Doomsday: I Build an Infinite Train.

Chapter 338 Silent City (1.2 words, please vote!)

On the Infinite, after making their beds and tending to their injuries, Lao Mo and his family found a place to stay. For convenience, Lao Mo moved directly into the carriage belonging to Liang Lei's engineering team, while Sun Yuzhen and the two children moved into Li Yi's living carriage.

Because there were many things to do, Lin Xian had not yet asked Lao Mo and the others about their tasks or assigned them any work. However, Lao Mo was a man of strong character who spoke and acted in a straightforward manner and disliked weaklings. In addition, he was originally a senior engineer at Xinghua Heavy Industries, and his mechanical skills were more extensive than those of Liang Lei and Luo Yang. So, before Lin Xian could assign any tasks, he took the initiative to join the work of helping with the train repairs.

In the living quarters, Sun Yuzhen looked at the safe and secure cubicle that Chen Sixuan had arranged for her family. Even in the darkest of times, her eyes were filled with tears. Survival was more important than anything else, and she knew this better than anyone.

Whether she was in the hands of bandits or in the darkness of night, she faced constant disaster. Regardless of whether her life or death was uncertain in the next moment, at this moment, she firmly believed that she could survive.

Therefore, she was very grateful to Lin Xian for taking her in. She had just gone through a major battle and was now working tirelessly with Shu Qin and Li Yi to help with weapons and internal affairs.

But Shuqin told her that Captain Lin had already assigned tasks, with arms and internal affairs arranged in groups, so Sun Yuzhen immediately approached Lin Xian, hoping he could assign her a task.

Lin Xian was currently building a relay communicator for Grace. Looking at Sun Yuzhen, he remembered that she had just taken Chen Sixuan and Ding Junyi on a reconnaissance mission, and then said…

"You should join the reconnaissance team with Teacher Chen later. Your flying ability will be very useful to us."

"Okay!" Sun Yuzhen nodded repeatedly with her eyes shining, and then immediately ran to find Chen Sixuan.

Lin Xian watched her back and knew that Sun Yuzhen desperately needed his approval, so he didn't stand on ceremony and directly pointed out the importance of her superpower. Because she had two children, she would feel guilty if she didn't make a contribution, so Lin Xian didn't say much more.

On the other side, in carriage 13, Mo Xiaotian, along with his sister Mo Xiaole and a group of children from carriage 10, helped retrieve the collected shell casings. Shu Qin's group sorted them; usable casings were used for reloading primer ammunition, while unusable ones were kept for Lin to use as conversion materials.

Mo Xiaotian worked swiftly and diligently. Despite his young age, he effortlessly carried a 50-60 kilogram metal ammunition box. Due to the huge demand for ammunition, carriage number 13 was packed with people.

Suddenly, a faint sound of a bullet exploding rang out, startling everyone so they immediately stopped what they were doing.

Lou and Shuqin rushed over and found Mo Xiaotian, who was picking through bullets, with blood dripping from his hands. He looked at Shuqin and Lou with trembling hands and said nervously, "Aunt Shuqin, this...this bullet exploded."

He shielded his sister behind him, his face not showing the pain of his bleeding fingers from the explosion, but rather the remorse and tension of having done something wrong.

Don't be afraid.

Shu Qin, holding Mo Xiaotian's hand, hurriedly called out to Miao Lu, "Miao Lu, a hemostatic bandage."

"Okay!" Miao Lu quickly got to work.

A neighboring building, worried he might be nervous, whispered to him, "Kid, how did that bullet explode?"

"It just suddenly exploded." Mo Xiaole said for her brother, as if afraid that her brother would be punished, so she carefully explained, "Brother picked them up one by one, very carefully."

"Yes, that's exactly me..."

In an attempt to explain, Mo Xiaotian hurriedly picked up a 7.62 automatic rifle bullet, but as soon as he did, a barely perceptible arc of static electricity suddenly shot out from his fingertip, instantly piercing the bullet, which then exploded with a bang!
At this, the people around were so frightened that they took a step back. Shu Qin, who had just seen what was happening, immediately grabbed Mo Xiaotian's bleeding hands and said in a stern voice, "Don't touch these bullets! Quick, get to the medical pod!"

After saying that, Shu Qin immediately had Miao Lu take Mo Xiaotian away. Then she looked at the equally shocked building and said...
"That seems to be some kind of superpower!"

"Notify Team Leader Lin immediately!"

Lin Xian's side has completed the production of 100 small signal repeaters. They use the technology from the Phoenix Society, which was scanned in Xilan City, and are equipped with high-energy lithium batteries, giving them a very long battery life.

He created a metal box, which was then hoisted by four PX-05 robots. After KIKI edited the mission module, he prepared to send Grace to 'explore' the mission.

