The Infinite Train slowly came to a stop. Lin Xian opened the door, and a snowmobile rode up. Shu Qin, looking noticeably more haggard than a few days ago—her skin dry and hair disheveled—immediately unfastened her helmet and secured it to the vehicle upon seeing Lin Xian. Her expression was somewhat urgent.
"I can’t believe it’s really your train. Looks like I called the right person."
Lin Xian looked at her curiously. "Shu Qin? Where’s your convoy?"
"Over there!" Shu Qin pointed toward the distant Freight Terminal. "We’ve got four convoys gathered there, getting ready to enter the city together. But a lot has happened… You guys better be careful too."
"What happened?" Lin Xian asked.
"It’s complicated. Are you planning to stop at the freight platform up ahead? If so, we can group up and push into the spaceport together. There are too many zombies over there, plus the fog… Some eerie entities are appearing in the city regardless of whether it's day or night. Many convoys have suffered heavy losses."
"Alright, we’ll pull in first and talk."
Lin Xian agreed without hesitation. As he gazed at the cold, desolate industrial city ahead, an unsettling feeling crept into his heart.
The train began moving again, merging onto the double-track railway. Shu Qin put her helmet back on and sped forward on her snowmobile.
Before long, they arrived at a large freight station, surrounded by numerous derelict trains. Many zombie corpses lay sprawled across the tracks, seemingly having been cleared earlier. The Infinite Train crushed over them as it advanced.
Soon, in an open area, they spotted a large cluster of survivor vehicles—dozens of them—parked in a staggered formation along the tracks. Many were heavy trucks, their exteriors battered and stained with blood, clear evidence of brutal battles.
Anyone who had made it this far was either exceptionally lucky or had remarkable courage and strength.
As the Infinite Train approached, several armed survivors instinctively raised their guns, but upon recognizing Shu Qin leading the way, they cautiously lowered their weapons.
The train rolled in slowly. Inside the carriages, Shasha, KIKI, and Chen Sixuan peered through the windows at the convoy outside, while the survivors outside fixed their gazes on the heavily armored locomotive.
"Whoa! Look at that armor—it’s insane! Way better than the scrap metal we slapped onto our rigs."
"It looks like a factory-made Apocalypse Train… Could it be from the Federation?"
"Who knows? But it’s badass as hell!"
The murmurs of the survivors filled the air.
Once the train fully stopped, Lin Xian stepped out. A few convoy leaders made their way over from nearby.
Lin Xian recognized two of them—aside from Shu Qin, there was also Xu Jin, the middle-aged man he had met before. It seemed their convoys had grouped together on their way to Yubei City.
"Let me introduce you," Shu Qin said, moving swiftly. "This is Captain Lin, leader of the Infinite Convoy."
She then gestured toward an older man with graying hair. "And this here—Old Mo, Mo Chengzhi, leader of the Iron Force Convoy. He used to be a mechanical engineer at Kehua Heavy Industries."
The man called Old Mo was lean and wiry. Despite being in his fifties or sixties, he sported a punk Harley-Davidson-style leather jacket, tight pants, a checkered scarf, and sunglasses, giving him a rather fashionable yet eccentric look.
He strode straight to the Whale 03E Heavy Gas Turbine Locomotive, lifted his sunglasses, and his eyes lit up with excitement.
"Beautiful… absolutely beautiful! I never thought I’d see a gem in the Apocalypse. Hey, kid, where’d you find this thing? And you actually got it running?! This has to be a first-generation power turbine, right? Incredible!"
Lin Xian could tell Old Mo was an expert. "That’s right. Took some effort…"
Old Mo nodded in approval, patting the steel body of the locomotive. "It’s impressive, no doubt. But the terrain restrictions are a serious issue. Since yesterday, we’ve seen multiple trains come through—besides the Federation Phoenix and Iron Guard Battalion’s intercontinental trains, we even spotted the Silver Star, an Eternal-Class Train built by the Fingar Family from Yang City. That beast had 118 carriages, carried over 3,000 people, and was powered by two micro-core engines with four railguns mounted on it."
"Then there was Dragon Mountain No. 1, another intercontinental-class train, completely overhauled by the entire Dragon Mountain City. That thing was a double-deck train-city hybrid, practically a moving metropolis!"
"But still… terrain is a massive limitation. Even with track-laying equipment, they’re constantly restricted by the rails. We, on the other hand, modify a heavy truck, and we can go anywhere." His expression was filled with passion but also conflict—clear signs of a man who had dedicated his life to machinery.
"Planes are even more flexible. But what good does that do?" Xu Jin sighed. "Just got word that Sky City Qingluan completely crashed into the Pacific Ocean yesterday. God knows how many people died. Hah... You escape the Abyss, only to be swallowed by the Nightfall."
He continued, "Every method has its trade-offs. Sure, trucks have more freedom, but with the blizzard raging, you’re basically waiting to die without a heavy-duty snowplow. Didn’t the Glasses Convoy get wiped out like that?"
Lin Xian’s eyes narrowed. "Glasses? The guy who traded Eerie Blood Crystals with me last time?" He recalled the man—at the time, his convoy had just survived a major battle, and he had looked utterly dejected. Yet, they still had plenty of members left back then.
"They were attacked by eerie entities?"
"No," Shu Qin said grimly. "They got trapped in the snowstorm, and the Nightfall Invasion got to them. Someone in their team mutated, and… well, you can guess the rest."
Lin Xian’s mind raced. Was this what Ding Junyi had referred to as Dark Night Infection?
"Is there any way to defend against it?" Lin Xian asked.
"No," Old Mo rasped, waving a hand dismissively. "Anyone who’s injured, mentally exhausted, or already weak-willed could be taken by this evil force at any moment. They turn into something that’s neither human nor ghost."
Shu Qin nodded. "That’s why, in our convoy, anyone who’s injured is immediately isolated in a separate vehicle to prevent a chain reaction."
Lin Xian was shocked. He thought back to when KIKI was gravely wounded and that invisible Corrupting Demon appeared. He remembered the train being infiltrated by the eerie radio frequency—it had been a terrifyingly close call.
But now, with the Eerie Cube, did that mean this would never happen on his train again?
If so… his Infinite Train was literally the safest place in existence!
"Where’s Jiang Yun?" Lin Xian suddenly asked about the Chasing Wind Convoy leader.
"They headed toward Ping’a Lake that night," Xu Jin replied, looking surprised. "You didn’t hear? That night, a massive zombie riot broke out. Didn’t you get caught in it too?"
Lin Xian’s heart sank. "You guys encountered it as well?!"