Chapter 326

Wind-Eroded Valley, dried riverbed, a 15-kilometer-long heavy rail train parked quietly, more than 500 carriages winding like a dragon, as if extending to the end of the horizon.

18:00

The setting sun on the Gobi beach dyed the gravel beach rust-red, and the sand grains shimmered with fine golden scales in the afterglow, but were lifted into a flowing red tide by the sudden north wind, carrying gravel and hitting the half-buried abandoned oil drums, making an empty echo.

On the United Train, more than four thousand people were working non-stop to deal with the dark night.

"It is said that sand ants are not the same thing as the ants we understand, but for safety's sake, check all gaps, air vents, including bathroom pipes!"

In the Infinite's communicator, Chen Sixuan walked quickly between the carriages, reminding everyone.

Lin Xian also checked carriage by carriage, as carefully as he dealt with snow water seepage before, but he knew sand ants were definitely different from snow water. This thing might drill into any gap. What he was most worried about now was whether these sand ants could also mark people with dark marks like the previous snow demons.

"Didn't Hu Lushou say that the convoys he contacted didn't have dark marks, and those convoys have been in Akse for several days, so logically they shouldn't have dark marks, right?"

Kiki followed Lin Xian all the way to the 3rd carriage and said.

"It's always right to be cautious." Lin Xian pointed outside the window: "I reserved a few rotor drones and prefabricated explosives outside just in case."

"Director Ding." After speaking, Lin Xian said to Director Ding, who was experimenting with mycelium: "I will temporarily close the air circulation channels of these two Keer experimental carriages. It shouldn't have any impact on the plants, right?"

Ding Junyi looked up at him: "From a botanical perspective..."

"Director Ding." Lin Xian looked at her with a meaningful look.

"It won't."

"Good."

Lin Xian nodded with a relaxed mood, very fond of Director Ding, who was so concise and comprehensive.

After speaking, he pressed the communicator and said to all train captains:

"Let me repeat: don't panic when sand ants pass through. No one is allowed to open fire."

"Understood!"

This time, the captain of the Ocean responded first.

Although Lin Xian synchronized the situation about the dark night he learned in Akse to each convoy as soon as they returned, he felt it was necessary to repeat it again.

More than 4,000 people, this was not a small number.

Before the Apocalypse Day, Lin Xian didn't even want to be a university dormitory head. Who could manage the socks and underwear growing mushrooms on the balcony of a group of rough men? Not to mention that the people on the United Train were truly a mixed bag. Although everyone worked together and obeyed Lin Xian's dispatch in terms of situation and camp, from a management perspective, Lin Xian knew there were still quite a few fools, so he took out the greatest patience of his life, just hoping that there would be less trouble after nightfall.

"Little Brother Lin." Shi Diyuan's voice came from the communicator: "Before you came back, I already had people check the dark marks of the whole train. No need to worry about anything else."

"Good."

"Rest assured, Lin Dui, our convoy has 0 loopholes." Mo Nika sat in the 1st carriage of her Mo Queen and said in a gentle voice.

"We don't need to worry either," Qian Dele also said.

"Lin Dui, we have no problem here either." The voices of Li Yi and Luo Yang also came. Li Yi had already arranged the children's carriage. They had encountered the dark night situation many times, monster tides, insect tides, corpse tides. These children had already learned to be quiet and focused, not noisy, and were very well-behaved.

"Lin Dui."

At this time, Shu Qin walked over to Lin Xian and said: "When you were away, the people from the Hell Warrior team told us that that group of people confessed quite a bit of information, especially about kidnapping superhumans. They were indeed taken to trade with a certain organization. The trading location is a place called Iron Pot Valley. We checked, and there is no such place on the map."

"Iron Pot Valley? Is it related to the terrain?" Lin Xian thought of this point immediately.

"According to his description, there are many abandoned radio telescope antennas in that place, so it is called this name."

"Radio telescope?" Lin Xian frowned slightly upon hearing this: "Then that should be some kind of star observation station."

