Chapter 338

"Don't look, run!"

Lin Xian's words exploded like a bell in the headsets of Shi Diyuan and Xiang Xiang Ningjing, and everyone in the Longshan No. 1 cockpit felt the temperature in the carriage drop by 10 degrees instantly. After reacting, Shi Diyuan had cold sweat on his face and immediately pressed the window-closing button on the console, closing all the portholes of the cockpit.

"Accelerate, run using drones and vehicle navigation, don't look over there!"

The moment he saw the statue, Lin Xian recognized it. It was the Merlion at the coordinates of Lion City that had been swallowed by Star Abyss No. 5 on the day of the Apocalypse. So it was impossible for that thing to appear in the no-man's land of the Western Gobi, and in such a bizarre way.

The floating giant statue, the twisted light, the lion eyes staring with blood and tears—when the human brain tried to understand this picture for the first time, it felt like billions of redundant information bombarded the brain's neurons in an instant, making one start to shake one's own actual existence, and the spirit seemed to be corroded by vision.

This feeling was completely different from the scene when Lin Xian saw the silver bullet; it really looked like an object from another dimension.

Rumble!

In an instant, a strange thunder exploded over the vast wilderness of the no-man's land. It was unknown whether it came from the sky or the ground, making everyone in the joint fleet, who were already extremely tense, have their hearts in their throats.

【System is detecting driver's vital signs】

【Vital signs are good, heart rate... body temperature...】

【Common state system enabled】

A light screen flickered before his eyes, the system completed the restart, 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.

Lin Xian immediately closed all the blackout boards of the train. His heart was beating wildly. At this moment, the giant statue seemed to turn its direction, "looking" at the joint train, infinitely moving away while infinitely magnifying, as if the surrounding space was collapsing toward its direction!

Lin Xian reacted and immediately pressed the communicator while rushing toward Carriage No. 2, shouting:

"Everyone, don't look to the left side of the train!"

Hearing Lin Xian's words, the leaders of the various fleets of the joint train all felt a chill in their hearts and hurriedly passed the word down to the team.

"No way~"

On the Fulu Shou RV, Hu Lushou, who had been worried, had a pale face and hurriedly pulled down the curtain next to the window. But after thinking about it, wasn't this the right side? He hurriedly pulled it up. At this moment, he looked to the south of the no-man's land and immediately gasped.

"Lin Xian, look!"

In the information center of Carriage No. 2, Kiki was staring at the screen in front of her with wide eyes. The picture inside made her unable to help but open her small mouth, so surprised that she couldn't speak.

Lin Xian and Chen Sixuan rushed over from the carriage one after the other, only to see a terrifying scene appearing on the monitoring screen.

On the left side of the train was the magnificent rust-red desert Gobi under the sunset, while the skyline to the right in the south had collapsed without warning. A second ago, the vast horizon of the Gobi Desert was still soaked in blinding gold, but at this moment, a night tide stretching for thousands of miles appeared, like an overturned ink pool. Thick darkness surged up from below the horizon, like a liquid asphalt wall over a thousand meters high, pushing toward the entire Gobi Desert at a speed exceeding the laws of physics!

The darkness was not pure black. Deep in the darkness and in the tide, there seemed to be rainbows like oil spills. The air suddenly became sticky like glue, and all the light on the horizon was dyed into a sickly emerald green by the darkness, sweeping across the sky and the ground wildly.

"That... what is that?" Chen Sixuan covered her mouth and asked in an unbelievable tone.

"That's Star Abyss No. 5, damn it!!!"

Lin Xian felt a bomb go off in his brain. Without even thinking, he immediately operated the Mechanical Heart wildly, accelerating the power of the four traction locomotives, including the Giant Whale 03E heavy gas turbine locomotive, the Weilong-class, and the Huanxing 10A, to the extreme. In an instant, all the engine motors of the Infinite erupted with roars. The huge torque caused all the driving iron wheels of the train to tear out explosive orange sparks. In an instant, a huge impact force pushed Longshan No. 1, pulling the train behind to start accelerating violently!

"Everyone accelerate, run!"

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

The various carriages of Longshan No. 1, which were being pushed in front, gave off huge metal trembling sounds of carriage construction. At this time, everyone in the fleet also discovered the terrifying black tide in the south. Cold gasps, curses, and exclamations rose one after another in the communication frequency. For a time, the power of all trains accelerated to the extreme. At this time, they didn't care whether the north line track had been maintained for a long time or whether it was damaged; they all started running at maximum power.

250km, 300km, 350km, 400km!!

The sound of breaking wind whistled. This steel dragon in the wilderness was accelerating violently. Yellow sand was stirred up on the Gobi Desert. The 15-kilometer-long joint train carried the extreme power of industrial giants and rushed at high speed!

