Chapter 322: (Chapter Title)

Clang!

The steel cage was opened, and dozens of survivors captured by Brother J regained their freedom. Half of them were members of the plundered bus fleet. Basically, those with combat power in the team were all captured.

Of course.

If they were women, even if they had combat power, they had to be "played" by this group of people first.

"Dad!"

The girl from the bus got off the car and rushed toward the middle-aged man whose shoulder was slashed.

"Thank you!" The middle-aged man's face was pale. At this time, he seemed to have regained a bit of his senses from despair.

Based on some sympathy, Lin Xian let Shu Qin return their vehicles and the part of the supplies that were robbed directly to this fleet. Other train groups also sent some things to them, which could be considered mutual help on the apocalyptic journey.

The remaining people were survivors from other fleets. Judging from their state, they had been locked in this iron cage car for at least two or three days. At this time, they were released, and everyone was extremely excited. Among them, those wearing helmets and foot chains were some ability users with low levels. Besides that, the Red Vulture Group's fleet of more than 40 people actually had two vehicle-mounted arc pulse guns and 20 standard rocket launchers, as well as various types of explosives, ammunition, and even self-destructing drones. It didn't look like a wild road at all, which made Lin Xian and others notice some unusual tastes.

At the same time, the joint train group also obtained a lot of useful information from this group of captured people.

Among them, the most important was the information about the Desert Iron Alliance mentioned by Brother J. It is said that this Iron Alliance was a sand bandit alliance that had risen in the Western Gobi and Taklamakan Desert range for only about a month. In a short period of time, it became notorious for its violence and plundering. Although major survivor alliances and even starship armies in Phoenix Society stations like Jinhe were constantly suppressing them, strangely, this force was not wiped out, but instead, its power continued to grow.

Relying on this crazy dog alliance mode of provoking one and attracting siege, fleeing survivors avoided them. This Iron Alliance would rob and kidnap when encountering weak ones, and when encountering big car groups, they would flee by relying on the vast no-man's-land terrain of the Gobi Desert, and then organize more crazy dog fleets to counterattack.

If it wasn't a large-scale alliance fleet, ordinary big car groups of hundreds of people couldn't do anything about this group of people at all. Even those alliance fleets, in order to avoid trouble, all wanted to simply take out some supplies as a toll, but this didn't necessarily mean they could sleep peacefully. Perhaps they bought off a sand bandit team, but it was not guaranteed that they wouldn't encounter another one before dark. In this apocalypse, thugs and sand bandits wouldn't talk about any morality with you.

After all, the goal of the survivors was to flee, and this group of sand bandits were completely extreme thugs of the apocalypse, building secret strongholds in the Gobi and desert, looking like a carnival of the apocalypse.

"You... you should be passing through Akesai next, right?"

Just as the joint train crowd was cleaning up the situation and preparing to set off, the young man whose face was sunburned and red opened his mouth toward this side.

"Right, do you know anything?" Shi Diyuan responded directly.

The young man said hurriedly: "I know a piece of information, I don't know if it's useful to you. There is a large fleet stationed in Akesai. The leader of that fleet claims to the outside world that he knows a secret route that can bypass all sand bandits and reach Quancheng directly. He asked us to buy this secret at the price of one level-1 blood essence for 5 people..."

"What?" Everyone exclaimed.

"One blood essence for 5 people?"

"Is there anyone who believes this? It's a lie."

"Claims to the outside world?" Shi Diyuan glared and scolded: "What kind of dog thing is daydreaming! Are those sand bandits idiots, or is it that the sand bandits can't hear or see this information of his? Why should they let people pass?"

Lin Xian, however, noticed a point that was not unusual and asked the young man: "Do you mean that you were attacked because you didn't pay this toll?"

The young man nodded quickly, explaining: "Actually, none of us believed it at first, but the people in that fleet said that they had negotiated with the sand bandits. This blood essence is mostly to be handed over to the Iron Alliance. So essentially, it's not a route, it's just a toll."

"If you say so, I understand." Qian Dele stared at him: "After talking for a long time, that group of people is actually in the same group as the sand bandits."

"Eh, if they are sand bandits, why not just rob everything? Why do it so troublesomely?"

"So it must be a lie..."

The young man shook his head with a dark face: "I don't know if it's true, but I know that this big car group has been stationed in Akesai for two weeks and has never been attacked by sand bandits. And because of the dark mark problem, they don't allow other fleets to stay overnight in Akesai. At that time, many fleets together with us chose to station around Akesai to hold together because they were afraid of going deep into the Gobi and encountering sand bandits, and were worried about the dark night problem. But there were many zombies at night, and there were strange entities, so everyone couldn't resist and either paid the toll, or took a detour. Our fleet was taking a detour at the time, and as a result..."

