Chapter 318: Brand New Battle Armor (Bonus chapter, please vote with monthly tickets at the end of the month!)

Under the silent night sky, withered tumbleweeds rolled across the Gobi Desert with the wind.

After moving far away from the extreme cold vortex, the temperature had returned to above 0 degrees, but the temperature difference in the Gobi Desert at night was vast, and the wind and sand felt somewhat biting.

The large rail bases laid out on the Gobi were elevated by hard stones; in this desolate no-man's-land, there were no railway guardrails whatsoever.

Clang, clang, clang, clang, clang—a series of crisp vibrations from the tracks gradually arose. The yellow sand all around trembled, and following the flash of dazzling train lights, a black-green heavy armored locomotive roared forward with violent momentum. Behind it trailed a steel dragon winding all the way to the edge of the earth.

All 500-plus carriages had their lights turned on. Figures moved within them—some sitting, some standing, some walking, some chatting. These were none other than survivors of the apocalypse, exiles of civilization.

The exteriors of these carriages were covered in heavy armor, and that armor was riddled with bullet holes, claw marks, dried bloodstains, and the rotting limbs of monsters. The steel carriage wheel shock absorbers shook frantically as they charged through the distance.

September 3, 2069, Apocalypse Day, D-97.

Led by the Longshan No. 1 and the Infinity, the joint train fleet had escaped the polar night from the Great Relocation of Xilan City and the No. 5 Star Abyss. It was 100 days since Apocalypse Day, with 3 days remaining.

In less than a hundred days, the Blue Star, which once had a population of over ten billion, had seen 99% of its population wiped out. The 13 Annihilation Star Abysses continued to expand, and the darkness encroached, alienating humans into zombies and strange entities. Natural disasters like blizzards and black rain swept across the land. Animals and plants were extinct, human cities were occupied by zombies and strange entities, and the Nine Continents and Four Oceans were desolate. Survivors who had been fleeing for months looked out at the Gobi Desert from the carriages; some were lost, some were fearful, some were worried, and some remained positive and optimistic, constantly encouraging their teammates.

The Sun followed behind the Joker fleet and Queen Mo. This temporarily assembled train fleet, much like Qian Dele, was not yet fully accustomed to the train, but adapting to the vehicle was not a difficult task for a team that had fought its way out of the blizzards.

In the front carriage, led by Luo Yang, members of the original Chasing Sun fleet—Amin, Luoluo, Li Guangwen, Xiaobai, and others—gathered in one carriage. This had originally been a passenger carriage, but all the seats had been removed and replaced with simple bunk beds.

Thirty-some men and women were eating and chatting, one after another. These young people were knowledgeable, the atmosphere was lively, but there were many things they didn't know, such as cooking.

Everyone was simply eating canned food, some biscuits, chocolate, and candy, tirelessly discussing one topic.

Joining the Infinity.

"My god, I didn't expect we would really join Lin Dui's fleet. This is great," a girl sitting cross-legged on the upper bunk said loudly with emotion, holding a spoon and a can.

"Lin Dui is really amazing. He actually has a mechanical ability," a talkative boy standing by the window described with excitement: "Did you see? The Infinity's armor is incredibly powerful, just like a mecha. And there's even a G-3 electromagnetic railgun on the train! That's a model from the Federation military, and Lin Dui built it with just a flick of his finger!"

"Yeah, yeah! I heard that when we fought the bugs that time, the Gatling machine guns the Infinity gave us were all manufactured by Lin Dui!"

"Awesome!"

"I will revere this ability as the world's number one ability!"

"Hey, do you think Lin Dui can hand-craft a nuclear bomb?"

"Of course, definitely possible. Abilities can evolve, right? Maybe Lin Dui will be able to build a starship in the future!"

"Wow, a starship~"

"Right, right, and there's Kiki and Brother Huo from the Infinity. One is a telekinetic type, the other is a fire type. It's just incredible!"

"Li Guangwen, your shock ability has met its match. You need to follow them and learn well."

Li Guangwen laughed irritably: "Zhou Wuer, are you pulling my leg? How can I compare to these big shots? I'm only good for firing some small cannons."

Hahahaha... everyone laughed.

