Apocalypse: I Built the Infinite Train

Silent City, Cloud District

Lin Xian stood in the strong wind, watching the departing transport ship, his face calm.

"I'm guessing—you suddenly stirred up this whole mess because you discovered something, right?" Moonlight Shinji looked at Lin Xian and asked.

Lin Xian turned to him. "Hm? You've just offended Dawn City, and you don't seem worried at all."

"Their target is Silent City. It won't change based on whether our words are measured or our attitude is humble, right?"

"More than that, I'm curious—what exactly did Jian Xuwei tell you?" Moonlight Shinji looked at Lin Xian.

"Nothing escapes those eyes of yours." Lin Xian stepped forward, crouched down, and focused on a small, darker mark on the deck—a round spot no bigger than a pinky nail. It looked like the imprint left by the heel of a high-heeled shoe. He reached out, pinched it between his fingers, and a thin brown membrane-like fragment stuck to his fingertip. Looking closer, it had a faint, intricate circuit pattern.

"Looks like a microdisk chip," Moonlight Shinji remarked as he walked over.

"Yeah, sticking this under a high heel—makes walking a real pain."

"Lin Xian, Zhou Mingyuan is colluding with the Crimson World—and it's not just him. Several high-ranking officials in Dawn City are involved too. Also... Zhou Mingyuan is a replicant."

As Jian Xuwei's message ended, the others all frowned.

"A replicant?" Qian Suxun let out a helpless laugh. "No wonder the Dawn City Vice Chair would risk flying over from so far in the middle of the night. Turns out he's just a stand-in."

"That Weng Dong and Jian Xuwei, though, they're not stand-ins," Moonlight Shinji added. "They do want to work with Silent City, but compared to building more starships, taking over Silent City is much more straightforward."

Then he glanced at Lin Xian. "Trouble's coming."

"It's already here," Lin Xian said with a wry smile. "No point hiding now. The situation in Abyss Zone No. 5... Zhou Mingyuan probably knew all about it long ago. He didn't make this trip just for a courtesy visit or a quick negotiation."

"We'll know soon enough," Moonlight Shinji replied. He turned and left, saying over his shoulder, "Before nightfall, we'll stop roughly 30 kilometers north of Ningnan, waiting to enter the dark zone. That's 420 kilometers from Jinhai. You'd better pick up the pace with your Mechanical Devour."

Watching Moonlight Shinji leave with the others, Lin Xian exhaled deeply. He had just finished devouring the nuclear power core of the Dragon-Class Transporter and rushed over after hearing Jian Xuwei's words: Don't disconnect.

That was what she'd shouted at him after the Yu Bei Ascension Elevator snapped its power feed and went dark—exactly as he'd expected. Jian Xuwei had been forced into cooperating with Dawn City, and this message was the crucial reminder he needed.

Inside the engine room of the Dragon-Class Transporter, Lin Xian continued devouring the massive propulsion engine, pinching a black spider-shaped robot between his fingers, examining it.

"This little thing?"

"Yeah, and it was a pain to find," KIKI, hovering nearby, complained. "Don't underestimate these nanobots. They're tricky to deal with when they invade."

"But for Silent City, it's a bit... child's play, no?"

Lin Xian handed the spider robot to Grace, asking her to analyze it.

【That's a bot designed to disrupt quantum processors by emitting trace radiation.】 Xiang Qianxiao's scanner lit up as he spoke. 【The energy density is high, but it's definitely an invasive device—it interferes with superconducting qubit coherence and, at worst, causes system crashes and restarts.】

"D*mn, that's impressive," KIKI said, her tone a bit impressed. "Looks like it's meant for Moonlight Shinji."

"It's worse than that," Miao Lu said grimly after hearing Jian Xuwei's description. "Taking out Moonlight Shinji would only temporarily paralyze Noisy City. To seize control of Noisy City, you'd have to land forces and capture the Cloud District and main bridge!"

KIKI's eyes narrowed. "You're saying... we're going to attack?!"

Xiang Qianxiao closed his eyes slightly. "That's not what Chen Sixuan's hint meant. But it looks like... your Silver Star has been through the same thing."

"The Silver Star only had a few thousand people, but Silent City has a hundred thousand. Dawn City wouldn't actually try to start a war... would they?" KIKI looked genuinely stunned.

"You're forgetting something." Lin Xian glanced at KIKI. "There's also the Crimson World."

KIKI massaged her temples in frustration, then spun around and flew off. "I'll go inform the other members of the Unified Train right now. Grace, come with me. Lin Xian, you handle Moonlight Shinji."

Lin Xian nodded, focusing on his devouring progress.

According to Zhou Lei's intel, things were more complicated than Lin Xian had anticipated. If Jinhai was truly the Crimson World's base, then their opponents weren't just Dawn City—they also had to face Crimson Skeletal Horrors and potentially dark entities. That was definitely something the Crimson World would do. Now, Silent City was a massive, firepower-packed target. For Dawn City to seize it, they'd have to neutralize both Moonlight Shinji and the main defensive forces.

