Chapter 428: Maritime Fortress

10:05 AM, it was dawn.

As if a black curtain had been instantly lifted, the city that was still under the dark sea curtain was immediately bathed in bright sunshine. The monsters in the dark night retreated like a tide, leaving only a devastated city. This once-prosperous seaside tourist city now only had broken streets, collapsed buildings, and ruins eroded by the sea breeze.

The morning light sprinkled on the empty coastal avenue. The pedestrian street, once crowded with tourists, now only had broken railings and overturned parasols. The sea breeze rolled up dust and passed through the broken glass windows, making a low, sobbing sound. In the once-lively seafood restaurant, tables and chairs were overturned, tableware was scattered all over the floor, and the graffiti on the walls and the faded menus still vaguely recorded the fireworks of life before the apocalypse.

In the Haiyan City Orbital Connection Station, the morning light sprinkled through the broken dome glass, and the mottled light and shadow cut out fragmented patterns on the platform floor. The once-busy high-speed rail platform now only had dead silence and desolation. The Infinite was empty all around, and only this heavy train was docked in the entire station. It was hard to imagine how crowded and weird it was outside the carriage in the dark night.

Hiss.

The carriage door opened. Qian Dele led the team members out to observe the situation around them. The scene of the Hundred Ghosts Night Walk had disappeared. On the platform outside, scattered luggage carts were tilted at the edge of the platform, some overturned, some wheels stuck in the gaps of the tracks. The metal frames were rusted and peeling, as if twisted by some huge force. The conveyor belt had long stopped turning, the rubber tracks were broken and tilted, and thick dust and broken glass were piled up in the gaps. The electronic station sign was black and broken, and some sticky, undried liquid was still hanging on it, all of which seemed to indicate that in the dark night, many indescribable monsters had appeared here.

"Luo Yang, let's occupy the high ground to observe," Qian Dele stretched and looked up at the huge steel dome structure that was still standing. "There might be other forces eyeing us, so keep an eye out."

"No problem!" Luo Yang picked up the mobile terminal, manipulated two heavy mechs manufactured by Lin Xian to walk out of the carriage, and then deployed the patrol path.

Shu Qin and Lv Chang were fully armed and set out from the back of the connection station, preparing to check the direction of the beach.

The automatic door of Carriage No. 5 opened. Lin Xian and a group of team members walked out. After deployment, he arranged for Xiang Xiang Ningjing's mobile team to go to the east of Haiyan Haidao to check the tracks and the connection station out to sea along the way, completing the work that Viola hadn't finished. Because today he was going to take Viola to prepare to go to the maritime stronghold of the Falcon Sea Group with Vanessa and Gedi to make contact. His main purpose was information about the lattice configuration device and some information about the sea area.

The power Vanessa displayed exceeded Lin Xian's expectations. He didn't expect this dark energy to have a higher form of destructive effect, not just an increase in ability peak, which made him even more curious about the lattice.

"Mo Mo Nika, Dalou, Sasha, Long Zhijie, your team come with me. Sister Ning, you scout the track line. Qian Dele and Teacher Chen guard the train and assist Sister Ning's team, setting up drone signal transmission devices along the way with the Infinite as the benchmark point, ensuring smooth communication."

"Understood, Team Leader Lin." Xiang Xiang Ningjing nodded, closed the power armor mask, and then took Xiaoqing, Abai, and Fire Brother to set out immediately, accompanied by dozens of auxiliary drones.

Sasha's eyes lit up when she heard she was going out. "Yay~, then do I want to fly the Flying Peach?"

The Flying Peach was the name Sasha gave to the floating bomber mech. The space that could be expanded on this flight platform was very large. Sasha could put on the power armor and directly manipulate this big guy to take off. Its power was an order of magnitude stronger than the previous Vulcan.

"In unfamiliar sea areas, we must be fully armed wherever we go and be ready to fight at any time." Lin Xian looked at Sasha. "And if I don't let you fly it, won't you fly it?"

"Hee hee~" Sasha smiled, her face cunning, and immediately turned to prepare to start that floating mech.

"Caution is correct," Gedi of the Falcon Sea Group said seriously to Lin Xian at this moment. "There are not many zombies on these islands, but there are many Anomalies. They may be in the dark alleys and sewers of the city at any time, and there are also some other forces or eyes of the Holy City. It's best not to provoke them easily."

"Indeed, your kind of bait is a double-edged sword. It's easy to dodge open spears, but hard to guard against hidden arrows, right?" Kiki said with her hands on her hips.

Chen Sixuan swept her gaze over the two and then said to Lin Xian, "Be safe, I'm here."

Clang, clang.

Dalou walked out slowly wearing the Black Dragon Armor, and the ground made a clanging vibration, which was imposing.

"Brother Xian, I'm ready."

Lin Xian nodded. The Black Dragon Armor should be the one with the highest power among everyone's power armor. It looked clumsy, but its mobility was not weak. Combined with Dalou's blood-energy ability enhancement, the destructive power it erupted was no less than a miniaturized Interstellar Predator. At the same time, Shizhi and Mo Mo Nika were also fully armed.

Mo Mo Nika looked at Vanessa and Gedi and asked,

"You don't have flight vehicles, how did you get on the island?"

