NOVPUBLin Xian's first instinct was that this voice message came from that woman named Chu Yan.
After all, Grace bore the face of Chu Yan in holographic form.
But the problem was, if time hadn’t been distorted in the dream, Chu Yan should have still been in Yubei City, now shrouded in Polar Night after the nuclear blast—so how could she also appear here, thousands of miles away in the underground of Yijin, and leave such a warning message for the heavily protected AI Grace?
For a moment, Lin Xian felt as if he’d been pulled into a massive web of illusions, leaving him unsure what to believe.
From Lin Xian's cautious standpoint, after learning the evacuation route, his first choice would have been to escape as fast as possible.
After all, under the Polar Night, Yijin City was full of dangerous mycelium, and without any means to fight back, Lin Xian couldn’t feel at ease until he saw dawn.
But if what "Grace" had just told him was true—that corpse shepherds were active near Yijin City—then escaping the city now would be too risky. The best option would be to hide deep in the underground tunnel and wait for the next mycelium activity cycle to pass.
What made Lin Xian hesitate was that he couldn’t determine the authenticity of the information.
Ding Junyi noticed his heavy expression and asked, “You’re worried this might be her trap?”
Lin Xian looked at Grace—now shut down and rebooting—sighed, and nodded. “We’re in a very passive position right now.”
“I know. The evacuation route came from her. The suggestion to stay put also came from her. Our entire train is now parked in an underground tunnel. If it’s a trap, we won’t have any chance to escape.”
RUMBLE RUMBLE~
The sound of trembling rails grew closer, and Lin Xian’s thoughts were racing.
Finally, his eyes sharpened. He stepped forward and lifted Grace. With a quick torque transfer from the power armor, he raised the nearly half-ton humanoid robot with ease. The Mechanical Heart spun rapidly, cutting Grace’s energy lines and shutting her down. Then, he turned and strode out into the corridor.
“We’ll have to bet on it. Full silence. Rest underground!”
Ding Junyi gave Lin Xian a long look, then followed.
WHOOOSH!
The United Train, like a steel dragon, plunged into the underground through a secret freight maintenance track, burrowing deeper, guided by Ning Jing.
The massive movement stirred a flurry of active mycelium. Countless humanoid fungal beings swarmed toward the path.
At the freight station, KIKI teamed up with Ning Jing and a group of Ability Users to block the humanoid fungi and fungal heads from entering the tunnel. Explosions erupted continuously. Before long, the entire station had become a sea of fire!
“We’re losing control of the situation!” KIKI yelled into the communicator, hovering in midair and watching the dense spore fog.
“Doesn’t matter. We have to completely seal the entrance!”
Ning Jing shouted as she hurled a steel cargo panel with immense force.
WHOOM! The steel plate sliced through the air with terrifying momentum, cleaving through swarms of humanoid fungi. Rotted organs and sticky fluids sprayed everywhere—but there was no blood, just bright plant-like colors.
The United Train was far too long. As car after car entered the underground tunnel, gusts of wind howled through.
It took more than ten minutes for all 500-plus carriages to finally enter. By then, the freight station was almost leveled. The spore fog, carried by violent wind, surged like a sandstorm!
“We have to get in—seal the entrance!”
“Move it!”
Dozens of Ability Users surged into the underground tunnel.
Ning Jing shouted to A’Bai, “Your turn!”
KIKI said anxiously, “Won’t such heavy explosions trigger a chain reaction?”
“No. We’re not in the main district—and we must eliminate most of the threats.”
“Alright!” KIKI raised a large telekinetic shield. “Go! I’ll block the road!”
A’Bai nodded, lifted his sunglasses, and sprang into action.
Dark red laser beams swept across the freight station ruins like windshield wipers, slicing through spreading mycelium and humanoid fungi.
In the next second, a crimson explosion burst through the fungal mass, wiping out even the giant rats that had crept in from the shadows.
A deafening blast shook the area for several kilometers—
BOOM BOOM BOOM!!
The earth quaked. Dust storms rolled. A massive shockwave surged forward!
KIKI and the rear-guard team at the tunnel entrance were thrown inward by the blast.
Flying rocks and debris buried the entrance like a tidal wave.
A huge collapse followed, forcing the group to sprint hundreds of meters into the tunnel before the tremors gradually died down.
The secret rail entrance was now completely sealed—no more fungi could enter.
But the explosion had shaken the entire city.
From alley corners to the wilds outside the city, eerie hissing sounds echoed everywhere.
It was as if the entire city had been awakened.
Dark horrors—unnameable creatures—rushed toward the freight station!
Meanwhile, the 15-kilometer-long United Train roared through tunnels dozens of meters below ground!
“All carriages—activate the sprinkler system! Clear spore fog residue!”
