Doomsday: I Build an Infinite Train.

Chapter 378 Outer District

Lin Xian probably never imagined that after the apocalypse, he would need to sneak into the largest human city in the Asia-Pacific region.

The group looked grave. The Swordfish transport ship was docked in a dilapidated street far from Dawn City. Dozens of zombies, attracted by the noise, howled and surrounded it. The hatch opened, and the figure inside remained motionless. A sharp metallic light silently flashed out, instantly slicing a group of zombies to pieces. Then the metallic light retracted, and a purple-haired girl with twin ponytails flew out, her body surging with psychic energy. Countless sharp blades rushed back to her side, neatly overlapping.

At this moment, Lin Xian quickly disembarked from the transport ship. Although it was still more than 20 kilometers away from the No. 1 wall of Dawn City, the place where they stopped was already in the outskirts of a dense urban area. Looking up, the dark and dilapidated city stretched out like a sea, and in the distance was a huge wall that seemed to stretch across the sky and earth. The hundred-meter-high wall was like an industrial wonder, surrounding the vast Dawn City. In the sparse moonlight tonight, the dark outline of the Twin Star Towers could be vaguely seen.

“Buildings taller than 100 meters will not be lit up, so from the outside you can basically only see the city wall.”

Jian Xuwei stepped out from beside Lin Xian and spoke.

"Is building such a high city wall really useful?" KIKI asked at this moment.

“It will still be of some use.” Monica smiled lightly, stood next to Lin Xian, glanced at him, and said meaningfully, “In the Battle of Xilan City, if it weren’t for the defense of the industrial city walls, we wouldn’t have been able to hold out for two nights.”

Lin Xian nodded: "Yes, this wall wasn't prepared by S-class. If it weren't for the Abyss Worm, it wouldn't be so easy for ordinary A-class or special-class soldiers to break through. Dawn City's firepower is hundreds of times stronger than that of Xilan City."

"It's a pity that despite the city walls and underground city, there's not a glimmer of hope."

Qian Dele said with a serious expression, "Chairman Jian, are we stopping here to walk directly into Dawn City?"

Jian Xuwei remained silent, her gaze sharp as she stared at the dark street ahead.

"Everyone be careful, there are many targets approaching ahead." Lu Xingchen hadn't stretched his muscles in a long time. Now that he had come to Dawn City with Lin Xian, coupled with the information he had received earlier, he felt a sense of solemn responsibility. His eyes gleamed, as if he had already detected the movements in the distance.

“It’s not some kind of monster, it’s people,” Shiori quickly said. “Many people.”

Lin Xian's expression turned serious. At this moment, a roaring sound gradually grew closer, flames rose everywhere, and engines roared. In the dilapidated, dark street ahead, a well-armed convoy was speeding towards them. Zombies and abandoned vehicles on the street were smashed aside by a locomotive that resembled an all-terrain train. Behind it followed a dozen or so modified heavy trucks and special vehicles.

However, Lin Xian found the convoy rather strange. Although the vehicles were covered with various patchwork steel plates, wild graffiti, and rainproof cloths, making them look like a post-apocalyptic convoy, Lin Xian noticed at a glance that the vehicles were much more advanced than they appeared. Perhaps worried about alerting the enemy, the convoy did not use any weapons and simply drove forward.

Jian Xuwei stepped forward and immediately raised her hand to stop the crowd's wary stance: "They are our people, don't worry."

Hearing this, Huo Ge and the others restrained their fighting spirit. When the convoy came rushing over and stopped a hundred meters in front of the transport ship, the flashing headlights dazzled Lin Xian and his group. At this moment, the car doors kept opening, and a group of people gathered together and walked towards Lin Xian.

The group's equipment was also extremely advanced, almost all of them wearing Ghost Wolf or Iron Hunter-level power armor, and their weapons were quite powerful. Lin Xian watched as the group walked over, and the leader quickly stepped in front of Jian Xuwei. He opened his power armor helmet, revealing a slightly young face with a troubled expression.

Lin Xian recognized him; this man was Jian Xuwei's younger brother, Jian Zeyang. Lin Xian had met him before when they were at Yubei Airport.

"Sis, everything's ready!"

Jian Xuwei nodded and turned to look at Lin Xian: "Under my arrangement, Zeyang has been active in the outer city of Dawn City. On the one hand, it is convenient to transmit intelligence, and on the other hand, there are many survivors here, which can accumulate a lot of strength."

Lin Xian said with some surprise, "I thought your brother was being controlled by Zhou Mingyuan?"

"No, I was forced to cooperate mainly because of the overall situation. The Finger Group has too many assets and a large team, and I do need to rely on the strength of Dawn City in many aspects."

When Jian Zeyang saw Lin Xian, his eyes lit up. He then strode over, wiped his hands, and extended his hand to Lin Xian.

