Doomsday: I Build an Infinite Train.

Chapter 373 Lin Xian, a Man of Deep Planning

"Alive, what does that mean?"

"By studying the form of existence of the mother nest in the White City of Star Abyss No. 5 that you recorded, I am very curious about the form of life composition, because the birth of life comes from the division of the embryo and has a natural growth process. The form of stitching and manufacturing like this is hard to understand."

Ding Junyi pushed a large petri dish on the table forward, revealing a large mass of what looked like hardened and dehydrated biological tissue. She said to Lin Xian, “But look, most of these tissues are derived from human and animal flesh. We’ve been in contact with the Strange Beings for so long, including the Federation and the Phoenix Society. We’ve always believed that the Strange Beings are another form of life. They don’t have the brain or heart tissue that we understand. But the problem is, they clearly have the characteristics of carbon-based life forms.”

"Fortunately, they are carbon-based life forms, so our weapons are still effective," Lin Xian said.

“Normally, cells and tissues do not immediately lose their activity after an organism dies. We collected a lot along the way, but the problem is…”

"Not a single one is alive?"

Ding Junyi nodded. She picked up the tweezers and pinched a piece of the black tissue in the petri dish. The original flesh and blood seemed to have been carbonized, turning into fine sand and flowing down quickly.

"The human body's tissues have undergone a kind of 'shaping' process, giving them extremely high hardness, flexibility, and defensive capabilities, and... they are very heavy."

"You mean, the strange entities we encountered weren't actually any kind of living being?"

Ding Junyi nodded: "The Phoenix Society discovered this a long time ago. I also heard it from some of their recent global announcements. In addition to biological tissue research, the most important point is biologicality."

"What biological nature?"

"They don't engage in the simplest activities like hunting, eating, mating, and reproducing. They're like natural killing machines, hunting humans but showing no reaction to flesh and blood. The dark mark is like an order; as long as there's a living person, they'll attack frantically, and they're not even afraid of death."

Lin Xian fell silent upon hearing this. He had indeed realized this as well, and not only him, but all the survivors understood this.

The bizarre entities, including zombies, seem to exist solely for killing. They exhibit no feeding behavior and will not stop in the face of artillery fire. This madness is one of the reasons why survivors are increasingly afraid of the bizarre entities.

"So, combining the Firebook information packages from the Phoenix Order and the Nightwalkers, as well as the research data from Silent City, I came to a conclusion."

Ding Junyi looked at Lin Xian: "That is, the strange entities are a kind of mechanized existence created by some kind of force or civilization using the flesh and blood tissue of billions of humans and animals through 'craftsmanship,' and what drives them is this."

As she spoke, she threw a round ball at Lin Xian. Lin Xian caught it and saw that it was a level two blood essence.

"Strange blood essence..." Lin Xian's expression changed slightly: "You mean, this thing is the battery of the strange entity?"

"It should be easy to understand."

Lin Xian fell silent. At this moment, he inexplicably recalled what Professor Han Qiming had said to him when he was in Dungeon No. 9.

"The reason why this inference cannot be disseminated is firstly to avoid causing panic, and secondly because it is not rigorous. This is mainly because there is no accurate judgment on this from biological pathology, bacterial strain research, or investigation of living zombies. Zombies themselves are not a rigorous concept. From a biological point of view, such biological individuals do not exist."

"For example, an adult with extremely poor physical function cannot suddenly possess extremely strong vitality and physical strength without calorie metabolism. A body damaged by a virus would only be worse, so how could it be so energetic and able to attack people and survive for so long?"

"So the Dark Invasion Toxin is essentially the energy of dark creatures, including zombies, similar to our oxygen, and Blood Essence is a high-density combination of this energy, the main core driving the actions of the strange entities?"

"Yes."

“That seems to make sense,” Lin Xian nodded. “Every time those strange entities are killed, black energy is released, which should be a high concentration of Dark Invasion Toxin…”

No wonder he heard hellish screams when he approached the black mist before; it wasn't a hallucination, but rather the mental shock caused by the high concentration of darkness invading him.

Absorbing such a high concentration of dark invasion is an enormous burden on the human body. If one cannot withstand it, one will become corrupted and mutated; if one can withstand it, one will evolve. This is why those groups of superhuman hunters tried to use this method to enhance their superhuman abilities.