Chen Sixuan and KIKI followed behind with a group of people. Everyone looked at the robot that was about to carry out the exploration plan with complicated expressions. At the same time, everyone was ready to fight. If the strange entity was disturbed, the battle would start again.

Grace gracefully stepped off the train and said to Lin Xian, "I will survey the track conditions based on the minimum track standards you can create, and follow your commands in real time via signal repeaters."

"If you disturb the strange entity, find a safe place to wait for orders."

【clear. 】

Grace responded in a clear, crisp voice, “I won’t bring the threat back to the camp front, but I do hope that those ugly things aren’t interested in my plutonium-238 isotope nuclear battery array and motor neuron devices.”

Lin Xian looked surprised upon hearing this, not expecting Grace to respond.

[A robot joke, hopefully it can alleviate some of your anxiety.]

"Okay, thank you." Lin Xian gave a wry smile upon hearing this.

You're welcome. Given my pattern learning of known humans on the Union Train, you can set me to mimic a specific personality type or voice when communicating with you, which might make you feel more comfortable.

"Wow, is it okay if it's a boy or a girl?" KIKI became interested when she heard this.

"No need, this is fine." Lin Xian said directly. He was in no mood for DIY right now. This AI robot had just been put to use and was now being used for a reconnaissance mission that was likely to be a one-way trip.

Lin Xian felt somewhat heartbroken, as he had originally intended to use the money to solve many planning problems on the trains.

But in the current situation, nothing is more important than escaping to the Star Abyss. This plan is also the safest one that can be thought of at the moment, so he has no choice but to try it.

[Received. The upcoming mission is to reconnoiter and explore the White City orbital path. The current time is 23:15. Grace will transmit an information node to you every 5 minutes while maintaining signal transmission.]

"it is good."

After saying that, Grace turned around and slowly walked out of the position.

At this moment, all weapons on the Infinity have activated their fire control programs and will fire immediately should any abnormality occur.

As Grace gradually walked into the depths of darkness until she disappeared from sight, Lin Xian's heart couldn't help but tighten.

Drop~
Five minutes later, the first information node message came through on Lin Xian's mobile terminal. When he saw the first red light flashing on the foggy and dark map with the train position as the reference point, Lin Xian finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Got it!" KIKI also held up a mobile terminal: "Although it can't be observed, the signal is definitely clear."

“All repeaters are anchored at a fixed point of 1 kilometer, which should be a relatively safe distance,” Lin Xian said.

Chen Sixuan, who was standing to the side, kept looking into the depths of the forest with the Meteorite No. 3 and said, "I didn't find any unusual noises."

"Don't be too happy yet." Lin Xian breathed a sigh of relief: "Finding the direction is one thing, whether the road can be built is another. In this deep mountain forest, if you encounter a large ravine, it can't be handled by a track-laying machine. You have to go out and do it yourself."

Although Lin Xian has manufacturing capabilities, even a simple bridge can be solved with the help of him, KIKI, and the engineering team.

But the problem is the same: if a large number of people need to be mobilized, then Grace's scouting mission will not be very meaningful.

“I just think that if Grace has reached White City, it at least means… we’re still on Blue Star.” Chen Sixuan looked up at the deep blue night sky and the fragments of the bay floating on the dome, and said in a comforting tone.

"Team Leader Lin!"

At that moment, Shuqin's voice came through the intercom.

Inside the medical cabin of carriage number 4, Lin Xian, Chen Sixuan, and others surrounded Mo Xiaotian. Old Mo and Sun Yuzhen also rushed over anxiously. Mo Xiaole leaned over the transparent cover of the medical cabin and waved to Mo Xiaotian, who was lying inside looking nervous.

"Is my brother... sick?"

"No, don't worry, Xiao Le." Sun Yuzhen pulled her daughter over.

At this moment, Shu Qin picked up a broken bullet casing and handed it to Lin Xian, saying...
"It might be a kind of superpower, which Xiaotian isn't quite able to control yet."

"Wow, what kind of superpower is that? It detonated the bullets?" KIKI exclaimed in surprise.

"Xiao Tian?" Old Mo looked at the bullet in astonishment, then at his grandson. "No way, Xiao Tian is just like any other child. His genes are evolving. He's gotten much stronger, but we've never noticed any special abilities in him."

Sun Yuzhen nodded as well: "Could it be a mistake?"

“Probably not.” Lou Da, who was usually taciturn, said at this moment, “I saw with my own eyes when he was handling the bullet, his fingers emitted arcs of electricity.”

He looked at Lin Xian as he spoke: "It's very similar to the electric arc ability that Brother Xian used before."

Lin Xian's eyes flickered upon hearing this: "Electrical superpowers?"

