Chapter 318: New Armor (Bonus Chapter! End-of-Month Request for Monthly Tickets!)

Under a silent night sky, dried tumbleweeds rolled across the Gobi desert, carried by the wind.

After leaving the extreme cold vortex, temperatures had risen above zero, but the Gobi desert's nighttime temperature differential remained vast, the wind and sand sharp with chill.

The large track bases laid across the Gobi were raised on hard stone, with no railway guardrails whatsoever in this uninhabited wasteland.

Ding-ding-ding-ding-ding—a clear vibration of railway tracks gradually rose; the surrounding yellow sand trembled. As a blinding train light flashed, a black-and-green heavy armored locomotive roared forward with ferocious force, behind it stretched an endless iron dragon winding to the horizon.

Over five hundred carriages were all lit up, figures moving inside—some seated, some standing, some walking, some chatting—all survivors of the apocalypse, exiles of civilization.

Each carriage's exterior was covered in thick armor, pockmarked with bullet holes, claw marks, dried bloodstains, and rotting monster limbs; the steel wheels' shock absorbers shook violently as the train thundered past.

2069, September 3, Judgment Day, D-97

The United Train, led by Longshan No. 1 and the Infinite, escaped the Eternal Night from Xilan City and Star Abyss No. 5; 100 days have passed since Judgment Day, three days remain.

In less than a hundred days, Blue Planet's population of over ten billion has been reduced by 99%. Thirteen Annihilation Star Pits continue to expand; darkness has mutated humans into zombie horrors, while blizzards, black rain, and other natural disasters ravage the land, wiping out all flora and fauna. Human cities are overrun by zombies and horrors; Jiuzhou and the Four Oceans lie desolate. Months into their flight, survivors gaze out at the Gobi—some confused, some terrified, some anxious, others still optimistic, constantly encouraging their teammates.

The Sun Train followed the Joker convoy and Queen Mo's group; this makeshift train fleet, like Qian Dele's, was still adjusting to rail travel—but for this team that had fought through blizzards, vehicle adaptation was no real challenge.

In the front carriage, Luo Yang, along with A Minluo, Li Guangwen, Xiao Bai, and other former members of the Chase-the-Sun convoy, gathered in one carriage. It had once been a passenger car; all seats had been removed and replaced with simple bunk beds.

Dozens of young men and women ate food, chatting back and forth. These youths knew much, the atmosphere lively, yet they knew little too—like cooking.

Everyone simply ate canned food, biscuits, chocolate, and candy, endlessly discussing one topic.

Join the Infinite.

"Oh my god, we're actually joining Lin's team? That's amazing!" A girl seated on the upper bunk exclaimed loudly, spoon in hand, holding a can.

"Lin's incredible—he's got a mechanical ability!" A talkative boy stood by the window, gesturing excitedly: "Did you see? The Infinite's armor is insane—like powered armor—and it even has a G-3 electromagnetic railgun! That's a Federation military model, and Lin built it with one finger!"

"Yeah, yeah! I heard when we fought those bugs, the Gatling guns the Infinite gave us? All made by Lin!"

"Awesome!"

"This ability? I declare it the number one ability in the world!"

"Hey, you think Lin could hand-craft a nuke?"

"Of course he can! Abilities evolve, right? Maybe someday he'll build a starship!"

"Whoa, a starship~"

"Right, right! And Kiki and Fire Brother on the Infinite—they're telekinesis and fire, respectively. Unreal!"

"Li Guangwen, your shockwave ability met its match. You better learn from them."

Li Guangwen chuckled dryly: "Zhou Chaoxian, you're messing with me? How can I compare to these gods? Let me just let off a few firecrackers."

Ha ha ha ha… Everyone laughed.

Luo Yang sat nearby, eating canned food, smiling along. His eyes sparkled with anticipation and excitement. He and his classmates had always loved tinkering with weapons—he and most of them studied mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, lasers, or power systems. Their admiration for Lin Xian had grown daily, especially after witnessing the colossal No. 1 mecha's battle against the S-class giant sea urchin in Xilan City. Lin Xian had become their mechanical god.

Luo Yang glanced at Luoluo and A Min, then asked: "A Min, how's your abdominal wound?"

A Min nodded: "Still a bit painful, but much better. Chen sister said we shouldn't do any strenuous activity for the next 48 hours."