"So what do you mean now that you're saying this cell is alive?"

Ding Junyi pointed to the Dark Corrosion Cell in the petri dish: "This is exactly what I've been curious about. Through my research, I've discovered that this cell possesses a completely different cellular form from that of Blue Star life. Most importantly, it has the ability to absorb the invasion of darkness without being affected at all. The only problem is that the Crimson World can only maintain its activity by placing it on a piece of living human flesh and blood tissue; otherwise, it wouldn't be possible to bring it out of the Star Abyss. Therefore, I believe that this thing is very likely..."

"A true creature of darkness!"

Lin Xian was slightly shocked, then realized: "I understand what you mean. You mean that apart from some of the real dark creatures, most of the strange entities are actually flesh and blood machines similar to those created by the White City Mother Nest."

"Yes."

"Is it Grade A, Special Grade, or Grade S?"

“Uncertain,” Ding Junyi said. “I had Shu Qin collect some tissues from the Abyss Worm and the Black Thorn in the Clouds in Xilan City, but I didn’t find any of these Dark Corrosion Cells on my end.”

"That's strange, it's not even S-rank?" Lin Xian asked in surprise.

Ding Junyi shook her head: "I also find it strange. As the first S-class creature killed by humans, the Cloud Black Thorn was taken very seriously by Zhao Yu and Wen Zhuo's team. They collected a lot of data and took it away. However, including the Abyss Worm, no strange blood essence was found. So I think that this kind of Dark Corrosion Cell should be in a special part or require specific conditions, but these are all just guesses."

“This Dark Corrosion Cell is definitely a major discovery.” Lin Xian’s expression turned slightly serious. “The Crimson World went to such great lengths, and even devised a secret plan to prevent us from intercepting it. This thing is definitely not simple.”

“Humans can now separate dark energy from cold dark particles. This is essentially a form of energy conversion from the invasion of darkness. You can think of it as a higher purity cold dark reagent that humans can absorb. According to Shinji Mochizuki’s calculation formula, 18% is the current limit of human energy conversion. This limit is also a critical value for the evolution of superhumans. So, in principle, apart from the human body’s forced filtering, there is currently no material on Earth that can isolate or store this energy,” Ding Junyi said.

Lin Xian looked at the strange blood essence in his hand and the dark corrosive cell on the table: "We can't find it on Blue Star, but maybe we can in Star Abyss?"

"Yes, that's exactly what Shinji Mochizuki and the Phoenix Society are researching the Abyss of Stars. Of course, the same goes for the Crimson World. Whether it's Disaster Plants, Blood Essence, Strange Entities, or Forbidden Objects, these organizations all want to find answers from these substances that don't belong to Earth."

"So the fact that these cells are unaffected by darkness is a great key to research?"

“That’s right.” Ding Junyi nodded. “At least we discovered that.”

"Holy crap, so Dawn City's announced 95% purified water filtration technology, through their cooperation with the Crimson World, could actually actually achieve that?" Lin Xian asked in surprise, "Could Dawn City be betting on this?"

“I’m not familiar with the political aspects.” Ding Junyi put down what she was doing. “I’m only responsible for scientific research.”

"Ok."

Lin Xian had a feeling that the secrets of darkness were gradually surfacing. He just didn't know if humanity could solve the problem of the darkness's invasion before the global polar night or before people died of thirst. Fortunately, Silent City No. 2 was not swept into the Star Abyss, and Lin Xian was able to obtain some water resources from it to replenish his supplies. Otherwise, even drinking water would be a problem now.

"There is a high-standard research cabin on the Sky Train." Lin Xian then looked at Ding Junyi and said, "Director Ding, I hope you will be my research officer. There are some scientists in the Jian Xuwei Alliance who may be able to work with you and provide you with assistance in the future."

Ding Junyi looked up at carriage number 3 and said to Lin Xian, "Are you planning to give up on Infinite?"

"I……"

"I suggest you stay for now."

Before Lin Xian could speak, Ding Junyi said to him, "The struggle against the apocalypse is destined to be a difficult and dangerous journey. We haven't even left the Asia-Pacific region yet. After entering the ocean orbit, there are still the Eastern Continent islands, the equatorial mid-ocean ridge, crossing the storm rainforests of South America, and traversing the endless Black Ocean to reach the poles. There are many things to do..."

