Chapter 418

Whoosh!

In the dark sea fog, the Infinite train tightened its preparations, made no unnecessary stop, and immediately departed from this desolate deepwater port after clearing the track blockage, all crew on high alert, none wanting to disturb the terrifying things beneath the water.

The Infinite's cabin blocked the port's chill; its engines roared as it surged rapidly into the ocean track, speeding through a region thick with sea fog.

Large battle marks appeared along the track segment; in the dark shadows, a completely burned-out Doomsday Train suddenly emerged, blocking the main track. Lin Xian immediately shouted: "Long Zhijie, clear the way!"

"Got it!"

Above the locomotive, Long Zhijie had already prepared—he raised his index finger to his brow, then grunted and pointed forward. A powerful force surged, directly hurling several carriages of the blocked train into the sea; the massive drag inertia began pulling the carriages ahead down into the deep ocean.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

A series of sharp metallic explosions rang out, followed by the thunderous splash of carriages plunging into the sea surface.

In the Infinite's cockpit, Lin Xian immediately pushed the train to full acceleration; its armor and icebreaker shields smashed through debris, sparks flying, blasting straight through.

At this moment, the massive roar seemed to stir the ocean; waves rose, and from behind, the entire deepwater port emitted a chilling tearing sound, as if pushed by some colossal wave.

"Something's climbed onto Taku Deepwater Port," Chen Sixuan said now.

"Ignore it!"

Lin Xian paid no attention to what was behind, driving the Infinite to accelerate wildly; the train crew now all guarded the surrounding sea fog.

"There's movement in the water."

In the cab of the final Whale 03e heavy gas turbine car, Mo Nika activated her ability to detect all anomalies in the fog, saying over the comm: "But nothing's following us."

Hearing Mo Nika's words, Lin Xian still couldn't relax, focusing entirely on piloting the Infinite.

As they surged past the vast ruins of the deepwater port, the track ahead gradually became clear and clean; after racing for over ten minutes, the turbulent sea surface calmed, the surrounding sea fog thinned, and soon light brightened—Lin Xian saw clear sky and a blue sea horizon again.

"We've come out of that fog zone."

"Narrow escape…"

"That fog looked too unnatural—I think it was definitely released by the creatures beneath the water."

"Maintain safe speed, Viola. Deploy drone patrols, keep a two-kilometer forward reconnaissance sector," Lin Xian now reduced speed slightly, handing control of the train to Viola. Dozens of high-speed patrol drones flew in chain formation along the track ahead of the Infinite, rapidly scanning the route and relaying data back through information-link nodes to Viola.

This gave the Infinite extreme long-range visibility while maintaining high speed, allowing timely responses to any track issues.

Then Lin Xian went to Car 2. Kiki was still using her powerful ability to control the metal die, her expression intensely focused; Ding Junyi had been watching nearby for a long time.

"How's it going?" Lin Xian asked.

"What do you mean, 'how's it going'?" Kiki's eyes glowed faintly as she concentrated: "I can lift it, but I can't afford the slightest lapse—control surface is too small. Even I must focus completely, or if it drops…"

"The train gets pierced," Ding Junyi said.

Sha Sha also leaned in, staring curiously at the floating metal die. "This thing really weighs a thousand tons? What does that even mean?"

"Our entire train doesn't weigh a thousand tons," Lin Xian said, watching the strange object gravely. "This thing is equivalent to compressing the entire Infinite into a one-cubic-centimeter cube."

"The key point is, an object with this mass shouldn't exist on Blue Planet," Ding Junyi said, hands in her pockets, speaking calmly to Lin Xian. "Blue Planet's natural environment cannot sustain such an extreme state of matter. This density requires neutron degeneracy pressure or black-hole-level gravity to remain stable. Without constraints, this metal would erupt with catastrophic force—its destructive power rivals a nuclear bomb."

"That powerful?"

Lin Xian frowned, looking at the metal die. It was perfectly smooth, gleaming with silver-metallic luster; a thin layer of iron filings from dust floated around its surface, otherwise spotless, hovering silently under Kiki's invisible psychic force.

"This object shows zero soul-resonance fluctuation and no characteristics of a taboo item. How can it have such properties?"

Ding Junyi shook her head: "All taboo items we've observed so far are ordinary Blue Planet objects corrupted by dark energy. This isn't one—Blue Planet couldn't naturally produce such matter."

She stepped forward, staring at the metal die.

"But the problem is, this thing is clearly man-made—not a natural object."

"So it's weird," Kiki added. "It's a die, shaped with human patterns, yet we couldn't possibly make something like this. That's bizarre."

Ding Junyi adjusted her glasses. "Based on my limited knowledge, manufacturing something like this implies technology capable of absolute control over microscopic structures—free manipulation of the strongest of the universe's four fundamental forces: the strong nuclear force. Ordinary matter relies on electromagnetic force to maintain structure. For this substance to retain its shape without extreme gravity, its atomic nuclei must be locked by the strong nuclear force, with all protons and neutrons tightly packed, zero gaps, to achieve such compression."

"So advanced? Is this a creation of the Dark Civilization?" Kiki exclaimed.

Ding Junyi shook her head: "I don't know. But we've observed in the Star Abyss that the Dark Civilization is performing 'dimensional modification' on our world, causing localized gravitational expansion effects. Having this technology isn't implausible."

At her words, Lin Xian and Kiki fell silent.

"Dr. Ding, are you saying those monsters in the dark can create technology far more advanced than humans!?" Sha Sha couldn't help asking.

Ding Junyi shrugged: "At this point, there's no other explanation."

"Oh my god, that's terrifying," Kiki frowned. "We've always thought the Star Abyss was just filled with terrifying monsters, assumed they were alien invaders. But if they have this kind of tech, do we even have any chance of winning?"

"Exactly," Sha Sha widened her eyes. "If the Dark Civilization is so advanced, why do they only send mindless beasts and weird entities to slaughter humans? Do they even have 'intelligence'?"

"No need to wonder—they definitely do."

Lin Xian exhaled deeply. "All S-class and above we've encountered so far show clear intelligence, behavioral logic—they're true dark beings. Though they look like monsters, they can withstand nuclear weapons, possess red mist and defensive force fields against kinetic weapons. These aren't ordinary biological abilities. And dark corruption has granted humans powerful abilities themselves. On some level, the Dark Civilization must control some immense energy."

Ding Junyi nodded. "Yes. We tend to interpret the Dark Civilization's logic through human thinking—that's wrong."

She looked at Lin Xian. "Remember what I told you? S-class and above are likely the true dark beings."

"Yeah," Lin Xian nodded.

"That's imprecise. S-class are individual organisms possessing human-like cognitive ability, distinctly different from the weird entities created by the hive. If the weird entities are drones powered by 'blood essence' batteries, then S-class are entities belonging to the Dark Civilization itself. But that doesn't mean S-class are the civilization's intelligent core."

Ding Junyi took a deep breath. "I boldly speculate that S-class might also be manufactured by the Dark Civilization—something like cloned soldiers or hunting dogs, capable of remotely commanding weird entities, possessing dark-energy-absorbing dark-cell structures."

Lin Xian agreed: "Yes. A civilization capable of interstellar travel and dimensional modification couldn't be mere monster invasions. These monsters and weird entities are tools to cleanse humanity. Professor Ye mentioned this too in our conversation. But we still don't know why the Dark Civilization does this—its motive, its goal. From a human logic standpoint, with such technology, humanity couldn't possibly resist for a hundred days…"