"A bit interesting." Lin Xian said with great interest: "Sand bandits hold together to form an alliance, pulling one hair and moving the whole body. The Phoenix Society and the Federation can't clear them. After spreading the notoriety, they found an agent to collect tolls. It avoids letting those fleets fight back desperately, and can collect tolls without firing a shot. They really have a set..."

Everyone looked at Lin Xian. Hearing this analysis of his, they all had complex expressions. This sand bandit alliance seemed to be much more difficult than they imagined.

"The idea of this alliance is really arrogant."

Qian Dele smacked his lips and said: "Only allowing them to bully people, not allowing others to provoke them, and also collecting tolls. It's really arrogant."

"Humph! That's because they haven't met us." Kiki snorted and crossed her arms: "These guys are too hateful. If they dare to provoke us, we will definitely pinch them all to death!"

"This method is feasible, this deity strongly agrees." Lu Xingchen, who had been silent, couldn't help but raise his eyes and respond sternly upon hearing this.

Xiang Xiang Ningjing frowned at this time and said: "For us, we are indeed worried about them attacking the tracks."

Lin Xian looked at her and smiled helplessly: "The point where people are more troublesome than strange entities is here. When the villain wants to slaughter you, it's not up to you to decide the land cession and compensation. Since they are sand bandits, only by killing them can the problem be solved."

"That's right!" Shi Diyuan shouted sternly: "Whether it's plundering or tolls, I'll see this time, the monsters in Xilan didn't scare us, can a group of sand bandits peel us alive? At worst, fire!"

"Exactly!"

"These scum can't handle strange entities, they only dare to bully their own people."

Everyone nodded upon hearing this. They had all just rushed out of the sea of corpses and blood. They knew that even if they were worried about this situation, it didn't make any sense. It was better to make full preparations.

And Lin Xian, through his mechanical ability, temporarily turned this crisis into an active opportunity. This was a chance for them.

Just as Shi Diyuan said, it's better to be a desert bandit for once. It can not only take the initiative to solve the trouble, but also have the opportunity to obtain resources. Now their joint train fleet is strong and urgently lacks resources, and there are all kinds of characters from all over the world. How could they be bluffed by a group of sand bandits?

Hiss, woo~!

At 13:00, the joint train stopped at Luo Bu Town and set off again, aiming to reach Akesai before dark!

In Carriage No. 2, Kiki was using Brother J's signal device to replicate the device manufactured by Lin Xian for data analysis. All the backbone members of the Infinity also gathered here to discuss the situation, and even Luo Yang and Li Yi were called over by Lin Xian to run in the team in advance.

The simulated signal had been additionally manufactured by Lin Xian and placed in a corner of Luo Bu Town, while the one on Brother J's body had been directly shut down by him. These 7 people were handed over to the Hell Warrior fleet's eighty-some big guys to "take good care of" first.

Dalou held his gun and sat far away on the sofa. Lu Xingchen

Lin Xian had already manufactured an additional simulated signal and placed it in a corner of Luo Bu Town, while the one on J-Ge had been directly shut down by him. He left those seven people to be "well looked after" by the eighty-some burly men of the Hell Warrior convoy.

Dalou sat far away on the sofa, clutching his gun, while Lu Xingchen beside him played with the Infinite Ring on his hand. They usually spoke very little, listening quietly was enough.

"Team Leader Lin, I don't think this group of sand bandits is just here for looting." Li Yi, holding her pregnant belly, was visiting Lin Xian's Infinite for the first time. Her face still carried a hint of reserve, but she still actively voiced her thoughts: "We have encountered this type of thug convoy before; they do everything from arson and murder to looting. Although they are vicious, they aren't stupid. They went to the trouble of making a large cage to capture people and take them back; there must be some purpose."

"I think so too." Chen Sixuan nodded and said: "Those custom-made hoods and shackles aren't things an ordinary small convoy could get their hands on. It shows that when they attacked the convoy, they were already prepared to kidnap those ability users."

"Human trafficking?" Kiki sat in her swivel chair, resting her chin on her hand as she analyzed: "What's the goal?"

"Could it be to sell them to those Descent Sect organizations?" Shu Qin responded with a serious expression: "For example, the Foundation or the Deep Red World from before; aren't they all using ability users for biochemical experiments?"

