Chapter 85: Open the Lid

Da Lou’s expression darkened; he immediately switched positions, raised his rifle, rolled down the window, and fired a burst at the lean monkey’s silhouette in the darkness.

TATATATATAT!

But the lean monkey moved with astonishing agility, his multiple legs propelling him at incredible speed as he darted through the forest; Da Lou’s machine gun fire was wildly inaccurate, kicking up clouds of dirt and dust behind him—yet not a single bullet hit.

The lean monkey grinned maniacally as he ran, shouting toward the convoy.

“Hahaha, Boss! Only one guy, two hot chicks, and the rest is all supplies!! Hurry up and grab it, or you won’t even get the broth!”

His words were wildly incendiary; instantly, the convoy’s bandits erupted into frenzy.

TATATATAT! TATAT!

With the first shot fired, the entire bandit convoy opened fire toward Da Lou’s position.

A storm of bullets rained down, sparks flying with every impact; Da Lou and Sha Sha could only duck behind cover.

Countless headlights and searchlights illuminated the train in the night.

Seeing Da Lou pinned down, the mob grew even more frenzied; some drivers stomped the gas and charged straight toward the train, gun barrels protruding from every window as they fired.

“They’re only three people!”

“There’s tons of supplies on the train!!!”

“Kill the guy.”

DINGDINGDINGDING…

Countless bullets slammed into the “Infinity’s” steel armor, ringing out with sharp vibrations—but the train stood like a fortress, ordinary rounds leaving not a single scratch.

But the bandits didn’t care; their eyes were red now. All they needed was to suppress Da Lou’s fire and get close enough to the train.

Several vehicles began circling; others charged directly to seize the armored car, while some raised Molotov cocktails.

The apocalypse bandits began their assault on the train!

…

On the other side, in the dark Car 1, Lin Xian paced back and forth, surrounded by absolute silence.

A beautiful headless woman in a red dress, clad in a bikini, stood to one side; her severed head on the floor watched him move.

“Frequency… frequency…”

Suddenly, he stopped, looked up at the ceiling light above, and his mind stirred.

He remembered the earlier light.

One thing seemed unaffected by the strange frequency.

That was his Mechanical Heart.

PAPAP~

Lin Xian steadied his breath and made the light flash twice, then waited for a response.

Soon after, the light flashed twice again.

Outside, bullets rained down; Chen Sixuan, seeing the flashing light, instantly understood Lin Xian’s intent and toggled the light twice in return.

In that instant, Lin Xian stared at the flashing light above, tears welling in his eyes.

Only my Chen Laoshi…

“If the light can flash, the simplest method is… Morse code!”

“Let me think… am07, am07—no zero, just am7. Chen Laoshi will understand.”

Chen Sixuan was a university professor with knowledge of railways; she’d likely be familiar with international light signals.

Lin Xian strained to recall: “Light-long, dark-short for long; light-short, dark-short for short; one-second gap between—so it should be”

.━/━━/━━．．．/

So Lin Xian activated his Mechanical Heart to flash the light: three short, three long, three short—the universal distress signal—signaling that he was using light communication.

…

On the Infinity, a major battle raged.

POMPOMPOM!

Da Lou returned fire relentlessly through the windows, braving the storm of bullets.

“Bro! They’re too many!”

Sha Sha shouted, firing another grenade out the window.

POM!

The grenade struck the left front hood of a pickup truck dead-on; it exploded violently, blowing apart the engine and tires. The truck flipped over from inertia and rolled down the hill, its occupants’ fates unknown.

TATATAT, DINGDINGDING!

A torrent of bullets poured in; as the firepower intensified, everyone on the train realized this was no small bandit convoy—it was a large-scale assault.

Several lead vehicles had already reached the front of the train; over a dozen bandits crouched low, leaping out and scattering—some sprinted toward the locomotive, others toward Car 5 and the armored car.

The bandits employed every method imaginable to force open the train doors; the rear end was swarmed with people wielding steel pipes, crowbars, machetes, even tow hooks and power saws dragged from SUVs—all waiting, insane with anticipation, for the moment the doors gave way.

“Don’t be afraid! They’re really only three people!”

!

“We hit the jackpot!”

“Grab the rear vehicles first!!”

The train’s firepower clearly failed to intimidate these bloodthirsty bandits; some even kept shouting.

Then, from within the bandit convoy, a shadow suddenly leapt sideways onto the roof of a moving vehicle, stomped hard with his feet, unleashed a tremendous force, crushing the roof inward—and launched himself skyward like a cannonball.

THUD.

The shadow landed on the Infinity’s roof, raised his fist, and slammed it down with all his might.

POM!

The force was immense, yet the roof armor only dented slightly; he paused, startled—this train’s armor wasn’t ordinary steel.

Failing his first strike, he charged toward the rear of the train, aiming to open the hydraulic tailgate.

“Bro, he’s an adept!”

Hearing the thunderous noise above, Sha Sha and Da Lou instantly realized.

THUD!

The man rolled across the roof, landed on his knee at the rear, formed his palm into hardened black metal, and drove it straight into the gap between tailgate and carriage.

HSSSS!

Sparks flew everywhere—his skin was harder than steel; he was trying to overpower the hydraulic system barehanded.

He pried the hydraulic plate open a sliver, inserted his other hand, and strained to rip it apart with both arms.

But hydraulic force wasn’t something easily overcome; he held the gap open and shouted behind him: “Zhu Laosan, bring the tow hook!”

“Got it!”

Another lean monkey with a scorpion tail yelled, dragging a metal tow hook from between several vehicles, ready to latch onto the tailgate and use the combined pull of multiple cars to rip it open.

POMPOMPOM!

At that moment, a burst of bullets shot out from the gap—Da Lou, below, fired his machine gun upward, only to see the man on the roof was a middle-aged brute with a full beard; he turned his side, his entire body turning gray-black, the bullets striking him like they hit metal, ricocheting off.

“Bro, nice aim.”

The bearded man sneered, intensifying his strength: "I'll crack open this turtle shell for you!"

New author seeking follows and monthly votes.

After launch on December 1st, I’ll post massive updates—don’t save this novel; always check to the last chapter when a new one drops.

(End of Chapter)