Chapter 49: Information Center

At that moment, everyone turned to look at Lin Xian.

Lin Xian exhaled deeply; after a night of thought, he decided to explain his abilities using the concept of multiple abilities: “Indeed, I have more than one ability. Besides making trains move, I can repair and manufacture machinery—that’s why I had the confidence to launch this Infinite Train project.”

Lin Xian couldn’t keep secretly consuming and manufacturing machinery forever; since they were teammates, it was better to be honest.

“If I have materials and blueprints, I can directly manufacture weapons, equipment, armor—anything related to machinery, I can handle it.”

The Lou siblings exchanged surprised glances; Lou Shasha sucked in a breath and exclaimed, “Whoa, Brother Lin, you’re this powerful? I knew I didn’t pick the wrong person!!”

At that moment, Lin Xian regarded Kiki with keen interest.

“Girl, the manufacturing I just mentioned includes your envisioned radar system, sentry system, weapon system, defense system, drones, railcars, medical and life-support systems, powered armor, and more… Now, do you still think my Infinite Train project is fantasy?”

Kiki froze slightly, opened her mouth, then met Lin Xian’s smiling gaze with defiant resolve.

“S-so what? Can you design and operate all those systems yourself?”

“No.”

Lin Xian smiled, eyes half-lidded, looking at Kiki: “That’s why I need a genius like you to join. Without your Information Center, all these systems would just be empty shells.”

Hearing this, Kiki’s eyes flickered with quiet delight; she smirked at Lin Xian, clearly pleased.

“Ohhh… that sounds so nice today. Fine—if you can fix the heating, maybe I’ll consider it.”

“Done.”

Lin Xian let out a long breath, glancing at Chen Sixuan, then at the others.

“At first, I only wanted to build a mobile safe haven to survive this damn night and apocalypse. But since this train started moving, we’ve lived every day under terror and danger. You all feel the same as I do—running, hiding, barely clinging to life, just trying to breathe, to drink a sip of water. The Eternal Night killed countless people; those still alive are nearly driven mad…”

“So I realized: under this endless night and winter, this train needs many friends. Only together can we survive longer, travel farther.”

“The orbital ring is 320,000 kilometers—we may not complete it, may not escape the Eternal Night. We’ll face countless troubles along the way. But as long as there’s a chance to live one more day, I won’t give up. As long as I have a single ounce of strength left, I won’t stop this train. So I hope everyone who boards this train becomes family—facing the future, life and death, together.”

He spoke casually, calmly, as if chatting idly.

Yet the others’ gazes subtly shifted.

Kiki dropped her sly expression, staring fixedly at Lin Xian, lost in thought.

Lou Shasha bit her lip; her eyes held less timid tension, more hope.

Lou Da looked at his sister, then at Lin Xian, nodded silently—his gaze now far more resolute.

Chen Sixuan’s eyes grew slightly red. At first, she relied on Lin Xian only to save herself. Now, hearing his renewed explanation of his plan and ideals, she was deeply moved. For a moment, she even felt that though she might now face endless flight and disaster, someday, the sun would rise as always.

“Alright, let’s start with a simple division of labor.”

Lin Xian exhaled, relieved; as the team grew, he felt more grounded.

“I’m in!” Shasha raised her hand first, beaming with enthusiasm. “Brother Lin, I can stand watch too—don’t treat me like a kid!”

Lin Xian chuckled. “You handle that grenade gun like a pro—how could you be a kid?”

“Hehe.” Shasha beamed with pride.

“I support!” Chen Laoshi smiled warmly and raised her hand too. Since the Eternal Night, she hadn’t felt this light-hearted in a long time.

“Brother Xian, just assign us,” Lou Da said.

“Me too,” Kiki said, smiling at him, her expression unusually serious.

“Good!” Lin Xian nodded. Aside from inventorying loot, he gave everyone a simple assignment.

Lin Xian and Chen Sixuan would take turns driving; after stopping, Lou Da would stand guard, since he understood basic mechanical repairs—Lin Xian also asked him to help with inspections and maintenance.

After all, the train kept growing; it wasn’t practical for him to use his ability to fix every tiny part himself.

As for Kiki, Lin Xian planned to redesign the entire train’s systems with her. Once the radar and sentry systems were online, they’d gain an extra layer of safety. This major haul gave Lin Xian tremendous confidence in his Infinite Train project—not just in his own future abilities, but also in gaining two powerful new allies: the Lou siblings.

