Inside carriage number one, Lin Xian lay on the comfortable memory foam mattress, feeling the soft warm fragrance in his arms. After staying awake for two consecutive nights, he finally had a good sleep.
He checked the time, 14:00, fortunately, nothing had happened overnight.
Outside it was still night; Lin Xian had set the time in advance to observe the exact time of dawn.
The night was too long, and they had slept too much.
Chen Sixuan, who had been on his body, was already awake, silent. Seeing Lin Xian turn over to get up, she quickly turned red and hurriedly got dressed, then softly said to Lin Xian,
"They seem to have used rocks to block the railway tracks."
Lin Xian pulled Chen Sixuan closer, lowered his head, and gently pecked her on the lips, then said, "I know, I've already taken care of it before getting on the train."
Chen Sixuan shyly dodged out of his embrace and picked up the train log, talking to herself, "Considering the distance we covered after leaving Yushan Station, we ran 54 kilometers yesterday. According to the message spread by the survivors, today's dawn should come before 17:00."
She avoided Lin Xian's gaze while speaking after their passionate night.
"Let's see." Lin Xian checked his watch. "This short distance might not show any change."
Since it was still pitch dark outside, they both lowered their voices and started eating some food and water first.
Lin Xian leaned in the aisle, one hand on the floor feeling for the situation outside the carriage, while also checking his injuries, which, as he expected, had healed very quickly.
The bodies of Superpower Users and ordinary people had already become fundamentally different. At the same time, after yesterday's life-and-death fight with Liu Wei, Lin Xian's Wind Cannon Skill had greatly improved.
[Wind Cannon LV.1 25/100]
[Ice Shield LV.1 6/100]
After yesterday's battle, Lin Xian truly felt like he had fought with all he had. He realized for the first time how merciless and decisive he could be, maintaining absolute calm at critical moments. He admired himself for possessing such a state of mind.
Time passed by every minute and second.
Lin Xian watched the time ticking on his watch.
At 15:00, it was not yet daybreak.
At 16:00, daylight still hadn't arrived.
The later it got, the faster they needed to escape.
But what Lin Xian was most worried about at this moment was that there was no slight change in the time of daybreak; that would be truly despairing.
The temperature had already dropped to around 0 degrees Celsius. Lin Xian and Chen Sixuan had both put on long-sleeved clothes to keep warm. Thankfully, he had previously gathered a large supply of new blankets and mattresses from a furniture store, otherwise, they would have had to sleep on a hard bed in such cold weather.
Just as the time jumped to 16:48, a streak of light flickered in the sky, and the black veil suddenly lifted, the slanted sun hanging high!
"It's daylight," Chen Sixuan exclaimed in surprise, joy radiating in her eyes.
According to the scheduled time, it was supposed to be daybreak at 17:00, but it came 12 minutes earlier!
Lin Xian opened the door to the passage and entered the driver's cabin with Chen Sixuan. They both looked out at the sunlight with a mix of amazement and worry in their eyes.
They were thrilled that daylight had arrived 12 minutes earlier than expected. Although it was not much, it was enough to prove they were escaping the extreme night!
Their worry was that this small amount of time was just a drop in the bucket.
Chen Sixuan was the first to react, picking up the train log to start calculating,
"Dawn arrived 12 minutes earlier. If we only consider yesterday's 54 kilometers, that means if we want to catch back up to a 17:00 dawn tomorrow, we have to travel at least 270 kilometers!"
"About that." Lin Xian nodded, "It's not far from what we heard on the radio, but let's not be too optimistic. We are not moving in a straight line, and to cover 270 kilometers, we'll need at least three hours at our current pace, unless we speed up."
Chen Sixuan dimmed upon hearing this, "Yes, and we can't go too fast either. Who knows if we'll encounter cars or rocks blocking the road again..."
In just two days, almost every day brought frequent emergencies, each a life-or-death situation. Thinking of this, Chen Sixuan began to worry.