Lin Xian waved his hand to interrupt, and smiled faintly: "I have no such intention. I will not give up the Infinite unless absolutely necessary. The situation is quite troublesome now. Obtaining the Sky-class is one of my plans. It will temporarily give our Joint Train a safety net, and at least we will not need to rely on Silent City to escape our predicament again."

Lin Xian looked at the carriage of the Infinite. All the armor and weapons here were made by his own hands. Apart from some structural damage to the hull, the Infinite currently has no problems with driving.

The firepower and power on this train are extremely valuable assets. Even if Lin were to devour the entire Union Train in the process, the Infinite would still be left until the end.

Ding Junyi looked at Lin Xian with a meaningful gaze and said in surprise, "So this was all part of your plan?!"

She stared at Lin Xian in disbelief: "You used the Aksai forbidden object to enter the Star Abyss, so you already knew that Silent City and the Crimson World were inside. That's why you used magnetic levitation to fly over, rescue Silent City, and then destroyed the Crimson World's research institute in one fell swoop, and even seized their Dark Corrosion Cells!?"

"No, you've misunderstood." Lin Xian frowned, thinking that this woman was too good at making connections; wasn't this going too far afield?

To everyone's surprise, Ding Junyi became increasingly astonished as she spoke, taking two steps back as if struck by a sudden realization. She exclaimed excitedly, "Now Silent City has become your right-hand man, and even the world's number one genius, Shinji Mochizuki, has become your strategist. The Sky-class is being handled by the KIKI Linglong Group, and manufactured by Jian Xuwei and the Finger Group. So you used Silent City to deal with the Wen family, even involving the Phoenix Society, causing Dawn City to become wary and hand over the Jin Hai and Sky-class. This… all of this was part of your plan?!"

"No..." Lin Xian's pupils dilated as he stared at the woman speaking rapidly and incessantly. He tried to interrupt her, but couldn't get a word in edgewise. Looking at Ding Junyi's shocked yet admiring expression, Lin Xian swallowed hard.

"No... um... uh, okay."

Lin Xian composed himself, too lazy to explain, and simply sighed in a deliberately profound tone: "That's right, don't tell anyone. I don't want to be seen as a shrewd strategist in other people's eyes. Let's keep a low profile."

Ding Junyi's chest heaved rapidly, her face flushed as she stared at Lin Xian. Suddenly, she rushed forward and excitedly began to remove Lin Xian's shirt.

“You…you are my god…” she gasped, “I haven’t had my needs met in so long, please…give me some time.”

"no……"

Lin Xian looked shocked: "Weren't we just discussing serious scientific research issues, like that living cell thing..."

Upon hearing the word 'living cells,' Ding Junyi shuddered, as if something pleasurable had been touched upon, causing her to involuntarily bite her lower lip and let out a soft hum.
"Wait, you haven't finished explaining the formula derivation yet..." Lin Xian continued.

uh~
Upon hearing the word "formula," Ding Junyi felt even more aroused. At that moment, she didn't want to derive the formula; all she wanted was to push Lin Xian down.

"I heard that the research module on the Sky Train has a large rest room?" Ding Junyi said at this moment. "It should be."

“That definitely won’t be as exciting as this little cubicle…” Ding Junyi grabbed Lin Xian and pulled him toward the rest room in the research module.

"what?!"

……

Lin Xian knew that Director Ding had this contrasting trait, and he thought he understood it well, after all... he had experienced it firsthand. But every time, Director Ding would refresh his understanding of contrast. Every word Lin Xian used related to the laboratory would elicit a strong reaction from Ding Junyi, as if those scientific terms that she usually took for granted had become a kind of forbidden pleasure for her. After a peaceful research life, a long-accumulated explosion would occur.

This time, after the thrilling experiences of Aksai and Xingyuan, it was even more intense.

After a while, the two emerged from the rest room, exhausted. Ding Junyi's flushed face gradually faded. While calmly buttoning her white coat, she said to Lin Xian:

"Thank you."

