At Terminal Platform Level 65, Level 4 Cargo Rail Track in Underground City No.9, on "Infinity", Chen Sixuan and Sha Sha anxiously awaited the news from Lin Xian and KIKI.
Being underground, coupled with the recent earthquake, a heavy sense of oppression made it hard to breathe.
They originally thought this place was a final gathering spot for civilization filled with survivors, where they could accomplish some goals leveraging KIKI’s identity; instead, they faced an apocalyptic graveyard.
Even from Zhao Yan and Xu Wen, there emanated a sense of desolation from hundreds of thousands of unsettled souls, as the scent of despair spread deeper underground.
Sha Sha sat at a table, observing the Hell Black Chrysanthemum inside the Plant Cultivation Chamber, her eyes full of curiosity.
After a bout of crying followed by some food, Zhao Yan and Xu Yun’s emotions had somewhat stabilized. The two sat in a corner, observing the interior of this train enclosed in steel armor.
"Where did you come from, are you heading to Yu Bei?"
Sha Sha glanced back at them, remaining silent.
Seeing that Sha Sha did not speak, Zhao Yan stopped trying to make conversation and began whispering something to Xu Wen.
Not far away, Building was holding a gun, watching these people and constantly monitoring the situation outside the train.
In the cockpit, Chen Sixuan stood by the intercom waiting, while Ding Junyi, who had just eaten something, stood alongside.
"Miss Ding," Chen Sixuan turned to this somewhat aloof woman and spoke, "Where have all the living people in this Underground City moved to?"
Ding Junyi’s gaze shifted slightly as she seriously replied,
"The relocation plan was to go to another underground city. We haven’t been notified of the specifics, and of course, I don’t know if those people moved successfully."
"Besides you, are there any other survivors here?"
Ding Junyi nodded, "From a probabilistic standpoint, there might be, but the survival chances are low. Currently, one main power core and two backup cores of the entire Underground City are damaged. Only the No. 3 backup core at Level 75 remains online. After the city was sealed, we connected to this backup power core; no other users have appeared in the subsystem, nor have we seen any unmutated survivors through surveillance."
Chen Sixuan was momentarily at a loss for words, feeling somewhat poignant inside. This massive underground city, once a beacon of hope for countless people, had turned into a horrific sinkhole burying 370,000 souls overnight.
Not to mention the countless refugees they saw on the snowy plains when they arrived...
Just then, a mechanical sound rang out. Just as Ding Junyi thought it was the intercom, Chen Sixuan suddenly stood up, grabbed her, and gestured for silence.
Chen Sixuan pointed at the train radar, which showed that something seemed to be approaching from the darkness ahead.
As Infinity had entered from the surface, the train’s front was facing away from the station exit, while the cockpit was directed towards the downward tunnel.
Chen Sixuan wondered if it could be Lin Xian and others coming along the track, but then she remembered that they had just been at the tunnel entry on Level 89 going downstairs; they had not yet received any news, so how could they suddenly appear on Level 65?
Chen Sixuan’s actions made Ding Junyi instantly alert, not only her, but Sha Sha in Car No. 1 and Building also sensed some noise and began to be vigilant.
Zhao Yan and Xu Wen looked instinctively towards the others, immediately feeling scared, "What’s happening, are they back?"
Sha Sha signaled for them to be quiet, stood up, preparing to open the blackout panel when suddenly a loud noise rang out from the side of the train.
It was as if something had suddenly crashed out of the darkness.
"Ah!!" The sudden loud bang scared Zhao Yan and Xu Wen, causing them to scream immediately. Sha Sha quickly pulled open the blackout panel, and the orange interior light of the car illuminated a blood-red mummy that appeared in the light. It sprinted and rapidly collided with the armor plate of the train.
The intense sound echoed throughout the entire freight train platform, piercingly harsh.
"It’s a human ghost!" Building said with a solemn expression. He had just chopped one of these creatures not long ago. Although this one looked somewhat different, it was clearly not an ordinary zombie; it had to be the type of human ghost Ding Junyi had mentioned.
Inside the cockpit, Chen Sixuan noticed the situation in Carriage 1 and was about to run over there when a light noise came from the front side of the train, as if something had climbed up.
Ding Junyi’s expression darkened, and both she and Chen Sixuan stepped back.
A low roar sounded, and slowly, several bizarre tentacles appeared in sight. They spread along the armor grid of the train’s cockpit windshield, secreting brown mucus, and a hand grabbed onto them. It seemed that one could now see a circle of sharp teeth and a mouthpart in the center of these tentacles.
"This is also a human ghost!" Ding Junyi slightly frowned and looked at Chen Sixuan, "Do we need to activate some defense mechanisms or counterattack?"
Chen Sixuan widened her eyes, observing the strange creature outside the train, and took a deep breath.
"No need! They can’t get in!"
At this moment, increasingly more noises began to arise constantly around the rear carriages, some from the sides and some climbing onto the roof.
On the dark platform, the noises attracted countless bizarre creatures. Zombies and human ghosts started to surround the train.
In Carriage 1, screams echoed back and forth. Sha Sha walked up to Zhao Yan and Xu Wen and shouted annoyed, "Stop yelling, or I’ll throw you out."
Zhao Yan was startled, not expecting such fierce words from a girl who looked to be about fifteen. She looked up and saw Building approaching with a murderous aura, thinking he was really going to throw them off. Immediately, she clung to Xu Wen, covering her mouth in terror and dared not shout any longer.
"Sister Chen, any news from Brother Lin?"
Sha Sha shouted toward the cockpit.
Chen Sixuan shook her head. At this moment, various sounds of attacks and impacts continuously came from all around. Numerous black bugs climbed up the windows to the roof of the car.
A female ghost let out a fierce screech, rushing extremely fast to the position of the cockpit door, scratching incessantly at the door with her blood claws. The whole train was now surrounded by various monsters, echoes reverberating into the carriage.
Ding Junyi looked around in surprise. The armor of this train was more robust than she had expected. The scene of that woman ghost rushing out of the dark and killing Professor Han was still vivid in her mind, but such monsters seemed not to cause much damage to the train’s armor, almost comparable to that of a military tank.
At that moment, the intercom rang, and Chen Sixuan quickly pressed it. Lin Xian’s voice finally appeared again.
"Teacher Chen, we have found the locomotive."
"That’s great, how are you guys doing now?" Chen Sixuan asked hurriedly.
"The situation... is a bit complicated. What’s going on there?" Lin Xian asked, hearing the intense activity on the train.
"We are surrounded by a lot of zombies and human ghosts, not sure if there are any Abnormal Bodies." Chen Sixuan tried to stay calm, looking towards the roof and the direction of the carriage: "But don’t worry, it should be fine here."