Doomsday: I Build an Infinite Train.

Chapter 376 The Cruel Truth
For the next hour, Ye Lan calmly recounted to Lin Xian how the Blue Star Federation government went from being paralyzed to forming a provisional government after the Apocalypse Day, and how much of humanity's top technological power was mobilized to deal with natural disasters and darkness, yet all that was gained was endless despair.

"During the first polar night, our starfleet attempted to break out of the space layer, but without success."

Ye Lan spoke very patiently, and Lin Xian finally understood clearly what efforts the authorities had made after the apocalypse.

Nuclear attacks, starships fleeing—the Federation has tried everything that ordinary people can think of, but all of them have resulted in devastating consequences.

Nuclear explosions might be useful for clearing out zombie or monster hordes, but they are largely ineffective against Star Abyss or S-class and above creatures. Firstly, S-class monsters almost all possess defensive force fields like the Black Thorn in the Clouds, which are essentially ineffective against kinetic and energy weapons if they cannot be broken. Most importantly, nuclear explosions would actually exacerbate the expansion of Star Abyss, causing those unspeakable creatures to mutate and ultimately destroy human cities. At the same time, they would create large areas of nuclear contamination, with radioactive dust sweeping across the sky, creating a 'pseudo-night' state, similar to the special situation Lin Xian experienced when monsters appeared in the blizzard in the Parma Grasslands.

Lin Xian's expression turned solemn as he asked in a deep voice, "Professor Ye, what exactly is the Celestial Curtain...?"

"I don't know. Based on current research, it's a medium we can't understand. It's invisible and intangible. It covers the Kármán line. If I had to describe it, it would be like a giant soap bubble enveloping us."

"Soap bubbles?" Lin Xian frowned slightly; the description struck him as odd. "Our weapons can't break them?"

"For humans, breaking a soap bubble is easy, but what about a water flea?" Ye Lan looked at Lin Xian calmly. "For a water flea, a soap bubble is a desperate barrier that it cannot break no matter how hard it tries. The Heavenly Curtain is similar to the relationship between a water flea and a soap bubble for us."

"You really know how to use metaphors," Lin Xian said with a helpless smile.

"It is precisely because of this despair that Dawn City abandoned its original plan to build 15 underground cities, concentrating all its resources on Dawn City alone. Chu Zhaonan has given up on resistance; based on the understanding that 'humanity is doomed to defeat,' all his current efforts are for one thing," Ye Lan continued.

"what's up?"

"A 'Far Star'-class starship, equipped with a complete ecosystem and interstellar travel technology, carrying a human embryo bank and a civilization database, will escape Earth. Using a propellantless fusion engine and three months to accelerate to cruising speed (15% of the speed of light), and employing cryogenic hibernation technology, it will take six generations and 1200 years to reach Kepler-186f in the constellation Cygnus, 20 light-years from our solar system. This is the most Earth-like, theoretically habitable planet discovered to date."

Lin Xian was speechless upon hearing this, and for a moment he didn't know what to say. After a long while, he said in a deep voice.

"So Chu Zhaonan doesn't care who he cooperates with, nor does he care whether Xingyuan expands. He's willing to use any means necessary to send a spaceship out?"

"Yes."

"But……"

He was shocked, and his expression changed halfway through his sentence as he looked at Ye Lan: "So, the fact that the Phoenix came to Dawn City and Chu Zhaonan recalled all the starships of Jin Hai means that Dawn City has the means to break through the Heavenly Curtain?"

"You've asked the key question."

Ye Lan said seriously, "Actually, our research team had already proposed this plan two months ago. I don't know if you've heard of the Qingluan Sky City crash incident?"

Lin Xian nodded: "I know about this."

Lin Xian first heard about Qingluan Sky City when Lao Mo mentioned it to him when he first entered Yubei City. Later, Wei Kexue briefly talked to him about this catastrophic event, and this fall made Lin Xian extremely wary of the sky.

"The fall of Qingluan Sky City was a huge loss for the Phoenix Society. That battle was the most devastating rescue operation led by the Phoenix Society since the Apocalypse, with more than 42 people dead or missing. Qingluan Sky City entered an airspace teeming with atmospheric creatures. At least two S-class anomalies and several A-class special creatures attacked. Hundreds of thousands of people fought back, but they could not avoid the disaster. Later, we sent rescue and investigation teams from both the Dawn Center and Phoenix City. Through the information stored in the wreckage that sank into the deep sea, we discovered that before the crash and sinking into the Pacific Ocean, Comrade Xu Linchuan, the commander-in-chief of Qingluan Sky City, had issued an order to rush into the upper atmosphere at an unconventional angle."