Luo Yang sat to the side eating canned food and also laughed along. His eyes were filled with anticipation and excitement. He and his classmates had always loved tinkering with weapons, and those among them—including himself—were either in mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, or laser and power engineering. Their admiration for Lin Xian grew with each passing day, especially after seeing the sky-high Prototype Mecha battle the S-class giant sea urchin in Xilan City. Lin Xian had completely become the mechanical god of war in their hearts!

Luo Yang looked at Luoluo and Amin to the side and then asked, "Amin, is the wound on your abdomen feeling any better?"

Amin nodded: "It still hurts a little, but it's much better. Sister Chen told us it's best not to do strenuous exercise within 48 hours."

Luo Yang let out a long breath: "Hmm, everyone has power armor now. Train more and improve. In the future, it won't just be the two of you fighting alone."

Luoluo smiled upon hearing this: "But Amin and I coordinate very well. You forgot, our limit coefficient is 1.7, and counting the peak index of 600, we've broken through the 1000-point Berserker level. Now that we have new battle armor, we'll definitely be even more powerful. Right, Amin?"

Amin nodded, refusing to admit defeat: "Exactly! In the future, we'll still be the main combat force. When the sisters go out, one is worth two!"

Luo Yang nodded very cooperatively.

"That goes without saying. Lin Dui recognizes your strength, it's just..."

As they were speaking, the crowd suddenly became noisy. Luo Yang looked up and realized it was Li Yi leading several middle-aged men and women carrying two large soup pots into the carriage.

"We cooked some meat soup, everyone have some together." Li Yi was heavily pregnant. There was only one dining carriage on the train, and seeing that no one in Luo Yang's group was preparing pots, she knew they hadn't made any hot food, so she cooked two extra pots and brought them over.

Cooking hot food didn't necessarily mean stir-frying a big feast; Luo Yang and the others weren't incapable of making simple soup. It was mainly because the group of young people were used to takeout, and now they were used to eating cold canned food. At the same time, for the convenience of marching, no one had thought to get pots to cook in the wild. Therefore, when distributing supplies in the permanent warehouse, Luo Yang and the others only asked for canned food and simple self-heating meals; they didn't take any rice, flour, oil, or meat.

"Wow, it smells so good!"

As soon as the two large pots were brought in, these young people, accustomed to gnawing on cold canned food, immediately smelled the rich aroma of meat. In an instant, they felt the cold canned food in their hands wasn't tasty anymore.

Seeing this, Luo Yang stood up quickly and said in surprise, "Sister Li, we're already eating."

"I know." Li Yi smiled, her gaze sweeping over the group of young people: "The conditions on the train are much more convenient than driving. Seeing you all eating cold food, I cooked some extra. Let's eat hot food whenever we can; you'll have energy after eating!"

"Really? That's great! I want some, I want some. Thank you, Mother Li Yi!"

"Thank you so much. Wuwuwu, it's been so long since I've eaten cooked food."

"So moving~"

"I'll have a bowl too."

Hearing Li Yi's words, everyone immediately gathered around, scooping meat soup bowl by bowl. They held the bowls carefully and took a sip. Instantly, a wave of warmth swept through their bodies, making them exclaim with satisfaction, as if half of their fatigue had dissolved in this moment.

"Why are you being so polite? We've all come this far together, and from now on, we're one family looking out for each other."

Li Yi said with a smile while busy scooping soup with those around her: "It doesn't matter if you young people don't like cooking hot food. There is a division of labor in a team. In the future, laundry, cooking, and cleaning—we'll take care of it all. Those old men over there might not be good at weapon research, but they know a bit more about mechanical equipment. When the time comes, everyone will work together."

"Alright!" Luo Yang smiled happily and scooped a bowl of soup from Li Yi's hand. Seeing Li Yi heavily pregnant and still bringing them food, he felt a warmth in his heart and said, "We'll all follow Lin Dui from now on. The team is getting bigger and bigger. As long as everyone plays to their strengths, our team will definitely survive in this apocalypse. Everyone, am I right?"

"Right!!" The young men and women responded one after another.

For a moment, this carriage, which had originally been filled with people gnawing on cold canned food, suddenly felt like it had walked into a big family. In this steel carriage under the dark, apocalyptic night, a touch of warmth was integrated.

