Apocalypse: I Built the Infinite Train

"Alive? What do you mean?"

"After studying the form of the broodmother in White City on Star Abyss No. 5, based on your recordings, I became really intrigued by how it was composed. Life is usually born from the division of an embryo—it has a natural growth process. But something stitched together like this… it's hard to wrap my head around."

Ding Junyi pushed a large petri dish on the table toward Lin Xian. Inside was a hardened, desiccated clump of biological tissue. She said to him, "But look—most of this tissue is sourced from human and animal flesh. We've been dealing with Abnormal Entities for a while now—both the Federation and the Phoenix Society have always believed these things were a completely different form of life. They don't have the brains or hearts as we know them. And yet... they clearly have carbon-based biological characteristics."

"Thank goodness they're carbon-based. At least our weapons still work," Lin Xian replied.

"Normally, cell tissue doesn't lose activity right after biological death. We've collected a lot of samples along the way. But the problem is..."

"None of it is still alive?"

Ding Junyi nodded. She picked up a pair of forceps and pinched off a piece of the black tissue. The once-fleshy material crumbled like carbonized sand, quickly sifting down.

"These human tissues were somehow processed to become incredibly hard, flexible, and resistant. And also... really heavy."

"So you're saying what we've been fighting all this time—Abnormal Entities—aren't actually living creatures?"

"What kind of behavior?"

"Predatory instinct. Eating, mating, reproduction—basic life functions. These entities don't have any. They're born to kill. They hunt humans but have no reaction to blood and flesh. The Dark Mark is like a command—once it detects a living person, they go berserk, attacking relentlessly. They don't even fear death."

Lin Xian fell silent. He had noticed this too—not just him, but every survivor knew it.

Whether zombies or other Abnormal Entities, they existed purely to kill. There was no feeding behavior. They wouldn't stop even under heavy fire. That sheer madness is what made survivors fear them so deeply.

"So I pieced together what the Phoenix Society, the Nightwalkers' forbidden archives, and the synced data from Silent City all suggested... and I came to a conclusion."

Ding Junyi looked directly at Lin Xian. "That these Abnormal Entities were manufactured—some civilization or force took the flesh of billions of humans and animals and 'crafted' it into these quasi-mechanical monsters. And what powers them... is this."

She tossed a spherical object to Lin Xian. He caught it and stared at it: a Level-2 Blood Crystal.

"Corrupted Blood Crystal..." Lin Xian's expression shifted. "You're saying this thing is their battery?"

"Pretty straightforward, right?"

Lin Xian fell into silence, recalling what Professor Han Qiming had told him back in Underground City No. 9:

"This kind of theory isn't public knowledge, partly to avoid panic, and partly because it's not yet scientifically rigorous. Neither pathology, virology, nor live zombie studies have found solid proof. Zombies, biologically speaking, aren't a real species."

"A person with poor physical health couldn't suddenly become a tireless beast without caloric metabolism. A virus-ravaged body should only get worse, not leap up and maul people like some superhuman and survive indefinitely."

"So the Dark Invasion Toxin is essentially the energy of these dark creatures, including zombies—kind of like oxygen is to us. And Blood Crystals are just a dense, concentrated form of that energy? The core power source?"

"Exactly."

"That... does make sense," Liu Xue nodded. "Every time one of those things dies, there's that white gas. Must be some kind of diluted Dark Invasion toxin…"

No wonder every time I got near that white mist, I heard ghostly crying—it wasn't an illusion, it was mental shock caused by exposure to low-concentration Dark Invasion.

Absorbing that diluted energy had only minor effects on the human body. Those who couldn't withstand it would fall into mutation. Those who could would evolve. That's why the mutant hunter groups tried to boost their powers by using it.

"So when you said the cell was alive... what did you mean?"

She pointed to the Corrosion Cell in the culture dish. "That's the one you were curious about. Your research found it to have a completely unique cellular structure. Most importantly, it absorbs the Dark Invasion energy without being affected. But the catch is, the Deep Crimson World can only keep it active by embedding it in live human tissue. They haven't found a way to bring it out of Star Abyss. So I believe that this cell could be…"

"The real Dark Invasion creature!"

Lin Xian's eyes widened as realization dawned. "You mean, most of the Abnormal Entities we've seen aren't even true Dark Invasion beings? They're just blood-and-meat machines built like that broodmother in White City?"

"Exactly."

"So what are they—A-Class? Special-Class? S-Class?"

"Unconfirmed," Ding Junyi said. "That abyssal bug in Xilan City and the Black Thorn in the Clouds—I had Shu Qin collect some tissue samples. But none of them showed Corrosion Cells."

"That's odd... Not even S-Class?" Lin Xian looked surprised.

