Chapter 426: Search

Inside the bedroom of Carriage No. 1 of the Infinite, Lin Xian was observing the mysterious container in the dark. Eerie sounds continued outside the window. It was only 2 AM, and it was pitch black.

As before, if this thing wasn't placed in a lead box, it would emit a power that suppressed ability functions, making people feel like they couldn't exert much strength. However, fortunately, it was in a relatively safe environment, and Lin Xian now had the Black Star Forge for storage, so it was much more convenient for him to operate.

"What did you find?" Chen Sixuan stood to the side holding a cold-light lamp, frowning. That power also made her feel uncomfortable.

Lin Xian shook his head. "Nothing. At first, I found that this thing seemed to produce some kind of resonance with my Mechanical Heart, so I brought it along. After the escape through the snowfield at Hengshan Pass, I forgot about this thing, and I don't know what's inside..."

"And this time, it actually displayed my name." He sighed and looked at this strange container with a solemn expression.

"Hello, Lin Xian." Chen Sixuan's gaze shifted. "This sounds like it's talking to you."

"I have that feeling too," Lin Xian said.

"But this is very strange. This thing... logically speaking, shouldn't have any information transmitted into it."

The Black Star Forge was a special space for Lin Xian's mechanical ability. Except for his own consciousness, it was impossible for any external information to be transmitted in, so he naturally ruled out the possibility of someone remotely sending this information. And Lin Xian seemed to have only one guess left at this moment: that this container possessed some kind of intelligence or self-awareness. Otherwise, it was hard for him to understand how a password matrix screen could talk to him.

Lin Xian triggered the matrix password light screen above and thought for a while. This time, he entered 0 to 9. Because it was an 11-digit password, he added a 0 at the end.

【Password Incorrect】

【Time limit for reopening: 23:59:59】

Unsurprisingly, the password was incorrect.

This made Lin Xian extremely puzzled and even more curious about this mysterious container. He urgently wanted to open it to see what was inside, so he called for Viola.

"Viola, can you crack this matrix password?"

Viola stretched out her hand, her knuckles rotated and extended several filaments, connecting them to the password device, and then said,

【This device uses a superlattice password based on the Physical Unclonable Function (PUF). The principle is generated based on the physical characteristics of semiconductor superlattice materials. Password verification relies on the true randomness of hardware signals. Each verification requires matching the real-time response of the physical device. Only one correct input is allowed. Incorrect attempts will cause the signal to fail. Furthermore, this device has a self-destruct mechanism. If brute-force cracking is detected, the physical device will automatically trigger irreversible circuit fusing or signal distortion, permanently destroying the password generation capability.】

Viola turned to Lin Xian: 【Based on the analysis, it cannot be cracked by brute-force algorithms. And according to the prompt, forcibly destroying the physical structure will cause its suspension conducting liquid to leak. Currently, I cannot know the basic properties of this liquid and can only infer that it possesses a certain degree of danger. Do you confirm whether to dismantle it?】

Lin Xian took a deep breath upon hearing this and looked at the mysterious container in front of him, feeling an unbearable itch. His mechanical ability could devour this device, but he didn't know what consequences the leakage of this suspension conducting liquid would lead to, and for a moment, he was in a dilemma.

"It said 'Hello' to me, but there was no follow-up. It's truly bizarre."

Lin Xian thought of Hua Xiaoling. His subconscious told him to handle this thing with caution.

"Since it's related to that foundation, as long as we find their people, there should be an answer," Chen Sixuan looked at Lin Xian and comforted him. "One of your purposes for crossing the Pacific this time is also to explore this mysterious organization, right?"

Lin Xian nodded, raised his hand to throw the mysterious container into the Black Star Forge, and said, "When connecting to the Corpse-Driver's consciousness, I did see some humans appear. They all had a mark on them."

He rubbed his brow. "At the Qingshui Town test site, Kiki and I both saw that kind of mark. I shouldn't have remembered it wrong."

"Does the Phoenix Society think that this organization might have some kind of communication with the Dark Civilization?" Chen Sixuan said.

"The Phoenix Society has indeed investigated many things."

Lin Xian said, "Professor Ye told me that Qingshui Town is just one of them. In the investigations of the Phoenix Society combined with organizations everywhere, there are hundreds or thousands of large and small types of post-apocalyptic organizations. But this SIID Foundation organization was not established after the apocalypse. The Lofi Consortium was a famous large consortium on Blue Star before the Apocalypse Day, with strong capital and wealth rivaling a nation, and had close cooperation with the Federation. I learned from Julius's intelligence with Seeing Chu Yan that even organizations like the Deep Red World were supported by the Foundation from the beginning, which is enough to show its energy is not small."