Luo Yang exhaled deeply: "Good. Now everyone has power armor—train more, improve more. Soon you two won't be fighting alone anymore."

Luoluo smiled: "But A Min and I work well together. Don't you remember? Our limit coefficient is 1. —even with peak index 600, we broke 1000 into the Berserk tier. With new armor, we'll be even stronger, right, A Min?"

A Min nodded defiantly: "Exactly. We're still the main fighters—sisters on the move, one's worth two!"

Luo Yang nodded in full agreement.

"Of course. Lin's acknowledged your strength—but…"

As he spoke, the crowd suddenly grew noisy. Luo Yang looked up and saw Li Yi entering with several middle-aged men and women, carrying two large pots of soup.

"We boiled some meat broth—everyone come eat," Li Yi said, her belly swollen. The train had only one dining car; seeing that Luo Yang's group had no cookware and were eating only cold cans, she'd cooked extra two pots for them.

Cooking hot food didn't require elaborate meals—simple soup was fine. Luo Yang's group knew how, but they were all young, used to takeout, now used to cold cans. For convenience on the move, none had bothered bringing cookware for outdoor cooking. When distributing supplies from the Eternal Warehouse, they'd taken only cans and self-heating meals, skipping rice, noodles, oil, and meat entirely.

"Wow, smells amazing!"

As the two pots entered, the young people, long accustomed to cold cans, instantly caught the rich aroma of meat. Instantly, their cold cans lost all appeal.

Luo Yang immediately stood up, surprised: "Sister Li, we're already eating."

"I know," Li Yi smiled, scanning the youths. "Train conditions are far better than driving. Seeing you all eating cold food, I just boiled extra. Eat hot when you can—it gives you strength."

"Really? Awesome! I want some, I want some! Thank you, Sister Li Yi!"

"Thank you so much! Ugh, I haven't had cooked food in ages!"

"So touching~"

"I'll have a bowl too."

Hearing Li Yi's words, everyone rushed over, ladling soup into bowls, carefully carrying them, gulping down the hot broth. Instant warmth spread through their bodies, lifting much of their fatigue.

"Don't be polite—we've walked this path together. We're family now."

Li Yi smiled as she ladled soup beside others: "You young ones don't like cooking? Fine. In a team, everyone has roles. We'll handle laundry, cooking, cleaning. Those guys over there? They're clueless about weapons research, but they know machinery. We'll all cooperate."

"Got it!" Luo Yang grinned, happily accepting a bowl from Li Yi. Watching her, swollen belly and all, bring them food, his heart warmed. "We'll all follow Lin. Our team grows bigger—everyone uses their strengths. We'll survive this apocalypse. Right?"

"Right!!" The young men and women chorused.

Suddenly, the carriage that had been filled with cold cans felt like a family home. In this steel carriage beneath the night of apocalypse, warmth had seeped in.

…

On the Infinite, no group meal was held. Due to the Zero-Prism Center's chaos and the frantic escape, to prepare for taking over Lin Xian after dawn, Chen Sixuan rested in the main cabin of Carriage 1. In the luxurious, comfortable shelter cabin, she slept soundly. She knew: as long as Lin was near, she could drop all guard and fear—even if zombies swarmed outside, she wouldn't panic.

In Carriage 2, Kiki and Shasha's private space: two custom-designed hugging sleep pods alternated. Both slept deeply. Only the information center in Carriage 2 remained lit; on its screen, beyond the radar monitoring system, Kiki's analysis program continued processing Grace's system data.

In Carriage 3, after finishing her final experiment, Ding Junyi packed away all instruments, stored the Hell Black Chrysanthemum and Silver Dragon Ten Thousand Mistakes, then brought a change of underwear to the restroom in Carriage 1 for a shower. Only after turning off the lights did she return to her rest room, remove her glasses, strip completely, and lie flat on the bed—sleeping with meticulous discipline. Due to her work, she demanded high sleep quality, and she was the only one on the train not required to take watch shifts.

Aside from Lin's schedule, she maintained her pre-Judgment Day routine: sleep at 9 p. ., wake at 7 a. .

But she changed one habit: previously, she always locked her door—it gave her security and peace. Now, even though her room had a lock, she never used it.

To her, if bandits or horrors broke in, locking the door wouldn't help. Death was a peaceful thing to her.

But if locking the door made it hard for Lin to enter, that would be an unbearable betrayal.