She shook her head. "I thought so too. The Black Thorn was the first S-Class creature ever killed by humanity. Zhao Yu and Wen Zhuo's team took it very seriously, collected a ton of data. But neither it nor the abyssal worm had Corrupted Blood Crystals either. My guess is that Corrosion Cells only exist in specific areas or under unique conditions—but that's just speculation."

"This Corrosion Cell is definitely a huge discovery," Lin Xian said gravely. "The Deep Crimson World went to massive lengths and even pulled off a diversion just to keep us from intercepting it. It has to be something major."

"Now that humans can extract Dark Energy from Cold Dark Particles, we basically have a purified version of Dark Invasion energy," Ding Junyi said. "Think of it as a more absorbable cold reagent. According to Mochizuki Shinji's equation, the conversion cap for the human body is 18%. That's also the threshold for power evolution. So technically, no known Blue Star material can isolate or store this energy—except the human body, through forced filtering."

Lin Xian looked at the Corrupted Blood Crystal in his hand, then back at the Corrosion Cell on the table. "Nothing on Blue Star can hold it… but maybe something in the Star Abyss can?"

"Exactly. That's why Mochizuki Shinji and the Phoenix Society are studying Star Abyss—same with the Deep Crimson World. Whether it's disaster flora, blood crystals, Abnormal Entities, or forbidden items, everyone's trying to find answers from things that don't belong to Blue Star."

"So if this cell isn't affected by Dark Invasion, it could be the key to future research?"

"Exactly." Ding Junyi nodded. "It's a major step forward."

"Holy sh*t, then that whole '95% filtration tech' that Dawn City announced—if they're working with the Deep Crimson World, maybe they actually pulled it off?" Lin Xian said, shocked. "You think they're betting everything on this?"

"I don't know anything about politics," Ding Junyi replied, setting her work aside. "I'm just in charge of the science."

"Fair enough."

Lin Xian had a feeling that the secrets of the darkness were finally beginning to surface. He just didn't know if humanity could solve the Dark Invasion problem before the global Polar Night—or before everyone died of thirst. Thankfully, Silent City No. 2 hadn't been dragged into the Star Abyss, so Lin Xian could still get supplemental water from there. Otherwise, even drinking water would've been an issue.

"There's a high-grade research module on the Skyrail Train," Lin Xian said, turning to Ding Junyi. "Director Ding, I want you to be my research officer. The Jian Xuwei Alliance has some scientists who could assist you in the future."

Ding Junyi looked toward Car No. 3 and asked, "Are you giving up on the Infinity?"

"I…"

"I suggest you keep it," she cut him off.

Before Lin Xian could respond, Ding Junyi continued, "Fighting the apocalypse is bound to be tough and dangerous. We haven't even left the Asia-Pacific yet. Ahead of us lie the oceanic orbit, the Eastern Archipelago, the Equatorial Ridge, the South American storm jungles, and the endless Black Sea, before we even reach the poles. A lot could happen…"

Lin Xian waved her off, chuckling. "I never planned to give up on the Infinity. Unless I absolutely have to, it's staying. Getting a Skyrail model was just one part of my plan—gives our joint train a solid fallback. We won't need to rely on Silent City to escape again."

He glanced toward the Infinity's train cars. Every piece of armor and weaponry here had been crafted by his own hands. Other than some structural wear, the train still ran fine. Its firepower and engines were incredibly valuable assets. Even if he ended up consuming the entire Joint Train, the Infinity would be the last to go.

Ding Junyi stared at him, eyes full of meaning. "So that was all part of your plan?!"

She looked at him in awe. "You used the Akesai Forbidden Object to get into Star Abyss, already knowing Silent City and the Deep Crimson World were inside. You made that maglev leap, rescued Silent City, destroyed their lab, and captured the Corrosion Cells?!"

"That's not—You're overthinking—" Lin Xian frowned. This woman's imagination is out of control...

But Ding Junyi kept going, stepping back in astonishment, like she'd been struck by divine insight. "And now Silent City is your right-hand force! Even Mochizuki Shinji, the world's greatest genius, is your strategist. The Skyrail was handled by KIKI and Linglong Group. Jian Xuwei and the Finger Group built it. So you used Silent City to take down the Wen family, made even the Phoenix Society show up, forced Dawn City to hand over Jin Hai and the Skyrail model. This—this was all part of your master plan?!"

"No, I—"

Lin Xian stared wide-eyed as she rattled off at top speed. He kept trying to interrupt, but couldn't get a word in edgewise. Seeing the stunned admiration on her face, he gave up, gulped hard, and—

"…Well, alright then."

Lin Xian dropped the act and sighed deeply, pretending to be mysterious. "Yeah. Just don't tell anyone. I'd rather not be seen as some master schemer. Best to stay low-key."