Upon hearing this, Sasha, standing in the crowd, widened her eyes in envy: "No way, such an amazing superpower, it can even generate electricity?!"

"Whether it is or not, you'll know once you take a test."

Mo Xiaotian's finger injury had been repaired by the school's medical pod, but it was still somewhat red. Lin Xian opened the medical pod, reached out to help Mo Xiaotian up, and said...

"Xiao Tian, ​​try to give me a flirtatious look, just like you felt earlier. Don't be nervous."

"I'm not nervous, but I'm afraid of hurting... hurting you."

Sun Yuzhen, who was standing to the side, looked at Lin Xian and quickly said, "Captain Lin, why don't you let me give it a try?"

"Electric arc?" Lin Xian smiled slightly: "Don't worry, I also have electrical abilities."

For Lin Xian, discharging electric surges and controlling mechanical current is entirely within his grasp.

Mo Xiaotian looked at Lin Xian with a hint of fear in his eyes, then slowly raised his hand and grasped Lin Xian's fingers.

Lin Xian encouraged him, saying, "Give it a try. Ordinary electric shocks shouldn't hurt me... right?"

As soon as he finished speaking, a dazzling arc of electricity suddenly exploded at Lin Xian's fingertip with astonishing power. Lin Xian felt a sudden numbness in his fingertip, and even the AT field shield almost responded spontaneously. In an instant, Lin Xian felt pain in his fingertip and couldn't help but frown.

"Your superpower is quite impressive."

Under everyone's gaze, Lin Xian took his hand back and blew on his fingertips, then said to Sun Yuzhen, "It seems to be some kind of electric-type ability, but we still need to observe what specific properties it exhibits."

After saying that, he turned around and looked around, as if searching for something.

"Where's Brother Huo?"

"Oh, he's..." Lou scratched his head, before he could finish speaking, Lin Xian interrupted.

"Hand him over to Brother Huo. In your spare time, you can learn from Brother Huo and develop this superpower. Who knows, he might become very powerful."

"Really!?" Mo Xiaotian's eyes widened immediately upon hearing this, and he said with an incredulous expression.

Old Mo and Sun Yuzhen were both a little confused. How come the superpowers only came out after so long since the day of the apocalypse?
However, Lin Xian believes this is a good thing. After the great battle, under the influence of the regional black chrysanthemum and dark forces, everyone on the bus has benefited from evolution. It is not surprising that some people have developed superpowers. Ding Junyi is a perfect example.

"Wow, that's great! My brother has superpowers!" Mo Xiaole exclaimed with delight.

In no time, news of Mo Xiaotian's extraordinary abilities spread throughout the carriages of the Infinite Train, and even quickly reached other train convoys of the United Train. It was only then that Lin Xian discovered that five or six people in the entire United Train convoy had awakened new abilities. Not only that, many ability users and gene evolvers had undergone tremendous changes. His original expectations were far too conservative. This was even more obvious than after the battle in Xilan City. Many people noticed that this was definitely related to their current location in the Star Abyss.

The strength of people here, including Da Lou, Shu Qin, Chen Sixuan, Lü Chang, and Miao Lu, has evolved at an astonishing speed. Shu Qin even discovered that her skin and bones had reached the point where she could break steel after accidentally crushing the handle of a rifle, which was simply unbelievable.

Thus, the joy and novelty of evolution and increased strength dispelled some of the oppressive fear under the darkness. The people in the various train teams began to relax a lot in the camp. Especially after so long, the camp had remained safe, and many people's anxiety was relieved. The captains of each team also began to arrange for their personnel to rest in batches in order to deal with possible changes in the situation.

However, Lin Xian has no intention of resting, because the heterogeneous Rubik's Cube is still transforming!
[Converted to non-mechanical energy, gaining 1000 mechanical source points.]

After his energy was replenished, Lin Xian prepared to continue devouring the remaining train carriages. There were still two nuclear-powered carriages waiting for him to deal with. He had no mood to sleep. In this environment, if he fell asleep, the camp might be blown up when he woke up.

Grace is right. Lin Xian is very anxious and cautious. He has barely slept well lately, either devouring, creating, or fighting.

He constantly yearns for both increased strength and enhanced security.

Although there are many people in the team now, fortunately, he has Chen Sixuan, Dalou, Shuqin, Luo Yang, Li Yi and others to help him. Now the engineering team also has a senior engineer, Lao Mo, who can directly help him solve many train problems. With Grace also involved, Lin Xian can free up a lot of energy.

Of course, that's assuming you survive the Abyss.

Knowing that Lin Xian didn't plan to rest, KIKI also came to carriage 21, using her mobile terminal to monitor Grace's progress and movements, and also took a break.