On the Infinity's side, they didn't have a communal meal like the other fleets. Because of the busyness at the Zero Element Center and during the escape, and also to be able to relieve Lin Xian after dawn, Chen Sixuan seized the time to rest in the master bedroom of the first carriage. In the comfortable, luxurious shelter cabin, Chen Sixuan slept very soundly. She knew in her heart that as long as Lin Xian was there, she could completely let down all her defenses and vigilance. Even if the outside of the train was filled with zombie tides, she wouldn't panic.

Carriage No. 2, Kiki and Shasha's private space. Two specially made wrap-around sleeping pods were staggered. Both of them were sleeping very deeply. Only the information center in Carriage No. 2 was still lit. On the screen, besides the radar monitoring system, the analysis program Kiki had set up was still continuously running the system data of 【Grace】.

Carriage No. 3, after finishing the last experimental process, Ding Junyi put away all the experimental instruments. After placing the Hell Black Chrysanthemum and the Silver Dragon Ten Thousand Mistakes, she took a set of clean underwear and went to the bathroom in Carriage No. 1 to take a shower. Only then did she turn off the lights and return to her rest room. She took off her glasses, stripped off everything, and lay flat on the bed. She was meticulous even when sleeping. Because of her work, she had high requirements for her sleep quality, and she was also the only person on the train who didn't need to consider rotating shifts for rest.

Except for Lin Xian's arrangements, she maintained her standard habit from before Apocalypse Day: going to bed at 9 o'clock and waking up at 7 o'clock.

However, there was one habit she had changed. In the past, she would definitely lock the door when sleeping, which would keep her feeling safe and peaceful inside. But now, even though the door to the rest room had a lock, she wouldn't lock it.

For her, if robbers and strange entities rushed in, locking the door would be useless. Death was a peaceful matter to her.

But if locking the door made it inconvenient for Lin Xian to come in, that would be an unbearable betrayal to her!

So this was a simple logic problem for her. Such a habit could be corrected, because in Ding Junyi's heart, Lin Xian could come in whenever he wanted...

Carriage No. 4, after modifications and the blessing of Ding Junyi's plant-type ability, the 30-meter-long carriage had turned into a green forest. The neatly arranged aerial vegetable cultivation troughs were full of green grass, spinach, and sprouts under irregular lighting, water celery, kale, etc. On both sides of the carriage, Lin Xian had planted a row of pothos, ivy, moss walls, maidenhair ferns, etc., for water-oxygen circulation and for the eyes. The entire Carriage No. 4 already had the flavor of a green forest.

These plants were not only for viewing; the most critical thing was that they could play a role in air circulation. After the pure water on the entire train was used by the team members, it would pass through a circulation mechanism to the plants for growth. After secondary circulation, it could be used for sanitary supply, and then multiple water purifiers manufactured by Lin Xian would separate and discharge the dirt and waste, recycling the water back to drinking relief.

Although it sounded a bit disgusting, being in the apocalypse, this was a situation with no other choice. Clean water resources not encroached upon by darkness were very scarce. In fact, according to the filtration standards of the A1-level subcritical reverse osmosis water purifier manufactured by Lin Xian, plus the shielding of the dark encroachment power by the Heterogeneous Rubik's Cube, the water drunk by the Infinity members had always been at the first-level pure water standard, and it didn't have much impact on how many times the water had been circulated.

But even so, the drinking water problem faced by the Infinity now began to have some pressure. The snow water from the extreme cold vortex was highly toxic. Starting from Clear Water Town, the Infinity hadn't replenished fresh water for a long time. And with the black rain and dark encroachment, the concentration of dark encroachment in land water resources was becoming increasingly serious. Currently, basic filtration problems could still be solved in various parts of the world, but dark encroachment remained a big problem.

Carriage No. 5, Dalou was responsible for rotating shifts in the middle section. As usual, he maintained and serviced all the weapons in Carriage No. 5, including the new G3-electromagnetic railgun assembled by Lin Xian, as well as the elevator machine gun turret.

At this time, while Dalou was wiping the machine gun, a pot of hot tea was actually placed on a small table next to him. Dalou would pick up a cup from time to time, take a sip, and sigh with a puff of air, which could be considered a way to relieve the loneliness of the night watch. Ever since he became roommates with Lu Xingchen, drinking tea had become one of Dalou's few hobbies and habits.