Ding Junyi's chest heaved with excitement. Her face flushed red. She suddenly lunged forward, eyes wild, and began tugging at his shirt.

"You… you're my god…" she panted. "It's been way too long since I got any release. Please… give me a moment."

"Wait—what?!"

Lin Xian looked shocked. "Weren't we just talking about serious scientific research? Like that living cell…"

The moment he said "living cell," Ding Junyi trembled all over, as if some strange pleasure center had been triggered. She bit her lip, let out a soft moan—

"Hold on! You never finished explaining that formula…" Lin Xian protested.

Mm~

Hearing the word "formula," Ding Junyi felt her whole body heat up. She wasn't thinking about deriving formulas at all—what she wanted now was to push Lin Xian down.

"I heard the research cabin on the Skyrail Train has a pretty spacious lounge?" Ding Junyi said suddenly.

"Should be."

"Definitely not as exciting as this little cubicle…" Ding Junyi grabbed Lin Xian and headed straight for the lounge in the research cabin.

"Huh?!"

…

Lin Xian knew Director Ding had this "contrast kink" going on—he thought he already had a good grasp of it, especially after experiencing it firsthand. But every time, she still managed to blow his expectations out of the water. Any lab-related term Lin Xian mentioned would trigger an intense reaction in Ding Junyi, as if those normally mundane scientific phrases had become some kind of forbidden pleasure for her. After long stretches of calm, focused research, what followed was always an explosive release.

And this time, after the wild ride through Akesai and Xingyuan, things got even more intense.

Some time later, the two of them stumbled out of the lounge completely drained. The flush on Ding Junyi's face slowly faded as she calmly buttoned up her lab coat and said to Lin Xian,

"Thanks."

"No problem," Lin Xian replied without thinking, then instantly felt awkward and turned to leave. That's when his eyes landed on the Hell Black Chrysanthemum, the Silver Dragon Decatonus, and the Blood Vine they'd recovered from the underground lab at White City Station. Changing the subject, he asked,

"Right… have these disaster plants shown any changes?"

"The Hell Black Chrysanthemum seems to be becoming more efficient. I compared the supplies we got from Akesai—our food and water are decaying much slower than the ones on other cars. It's likely thanks to the Hell Black Chrysanthemum and your Isomorphic Cube."

Lin Xian nodded.

"The Silver Dragon Decatonus hasn't changed since we got out of Xingyuan—it's basically stopped growing, and there are no signs of blooming. As for the Blood Vine, I noticed some slight changes while we were fighting through the mobs earlier, but it's not obvious. I'm not sure what it does yet. Want to name it?" Ding Junyi looked over at Lin Xian.

"You're calling it a Blood Vine, right? Then let's just go with that…" Lin Xian let out a long sigh and said to her, "Director Ding, let's have him transferred to the Skyrail Interstellar Train. It'll be easier to talk to him, and besides, this place doesn't have much in the way of lab equipment—it should be good enough for his needs."

"You get it."

Liu Xueguan was sorting through his research notes. After a moment, he looked up over his glasses toward Blue Star, his gaze intense but with a hint of something deeper.

"You weren't just waiting for him to come. You've got what you wanted now too."

Lin Xian: "…"

After disembarking from the Infinity, Lin Xian went straight into the factory where he'd previously done his colonial outfitting. He rode the elevator down. It was 9 a.m. now—still about two hours before sunrise. All of Jin Hai was eerily quiet. Apart from the massive herds of zombies swarming the area, no anomalous entities had appeared.

Daluo, Shu Qin, Liang Lei, and the other team leaders were scattered around the perimeter, each on guard, occasionally reporting updates to Lin Xian.

The elevator descended deep into the massive colonial outfitting factory. In the air, swarms of scanning drones and various other UAVs were busy at work. Takahashi Ryunosuke stood beneath one of the outfitting rigs. Before Lin Xian could get close, he spoke:

"To answer your two questions—the Skyrail Train's design only includes an ionized air sheath and electrostatic field generator. It's armed with just four electromagnetic railguns and two high-energy pulse cannons, mainly for clearing space debris and small asteroids. The Orbital Quake Cannon you wanted? No way it can be mounted—it's not compatible with space-based platforms."

He glanced sideways at Lin Xian. "That's the flaw of these pre-designed spacefaring vehicles compared to your custom train. You can't just slap weapons on them. These are starship-standard builds—the airtight compartments and thermal insulation layers are fully integrated."

Lin Xian frowned. "F**k… didn't you say you could help me add weapons?"

"There's another way," Takahashi said calmly. "Option one: redesign the whole blueprint from scratch. Option two: build an armory module and plug it in. That's more doable. After all, this train is modular—that's the key to solving your problem."

Lin Xian nodded. "Forget redesigning the whole thing—option two sounds more realistic. What was the second question?"