"Captain Lin, it's been a long time. I haven't thanked you for your help in Yubei City yet. I have a bad temper, and I was a little rude to you before. Please don't take it to heart."

Lin Xian was somewhat surprised to hear this. Jian Zeyang seemed to have changed a lot since he last saw him. He looked much more weathered and had lost his previous arrogance, becoming more composed.

"I don't remember you offending me in any way. Anyone would have doubts in that situation." Lin Xian reached out and shook hands with him. To his surprise, Jian Zeyang looked at him with great enthusiasm and kept saying, "No, it's just that I didn't know you were so amazing, Captain Lin. I've heard about what happened in Xilan City. The super-large mech, the first kill of an S-class, awesome, awesome." He grinned, and his words showed great admiration for Lin Xian.

“Zeyang is quite fond of studying mechanical mechs. Ever since you used a gas turbine to pull thousands of our vehicles onto a high-altitude track, he has been very impressed with you,” Jian Xuwei said.

"Sister." Jian Zeyang coughed lightly, a little embarrassed, then quickly changed the subject and said seriously.

"Team Leader Lin, I've already arranged the route into the city. The city's patrols are getting more and more intense, so we need to hurry, or it will be difficult to escape once we're discovered."

Lin Xian nodded and immediately said, "Okay, let's go then."

Jian Zeyang then greeted one of his men behind him and instructed him to handle the transport ship. At the same time, Lin Xian and his group boarded the all-terrain train, and the convoy quickly turned around and sped off towards Dawn City.

"Zhou Mingyuan has placed the entire city under martial law. An A-level anomaly has appeared in the west of the city. The garrison fought for several hours, which triggered a large wave of anomalies. It was just extinguished. This is the fifth A-level anomaly attack on the main city in the last 48 hours. We don't know why, but many people are now linking these events to the anomalies in the Crimson World and Star Abyss."

On the moving train, Jian Zeyang quickly kept up with Lin Xian's team to keep track of the situation in the city.

"How did the strange entity in the west of the city get involved with the unusual activity in Star Abyss No. 5?" Qian Dele asked at this moment.

“It’s not Star Abyss No. 5, it’s Star Abyss No. 8!” Jian Zeyang immediately said, “Star Abyss No. 8 is expanding rapidly. The entire Funing area and half of Liaohai are already gone. The polar night zone is now close to Tianwei. According to the news from the outpost there, a large S-class has been observed in the polar night zone, but no one has encountered it because it is in the sky. Some people think they have seen an illusion.”

Lin Xian frowned slightly upon hearing this: "Tianwei, the straight-line distance to Star Abyss No. 8 isn't much shorter than that of Yongcheng Port, is it?"

“Yes,” Jian Xuwei said. “Based on the time, the time difference in entering the polar night will not exceed one week.”

"Then, the number of groups leaving the city is increasing, which has caused some chain reactions. Zhou Mingyuan and the Population Control Bureau found an excuse to prohibit leaving the city after dark. So, Dawn City seems calm on the surface, but actually many people want to leave," Jian Zeyang said.
“The Federation and the Crimson World are colluding; nobody wants to gamble,” Qian Dele said casually.

“That’s just one reason,” Jian Zeyang said, turning around. “Actually, many large caravans don’t want to stay in Dawn City for long. It’s mainly because the polar night is approaching, and everyone wants to head towards dawn. Only small caravans and ordinary survivors have no choice but to rely on the high walls and underground cities to alleviate the pressure of panic. Most people can’t get into the underground cities. Let alone the underground cities, it’s difficult to even get inside the high walls.”

“Dawn City is so big, taking in this many people shouldn’t be a problem, right?” Lin Xian said in a low voice. “It’s just that resources are scarce.”

Jian Zeyang nodded: "Yes, water, food, including medical care and sanitation, are all limited. Moreover, the denser the population, the greater the casualties and spread once a chain reaction of mutation occurs. Since we came to Dawn City, the Nighttime Mutation Crisis has broken out every night. It's considered a peaceful night if dozens of people die. Furthermore, 80% of the large-scale mutations occur in the outer city area outside Wall 1."

"So, does that mean Dawn City is actually safe?" KIKI said at this moment.

"Compared to other things, it's fair to say that," Jian Xuwei said. "With the No. 1 city wall in place, there are no zombies or strange creatures inside the city. The only threat is the invasion of darkness."

“There’s also the Red Man Ghost.” Jian Zeyang added, “But it’s actually quite safe inside. It has commerce, entertainment, superpower battles, underground boxing rings, and even a black market. Many large caravans come here to expand their own power, so recruiting powerful superpowered individuals is all open. It’s just a matter of who offers the highest price.”

"The Federation itself is also recruiting, isn't it?" Lin Xian asked at this moment.

