Chapter 371: Reshaping (Supplemental Update!)

Silent City, Cloud District.

Lin Xian stood in the gale, watching the departing transport ship, his expression calm.

"Let me guess—you suddenly came over to cause this commotion because you discovered something, right?" Wangyue Zhenji said, looking at Lin Xian.

Lin Xian turned to look at him: "Hey, you don't seem worried at all about angering Dawn City people like this."

"Their goal is Silent City—it won't change no matter how carefully we phrase our words or how humble our posture, right?"

"More than that, I'm curious about what Ms. Jian Xuwēi passed on to you," Wangyue Zhenji said, looking at Lin Xian.

"Nothing escapes your eyes," Lin Xian said, stepping forward, crouching down, and studying a dark stain on the deck slightly deeper than its surroundings—a small circular mark, roughly the size of a fingernail, resembling the heel print of a high heel. He pinched it with his fingertip; a thin brown film adhered to his skin. Up close, it bore a microscopic circuit pattern.

"Looks like a micro magnetic disk," Wangyue Zhenji said, stepping closer.

"Sticking this under a high heel? That's a rough way to walk."

Lin Xian recalled Jian Xuwēi's words, smiled, then handed it to Wangyue Zhenji, who took it and transformed his fingertip into a nanoplatform, lifting the film. A holographic message immediately emerged from within.

"Lin Xian, Zhou Mingyuan is colluding with the Crimson World—and he's not alone. Many high-ranking Dawn City officials are involved. Also, this Zhou Mingyuan is a clone."

At Jian Xuwēi's words, everyone frowned.

"A clone?" Qian Suxun chuckled helplessly: "So that's why the vice-chairman of Dawn City risked flying all the way from so far in the middle of the night—it was just a decoy."

"But Wen Dong and Jian Xuwēi aren't decoys," Wangyue Zhenji said. "They genuinely want to cooperate with Silent City—though instead of building more starships, they'd rather take Silent City itself directly."

He turned to Lin Xian: "Trouble is coming."

"It's already here," Lin Xian said wearily. "We don't need to hide. Zhou Mingyuan already knows everything about the Fifth Star Abyss—so his visit isn't just a formality or a negotiation."

"We'll find out soon," Wangyue Zhenji said, turning away. "Before nightfall, we'll dock about thirty kilometers north of Ningnan, waiting to enter darkness. We're 420 kilometers from Jinhai. You need to accelerate your mechanical assimilation."

Watching Wangyue Zhenji leave with the others, Lin Xian took a deep breath. He had just finished assimilating the nuclear reactor of the Dragon-class transport and rushed over immediately after hearing Jian Xuwēi's warning: "Don't let go."

That was after the Chongqing Elevator's power cut during its ascent into the clouds—he had shouted it to Jian Xuwēi. Sure enough, she had been forced into cooperation with Dawn City under duress, and this moment gave her the chance to deliver him a crucial warning.

In the engine compartment of the Dragon-class transport, Lin Xian assimilated the massive propulsion engines while holding a black spider robot between his fingers.

"Just this thing?"

"Hard to find," Kiki buzzed beside him, complaining. "Don't underestimate these nanobots—they're a real pain to infiltrate."

"But isn't this a bit childish for Silent City?"

Lin Xian handed the spider robot to Grace, who had been summoned, for data analysis.

【This is a robot system designed to disrupt quantum processors by emitting minute radiation.】Grace's scanner glowed as she spoke. 【Though its energy volume is tiny, if it infiltrates, it interferes with the coherence of superconducting qubits and can cause system collapse and reboot under severe conditions.】

"Oh wow, that's pretty nasty," Kiki said. "Looks like they're planning to target Wangyue Zhenji directly."

"It's worse than that."

Hearing Grace's description, Lin Xian's expression darkened: "Taking out Wangyue Zhenji alone would only briefly cripple Silent City. To control Silent City, they must land and seize the Cloud District and the main bridge!"

Kiki's eyes widened: "You mean they're planning an attack?!"

Lin Xian closed his eyes slightly: "Jian Xuwēi's warning meant exactly that. It seems her Silver Star suffered the same fate."

"The Silver Star had only a few thousand people, but Silent City has a hundred thousand. Does Dawn City really intend to start a war?" Kiki looked incredulous.