Takahashi slowly raised a finger and pointed at the eerie colonial outfitting installation above.

"That's not a test unit. And it's not a failed design either."

"What do you mean?"

"Based on the suppressors and restraints, it's clear the Crimson World made this thing specifically for it. But the monster's already dead. So why outfit it with all this?"

"Heh." Lin Xian chuckled. "Don't tell me—they can control the monsters now? Or even bring them back to life?"

"Control, resurrection… those are too subjective." Takahashi tapped his temple and looked at Lin Xian. "The Crimson World is full of lunatics. You can't think about them like normal people."

"Then spit it out."

With his hands tucked into his sleeves, Takahashi looked at the monstrous outfitting rig and said flatly, "I don't like making dramatic guesses. But logically speaking, they must've had a reason. A dead anomalous entity corpse has no real research value. They wouldn't have put in this much effort unless there was something more."

Lin Xian paused for a second, then said gravely, "Fine. For now, just help me finalize the standard starship hull. That armory ship design and build will take a while, right?"

"Of course. Even with existing weapons, designing and building the armory module's hull will take at least 30 days."

"Thirty days…" Lin Xian opened his mouth, then swallowed whatever he was about to say.

Normally, building large-scale starships takes years. Silent City's been under construction for 14 years, and Takahashi's still working full-tilt to complete it for interstellar travel. The reason the Skyrail-class was even possible is because much of the hull segments had already been built before Doomsday. Even so, producing a multi-ton armory ship in 30 days was already a god-tier pace—he'd likely have to mobilize nearly all of Silent City's builder drones to pull it off.

Thinking about that made Lin Xian's chest tighten—but he couldn't exactly ask someone to whip up a starship on short notice. If they could, Silent City wouldn't be running from Xingyuan.

"Then how about this—just give me a blueprint, and throw in two Hyperion Directional Restraint Units. I'll handle the rest."

"Sure," Takahashi said lightly. "As you wish. I'll draw up a modular armory ship design for you."

"Thanks."

"No problem."

Lin Xian turned to leave. "Any word from Qian Suxun and your robot about Crimson World's main base in Jin Hai?"

"A few spots, but they were already abandoned. I'll let you know if we find anything new, Lin," Takahashi said without turning around.

Lin Xian nodded and quickly made his way back to the surface. Takahashi and Silent City had things covered underground and at the starport. At the train factory, Jian Xuwei, Chen Sixuan, Shi Diyuan, and the others were handling the train transfer plans.

Lin Xian took over Joker's engineering-grade train and the Red Rose convoy's train and immediately began devouring them. He needed a massive amount of materials and Mech Points—his Mechanical Heart was about to awaken for a second time. He had no time to rest.

In an empty loading dock, he transferred one of the trains inside and began devouring it solo.

[Devour Successful. +50 Mech Points. +20 Devour Skill Proficiency!]

In less than 20 minutes, a living car had been devoured.

[Devour Successful. +400 Mech Points. +200 Devour Skill Proficiency!]

An hour later, Joker's high-power orbital traction locomotive was turned to dust.

The black sky receded. Jin Hai was bathed in light.

Lin Xian checked the time. With daybreak, news from Dawn City would start pouring in. He had to move fast—he began devouring Joker's nuclear power core car.

Three hours later—

[Devour Successful. +800 Mech Points. +300 Devour Skill Proficiency!]

At this point, Lin Xian's Mechanical Heart progress had increased by 1250, and Devour Skill Proficiency by 520!

[Current Mechanical Heart Level: LV.5 (18890/20000)] Mechanical Devour: LV.5 (2585/3000) – Increased Devour Efficiency

"Keep going!"

With a serious expression, Lin Xian wiped the sweat from his forehead and began devouring the Red Rose convoy's train.

[Devour Successful. +50 Mech Points. +20 Devour Skill Proficiency!]

After finishing a living car, a pile of junk clattered to the floor—women's underwear, condom wrappers, all scattered across the ground. Lin Xian looked at the mess and gave a helpless laugh.

He'd already talked with Red Rose convoy leader Zhou Hongqu and her team. After forming the alliance, flesh trade was no longer allowed. Truth be told, most of the women were relieved. In a world like this, who wants to survive by selling their body?

After finishing the Red Rose convoy's nuclear core car…

A brilliant screen of light flared to life.

[Devour Successful. +700 Mech Points. +200 Devour Skill Proficiency!] [Congratulations! Your Mechanical Heart has successfully leveled up to LV.6. Mechanical Awakening in progress!]

Whirr!

At that moment, the sound of a successful devour echoed in Lin Xian's ears, and the screen in front of him suddenly went black.

A thunderous mechanical roar erupted inside his head—an overwhelming force surged through his mind.