"polite"

Lin Xian replied inexplicably, then turned to leave with a dark expression. At that moment, his gaze fell upon the Hellish Black Chrysanthemum and the Silver Dragon Ten Thousand Mistakes on the table, as well as the Blood Vine he had retrieved from the basement of the White City Rail Station. He changed the subject...
"By the way, have there been any changes to these disaster-stricken plants?"

"The conversion efficiency of Hellish Black Chrysanthemum should be improving. I compared the supplies we obtained in Aksai, and the food and water in our vehicle were infected much more slowly than those in other vehicles. This should be due to the effect of Hellish Black Chrysanthemum and your Heterogeneous Cube."

Lin Xian nodded.

“The Silver Dragon is not wrong. After coming out of the Star Abyss, it has not changed at all. It has almost stopped growing and there is no sign of inflorescences forming yet. As for the Blood Vine, I noticed some changes when we fought our way out of the horde of corpses, but they were not obvious. We don’t know its function yet. As for a name, do you want to come up with one?” Ding Junyi said to Lin Xian.

"Since you say it's Blood Vine, then let's call it Blood Vine..." Lin Xian sighed and said to Ding Junyi.

"Director Ding, please move to the Sky Dome Interstellar Train as soon as possible. Firstly, it will make communication easier, and secondly, there is a lot of experimental equipment on board, which should meet your needs."

"I know."

Ding Junyi lowered her head to organize her research materials. After a while, she looked up at Lin Xian, adjusted her glasses, and said calmly, though her eyes seemed to hold a deeper meaning.
"I've been waiting for you, and now my needs have been met."

Lin Xian: ...

After getting off the Infinity, Lin Xian went straight into the factory where he had previously been equipped. He took the elevator down and it was already 9 a.m. There were still about two hours until dawn. The entire Jin Hai was extremely calm. Apart from the densely packed hordes of zombies around the industrial area, no strange creatures appeared.

The team leaders, including Shu Qin and Liang Lei, were scattered throughout their respective areas, keeping watch and reporting the situation to Lin Xian from time to time.

The elevator car descended, entering the massive bio-engineered factory once more. Numerous scanning robots and various types of drones operated in the air. Shinji Mochizuki stood beneath the bio-engineered armor, and before Lin Xian even approached, he spoke.

"To answer your two questions, the design of that Sky Train, apart from the ionized air sheath and electrostatic field generator, only includes four electromagnetic railguns and two high-energy pulse ray cannons. It is mainly used to clear space debris and small meteorites. The orbital seismic cannon you want cannot be installed in space-based weapons."

He glanced at Lin Xian as he approached: "The disadvantage of this pre-designed spacecraft compared to your train is that you can't just take any carriage and use it to modify weapons, because it's a starship standard, and the internal airtightness and heat insulation composite layer are all integrated."

Lin Xian frowned: "Damn, didn't you say you were going to help me equip myself with weapons?"

“There are other solutions,” Shinji Mochizuki said leisurely. “First, redesign the entire blueprint. Second, build an arsenal ship to connect to it. This is more realistic, since this interstellar train is modular, which can solve your problem.”

Lin Xian nodded: "Redesigning is fine, the second one is more reliable. What's the other problem?"

Shinji Mochizuki slowly raised a finger, pointing to the bizarre body armor above.
"This is neither an experimental device nor a failed design."

"What do you mean?"

"Judging from those implant suppressors and restraint devices, the Crimson World was tailor-made for it, but this monster is already dead. Why do you think they would put these things on it?"

"Heh." Lin Xian chuckled. "Don't tell me they can not only control the bizarre entities, but also bring them back to life?"

“Control, resurrection, these are all too subjective.” Shinji Mochizuki pointed to his temple and looked at Lin Xian, saying, “The Crimson World is full of madmen; you can’t understand it with the mindset of a normal person.”

"Speak directly if you have anything to say."

Shinji Mochizuki tucked his hands into his sleeves, looked at the enormous, bizarre body suit, and said calmly, "I don't like to make sensational speculations, but logically speaking, the Crimson World couldn't possibly be unaware that a dead bizarre body has no research value. There must be some reason why they would invest so much in creating this thing."

Lin Xian paused for a moment upon hearing this, then said in a deep voice, "Alright, then you help me get that standard hull sorted out first. The design and manufacture of the arsenal ship certainly won't be that quick, right?"