"This is simple." Kiki on the side immediately took out the mobile terminal and searched: "Got it, White Deer Beach Star Observation Station, but it stopped operating in 2056."

"Abandoned for 13 years..."

"According to the orientation of the map, they did have changes in this path before, but the overlap is very small."

"Because they only go once at a fixed time." Lin Xian took it over and looked at the orientation and said: "After we solve the desert bandits in Akse, we have to go there and see."

Lin Xian had been ignoring a point before. He had been excluding areas with low signal packet overlap, aiming to find the desert bandits' lair, but now it seems that the trading location is also very worth exploring.

Shu Qin nodded: "In addition, it is their trading price. According to their confession, a Diamond-grade gene evolver can be exchanged for two Tier 1 blood essences, but if it is a superhuman, it can be exchanged for five. Berserker-grade is 5 times higher, and Destroyer-grade is 20 times higher."

"What?" Kiki pointed to her nose: "So I'm only worth 25 blood essences???"

"Not bad, that's two and a half tubes of cold dark reagent." Lin Xian teased.

"Hmph!" Kiki snorted, and said coldly: "I'm just afraid they won't have the life to take it!"

Lin Xian took a deep breath and said with a cold look: "Plundering a small convoy of twenty or thirty people might have only grabbed some supplies and a few blood essences, but with this human trafficking, those desert bandits could get dozens of blood essences. Although they might not be able to handle those Berserker-grade and Destroyer-grade figures, there are many small and medium-sized convoys in the fleeing team now, so being targeted by them is much more profitable than the previous robbery."

Shu Qin said: "If you take dozens of blood essences to exchange for supplies, you won't be able to finish eating in a month. No wonder these desert bandits are so crazy."

Lin Xian looked at Shu Qin: "Any other news?"

Shu Qin shook her head: "Not yet. That Big Brother Dadong said they are still squeezing, but one of the 7 people has already died. He also wanted me to ask you if you can keep them for a few nights, don't kill them yet, because they still have dozens of brothers..."

"Let them be, let them be!"

Lin Xian immediately raised his hand to stop what Shu Qin was about to say, his face full of black lines: "This group of people has no value to us anymore. As long as you don't let them go, let them be."

"Good." Shu Qin showed a strange smile and didn't continue.

Hearing this, Kiki made a long, disgusted "Eww" sound and looked at Lin Xian: "Really, too disgusting."

"You can't say it like that." Lin Xian took a long breath: "Everything in the world generates and restrains each other. For such thugs who like to rape women, isn't this the best punishment?"

"Besides, the enemy is in pain, but our teammates are happy!"

"Eww!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Kiki frowned, shrank her chin and looked at Lin Xian: "I don't want teammates like this..."

Lin Xian smiled helplessly, then turned to Shu Qin and said.

"By the way, tell the people from the Windwalker convoy outside about this news."

The Windwalker convoy was the bus convoy that was plundered. At this time, it was parked quietly on the Gobi beach next to the United Train. Lin Xian also synchronized the situation of the sand ants with them. At this time, this convoy also made corresponding preparations.

"Good." Shu Qin looked at Lin Xian, understood his meaning, and then turned and left.

As night was about to fall, Chen Sixuan had already arranged to distribute food to the whole train. Now each bottle of water needed to be drunk for two days. Everyone also realized the pressure of water resources. Even if the weather was hot, they didn't dare to drink water in big gulps.

Every carriage of the United Train on the wilderness began to close the windows and blackout boards, and the tense atmosphere in the carriages began to rise.

Lin Xian closed all the passage gates of each carriage, and then came to the cockpit with Chen Sixuan, looking at the Gobi beach about to enter the night through the porthole of the cockpit.

Rustle~

On the desolate Gobi beach, it seemed that only the sound of the strong wind rolling sand and gravel remained between heaven and earth. Yellow sand particles hit the carriages and portholes, making a dry rustling sound.