"That makes sense!" Luo Yang pushed up his glasses and responded with a serious face: "That's why they have a constant stream of resource support and are becoming increasingly rampant!"

"Then why are they collecting road tolls?" Lv Chang asked.

Kiki spoke up: "That's simple. Just because you paid the toll doesn't mean they won't rob you a second time. It's just to lull others into a false sense of security. In this environment, who would actually believe the words of sand bandits? If you ask me, wiping them all out directly is the most efficient way!"

Lin Xian sat at the very edge, observing the dark golden hexagonal life-information device in his hand, his face as calm as still water.

"Hey, Lin Xian, have you figured anything out?" After Kiki finished speaking, she leaned her head back and looked toward Lin Xian.

At the same time, everyone's gaze fell upon him.

"This thing, though it looks small, the sophistication of its internal design is no less than the Phoenix Order we obtained."

Lin Xian exhaled softly and said: "So you all guessed correctly. There must be a powerful organization behind these sand bandits supporting them, rather than them just being allied together like this."

"But I still can't quite figure it out now, especially that convoy from Akse; what exactly is their game..."

If a powerful organization had allied the sand bandits together, using profit as an exchange to have them kill, loot, and kidnap in the Xidi Gobi, it would be relatively simple to understand.

But the road toll part sounds a bit contradictory.

So, listening to it all, what Kiki said is the most reasonable; the greatest possibility is nothing more than the trick of taking both by craft and by force.

"How is it? Can you trace back any useful information?"

Lin Xian felt his train of thought was a bit messy, so he focused his attention on the analysis of the information packet contained within the Iron Alliance Order.

"Not that fast." Kiki pointed at the screen at this moment: "This thing is essentially a mobile shortwave transmitter that integrates environmental radio wave storage technology. But we don't have satellite positioning, so this kind of information packet can only be located through mobile direction-finding. I have already used the omnidirectional antenna to scan the target frequency band, locking onto the area with the strongest signal to search for reflected signals along the way. And I can only retrieve the ones with the highest degree of overlap. Currently, the signal is still very weak; we'll have to drive for a distance to know more."

She turned her head as she spoke: "If our direction is wrong, then we're stuck. But if we can find a few more, it will be easier to deduplicate the information."

"It won't be wrong." Lin Xian said: "Their lair will only be in the opposite direction of the Polar Night. We'll only lose them if we go beyond the range of the antenna."

"Lin Xian, our route will definitely pass through Akse. What do you think?" Chen Sixuan looked out the train window, her brows slightly furrowed. On the Gobi desert to the south of the train tracks, more than a dozen survivor vehicles were sprinting at full speed alongside the joint train. This was the convoy that had just been attacked; it looked like they also wanted to follow behind to seek some protection.

"For a small convoy like this, it's considered lucky to have met us." Chen Sixuan said coldly: "Looking at the arrogance of that group of thugs, this definitely isn't the first day they've done this kind of thing."

Lin Xian pondered for a moment and said: "Let's not enter Akse yet. We'll stop early to scout the situation first."

Without a clear situation, Lin Xian decided to proceed with caution. Especially since some towns already had many zombies and strange entities gathered, and now with an unidentified group entrenched there, it was even more important not to barge in recklessly.

The joint train sped along, traveling rapidly on the wilderness tracks. In order to reach the area near Akse before dark, the entire train continued to accelerate.

Around 3:00 PM, the train passed through a salt marsh landscape and entered a dried-up ancient riverbed. The tracks wound eastward along the weathered riverbed. The wind and sand had carved the sedimentary rock into mushroom-shaped stone pillars, forming a reddish-brown wind-eroded Yardang landscape. Judging by the calculated travel distance, the joint train should be less than two hours away from the Akse region now.

At this moment, the dark radios of all the convoys received a radio signal on the survivor civilian frequency band; it was coming from the direction of Akse!

"Static, Akse notice: All convoys seeking a safe route to Quancheng, please head to the Black Rose Bar in the Akse urban area before dark. Note: Convoys and armed personnel are strictly prohibited from entering the city. Only leaders and individual personnel are allowed to enter the city lightly equipped. Those without sincerity or who aren't afraid of death can bypass directly. Consequences for charging into the city without authorization will be borne by yourselves... static."

"Damn, they're actually broadcasting on the radio to collect road tolls? Isn't this too arrogant?"

On the Infinite, everyone heard the voice on the radio and immediately felt it was somewhat unbelievable.

