Chapter 65: Calming

Racing forward, the sounds of the corpse tide had vanished; in the night, several flashlight beams flickered along the railway, Sha Sha’s face tense as she swept the light everywhere in search.

On the other side, Lin Xian and Dalou hacked wildly at the giant monster’s flesh with knives, searching for those red beads.

At that moment, a cry came from Sha Sha’s direction.

“Found it!!”

Both of them froze mid-action and sprinted toward the other side.

There, Sha Sha stood at the edge of a drainage ditch—the white giant’s head had rolled there, grotesque and terrifying, its crimson blood mixed with black sludge, making her too frightened to approach.

Seeing Lin Xian coming, the girl held the flashlight at a distance and pointed to the severed neck of the monster.

“Look.”

From the monster’s neck, a stream of black smoke continuously seeped out and sank into the ground; at the same time, a thumb-sized red bead appeared clearly on the surface.

But strangely, this bead was significantly larger than the one Lin Xian had retrieved earlier.

Seeing this, Lin Xian’s brow tightened—he felt a sudden familiarity, and immediately called out to Sha Sha: “Don’t move. I’ll handle it.”

He slowly approached—and as expected, when he neared the black smoke, a faint rustling sound began in his ears; as he drew closer, the rustling swelled into a roaring tide of wails, growing deafening.

Lin Xian clenched his teeth, pressing forward—the wailing nearly caused him to ring in his ears.

Just as the sound threatened to burst his eardrums, he seized the red bead—and in that instant, the wailing ceased abruptly.

“So that’s it!”

Lin Xian exhaled deeply, his gaze sharp.

The sound he’d heard when killing the red worm must have come from this—back then, he hadn’t even known such a thing existed; now he realized, there must have been another strange blood essence then too.

Lin Xian felt a strange unease.

“This thing actually comes in different sizes…”

Without further thought, he picked up the larger strange blood essence, got back in the vehicle, and placed it again near Kiki’s nose and mouth.

This time, before the red crystal even touched her, it shattered rapidly—a thick crimson mist exploded outward, flooding into Kiki’s nostrils and eyes.

“Whoa, this…”

Sha Sha stared in amazement; within moments, Kiki’s face visibly regained some color, her breathing steadied.

Lin Xian pried open Kiki’s eyelids—her black ink was rapidly receding.

Though he didn’t understand what had happened, it clearly worked; seeing this, everyone exhaled in relief.

“Why were there so many corpse tides and that monster?”

Chen Sixuan frowned: “Didn’t we shake that thing off in Jiang City already…?”

“We can’t figure it out yet.”

Lin Xian looked up at the air conditioner: “We’ll need to add another layer of protection on top.”

Earlier, he and Dalou had exited to assess the battle damage—though the fifth car was disarrayed and the roof slightly dented, the armored sides of “Infinity” remained intact; the tidal wave of corpses had failed to breach it. Lin Xian now thought: if the train had some kind of reactive system, with enhanced protection on the roof and wheels, and a sharp ice-breaking shield mounted on the front, even the fiercest corpse tide couldn’t stop them—they could charge through with ease.

“Chen Laoshi, roughly when will dawn be tomorrow?” Lin Xian asked.

“I’d guess between 14:40 and 15:10.”

“Good.” Lin Xian glanced at the sleeping Kiki: “We have enough time. Let’s head to Yuchicheng Station, stop, reconfigure the train, upgrade the defenses, then enter Yuchicheng to gather supplies.”

“Supplies aren’t the main goal,” Lin Xian said, unfolding a map: “Yuchicheng isn’t large—our main target this time is here…”

“The electronics market and the city’s power substation.”

“Substation?” Sha Sha blinked in surprise. “Why go there?”

“Grab some transformers and capacitors. If we find a suitable vehicle, I’ll bring back another one.”

Lin Xian said: “We got over a thousand liters of gasoline from the outpost—we’ll carry two drums on board. If we find a good vehicle, we split up; then we load the whole thing—vehicle and cargo—onto the flatbed trailer. Saves time.”

After upgrading and reconfiguring, he planned a major haul—anything electronic or mechanical, take as much as possible. First, to collect materials; second, these scattered items were easier for him to absorb—no more hours-long sessions.

If we hit trouble along the way, we can stop and use it as fine-grade nourishment. But after tasting the gains from that locomotive, Lin Xian had grown bolder—if he encountered another one later, as long as the weight limit allowed, he’d tow it along, absorbing it while riding beside the tracks—his cultivation would skyrocket!

Transformers and capacitors weren’t just for the GK03 electric knife’s high-energy capacitor and arc device—he’d also drawn inspiration from their design, aiming to build an external electrical defense system for the train.

“Chen Laoshi, drive.”

Chen Sixuan nodded and told Sha Sha: “Sha Sha, treat their wounds.”

“Leave it to me!”

Sha Sha moved swiftly, grabbing Lin Xian’s medical kit to tend to his chest wound.

“Lin brother, does it hurt?”

“It’s fine,” Lin Xian gritted his teeth, face calm.

“Oh.” Sha Sha poured iodine tincture onto Lin Xian’s chest wound.

Hiss!!!!

…Clang… Clang…

!

“Infinity” groaned with a deep metallic moan—its iron wheels rolled forward again!

Night had not yet broken; Lin Xian opened the rear ramp of the fifth car. Though it was night, the outside was now blanketed in vast snow.

The extreme cold and endless white fields deepened the desolation of the post-apocalyptic world.

Looking back at the flatbed trailer, both military jeeps were damaged beyond use—only one SUV and the armored vehicle from the Black Jiao convoy remained.

“Forget it. The flatbed trailer’s probably useless to absorb—just a pile of scrap iron. Better to use it as extra cargo space, an open-air platform—makes it easier for me to absorb while moving.”

With that thought, Lin Xian looked at the flatbed trailers—and they suddenly looked much more appealing.

After upgrading his Mechanical Heart to Level 2 and gaining the decomposition space, his ability to manufacture machinery had expanded dramatically.

But right now, he felt two gaps remained.

First, he could only store materials obtained after absorption—like various steels, plastics, and such.

Too many types, too complex, and no target focus.

For example, he’d scanned the blueprint for the 1130 CIWS—though the required materials were massive and weapon-grade steel, they weren’t hard to get. But the critical issue was ammunition.

Copper, tungsten, steel—he had plenty. But the base materials for smokeless powder, TNT, hexanitrohexaazaisowurtzitane, or all-nitrogen anion salts—none existed.

Guns without bullets—awkward indeed.

Second: the blueprint library. He lacked blueprints for powerful mechanical equipment.

Besides himself, he wanted to arm “Infinity” and his teammates. He’d made Dalou a steel-slicing greatsword out of necessity—given Dalou’s build, he should at least be wielding a Minigun, not some sword.

With teammates added, Lin Xian began shifting his focus from solo combat.

Night travel brought silence; Lin Xian relaxed slightly. He and Dalou leaned against the rear ramp of the fifth car, Sha Sha tended to Kiki, and Chen Laoshi monitored the road ahead from the cab.

“Xian ge.”

Dalou handed Lin Xian the steel-slicing greatsword—his intent clear: to return it.

Lin Xian smiled: “You think I made this size for whom?”

Dalou paused, then his expression changed—he eagerly took it back. “Thanks, Xian ge.”

He wielded the greatsword well—it was sturdy, could serve as a shield in emergencies, perfect for daily defense.

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(End of Chapter)