However, Lin Xian knew that what this girl said was actually just a way of wanting to stay by his side and rest.

Because at this moment, Kiki was already nestled on his lap and almost asleep.

The interior of carriage 21 was dark. Lin Xian planned to begin manufacturing the MK-66 roll-on cantilever missile launcher, the Guardian 86 anti-aircraft missile, and the large Storm Eye F12 supersonic air-to-ship missile while absorbing the enemy. This was a bold attempt. With these, the Infinite would possess large-scale air-to-air and air-to-ground explosive weapons like the Warhawk-class gunship or the Dreadnought-class space carrier. Especially when facing some troublesome strange entities, these weapons might help KIKI Fire Brother solve the problem of firepower suppression.

KIKI now enjoys being close to Lin Xian, especially in such a secluded corner, listening to the heartbeat of him creating and consuming objects, which brings her a sense of peace.

So when Lin Xian told her to go to sleep, she simply slept on top of him...

[Successfully devoured. Mechanical Source Points +30, Mechanical Devouring Skill Proficiency +5]

Inside the carriage, Lin Xian leaned against a corner and finished devouring another empty carriage of the Ocean. Seeing the materials entering the decomposition center, his confidence inexplicably increased.

"Lin Xian~" KIKI murmured, half asleep.

"Ah."

"You know, if you could have swallowed everything from a distance from the very beginning, wouldn't you have been able to make all those thugs' convoys disappear in an instant when they attacked us...?"

Lin Xian replied without hesitation, "It's possible."

puff~
Unexpectedly, KIKI, who was nestled on Lin Xian's lap like a cat, suddenly chuckled. Lin Xian asked her what she was laughing at, and she said, "I just thought about those bad guys, driving around and suddenly their cars are gone, and a bunch of them are rolling on the ground. Just thinking about it makes me laugh so hard..."

Lin Xian smiled and said, "I really want to do that if I have the chance."

"Lin Xian~" KIKI took a breath in his arms and continued, "We will definitely survive, don't worry~"

For some reason, hearing KIKI's words calmed Lin Xian's previously turbulent emotions a little. He took a deep breath and then said, "Okay."

After saying that, he prepared to continue devouring the carriage, but suddenly remembered that Luo Yang had told him that several arc pulse string vibrators on the train had burned out, so Lin Xian simply devoured them and then made new ones for Luo Yang to install.

Unexpectedly, right after he devoured one of the arc pulse string resonators, the light screen of the Mechanical Heart lit up for the first time in a long time.

A flash of purple light!
[Successfully devoured! Mechanical Source Points +10, Mechanical Devouring Skill Proficiency +3. Congratulations on acquiring the Magnetic Storm Shockwave Skill!]

[Magnetic storm oscillation: Releases a megavolt-level magnetic storm discharge field with a diameter of 6 meters outwards. Skill level and Mechanical Heart energy level directly affect the discharge field's range and instantaneous voltage.]

"Lying on the grass!"

Looking at the light screen, Lin Xian immediately cursed silently. He never expected that after so long and having devoured so many machines, he would finally gain a new skill again.

Although it's not a golden super-trait skill like Gravitational Lens, this purple skill is still very powerful. If it's further enhanced with mechanical amplification later on, it's simply unimaginable.

"Magnetic storm... Looks like we finally have a wide-range skill."

Lin Xian was filled with excitement. Besides the gravitational lens, his most powerful skill was the mechanical energy cannon. Although it was powerful, he had encountered large-scale monster waves or S-class or special-class bizarre entities along the way, so this move was hardly useful anymore. He had originally planned to focus on developing his drone swarm combat capabilities, but unexpectedly, because of an arc pulse string vibrator, he had activated a new skill.

"What does 'skill level' mean in terms of its influence range, and 'Mechanical Heart's energy level' mean? Does it refer to my output power?"

At this moment, Lin Xian couldn't help but think of his AT force field shield. As long as the power was sufficient, it could amplify the force field, which seemed to be the same idea.

"Hey... if my superstring reactor phase iris ring upgrade is successful, then wouldn't that mean..."

Thinking about this, Lin Xian realized that the development of his Mechanical Heart was becoming more and more large-scale and high-powered, which was much better than the beginning when it could only launch wind cannons and drive engines to run away.

Lin Xian wanted to test this skill, but then thought better of it; it wasn't the right time to make such a big fuss.

So he suppressed his excitement and continued to devour the Ocean train cars, while simultaneously starting to build a missile launcher in car number 21.

[Successfully devoured, Mechanical Source Points +30, Mechanical Devouring Skill Proficiency +5] An empty carriage was successfully devoured by Lin Xian.

[Successfully devoured. Mechanical Source Points +200, Mechanical Devouring Skill Proficiency +50]

An hour later, the Ocean's tractor was completely swallowed up by Lin Xian.