Truth be told, even with some preparations in place, Lin Xian didn't have a clear solution yet. His Infinite was currently docked in Silent City's berth. If a Monster Tide hit, they couldn't just abandon Silent City's firepower advantage and retreat along the rails, could they? Besides, ahead lay Jinhai and Dawn City—where else could they even run?

For the moment, Lin Xian had no choice but to focus on the devouring process.

16:25, Dragon-Class Transporter's Starry Sky Propulsion Engine devoured.

【Devour Successful. Mechanical Core +1500, Mechanical Devour Skill Proficiency +400!】

19:18, Dragon-Class Transporter's Engine Room Propulsion Array Devoured.

【Devour Successful. Mechanical Core +750, Mechanical Devour Skill Proficiency +200!】

Darkness blanketed the sky, and the massive Silent City settled in the wilderness.

The entire world was cloaked in a murky gray haze. Here, near Ningnan Town, the network of transport routes spread out like veins, but there were no lights to be seen—only Silent City's own dazzling neon lights illuminated the night.

Beneath the deck of the moving city, waves of zombies, black as swarms of ants, surged outward across the surrounding kilometers, their howls rising and falling in the night, endless and relentless.

Inside Silent City, Moonlight Shinji had already activated the red combat alert. The mechanical city's multi-layered ship decks had all radars and automated defensive systems online, running in 24-hour combat standby. Optical sensors, observation systems, and drones patrolled constantly. Countless turreted weapons, high-voltage defensive grids, anti-climbing plasma cutting lines, and four massive rail-mounted Shockwave Cannons rested in low-power standby at the edge decks. Behind them, an army of sentries, monitors, and armed combatants formed a near-impenetrable defensive wall.

Meanwhile, in Dock 24 on Deck 3, a Dragon-Class Transporter was quietly disintegrating.

22:36, Integrated Power System, Radar System, and Weapon System devoured. The transporter was now reduced to a bare frame.

【Devour Successful. Mechanical Core +860, Mechanical Devour Skill Proficiency +230!】

Time ticked by rapidly, and Lin Xian's devouring process accelerated. As he checked the time, he also kept a close eye on the Infinite.

Over on the Infinite, Chen Sixuan had already led all the members in finalizing their battle preparations. Lin Xian had split the group into two teams: the main force gathered on the upper deck, while Old Mo and a few others remained below. If they needed to retreat from Silent City, the Infinite could depart at a moment's notice.

On the upper deck, Chen Sixuan, KIKI, Fire Bro, Daluo, Shu Qin, and the rest of the main team stood together. Shasha gazed down at the lower levels of the city and the various docking zones. A strange sense of tension was spreading among everyone.

Most people didn't know exactly what was happening, but the activation of the red alert by Moonlight Shinji signaled one thing: there could be an eerie entity attack tonight. Thousands of Silent City combatants were already deployed in the defensive zones. Over 100,000 survivors within the city had armed themselves. Many convoy groups, like the Infinite, had moved up to the upper deck—after all, staying in the internal dock left them powerless. The landing platform was closed. The only option was to stand with Silent City and fight.

"It's such a heavy feeling." Chen Sixuan looked up at the dark sky. Beneath the entire sky, an oppressive, suffocating atmosphere weighed down on them. Everyone had donned their power armor, ready to respond to any emergency.

"What exactly are we facing this time?" Shasha asked KIKI.

KIKI shook her head. "I don't know either. We're up against the Crimson World... and they're capable of anything."

Lu Xingchen leaned against the railing, his eyes closed, leg shaking incessantly. He had mentally prepared for the darkness, but now that it was here, the uncertainty was driving him nuts. Especially knowing this crisis could very well be human-made—it was enough to give anyone a headache.

"Are we really supposed to just sit here and let the Crimson World attack us while we passively defend?" Luo Yang frowned.

"Come on, like we've ever had the upper hand when dealing with eerie entities," Big Brother Liang Lei crossed his arms, patting Luo Yang on the shoulder. "Relax. This place is a fortress. No way it falls that easily. Even if an S-class showed up, we could probably hold out for at least half an hour."

"D*mn right."

At that moment, a booming voice rang out—Shi Diyuan and the Dragon Mountain No. 1 crew had arrived on the upper deck, joined by Qian Dele, Monica, Lu Zhao, Hu Lushou, and others from the Unified Train. In an instant, a few thousand people had gathered.

"If the Crimson World and Dawn City are working together, we're not the only targets," Monica commented as she walked over.

Chen Sixuan nodded, though she couldn't shake a strange sense of unease. The morale was high, and they had Silent City's firepower backing them up, yet... something just didn't sit right.

It wasn't just the fact that they were operating outside the Infinite. The biggest problem was that there had been no warning at all. No one knew what was coming. If the enemy was the Crimson World—or even Dawn City—what would they do next? Move into the city center? Retreat through the southern route? With Lin Xian absent, they felt like a ship without a captain—unsure of the next move.

"Where's Director Ding?" Chen Sixuan asked Miao Lu.

"She's in the carriage doing research. Lin told Grace to protect her and keep her on the train."

"Got it."