Lin Xian thought of the large test site with a sky dome in Qingshui Town and frowned, saying, "At first, I only thought that the Deep Red World relied on bloody experiments to make radical breakthroughs in the research of dark creatures and abilities. However, this idea is actually a bit naive. Research in various fields by organizations like the Phoenix Society cannot be weak. Those scientists, those research teams on the front line, are definitely not fools. If the intelligence obtained by secret investigation teams like the Night Walkers and the North American United Front is combined, the Deep Red World and the Foundation are indeed not just Advent-faction in terms of thinking and consciousness..."

He looked at Chen Sixuan and said in a deep voice, "They must have some kind of communication with the Dark Civilization. This communication is not necessarily mutual, or it may just be one-sided. But no matter what kind it is, we can guess that this communication might really have been established before the Apocalypse Day!"

Chen Sixuan's pupils trembled slightly. Hearing this, she showed a solemn look.

"So this foundation might know important intelligence. Is it some kind of spy?"

"I hope so," Lin Xian said.

"Hope?"

Lin Xian sighed and spread his hands. "If they are, we have a chance to know something, don't we?"

Chen Sixuan looked at Lin Xian upon hearing this. "Lin Xian, do you and the Phoenix Society have any plans?"

Lin Xian nodded. "You could say that. When we reach the Republic Islands, we may need to assist the Phoenix Society headquarters in Noah. We'll talk about the specific situation when we get there."

"Then what about this Falcon Sea Group?" Chen Sixuan walked to the window, opened half of the blackout curtain to look outside, and then lowered her voice to Lin Xian, "You said you wanted to share more, but I guess you don't want to cooperate."

Lin Xian was stunned. "How did you know?"

Chen Sixuan smiled slightly. "Because this is not your personality. The dark night is dangerous and unknown, and the sea is bizarre and hard to find. Even if the lattice is attractive, if it's not absolutely necessary, you won't actively hunt Anomalies for this purpose. Furthermore, we currently have three Level 4 blood essences. You must be thinking that as long as you can get that cultivation device, even if you can use resources and weapons to exchange for Level 4 blood essence, you won't take the risk on the sea to actively look for trouble with Special-level Anomalies, right?"

Hearing Chen Sixuan's words, Lin Xian smiled. "Chen Laoshi knows me well. That's right. I can understand fleets hunting D-level and C-level Anomalies to obtain blood essence to survive. Actively looking for Special-levels, and a batch at that, is simply having a problem with one's brain."

Although the strength of the Infinite's team members was not weak, humans were still not enough in front of Anomalies currently. Not to mention that those Anomalies were not monsters in a game; their ways of appearing and attacking were bizarre. If he was careless, even if he piloted the Unit 01, he might suffer heavy damage. To take this risk for some blood essence, he might as well use resources to exchange for it.

Lin Xian's mechanical ability had a natural advantage in this regard, so he was more interested in the maritime black market Vanessa mentioned. As long as that cultivation device was scanned by him and he understood the cultivation process of the crystal core seed, things could be very simple. Sometimes it didn't even need to be that troublesome. After dawn, he could communicate with the Phoenix Society through Seeing Chu Yan, and perhaps things would become much clearer.

Chen Sixuan walked over and sat next to Lin Xian, leaning gently on his shoulder, closing her eyes and saying,

"This journey is like a dream. Our train keeps moving forward, and there are more and more people. Fortunately, you have always adhered to survival first, so we haven't taken those fearless risks."

"But trouble is inevitable."

Lin Xian pulled Chen Laoshi into his arms and said wistfully, "On the first night at sea, I felt it was extremely unusual. Like what those two people from the Falcon Sea Group said, the forces on this sea are intertwined, Anomalies are evolving, and the monsters under the deep sea are basically playing with their cards face up. The danger level is higher than on land. Our purpose for taking the ocean orbital section is to quickly reach South America and then cross the Storm Strait to the polar regions, so we must seize the time."

"Seize the time to hurry?" Chen Sixuan said. "Hasn't Viola finished scouting the orbital path out to sea?"

"No, I mean we should seize the time." Lin Xian pointed to his watch. "It's almost three o'clock."

Chen Sixuan realized upon hearing this, her face flushed red. Just as she was about to say something, Lin Xian had already stood up and carried her directly to the big bed in the bedroom.

"Hey, there are monsters outside. It won't be good if we make a noise!" Chen Sixuan whispered urgently.

"Don't worry. If we could be discovered by sound, we would have died long ago."

Lin Xian's Mechanical Heart rotated, manipulating the room's automatic door and the carriage window's blackout curtains to close completely. Only one cold-light lamp remained in the bedroom. In the dim and enclosed space, it gave people a feeling of extreme contrast and stimulation.

Outside the enclosed carriage armor was the dark and empty orbital station platform. The whole city was dead silent. In the shadows, the monsters' breathing was cold and terrifying, which was completely different from the breathing on the soft bed inside the carriage.

Lin Xian liked this feeling of unknown fear outside the walls and a safe harbor inside the carriage. It had a sense of security that made people unable to stop.

Perhaps influenced by Lin Xian, Chen Sixuan also began to be obsessed with this feeling of intimacy accompanied by fear in the dark. ===== CHAPTER 427 =====