Chapter 59: Midnight (Third Watch—Requesting Moon Tickets)!

Following Lin Xian’s plan, Kiki had only sketched a preliminary design for the water-oxygen recycling system; considering rainwater and health concerns, Lin Xian planned to clear out Car 3, connect it to the locomotive’s water tank, install a purification system, and add guarded planting cabinets.

Clean water, clean air, growing green plants and vegetables—these were all things Lin Xian had already planned ahead; after Xu Jin told him the nighttime rain was contaminated, Lin Xian felt even more urgent about building this car.

With ice and snow descending and black rain bacteria spreading, all flora and fauna across the globe would face extinction.

In Car 2, the computers in the information center still glowed faintly; after linking to the train’s radar, electro-optical targeting, and surveillance systems, they could now initiate alerts for partial areas ahead.

In the dark night, the cold wind howled sharply.

Since the train’s heating system had not been fully repaired, the carriages exuded a chilling chill.

Kiki and Shasha were asleep, Chen Sixuan was on duty in the cockpit, and Da Lou was standing by at the rear of Car 5.

“Shasha.”

“Shasha…”

A soft call woke Lou Shasha, who lay in bed.

Hearing the voice, she instinctively opened her eyes, drowsily searching for its source.

The entire train was dark; she curled a finger to lift the shade slightly, letting in only a faint glimmer of starlight through the armored grille, dimly outlining the shapes of objects inside.

Was it an illusion?

Lou Shasha thought she heard a man calling her; she looked left and right, searching for Lin Xian’s figure.

No one was there.

She was about to pull her finger back from the shade when, outside the window, a standing black shadow suddenly appeared.

The upper half of the figure was shrouded in darkness, its face indistinct.

Lou Shasha’s fingers trembled violently; she felt as if the shadow was watching her.

“Brother Lin?”

She asked cautiously.

Her other hand gripped the blanket tightly, her expression tense, sensing something was wrong.

If it were Lin Xian, why would he be calling from outside?

The surroundings were utterly silent; her voice sounded unnaturally loud and jarring. She instinctively reached out to tap the bedside, hoping to alert Kiki below.

“Could you open the door for me…”

The shadow whispered.

“Outside.”

“It’s so cold.”

Creak… creak… as the shadow finished speaking, a slow, scraping sound of fingernails on steel echoed from outside.

Soon, the sound vanished, and the shadow disappeared.

Lou Shasha’s heartbeat quickened; she sensed something was wrong and moved closer to investigate.

But the next instant—

A pale, grotesque human face, mouth gaping bloody, suddenly slammed against the window.

Thud!

A deafening crash, accompanied by violent shaking of the train, startled Lou Shasha.

“Ahh!!!”

Shasha screamed, jolting Kiki awake below; the girl frowned, sat up sharply, and cried out, “What’s wrong?!”

“There’s something outside! I saw it!”

Lou Shasha gasped to calm her fear; though she’d endured many horrors in recent days, this sight still shocked her.

Shhh!

Kiki instantly flipped open all the shades in Car 2; the interior lights turned on. Both girls stared out the window—but outside was pure, ink-black darkness, not a single shadow visible.

“What happened?!”

At that moment, Chen Sixuan ran over from the front cockpit.

“Something’s outside—I saw it…”

Lou Shasha was still pale with shock; Da Lou, still on duty, approached with his rifle. Everyone searched the surroundings but found nothing.

“Where’s Lin Xian?” Kiki asked.

“He’s still outside,” Chen Sixuan said, her face worried. She immediately picked up the radio to check on Lin Xian’s status.

But then Kiki suddenly frowned.

“Listen… do you hear something?”

“A sound?”

Everyone fell silent, straining to listen.

The night was still; outside, only the cold wind howled, rustling tree branches.

But soon the rustling grew louder, swelling like boiling water—shhhhh—coming from all directions, seeming to originate both left and right, as if the earth itself trembled with a rising, pervasive vibration.

Shasha pressed her face against the glass; the train’s interior lights were swallowed by the thick blackness outside, visibility limited to barely ten meters.

