Chapter 311: Goodbye, Fire Brother!

"Fire Brother, where are you?!"

In the communicator, Lin Xian's voice rang out. Lu Xingchen, standing on the rooftop of Jincheng Tower, heard it and let out a long sigh, then picked up the communicator and said: "Lin Brother, I've sensed unusual activity in the city—possibly linked to the changes in the mushroom tower. This is an ill omen. You must prepare. This day is about to change."

At that moment, Kiki and Lin Xian, inside the ascending elevator, both wore grim expressions.

"What's this guy up to? Why didn't he tell us sooner about the mycelium infestation? Why run out here to play hero?!" Though he often teased Lu Xingchen's midlife-crisis delusions, Kiki now wore an expression of urgent concern upon hearing the news.

Lin Xian's face was heavy: "Director Ding said the survival pods at Zero-Sol Center have mycelium-separation devices. If we're fast enough, that might be the only way to save Fire Brother."

"Mm." Kiki nodded. "He's an ability user—he should… have stronger resistance than ordinary people."

These were only her guesses, but under these circumstances, there were no other options. They could only risk everything to bring Fire Brother back first.

Clang.

The vault floor opened again. Without hesitation, Kiki grabbed Lin Xian and shot outward.

"My communicator relay is only deployed near this building. He can't be far."

"Got it!"

The two sped through the air. As soon as they exited the bank's main entrance, Lin Xian's Lone Wolf S power armor's thermal sensor immediately detected a heat signature on the rooftop.

"He's up there!"

Whoosh.

The two ascended rapidly and soon reached the rooftop of Jincheng Bank, where they saw Lu Xingchen standing at the edge.

His expression was proud yet tragic, as if he had long made peace with sacrificing himself.

Seeing Lin Xian and Kiki arrive, Lu Xingchen's expression shifted slightly, and he immediately raised his hand to stop them.

"Lin Brother, don't come closer. The mycelium on my body penetrates everything—it's immune to fire. If I drag you down with me, I'd never rest in death."

"Hey!"

Kiki stepped forward first, scolding: "Aren't you the one with lofty ambitions to become a god or immortal? Why run to kill yourself at the first sign of trouble? Why not ask us? Why not ask Director Ding? Maybe we have a solution! We still have the full-spectrum medical pod!!"

"What exactly happened? How serious is it?" Lin Xian immediately asked.

Lu Xingchen sighed faintly, clasping his hands behind his back.

"I am no coward who fears death. I've seen the horrific scenes of those infected by mycelium—no medicine can cure them. It's better to burn away than to rot into a hollow log covered in mycelium…"

"Better what?" Lin Xian frowned. "Just now in Zero-Sol Center, a woman connected by mycelium survived. She was an ordinary person. Are you saying you're less than a woman?"

"Exactly! Come back with us—Director Ding might have a way!" Kiki urged urgently.

Lin Xian's words stirred something in Lu Xingchen's eyes, but he quickly wore a defiant expression.

"No need. I've checked. The mycelium sprouts from within me. Even my fire ability can't eradicate it."

He gazed toward the towering mushroom crown. "I already know of the danger. The city is stirring. If I'm connected to the mycelium network, our Infinite's location, escape route—all could be detected by that monstrous entity. I refuse to let that happen. So…"

Lin Xian looked at him: "What are you planning?"

Lu Xingchen's gaze sharpened. "I have a perfect plan!"

"What perfect plan?" Kiki frowned.

Lu Xingchen pointed toward the distant mushroom tower, his eyes blazing with grandeur.

"Lin Brother, lead the convoy away safely. When you evacuate Jincheng, I will unleash world-ending fire to burn the demon tower to ash, triggering a total detonation of this corrupted city. It will draw every aberration within range to aid your escape, and simultaneously destroy the mycelium web that has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives. With my death as fuel, I summon heavenly flames to purge demons—isn't that glorious? Hahaha!"

Lin Xian's expression shifted. He looked at Lu Xingchen.

"You've truly decided?"

"Lin Xian!" Hearing his tone, Kiki thought he was about to abandon Lu Xingchen like he had Tang Yun—she panicked.

Lu Xingchen nodded, turned to face Lin Xian and Kiki, then his expression darkened slightly. In a rare, serious tone, he spoke to Lin Xian.