Lin Xian frowned: "Run away?!"

Ye Lan calmly said, "On the contrary, Comrade Xu Linchuan did this not to save his life, because we found a large number of broken limbs from an S-class anomaly on the deck of the Qingluan Sky City ship."

Lin Xian's expression changed: "You mean Qingluan Sky City rammed an S-class into the Heavenly Curtain!?"

"Yes."

"Then?"

"We originally thought that was the first war in which humanity killed an S-class enemy. But the problem is, in the sensors we salvaged, we found that after the Azure Phoenix Sky City crashed into the Heavenly Curtain, the S-class enemy mysteriously disappeared."

"Disappeared?" Lin Xian's mind went blank for a moment upon hearing this, and he immediately realized what was happening, jumping to his feet.

"You mean, an S-class anomaly can pass through the Heavenly Curtain?!"

Chu Yan looked up at Lin Xian, her gaze seemingly saying, "Don't get excited, Professor Ye won't see you stand up."

Lin Xian felt Chu Yan's gaze, so he sat down again and continued, "Or are all S-class beings entering from outside the Heavenly Curtain?"

His guess was not unfounded. The sky is dangerous because great terrors lurk within the clouds, and combined with what Ye Lan just said, this is indeed very possible.

Ye Lan listened patiently to Chu Yan's relayed words and then spoke...

“We have proposed this idea since the Azure Phoenix Sky City incident: if an S-class anomaly can pass through the Heavenly Curtain, it means that the barrier covering the Carmen Line is very likely some kind of hyperspace technology or biological force field.”

“I understand.” Lin Xian immediately realized something: “Dawn City recently killed an S-class creature, so you suspect that Dawn City is planning to use the remains of this thing to break through the veil?!”

Ye Lan shook his head: "The Phoenix Society conducted related experiments a long time ago. We used S-class wreckage to deploy spacecraft, but it didn't work. This also included the wreckage of the creature you destroyed in Xilan City, the Black Thorn in the Clouds."

"Then why?" Lin Xian felt a little confused.

bang~
At this moment, Chu Yan pressed the switch, and a small cylindrical cryogenic chamber slowly rose in the middle of the conference table. Inside was a transparent petri dish. Lin Xian looked over and was shocked to find that it was actually a piece of Dark Corrosion Cell!

“Many of the Crimson World’s actions are under our surveillance,” Chu Yan said to Lin Xian. “The Phoenix Society actually knows more about Star Abyss and the Crimson World than you do. Remember the remains of that gray mist monster you saw with me before? Those cells were active tissue extracted from its ‘active brain’ by the Crimson World. They were then urgently sent to Star Abyss White City Research Institute No. 5 for xenogeneic cultivation. So we suspect that Dawn City is planning to use this to cross the veil.”

Upon hearing this, Lin Xian couldn't help but ask, "How can such a small organization escape with an interstellar fleet?"

“We don’t know about that. The Crimson World was the first to obtain this kind of tissue, and they used extremely cruel research methods. Obtaining active tissue is already a big step forward. They may already possess this technology,” Chu Yan said.

"I don't understand. If humanity possesses such a solution... wouldn't that be a good thing?" Lin Xian's expression was complicated. "What I mean is, we can temporarily disregard whether this problem was developed by the Crimson World or not. As long as it can solve the human crisis, we can utilize it. Or do you hope to obtain this technology from the Crimson World by leveraging my power?"

"Do not."

Ye Lan's expression was serious: "That's not our main concern. After obtaining the Dark Corruption Cells, the Phoenix Society has already made a lot of discoveries here. But the problem now is that we are worried that the Crimson World or Dawn City will use hyphal connections on these cells. If they do that, it would be tantamount to opening Pandora's box, because this could be a move by humanity against the darkness that could lead to the annihilation of all mankind!"