“Use disinfectants!”
“Move move move!”
“Infinite Train has issued the order—prepare for fire treatment!”
“Fire?!?”
WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH.
In the dim tunnel, Lu Xingchen crouched atop a high maintenance rig, watching Dragon Mountain No. 1’s lead engine rushing forward. He was ready.
“Hey, Brother Luo—you sure this is gonna work?” Fire Bro asked Luo Yang through the communicator.
“Brother Lu, definitely. These spores aren’t highly explosive. I’ve already had Captain Chen and Brother Shi inform all convoys to prep for fire. It’s the best way to completely clean the outer shell. Otherwise, we’ll have lingering contamination.”
“Alright!”
“Ancient days had the ‘water gate ritual’. Today, we’ve got my divine fire cleansing ritual!”
Wearing a gas mask, Lu Xingchen smiled and flicked a flame from his fingers.
He shouted into the comm: “Heads up—it’s about to get hot.”
“Divine Fire Wall!”
With a double palm thrust, a torrent of fire surged toward the train, instantly flooding the tunnel with flames!
He controlled the fire carefully—its purpose was only to burn off external mycelium and spores.
This was the final stage of decontamination.
In an instant, every rushing train car was blasted with scorching heat. Spores on the exterior flared like sparks, burning away in passing waves.
Some exposed devices caught fire but were swiftly extinguished by onboard fire extinguishers and sprinkler systems.
The steel behemoth thundered through the dark tunnel, fire-cleansed, until it reached the region around the Zero Element Center.
Lin Xian stood on the platform with Ding Junyi and the shut-down Grace, watching the train roar by, trailing heat and scorched air.
He issued orders into the comm: “Stop just before the subway transfer junction. That’ll line up perfectly. Rear cars—Ocean and Parrot—you’re on roadblock duty. Set up sentry systems.
Front car—Brother Shi, Sister Ning, Teacher Chen—you’ll lead teams to sweep the subway line. Seal both north and south ends at least one kilometer out. Set up rotations!”
“Other convoys—send protected personnel outside for final decontamination. All others—remain on board!”
“Got it!”
“Understood, Captain Lin!”
“Copy that. Orders received.”
At that moment, above ground, mycelium-covered Yijin City churned with dark unrest.
Underground, over 4,000 survivors in the United Train scrambled to set up defenses.
All suited crew members exited the train to begin final external decontamination.
On the platform, Lin Xian looked at the endless line of apocalypse-era trains and murmured solemnly:
“I never thought I’d see so many trains hiding underground together one day.”
“What’s your plan for this place?” Ding Junyi asked.
Lin Xian glanced toward the Zero Element Center tunnel. “Empty out the Eternal Reserve first, just in case. We’ll come back to clear this place when we’re leaving.”
“Clear it? You mean... take everything?”
“What else?” Lin Xian replied. “It’s got mini nuclear units, loads of gear you will or won’t need, rare metals, robotic arms, bots… Leaving them would be a waste.”
“In that case, those Crimson members are as good as dead,” Ding Junyi remarked.
Lin Xian chuckled and nodded. “They’ve basically got antennas growing out of their heads. If they die, great. I’m taking their coff—no, their survival pods too. If I leave a single screw behind, I’ll feel like a saint.”
A joke—but not really.
This was a doomsday cult lab, with corrupted elites trying to achieve ‘reverse parasitic’ immortality via dark creatures.
If Lin Xian hadn’t torched them already, it was only because he didn’t want to scorch himself.
“Lin Xian!”
Infinite Train and Dragon Mountain No. 1 were about a kilometer from the Zero Element Center.
KIKI soon arrived with Chen Sixuan and others.
At the same time, teams from Dragon Mountain, Sun Train, Joker Convoy, and Monica Queen’s group all gathered.
Lin Xian raised a hand.
Whirr!
Twenty Thunder Falcon drones shot over and hovered behind him like a ring of mechanical spirits.
“Little one, help me set a patrol program for these drones. I’m sending them to the subway junction to stand watch.”
The subway junction was the only way out.
With over 4,000 people resting below, Lin Xian couldn’t relax.
He needed layers of protection.
“No problem.”
KIKI immediately pulled out her mobile terminal, but then spotted Grace—still shut down—next to Lin Xian and exclaimed in surprise:
“Whoa, you handled her?”
“Not yet. She rebooted herself. I took the opportunity to shut her down again. We’ll bring her back to the train. Once we’re out, try rewriting her system. If it works, we’ll have ourselves a new housekeeper robot.”
Hearing that, KIKI’s eyes lit up. “Whaaaat? That’s awesome! Finally, a real AI robot! I can finally be free~”
At that moment, Chen Sixuan, Shu Qin, Shasha and the others also turned to look at the robot, shaped like an artistic female form. They all showed expressions of surprise.
