Chapter 320: Wasteland World (Bonus chapter, please vote with monthly tickets at the end of the month!)

Beep, beep.

In the chaos, Lin Xian felt the watch prompt sound as if it were approaching from the darkness, gradually becoming deafening.

He realized he was awake, or rather, had returned to reality.

On the large bed in the master cabin of Carriage No. 1, Lin Xian felt his eyelids were very heavy. Before he even opened his eyes, a heat wave accompanied by noisy screams had already poured into his brain.

The brain gave an immediate response.

Dull, hot, dry, suppressed.

Lin Xian opened his eyes with dry lips. Beside the pillow was the Infinity's blackout board. That heat wave and the screams came from outside.

Lin Xian focused his mind, first raising his hand to look at his watch.

"11 o'clock, I actually... slept for 9 hours..."

Rubbing his heavy head, Lin Xian recalled the experience of being encroached upon by darkness before falling asleep. His brows furrowed slightly. That feeling was etched in his bones, making one truly unwilling to endure it a second time.

He raised his hand and opened the blackout board.

Ugh ah!!! Ugh! Ah ah!!

The next moment, the scorching sunlight made Lin Xian unable to help but shrink his pupils. Accompanying it were countless withered and rotting zombie faces outside the Infinity's multi-layered bulletproof windows.

Seeing this scene, Lin Xian immediately frowned and sat up. At this time, outside the Infinity train, it was an ocean of zombie tides!

Tens of thousands, millions, tens of millions! Endless, like a tide, like a sea!

Those zombie tides were like sky-filling magnetic powder, densely adsorbing toward the direction of the joint train.

And under the train tracks, the sound of crushing and tearing was endless. Because these zombies were chronically short of water and bloodthirsty, they were almost all blue-black and dry-rotted, and the original human clothing on their bodies had mostly turned into shredded cloth strips.

The scorching sun was in the sky, the sky was cloudless, and yellow sand filled the air.

Lin Xian woke up to find the entire Infinity train had rushed into a wasteland world!

Seeing the situation outside, Lin Xian's brain felt slightly dazed. He quickly pressed the communicator to ask Chen Sixuan.

Clang.

Not long after, the door was opened. Chen Sixuan had taken off the Black Hawk battle armor at this time, wearing cool short clothes and shorts. Seeing Lin Xian wake up, she immediately said:

"You're awake?"

"What's going on?" Lin Xian looked at Chen Sixuan and then at the zombies outside.

"Don't worry." Chen Sixuan looked at the zombies outside and quickly said to Lin Xian: "Since we came out of the polar night, there have been more and more zombies in the Gobi Desert, and after dawn, it's even more of a mountain and sea of corpses."

"So many?" Lin Xian looked at the dense zombies outside the train and asked: "Is it troublesome?"

Chen Sixuan shook her head and responded: "Don't worry, the fleet is moving normally. These zombies haven't had much impact on us."

Lin Xian reacted upon hearing this. He felt the train's moving speed and understood why Chen Sixuan was so calm. Because these zombie tides had almost no impact on the armored train. The mass and kinetic energy of the 15-kilometer-long steel dragon moving forward were like a mountain, and the 22 train fleets combined had a moving power of over a thousand megawatts. With the current defensive power of the Infinity, there was indeed no need to worry about these ordinary zombies.

"Zombies are truly pitiful, they can't even stay in the polar night."

Lin Xian recalled seeing Chu Yan in Yubei City in his dream. There were very few zombies there, and even if there were, they remained stationary, and the entire city was almost occupied by dark creatures.

And Chen Sixuan said: "So we all suspect that this situation is the phenomenon caused by the corpse-driver driving the zombies out of the polar night area."

Corpse-driver, corpse-driver...

Lin Xian frowned upon hearing this, thinking, could it be that this is what the corpse-driver refers to?

This had never been officially heard from the Phoenix Society's radio station. It seemed that the Phoenix Society currently didn't have a clear explanation for this kind of phenomenon.

After breathing a sigh of relief, Lin Xian recalled his encounter last night and immediately asked Chen Sixuan: "By the way, how are Kiki and Brother Huo?"

"Them?"

Chen Sixuan said: "They're doing quite well, just like you, they slept for a relatively long time. They must have been exhausted from going to bomb the Sky Mushroom Tower."