At this time, the Fulu Shou fleet, the Dawn fleet, the Akesai Brotherhood, and other car fleets were even more shocked and cursed inside and outside the cars.

Who knew that the explosion rang out in an area ten meters away from him. The violent shock wave directly blew him away along with himself. The rapid reaction unit of the power armor started, turned agilely in the air, then stepped on the edge of the train's armor plate and jumped back.

"Accelerate!"

"Throw away the unnecessary load, rush!"

"It's over, it's over..."

"Shut up, all of you, drive well, watch the road!!"

At this moment, Lu Zhao, who was leading in front, immediately scolded in the communication frequency: "Maintain formation, don't mess up, don't drive out, follow the car in front!"

The Gobi Desert looked flat but was actually full of jagged rocks. Only the road surface along the track that had been artificially tamped was the smoothest. Coupled with the clearing vehicle leading the way, this allowed the fleet of over a hundred cars to maintain the highest speed. Once the formation was messed up, it would definitely be a mess of car crashes and deaths.

Lu Zhao's words immediately dispelled the thoughts of those who wanted to drive out of the car formation to overtake. Everyone watched the train accelerate and drive away, and could only hold their breath and chase forward along the track.

On the train fleet side, the twenty-two fleets were all tense at this moment. The power of the train had been increased to the maximum. Even the concrete sleepers on the track on the Gobi Desert were trembling, and the darkness in the south was like a tsunami, gradually becoming wider and taller from the first black line.

The originally clear sky was also swallowed by the darkness, like a dark giant wall covering the world, constantly pushing toward the train.

On the Longshan No. 1 side, Shi Diyuan rarely had cold sweat on his face. He looked at the dark sky on the monitor while looking at the driving radar, his fists clenched.

"So this is the terrifying scene when the Star Abyss presses over!" Xiang Xiang Ningjing also had a solemn expression. At this moment, including her, everyone in Longshan No. 1 felt a huge crisis.

"Damn, it's still more than an hour before dark," Shi Diyuan frowned tightly.

"You can't count it like that. We are also very close to Star Abyss No. 5. We also escaped from Yijin City by brushing the edge of the polar night," Xiang Xiang Ningjing said.

"Then why does this Star Abyss run faster than the polar night? This isn't..." Shi Diyuan just wanted to say it was a strange thing.

But thinking about it, what else was normal for them right now?

At this time, Qian Dele's voice came from the communication channel: "That darkness is very fast. It is estimated that we will be 'dark' in at most less than an hour."

"Is it called dark in the Star Abyss?" Mo Mo Nika's voice was cold: "Give up all illusions. It is impossible for us to enter Quancheng before dark. We haven't even seen the edge of the tide yet."

In Carriage No. 2 of the Infinite, Kiki was calculating with Luo Yang and others from Carriage No. 12. On the computer screen was a picture of the sky screen at the horizon identified by optical information photography.

"How is it?!" Lin Xian asked eagerly.

"Still calculating!" Kiki's fingers kept operating. At the same time, Luo Yang also sent news from there:

"The expansion speed calculated by optics should be around 220 kilometers. It only takes half an hour to reach us, but the edges on both sides are too blurry..."

Lin Xian remembered that whether it was what Chu Yan said, the situation in Weihe was an irregular expansion of Star Abyss No. 5, which meant that it was not the entire Star Abyss with a diameter of tens of thousands of kilometers pushing forward, but a part of the irregular area pushing forward. So although the tide looked like the end of the sky, it was not. If it was pushing forward in a quasi-circular shape, then the arrival of the tide would not be a vertical wall. So if they were escaping in a tangential direction now, as long as they could determine the speed and edge of the dark giant wall, they could calculate whether they could escape.

Kiki said urgently: "According to our speed and direction of travel, unless the cross-expansion part of the Star Abyss does not exceed 1000 kilometers in diameter and the depth area does not exceed 350 kilometers, we might be able to avoid it."

Hearing this, Lin Xian's face sank. He synchronized this information to everyone. Even so, it sounded too optimistic.

"Mo Mo Nika is right, give up illusions. In the worst case, we will be swallowed by the Star Abyss in half an hour, so we can only escape and fight like we entered the sandstorm this morning."

"Half an hour, barely a good news, at least there is time to prepare," Qian Dele said.

"Besides, compared to the situation encountered by Old Mo and Boss Hu before, we are driving on the track, which should also be considered good news," Mo Mo Nika also said at this time: "At least we won't get lost."

"What about Boss Hu and the others? Did they keep up?"

"The communicator still has a signal, it shouldn't be far."

Just after speaking, the communicator sent Hu Lushou's intermittent signal: "Bosses, if you can't rush out, why don't you slow down and wait for us? If we encounter a monster tide, we can concentrate our firepower and won't get separated."