“Oh my god, what is that? A robot? She’s gorgeous!” Shasha said, eyes wide as she stepped closer.
“Looks like you guys stumbled onto something huge,” Chen Sixuan commented.
“What about you all? Encounter anything weird?” Lin Xian asked.
“Nope.” Shu Qin shook her head. “Aside from sealing off the windows and cracks, we’ve stayed completely silent.”
“Some convoys weren’t so lucky,” Chen Sixuan said. “Spores got into the carriages and infected people. Brother Shi already sent an alert. In those cases, the only thing you can do is abandon the car and seal it off.”
“How many people?”
“Around... over a hundred.” Chen Sixuan’s tone grew heavy.
Lin Xian nodded. “As long as it didn’t spread further.”
“Captain Lin.”
At that moment, Monica and her group walked along the tunnel path. Qian Dele’s team, Sun Train’s Luo Yang, and Li Yi wearing a giant gas mask followed behind. Shi Diyuan, arm still in a sling, arrived with Ning Jing and more people.
“So what’s the plan? We’re really staying down here?” Monica had traded in her usual mink coat for a red full-body combat suit—lightweight and form-fitting, like a tactical leather suit. Because of her tall figure, it outlined her stunning curves. The helmet was fully sealed against spore fog. It was clearly a pricey custom design.
“I don’t like it underground. Damp, moldy, poorly maintained... if this place collapses, we’re all buried alive.” Qian Dele’s voice came muffled from behind his gas mask.
“Be glad we even have a place to hide,” Shi Diyuan bellowed from the rear. “Better than being surrounded by those half-human, half-plant monsters more volatile than fu**ing TNT.”
“Captain Lin.” Ning Jing asked, “Are we really going to wait here for the next mycelium activity cycle?”
Lin Xian nodded, sweeping his gaze across the crowd.
“Plans changed. We’ll rest down here for 30 hours. There are other things, too—get the word out quickly.”
He led the group into the Zero Element Center’s surveillance hall and explained the earlier situation—especially the information about the Corpse Shepherds.
“I’m not fully confident in that message, but we’re safe underground for now. As long as the routes stay open, we can move if needed.”
“Corpse Shepherds, huh?” Qian Dele crossed his arms. “Every time that name pops up, nothing good ever follows.”
“You’ve seen one?” Ning Jing looked over.
“Not exactly. But when I escaped from Abyss Zone No. 4, there was a massive monster surge. I was the only one who made it out among ten-plus convoys I knew. Definitely a harbinger of disaster.”
“I heard the Corpse Shepherds are the gatekeepers of the Dark Tides.” Monica spoke up. “Each Abyss Zone has one. We’re at the northwest edge of Zone 5—this isn’t surprising.”
“Yeah!” Shi Diyuan nodded. He looked at Lin Xian. “Let’s follow your plan, Brother Lin. At worst, it’s a day underground. Better safe than sorry. At least you guys found an escape route. Beats trying to fix the rails.”
“I agree,” Luo Yang added. “We’ll follow your lead, Captain Lin.”
Li Yi, standing nearby with a complicated look, asked, “So… we’re all staying on the train then?”
Lin Xian nodded. “The Crimson World set up a few hidden Eternal Reserve Warehouses along the underground lines in Yijin. They’ve got a ton of supplies. Considering we’ve all been pushing through from Xilan City, we can use the restock.
We’ll rest here for now. But just to be safe—every convoy needs a rotation schedule. The shallow zones have already been infiltrated by mycelium. Avoid light exposure and keep things quiet. We need to be ready to move at any time.”
“Got it. Let’s get that message to the other convoys. With this many people, movement is hard. Can’t turn a big ship easily. Everyone needs to be extra cautious,” said Shi Diyuan.
And with that, Lin Xian’s orders spread. The convoys sprang into action.
Inside the monitoring hall, Qian Dele, Monica, and others gathered near the glass wall overlooking the hive pit below, surprised by what they saw.
“Upload consciousness... eternal illusion life? Isn’t this that digital immortality plan that was banned ages ago?” Qian Dele crossed his arms. “Uploading your mind into a freakin’ mushroom network? Disgusting.”
Monica chuckled. “Idiots. Once you’re infected by mycelium, you’re not human anymore. What’s the point of living like that?”
“Supposedly, after connecting to the mycelium, you stay in a dopamine high ten times stronger than normal human euphoria.” Luo Yang leaned in. “Takes guts, I guess. No way I’m letting some weird fungus into my brain.”
“Probably just people trying to escape the apocalypse.”
Li Yi, heavily pregnant, walked over. She’d seen too many horrors—people giving up not because of physical danger but because they couldn’t mentally cope.