Lin Xian immediately got up and walked toward the rear carriage with Chen Sixuan. As soon as they arrived at Carriage No. 2, they saw Kiki already sitting in front of the information center, operating a drone to observe the situation on the path in the Gobi Desert.

"Hey, you're finally awake?"

Kiki smiled at him when she saw Lin Xian: "How is it? Were you scared by seeing so many zombies?"

Lin Xian asked directly: "Did you feel the influence of dark encroachment when you slept last night?"

Kiki frowned, first shook her head, and then nodded again: "Had a nightmare, but it didn't have much impact."

"What's wrong?"

Hearing Lin Xian ask this, Chen Sixuan keenly sensed the meaning in Lin Xian's words and couldn't help but ask him.

Lin Xian paused, his gaze shifted, and he just explained slowly: "The explosion of the Sky Mushroom Tower last night, we should have been infected with a large amount of dark encroachment power, but looking at the current situation, it should be fine."

What surprised him was Kiki's reaction. He thought Kiki would be as serious as him, but he didn't expect Kiki to not be as severe as him.

Lin Xian pondered secretly. It seemed that it should be because Kiki and Brother Huo's ability indices were inherently high in mental power, while his own Mechanical Heart...

At this time, Chen Sixuan said to Lin Xian: "By the way, good news, Liang Lei has woken up, and Brother Shi's injuries have also recovered a lot. The Phoenix Society is right, dawn is indeed of extraordinary significance to us."

Lin Xian looked happy upon hearing this. This was indeed good news.

"According to the Phoenix Society, we have accumulated too much dark encroachment power in our bodies, and we need daytime or vegetable juice to neutralize it. If we stay in the dark night, we'll definitely be finished." Kiki said.

From Xilan City to now, the team had been in the dark. Even with the Heterogeneous Rubik's Cube, everyone had absorbed a lot of dark power. This power urgently needed to be neutralized and digested. If it lasted too long, it might cause irreversible damage to the body.

Lin Xian's head was also clearer at this time. He sat on the edge of the bed and opened the blackout board, looking at the dense zombies in the wilderness outside: "Have you received any news from the Phoenix Society or other survivor radio stations?"

"Currently, we haven't received news from nearby radio stations, but we have received the Phoenix Society's global radio station."

Chen Sixuan took out the dark radio and played the recorded radio content.

"Buzz... Phoenix Society global notification, the Night Walker Department and Xinghua Technology have jointly developed the latest soul-swinging value detector 【Soul Compass】. By consuming blood essence, you can detect your own peak soul-swinging value and 【Dark Mark】 concentration. At the same time, you can also detect the strange entity fluctuations in the surrounding environment, helping all survivors find relatively safe areas to station before dark. At the same time, the Phoenix Society has made the following warnings about 【Dark Mark】..."

"1. Mark concentration is divided into 1~5 levels, among which 1~4 levels are superimposed after being marked by different strange entities, and 5-level mark is being marked by S-class strange entities. 2. All marks can be reduced by killing strange entities and absorbing black gas. 3. Mark concentration and night attacks are positively correlated, not absolutely correlated. If you are in the territory of an S-class strange entity, even a 1-level mark will be locked. Finally, the Phoenix Society has urgently manufactured 3 million 【Soul Compass】 units for the Night Walker Courier Group to air-drop in cities around the world not covered by the polar night, calling on all survivors to pass them on to others after picking up the 【Soul Compass】, and jointly unite to defeat the dark night!"

"Currently, we haven't found this kind of 【Soul Compass】. After we go to Quancheng or meet other fleets, we should have a chance to see it." Chen Sixuan said.

"Is it free?" Shasha was wearing gloves, holding an excitation circuit of an arc pulse string vibrator and fiddling with something. Hearing this, she couldn't help but say: "Will others be so kind to give it to us?"

Kiki said upon hearing this: "In this day and age, why would others give you things for free?"

"But isn't the Phoenix Society giving it away for free?"

"That's the Phoenix Society." After speaking, she looked at Lin Xian: "Or let your Brother Lin scan it, and won't he be able to build it himself?"

Lin Xian said: "We have the Hell Black Chrysanthemum, this thing is only left with the function of measuring ability peaks, and the Phoenix Society can build 3 million sets, and will build more later. It's useless to want to hoard it for a high price."