Lin Xian was stunned, as if a thunderbolt had struck his heart. He suddenly remembered the riot in the Heavenly Mushroom Tower caused by Tang Yun's return to the mycelium survival pod back in Yijin City. At the same time, he also remembered what Ding Junyi had told him just a few hours earlier.

"That's exactly what I'm curious about too. Through my research, I've discovered that this cell has a completely different cellular form from that of life on Earth. 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 would be impossible to bring it out of the Star Abyss. So I think this thing is very likely to be..."

"A true creature of darkness!"

If S-class creatures are truly dark beings, then connecting them through mycelium would undoubtedly open a complete passage between humans and darkness. Lin Xian simply couldn't imagine how terrifying this would be.

Ye Lan then said seriously
"The Phoenix Society has come here for two purposes. First, to wipe out the Crimson World Adventists led by Julius and Zhou Mingyuan. Second, to take over Dawn City. Regardless of whether Chu Zhaonan's vanguard plan succeeds or not, we have a responsibility to lead these millions of people to complete the final relocation. Therefore, I need your mechanical abilities to cooperate with Chu Yan's White Night Vanguard team to enter Dawn City and control the city's AI and automated defense weapon center before it completely spirals out of control. This will prevent anyone from using this to kidnap survivors or launch attacks against humanity, and will allow us to control the disaster and harm in advance."

“Wait, can’t we stop this from happening?” Lin Xian’s tone was somewhat heavy. “I mean, Project Pioneer might be related to Dark Corrosion Cell Technology, but the matter of inoculating hyphae, perhaps…”

Lin Xian tried to sort out his thoughts, but the more he did, the more he found it amusing. The more he dealt with the Crimson World, the more he knew that this act, capable of annihilating humanity, posed no difficulty or burden for those madmen. Furthermore, the Dark Corrosion Cells were discovered by the Crimson World, and the utilization of hyphae was precisely their current main research direction. He couldn't think of any way to stop these fanatical Adventists from opening Pandora's box. "I know this sounds frustrating," Ye Lan said calmly. "When we intercepted these Dark Corrosion Cells, we were already prepared for the worst."

"What should we prepare?" Lin Xian asked.

"Prepare for disaster."

"This may be the eve of the demise of human civilization, but as long as there are still people alive, the Phoenix Society must stand up. You know our principles." Ye Lan spoke to the void, as if she could see Lin Xian's fear at this moment. Her tone was calm, her words were pessimistic, but they also carried a firm and resolute determination.

"If we step forward, do we still have a chance?" Lin Xian sighed upon hearing this.

“Captain Lin, the world can’t get any worse.” Ye Lan said at this moment: “Since the arrival of the Apocalypse Day, even though we have less and less time, everything is moving in the right direction. Whether it’s the survival rate of the survivors or the methods we use to deal with it, although we have not yet seen the light, as long as we believe that dawn will eventually come, then the flame of human resistance will not be extinguished.”

"Even if the whole world only has 9 months left, or waits for that damned Crimson World to offer its brains to the dark creatures, and then waits for us to gather in the polar regions so they can hunt us down?!" Whether it was anger or helplessness, Lin Xian was somewhat out of control at this moment. He shouted loudly, forgetting that only Chu Yan could hear his voice.

Chu Yan looked at Lin Xian quietly, then turned to Ye Lan and relayed the message, her eyes filled with complex emotions.

"That means we still have nine months to build starships, nine months to perfect our breakthrough to the Celestial Curtain, and nine months to ensure more people survive." Ye Lan said in a telling tone, "It's not over yet, is it?"

Lin Xian's face was gloomy. He had roughly guessed Phoenix's purpose from the beginning, but he never expected that this purpose would be accompanied by an extremely sad and helpless development.

After a long while, he let out a long sigh and spoke.

"I'm joining your plan and we'll get started right away."

"Thank you so much."

……

Perhaps due to excessive energy expenditure, Lin Xian's connection with Chu Yan's consciousness did not end after communicating with Ye Lan. So, after obtaining consent, Chu Yan led Lin Xian to the top of the Zhen Tian ship's deck tower.

As the last rays of the setting sun approached, looking south from Qingbo City, one could vaguely see the towering Twin Star Towers of Dawn City and the black city walls shrouded in mist.

"Bai Yefeng? What kind of organization is that?"

Lin Xian asked.