She’d lost many acquaintances in the battle at Xilan Airport. Her husband Liang Lei was still in a coma. If not for Uncle Wu’s desperate rescue, she’d be a pregnant widow in the apocalypse by now.
Compared to others, her situation was much tougher. After merging with Luo Yang’s group, they had considered asking to join the Infinite Train.
She looked toward Lin Xian, who was busy giving orders. Her expression was conflicted. Luo Yang’s team was youthful, energetic, competent, and strong.
But her own convoy? Their strongest fighter, Liang Lei, was incapacitated.
She had a whole carriage of kids—and she was visibly pregnant. Sounded like a total burden. How could she bring herself to ask?
“Whoa~”
Just then, Shasha came over curiously. “Why do these survival pods look like giant batteries?”
Everyone turned to the hive pit. Inside each honeycomb cell was an oval-shaped survival pod, pulsing with light—lined up like battery cells, connected via mycelium feeding them energy.
“Holy sh*t.”
Shi Diyuan had just finished talking to Lin Xian and now joined the others.
“I heard Dawn City also built hibernation pods—sealed people in, hoping to wake up a century later, after the apocalypse.”
“How dreamy.” Qian Dele scoffed. “Unless they invent a way to block Dark Invasion, hibernation pods are just fancy zombie incubators.”
“Enough about this place.”
Lin Xian walked over. “The ruckus we just caused wasn’t small. Everyone back to the trains. Forty minutes left before the mycelium activity ends. That’s when the real horrors show up.
We’ll maintain total silence inside the cars.
If all’s clear, we’ll send people to start transferring supplies from the reserve warehouse.
The rest of the time? We rest. Repair the trains.
Down here, if anything collapses, no one escapes. But if no mycelium gets in—those eerie entities can’t get in either.”
“Right. Let’s move.” Chen Sixuan agreed.
Lin Xian’s orders were quickly followed. He sealed the Zero Element Center passage with mechanical doors, then returned to the Infinite Train with Chen Sixuan and the others.
KIKI had already finished configuring all 20 Thunder Falcon drones.
They flew off to the subway junction at the front of the United Train, entering patrol mode in the dark.
The Infinite Train’s crew had finally returned on board.
“This tunnel is damp. With all the mycelium infiltration, everyone stay alert,” Lin Xian reminded.
【Non-mechanical energy converted. Gained 1000 Mechanical Source Points.】
A glowing HUD appeared—Hell’s Black Chrysanthemum had once again given Lin Xian 1000 Mechanical Source Points!
“D*mn, S-Class is juicy. That’s a hell of a boost.”
Lin Xian grinned to himself.
Across Xilan City, over 40,000 survivors had lived through the siege. Despite individual differences, all had likely received huge boosts.
But the power came with a cost.
Such overwhelming dark energy would exert massive pressure on the body.
Lin Xian had already noticed—many convoy members hadn’t mentally recovered.
Anxiety, fear, and dread were spreading.
He made sure to instruct every convoy leader—deep in the Polar Night, with dark pressure and weakened spirits, psychological support was critical.
If anyone lost control and mutated, those once-strong warriors would become deadly threats.
One infected soldier could trigger a chain reaction.
And then, these 500+ sealed train cars would become 500 canned death traps.
Soon, under Lin Xian’s arrangements, the United Train completed exterior cleaning, reinforced the head and tail cars, and entered full silent mode—waiting for the mycelium cycle to end.
Inside Infinite Train’s Car No. 1, the lights went out.
The tunnel fell into total darkness.
The United Train, a steel titan buried deep underground, was utterly still.
Above ground, the mycelium activity cycle neared its peak.
Spore fog thickened. Fungal carpets and glowing mushrooms swayed across buildings and alleyways.
Countless humanoid fungi stood in silence, linked by mycelium tendrils to the earth’s fungal layer.
Scarlet energy pulsed through the veins.
At the heart of Yijin City stood the 468-meter television tower—now engulfed by billions of fungal tendrils.
Above it loomed a two-kilometer-wide fungal dome.
Its folds quivered, emitting a deep rustling—like thousands of monks chanting death rites from afar.
Then, under that Crown of Shadows, energy gathered.
The massive fungal dome inhaled like some ancient catastrophe.
The breath grew heavier—until suddenly, black sticky mist poured down like a flood from the sky.
As if the heavens had ruptured.
Black clouds descended!
The viscous fog surged like waves—flooding streets, swallowing buildings, filling alleys.
Soon, all of Yijin City was shrouded in this black muck.
Within that sightless, clinging fog—
Countless unspeakable beings emerged.
Eerie whispers echoed in alleyways.
Screeches tore through the black.
Terror loomed.
The eerie descended.