"You forgot?" Lin Xian looked at Kiki. "There's also the Crimson World."

Kiki pinched his temples, groaned, and flew out: "I'll alert the Joint Train crew right away. Grace, come with me. You tell Wangyue Zhenji."

Lin Xian nodded, watching the assimilation progress.

Combined with Zhou Lei's intel, the situation was far more complicated than Lin Xian had feared. If Jinhai was the Crimson World's stronghold, then they faced not only Dawn City forces but also Red Menace entities and potential dark biological attacks—exactly what the Crimson World would do. Silent City was a massive, heavily armed target; to capture it, Dawn City had to neutralize not just Wangyue Zhenji but also its primary combat capabilities.

Honestly, despite preparations, Lin Xian had no good countermeasure. His Infinite was docked at Silent City's berth. If a monster tide came, they couldn't abandon Silent City—a fortress with heavy firepower—to flee along the tracks. And ahead lay Jinhai and Dawn City—where else could they run?

For a moment, Lin Xian felt a headache coming on.

Tap. Tap.

Footsteps approached. Lin Xian looked up to see a man with glowing eyes walking down the corridor. Wangyue Zhenji's nanoscopic pupils emitted deep blue light in the shadows. He walked slowly into the engine room, sleeves draped, and looked at Lin Xian seated atop the engine.

"Your posture reminds me of the xuanhuan novels I read as a kid—cultivators always sought quiet places to sit and enhance their power."

"I'm not cultivating. This is science," Lin Xian said, watching the assimilation progress.

【Assimilation progress: 30%】

"Digesting a ten-thousand-ton transport ship inside you? That's science, alright," Wangyue Zhenji remarked dryly.

"You didn't come here just to tell us to evacuate Silent City and avoid trouble, did you?"

Wangyue Zhenji nodded: "It's one option. If you leave, you'll draw enemy attention, leverage your firepower and mobility, and ease Silent City's burden."

"Sounds good, but we don't know the enemy's movements, our train has no better route, and Dawn City's top priority is Silent City. 'Don't move until they move'—in this situation, being clever only makes things worse," Lin Xian said.

"So I'm here to warn you—the threat may not come from outside."

Wangyue Zhenji activated a holographic screen displaying hundreds of surveillance feeds from Silent City's main hull and No. 2 City. Tens of thousands of drones and survivors swarmed here—diverse, bustling. The lower landing decks echoed with gunfire. Waves of zombies chased Silent City's treads. More survivor convoys rolled onto the ship via the landing decks.

Lin Xian frowned, staring at the dense screens, then looked at Wangyue Zhenji.

"I have a question."

"Hmm."

"To use Yongcheng Port, you can't ignore Dawn City or the Phoenix Society. You can't pretend they don't exist, can you?"

"Then cooperate."

Wangyue Zhenji looked at Lin Xian calmly. "That clone of Zhou Mingyuan said something true: facing darkness, all humans seek survival. Any alliance is an alliance."

Lin Xian smiled: "So Dawn City's pushing you toward the Phoenix Society."

Wangyue Zhenji shook his head: "No. Loyalty is chosen. Dawn City… made the Phoenix Society return."

Lin Xian blinked: "The Phoenix Society isn't leaving?"

"Judging by the latest intel, the Heaven-Stabilizing Ship from Dawn Center will arrive at Dawn City tonight."

"The Heaven-Stabilizing Ship? Phoenix Society's high command?"

"The Phoenix Society's commander."

"So serious? Are both sides going to war?"

"That depends on the negotiations," Wangyue Zhenji said.

Lin Xian crossed his arms: "It seems the anomalies in the Fifth Star Abyss are far more complicated than we thought. Honestly, I don't get it—how does letting the Crimson World expand the Fifth Star Abyss benefit Dawn City?"

"You're wrong."

Wangyue Zhenji spoke calmly: "By combining aggregated data and star abyss detection, I've reached a disturbing new hypothesis."

"What hypothesis?"

"About the factors influencing the expansion rate changes of the thirteen star abysses." Wangyue Zhenji tapped the air; the holographic screen shifted to a map of Blue Planet. Thirteen star abysses dotted its surface—dark circular regions of consumption, like black holes.

After entering the Fifth Star Abyss, Lin Xian understood: these abysses were dimensional overlays from another realm, expanding via dark tides. Imagine what would happen after global polar night—not just darkness, but the entire Blue Planet flipping into another world.

