[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-apocalypse-i-built-an-infinite-train":3,"chapter-apocalypse-i-built-an-infinite-train-apocalypse-i-built-an-infinite-train-chapter-3":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Apocalypse: I Built an Infinite Train",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2261767,4414,"Chapter 3: Strange Entities Appear at Midnight","apocalypse-i-built-an-infinite-train-chapter-3",3,"\u003Cp>Returning to his residence, Lin Xian took a bottle of disinfectant mixed with bleach from behind the door and carefully sprayed it around the entrance and stairwell; only after finishing did he enter the room, shut the security door, and lock the iron chain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lin Xian’s first action was to pull out his phone and open the map, searching for Chen Sixuan’s location.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The first rule of the apocalypse: beware the night.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The second rule of the apocalypse: never act recklessly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lin Xian never fought without preparation; Jiang City had already fallen completely, and the few remaining people were either survivors holed up in shelters or looters and hordes of zombies flooding the streets.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Entering the night was even more terrifying, for no one yet knew how many strange entities lurked within it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>From survivors’ reports across various radio frequencies, these entities were indescribable, beyond words, and very few survived encounters with them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“7.2 kilometers—not close…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Before the apocalypse, that distance would’ve taken a taxi just minutes; now, with traffic paralyzed and bridges destroyed, Lin Xian estimated even riding his motorcycle would take half an hour.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And he had no idea what condition the place was in—under the apocalypse, only a mother would risk herself to save someone not related by blood.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lin Xian’s gaze flickered as he sighed inwardly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Chen Laoshi, I hope you’re worth the risk I’m about to take for you.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>18:45—the night gradually descended.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lin Xian pulled down the iron window shutters and began preparing dinner.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He hadn’t gone out to scavenge today; those who fled Jiang City and the survivors had long since ransacked every supermarket and convenience store, even ketchup hard to find.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fortunately, while others only cared for food and drink, Lin Xian hunted all kinds of mechanical items survivors ignored.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>02:42\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A faint sound jolted Lin Xian awake from light sleep; he rose, steadied himself, and fixed his gaze on the door in the darkness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The sound seemed to come from outside the corridor.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He picked up his short blade and moved silently to the door.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This door had been reinforced with steel plates several times, far sturdier than ordinary security doors—but for those things, Lin Xian had no full confidence; trapped on a high floor, his only escape route was the staircase in the corridor.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lin Xian pressed his eye to the peephole and saw only darkness in the corridor, the faint green glow of emergency lights revealing only vague outlines of walls and floor.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After observing for a while, he saw nothing, so turned to go back to bed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But as soon as he took two steps, a strange knocking came from the iron door behind him!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thump~ Thump!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The two long-spaced knocks sent a chill crawling up Lin Xian’s scalp!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Was it really a person? Or had those things found his hiding place?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His face grim, he turned back to the door, hesitated a moment, tightened his grip on the short blade, then held his breath and peered out again through the peephole.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hiss!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The sight through the peephole made Lin Xian gasp in shock!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the dim green light of the corridor, a man in a black funeral robe stood motionless before his door—his face gaunt and deathly pale, his eyes on the verge of decay… a dead, lifeless gray-black, radiating dread.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Most terrifying of all, the corpse-like man’s eyes seemed to be staring directly through the peephole at him!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lin Xian recoiled in fright, stumbling backward two steps, his face filled with stunned horror.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Isn’t that Old Man Li from downstairs?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But he’s already dead…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lin Xian stepped back half a pace, face grim; without doubt, the thing outside resembling “Old Man Li” was no longer human.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A zombie? But how could a zombie knock?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lin Xian’s expression darkened—if this was one of the night’s strange entities, he was in deep trouble tonight.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Old Man Li, why don’t you just lie peacefully in your coffin and enjoy your rest? Why come back to suffer?” Lin Xian cursed inwardly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Time passed slowly; Lin Xian had lost all sleepiness, gripping his short blade tightly, leaning against the wall beside the door.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the knocking never came again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then came something even stranger: a faint scratching sound began against the wall behind him—soft, yet raising the hairs on his scalp, as if something, just one wall away, kept scraping at him…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Damn it!” He leapt back, staring at the wall. “Could this thing be trying to break in?!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lin Xian was momentarily stunned.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The thing outside seemed to sense his presence, separated from him by only a single wall.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lin Xian’s best choice now was to hold his breath, make no sound; as long as the door held, he was still safe.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But he’d already prepared an escape route—most of his supplies had been moved to the Wuxian Hao; only a few days’ worth of food and water, plus the generator and battery, remained in the room.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Time ticked by, the eerie scratching sound like a demon whispering constantly in Lin Xian’s ears.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After a while, the sound finally ceased; Lin Xian exhaled, rose, and peered through the peephole again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But this time, the sight made every hair on his body stand on end.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the corridor outside, a girl now lay slumped on the ground, drenched in blood, struggling weakly to rise, her hand stretching toward the door, her voice faint:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Save me… save me…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lin Xian’s eyes narrowed; the girl looked no older than fifteen or sixteen, her outfit—short shorts, a low-cut crop top, a bright baseball jacket, and wireless earphones—completely out of place in this apocalypse; if not for the blood caking her face, Lin Xian might’ve thought she was a neighbor’s daughter visiting late at night, not a survivor of the end.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Behind the door, Lin Xian remained silent in response to the girl’s plea.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He’d just seen a dead corpse standing outside—now suddenly a little girl? Anyone would find this absurd.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The night’s entities were unpredictable, and he didn’t know this girl at all; opening the door now would only doom himself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Time crept toward 5 a.m., still at least nine hours until dawn.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Through the peephole, Lin Xian saw the girl’s face now pale, unconscious, slumped on the ground.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Damn it, is this some demon setting a trap to lure me out?” Lin Xian groaned; this was far stranger than any zombie.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Unable to resist his curiosity, Lin Xian looked again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This time, he saw Old Man Li’s figure standing beside the little girl, head bowed, as if sniffing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then Old Man Li stiffly shifted his foot, stepped before the girl, and slowly bent down.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Instantly, Lin Xian’s pupils contracted—he saw, clinging to Old Man Li’s back, a monstrous insect covered in long, spindly legs, like a black centipede, nearly covering his entire back!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What the hell is that thing?!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lin Xian sucked in a sharp breath.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The insect’s legs slowly twitched, lifting Old Man Li’s arms, then lunging violently toward the girl.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>New book, please follow and keep reading!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of Chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",1180,"2026-06-19T18:20:04.953Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","e0982ce435ffb321e8209df53163c88c5c7f246a5f989521b713108e5e8e4ac0","apocalypse-i-built-an-infinite-train-chapter-4","apocalypse-i-built-an-infinite-train-chapter-2",541,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fapocalypse-i-built-an-infinite-train-cover.jpg"]