Tea leaves were not exactly scarce supplies in the apocalypse. Although they were circulated among various survivors, most were used to cover up the smell of drinking water. And like Lu Xingchen, who really used them for tea tasting, it was simply an act of luxury.

Because that meant you had to have a safe and clean environment, and you had to have the time and opportunity to taste tea.

While drinking tea, Dalou would look at Lu Xingchen's room from time to time, knowing that this guy must still be studying that golden bracelet. At the same time, he was also pondering the improvement of his own ability. After Xilan City and a series of events, many team members had improved in combat power, especially after having power armor. The combat power of the genetic evolution faction team members led by Miao Lu and Lv Chang had improved significantly. Not to mention Shu Qin; although he and Shu Qin were evenly matched during ability testing, Shu Qin was a genetic evolutionist and naturally had the advantage of using power armor to multiply his strength.

But Dalou couldn't. For one thing, he couldn't fit into it. Even if he could, his ability had to be continuously improved through blood energy. So Dalou was also a bit troubled. He was tall and big, ate a lot, occupied a lot of space, and also brought a 12-year-old sister. Although Shasha was self-reliant, Dalou's personality always made him feel that he had to stand up and become Lin Xian's right-hand man to be worthy of Lin Dui's life-saving grace to his brother and sister and his care along the way.

Thinking of this, Dalou's gaze tightened. After wiping the last gun, he started doing physical training again, like push-ups.

"Add 20 more sets!!"

He shouted in his heart, and at the same time thought of Lu Xingchen's reminder. For the next monster tide battle, he planned to try not to rely on things like gas masks and directly contact the black smoke of the monster corpses at close range. Even if the power of dark encroachment would bring great physical pain, with his endurance, he would definitely be able to persist!

Carriage No. 6, the dining carriage. At this time, the lights were already off, but a bright warm light was still on in front of one of the electric stoves. A small iron pot on the electric stove was bubbling with a sweet aroma. Xiao Yuan, like a well-behaved wife, stood quietly beside the electric stove, watching the pear soup in the pot rolling. This was an improved version of pear soup. Because of the supplies obtained from the permanent warehouse, Xiao Yuan had specially added red dates and wolfberries to the pear soup, which not only quenched thirst but also cleared heat and reduced fire.

After cooking, she carefully filled a dining bowl, opened the lid, and wanted to let it cool down a bit first.

While waiting, she knew that Lin Xian was still busy in Carriage No. 12, so she frowned and anxiously blew on the pear soup again.

What she didn't know was that Shu Qin, who was responsible for patrol and vigilance, was standing in the dining carriage aisle watching this scene, with a bit of helplessness on her face.

Many team members could see Xiao Yuan's feelings. However, this was actually nothing. Precisely because it was in the apocalypse, men and women were actually more likely to develop feelings while suffering together in danger. Shu Qin had seen a lot of this kind of thing. Even without talking about clichés of love, solving physiological needs in the apocalypse was a big deal for humans, which was helpful for releasing psychological pressure and relieving depression. Even pleasant sexual intercourse was beneficial for resisting dark encroachment.

But what made Shu Qin feel a bit helpless was that Xiao Yuan liked Lin Dui. In fact, there were many women in the fleet who had a thing for Lin Xian. After all, Lin Xian was the fleet captain, not only young, handsome, and possessing extraordinary strength, but also had the demeanor of a leader and savior. Under the identification of a sense of belonging, it was hard not to develop feelings for such a person. But thinking was one thing; Xiao Yuan was the only one who could express it directly. Because everyone knew the relationship between Lin Xian and Chen Sixuan, and there was also a beautiful and powerful Kiki as his right-hand man.

She couldn't say much about this kind of thing, and there were no marriage restrictions in the apocalypse. Shu Qin just saw that Lin Xian might not have those feelings for Xiao Yuan and was worried that she would be unhappy later.

However, at this time, seeing Xiao Yuan's expectant look, blowing on that bowl of pear soup over and over again, Shu Qin could only smile helplessly.

"Hey, that's true, as long as she's happy herself."

In Carriage No. 12, mechanical light flickered constantly, and countless materials were forged and gathered in the air.