"Lin Brother, traveling with you these past days has been the most peaceful and free time I've had since the collapse. Even through countless life-or-death situations, as long as someone needed me, I felt every death was worthwhile. I'm deeply grateful you let me join your train, treated me as a partner, respected my habits, and even built me a tea-making machine…"

"To be honest," Lu Xingchen looked at Lin Xian, his voice trembling with emotion. "I've never told anyone this secret: I escaped from an underground lab in the Crimson World's experimental facility—just like Xiao Qing and Bai Ye. I don't know how many levels deep I was held—maybe a hundred meters, maybe two hundred. I can't remember how many days. Those experiments were worse than the apocalypse. Ever since I escaped, I've refused to enter any enclosed space or underground place. Now… I'm truly dying. I only hope I'm not buried underground. Perhaps after this darkness burns away, I'll still feel the sun…"

Lin Xian's expression grew heavy. He finally understood why Lu Xingchen loved sunlight, why he refused to enter Qingshui Town's underground lab, why he reacted so strangely whenever the convoy entered underground tunnels.

He'd driven his RV alone out of Dawn, because he himself had escaped from a lab.

"Lin Brother, tell Lao Brother I'm sorry—I can't be his roommate anymore. Honestly, I never minded the noise of him cleaning weapons at night. Also, tell Sha Sha I'm sorry—I won't be able to find her a new mech. And Chen Team Leader, Shu Qin, Director Ding…"

"And… Kiki." Lu Xingchen turned to Kiki, tears streaming down his face, yet his voice held stubborn pride. "You're a formidable opponent. Fighting beside you… has been my honor. But my fire shall never be defeated!"

Here, Lu Xingchen abandoned his usual aloof demeanor and wept openly, yet his chest remained straight, his face resolute and unyielding.

Kiki's expression turned complex. She opened her mouth to speak—when suddenly Lin Xian, while Lu Xingchen was sobbing, whispered to her.

"Kiki, restrain him!"

Without hesitation, Kiki—whose synergy with Lin Xian had reached 100%—activated her ability the instant he spoke, and violently immobilized the weeping Lu Xingchen.

Lin Xian immediately activated his power armor, launching himself forward in a burst. In three strides, he reached Lu Xingchen's side. Before Lu Xingchen could react, he ripped off his upper clothing and activated the armor's biological scanner.

As expected, Lu Xingchen's entire upper body and arms were covered in dark blue-black stains—terrifying to behold.

"Lin Brother, beware infection! Don't come near me!!!"

Lu Xingchen's eyes were bloodshot as he cried out.

But Lin Xian, after scanning, wore a blank expression. He stared at the torn fabric in his hand, lost in thought for a long while.

"Is this… your thermal undershirt fading?"

Lu Xingchen, still sobbing and struggling to sacrifice himself, froze mid-sob.

"Huh?"

Kiki flew over immediately, plucked a fragment from Lu Xingchen's clothing, examined it, and frowned.

"Yeah… where did you even get this undershirt?"

"It was from supplies we scavenged," Lin Xian studied the garment. "Probably due to the dampness of the underground tunnel. I warned you yesterday—but this thing's quality is terrible."

"Exactly. What crap clothing—fades this badly, turns you into a cucumber…" Kiki rubbed her fingers along Lu Xingchen's shoulder and wiped off a large patch of dark dye.

"What can you do? You wear what you find. I remember Fire Brother loved this one—he thought it looked cool…"

"Cool? No one looks cool in an undershirt."

"And the quality's awful. The design's ugly too…"

The two stood before Lu Xingchen, debating his undershirt like experts.

Lu Xingchen felt a nuclear explosion in his skull. His face flushed crimson—he was about to spontaneously combust.

"K…Kiki, can you let me go first?" Lu Xingchen's voice trembled violently.

Kiki crossed her arms. "Let you go? Are you still planning to blow up the mushroom tower?"

Lu Xingchen drew a sharp breath, adopting a no-holds-barred tone to salvage dignity: "In the face of disaster, if we retreat now, for the sake of these thousands of lives, detonating the mushroom tower is still the best option!!"

Lin Xian nodded seriously. "Good idea. But what if there's a way that doesn't require martyrdom? Like… I build a timed explosive?"

"Oh right!" Kiki's eyes lit up. She immediately approved the plan.

Lu Xingchen: "…"

…

Boom!

As the mushroom tower mutated, the mycelium carpets across Jincheng began transmitting information. In the darkness, countless unknown creatures stirred, their movements echoing through alleys and streets.

Towering shadows flickered in the mist, each step shaking the streets. Beneath Lin Xian's position at Jincheng Bank, a growing roar of thunder began to surge upward.

"Aberrations are coming—don't let them mark us with darkness!"

Seeing this, Lin Xian signaled Kiki. She immediately used her telekinesis to lift all three into the air.

