Chapter 81: Double (Bonus Chapter—Thank You for Your Monthly Votes)

……

In the black prison.

“They’re just annoying guys…” the four-year-old Kiki muttered softly, touching her chest. “But Enqi’s heart hurts.”

Lin Xian was about to say something when he saw the little girl turn away; in his stunned gaze, she walked up to the eight-year-old Kiki and took from her hand…

The gun!

Lin Xian’s eyes widened in horror—damn, he was about to stop her.

But in an instant, the Kiki outside the iron bars stood up, shaped her small hand into a gun, and slowly walked toward the end of the corridor.

There, the woman’s retreating back had not yet vanished…

Outside, on the open ground, children’s laughter and shouts echoed.

“Wait!”

Lin Xian shouted, gripping the iron bars, his mechanical heart surging wildly—but he couldn’t open them.

He immediately reached out to fabricate, thinking to create a machine to cut through the bars.

But fabricating a cutting machine took time and effort—he couldn’t finish it fast enough, even with all his strength.

“Fuck your dad!”

Lin Xian roared, spun around, and fired a wind spear straight at the monster in the shadows!

Tsk-tsk-tsk!

The wind spears struck an invisible wall, causing no harm to the terrifying anomaly.

Lin Xian was stunned.

That’s not right.

If the white monster I just saw was the source of Kiki’s corruption, I already killed it.

Then where did this thing come from?

“Ah!”

The three Kikis of different ages all filled with fear, screamed in unison.

“Fear? No, it wasn’t fear just now.”

“Fear is…”

Lin Xian froze.

He suddenly realized—the monster before him and the white corrupted creature on the train were two different things!!

Fear—fuck! That silver antenna!

“Where is it?”

Lin Xian looked at his hand—he remembered holding it, didn’t he?

Then why was it gone now?

Huh?!

Lin Xian snapped his head up, saw the monstrous figure in the corner, stepped forward, and plunged his hand straight into the grotesque bloody maw!

“Still trying to scare me?!”

He was certain now—the monster that grabbed and devoured Kiki in the carriage was the true corruption.

And since he was inside Kiki’s corrupted world, he must have collapsed unconscious—this other terrifying creature was the work of that silver antenna!

As expected!

His hand plunged into the gaping maw and immediately felt a cold object.

Instantly, the ghostly shadow vanished.

At that moment, a “beep” sounded—the door of the iron bars suddenly opened.

Lin Xian paused, realizing he was right, and spun around to rush out.

Tap-tap-tap…

Down the long, dark corridor, Lin Xian sprinted, distant light ahead.

As he ran closer, the light grew blinding—he had to shield his eyes with his hands.

Finally, he burst out into blinding sunlight. Lin Xian, eyes stinging, slowly opened them.

Outside was the orphanage’s grassy yard; the fences and green belts had been torn down. The lone orphanage stood isolated in the wilderness, jarring against the towering skyscrapers nearby.

No bloodshed. No corpses strewn about.

Dozens of children played freely, laughing.

In the courtyard between buildings grew a massive ancient banyan tree, its canopy blotting out the sky. Beneath it, Lin Xian saw a tiny figure.

She sat quietly on the grass, holding a small bear, gazing down a distant path—lonely and desolate amid the surrounding laughter.

On that path, a disheveled woman walked farther away.

That was her mother’s retreating back.

“Hey…”

A familiar voice came from behind. Lin Xian turned and saw the Kiki he knew standing not far off, her expression light, smiling brightly. “Thank you, Lin Xian.”

…

16:45

The snowstorm intensified. Inside Car 1, Chen Sixuan and Shasha anxiously watched Kiki’s condition. For some reason, after the earlier bloodshed, Kiki’s expression had noticeably improved.

Her breathing steadied; color slowly returned to her skin.

“She seems… less severe,” Chen Sixuan frowned. She simply couldn’t understand—Kiki’s condition fluctuated wildly, impossible to predict.

From last night until now, the events aboard the “Infinite” had been bizarre and unsettling; she was still shaken.

But with this clear improvement, the group could finally breathe a little easier.

“But since then, we haven’t heard that footsteps sound again…” Shasha scanned the corridor, her face grim.

Thud-thud-thud!

At that moment, heavy footsteps approached.

The two women turned—their eyes fell on Da Lou striding forward, face grim. “Over there—a train!”

!

Chen Sixuan and Shasha gasped. All three rushed into the cockpit and saw, on the railway segment where the northwest line merged into Jiangyu JY3365, a black train drawing near.

But that train wasn’t on the same track as the “Infinite”—it merged ahead at a distance, clearly heading toward Dalaoshan.

Clatter-clatter~

As the train neared, the three clearly saw—it was an interstellar military intercity train!

From afar, the rails rumbled with a muffled roar as the interstellar military train sped past.

“Military? It’s the Taitiewei!” Shasha recognized the emblem on the black train and cried out.

The train carried massive tracked armored tanks, the “Taitie 3” military assault armor they’d seen at T34 outpost, even three “Destroyer” heavy military siege units—and at the rear, a colossal mobile rail cannon, like a marvel.

Boom-boom, boom-boom.

Above the train, countless aerial gunships and aircraft darkened the sky, their roaring engines and sonic booms rattling the windows nonstop.

“All these heavy units are rushing toward Dalaoshan and Yubei City?”

Chen Sixuan looked uneasy. “Perhaps it’s the extremely high-risk anomaly zone and the great anomaly we heard over the radio. It looks dangerous—we must detour via the southern route.”

“I don’t know how Lin Brother is doing… the radio’s useless now…” Shasha stared at the distant heavy forces like a black cloud sweeping past, her face filled with awe—this was her first time seeing such a massive deployment of the Federation Army.

“Don’t worry. We keep waiting.”

Chen Sixuan took a deep breath and looked at the two.

“Da Lou, while it’s still daylight, go check the train’s condition. Shasha, ride ahead to scout the southern route. I have a feeling—no matter which route, getting into Yubei City won’t be easy. I’ll stay here to watch Kiki and monitor Lin Xian’s condition. Night’s coming—we’ll stay parked and defend tonight.”

Shasha nodded. “Alright, let’s move fast.”

…

Lin Xian opened his eyes to find himself lying on the floor of Car 1’s corridor, darkness all around.

The white corrupted creature was gone. Kiki was gone. The entire carriage remained empty.

“Fuck, why am I still here?”

Darkness kept devouring his spirit.

He turned his head to the cold object in his hand—the silver antenna.

Lin Xian frowned. He knew this thing was strange.

But he couldn’t let go—if he did, endless fear would rush at him. Yet if he held on, his mental energy and willpower were draining rapidly.

His head spun. His vision darkened.

“What the hell is this?!”

Lin Xian got up from the floor and sat on the couch. He picked up the radio—it was powered off.

Click—he turned it on. The display still showed 1542.

Lin Xian tried adjusting the frequency, but no matter how he turned the dial, the orange numbers never changed—always 1542.

“This…”

Lin Xian frowned. He’d checked the radio earlier—it wasn’t damaged. Why was every frequency stuck at 1542?

“Holy shit!”

His pupils widened suddenly—“Could I be trapped inside a single frequency?!”

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(End of chapter)