At 1 a.m., all the empty cars and locomotives of the Ocean and Parrot had been swallowed up, leaving only the last two nuclear-powered locomotive sets.

Meanwhile, on the mobile terminal, Grace's waypoint appeared in the designated area. In the eerie and gloomy Dark Forest, a small signal repeater would appear on the ground or trees every kilometer, with a faint signal light flashing, stretching for more than 80 kilometers. Grace, as everyone waited, entered an unknown area.

drop.

At this moment, Grace's signal base point started flashing again, but Lin Xian immediately noticed that something was wrong.

Because starting from the 6th base point, which is 30 minutes later, the time of the signal transmission base point becomes slower and slower.

At first, it only took a few seconds, and Lin Xian thought that Grace might have encountered some kind of problem. But the problem is, as a highly intelligent brain, Grace could not have made such a mistake. Now, nearly two hours later, the time it took Grace to send back the signal base point has changed from 5 minutes to 5 minutes and 11 seconds.

"Grace, reconfirm the synchronization time, and send back the signal base point every 5 minutes."

At this moment, Grace's voice came through the earpiece, but it was clearly accompanied by a lot of signal noise: "[Buzz... My timer shows that it's sending you a confirmation signal via the signal repeater every 5 minutes, which is correct.]"

"But the signal you just transmitted was 5 minutes and 11 seconds after the last one?"

[Buzz... According to my radar, I am currently 21665 meters away from you. In principle, the theoretical delay in information transmission between my movement speed and your distance is 0.067 microseconds.]

"How could this happen?"

[Buzzing... Two possibilities. One is that the signal is being interfered with by some strange entity. Given the widespread impact of the darkness on global radio waves, this possibility is more likely. The second possibility is redshift, specifically the gravitational redshift phenomenon. When the gravitational potential energy at my location is higher than at your location, the flow of time in my current location slows down. Therefore, when I send a signal "every 5 minutes" according to my own clock, the reception time will be longer because the flow of time in your area is faster.]

Lin Xian's expression turned to one of astonishment upon hearing this.

Does gravitational redshift occur at a distance of 20 kilometers?
Wouldn't the gravitational time dilation formula in general relativity just explode?
He immediately instructed Grace, "Don't include this kind of analysis that clearly defies the logic of reality in the answer sequence. At a distance of only 20 kilometers, gravitational redshift is occurring. Could it be that a small black hole has appeared in your direction?"

Grace replied, "Within the limited information I've gathered, there haven't been any instances of short-range high latency in the Dark Influence information infection. Excluding the possibility of supernatural entities or 'superpowers,' my analysis using informatics and physics can serve as one reference point. I suggest you also consider observing this phenomenon in the future."

Lin Xian took a deep breath: "You can continue. As long as the signal is established, I will calibrate the time with you."

"Hmm~ What's wrong?"

Hearing the voice on the communicator, KIKI, who had been sleeping, woke up groggily from Lin Xian's lap. As soon as she opened her eyes, she saw that Lin Xian's expression was strange and somewhat nervous.

After disconnecting the communicator, Lin Xian looked at KIKI and recounted what had just happened.

"The impact of darkness on signal bands is an old problem, but this kind of close-range delay is a bit hard for me to understand."

After saying that, he looked at KIKI with a wry smile on his face and said, "Am I being too sensitive?"

“I think…” KIKI sat up, crossed her arms, and said casually, “We can’t use our original logic to look at anything in this Star Abyss. Actually, your caution is not a problem. Many times we have escaped danger because of your judgment. So maybe there really is a black hole in this Star Abyss?”

Lin Xian was stunned for a moment upon hearing this, then his eyes darkened: "You're right, the bay has flown into the sky, what's the point of using common sense to look at it?"

"Sister Ding also said that experimental data without a certain number of samples is meaningless. Since Grace hasn't been attacked and the signal is still working, why not just wait until she gets to Baicheng to verify it?"

Lin Xian nodded upon hearing this: "However, if Grace's analysis is correct, then the Star Abyss... is already a natural disaster far beyond human imagination."

KIKI looked at Lin Xian with a complicated expression, then took a deep breath, put her arm around Lin Xian's neck, and said to him with a bright smile.

"Think about it this way: time moves slowly here but moves fast outside, and the global polar night that Phoenix predicts will last a year means it will last even longer for us, right?"

"Are you stupid?"

Lin Xian poked KIKI's smooth forehead with one finger: "We have already been swallowed by the Star Abyss. What's the use of taking so long? Even one night would put a lot of pressure on us now. Water and food supplies are limited."