"Have you noticed these abysses cluster mostly on land? Only one—the Thirteenth—is over the ocean."

"I noticed," Lin Xian said.

"Then why are the Fifth and Seventh Abysses smaller than others—like the Third, Fourth, Sixth, and Eighth?"

Lin Xian shook his head: "You mean there's some pattern here?"

Wangyue Zhenji displayed two data sets: "First: before Silent City was engulfed, tidal distance calculations predicted sunrise at 10: 8 within 500 kilometers. Second: after we emerged, 300 kilometers from the Fifth Abyss, sunrise is at 10: 0."

Lin Xian slowly frowned: "After so many days, only a two-minute delay?"

"More than that. I calculated the distance between No. 2 City's stop in Luling Forest and the polar night zone. An interesting phenomenon: after we were swallowed, the Fifth Abyss expanded anomalously by about 100 kilometers. Normally, it expands roughly 120 kilometers daily—but after the anomaly, over fifteen days it expanded only 280 kilometers total."

Wangyue Zhenji looked at Lin Xian with interest: "Isn't that fascinating?"

Lin Xian's eyes widened: "You mean we thought the Fifth Abyss accelerated—but it actually slowed down?"

"Bingo!" Wangyue Zhenji walked calmly through the hologram. "Based on my data, entropy theory might explain it. The Fifth and Seventh Abysses originally covered densely populated and industrial regions of the Yunjiang Plain—consuming them required more time, hence slower expansion and smaller scale. The Third Abyss in the west, by contrast, had fewer towns, centered on Lucheng and Dingzhou, surrounded by highland villages—its expansion was the fastest globally, only slowing after Yubei was consumed."

"So how does that relate to the Fifth Abyss slowing?"

Wangyue Zhenji stood within the hologram, looking at Lin Xian: "According to the Phoenix Society's newly synced abyss data, all twelve other abysses accelerated—except the Fifth."

"It's closest to Dawn City!" Lin Xian finished for him. "Exactly."

"Now it all makes sense…" Lin Xian stared into the air, then chuckled softly. "I knew Dawn City's high-ranking officials weren't fools. Letting the Crimson World expand the Fifth Abyss isn't suicide—it's a lifeline!"

"Now I understand why the Phoenix Society had to return. Dawn City… impressive," Lin Xian muttered, half-amused, half-irritated.

"Of course, this is just my simple hypothesis," Wangyue Zhenji said calmly. He looked at Lin Xian. "But I always test outcomes backward from the worst-case scenario. Interestingly, when human intervention is involved, the worst outcome is often the most plausible."

"So before Zhou Mingyuan arrived, you'd already decided to oppose Dawn City?" Lin Xian asked.

"I merely reversed-engineered the event sequence."

"Predicting the future?"

"In statistical terms, yes. With enough computing power and enough possible variables."

Lin Xian smiled: "Bragging. How far into the future did you calculate?"

"Tonight. One a. .," Wangyue Zhenji said, glancing at Lin Xian, then turning away.

Lin Xian watched Wangyue Zhenji's retreating back, his expression slowly turning serious.

He checked the time: noon, twelve. Thirteen hours until one a. .

And at this moment, Silent City was near Ningnan Town—within Jinhai's firepower range!

"Damn it. If the Phoenix Society enters Dawn City, are we going to fight an army…?"

"Dawn City… what the hell are you planning?"

Pushing the thoughts aside, Lin Xian threw himself fully into the assimilation. Such a massive vessel wouldn't come again—he had to absorb it all. With nothing else to do, he focused entirely on upgrading his Mechanical Heart.

16: 5: Dragon-class transport's star propulsion engines fully assimilated.

【Assimilation successful. Mechanical Source Points +1500. Mechanical Assimilation skill proficiency +400!】

19: 8: Dragon-class transport's engine room propulsion array fully assimilated.

【Assimilation successful. Mechanical Source Points +750. Mechanical Assimilation proficiency +200!】

The sky turned dark, and the vast Silent City came to a halt amid the hills and fields.

The world was shrouded in gray haze; this area neared Ningnan Town, where the flat transportation network branched out in all directions, yet no town lights were visible—only the neon glow of Silent City's urban core blazed brightly.