"And they won't even let the convoys enter the city..."

"Lin Xian, why don't we just charge in and wipe them all out!" Kiki felt a surge of anger the moment she heard the radio. They were collecting road tolls from their Infinite? Was the temperature of the electromagnetic cannon not high enough, or was the firing rate of the 1130 not fast enough?

"Don't be hasty." Lin Xian was calm: "We have many people and a long train; our target is too large. There must be sand bandits around Akse. To avoid alerting the enemy, we weren't planning on entering the city anyway. Spending the night in the wilderness is actually safer."

The incident in Luo Bu Town had indeed served as a reminder to the entire joint train group: sand bandits were rampant in this region, and they had already formed a massive alliance with a complete chain of interests and arms supplies, which could not be underestimated.

Under these circumstances, their train, which was over 500 carriages long and 15 kilometers in length, could easily be targeted. Although those roving sand bandits might not be able to compete with the joint train in terms of firepower, flies and mosquitoes are still a nuisance. And the joint train faced two major concerns: one was the lack of water, and the other was the strange entities of the night.

Therefore, Lin Xian and Shi Diyuan both decided not to blindly charge into the towns. They now had drones, flying ability users, and even the Night Star hypersonic aircraft, which they could use to scout the situation and plan before acting. Compared to the previous method of splitting up to explore the city, they had many more options. Anyway, the expansion speed of the 5th Star Abyss was very slow, so they didn't need to worry about the coverage speed of the Polar Night for the time being.

"And then?" Chen Sixuan asked.

Lin Xian looked at everyone: "Don't you think the voice on this radio sounds a bit familiar?"

"Huh?"

"Familiar?"

"Who is it..." Everyone looked confused.

Kiki frowned upon hearing this, so she turned up the volume of the radio. At this moment, the broadcast voice sounded again.

"Static, Akse notice: This is the Fulu Shou convoy. All those seeking a safe route to Quancheng..."

"Fulu Shou?!!"

"It's that Big Gold Tooth!" Shasha exclaimed.

"Good grief, that stinking profiteer ran all the way here?!" Miao Lu also widened her eyes.

The people on the Infinite had a deep memory of this person.

"It's that convoy from Hengshan Pass!" Even Luo Yang and Li Yi had dealt with them at Hengshan Pass.

"I was wondering who it was; it turns out to be this guy." Kiki frowned deeply: "How did this guy get mixed up with the sand bandits?"

Lin Xian said in a deep voice: "We'll stop in a while and go with people from a few convoys to scout the situation in Akse. Perhaps we can meet this... 'old friend'."

Upon hearing that lazy voice with a hint of a profiteer's tone on the radio, Lin Xian remembered the guy from whom he had bought a truckload of automatic rifles at Hengshan Pass. This person had previously given him a lot of useful information, and the two had even talked about the possibility of cooperating.

Now that this person had inexplicably appeared here and gotten involved with the sand bandits, and since the joint train had to pass through Akse, Lin Xian decided to take people to scout the situation in Akse. He now had various drones and many flying ability users, including Kiki, so he could get a rough idea of the situation even without entering the city.

Half an hour later, the joint train stopped on a vast, uninhabited Gobi desert. Aside from the roadbed stones next to the tracks, no human buildings could be seen. In the wilderness, not even a single zombie could be seen, leaving only yellow earth, sand, stones, and withered grass everywhere.

A gust of wind blew across the Gobi, kicking up rolling clouds of dust. With the harsh screech of iron wheel brakes, the black steel dragon came to a halt on this heat-radiating wilderness.

Seeing the joint train stop, the survivor bus convoy also approached and parked next to the train.

Because they were all familiar with this convoy, the other train groups didn't say anything and just let them follow along.

At the same time, two large off-road vehicles drove down from Longshan No. 1. Their armor wasn't particularly heavy, but their advantages were a high chassis and powerful performance. Plus, they had desert camouflage, making them very suitable for driving in the Gobi.

In addition to Xiang Xiang Ningjing, Bai Xiaoqing, and A Bai, Qian Dele from the Joker convoy also followed.

Kiki was the one prepared to go with Lin Xian. On the Longshan No. 1 side, Shi Diyuan had wanted to go himself, but his injuries hadn't fully healed, and Lin Xian also wanted him to stay and preside over the overall situation. Therefore, Xiang Xiang Ningjing was the one leading Bai Xiaoqing and A Bai to follow him this time.

A Bai, this mobile Hell Black Chrysanthemum with laser eyes, could help Lin Xian solve many problems. Although it was broad daylight with the sun shining brightly, it was always right to be extra cautious.