“Oh, right~” KIKI wrinkled her delicate nose awkwardly, then snorted and said, “Sigh~ If the problem of the Dark Invasion can be solved, we can upgrade the train to fly into the sky as soon as we get out, modify the starship’s body, and install space thrusters. Having tracks is just too troublesome!”

"That's a good idea," Lin Xian nodded.

The biggest drawback of the Infinite Train Project lies here, which is why Lin Xian is constantly thinking about improving his mechanical abilities and modifying the vehicles so that the train can soar into the sky as soon as possible!
Without further hesitation, he began to devour the 140-megawatt nuclear power generator set of the Parrot, while he and KIKI kept a close eye on Grace's situation.

Grace's speed wasn't slow; she was a fast runner, covering an average of about 20 kilometers per hour. However, as the distance increased, the noise and signal frequency also changed.

50公里的时候，林现收到格蕾丝的信息基点已经从5分11秒变为了5分29秒。

3:

Things gradually took the turn that Lin Xian and KIKI least wanted to see.

[Buzz... I've reached the northwest of White City and can now observe the cluster of buildings through visual means.]

Grace's voice came through the communicator.

At this moment, several people, including Ding Junyi, Chen Sixuan, Shu Qin, and Luo Yang, gathered in carriage 21.

Everyone looked at the counter on the mobile terminal, their expressions complex and solemn.

5 minutes 50 seconds.

[At 5 minutes and 50 seconds, assuming the time dilation and redshift phenomena exist in the Star Abyss environment, and calculating the proportional time decay over distance, the time velocity difference between the location of the front line and outside the Star Abyss is 14.02 times. That is, one day outside the Star Abyss is equal to 14.02 days at your location and 12 days at my location.]

Grace's words came through the communicator, and everyone's expression changed drastically.

"Time is flowing faster? How could this be?" Chen Sixuan asked.

Shu Qin said, "Could it just be the signal delay caused by the special environment here?"

"That's impossible!" Luo Yang scratched his head. "Even if a super-large, compact celestial body like a black hole causes time distortion, the direction is wrong. Why does time slow down the closer we get to the Star Abyss? Shouldn't it be faster?"

Upon hearing this, everyone turned their attention to Ding Junyi, the most knowledgeable person in the car.

At this moment, Ding Junyi simply shrugged and said, "He's right. From the perspective of the gravitational time dilation effect of general relativity, it's hard to explain this phenomenon unless there's a black hole outside the Star Abyss."

Upon hearing Ding Junyi's words, Lin Xian opened the sunshade and looked towards the deep blue sky in the direction of the Star Abyss Center to the west, as well as the bay floating in the sky. He felt a chill run down his spine.

At this moment, everyone was left with only a feeling of unease.

"Oh, no wonder Old Mo and Boss Hu thought they crossed the Star Abyss overnight, when it wasn't actually overnight at all!"

KIKI said with a look of surprise, "At this rate, they might have been on the run for several days!"

"Moreover, Lao Mo and Hu Lushou's convoy is powered by high-energy battery cells, which means that the other gasoline-powered cars simply cannot get out of the way because they don't have enough energy..." Luo Yang said.

Ding Junyi shook her head, took a deep breath, and said, "Not entirely. If this expansion effect increases exponentially, the flow of time may be slower closer to the center of the Star Abyss, while the impact may be smaller further out."

"But this is just too unbelievable."

"No matter what, we have to get out of here as soon as possible."

Lin Xian frowned and immediately gave Grace a command.
[Grace, quickly scout the original station's track conditions in White City, then return.]

[Grace received, now preparing to enter the White City area]

"Are you still planning to lay tracks?" KIKI asked Lin Xian at this moment.

“There are no other options.” Lin Xian said in a stern voice, “The terrain map returned by Grace’s reconnaissance is basically consistent with the original terrain map of the area. Now that the location of White City has been confirmed, the direction and location are definitely correct.”

He took out his mobile device and opened a topographical map of the forest mountain range, saying, "It seems we need to reorganize the entire line, taking a two-pronged approach. We can abandon some carriages to concentrate the people, and then have some people use vehicles, with the train providing fire support. This will greatly reduce the length of the train, thus easing the pressure on the track."

Chen Sixuan immediately said, “But this only solves the length problem. We will have to build bridges over the water and open roads through the mountains and valleys. In addition to us superhumans, all the engineers and construction machinery in the convoy will have to be deployed.”

Lin Xian nodded solemnly: "So we have no choice but to take the risk, and we have to wait for Grace's reconnaissance. If the White City rail route is not feasible, then we will have to drag the boxes."

The so-called "tow box" was the simplest plan that Lin Xian had discussed with other teams before. It involved using the all-terrain trains of the Queen Mo and Longshan No. 1, and then having Lin Xian temporarily manufacture some tracked truck carriages to carry people and use them for towing. All other trains were abandoned, a desperate escape plan.