"Of course, even if I use readily available weapons, it would take at least 30 days to design and manufacture the hull of an arsenal ship of this scale."

“30 days…” Lin Xian opened his mouth, but then swallowed back what he was about to say.

Normally, the construction of large starships is measured in years. Silent City has been building one for 14 years, and Shinji Mochizuki is still working hard to perfect the hull for interstellar travel. The fact that the Sky Dome-class can reach this scale is due to the fact that many hull sections were already built before the Apocalypse. Even so, building a tens of thousands of tons arsenal ship in 30 days is already a super-fast manufacturing speed. It is estimated that Shinji Mochizuki will still need to use most of Silent City's construction robots to accomplish this.

Thinking of this, Lin Xian felt a heart attack, but he couldn't expect others to create a large starship in a minute. With such manufacturing power, Silent City wouldn't be chased by Star Abyss anymore.

"Then why don't you design a blueprint for me, and give me two sets of Hyperion orientation restraints, and I'll handle the rest myself."

“Sure,” Shinji Mochizuki said casually. “As you wish, I will design an arsenal ship for you based on the basic modules.”

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

Lin Xian glanced back, preparing to leave: "Did Qian Suxun and your robot find the Crimson World's lair in Jinhai?"

“There are a few places, but they’re all deserted. I’ll let you know if I get any news, Lin,” Shinji Mochizuki said without turning his head.

Lin Xian nodded and immediately returned to the ground. Underground and Starport were being watched by Shinji Nozomi and Silent City, while at the train factory, Jian Xuwei, Chen Sixuan, Shi Diyuan and others were arranging the train transfer plan.

Lin Xian took over the engineering-grade train from Qian Dele's Joker team and the train from the Red Rose team, and began to devour them immediately. He needed a large amount of materials and mechanical source points. The Mechanical Heart was about to awaken for the second time, so he had no time to sleep or rest.

In a spacious train loading line factory, Lin Xian moved the train in and then began to devour it alone.

[Successfully devoured! Mechanical Source Points +50, Mechanical Devouring Skill Proficiency +20!]

In less than 20 minutes, Lin Xian completely swallowed up a living compartment.

[Successfully devoured! Mechanical Source Points +400, Mechanical Devouring Skill Proficiency +200!]

An hour later, the Joker team's high-powered Huanxing tractor was swallowed up by Lin Xian and turned into ashes.

At this moment, the black sky faded away, and the entire Jinhai was bathed in light.

Lin Xian checked the time and knew that after dawn, there would likely be a lot of news coming and going from Dawn City, so he made the most of the time and began to devour the Joker team's nuclear-powered central carriage.

Three hours later.

[Successfully devoured! Mechanical Source Points +800, Mechanical Devouring Skill Proficiency +300!]

At this moment, Lin Xian's Mechanical Heart level progress has increased by 1250, and his Mechanical Devouring proficiency has also increased by 520!

[Current Mechanical Heart Level: LV.5 (18890/20000)]

Mechanical Devouring: 5 (2585/3000) Increases devouring efficiency

"continue!"

Lin Xian looked extremely serious, wiped the sweat from his brow, and began to engulf the Red Rose train convoy.

[Successfully devoured! Mechanical Source Points +50, Mechanical Devouring Skill Proficiency +20!]

After Lin Xian completely devoured one of the living quarters of the Red Rose caravan, a pile of debris instantly rained down from the vehicle—various women's underwear and condom packaging scattered all over the floor. Lin Xian smiled speechlessly at the scene. He had already informed Zhou Hongqu, the captain of the Red Rose caravan, and everyone in the caravan that they would no longer engage in prostitution after forming the alliance. In fact, these women were more than happy to accept this, because if they weren't forced to survive, who would want to sell their bodies to live in the apocalypse…

Just after Lin Xian finished swallowing the nuclear-powered carriage of the Red Rose team, a dazzling light screen flashed out.

[Successfully devoured. Mechanical Source Points +700, Mechanical Devouring Skill Proficiency +200]

Congratulations! Your Mechanical Heart has successfully upgraded to Level 6 and is now activating Mechanical Awakening!

rub!
At this moment, the sound of successful devouring rang in Lin Xian's ears, and the light screen in front of him suddenly went black!
An incredibly powerful mechanical roar resounded in his mind!
(End of this chapter)