"I thought we were going to take an aircraft." Qian Dele walked over, looking at the two off-road vehicles with a puzzled expression.

"Not for now." Xiang Xiang Ningjing said seriously: "Although the aircraft is very fast, and at the speed of the Night Star aircraft, we could reach this distance in 1 minute, the terrain here is open and cloudless. The sonic boom of a hypersonic aircraft cannot be masked at all, and it would definitely alert the enemy."

"We won't enter the city for now; we'll just scout the perimeter and decide based on the situation later." Lin Xian explained.

Although these people could all be carried by Kiki's telekinesis, for the sake of the joint train's concealment, the current parking location was still over a hundred kilometers away from Akse. It was truly inconvenient for Kiki to carry everyone for that distance, so driving there would be more flexible.

"I see." Qian Dele said.

Just as he finished speaking, he suddenly noticed an unexpected person walking over, seemingly prepared to join.

Mo Nika.

Seeing this woman with a graceful figure dressed in the Ghost Wolf battle armor walking over, Qian Dele said somewhat inexplicably: "Yo, since when does a job like scouting the road require you, Mo Nika, to go out in person?"

Mo Nika pressed lightly on her ear, and her head visor opened. She glanced at Qian Dele and then looked at Lin Xian with a serious expression.

"As a convoy leader, I also have to be responsible for the team. Besides, after staying on the train for a long time, I always want to come out and move around, which also helps with the improvement of my ability's mental power."

Lin Xian's gaze narrowed slightly: "We are just..."

"I can hear sounds from a kilometer away."

Before Lin Xian could finish, Mo Nika curled her lips and said to Lin Xian with a confident face.

"Get in the car!" Lin Xian smiled upon hearing this and didn't waste any words, directly inviting this train queen into the car.

Qian Dele glanced at her with a look that said, "I already know what you're thinking," then took a bottle of moisturizing spray from his trench coat and sprayed it on his face. He had originally intended to get into Lin Xian's car, but he simply walked over to Xiang Xiang Ningjing's car instead.

Thus, the two cars started heading toward the depths of the Gobi desert one after the other, their wheels kicking up a cloud of sand.

Kiki was driving, and Lin Xian sat in the passenger seat. He looked at Mo Nika in the back row through the rearview mirror. The weather was hot, so he took out a bottle of water, took a sip, and then broke the silence.

"Mo Nika, why haven't I heard that you had this ability before?"

Mo Nika leaned back in the rear seat with her jade legs crossed, looking at Lin Xian with a smile: "My ability is Sound Blade, so it's normal for me to have a keen perception of sound vibration frequencies. But I never told anyone about it, otherwise, my team members would probably be afraid to secretly call my name while masturbating at night."

Pfft!

Before the words were even finished, Lin Xian sprayed a mouthful of water onto the front windshield. Even Kiki, who was focused on driving, immediately blushed and muttered through gritted teeth in lip-reading: "Disgusting..."

This Mo Nika didn't speak often, but when she did, it was always unexpected.

Lin Xian wiped the water from the corner of his mouth, feeling a bit pained by the wasted water. At the same time, his expression became strange. This Mo Nika was truly shocking. If what she said was true, didn't she know everything he said and did on the entire Infinite?

Seeming to have guessed Lin Xian's thoughts, Mo Nika said directly.

"But you can rest assured, using my ability consumes a lot of my energy. Unless it's related to my interests or for scouting purposes like this, I don't have the habit of eavesdropping on others."

Mo Nika wasn't lying. Using such an ability was equivalent to her using her power. For her, monitoring her subordinates was one of the means by which she controlled the entire train. The private thoughts of those people were actually within Mo Nika's grasp, but she truly didn't have the hobby of prying into the privacy of anyone other than Queen Mo.

Lin Xian coughed dryly: "Your ability is much more powerful than I imagined..."

"Thank you."

Although Mo Nika wasn't lying, her words didn't explicitly respond to Lin Xian. As for whether the Infinite was related to her interests, only she knew.

In the reflection of the rearview mirror, Mo Nika looked at the vast wilderness outside, a faint smile on her lips.

Lin Xian's heart stirred. He couldn't figure out this woman's intentions. Once this ability was known to others, they would normally be on guard against her, but she had told Lin Xian so straightforwardly...

Whether she was showing sincerity or had another purpose, he couldn't know.

However, Lin Xian knew that he had probably underestimated this woman.

(End of chapter)