Chapter 92: Work (6th Update—Requesting Monthly Tickets!)

In the dark carriage, warmth filled the air, shielding against the freezing cold outside the heavy armor. Lin Xian lay on his bed, gazing at Chen Sixuan, who slept soundly beside him, a hint of relief in his eyes.

Under the apocalypse, he had learned much in a short time.

Food and water were desperately scarce, and the eerie creatures were deadly—but the loneliness and fear under such survival pressure were no less crushing.

Without Chen Sixuan’s support, without Kiki’s ability, without Daliang Shasha’s help, even summoning the courage to keep living would have been impossibly hard.

The snowstorm intensified. Lin Xian rose, dressed, and quietly entered the Whale’s cockpit, activating the Mechanical Heart to inspect and repair the entire train.

The massive eerie entity in the sky loomed like a dark cloud over his heart; Lin Xian couldn’t sleep, so he decided to spend some time making minor repairs to the train’s armor.

After the full-train armor upgrade, the weight increased, and the carriage’s heating system drained the electric locomotive’s reserve power—this directly raised the energy cost of driving the train.

“Without upgrading the Mechanical Heart to Level 3, running 300 kilometers a day might be a struggle.”

“I hope the underground city has useful energy devices—something to ease the strain…”

After hastily repairing the most severe armor deformations, Lin Xian returned to bed, set an alarm, and went to sleep.

Since he used the Soul-Dispelling Value Detector, he assigned only Daliang to guard the rear carriage tonight; the front carriage had Lei Da’s early-warning system, offering slight reassurance—he needed to restore his strength, or he wouldn’t survive tomorrow’s troubles.

…

Beep. Beep.

8:00 a.m., deep night. Lin Xian woke to his watch alarm, feeling half his energy restored.

Chen Laoshi still slept. As the only two ordinary people on the train, Chen Sixuan’s physical condition couldn’t compare to the other three—even Shasha outclassed her. After days of relentless tension, she finally got a good night’s rest.

Lin Xian didn’t wake her. He rose and opened the gate to Carriage 2, finding Kiki already seated before her computer, working.

“Hello, boss~”

Kiki hadn’t turned on the lights. The screen’s glow lit her face, giving Lin Xian a sudden descriptor.

Internet-addicted girl…

“So early?”

“I slept plenty, thank you very much.” Kiki stretched, bright-eyed, staring at Lin Xian. “Now I’m the most alert person on this train.”

“Good, energy girl. Are you working on the water-oxygen recycling system?”

“There you go~”

Kiki pointed at the screen and clicked her tongue.

“It’s not that simple. First, the water tanks—our drinking water must be separated from the train’s coolant system. Then the purification system—it depends on your blueprint for the water purifier. If you want heating, you need to link the train and living water tanks in a loop, so you can add distillation right in—purify water and heat at once. Living water can re-enter the cycle; even used, it’s cleaner than black rain. Then the oxygen system—that’s even trickier. If you want a planting carriage, you need hydroponics, mist irrigation, all separately isolated. And to solve air quality, you must seal the entire train to even attempt oxygen recycling…”

Lin Xian grew interested and pulled up a chair.

“Right. Originally, I just wanted to modify the original carriage’s water system. But now I have to consider purification, recycling, heating, planting—it’s gotten complicated. Still, we can start with purification and recycling. The current heating system is barely enough.”

“I’m thinking—underground cities like No. 9 must have fully developed systems. We can’t copy them directly, but we can borrow ideas. Maybe even find ready-made parts…”

Kiki’s eyes lit up. “Yes! Such underground cities must have plant cultivation zones—and medical systems…”

Snap!

She clapped her hands, gazing at Lin Xian with eager, shining eyes.

“There’s one more crucial thing.”

“What?”

“AI system modules!” Kiki widened her eyes. “If we get high enough processing power, we can use the AI to generate usable designs based on our carriage—way better than guessing blindly.” Lin Xian nodded. “Makes sense.”

“And, and…” Kiki grew more excited, spinning her chair. Wearing only shorts, her bare legs stretched openly toward Lin Xian.

“Maybe the underground city itself has an Eternal-class rail train—used for external supply transport or emergency evacuation. Those super-trains carry mini-nuclear power units. If we could get one…”

Watching her animated expression, Lin Xian couldn’t help a faint smile.

He certainly hoped all this could come true. He knew such massive underground cities held advanced equipment—perfect for his mechanical ability, like a divine descent of machinery.

But he also knew not to be overly optimistic.

First, the underground city belonged to the old Lianbangzheng Prefecture’s assets—after its collapse, no one knew if it still functioned under the new Tianqi Federation’s maintenance. Even if everything was fine, such a vast underground city would have extreme security and defense. Kiki getting in didn’t mean he could. And the most critical issue:

Time was running out…

The No. 1 High-Altitude Corridor in Yubei would close in three days. After travel time, he had less than two days to reach that underground city.

But seeing Kiki’s ecstatic expression, Lin Xian didn’t dampen her spirits. He simply nodded.

“If things go well, our train might get a huge upgrade. Then, after crossing the No. 1 High-Altitude Corridor, we could reach Jinhai in under a week from Jiazhou.”

At once, Kiki’s face darkened. Her smile vanished. Her gaze sharpened.

!

“What did you say?!”

“What’s wrong?” Lin Xian frowned. Had he messed up the route?

Thump-thump-thump~

Before he could react, Kiki leapt from her chair, barefoot, sprinted over, and straddled his lap like a cat. She grabbed his collar, pulled him close, and stared into his eyes with a hint of anger.

“Jinhai? Are you trying to kick me off the train again?”

Lin Xian looked into her beautiful eyes, his gaze shifting—he instantly understood. He gave a sheepish smile.

“Impossible. You’re our information expert. I was just talking about our route.”

“R-really?” Kiki’s big eyes locked onto him. He could almost feel her breath on his face.

Tingling.

“Really.” Lin Xian nodded solemnly.

Silence fell. Kiki sat on his lap, their gazes locked.

“That’s better…”

Kiki stared into his eyes for a moment, then suddenly leaned forward, opened her mouth, and bit his nose swiftly. Then she shoved him away. “Go, go, don’t disturb the lady’s work…”

Lin Xian was stunned. He touched his nose, glanced at Kiki—she ignored him, put on her headphones, and hummed while working.

Holy shit…

What kind of move was that?

New book launch—begging for monthly tickets! Infinite Train, soaring to the skies!

Deeply grateful!

(End of chapter)