Since the Phoenix Society could build it, the blueprints for the outside world must have been released for free. By then, organizations like the Silent City, the old Federation, and various organizations with R&D and manufacturing capabilities would definitely be able to build them. They wouldn't be expensive.

And this thing was even less difficult for him. He could scan from a distance now, and copying mechanical structures was easy.

After speaking, Lin Xian pressed the communicator and began to communicate the situation with Longshan No. 1 and other fleets.

"Brother Lin, we estimate that we will be able to reach Luo Bu in two or three hours. I don't know if there will be fewer zombies there. If the situation is good, I want to stop and let people go out to find water."

Lin Xian had just finished asking when Shi Diyuan's voice came.

Lin Xian responded: "Are you very short of water?"

"Currently not short." In the cockpit of Longshan No. 1, Shi Diyuan looked at the water level lines of the train's water tanks and the bottled water inventory of the supply carriage, his face sinking: "Just in case, after passing the Western Gobi, there is the Taklamakan Desert. If something goes wrong somewhere, we have to stop. Being short of water is more fatal than being short of food."

Hearing Shi Diyuan's words, the captains of several other fleets also expressed their approval. Lin Xian looked at Chen Sixuan at this time, and Chen Sixuan also frowned and nodded:

"Yes, our water is not very optimistic."

The last time the Infinity replenished fresh water was in Clear Water Town. At that time, the water tanks were filled, and there was quite a lot of bottled water in the supply carriage.

But since they came out of Hengshan Pass, they hadn't replenished water resources. The dark encroachment toxin concentration of the snow water from the extreme cold vortex was extremely high, so high that even the Heterogeneous Rubik's Cube had to sound an alarm. So there was no difference between being in the snowfield and being in the wilderness.

In Xilan City, Chen Sixuan did exchange some fresh water back to the train, but water was still becoming increasingly scarce.

At that time, Chen Sixuan also mentioned this problem to Lin Xian, but at that time, facing the dead end of the whole city, the water resource problem was the smallest problem.

Now that they had rushed out of the No. 5 Star Abyss and entered the Western Gobi, the various fleets that hadn't replenished fresh water for a long time began to see red lights in terms of water resources.

Lin Xian immediately took stock of the water resource situation on the Infinity with Chen Sixuan, and the result was even worse than he expected.

The Infinity had already achieved water-oxygen circulation, and all the gray water on the train entered the circulation filtration system together, including bath water and sanitary water, and even the urine of men and women on the train would be filtered and supplied to the Carriage No. 4 planting room to achieve ecological circulation, and then after three filtrations, it would be connected to the drinking water pipeline.

In the case of the Heterogeneous Rubik's Cube, the water on the entire train would not be affected by secondary dark encroachment. However, the water initially injected into the train, the Heterogeneous Rubik's Cube and the filter did not have the ability to filter dark encroachment. They could only maximize the isolation of germs. It was only after being absorbed and neutralized by the human body that the water on the train gradually became "clean."

But water could not be used indefinitely. Human evaporation, train consumption, nuclear power carriage cooling systems, and even green vegetable planting were all one-way trips. The Infinity was already one of the better situations among many fleets, with fewer people and more storage, but the water problem was still becoming more and more serious.

"What we obtained from Xilan City and the Zero Element Center were some bottled water. Now I have controlled the supply per person to half a bottle a day. If it's finished, we'll start drinking recycled water."

In the No. 7 supply storage carriage, Chen Sixuan reported to Lin Xian: "There are two major water consumers now, one is the nuclear power carriage, and the other is our Carriage No. 4 planting room."

"These zombie tides also have some impact on our moving speed. According to Brother Shi, it will take us two or three hours to reach Luo Bu. If we don't stop, we won't be able to reach Akesai before dark. As for Quancheng, it is estimated that it will be the day after tomorrow. Our food resources are more than water. This is indeed a problem."

Chen Sixuan said with a worried face: "The Western Gobi is too big. According to the current situation, if we reach Quancheng without replenishment, it will be troublesome."

"Even if there is, according to the Phoenix Society, the toxin concentration of water will be higher every night." Chen Sixuan said: "There is no better way to isolate and filter dark encroachment currently, and we can only rely on human body absorption and resistance."