Infinity's ten-cylinder heavy-duty gas turbine began to roar as Lin Xian took the driver's seat and turned back to Chen Sixuan, saying,
"Teacher Chen, hold on tight."
Chen Sixuan's mouth fell open; she heard Lin Xian still calling her "Teacher," which immediately set off a wave of panic and awkwardness in her heart. After all, the two of them had already...
Could it be that he had some sort of fetish and liked that sense of taboo?
Lin Xian was unaware of the myriad thoughts in Chen Sixuan's mind as he started the train moving in reverse!
As she watched the train back up, Chen Sixuan's expression turned to shock,
"Are we moving backward?"
"Yes," Lin Xian said somberly, "we're going back to check on Yushan Station."
With Liu Wei killed and night approaching, his motorcade would be headless and bound to descend into chaos. Moreover, without the superpower user Liu Wei, as long as Lin Xian and Chen Sixuan were on the train, those armed night prowlers would be powerless against them.
Having dealt with their leader, Lin Xian felt it would be too much of a loss not to gain something from this. Plus, he now had some confidence; as long as they hurried along, they could escape the polar night—a positive sign for someone like Lin Xian, who had survived for months.
Before long, the heavy locomotive slowly reversed into Yushan Station Platform, and the scene that greeted Lin Xian and Chen Sixuan made both of their faces change.
The platform was in ruins; the 'Oasis' motorcade had completely fallen. Vehicles like SUVs and Jeeps were now covered with ferocious bloodstains, and the ground of the platform was almost entirely soaked in crimson. Some of the motorcade's members had turned pitch black and became zombies, weeping and standing in place.
Chen Sixuan saw one of the zombies who had been a man, just yesterday—a middle-aged man with glasses, pretending to be the father in a family of three.
Unexpectedly, after one night, everyone was dead.
"Lin Xian, look quick!"
Chen Sixuan exclaimed, pointing towards the direction of Yushan Station's waiting hall. The small waiting hall appeared almost entirely overrun, but what surprised the two of them most were the scattered, insect-like legs at the entrance!
Chen Sixuan's expression was grim, "My God, what kind of monster is this..."
Lin Xian frowned; he thought back to the insect-shadow at Warehouse 14 and felt a bit of lingering fear.
He had traveled over 50 kilometers away just yesterday, yet could it be that the creature had caught up?
As for the mysterious insect and the White Giant Monster, Lin Xian truly had no clue. They seemed to appear out of nowhere in the night and then vanished with the sunrise. If not for seeing those immense legs right then, who would believe that such terrible monsters could suddenly appear in this world?
Lin Xian stopped the train and carefully observed from the window before saying,
"Don't worry, it's daytime now, these things shouldn't come out."
He really felt like cursing; he had just warmed to the idea of moving at night, only for reality to slap him in the face.
How could he even consider any action if that thing was trailing behind him?
"Should we still go down?" asked Chen Sixuan.
Lin Xian clenched his teeth. Having come this far and seeing as the 'Oasis' had fallen, it was a good chance to scavenge whatever resources they had left.
"Alright, I'll come too." Chen Sixuan tightened her fists, but Lin Xian raised his hand to stop her, "Don't rush, let me go down first to deal with those zombies."
"Okay," Chen Sixuan nodded obediently.
With Short Knife in hand, Lin Xian opened the train cabin door and leaped out. As his feet hit the ground, he immediately blasted the heads off several zombies on the platform with his Wind Cannon Skill.
Though it consumed some energy, Lin Xian did not want to make unnecessary noise. The Wind Cannon was quiet and particularly suitable for stealth attacks.
With several zombies falling in succession, Lin Xian then noticed a strong stench of blood assailing his nostrils, causing his brow to furrow deeply.
Bullet marks were everywhere on the platform, as well as various severed limbs. It was clear that a brutal battle had taken place here last night.
Lin Xian had seen how strange those monsters were; regular firearms would likely have a hard time inflicting any significant damage.