Lin Xian's face darkened. He realized the dark tides were converging toward subway entrances. His heart sank—Director Ding's guess was right. The mushroom tower, linked to Tang Yun's consciousness, had detected their presence and activated every monster in Jincheng to hunt them down!

He had no time to ponder theory now. He knew only one thing: if they didn't run, they'd be too late.

"Shi Brother, Chen Laoshi—everyone, move out now!"

"Got it!" Shi Di's voice replied instantly.

"Lin Xian, where are you?!" Chen Sixuan shouted through the communicator.

Lin Xian glanced at the mushroom tower, then told Kiki: "We can't go back. We'll detonate the mushroom tower, then chase the train from the air."

Kiki nodded immediately.

Then Lin Xian told Chen Sixuan: "Just accelerate outward. We'll meet you at the junction of the Salt Marsh Canyon Sightseeing Railway and the main rail line."

On the Infinite, Chen Sixuan's face paled with worry. She gritted her teeth. "Understood."

She immediately ordered Ding Junyi and the others back aboard.

Ding Junyi had already copied all data from Zero-Sol Center and transported a portion of active mycelium connected to Crimson members in a cultivation-isolation pod. She and Shu Qin returned to the train at once.

"Departure! Prepare for departure!"

"Everyone, stay silent. Do not open fire without orders."

"Lights off. Remove tunnel barriers."

"Listen carefully—everyone follows the Infinite's commands!"

"!!"

Whoo~

Electric locomotives roared to life. With synchronized power output, the connected carriages began pulling. The 15-kilometer-long underground combined train began accelerating ahead of schedule!

Boom boom boom. Splash splash splash.

At every subway platform, outside the Zero-Sol vault, and inside the Crimson Pharma Tower, shadowy, clawed figures swarmed.

These aberrations, as if guided, sniffed something—and began frantically burrowing underground!

Beep beep beep.

As the train roared deeper underground, every mycelium carpet on the mushroom tower began trembling violently.

Inside the empty Zero-Sol Center, lights flickered. Glass walls shattered. Fragments rained down into the hive. In Pod 0403, Tang Yun lay peacefully, her brainwave lights blinking rapidly—then extinguished. In her final moment, she seemed to smile. Her breathing and heartbeat ceased. She departed this despairing world in silence.

On the other side, high in the sky, Lin Xian and Kiki accelerated relentlessly toward the Sky Mushroom Tower, dragging behind them a silent, face-darkened Huo Ge.

Lin Xian glanced back; the man was clearly alive, yet somehow he felt as if he'd been dead for a while.

After all, social death was still death—and for Huo Ge, whose pride was paramount, what had just happened was akin to the Day of Revelation.

But Lin Xian and Kiki had no mood to mock him now; his heartfelt confession before death had been moving, and more importantly, his suggestion offered Lin Xian a viable plan—he could only go all-in now. If they detonated the Sky Mushroom Tower, it might buy the team precious time to evacuate!

As he flew alongside Kiki, he continuously manufactured large quantities of high-energy explosives, all while observing the streets below.

"Lin Xian, look!" Kiki suddenly shouted.

Lin Xian looked up—they were now close to the Sky Mushroom Tower. For the first time, he saw it up close, and his pupils instantly contracted: the tower, wrapped in countless mycelial vines like a colossal tree, pulsed with crimson light flowing through its filaments like data cables, while below, tens of thousands of human-mycelium hybrids were connected.

From Ding Junyi's words, Lin Xian had realized this might be a supercomputer powered by human brains.

What was it calculating?

What was it spying on?

The more he thought, the more terrifying it became. Without hesitation, he had already crafted dozens of high-energy explosives—each capable of flipping an armored vehicle, the absolute limit of what his mechanical manufacturing and preparation center could convert.

Whoosh—

Beneath the vast, sky-blocking crown, countless spores drifted in the gale. Above, a mournful wind howled; the gills beneath the caps resembled endless rows of inverted kelp, swaying like dark, living tides when looked upon.

A crushing sense of oppression washed over him. Lin Xian immediately told Kiki: "Hurry, I've set the timers—scatter them!"

Kiki nodded and used her ability to hurl the timed explosives toward the dense root zones of the Sky Mushroom Tower. The three of them circled the tower, planting them all around. Meanwhile, massive shadows from the city began approaching, and countless strange tentacles writhed through the dark clouds above.

"Alright, let's go—now!"

The explosives were placed to their maximum capacity. Whether it would work was up to fate. To survive, they absolutely could not be marked by the monsters. The instant they finished planting, Kiki seized both of them and shot eastward at top speed.

"Lin Brother, really no need for me to ignite it with Heavenly Flame?"

Behind them, Lu Xingchen whispered.