She watched, listened, her expression growing graver.

Suddenly, she saw the distant field—countless black human heads surged like waves; her pupils shrank sharply as she shouted:

“No! It’s a horde of corpses!!!!”

Shhh…!!

Shhhhh!!!

Before she finished speaking, a tidal wave of shrieks, running footsteps, and howls erupted from all sides; dense black shadows blotted out the sky, stretching endlessly.

“Lin Xian!!”

Chen Sixuan shuddered at the sight, gripping the radio tightly as she screamed toward Lin Xian outside.

“Start the train!” Kiki shouted instinctively.

Ooo~!!

!

Before Chen Sixuan could act, the “Infinite’s” engine roared to life; she instantly realized Lin Xian was activating it.

Her heart steadied; she sprinted toward the cockpit.

“Come on, to the back—he’s still outside!”

Kiki suddenly remembered something and called out to Da Lou; the two ran toward Car 5, one behind the other.

Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud…

In the blink of an eye, countless zombies surged toward the train halted in the night; screams, charges, impacts, and scratching pounded the steel exterior like a tidal wave, turning the carriages into muffled drums.

Ooo~

The hydraulic rear ramp opened; Kiki and Da Lou both raised their rifles, ready.

“Bad guy, are you out there?!” Kiki shouted.

Puff-puff-puff!

Countless wind guns shattered zombie skulls, striking the car walls with booming echoes.

“Don’t let these beasts get in!”

Lin Xian shouted from outside, leaping swiftly across several rooftops while simultaneously propelling the train forward.

To consume the freight electric locomotive, Lin Xian had nearly exhausted his strength, his body drenched in cold sweat.

Now that Chen Sixuan had activated the electric locomotive, Lin Xian suddenly felt his energy replenish; he exhaled, then sprinted forward with full force.

Countless zombies surged forward like a tide; the scene was even more terrifying than at the Mist Outpost. Lin Xian was inwardly alarmed—why had so many corpses suddenly been stirred? He gritted his teeth and opened the rear ramp halfway.

Tap-tap-tap! Tap-tap-tap!

As the ramp lowered, hordes of zombies shrieked and scrambled to climb inside; Kiki and Da Lou, already waiting within, opened fire immediately.

Lin Xian acted instantly, firing two wind guns to blast away several front-line zombies, then used his enhanced speed to leap through the ramp’s gap and slide inside.

“Ah!”

The ramp began closing; Da Lou dropped his rifle, shouted, grabbed a crowbar, and smashed the skulls of two zombies half-crushed in the gap, then kicked hard to seal it shut.

“Da Lou, you and Shasha hold this spot. Kiki, come with me to the front!”

Lin Xian didn’t pause; as soon as he landed, he sprinted forward, reactivating his Mechanical Heart to power the gas turbine locomotive—both engines accelerated simultaneously!

Vrrr, boom-boom-boom!

Ahead, the locomotive’s front was completely obscured by a dense mass of zombies.

Normally, zombies were powerless against heavy trains, but now the frenzied horde surged like a tidal wave, blocking the train’s acceleration.

Creak… creak…

From beneath the rails came the grating crunch of crushed bones and corpses—chilling to the bone.

“Keep accelerating!”

Lin Xian shouted.

Chen Sixuan clenched her teeth and pushed the throttle lever to its limit.

“Kiki, clear the path ahead!”

Kiki nodded, gritted her teeth, rushed to the cockpit, and thrust her hand forward.

Whoom!

An invisible shockwave erupted, blasting hundreds of zombies ahead into the air—only for the horde to instantly swarm back like ants.

“Speed’s building!” Chen Sixuan muttered.

Lin Xian took the driver’s seat, his gaze icy, teeth clenched tight.

“Crush them!”

Whuuu…

The engines of the Whale 03e Heavy Gas Turbine Vehicle and the Ring Star 7f Electric Locomotive roared together, driving forward through the horde with tens of thousands of furious horsepower!

Brothers, four updates today—please vote for monthly tickets, charge ahead!

(End of chapter)