a distance. The control distance is affected by the 【Mechanical Manufacturing】 level. Current control distance is 500m.

【Current Heart of the Machine level Lv. 5 (240/20000)】

【Special Skills】

Mech-Energy Cannon 【Amplification】

AT Field 【Amplification】

Flashback (Rare) (Level 2 50%)

Surge (Rare) (Level 3 maxed)

Gravitational Lens (Legendary) (Level 1 99%)

R&D Center

【G3-Electromagnetic Railgun (Blueprint) in R&D: 1 day 13 hours 59 minutes】

"Did the Hell Black Chrysanthemum absorb so much dark energy? It actually converted 2000 mechanical source points?"

Lin Xian was secretly surprised. Just as he was about to get up, another message popped up in front of him.

【Non-mechanical energy converted, obtained 1000 mechanical source points.】

Lin Xian took a look, and his expression shook immediately.

"Hell Black Chrysanthemum, still converting!!?"

In the battle of Xilan City, how much black energy did this disaster plant absorb??

【Currently amplifiable skills.】

Surge (Rare) (Level 3, maxed): Can be amplified to: 【Superstring Reactor Phase Rainbow Ring】

Amplification condition: Complete the devouring of a nuclear power device with a thermal power exceeding 300 megawatts.

Amplification time: 24 hours

"So this thing is real, but why did I use it without amplification..."

Lin Xian was full of doubts at this time. He had already used this amplification skill in advance, but he could only sigh at it now. A nuclear power device with a thermal power exceeding 300 megawatts—one must know that his Gemini 11R nuclear-powered train only had 290 megawatts. This condition was simply extremely harsh.

"But fortunately, the Heart of the Machine has finally upgraded." Lin Xian looked at his hands at this time, and then his gaze turned to a small alarm clock he had made on the table not far away, and he grabbed it directly.

Whoosh~

In an instant, the small alarm clock turned into ashes and disappeared.

【Devouring successful, obtained 1 mechanical source point】

"Being able to devour and scan from a distance and also control, this saves a lot of trouble."

Feeling the improvement in strength, Lin Xian eased a little from the miserable state of mind of the previous battle.

Just as he was about to pick up the communicator to call others, he came back to his senses, because he felt that the atmosphere in the carriage was a bit wrong.

The sound of the tracks was slower than imagined. Lin Xian didn't know how long he had slept, nor did he know where he was at this time.

His first reaction was:

The train was moving too slowly.

The second was finding:

The carriage presented a strange sense of quietness.

Lin Xian held his breath, walked out of the bedroom, and all the lights outside were turned off, and the corridor was pitch black.

What's going on, where are the people?

Just as Lin Xian was puzzled, a figure walked over quickly, holding a faint cold night light, and it was actually Chen Sixuan.

"Shh!"

Chen Sixuan was overjoyed the moment she saw Lin Xian, but she immediately made a gesture for him to be quiet, and then couldn't help but throw herself into his arms.

"Great, you finally woke up."

Her voice was extremely small, but there was an irrepressible excitement and joy. Lin Xian calmed down, hugged Chen Sixuan, and subconsciously whispered: "What happened?"

At this time, Chen Sixuan pulled Lin Xian back into the bedroom, carefully closed the bedroom door, and then said to him in a serious and low voice:

"The entire fleet is currently maintaining silent operation." Chen Sixuan said: "We have entered the polar night range of the No. 5 Star Abyss, but when we just entered the tidal area, strange things happened in the fleet!"

"Strange things?"

Chen Sixuan nodded: "Something appeared outside the train. One of the united fleets, called the Flying Fish, had damage to its carriage body in the previous defense battle, and as a result, a large-scale infection appeared in the carriage, and a whole carriage of people died. The specific cause of death cannot be investigated. Now that carriage has been isolated. We suspect that there may be a problem with the air, so all 22 trains have turned on air filtration, and everyone is trying to find a way to plug the leaks."

Lin Xian frowned upon hearing this and immediately activated the Heart of the Machine to sense the heterogeneous magic cube on the train, finding that there was no alarm, and he breathed a sigh of relief.

"In addition, because you were not here, we discussed with Brother Shi and the leaders of several train groups. Although no one has a mark now, everyone is worried about encountering something in the polar night that would mark them, which would be troublesome. And we know that there must be something outside, so for safety reasons, everyone agreed to reduce the speed, turn off the lights, and maintain quiet driving."

Lin Xian nodded and immediately understood. Having just experienced the miserable battle of Xilan City, although the survivors successfully cleared the marks on their bodies, everyone knew that they were in the polar night at this time, and no one dared to relax their nerves.

Chen Sixuan told him that because of the route restrictions of the train group, the 22 Doomsday Trains had to cross the coverage area on the outskirts of the No. 5 Star Abyss from the north line together and then reach Quancheng, but because they had to cross the polar night, everyone was more cautious.

