Chapter 478

“Fly?”

Sha Sha’s face lit up with joy; she jumped right up: “Really? Are we activating the SkyDome Train?”

For a moment, everyone’s gaze turned to Lin Xian, while Ryan and the rest of the Hawk Sea Team looked at him with entirely different expressions.

How come it sounds like you have another train?

“This will be risky,” Lin Xian said outright: “The orbital ring is broken, and the Descenders are watching us—finding a stretch of track to cross the Pacific won’t be easy.”

At that moment, Qian Dele, seated on the sofa, spoke calmly: “Fly straight over the Pacific? Good idea. Staying on the sea is too suffocating—it’s nothing like the beaches, waves, and sunsets I imagined.”

“So you really plan to cross the Pacific using the train?”

On the Hawk Sea Team side, Vanessa looked astonished: “That’s incredibly thrilling.”

Erica stepped forward and said: “A few months ago, the Federation used this line to shuttle maritime supplies. Back then, though the situation was perilous, the Federation and the Interstellar Army maintained it—so the line was temporarily passable.”

“Right,” Ryan nodded, looking at Lin Xian: “When the slogan ‘Escape Eastward’ spread, many trains raced along the Ocean Line—but the situation didn’t last long.”

“Because of the Great Ocean God?” Chen Sixuan asked.

“Not exactly,” Ryan shrugged: “It’s just one track. On land, even if a city falls, there are other routes. Here, there aren’t. The more people fled, the more attacks and damaged base stations and tracks occurred. For the Federation, maintaining this line became prohibitively costly, with heavy personnel losses—sea travel is just too dangerous. So the Ocean Line’s collapse was only a matter of time. Even if you keep searching now, you’ll only find fragments of old maritime industrial ruins. A smooth passage is impossible.”

“I thought so too,” Lin Xian nodded. He’d barely arrived at Haiyan Island when he encountered over a hundred miles of collapse. Even if they’d miraculously escaped Haiyan Island, he had no confidence left in the tracks ahead.

“But you said ‘fly’?” Vanessa scanned the interior of the carriage: “This train?”

“No, another vehicle,” Lin Xian replied coolly: “I have a starship.”

“What!” Gadi exclaimed in shock. Several core members of the Hawk Sea Team widened their eyes. Ryan lowered his sunglasses, stared at Lin Xian, then glanced at his hands—he remembered how Lin Xian had summoned a mechanical arm—and paused, then instantly understood.

“Lin, besides the starship, do you also have a mech army?” Ryan asked curiously.

“Not at all,” Lin Xian smiled.

“Still, I must warn you—flying over the Pacific isn’t a good idea,” Ryan said to Lin Xian: “Based on what I learned at the Foundation, the storm clouds out there? Ghost Manta Clouds are just appetizers.”

Lin Xian nodded: “I know. So we’ll take the risk—low-altitude, high-speed skim over the sea.”

“Which direction?”

“Viora,” Lin Xian looked directly at Viora.

Viora stood with her hands behind her back before the holographic star map; her mechanical voice sounded steady:

【I have calibrated our current coordinates using Haiwen and the Electric Compass: 18°14′ S, 177°25′ E. Three transoceanic flight paths have been formulated.】

【The routes through the Kermadec Trench toward Auckland and through the Strait of Magellan toward Santa Cruz both exceed 40 hours. Even at subsonic speed, estimated duration exceeds 31 hours and 15 minutes. The final option is to cut directly through the Super Westerlies toward the polar ice cap—this allows the fastest polar landing, in 22 hours. But the risk is high: beyond the Westerlies and Star Abyss #8, the northern ice cap and the Polar Kunlun City are separated by over ten thousand kilometers of uninhabited ice.】

“Going straight to the poles is impossible,” Ryan said now: “Even the Foundation avoids this route. The poles are in perpetual daylight, but the Westerlies are in perpetual night. Unless you’re suicidal, don’t even consider this path—even with a starship.”

“I won’t be that reckless. Besides, my convoy is still entering North America. Land travel is safer. I heard the Storm Strait is now a killing zone—many heading for the poles must pass through it. We can’t avoid it either.”

“When do you leave?” Ryan asked.

Lin Xian glanced at him: “Immediately.”

“Are you planning to keep sailing on the sea?” Kiki asked them.

Ryan scanned his teammates, speaking calmly: “‘Sailing’ sounds too glamorous. Our plan is also to cross the Storm Strait.”

He turned to Lin Xian and said solemnly: “Lin, thank you for leading us. On behalf of the 532 survivors of the Hawk Sea Team, I thank you. These are the spoils I collected with my copper ball—I said they belong to you.”

As he spoke, Erica and her team dragged over two large weapon crates. The lids opened, and a terrifying dark energy surge erupted into the air. Everyone turned to look: inside, the crates were packed with countless dark red blood essences, each perfectly spherical. Surprisingly, they had no stench and were unnaturally clean—not as if washed, but as if naturally this way.

“Whoa, so much?!” Lu Chang blurted out.

“Someone might think we slaughtered hundreds of Special or S-class creatures,” Mo Nika crossed her arms, her gaze shifting from the blood essences to Lin Xian: “Now we won’t have to worry about supplies, weapons, or ammo.”

“You’re giving us all of these?” Chen Sixuan asked the key question.

Ryan smiled casually, looking at Lin Xian: “Lin, though I had Azir arrange for the fleet and Neptune to sail unmanned toward the Republic Islands, we don’t have much hope left after the Garan Volcano’s power. Now our team has no home—so… I’d like to request this submarine from you, or at least until we find another ship.”

Lin Xian replied immediately: “Since we’re cooperating, this submarine and these blood essences are our joint spoils—no exchange needed. Without your help, we wouldn’t have succeeded so smoothly, let alone gathered these blood essences. Let’s split them evenly.”

Ryan nodded, didn’t hesitate, accepted gladly, and said to Lin Xian: “Lin, I believe your becoming the Phoenix Society’s Swordbearer isn’t coincidence. I’ve seen it now. If the chance arises, let’s meet again in the polar region!”

“Agreed.”

Lin Xian shook his hand, said no more. Daylight was growing shorter; Ryan had to hurry his team to plan the next steps. He bid farewell to Lin Xian and the others, took half the blood essences, and led his core members back aboard the North Wind 09 nuclear submarine.

Before leaving, Vanessa gave Lin Xian two items: one was a lattice cultivator—a small device resembling a hybrid instrument, incredibly complex and exquisitely crafted, clearly an industrial product of a major organization; the other was Vanessa’s own collected and researched data on lattice evolution. She knew this might be what the Infinite needed, so she gave it all to Lin Xian.