Lou Ye was straightforward, hardworking, and possessed a reinforced ability; his towering frame gave everyone a strong sense of security.

With him on night watch, Lin Xian felt much more at ease.

He also knew a lot about weapons and machinery—excellent in both combat and technical skills.

Though young, Lou Shasha had a mature mindset and strong loyalty; Lin Xian assigned her to assist Chen Sixuan and Kiki. Now she had her own small bed and the train’s protection, she no longer looked tense—instead, she cheerfully helped organize the interior.

According to the route, after leaving the mountain range, they’d soon enter Yubei—a first-tier city far from the Star Abyss disaster zone, one of the last major cities to enter the Eternal Night. Lin Xian and Chen Sixuan both believed conditions there would be incredibly complex.

But the train must pass through its main hub to reach the true orbital ring. Before then, “Infinite” still had many systems and preparations unfinished—so the situation remained dire.

The gas turbine locomotive had a steam heating system, and the passenger cars were equipped with forced-air heating. Either could work, and the quickest solution was to connect the circuits and use the passenger car heating directly.

But cars 1 and 2 differed greatly in model and age from cars 3, 4, and 5. Considering his future plan to install a full-train water and air circulation system, Lin Xian decided to design with Kiki a connected electrically-driven steam circulation and filtration system linked to car 1—this would provide heat while also distilling clean water, ensuring fresh drinking water at all times, even allowing for luxury baths…

As for the electro-optical targeting system and small phased-array radar, Lin Xian and Kiki planned to mount them on the train’s front for emergency alerts. But the full-train surveillance and sentry systems would be far more complicated.

First, they required massive infrared motion detection, plus consideration for external armor, and more.

!

The weapon and defense systems were even more troublesome. Installing a close-in weapon system on the train required not just power and maintenance, but also a small arms-factory-level ammunition supply.

But that was only Lin Xian’s ideal vision—you can’t eat a whole elephant at once. Medical systems, plant cultivation, oxygen recycling—all impossible to finish overnight.

So for now, Lin Xian helped Kiki install the information system she’d salvaged from the air raid command center onto car 2, and also fixed the electro-optical targeting system, the small phased-array radar, and… the heating.

Another potential major problem: if the tracks were damaged, how could they repair them?

This had always been Lin Xian’s most troubling concern.

No matter how powerful the train became, if there was no track… wouldn’t it just be a joke?

So for Lin Xian, there was still so much to do—and the road ahead held countless troubles.

In car 2, Kiki had already built a simple Information Center with multiple screens. After connecting the electro-optical targeting and radar systems, the train could detect threats within a 3-kilometer forward fan-shaped zone—but they still needed a response module to identify which situations during travel were critical, triggering timely alerts and stops.

Lin Xian had no idea how to design that—he left it entirely to Kiki.

“Zzzt…”

“Zzzt…”

“Strange. We’re far from the Star Abyss’s ionization effects now, and it’s daytime—why can’t I pick up any long-wave signals?” Kiki fiddled with Lin Xian’s radio for a long while, then sighed and gave up.

“What about the internet?”

“Forget it,” Kiki said, fingers flying over the system while wearing headphones, her tone flat. “I know the Federation still has some communication satellites in orbit, but all have been lost—either damaged or specially shielded and jammed.”

Lin Xian inwardly winced—he’d once received Chen Laoshi’s call from Jiang City, and now, barely a short time later, communication was completely dead.

And the long-wave radio he’d pinned such high hopes on was unusable too—that was what truly troubled him.

Inside the radio, the train running through the mountains could only pick up short-wave frequencies within a hundred or two hundred kilometers—but surrounded by mountains, there were no other survivors’ signals, only scattered village transmissions.

Thus, Lin Xian’s group passed the calmest yet busiest day since leaving Jiang City. Powered by the electric locomotive’s reserve energy, the train ran from dawn until dusk. Exhausted and prioritizing safety, Lin Xian stopped on a relatively flat plain to rest.

After nightfall, all blackout curtains were drawn, yet the massive train still faintly glowed on the tracks. Cars 3 and 4 were now covered in thick armor.

Unlike the original cars, this armor used ordinary steel, mixed with a small amount of his leftover high-strength steel—just a temporary fix.

After Lin Xian’s assignments, Chen Sixuan acted like a warm matriarch, distributing food and water along the cars. When she reached car 5, she found Lin Xian wasn’t inside—he was outside, on the last flatcar, tinkering with that machine-armor-like device.

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(End of chapter)