"Fortunately, the snow is not as deep as the Parma Grassland before, and the fleet does not need to increase to a very fast speed."

!

Clang!

Lin Xian manipulated the Heart of the Machine to open the blackout cover on the side, looking at the vast snowfield that was pitch black as ink, his expression slightly cold.

"So are more than 20 trains driving together now?"

"Yeah, Longshan No. 1 is leading, and behind us is Mo Nika's Queen Mo."

"Doesn't she have all-terrain drive for the whole train? Why not follow the main force of the Phoenix Society?" Lin Xian asked puzzledly.

Chen Sixuan whispered: "I don't know, not only her, but also Qian Dele."

"Qian Dele?" Lin Xian was surprised: "He is a large fleet, and he has a nuclear-powered polar vehicle, how could he switch to a train?"

"He exchanged his nuclear-powered polar vehicle for a train fleet. According to him, he likes it spacious and clean, and wants to die comfortably."

Lin Xian smiled helplessly. This indeed sounded like his personality, and this time many train groups probably wanted to follow the Phoenix Society's main force to bypass the No. 5 Star Abyss, and were eager to change vehicles.

"And Luo Yang and the others are the same. After Xilan City, everyone suffered heavy losses. Uncle Wu and Liao Ming of the Great Eagle Fleet are dead. Liang Lei, Amin, Luoluo, and Li Guangwen are seriously injured and were brought back to life by us using medical pods. Liang Lei hasn't woken up yet. Then Luo Yang and Li Yi's two fleets also exchanged their vehicles for a train fleet. Now they have merged and named themselves the Sun Fleet, with a total of more than 100 people following behind us. Some of them and the remaining people of the Great Eagle Fleet followed Shen Yao of the North Wind Alliance."

In the entire Xilan City defense battle, the vast majority of fleets were shattered. In this situation, it was normal for everyone to huddle together for warmth and merge. Hearing the news about Uncle Wu and Liao Ming, Lin Xian also sighed in his heart.

He also remembered a disaster plant that Uncle Wu gave him. After the Xilan City incident, the importance of disaster plants in Lin Xian's heart was simply maxed out. Originally, Lin Xian thought that if he successfully survived, he would invite Uncle Wu and the others to unite, or provide them with some power armor and weapons. He didn't expect the Great Eagle Fleet to be gone just like that.

"By the way, Shen Yao of the North Wind Fleet specifically asked me to tell you that there is a fleet looking for us everywhere now."

"Who?"

Chen Sixuan took a breath: "Silver Star, Jian Xuwei!"

Lin Xian's pupils tightened upon hearing this. He remembered this head of the Fenger Group who was decisive at the airport. That Eternal-class Doomsday Train with hundreds of carriages was the most powerful firepower Lin Xian had ever seen, with more than 4 electromagnetic railguns alone...

"Click... Hello, Brother Shi."

At this time, Lin Xian pressed the communicator, trying to contact Longshan No. 1 in front.

Soon, Shi Diyuan's surprised voice came from there.

"Little Brother Lin, you're awake!!"

"Shh, keep it down~" Lin Xian heard Xiang Xiang Ningjing's voice coming from the side.

"Oh, oh, forgot, forgot." Shi Diyuan hurriedly lowered his voice: "Little Brother Lin, sigh, you finally woke up, you worried me to death. How are you now? Are there any parts on your body that are not feeling well?"

Lin Xian felt a warmth in his heart: "I'm all good, Brother Shi, how is the situation now?"

"Let me tell Team Leader Lin."

At this time, the signal in the frequency band switched to Xiang Xiang Ningjing's, and she said: "Team Leader Lin, Old Shi is also seriously injured. I am watching over here now. We should reach Yijin soon. We haven't seen any monsters yet, but you need to pay more attention to the air circulation system. We suspect that there is some toxic or dark-invasion-like substance in the wind, snow, and air. Please be careful."

"Good, I know, let's keep in touch."

"Hmm."

Lin Xian pressed another frequency band and contacted Luo Yang and the others. Hearing Lin Xian's voice, the young people like Luo Yang were all very excited.

Luo Yang said: "Team Leader Lin, we are now learning your train assembly method to modify the cars, and we will follow you!"

Lin Xian said with concern: "Take care of yourselves first. As for the modification, wait until it's safe. Now that we have entered the polar night, be sure to be careful. If you have anything, tell me directly."

"Understood, thank you Brother Lin."

"By the way, Li Yi." Lin Xian asked Li Yi again: "How is Liang Lei?"

"He... is still alive." Li Yi's voice sounded a bit heavy. It seemed that Liang Lei's injuries were much heavier than imagined.

"Good, take care of him." Lin Xian sighed slightly, and then after briefly understanding the situation with Qian Dele and Mo Nika in the frequency band, he breathed a long sigh of relief in his heart.