"Of course we do." Vanessa put one hand on her hip, looking confident. She operated a device on her wrist, and not long after, the roar of a motorcycle sounded from the direction of the station exit.

Everyone looked and found two unmanned Suzuki Hayabusa 2066s driving from afar, one after the other. Although there were many signs of wear and tear, it didn't affect their unique appearance.

"Suzuki Hayabusa?" Kiki became interested when she saw it, tilting her head to look. "Omnidirectional wheels, vector propulsion nozzles, gyroscope array, why was the rear exhaust changed to aerodynamic control surfaces? How can this motorcycle fly?"

"Of course."

Gedi walked out, stood in front of her motorcycle, and beckoned with her mechanical arm. With a clatter, the armor plates on both sides of the motorcycle body slid open, the omnidirectional wheels deformed and deployed four micro-plasma thrusters, the exhaust manifold was reorganized into a honeycomb nozzle, and the rear exhaust pipe split into six tungsten steel spoilers. Through mechanical hydraulic linkage to adjust the pitch/yaw angle, soon the nozzle had blue turbine jets, and the motorcycle slowly hovered in place.

"Awesome, a very perfect flight kit." Kiki's eyes lit up.

"Was this kind of modification also done by your maritime black market?" Mo Mo Nika asked.

"Not just the black market, many large organizations have this modification capability," Gedi said. "Of course, you can buy many things you want in the black market."

Lin Xian asked upon hearing this, "Where is this black market?"

"North Star Abyss Market, the largest black market on the sea, is a mobile market. If you are lucky, you can easily receive the maritime broadcast they send out and find the location," Gedi said.

Lin Xian nodded. "Okay, then let's go. Time waits for no one."

Vanessa looked at Lin Xian, her eyes full of excitement. "No problem, just follow us."

After speaking, she and Gedi rode their motorcycles, put on windproof helmets, and then took off directly. Lin Xian's two teams also followed immediately. The propulsion system of the power armor erupted with a violent piercing sound. A group of people rushed into the sky and then followed the two flying motorcycles to fly along the coastline.

The sea surface was sparkling, like a broken mirror. Lin Xian and his party drove the power armor and flew at high speed along the coastline of Haiyan Haidao. Dalou's Black Dragon Armor and Sasha's Flying Peach were the two largest mech devices, making a roar in the air. Looking down from high altitude, the terrain of the west coast of Haiyan Haidao was in full view. After leaving the city area, it was a jungle, then the terrain began to become steep cliffs, the rock walls were eroded by the sea into countless honeycomb-shaped holes, and then the flight direction began to leave the coastline and fly toward the deep sea in the northwest.

"Wow, we are flying on the sea, it's so magical." Sasha manipulated the huge Flying Peach floating bomber, and the plasma thrusters under the wings made a low humming sound.

Vanessa on the flying motorcycle looked back, the corners of her mouth under the helmet slightly raised. "Be careful, don't fall into the sea. As long as you sink into the 200-meter dark zone, it is very likely to disturb underwater creatures."

"You use a cruise ship as a shelter. Once you encounter monsters, I'm afraid it's hard to escape, right?" Lin Xian asked at this moment.

"Anomalies generally won't directly attack our ships. They don't have the thinking of sinking ships and then capturing prey. But you are right, when encountering large Anomalies, it is hard to shake them off at ship speed, so we will use bait. If we are marked, the marked combat personnel will leave the ship to fight, trying to protect the main ship."

After Gedi finished speaking, she continued to say to Lin Xian, "Actually, strictly speaking, although the deep sea is dangerous, the probability of encountering Anomalies on the sea is much lower than on land, because the sea area is very large. Those monsters will follow the seabed and move toward the city or the direction of the island's continental shelf. We maritime refugees are not easily locked onto by monsters underwater."

Lin Xian was a bit surprised upon hearing this. "The most dangerous place seems to be the safest?"

"Yes, so our Sea Group never approaches islands or shores. Only the field exploration team members will frequently encounter danger. And on the sea, the emergency situations we encounter are actually very few. As long as we use the bait well and keep silent, we can resolve crises most of the time."

"That's quite smart." Kiki said upon hearing this. "Those Anomalies will climb onto land and move toward city clusters. You are on the sea, but it's hard to encounter them directly. I really didn't think of this."

"But I still don't dare to stay on the sea." Sasha said at this moment. She looked down from high altitude. The light blue seawater of the coastline turned into an bottomless pitch-black abyss like a cliff as it entered the deep sea, giving people a great sense of fear.

If monsters were limited to zombies on land, then hiding on an aircraft carrier on the sea was equivalent to a safe harbor. But who knew what unknown deep-sea creatures were hidden under this deep water? Thinking that there was only the boundless deep sea on all sides after dark, Sasha felt a bit breathless. In comparison, she still preferred to stay on the train and fall asleep listening to the clanging sound of the tracks.

After flying for dozens of minutes, Lin Xian and his party followed Vanessa and finally approached the destination.

Under the clear sky, in the middle of a quiet sea area, a huge doomsday aircraft carrier was quietly docked.

"The former Neptune nuclear-powered aircraft carrier has been retired for 15 years. Now it has been transformed into a maritime fortress and home by us, with a total of 736 survivors." As they approached, Vanessa's voice carried pride. ===== CHAPTER 429 =====