Chen Sixuan picked up her Meteor-3 sniper rifle and glanced up at a tall signal tower. She turned to Miao Lu. "Let's head up there and get a better view."

Inside Carriage 3 of the Infinite, Dr. Ding Junyi was meticulously examining a sample of the Umbra-Cell that Lin Xian had obtained from the Abyss, comparing it to the tissue fragments they had found embedded within those massive black creatures during the sandstorm.

"Grace, help me start the cryo-slicer. Get the No. 11 tissue sample out of the low-temperature storage unit."

【Understood.】 Grace stood watch beside Ding Junyi. Inside the lab, the Hell Black Chrysanthemum and Silver Dragon Ten-Thousand Error quietly thrived in the biopod chamber.

"It's the same pattern as what we saw from the Hive Mother," Ding Junyi muttered. "Multiple tissue samples contain human muscle fibers and DNA sequences—from D-grade all the way to A-grade."

【Dr. Ding, are you suggesting these bio-constructs share some similarity with human beings?】

Ding Junyi shook her head calmly. "I don't have samples from the super-rare grades, let alone S-grade. There's no way to fully compare the Umbra-Cell yet. But... it's not impossible."

1:00 AM, Silent City, Main Control Room

The silver-gray alloy door silently slid open. A wave of cold air, laced with faint bluish condensate mist, drifted out through the gap.

This room—the nerve center of the mobile city Silent City—was Moonlight Shinji's partial processing unit and data core. It was the brain of the entire city, immovable, irreplaceable.

At the center floated a three-meter-wide transparent sphere—the processing core. Within it, blue-tinged quantum fluid swirled endlessly. Tens of thousands of semi-transparent neural conduits extended outward from the sphere, like an intricate vascular system, spreading across the entire room and linking into hundreds of distributed processing modules and cooling systems.

All of Silent City's power, propulsion, weaponry, radar, sensors, and drone control systems were integrated directly into Moonlight Shinji. This 1.31-million-ton behemoth didn't require the dual-neural interface of Lin Xian's Unit 01. Moonlight Shinji alone, with his 30,000-qubit capacity, could manage the entire mobile city with a control latency of less than 0.001 milliseconds.

In the main control room, Moonlight Shinji stood at the center, monitoring every radar feed and citywide sensor. His quantum brain was executing billions of scenario simulations per second.

A faint metallic sound echoed behind him. A sleek, silver-black mechanical woman landed gracefully, her movements fluid as she emitted a crisp mechanical chime.

The robot straightened up, standing tall and poised. Her wrist-mounted mechanical port slid open, revealing a plasma beam emitter that began to glow with a cold blue light.

Grace!

Moonlight Shinji's nano-eyes flickered as he spoke in a calm, detached voice. "My processing power far exceeds yours by several orders of magnitude. But a cognitive AI—one that's been through 'human-in-the-loop' learning cycles—can still be deceptive."

【Apologies. My human logic layer was embedded at the base code level. I must execute the task of reprogramming your consciousness.】

Moonlight Shinji slowly turned to face her. "Do you know why I realized, at first glance, that you were equipped with a human logic layer?"

"It's because you were walking ahead of Lin Xian. That doesn't align with typical robot coordination logic. He never issued such a directive. So why would you intentionally move ahead of him?"

Grace's flawless metallic face reflected Moonlight Shinji's expression. She prepared to strike, but the next instant—all of her power modules went dark. Her head tilted slightly as she glanced sideways, toward a dark corner of the room.

From the shadows, Lin Xian stepped out with a sigh. "Next time, just tell me straight up, would you?"

"This has nothing to do with reminders," Moonlight Shinji replied flatly. "You never told me how you intended to use this AI. Based on my assessments, a humanoid AI with a female form and human-like logic would fall under the category of your personal preference. That was the default interpretation."

Lin Xian: "..."

"And you never mentioned that this robot had previously provided you with human-like behavioral insights that exceeded mechanical logic. This isn't a system backdoor—this Grace has already been embedded with a consciousness memory core from a prior human and has undergone human-in-the-loop learning. Just like me, she's capable of higher-order thinking. But when you reprogrammed her, you skipped over her mobility modules and cognitive frameworks, leaving behind residual consciousness."

Lin Xian nodded slowly. "So, when you had me let Grace scan that black spider... you already knew it wasn't aimed at you, but at Grace?"

"Of course. That little spider could never breach my control room. The Crimson World isn't foolish enough to try that." Moonlight Shinji's voice was calm.

Lin Xian rubbed his temple, exhaling in frustration as he glanced at Grace. So that was it—Zhou Mingyuan and Weng Dong's real mission was to recover Crimson 3, and as a bonus, they wanted to hijack Grace to seize control of Silent City. Ruthless... terrifyingly ruthless. Grace, with her advanced computational capacity and combat capability—if she had succeeded in taking over Silent City, the consequences would have been catastrophic.

"Alright, before your system gets completely wiped, there's probably one last question Lin Xian wants to ask you..."

Moonlight Shinji's eyes glowed sharply. The entire control room shimmered as a microwave shield activated, isolating the space. He turned to Grace and asked, his voice low and cold:

"Who are you, really?"