Lin Xian sat cross-legged in the corner, his expression focused. In front of him, a silver-black Ghost Wolf-class full-coverage battle armor was gradually taking shape. Although it was the male version of the Black Hawk-Silent Hunter, Lin Xian had changed the material of the outer armor, using the composite battle armor configuration that had previously scanned the Prototype Mecha's arm, which was also the material of the Prototype Mecha.

Therefore, it took a little more time than the set for Chen Laoshi, because Lin Xian considered that he often needed to charge into monster groups, which was different from Chen Laoshi's long-range sniping, so he also slightly upgraded the outer armor material of the body.

At the same time, Lin Xian also made two telescopic hooks on his shoulders, which were strong magnetic adsorption types, to facilitate his future use of the Lei Sun 2000 to hoist himself for flight. The power of the two Lei Sun 2000 Hall thruster engines to take him off the ground was completely not a problem.

Of course, the drawback was that the speed wouldn't be very fast, and the power consumption for the unmanned attack aircraft was also relatively large, but this battle armor itself also had low-altitude leap thrusters. Combining the two basically solved his mobility problem of flying.

Creak, creak, creak.

With the completion of the last piece of armor, Lin Xian finally breathed a sigh of relief. At this time, he stood up and looked at the full-coverage power armor designed for himself, his expression incredibly excited.

"Finally, it has a bit of the Iron Man flavor."

After speaking, he couldn't hold back anymore and immediately controlled the power armor to turn on. A holographic spectrum automatically lit up on the mecha, scanning Lin Xian's face. Immediately, the chest plate in front of the power armor opened automatically. At the same time, the bolts and retainers of the leg armor, and each armor unit, began to "de-limit" automatically, emitting a series of hissing mechanical sounds, making one's heart surge.

Lin Xian walked directly in and stood inside the full-coverage armor.

【Black Hawk-Silent Hunter Battle Armor 01 activated, performing program self-test.】

A cold mechanical female voice sounded.

Hiss, hiss~

The head armor closed slowly, and a light screen flickered before Lin Xian's eyes. The progress bar was imported, and various subsystems such as movement, defense, radar, situational awareness, and life support appeared on the light screen interface one by one. Then, the armor units on his body began to close, and the bolts tightened automatically.

In an instant, he felt himself wrapped by a powerful mechanical creation, and the full-body shock-absorbing lining bound him perfectly. Lin Xian raised his hand and looked at his mechanical arm through the holographic vision, then slowly clenched it. With the hand power unit outputting torque with almost 0 delay, Lin Xian immediately felt a powerful force. This palm, even if it let him crush steel, seemed to be an easy task.

【System is detecting pilot physical sign information.】

【Physical sign status is good, heart rate... body temperature...】

【Co-state system enabled.】

【Current combat system training value: 0】

【Need to undergo movement and actual combat parameters for "loop" learning to better match the pilot's movement habits.】

Lin Xian was inside the power armor at this time, his eyes reflecting the light of the power armor's holographic vision, and he said with an excited face:

"There's no need to spend time importing the movement parameters of that TRP power armor. Let this battle armor relearn it."

Chen Laoshi could master it in a very short time, and the intelligence level of this power armor was still very high. Although it was a full-coverage armor, Lin Xian's feeling at this time was significantly different from the Prototype Mecha.

The Prototype Mecha was ten thousand tons, with more than four thousand engine muscles, requiring two people to interact in a neural co-state. It had the power to lift the sky and earth, but its agility was definitely far behind personal battle armor, and there was even a huge delay gap in movements compared to Shasha's Sally.

This was limited by the laws of physics and there was no way around it. The advantage of personal battle armor was that it was like an arm and a finger, with almost 0 delay in reaction, just like one's own armor skin, solving the problem of humans' own poor defensive power.

Especially for genetic enhancers, wearing battle armor was like adding wings to a tiger. Their own agility, reaction, strength, and even combat experience could perfectly adapt to the mechanical platform. A set of powerful battle armor could definitely greatly improve the combat power of genetic evolutionists.

From this point of view, the ability assessment index reference of the Phoenix Society could only be said to be very basic for genetic evolutionists.

Human technology and machinery, matching human evolutionary power, could indeed reach a level comparable to ability users to some extent. This was also one of the reasons why the 90% of survivors without abilities could survive in the dark night!

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 319 =====