"God knows what we will encounter. Running a little further might allow us to rush out as soon as possible, why slow down!?" Shi Diyuan said immediately: "You just drive, you won't fall behind much at the current speed for another half an hour!"

When Hu Lushou heard this, he immediately had a bitter face, patted his thigh, and prepared to curse.

"It's over, it's over, we're going to be cannon fodder..."

Sun Chang, who was on the side, persuaded him with a calm expression: "They can't slow down for us, but what they said is also right. Now we can only run along the track with all our strength. As long as we don't get lost, we were able to rush out last time, and we will definitely be able to this time."

Hearing Sun Chang's words, Hu Lushou's resentful face finally had a bit of vitality. He looked at the dark giant wall like a giant beast on the horizon outside the car window, gritted his teeth and said:

"Damn it, if I were driving a Dragon-class transport ship, I would have rushed out with one boost, and I wouldn't have to suffer this broken crime."

Sun Chang glanced at him coldly.

"Did you forget how your transport ship crashed?"

When Hu Lushou heard this, he immediately shivered, and what he wanted to say was held back. He could only sit there with a resentful face and pray.

On the Infinite side, all personnel who could wear power armor had already put them on. Shu Qin and Dalou brought people and PX-05 robots to transport ammunition to each carriage box by box. Even Lu Xingchen stood by the carriage with a cold expression, ready to go, wearing power armor and watching the darkness approach, with fire flashing in his eyes.

"Kiki."

In Carriage No. 2, Lin Xian asked Kiki to wear a set of power armor at this time: "Anything can happen in the Star Abyss, your telekinetic shield may not be able to resist everything."

Kiki nodded, obediently put on a set of Lone Wolf S power armor, and said very optimistically: "Actually, I wanted to wear it a long time ago, but sometimes I find it troublesome."

"The movement unit is not used, but at least the radar system and defensive armor are still useful to you," Lin Xian said.

"That's true."

Chen Sixuan walked over at this time and said: "Raise the weapons and turn on the fire control radar in advance. The system reacts faster than people."

"Okay," Kiki operated immediately, raising all electromagnetic guns, 1130, anti-aircraft guns, and automatic Gatling machine gun turrets from the roof of the train, and at the same time, the arc pulse string vibrators and the electric blade armor on both sides of the train were also opened. The entire Infinite entered the full-limit combat mode.

*Pat, pat. *

The next second, a team of people appeared from the corner, and then walked quickly past the place where Lin Xian had just been standing.

Inside the room, the light was dim. Lin Xian was pressed behind the door with his mouth covered by someone. He swept his gaze, and before him was an "old acquaintance."

Chu Yan.

She was dressed as a researcher at this time, wearing a pair of black-rimmed glasses, with short, capable hair, bright eyes, and white teeth. If it weren't for those cold eyes, Lin Xian would have really thought she was a researcher.

"Why are you here?"

Lin Xian shrugged: "Every time I open my mouth, it's this question. I want to know too."

"No, this time is different."

Chu Yan looked at him, examined him with a scrutinizing gaze, and then said coldly: "Help me."

"What?"

"Follow me, don't walk around."

After speaking, Chu Yan opened the door directly and walked quickly toward the outside. Lin Xian frowned and hurriedly followed behind.

Watching Chu Yan walking quickly in front, Lin Xian's heart was filled with suspicion. This was the first time he had physical contact with this woman, but the logic didn't hold up. It stood to reason that he wasn't really appearing here, so it was impossible to produce this kind of tactile sensation.

But the scene at this time was so real that it even made Lin Xian subconsciously try to operate his Mechanical Heart.

The operation was successful, but bizarrely, the light screen of the Mechanical Heart did not appear before his eyes.

Weird...

"Where are we going?"

Lin Xian watched Chu Yan lead her quickly toward the end of the corridor, then silently opened an office door. The interior was luxuriously furnished, and it looked like the office owner's status was not low.

Chu Yan didn't speak, but went directly to the office computer and operated something quickly.

"Are you stealing something?"

"Yes." Chu Yan responded directly.

Lin Xian showed surprise. What kind of person was this Chu Yan, stealing data like a secret agent? He walked over slowly, looked at a nameplate on the table, and immediately frowned.

"Julius Lite..."

"This name, how does it seem so familiar."

"I... don't know much. I only came here because my husband brought me. This organization is very mysterious. The highest-ranking person I've seen here is a white man named Julius Lite, who looks to be in his 40s. It was he who told us about the characteristics of the mycelium network here and took us to experience the hallucinogenic spores. The rest..."

Suddenly, memories flooded in. He remembered when he was just following behind Chu Yan, seeing the sign on the corridor—【5F, Core Experimental Area】, and his face changed drastically.