Lin Xian and Chen Sixuan sat on the left and right, waiting quietly for the night. The other convoys of the United Train in the communication frequency band also quieted down at this time. Everyone was watching the time.

"Remember when we just came out of Jiang City, we were also waiting for the night to come like this."

Lin Xian looked at Chen Sixuan, who was cautious on the side, and couldn't help but speak.

At that time, Chen Sixuan was just a university teacher who had just grabbed a straw in despair and panic, curled up in the corner of the cockpit aisle, holding the bread Lin Xian gave her.

And Lin Xian was still holding a short knife, listening to the sound of zombies scratching outside the car, alert.

Chen Sixuan looked at him sideways, then turned her head away: "Although there are no dark marks, I don't know why, I always feel uneasy in such a desolate and open place."

She said, looking at the depths of the vast wilderness in the distance, her eyes slightly condensed.

The world was too big, the horizon was too far. In the depths of the empty no-man's-land, it inexplicably gave Chen Sixuan a feeling of being more crowded than in the town. She didn't know why she had such thoughts, and after realizing it, she was also startled.

Lin Xian scanned, also sinking his breath.

Beep, beep.

The watch's prompt sound rang abruptly in the quiet carriage. That sound was clearly very small, but it seemed to be clearly audible in the wilderness several kilometers away before the night pressed in.

"The sky is going to get dark."

Hum.

Above the sky, a curtain of light like a tide swept across, like a curtain covering the stars, quickly pulled open.

The next moment, the world turned off the lights.

The sunset had not yet fallen below the horizon, but the entire West Gobi had entered the night in advance.

The starry sky above also seemed to be obscured by some chaos, appearing not so bright.

The earth was dead silent.

Everyone held their breath at this moment.

Lin Xian and Chen Sixuan sat quietly in the cockpit like this, as if they could only hear their own heartbeats.

At this time, the wind suddenly began to grow, and gradually there was the sound of light rain.

"It's raining?" Lin Xian frowned slightly.

"No."

Chen Sixuan looked outside the dark porthole and said with a solemn look.

"It's the sound of the earth."

In the living carriage, the lights had long been extinguished, and the children all held their breath, not daring to make any sound.

Duoduo lay on the pillow, her eyes looking at the dark horizon outside through the gap in the blackout board. The sound of the rain seemed to be getting louder and louder, gradually changing from velvet light rain to bean-like showers, but there were no water marks on the car window.

She stared at the outside with big eyes. Suddenly, a strange insect crawled onto the car window outside her with a 'ding', crawling past quickly, like a spider dragging a long tail, but it was less than the size of a thumb, and its actual appearance could not be seen clearly at all.

She only felt that the little insect seemed to be constantly twisting and deforming, but at the same time it was climbing past the car window at a very fast speed.

Duoduo was startled, then shrank her neck back.

The next moment, more black little insects crawled past the car window, gradually becoming dense, and the sound of the rain also gradually changed from showers to heavy rain!

Swish, swish, swish!

In an instant, it seemed that only this strange sound remained outside the entire United Train. People in all carriages only felt like sandstorm gravel hitting the outside of the carriage, the sound was dense, covering all hearing.

In the cockpit of the Infinite, Lin Xian and Chen Sixuan saw the front porthole completely covered by dense black little insects, and subconsciously stood up and took a step back.

At this moment, all light seemed to be obscured, and it was pitch black in the carriage.

Sand ants passing through!

A feeling of incomparable suffocation enveloped the entire 15-kilometer-long United Train, because everyone could not see any light, and outside the carriage, the sound like heavy rain kept sweeping across the entire carriage.

On the side of the car, the roof, the bottom, in all directions, it was dense. It seemed that only this sound remained between heaven and earth.

People's heartbeats accelerated, some people grabbed the handrails and weapons, but at this moment they didn't dare to act rashly. In the completely dark environment, at this moment, everyone could only pray.

Nothing crawled into the carriage!

In the 2nd carriage, Kiki and Shasha huddled together, covering their ears. At the same time, Kiki created a small mental shield to protect the two inside, fearing that in this darkness, the flesh-tearing and bone-eating insects would suddenly crawl onto their bodies!

