"We’ve formed a group now, although we can’t take you all with us given the current situation. Everyone has so much stuff on the cars, but if we can make it alive across the Dazhu Plateau, we might find some survival carriages in Jiazhou City and truly assemble a moving fortress train to survive together."
Currently, the Infinity doesn’t have enough survival carriages, and the urgent matter is to head for the high-altitude orbit with approaching darkness and the city shrouded in dense fog. Solving the present predicament is the utmost priority; there’s no time for Lin Xian to organize a train and search for suitable carriages...
The entire freight station platform was filled with container carriages or flatbed trailers; as much as they wished, reality was far from idyllic.
Shu Qin had mentioned the idea offhandedly, but Lin Xian’s words had moved her. She smiled and said, "Thank you. We’ll all strive to live and keep up with the pace of your train."
Lao Mo didn’t share the same sentimental feelings; grinning, he nonchalantly suggested, "If you get the chance, you could go to Star City or Jin Hai to have the train modified with wheel-caterpillar treads, employing the tech known as an amphibious conversion drive wheel. If you succeed, you’ll be able to drive anywhere without needing tracks."
Xu Jin also spoke up solemnly, "You’re talking about trains and treads, but you’ve got a much broader path than our trucks and off-road vehicles. Let’s not waste words now. We should rush into the city before it gets dark. Although the Airport said the ascent passage will be fully halted tomorrow, with that big guy up in the sky, the Airport might not hold up. If we can’t make it there, all this talking will just end with us croaking in Yu Bei City."
Lin Xian nodded, his expression growing serious. "Okay, let’s set off together. Everyone stay alert and don’t fall behind."
"Wishing you a safe journey."
"Wishing you a safe journey..."
"Take care, young man."
After exchanging salutations, this temporary alliance had been formed. Xu Jin returned to his convoy to make arrangements, and soon the vehicles parked on the roadside cleared the way.
Lu Xingchen, who had been leisurely relaxing under the RV, saw this scene, pushed down his sunglasses, stretched, and began packing up his sun umbrella and lounge chair.
"What’s with that guy acting all pompous?" asked KIKI and Sha Sha, peering through binoculars in Infinity’s cockpit at Lu Xingchen. They remarked disdainfully, "Sunbathing in this freezing weather, is he hot or something?"
Lin Xian entered the cockpit, updated everyone on recent developments, and then slowly started driving the train towards the freight station’s exit.
Due to its location at the foot of a plateau and snow-capped mountains, the industrial city’s freight station offered a distant view of the city’s outer areas in a valley but not the main urban district.
But from the far perspective of the valley, they could see the towering pillars of the high-altitude corridors.
Majestic and imposing!
"Captain Lin, can you hear me?"
The alliance squad confirmed the communication frequency on their radios, with Lin Xian, Lao Mo, Shu Qin, Xu Jin, and the mysterious Lu Xingchen all joining the channel to start dialogue.
Shu Qin, aboard a heavy truck fitted with anti-skid chains on its tires, spoke into the radio, "The time is 18:15, we have roughly half an hour before darkness falls. I estimate it’ll take us about 40 minutes to reach the Airport from here unless something unexpected happens..."
"Whether it’s dark or not doesn’t make much of a difference. There’s fog inside, and what the Phoenix Society referred to as the Abnormal Bodies likely to appear during the day must be in areas . So it’s hard to say how many Monsters there might be; I guess it’s similar to nighttime." Xu Jin’s voice came through. In his view, the situation in Yu Bei City had deteriorated drastically; venturing in was a desperate gamble for all, whether day or night. With the ascent channel about to close, this was their last chance for the nearly two hundred people.
"Yes, the fog is like the night."
Lin Xian said over the intercom. Having experienced the foggy escape at North Bay, he naturally knew that the fog was almost identical to the darkness.
Now that he thought about it, it had indeed started snowing when they were entering North Bay, and the situation seemed consistent with the report from the Phoenix Society.
"Let’s go, everyone be careful."
Lin Xian’s expression was slightly stern as he started to slowly drive the train out of the tracks. The main road was clear of any snow, presumably already plowed by other trains.
Aboard the Infinity, everyone also started to be on guard.
Building and Sha Sha were armed and loaded with live ammunition. Thanks to Lin Xian’s Preparation Factory, Sha Sha now had an ammo backpack strapped to her back, inside of which was filled with artillery shells.
Building had his bullet belt wrapped around his shoulders twice, looking quite well-stocked.
"We’re going to see that big jellyfish again." KIKI rubbed her hands together with a bothered expression. "I really hate things with tentacles."
Click, click, click, click~
Using the detector blueprints scanned from Xu Jin, Lin Xian quickly manufactured a water quality tester of the same model and handed it to Chen Sixuan. "Teacher Chen, collect a cup of water, test it. If the light turns green, it’s level 1 water quality, then test it again after an hour to see if there’s any change in the water quality."
Chen Sixuan understood Lin Xian’s intention and went to collect water immediately.
"Do you also think that the dark contagion could directly affect the water inside the bottle?" KIKI asked Lin Xian.
"There’s no need to guess, it definitely can." Lin Xian turned to look at KIKI. "But what I’m testing now is the protection on our train."
Lin Xian intended to explain the Heterogeneous Rubik’s Cube to her but then realized that he might not be able to explain it clearly himself; concepts like dark invasion, nocturnal contagion, fear incursion... even he was muddled about them, so speaking would be futile.
These kinds of matters were better left to people from the Phoenix Society like Ding Junyi to research. They’d need clear results to know the shielding power principles of the Heterogeneous Rubik’s Cube.
For now, as long as it could be confirmed that the water onboard didn’t change in quality over time, it could be assumed that the Heterogeneous Rubik’s Cube indeed was a Divine Artifact. He just had to use it. Such items were definitely sought for research by the Federation, but since Lin Xian’s Mechanical Heart couldn’t even detect it, only to heterogeneously seal it, he didn’t delve deeper.
The Infinity began to leave the platform, driving along the mountain side towards the city interior.
Behind the train, countless trucks and cars began to follow in an orderly manner, while Lao Mo’s two extraordinarily exaggerated fortress trucks followed at the very back.
Among the moving vehicles, a sophisticated RV drove in the middle of the convoy. The driver, Lu Xingchen, wore sunglasses, with handsome features, and casually whistled, appearing rather relaxed. Inside the RV, Buddha pendants hung from the rearview mirror, and a cushioned dashboard displayed various delicate collectibles. The interior of the RV was clean and tidy, in stark contrast with the constantly fleeing survivors.
Listening to several convoy leaders’ urgent communication over the intercom, he merely quirked his lips, whispering softly:
"Everyone is so anxious, sigh..." he said as he used his finger to lift his sunglasses slightly.
A small flame ignited at his fingertips, which he quickly extinguished with a gentle blow.
"It doesn’t matter, I’ll take action."