At this moment, 22 Doomsday Trains were connected head-to-tail, and the 15-kilometer-long steel dragon with more than 500 carriages was driving quietly in the wind and snow of the polar night. There were more than 4,000 survivors in total, some of whom were transferred to the car fleet in Xilan City, otherwise the number might be higher.

"How are the others?"

Lin Xian walked toward the rear carriage with Chen Sixuan, asking about the situation of the team members.

Chen Sixuan leaned into Lin Xian's ear: "Kiki is still sleeping, Brother Huo, Building, they are all the same, these ability users. This time the consumption was huge. On the contrary, we evolvers are slightly better."

Lin Xian's expression was solemn: "Looking at it this way, the adaptability of ordinary people seems to be better than that of ability users?"

"They should be too tired, and they used two cold-dark reagents." Chen Sixuan said with a worried expression.

Lin Xian stopped his steps upon hearing this, looking at the extremely faint energy light flowing in the carriage, and then thought, could it be because these few people were closest to the S-level, received more dark power, plus the conversion of the Hell Black Chrysanthemum, which caused a huge burden on the body?

He didn't think so without reason. Not to mention the two cold-dark reagents, these people with stronger combat power often eliminated more monster tides, plus the S-level giant sea urchin and Abyss Worm must have had greater energy leakage.

The benefit was of course a great help to abilities and evolution, but there was also a huge disadvantage, for example... they would not see the sun for a long time.

Thinking of this, Lin Xian immediately walked toward Carriage No. 3. When passing Carriage No. 2, Kiki was still sleeping. Lin Xian stopped to look and found that her complexion had recovered quite well, and he breathed a sigh of relief in his heart.

In the battle of Xilan City, Kiki faced the most dangerous situation. It looked like her ability test was a violent level with a rating of over 2000, but in essence, she was just a 16-year-old girl who had learned abilities for less than a month. Facing that giant sea urchin, she was almost at the end of her rope and needed to recover well.

And the reason why he was able to recover faster, Lin Xian pondered, should be because of the heterogeneous magic cube converting energy for him.

Lin Xian didn't see Ding Junyi when he came to Carriage No. 3, but saw Director Ding, who was busy harvesting vegetables with several young team members, in Carriage No. 4.

"Cut the roots of these carrots with the tassels for 3 centimeters, put the roots upward into the culture dish, and new buds will grow in about 2-3 days, then you can put them back into the hydroponic box."

"Put the cut lettuce roots into the water, but the water must not exceed 2 centimeters. You must pay attention to the temperature of Carriage No. 4. Lettuce is sensitive to temperature. If it is too hot, it will wilt. The optimal growth temperature is within 15c~25c, which is very suitable for growth in places where sunlight cannot shine directly."

Ding Junyi explained carefully while harvesting. Seeing Lin Xian walk in at this time, she stood up immediately and said:

"Lin Xian, you're awake?"

"Team Leader Lin!!"

Several other team members also shouted excitedly, but as soon as they opened their mouths, they realized they were too loud, so they hurriedly shrank their necks and covered their mouths.

Lin Xian made a shushing gesture to them, and then these team members nodded.

"Director Ding, we will take it to be made into vegetable juice first."

"Go ahead." Ding Junyi said, and then after the few people left, she turned to Lin Xian and said: "It has always been dark night, plus we have been in contact with the monster tide for too long in Xilan City, the dark invasion will be very serious, so I prepared some more vegetable juice."

Lin Xian opened his mouth. He came for this matter, but he didn't expect Ding Junyi to have already done it.

Seeing this scene, Lin Xian nodded. He looked at Ding Junyi and suddenly walked up a few steps and gave her a big hug.

"Thank you, Director Ding, thank you for your research, thank you for your dark mark."

After crossing the Dazhu Mountain Plateau, it was precisely because of Ding Junyi and the Hell Black Chrysanthemum from Underground City No. 9 that the Infinite was able to walk to the present. It was also because of the dark mark theory confirmed by the sacrifices of Wei Kexue, Old Guo, and countless scientific researchers that tens of thousands of people in Xilan City could survive until now.

Seeing her back on the Infinite at this time, Lin Xian just wanted to hug her fiercely.

Ding Junyi was caught off guard by this hug, and a few flashes of astonishment crossed her calm expression.

"This... it's nothing."

Lin Xian let go of her, his hands on Ding Junyi's shoulders: "How can it be nothing? You, Wei Kexue, Guo Sicheng, Team Leader Yu, Professor Zhang, and these scientific research team members, do you know how many people this dark mark can save? You deserve the highest honor in the scientific research world."

As soon as these words came out, Ding Junyi adjusted her glasses and said plainly:

"For scientists, the other shore of truth is not the laurel of honor, but the fountain of salvation chiseled by intelligence in the wilderness. As a member of humanity, I am already very honored to be able to contribute my strength, so I don't value honor."

"Of course..."

Ding Junyi looked at Lin Xian, her gaze deep: "Your recognition of me makes me feel very good."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 295 =====