"No matter what, let's get the firepower ready first."

Just as Lin Xian was devouring food while communicating with the others, Grace's voice came through the communicator.

[I have entered the White City area. My sensors have detected a strong magnetic field effect here. I am approaching to investigate.]

[Sizzle... No life forms detected near the central district.]

[Buzz... I've spotted a peculiar phenomenon above the site of an old sewage treatment plant. The object is some kind of man-made sculpture, about 13 meters tall. Based on its appearance, it resembles the original Singapore landmark, the Merlion. However, there is extremely strong electromagnetic interference and light distortion around it, possibly similar to the Aksai taboo object you mentioned. Due to information transmission limitations, I have already sent back the real-time images.]

At this moment, everyone heard the message transmitted by Grace. After a few minutes, a blurry image that had been compressed several times finally slowly appeared on the mobile terminal.

It was an image taken in infrared night vision mode. In the darkness, above a factory in a desolate, abandoned city, a giant Merlion statue floated eerily. The space around the image was filled with white, distorted noise. Although it was not clear, Lin Xian recognized the strange giant statue at first glance. It was the same thing they had encountered during their trek through the Aksai no-man's-land.

"Wasn't this thing in the no-man's land of Aksai? How did it end up here?"

Lin Xian recalled that Chu Yan had said that the Crimson World had spent a huge amount of money to get this thing out of the Star Abyss. Could it be that this thing was also teleported with them?

[Buzz... Dangerous target detected, approximately 700 meters away.]

Soon, the second blurry photo was sent back. Lin Xian and KIKI were immediately surprised to see that, in night vision mode, a human-shaped black shadow appeared at the abandoned gate of the sewage treatment plant!
KIKI immediately zoomed in on the image. Amidst the dense noise, the dark figure was wearing a strange trench coat and a bizarre top hat. With such attire, it was clearly not a zombie or a strange entity, yet it didn't seem like a fully armed survivor either. It appeared as if the figure was deliberately covering its entire body, making it look extremely eerie.

"This is... a person?" KIKI murmured.

It's hard to imagine that a person could appear in such a desolate city covered by starlight, even under that indescribable, forbidden colossus.

This bizarre scene immediately gave people a chilling feeling.

Baicheng, 3:35 a.m.

Since the day of revelation, the Star Abyss has been devouring this city for a full hundred days.

There is no sunrise, no sunset, only eternal night. The leaden clouds and the deep blue sky hang like a rotting shroud, pressing down on the ruins of the once bustling mountain town. The once lively streets and buildings are now just empty frames, like skulls with their eyes gouged out, silently staring at the streets.

The wind swept through the ruins, stirring up dust and scraps of paper, emitting a low, hoarse wail. The streetlights had long since rusted and gone out, and the thick darkness was constantly undergoing some kind of unstable distortion due to spatial anomalies, like the panting of some dying creature.

On the streets, abandoned vehicles rust into iron coffins, their doors wide open, as if the people inside had suddenly vanished one day. In shops with shattered windows, shelves have collapsed, goods are scattered all over the ground, and plastic packaging has become brittle over time, turning to dust at the slightest touch.

thump.

A tilted apartment building teetered on the brink of collapse, clothes drying on the balcony long since weathered away. Grace landed lightly from the height, her athleticism far surpassing that of most genetically evolved individuals, completely unaffected by the darkness in this eerie, dark world.

The optoelectronic vision module and radar system continuously locked onto the dark figure that flashed past the sewage treatment plant ahead.

[The heat source could not be detected; based on observation and assessment of behavioral characteristics, it is likely human.]

Grace sent a signal to the train camp by the Bottomless Lake via a signal relay, but the signal sent at this time had already experienced a significant delay in time calibration.

At this moment, Grace noticed that the mysterious dark figure had disappeared.

At the same time, Lin Xian's instructions also came.

"Return immediately after completing the terrain reconnaissance of Baicheng Railway Station."

【clear】

After setting up the new base station repeater on the rooftop, Grace began heading towards White City train station according to the location. Her tasks included terrain and obstacle identification, as well as checking the integrity of the tracks.

She compressed all the footage of their movement and continuously sent it back to Lin Xian.

After seeing the returned images, a gloomy, dark, abandoned, and dilapidated eerie mountain town gradually appeared before Lin Xian's eyes.

Unlike the cities I had passed through before, the White City in the picture did not look like the dilapidated city 100 days after the Apocalypse. It seemed to have been abandoned for thirty years, and all traces of human activity had decayed and dissolved, as if the entire planet had been forgotten and no life could be seen. The dark shadows of the lonely buildings were shrouded in thick black fog, and the signs, posters, or anything with color on the streets and walls had all peeled off and faded, like a city in an old black and white silent film stripped of its characters.