Quancheng, the lost city located in the Taklamakan Desert, was a place even more desolate than the Western Gobi.

Continuing eastward from there, crossing the 6,000-kilometer Taklamakan Desert, one could reach Jinhe. Another direction was to go south to Luling or Baisha, but both were in the desert, and it was difficult to leave in a short time.

So for now, the water problem had become a big problem for all fleets!

"Then find water resources along the way."

Lin Xian smiled helplessly: "As for the toxins of dark encroachment, those who can survive until now should be able to resist with physical evolution. Filtering a few more times is better than dying of thirst. At least at the current stage, we won't be swallowed by dark tides for a long time."

Ugh ah ugh ah!!

Countless zombies with black blood on their faces and withered hair rushed toward the high-speed joint train. Under the huge kinetic energy mass, they instantly turned into a blood mist.

"Whoa~"

In one of the carriages of the Sun train, a group of children lay by the window, watching the zombie corpses bursting along the way, and couldn't help but exclaim.

The person responsible for guarding the carriage was a bearded man named Old Dong. He smiled: "How is it? Is it very explosive? Children, watch less. If you watch too much, you won't be able to sleep at night."

During the journey, both sides of the joint train had been soaked in dark red blood plasma, as if they had sailed out of a sea of blood.

Lin Xian came to the Carriage No. 4 planting room at this time, looking at the green eyes, his expression a bit complicated.

Seeing this touch of green in this world of sky-filling yellow sand was undoubtedly refreshing, but at the same time, the water problem made Lin Xian have to start worrying.

If the dark encroachment concentration of global water resources became higher and higher, one day, the fresh water directly drawn into the Infinity would trigger the alarm of the Heterogeneous Rubik's Cube. The polar night had not yet been completely covered, and this severe problem had already been placed in front of all mankind.

Lin Xian didn't know how many people were left in the world, nor did he know how many people died every day. Looking at that dense zombie army, which one was not a living human on the Blue Star...

Clang, clang~

The train sped along, and all the members of the Infinity had recovered well. All the blackout boards in Brother Huo's carriage were opened. He wore the Infinity bracelet, lay floating in the center of the carriage, and occasionally used his fingers to spray fire to adjust his orientation to maintain the parallel speed with the train, completely ignoring all the zombies, comfortably sunbathing.

Ever since he obtained this strange object, he had suddenly become enlightened, having a feeling of freedom to travel the world, completely throwing the previous autumn clothes incident behind him.

"Everyone, we may have to stop at Luo Bu Town ahead to find supplies, mainly water. Everyone, get ready."

Lin Xian's voice sounded in the train channel. Everyone who heard it began to put on power armor and prepare weapons. Being cautious at all times had already been engraved into everyone's blood.

Lu Xingchen heard it and immediately pressed the communicator.

"Brother Lin, I am willing to take on this heavy responsibility!"

Lin Xian knew that this guy could fly, so he was itching to go. He responded directly: "Good, I'll send you as the vanguard. Just be careful not to cause trouble."

"Don't worry, Brother Lin!"

Carriage No. 1, Lin Xian had already brought the Black Hawk battle armor over. At the same time, 20 Thunder Falcon 2000s were neatly parked on the ground, charging.

Chen Sixuan looked at the situation outside the window and sighed:

"It seems we guessed right. The further we go, the less dense the zombies are. These were all driven out by the corpse-driver."

"Having said that, I feel a bit of empathy for the zombies..."

Lin Xian picked up his black gun and adjusted the magnetic control engine power value on it.

Hiss, hiss. Chen Sixuan also put on the battle armor directly at this time. The mask fell, and she said through mechanical transmission: "The further we go, the closer we get to the Federation area. When we were at Hengshan Pass, we heard that the situation here is very complicated. The cost of entering Dawn City has risen from 3 blood essences to I don't know how much."

Three blood essences...

Lin Xian opened a small drawer. Inside was the iron box that Wei Kexue gave him, which also contained three blood essences.

For someone like Wei Kexue, being able to collect three was truly not easy. He was still in the Phoenix Society organization. For other survivors, one could imagine what kind of difficulty it would be to kill three white giant monsters or red centipedes without powerful people around.

"Everyone, be careful, we are entering Luo Bu."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 321 =====