Lin Xian looked solemn at this time, frantically operating the Mechanical Heart to check the entire Infinite, trying to cover the metal texture of the Infinite's carriage.

But the more this was the case, the more he could clearly feel that he seemed to be surrounded by hundreds of millions of strange creatures, crawling, his whole back tingling.

This strange and suffocating situation lasted for two full hours before the sound of the torrential rain began to gradually weaken until it disappeared.

And at this time, the car window that was originally covered by sand ants became clear again, and one could see the faint starlight and the outline of the horizon on the wilderness outside.

"Hoo~"

Lin Xian let out a long breath, and the heart that was originally hanging finally let go of half. Just as he was about to press the communicator to ask about the situation of other convoys, Chen Sixuan suddenly stepped out and covered his mouth!

"Look over there!"

Chen Sixuan's surprised tone poured into Lin Xian's ears, and then Lin Xian looked in the direction Chen Sixuan pointed, and his pupils shrank immediately!

Just a few kilometers away from the United Train, above the desolate Gobi, a cloud of yellow sand and thick clouds accumulated above the sky like thick boiling soup, and from those thick clouds, several huge and strange arthropod-like feet slowly probed down from the clouds. Everyone could see that irregular and strange outline.

Those insect feet hanging down from the sky dangled in the air, sliding gently across the Gobi beach, as if moving slowly toward the depths of the no-man's-land along with the accumulated thick clouds unconsciously.

Sandstorms rolled up all around, and strong winds rolled up, blowing on the United Train and making a woo-woo whistling sound.

Many survivors who saw this scene felt their whole bodies ice up one after another. It was not just pure fear, but the insect feet hanging under the thick clouds seemed to carry some kind of strange mental shock power, carrying ultra-high concentration of dark fear, rushing toward the wilderness in all directions!

【Detected a large amount of dark fear power impact!】

In an instant, the alarm light curtain of the Heterostructure Rubik's Cube appeared in front of Lin Xian's eyes, and the car windows of the United Train began to condense thin ice mist. Lin Xian was completely helpless at this time, and could only focus and hold his breath so as not to make any movement. For a time, the hearts of everyone on the United Train seemed to be lifted up.

And as time passed minute by minute, the outline of the insect feet under the yellow sand and thick clouds gradually disappeared into the depths of the Gobi beach, and the entire ancient river beach finally returned to quiet.

Woo-woo~

The cold night wind blew, making the withered grass and tumbleweeds rustle.

Lin Xian felt his hands and feet start to warm up. He looked at Chen Sixuan, who also had a horrified look. Their eyes met, and both had a sense of distraction walking on the edge of fear.

"Fortunately, we don't have dark marks..."

Chen Sixuan's face turned pale, and she said with some lingering fear.

She had experienced many things with Lin Xian, even S-grade strange entities, but the scene just now was not only shocking, but also made her deeply realize the heavy suppression brought by the dark fear power infection.

And Lin Xian let out a heavy breath. He had already felt this feeling when he fell asleep last night. The toxicity of this dark invasion was absolutely destructive to human mental power.

This was also why on the Apocalypse Day, billions of people mutated into zombies overnight, and those of them who survived, although they gradually adapted and evolved by receiving dark energy, were still immature when facing the real darkness.

Thinking of this, Lin Xian immediately pressed the communicator:

"Each convoy, report the situation!"

"Rose Convoy, two people are on the verge of mutation, already controlled!"

"Triangle Iron Convoy, currently six people have unstable conditions, one has already mutated, fighting occurred in the 2nd carriage, already annihilated!"

"Hidden World Convoy..."

"Ocean Convoy..."

"The situation on the Dragon Mountain No. 1 side is stable, just many children and women are vomiting, currently being handled urgently." Ning Jing's voice came.

"Lin Dui, it's about the same on our side." Li Yi was busy with people in the children's carriage at this time. Many young children had pale faces and were vomiting frantically.

