In the dark carriage, where the warmth of the heating diffused, separating them from the frigid cold outside the heavy armor, Lin Xian lay in bed watching Chen Sixuan, who had already fallen deeply asleep beside him, a trace of relief apparent in his eyes.
The apocalypse had swiftly made him realize so much.
Food and water were extremely scarce, and zombies and Abnormals were certainly lethal, but the pressure of loneliness and fear under the weight of survival was no less daunting than the former.
Without Chen Sixuan’s support, the superpowers of KIKI, the assistance of Building Shasha, mustering up the courage to keep living would have been tremendously difficult.
As the snowstorm intensified, Lin Xian rose to dress quietly and made his way to the Whale’s cockpit to start the Mechanical Heart and perform a full vehicle check and repair.
The gigantic Abnormal Body in the sky, like a dark cloud looming over him, made it difficult for Lin Xian to sleep, so he decided to spend some time slightly repairing the armor of the entire vehicle.
Now that the vehicle’s armor has been upgraded and its weight increased, coupled with the energy consumption required for heating the carriage, this directly led to Lin Xian’s train driving consumption becoming even greater.
"If I don’t upgrade the Mechanical Heart to level 3, it might be tough to run 300 kilometers a day."
"I hope that the Underground City will have some useful energy devices to give me a breather..."
After simply repairing some of the more severe armor deformations, Lin Xian returned to bed, set an alarm, and began to sleep.
Because he used the Soul Swinging Value Detector, tonight Lin Xian only had Building to stand guard at the rear carriage, while the radar warning system at the front allowed for some peace of mind, he too needed to recover some strength to face the troubles of tomorrow.
At 8:00 in the deep of the night, Lin Xian awoke to the sound of his wristwatch alarm, feeling mostly reenergized.
Teacher Chen was still sound asleep. As one of the only two ordinary people on the vehicle, Chen Sixuan’s physical condition couldn’t compare with the other three, not even Sha Sha’s; after maintaining high tension for several days, she was finally getting some much-needed rest.
Lin Xian didn’t wake her, but stood up and opened the hatch to the second carriage to find KIKI had already been working at the computer.
KIKI was squatting in front of the computer without turning on the light, the glow from the screen illuminating her face, suddenly giving Lin Xian an adjective to describe her:
Internet-addicted girl...
"I’ve been asleep for quite a while, okay." KIKI stretched and then, looking spiritedly at Lin Xian, said, "Right now, I’m the most energized on this train."
"Not bad, spirited girl, are you working on the water-oxygen cycle system?"
KIKI pointed at the screen and clicked her tongue.
"It’s not that easy. First, we need to separate the storage water tank for domestic water from the one used for the vehicle. Then there’s the water purifier, which depends on whether you’re ready to create the blueprint for the water purifier. If you want to set up a heating system, then you need to connect the vehicle’s water tank with the domestic water tank in a circulating serial connection. This is perfect for adding the distillation stage; it can not only purify water but also provide heating. The domestic water can be cycled, although used, it’s definitely cleaner than black rain. Next is the water-oxygen system, which is even more troublesome. If you want to set up a planting carriage, you not only need to do soil-less cultivation and sprinkling irrigation, which requires a separate partition, but also solve the air problem. For that, you’ll need to seal the entire train to make a functional oxygen cycle..."
Lin Xian became interested and pulled up a chair to sit down.
"Right, my initial thought was just to modify the train’s existing water usage. But now we need to consider purification, recycling, heating, and planting, so things have gotten more complicated. But we can start with purification and recycling first. As for heating, the current warm air system is barely sufficient."
"I think a massive project like Underground City Number 9 will definitely have a complete system in place. Although we can’t directly copy it, we can take inspiration from it, and perhaps find some ready-made solutions..."
KIKI’s eyes lit up, "Right, such an underground city project will surely have a green plant cultivation area and definitely a Medical System..."
As she spoke, she clapped her hands eagerly, her eyes brimming with enthusiasm as she gazed at Lin Xian.
"There’s another crucial thing."
"AI system module!" KIKI’s eyes widened. "If we can get extremely high computational power, we could directly use the AI system to generate viable options for our carriage, isn’t that better than racking our brains?"
Lin Xian nodded. "Makes sense."
"And, and there’s more..." KIKI grew more excited as she spoke, spinning her chair around. Wearing only shorts, her long legs casually faced Lin Xian.
"Maybe the Underground City itself has an Eternal Level train used for external supply transport or emergency evacuation. These super trains are equipped with mini nuclear power units—if we could get our hands on one..."
Lin Xian watched her talk animatedly, his lips curving up slightly, unable to help himself.
Of course, he hoped that all she said could come true, and he knew such a massive Underground City would have various high-tech devices. To him, with his Mechanical superpower, it was like a dream of divine mechanical descent.
However, he was also aware that one should not be too optimistic.
First, the Underground City was a property of the former Federation Government, belonging to the previous authorities. Whether it was still maintained and operational under the New Apocalypse Federation was uncertain. Even if everything was good, a large post-apocalyptic Underground City would surely have extremely tight security and defense. KIKI being able to get in didn’t mean he could, and the most crucial issue was—
There wasn’t much time left...
Yu Bei City’s No. 1 aerial corridor would close in just 3 days. Subtracting the time on the road, he had at most less than two days to visit that Underground City...
But looking at KIKI’s exceptionally excited appearance, Lin Xian didn’t pour cold water on her directly. He just nodded and said,
"If all goes well, our train might get a huge upgrade. Then, after crossing Corridor No. 1, it could take us less than a week to reach Jin Hai from Jiazhou City."
Who knew that upon hearing this, KIKI’s face fell as if she sensed something. Her gaze sharpened as she turned to him.
"What’s wrong?" Lin Xian frowned slightly. Did he get the route wrong?
Before he could react, KIKI suddenly jumped down from the chair, barefooted, and in a few steps she hopped onto his lap, straddling him like a cat. She then grabbed Lin Xian’s collar and pulled his face close, looking into his eyes with a hint of anger,
"Jin Hai? What, you want to kick me off the train again?"
Lin Xian looked into those beautiful big eyes in front of him, his gaze shifting slightly as he instantly understood something, and he chuckled sheepishly.
"How could I? You’re our information expert. I was just talking about our route."
"Really...?" KIKI’s big eyes stared intensely at Lin Xian, who could almost feel the girl’s breath on his face.
"Really." Lin Xian nodded earnestly.
As the conversation ended, the air quieted down, KIKI sitting on Lin Xian’s lap, their gazes intertwined.
"That’s more like it..."
After saying that, KIKI stared into Lin Xian’s eyes for a moment, then suddenly she stretched her neck out, bit quickly on the tip of Lin Xian’s nose, and then pushed him away, "Off you go, don’t disturb Miss here while working..."
Lin Xian looked somewhat caught off guard, touching his nose and giving KIKI a surprised glance, only to find her no longer paying attention to him, putting on headphones humming a tune and starting to work.
What kind of move was that?