For her, this was a simple logic problem—this habit could be corrected. In Ding Junyi's heart, Lin could enter whenever he wished…

In Carriage 4, modified and enhanced by Ding Junyi's plant ability, the 30-meter carriage had become a green forest. Neatly arranged vertical hydroponic trays overflowed with lush greens, spinach, sprouts, water celery, kale, and more. Along the sides, Lin had planted rows of pothos, ivy, and moss walls, with maidenhair ferns laid out—Carriage 4 now smelled like a forest.

These plants weren't just for viewing—they crucially purified the air. All purified water used by crew members passed through a recycling system to nourish the plants; after secondary recycling, it supplied sanitation needs, then Lin's multiple water purifiers separated waste, expelling contaminants and returning the water to the drinking supply.

Though it sounded disgusting, in the apocalypse, this was unavoidable. Clean water was scarce. In truth, thanks to Lin's A1-grade subcritical reverse-osmosis water purifiers and the Isomorph Cube's shielding against dark corruption, the Infinite crew drank water meeting Level 1 purity standards—regardless of how many times it cycled.

Still, drinking water pressure was mounting. The snow from the extreme cold vortex was toxic. Since leaving Qingshui Town, the Infinite hadn't replenished fresh water. With black rain and dark corruption intensifying, terrestrial water contamination worsened daily. While global filtration could still manage basics, dark corruption remained a massive challenge.

In Carriage 5, Daliu handled mid-shift watch duties, routinely maintaining all weapons in Carriage 5, including Lin's new G-3 electromagnetic railgun and the elevator gun turret.

As Daliu wiped the machine gun, a small table beside him held a pot of hot tea. He occasionally lifted a cup, sipped, sighed contentedly—helping ease the loneliness of night watch. Since sharing a room with Lu Xingchen, tea had joined his few hobbies.

Tea leaves weren't scarce in the apocalypse; though traded among survivors, most used them to mask water's foul odor. For Lu Xingchen to actually savor tea? Pure luxury.

It meant you had a safe, clean environment—and time to enjoy it.

Daliu sipped tea, glancing occasionally at Lu Xingchen's room, knowing the guy was still studying the golden bracelet. Meanwhile, he pondered his own ability upgrade. After Xilan City and a series of events, many crew members had grown stronger, especially with power armor. Gene-evolutionists like Miao Lu and Lu Chang had surged in combat power—Shu Qin even more so. Though he and Shu Qin had been evenly matched during ability tests, she was a gene-evolutionist—born with the advantage of multiplying her power with armor.

Daliu couldn't. First, he couldn't wear armor. Even if he could, his ability relied on blood qi to boost combat strength. He was troubled: tall and broad, he ate a lot, took up space, and carried a 12-year-old sister. Though Shasha was strong, Daliu felt he must step up as Lin's right hand to repay Lin's life-saving kindness and constant care.

Thinking this, Daliu's gaze hardened. After wiping his last gun, he began physical training again—push-ups.

"Add twenty more sets!!"

He growled inwardly, recalling Lu Xingchen's advice: next time he faced a monster horde, he planned to forgo gas masks and directly touch the black smoke from monster corpses. Even if dark corruption brought excruciating pain, his endurance would hold.

In Carriage 6, the dining car, lights were off—but a bright warm lamp glowed beside an electric stove. A small iron pot bubbled gently, releasing sweet steam. Xiao Yuan stood quietly beside it like a dutiful wife, watching the pear soup simmer. This was a modified version: from Eternal Warehouse supplies, she'd added red dates and goji berries—helping quench thirst and clear internal heat.

After cooking, she carefully poured it into a bowl, left the lid open to cool.

While waiting, she knew Lin was still busy in Carriage 12. Frowning anxiously, she blew gently on the soup.

She didn't know Shu Qin stood at the dining car aisle, watching this scene, expression tinged with resignation.

Xiao Yuan's feelings were obvious to many crew members. But it wasn't unusual. In the apocalypse, men and women in shared hardship often grew close. Shu Qin had seen plenty. Even without romantic clichés, satisfying physical needs in the apocalypse was vital—for relieving psychological stress, easing misery, even helping resist dark corruption.