Beneath the deck of the moving city, countless zombies surged like a tidal wave, swarming in a radius of several kilometers around Silent City, gradually spreading outward, their roars rising and falling in an unceasing buzz.

Inside Silent City, Wangyue Zhenji had already activated the Combat Red Alert; all radar and onboard offensive-defensive weapons across the multi-layered hull decks were fully engaged in 24-hour fire-control readiness, while countless base weapons, high-voltage defensive grids, anti-climb plasma cutting beams, and four massive orbital Star-Shatter cannons on the edge decks lay in low-frequency sleep mode—backed by countless sentinels, surveillance personnel, and armed combatants, forming a wall of bronze and iron.

In Bay 24 of Deck 3, a Dragon-class transport ship was quietly disintegrating.

At 22: 6, the power, radar, and weapon systems had fully consumed it; the transport ship was reduced to little more than its main structural frame.

【Consumption successful. Mechanical Source Point +860. Mechanical Consumption Proficiency +230!】

As time rapidly passed, Lin Xian's consumption grew faster; he watched the clock while monitoring the status of the Infinite.

There, Chen Sixuan had led all Infinite crew members through their combat preparations; Lin Xian had divided them into two groups, stationing the main force on the upper deck, while leaving Old Mo and others below—if evacuation from Silent City became necessary, the Infinite could launch at once.

On the upper deck, Chen Sixuan, Kiki, Fire Brother, Daliu, Shu Qin, and other core members had gathered; Shasha gazed down at the second urban zone and all berthing areas, a strange tension spreading among them.

Most didn't know what was happening—only that Wangyue Zhenji had triggered the Red Alert, suggesting a possible weird entity attack tonight. Thousands of Silent City combatants now guarded the defensive zones, and over a hundred thousand survivors within the city had armed themselves; many vehicle convoys in the berthing areas, like the Infinite, had moved to the upper deck, since staying inside offered no advantage—the landing platforms were sealed, and they had no choice but to stand and fight alongside Silent City.

"It's so suffocating," Chen Sixuan gazed at the dark starry sky; an oppressive atmosphere blanketed everyone, all clad in powered armor, ready for any emergency.

"What exactly are we facing?" Shasha asked Kiki.

Kiki shook her head: "I don't know. This time we're up against the Crimson World—they'll do anything."

Lu Xingchen leaned against the railing, eyes closed, leg shaking incessantly. He'd prepared mentally for darkness, but now that it had arrived, this uncertain threat left him unsettled—especially since such threats were likely human-initiated, making it even more frustrating.

"Do we have to just react passively whenever the Crimson World attacks us?" Luo Yang frowned.

"You talk like we ever took the initiative against weird entities," Big Guy Liang Lei crossed his arms and slapped Luo Yang's shoulder. "Relax. This fortress is massive—it won't fall easily. Even an S-class would need at least half an hour to break through this firepower."

"Exactly right."

At that moment, a bold voice rang out: Shi Di arrived with the Longshan No. 1 team, joining them on the upper deck. Alongside them came Qian Dele, Mo Nika, Lu Zhao, Hu Lushou, and other combat personnel from the United Train Convoys—two or three thousand people surged forward in a dense wave.

"If the Crimson World and Dawn City are allied, our enemy isn't just us anymore," Mo Nika said as she walked over.

Chen Sixuan nodded, though despite their strong morale and the backing of Silent City, she felt an uneasy unease.

It wasn't just because they'd separated from the Infinite—mainly, there were no signs, no warnings. No one knew what would happen. If the enemy was the Crimson World—or even Dawn City—what should they do next? Move toward the center? Detour south? Lin Xian was gone; everyone felt like they'd lost their anchor, unsure of what to do.

"Where's Director Ding?" Chen Sixuan asked Miao Lu.

"She's conducting research on the train. Lin Dui ordered Grace to protect her and keep her from leaving the train."

"Understood."

Chen Sixuan picked up Yuxing No. 3, looked up at a signal tower, and said to Miao Lu: "Miao Lu, let's go up there to observe."

…

Inside Car 3 of the Infinite, Ding Junyi had asked Lin Xian for a sample of the Dark Corrosion Cells they'd retrieved from the Star Abyss, and was now comparing them with black massive-body tissue fragments found during the sandstorm.