"It's a small, secret organization jointly established by the Phoenix Society and the North American United Front. Because I'm the only known psychic ability user so far, I mainly engage in intelligence gathering and Star Abyss exploration," Chu Yan replied calmly.

"With such a high concentration of darkness invading the Star Abyss, can you withstand it?"

"I am immune to the Dark Invasion, not completely, but my resistance is higher than everyone else's. This is because the Dark Invasion mainly targets the infection of the mind and will, and I am a superhuman in this area. This is why the Crimson World has been researching my clones."

Lin Xian looked at her in surprise: "No wonder they wanted to use your image, it turns out you're their precious darling!"

He finally realized that Chu Yan's superpower was simply heaven-defying. No wonder the Crimson World regarded her as an important target. For this group of descendants who wanted to become gods, Chu Yan was definitely an important treasure trove.

"Unfortunately, the clones don't have superpowers, but they don't seem to have given up."

"why?"

"I don't know." Chu Yan looked at Lin Xian: "I want to ask you a question. What is your opinion on Chu Zhaonan's Vanguard Plan?"

Lin Xian was somewhat surprised that Chu Yan would ask such a question. Hearing this, he could only sigh and smile helplessly: "What opinion can I have? Yes, he is noble. He is the ultimate practitioner of reason overriding humanity, abandoning the rest of humanity to complete the great redemption of civilization and save the spark of civilization. Unfortunately, I am just a commoner. From Chu Zhaonan's perspective? I'm sorry, I have never been the president of the Federation and have not experienced what he has experienced, so it is difficult for me to empathize and I cannot be so ruthless and willing to pay any price."

He looked up at the sky and smiled helplessly: "I really wish I didn't know about this, so that even if I died in despair at the end of the world, I would still have the fighting spirit to fight to the end."

"Professor Ye knows you'll be very upset. You've fought so hard to get to where you are now, both in Yubei and Xilan, with burning passion. But we need your mechanical abilities to help us now, so we have to tell you the truth," Chu Yan said calmly.

"I know," Lin Xian nodded.

"But Professor Ye is right. It's not over yet. On the bright side, if Chu Zhaonan succeeds, at least we'll have hope of breaking through the Heavenly Curtain, right?"

Chu Yan said in a chilling voice, "If the mycelium connects to S-level..."

"I know, I know, just let me pretend to be optimistic, don't you want me to have fighting spirit?"

Chu Yan smiled slightly and remained silent.

Lin Xian felt a little dizzy. Night was about to fall, and he knew he was about to wake up. But things had already come to this point. He had agreed to the Phoenix Society's operation, so he had to hurry. In other words, Lin Xian had to rush to Dawn City overnight.

"ask you a question."

"explain."

"You only found me?" Lin Xian smiled. "Dawn City has millions of people. You can't be telling me that the Phoenix Society and the North American United Front are counting on my actions, can you?"

"You really think you're a savior?"

Chu Yan looked at him and said calmly, "Some of the Crimson World's evacuees from Jinhai entered Changuan. We suspect that some of them may be in Dawn City. To clean them up, we need swift and decisive measures. Moreover, to take over Dawn City, even without Chu Zhaonan, there is Zhou Mingyuan's ruling group, Lu Tianye's garrison, and millions of people involved in caravans, alliances, forces, and the black market. It's all very complicated. You've only seen the tip of the iceberg of what the Phoenix Society is going to do."

Lin Xian asked in surprise, "Oh right, so the North American United Front has arrived too? Where are you?"

Chu Yan glanced at him with a smile at the corner of her eye, then turned away without turning around.

"After you enter Dawn City, go to the Daili Tour. My people will make contact with you. Oh, and be careful to conceal your identity."

……

Jin Hai, Huanxing Train Factory, Infinite Carriage 1.

It was already 19:00 PM. The sky was already shrouded in the dark tide of Xingyuan. Strange noises rose from the city streets of Jinhai. Lin Xian sat on the bed, staring blankly at his hands.

"Since we're going to be working together, what's wrong with telling me more... this woman."

“Alright, alright, since we’re on the same side as the Phoenix Society, it’s time to put my mechanical abilities to use, Professor Ye, no, Commander Ye.” Lin Xian stood up and stretched: “Let me take over the AI ​​and automated weapon systems of Dawn City.”

"But it didn't say anything about paying it back..."

(End of this chapter)