But Shu Qin felt resigned because Xiao Yuan liked Lin. Many women on the team had feelings for him—he was captain, young, handsome, powerful, a savior-figure. In the sense of belonging, it was hard not to admire him. But only Xiao Yuan openly expressed it. Everyone knew Lin's bond with Chen Sixuan, and Kiki's role as his right hand.

She couldn't say much. In the apocalypse, no marriage customs bound them. Shu Qin only sensed Lin didn't return Xiao Yuan's feelings, and worried she'd be heartbroken later.

But now, watching Xiao Yuan's hopeful face, blowing again and again on the pear soup, Shu Qin could only smile helplessly.

"Ah, well. As long as she's happy."

…

In Carriage 12, mechanical lights flashed constantly; countless materials forged and converged in midair.

Lin Xian sat cross-legged in the corner, focused. Before him, a silver-black Wolf-class full-coverage armor was taking shape. Though modeled after the Black Hawk-Silent Hunter male variant, Lin had replaced the outer armor material with the composite armor structure scanned from No. 1's arm—the same material.

Thus, it took slightly longer than the set for Chen Laoshi. Lin considered he often charged into monster hordes, unlike Chen Laoshi's long-range sniping, so he upgraded the outer armor slightly.

Simultaneously, Lin added two retractable magnetic hooks on the shoulders—strong magnetic attachments to let him use the Lei Sun 2000 for aerial hoisting and flight. Two Lei Sun 2000 Hall-effect thrusters could easily lift him into the air.

Of course, speed wouldn't be high, and power drain on the drones was heavy. But the armor already had low-altitude leap boosters; combining both solved his aerial mobility.

Clink-clink-clink.

As the final armor plate finished forging, Lin finally exhaled. He stood, gazing at the full-coverage power armor designed for him—his expression electric with excitement.

"Finally feels a bit like Iron Man."

Before he could hesitate, he activated the armor. A holographic spectrum lit up automatically, scanning his face. The chest plate slid open. Simultaneously, bolts, clamps, and armor units across his legs began auto-unlocking with a hissing mechanical sound—thrilling the soul.

Lin stepped directly into the full-coverage armor.

【Black Hawk-Silent Hunter Armor 01 activating, performing system self-check】

A cold, mechanical female voice echoed.

Hssss~

The helmet slowly sealed shut. A screen flashed before Lin's eyes: progress bar loading. Subsystems—movement, defense, radar, situational awareness, life support—appeared one by one. Armor units then tightened, bolts auto-securing.

Instantly, he felt enveloped by a powerful mechanical construct. Cushioned inner lining perfectly conformed to his body. He raised his hand, viewing his mechanical arm through the holographic interface, then slowly clenched his fist. With near-zero-delay torque output from the hand unit, he felt overwhelming strength—this palm could crush steel effortlessly.

【System detecting pilot biometrics】

【Biometric status: optimal. Heart rate… body temperature…】

【Shared State System Activated】

【Current Combat System Training Value: 0】

【Requires "circuit" learning through movement and combat parameters to better match the pilot's motion habits.】

Lin Xian, inside the powered armor, his eyes reflecting the glow of the armor's holographic display, said excitedly:

"There's no need to transfer the movement parameters of that TRP powered armor—let this suit relearn from scratch."

Even Chen Laoshi could master it in an extremely short time; the powered armor's intelligence level is still very high. Though it's a full-coverage suit, Lin Xian's sensation now was distinctly different from that of Unit-01.

Unit-01 weighed ten thousand tons, with over four thousand engine-muscles, requiring two people for neural shared-state interaction, possessing the strength to lift heaven and earth—but its agility was vastly inferior to that of a personal powered armor, even lagging significantly behind Shasha's Sally.

This limitation was dictated by physical laws and unavoidable; the advantage of personal powered armor was its seamless responsiveness—nearly zero latency, like a second skin or armor fused to the body, solving humanity's inherent weakness in defense.

Especially for gene-enhanced individuals, wearing powered armor was like adding wings to a tiger: their agility, reaction, strength, and even combat experience could perfectly align with the mechanical platform; a powerful suit could dramatically boost a gene-evolved fighter's combat capability.

From this perspective, the Phoenix Society's psychic evaluation index was merely a very basic reference for gene-evolved fighters' combat power.

Human technology and machinery, when matched with human evolutionary power, could indeed reach a level comparable to psychics—this was one reason why the 90% of survivors without psychic abilities could survive in the night!

(End of Chapter)