On Luo Yang's side, many young people in a carriage were trembling unconsciously. Li Guangwen slapped his thigh hard and gritted his teeth:

"Damn it, what the hell am I shaking for."

"Can't control it!" Another companion looked at his trembling hands and said hurriedly.

Mo Queen, Mo Nika looked at the physical sign information of all team members on the monitoring screen, her eyes condensed slightly, and then pressed the car intercom button:

"Everyone stay calm, Weike, prepare a cup of hot coffee for everyone."

"Okay, Mo Queen!" A subordinate in charge of catering responded immediately.

On the Joker convoy side, Qian Dele walked through the carriages like the wind, followed by Xiaomeng and a few capable subordinates.

He pressed the communicator: "Lin Dui, I suggest turning on the lights and heating for the whole train to drive away the evil spirits."

"Good!"

On the Infinite side, Lin Xian had the same intention. At this time, there was no other movement on the Gobi beach. He immediately notified all convoys that they could turn on the lights and heat, letting the team become active to resist that feeling of fear and suppression.

Rub, rub, rub~

In an instant, the lights of a train carriage were turned on, and the air circulation system and heating system began to operate at the same time. The entire United Train seemed to have passed through the edge of hell.

Lin Xian and Chen Sixuan also walked quickly, 2nd carriage, 3rd carriage, all the way to the living carriage behind. Because of the existence of the Heterostructure Rubik's Cube, the Infinite could be said to be in the best situation.

He checked the information of the Heterostructure Rubik's Cube and looked at the situation of the convoy members. Everyone was also a bit cold on the back and pale. Chen Sixuan hurriedly distributed the vegetable juice prepared in advance. After Miaolu wrapped in a blanket and drank the vegetable juice that didn't taste very good but exuded a clear fragrance, accompanied by the slightly warm temperature in the carriage, her trembling heart felt much more comfortable.

Looking around, others were in similar situations to her.

Xiaoyuan had just recovered from a serious illness. At this time, her slightly chubby face was still a bit pale, and she said nervously: "So strange, it's like being targeted by a ghost, I can't stop feeling creepy in my heart."

"Yes, yes, yes!" Lv Chang nodded violently: "Like a ghost pressing on the bed, at that moment, it seems that even the courage to resist is gone."

Lin Xian handed a bottle of water to Shu Qin: "How are you?"

Shu Qin shook her head: "Lin Dui, I'm fine." She said with a complex look: "At that moment just now, it reminded me of the day of the Apocalypse."

Lin Xian nodded: "Didn't expect the Gobi beach to have such a strong dark invasion. We are still not fully prepared."

Shu Qin said: "Lin Dui, this situation shouldn't be very common, otherwise the people in Akse wouldn't have stayed safely for these few days. But since we encountered it, our people should be more mentally prepared later."

"Hmm."

Lin Xian pondered. For dark invasion, human feelings were complex.

It seemed to be the source of all doomsday, but it was also the source of evolution for the current survivors. Everyone was maintaining a balance, trying their best to survive, just to not be finally swallowed by this power.

1:00 AM, the suffocating suppression had passed, and the United Train began to return to calm.

Lin Xian came to the 2nd carriage, preparing to gather the backbone and convoys to discuss the plan for Akse.

At this time, a prompt sound suddenly rang in Lin Xian's R&D center.

Only then did he remember that it should be the G3-Electromagnetic Railgun (Blueprint) he was researching and upgrading that had been successfully upgraded.

【G3-Electromagnetic Railgun (Blueprint) upgrade R&D successful.】

【Congratulations, you have obtained the Perihelion K1-Orbital Star-Quaking Cannon (Blueprint)】

"What!?"

Looking at the super-scale blueprint in the holographic vision, Lin Xian's pupils shrank, and he couldn't help but exclaim in horror.

"This thing... isn't it the main gun of the interstellar military starship???!!!"

"Can this damn thing be installed on a train?????"

(End of this chapter)