"No."

"Understood."

"Lin Brother…"

"I won't tell anyone."

"Thank you so much!!!!"

Lu Xingchen's face twisted, his eyes blazing with fury as he gritted his teeth: "I… will never wear thermal underwear again. If I find out which factory owner made those, I'll grind him to dust…"

"Enough, enough—what time is it now…"

Kiki shot him a disgruntled look, exasperated and still shaken. The man had terrified them all—thankfully, the mycelium hadn't taken root in him, and even she couldn't help but exhale in relief.

But remembering his earlier dramatic, tearful, laughing state—all because his thermal underwear had bled color—Kiki couldn't suppress a laugh inside. Huo Ge had lost face beyond repair; he'd never hold his head up again in front of her or Lin Xian.

Goodbye, Huo Ge.

Hello, Heroic One.

Boom!

The underground train surged forward with violent force, switching onto the subway line, hurtling through the former Yijin Metro. The 15-kilometer steel river triggered violent underground resonance—sand and gravel flew from the streets of Yijin City, sparks erupted along the rails, and muffled pressure blasted furiously from the ventilation ducts.

The Infinite Train was united in silence, all eyes fixed on the outside. In the lead Dragon Mountain No. 1 cab, Shi Di and Ningjing sat in command.

On the Solar Fleet side, Li Yi soothed the children while Luo Yang and his team donned powered armor, ready for battle. Qian Dele, however, sat calmly in his private carriage. It was his first time fleeing by train—he was bound to follow, up or down, with no control. He had no real reason to worry, and found himself surprisingly relaxed compared to previous convoys. The entire train was linked together—no need to scatter, no need to steer, no need to even consider road conditions. If the train derailed, they all derailed together.

On the Queen Mo Train, Mo Nika sat solemnly in Car No. 1, monitoring all conditions and ruthlessly directing her crew in the rear cars. Beside her left hand rested a glass of red wine. The train's ultra-luxury shock absorption system minimized vibrations so severely that the wine swayed slightly but never spilled. She gazed at the tail of the Infinite Train's Dragon-Class car, as if deep in thought.

Soon, the united train burst from the underground tunnel onto the outbound subway line, then raced toward the former underground tourist track outside Yijin City.

Lin Xian, Kiki, and Lu Xingchen used psychic shields to brace against the howling wind, speeding eastward. Along the way, they avoided the ground, kept clear of the darkest zones, and dared not fly into the clouds—afraid of being spotted and marked by some monster.

In this eternal night, even a Level One mark would make Lin Xian as visible as a beacon above Yijin City.

Their hearts tightened—but Kiki's flight speed was already extreme. Soon, they left Yijin's urban zone behind, entering the airspace above a valley, where silence settled around them.

"That direction is the Salt Marsh Gorge—the rail line should come from the elevated tracks beyond the suburbs!"

Kiki pointed to the dark silhouettes of several distant mountains.

"Why is that area so dark? It feels… demonic." Lu Xingchen stared toward the mountain region beyond the elevated rail.

"Everything's dark. Dark places mean Strange Entities."

Lin Xian said: "If the train gets marked, as long as it breaks out of Yijin City, we still have a chance to escape."

Kiki nodded: "Provided the rail doesn't fail again—only then can we exit the Eternal Night."

"We've spent less time than expected. Based on the Tide Expansion rate of Star Abyss No. 5, if we push full speed, we'll reach the Western Desert in six to eight hours—then we'll be close to Quancheng." Lin Xian analyzed.

Lu Xingchen paid no attention to their words—he continued: "I'm talking about the sky over there—isn't it too dark?"

His repetition finally caught their attention. Lin Xian and Kiki both looked up toward the northeastern mountain range—and saw it: a sharp, towering peak far blacker than its surroundings.

But upon closer inspection, something felt deeply wrong.

Whoosh!

Kiki slowed her flight, her pupils dilating in shock. "Lin… Lin Xian—is that… a person?!"

Not just her—Lin Xian and Lu Xingchen's faces turned ashen.

Because they all saw it: the towering black silhouette had arms—and was slowly lifting its foot, stepping forward.

Boom!

The next instant, as the black shadow took a step, a muffled shockwave radiated hundreds of kilometers. The air in the mountains trembled violently. Lin Xian felt as if a colossal humanoid mountain had swung its arms, bearing down upon them with overwhelming, sky-covering force!

Simultaneously, from the valleys below, a dense tide of monstrous creatures surged forward as if driven—climbing mountains, crushing villages and towns, flowing like mudslides through the pitch-black night.

The Corpse Driver!

(End of Chapter)