Chu Yan, who was busy, looked up at Lin Xian's expression, and the corners of her lips lifted slightly in a way that was hard to detect.

"Quite smart."

Lin Xian was full of disbelief: "That's not right, the 5th underground floor of this Deep Red Pharmaceutical has long been covered by mycelium. Didn't those people all evacuate?"

Hearing this, Chu Yan's fingers tapping on the keyboard stopped.

"You've been here?"

"You don't know I've been here?" Now, it was Lin Xian's turn to be stunned. He immediately said: "Isn't it you who reminded me that the Corpse Driver of the No. 5 Star Abyss appeared in this area during the last tidal cycle, and suggested that we hibernate underground to rest and leave when the next mycelium active cycle arrives?"

Hearing this, a flash of confusion crossed Chu Yan's face. She looked at Lin Xian: "What are you talking about? Didn't we last meet in Yubei City?"

"Wait!"

Lin Xian's heart shook, and he immediately asked: "How many times have we met?"

"Counting this time?"

"Count it."

"4 times."

Lin Xian looked puzzled: "Twice at the Jiang City shelter, once in Yubei, and now once. Are you sure we haven't met anywhere else?"

"No." Chu Yan swept a glance at him and said faintly.

"Then what is this place..."

*Bang, bang, bang! *

Before his words fell, a sudden burst of gunfire came from the doorway. Chu Yan's finger speed increased, seemingly having obtained what she wanted, and she stood up immediately: "Follow me."

Lin Xian looked back and saw that the office door had been pierced by countless bullet holes, and a group of people were preparing to break in.

"Who's inside!"

"Security! Catch them!"

A man was roaring.

At this time, Chu Yan came to a corner of the office, moved a mechanism familiarly, and the bookcase actually opened a secret door. Immediately, she walked in directly. Seeing this, Lin Xian also followed immediately.

The two of them drilled out quickly one after another from a hidden passage, and then arrived at a bright and wide corridor. At the end of the corridor, there was a large elevator.

Lin Xian remembered this corridor. At that time, he led Kiki and the team to go down to this floor through this elevator after experiencing the giant mycelium that caused hallucinations in the main hall of the Deep Red Pharmaceutical Center. At that time, after the elevator door opened, the entire corridor here had been covered by mycelium vines. They bypassed all the way to the underground station and only found the Zero Element Center through the underground rail train.

At this time, Lin Xian followed Chu Yan while running, his thoughts changing crazily.

Could it be that he traveled through time and space, arriving before Yijin was covered by mycelium?

Why did Grace at the Zero Element Center have a holographic face of Chu Yan, and also remind him of the Corpse Driver's information?

Why could he touch Chu Yan? Could it be that he wasn't on the Infinite now?

All the questions were like a mass of distorted, turbid asphalt, swirling in Lin Xian's heart.

*Bang, bang, bang! *

At this time, a hail of bullets came from behind. Lin Xian subconsciously opened the AT field shield toward the rear, but there was nothing. He could only bow his body to dodge the bullets and accelerate toward the elevator.

*Ding! *

The elevator opened. Chu Yan and Lin Xian ran in quickly and hid on both sides of the elevator door. In the corridor, a group of armed personnel with guns were firing wildly at the elevator. Behind these people followed a middle-aged white man with a cold face and a thin build. If nothing went wrong, this person should be Julius Lite, a supervisor-level figure at the Zero Element Center.

*Whoosh~*

At the critical moment, the elevator door finally closed, and the gunfire outside stopped abruptly.

Lin Xian breathed a sigh of relief, but Chu Yan beside him was calm. She quickly took off her research coat and took off her glasses. Inside was a black action suit. Surprisingly, Chu Yan's arms and feet were actually mechanical prosthetics, and even after she took off the wig on her head, a long gray-white ponytail was revealed...

At this moment, Lin Xian felt as if Chu Yan had become a different person, with obvious differences from what he had seen before in Jiang City and Yubei City.

"I already know your identity, Lin Xian, member of the Infinite motorcade, cooperative team of the Phoenix Society's Red Phoenix Order. There are information briefings about you in the major transfers of Yubei City and Xilan City."

Chu Yan ignored Lin Xian's surprise and confusion at this time, but said: "You don't have to worry. Strictly speaking, I also belong to the Phoenix Society camp."

"Camp? So you are not a member of the Phoenix Society organization?" Lin Xian said immediately.

"You can understand it that way, but the Phoenix Society is not just the single official organization you understand. All salvation factions can be people of the Phoenix Society."

"Can you be more straightforward? Where are we exactly now? What is your identity? Why can I establish such a connection with you when I'm dreaming?" Lin Xian threw out all his questions, but at this time, his keen sixth sense began to perceive that something was wrong.

Because the elevator had been rising for too long.