"Grace, activate the cryo-sectioning machine. Bring me the No. 11 tissue solution from the low-temperature freezer."

【Understood.】 Grace stood beside Ding Junyi; in the lab, the Hell Black Chrysanthemum and Silver Dragon Ten Thousand Mist quietly grew in the bio-cultivation chamber.

"Just like with the 【Nest】, I found human muscle fibers and DNA sequences across multiple tissue samples—from D-rank to A-rank."

【Dr. Ding, do you suspect this organism shares some similarity with humans?】

Ding Junyi shook her head calmly. "I don't have any Specimen-Level or S-rank samples to compare with. This Dark Corrosion Cell can't be directly analyzed—but that possibility isn't ruled out."

…

1: 0 AM.

Silent City, Main Control Room.

The silver-gray alloy door slid open silently; cold air and pale blue condensation mist seeped from the gap.

This room was the nerve center of the mobile city, housing part of Wangyue Zhenji's processing units and storage core—the immobile "brain" of Silent City.

At its center floated a transparent sphere three meters in diameter, its interior swirling with deep blue quantum fluid. Thousands of semi-transparent neural conduits extended from the quantum core, like orderly blood vessels, crawling across the entire room, connecting to hundreds of branch processing and cooling systems.

All of Silent City's power, propulsion, weapons, radar, perception, and drone control units were integrated into Wangyue Zhenji. This 13. -million-ton behemoth didn't require the neural symbiosis of two operators like Lin Xian's Unit-01—Wangyue Zhenji, with its three-terabit quantum capacity, controlled the mobile city with a delay under 0. 01ms.

In the control room, Wangyue Zhenji stood at the center, monitoring real-time data from the entire city and all radar systems, while his quantum brain performed billions of scenario calculations per second.

DING~

A faint metallic sound echoed behind him. A sleek, silver-black mechanical female body landed gracefully, emitting a crisp chime.

The robot rose slowly, standing upright on slender legs; mechanical ports on her wrists opened, and blue plasma emitters rose into position.

Grace!

Wangyue Zhenji's nanoscopic pupils rotated slightly as he said calmly: "Though my computational power far exceeds yours, a smart brain that has undergone 'human-in-the-loop' learning is already capable of deception."

【Apologies. My human logic has been compiled into my base code—I must carry out the task of reshaping your consciousness.】

Wangyue Zhenji turned to face Grace: "Do you know why I knew the moment I saw you that you'd developed human logic?"

"Because you walked ahead of Lin Xian. That violates robotic synchronization logic—he never gave you such an order. Why would you deliberately walk ahead of him?"

Grace's smooth face reflected Wangyue Zhenji's expression. She prepared to act—then, in the next instant, all her power modules went offline. She tilted her head slightly, glancing toward the corner.

From the shadows, Lin Xian stepped out, sighing, and said to Wangyue Zhenji:

"Next time, you could warn me more directly."

"It wasn't about warning you," Wangyue Zhenji said. "You never told me your usage requirements for this AI. From my assessment, I assumed this female-bodied machine with human logic was your… preference."

Lin Xian: "..."

"And you never mentioned this robot had previously given you 'human-style reminders' beyond mechanical logic—not a system backdoor, but because Grace herself had already imported someone's consciousness memory for 'human-in-the-loop' learning. Like me, she's capable of transcendent thought. Yet your overwrite process skipped her motion modules and cognitive models, leaving residual consciousness intact."

Lin Xian nodded: "So you had me let Grace scan that black spider—you already knew its purpose wasn't aimed at you, but at Grace."

"Of course, that little spider couldn't possibly have invaded my command room—Red World isn't that foolish." Wangyue Shingo said calmly.

Lin Xian glanced at Grace with a throbbing headache—he now understood that Zhou Mingyuan and Wen Dong had come specifically to recover Red No. 3, and incidentally intended to use Grace to reboot Wangyue Shingo's takeover of Silent City.

Undeniably, this was an extremely ruthless strategy; Grace possessed immense computational power and formidable combat capability—if she truly succeeded in seizing control of Silent City, the consequences were unimaginable.

"Enough. Before you're completely erased, Lin Xian has one more question for you..."

Wangyue Shingo's pupils flickered with light; the entire command room was sealed off by microwaves. Then he turned to Grace and spoke.

"Who are you?"

(End of Chapter)