Grace swiftly swept across the buildings and streets. Three million motor nerve cells granted her super flexibility and explosive power. Despite her overall weight of almost half a ton, she moved through the black fog city with the agility of a dark warrior dancing on her toes.

Grace's detection radar and senses were performing trillions of calculations per second. The next second, she suddenly stopped on a rooftop next to the central square of White City Station, standing behind a clock tower where time had stopped on the day of the apocalypse. At that moment, her detection radar discovered an abandoned car defense position in the square.

More than twenty damaged and abandoned vehicles lay scattered across the square, many of them high-level all-terrain tracked vehicles and heavy trucks. The formation indicated that a defensive line had once been built around the area, with dried dark red bloodstains all around the position.

The vehicles sat there silently in the huge square in front of the station. The surrounding buildings and streets bore the marks of a horrific battle: craters from explosives, scattered weapons. But strangely, apart from that, there was no one, not even a corpse...

Grace, through visual scanning and dynamic radar monitoring, did not find any living people here. So she jumped directly from the high-rise building, landing crisply on the ground, and then scanned the vehicles to transmit the information back to Lin Xian.

Based on the characteristics of some items and the graffiti on the vehicles, the following racing teams have been identified: Fu Lu Shou Racing Team, Dawn Racing Team, Aksai Brotherhood, Windrunner Racing Team... others are unknown.

[Number of survivors: 0; Number of bodies searched: 0]

[The battle took place 13-15 hours ago. Calculating the time dilation rate, it should have occurred around 17:35 yesterday, which coincides with the time of Star Abyss Devouring.]

Lin Xian was surprised that Hu Lushou's convoy had appeared in Baicheng. Looking at the footage sent back, he learned that they had also encountered a major battle. However, strangely, of the at least one hundred vehicles in the convoy, only about twenty remained in the square, and not a single corpse was seen. It was truly bizarre.

At this moment, Grace, located in the square of Baicheng Railway Station, began to sprint at high speed and entered the track station behind her.

The rail line in Baicheng cuts through the edge of the city and winds its way along the mountain road to the distant mountains. Grace jumps onto the rails and scans them, only to find that the steel structure of the rail station and the rails have suffered extensive corrosion and collapse, and some sections of the roadbed have cracked open. The situation is much worse than expected.

The track condition is unsatisfactory; at least 30% requires further repair. Otherwise, it will pose a significant safety hazard to heavy trains.

One piece of bad news after another arrived. The silence inside carriage 21 of the Infinite was eerie. Everyone held their breath, waiting for Grace's message. As things stood, the track problem had exceeded 100 kilometers, and it wasn't just a track problem. The eerie, floating ichthyosaur was sending chills down everyone's spines.

According to Grace's assessment, there are at least 195 problematic sections of track that cannot be resolved using track-laying machines, and alternative feasible solutions are recommended.

All eyes turned to Lin Xian, and at that moment, everyone felt an immense pressure.

Just when Lin Xian was feeling somewhat at a loss, Grace's voice rang out again.

[Buzz... My radar, located at coordinates 043° above the Baicheng Rail Station, more than 15 kilometers away, is reflecting off a colossal artificial mechanical object.]

Grace quickly launched, hurtling along the track towards a valley on the outskirts of White City. As it drew closer, Grace's radar system began to show increasingly larger echoes, while in the night vision system, a colossal mechanical construct resembling an aerial city appeared in the field of view.

Darkness, like thick ink, engulfed the entire valley.

At first, it appeared as just a shadow on the horizon, its massive outline blurred like an extension of mountains, until Grace drew closer and the true form of the rectangular behemoth was revealed—

A mobile city that looks dead and fallen!
The colossal body, resembling a sky city, stretches for several kilometers. Two rows of engine arrays, like skyscrapers, look like abysses and black holes in the night. On both sides of the sky city, there are four circular floating cities that resemble giant space stations. The entire mobile city stretches across the valley, blocking out the sun. If it weren't for the sharply defined outlines of the man-made structures, one might even mistake them for mountain peaks integrated with the mountain range.

Despite having an array of flight engines, its bottom has two rows of massive tracks deeply embedded in the mountain ravine. Each track plate is the size of a house, showcasing the immense power of human industrial manufacturing.

But at this moment, the mobile city was completely hidden in darkness. There was no hum of engines, no sweeping of searchlights, not even the groaning of metal expanding and contracting with heat. The ship's buildings on the upper decks, which should have been brightly lit, were completely dark. And at the edge of the city's deck, there were three huge characters obscured by shadows.
Silent City

　Asking for a monthly ticket~
　　
　
(End of this chapter)