“Yes,” Jian Zeyang said. “The Federation’s recruitment is the most powerful. They even have internal competition for people, mainly from the Seraphim and the Night Patrol, since they are from different factions. For this reason, Zhou Mingyuan even created a Human Light Evolution Ranking. Anyone who makes the list will not only receive permanent residency in the Dawn City Underground City, but also receive a large amount of bonuses.”

Lin Xian frowned upon hearing this: "Rankings? That's a good idea."

"Indeed, so the Federation has also recruited quite a few powerful superhumans."

"Destruction-level?" KIKI asked.

“That’s not all,” Jian Zeyang said. “After we killed that S-rank creature last time, several powerful creatures on the evolution ranking have already grown to the Angel level.”

"That's a peak ability level of 1?" "That's right!"

Upon hearing this, KIKI, Huo Ge, Qian Dele, and the others all changed their expressions. In fact, since the ability detection in Xilan City, they had been constantly facing crises and hadn't paid much attention to their ability growth. Lin Xian didn't even know what their current peak ability level was.

After all, back in Xingyuan, those crises didn't seem to be solvable with superpowers.

Hey.

At this moment, as the convoy moved forward, the surrounding noise gradually became noisy, with occasional gunshots echoing through the sky.

Lin Xian and his companions opened the sunshades, and instantly, a scene resembling an apocalyptic catastrophe appeared before their eyes. As the convoy gradually drove towards the city wall, numerous convoy camps appeared on the streets of the dilapidated city outside. From scattered to dense, countless tents, steel-framed machine gun turrets, and vehicles of all sizes densely occupied all the open spaces in the city, leaving only the main road leading vertically to Dawn City unobstructed.

Helicopters, drones, patrol mechs, and sirens blared incessantly in the air, making the entire area resemble an endless refugee camp, with flames stretching to the horizon.

"Be cautious in the dark. Please check your spirit level detector regularly. Negligence will lead to disaster."

"Warning: Vehicles in the G67 Xianglan Street Square campsite area, please extinguish all campfires immediately!"

"The Dawn City Night Patrol Team reminds you that building a safe zone is everyone's responsibility. Stay vigilant, conduct frequent checks, take precautions, and do not overlook any dark markers or anomalies."

In the distance, the convoy camps of tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of post-apocalyptic survivors created a bizarre urban scene. Survivors occupied and lived in some large, sturdy buildings, with machine guns and watchtowers on the rooftops. Every block was covered with barbed wire. Even so, the distant howls of zombies and gunfire made it difficult to fall asleep.

Seeing this scene, Qian Dele and the others all became solemn. This apocalyptic scene was even more suffocating than the one in the Star Abyss. They hadn't even entered Dawn City yet, and it was already a scene of a million refugees. It was hard to imagine what a tragic scene it would be if this place encountered a large-scale monster tide or a large-scale bizarre experience.

Along the roadside, countless survivors' eyes were fixed on the convoy speeding by. Lin Xian noticed that most of the convoys were made up of elderly people, women, and children, with relatively few young adults. However, whether they were middle-aged women or elderly people with gray hair, they were all fully armed and carrying steel guns. There were even a dozen or so children of varying heights patrolling the roof of a supermarket, all carrying heavy machine guns. The oldest among them looked to be no more than 15 years old.

Seeing the surprised looks on Lin Xian and the others' faces, Jian Xuwei said, "The regulations for entering the city stipulate that the ratio of combat personnel to family members cannot exceed 1:2. There are no restrictions on the age or gender of family members, but they will all be assessed on their combat strength, which is the peak value of their Spirit Sweep. However, Dawn City does not test the limit coefficient, so it seems quite lenient. But it is difficult for the peak value of the elderly and children to grow to exceed that of young adults, so the majority of the members in the caravans that remain outside will be the elderly, weak, women and children."

"guessed."

Lin Xian's eyes flickered, and his face turned somewhat somber. At this moment, he felt nothing but sighs and didn't know what to say.

From the day of the apocalypse, everyone silently accepted this cruel elimination, including Lin Xian himself. When he first formed the Star Train Project, he also required strong combat power and abundant resources. At this time, apart from family members, no one would sympathize with the elderly, women and children around others. Bo'ai's team died quickly, and even Shu Qin's team suffered losses all the way until they joined Infinity, which improved the team's survival rate.

Lin Xian's mindset only began to change after the United Train's strength grew, and he accepted the addition of these teams, including Li Yi's team. Strictly speaking, although Mo Xiaotian, Duo Duo, and other children were sensible and obedient and could help with logistics, they were not of much help to the team. However, Lin Xian's current team allowed him to accept and accommodate these people, rather than simply calculating their value based on cruelty.

At this moment, the convoy entered a place that resembled a school. More and more armed convoys appeared on the streets, with homemade steel plates, barbed wire, fences, and machine gun turrets surrounding the entire school. It was clearly a large alliance convoy. There were no fewer than hundreds of modified vehicles parked in the open space and playground alone, and there was even a row of aircraft. Two small nuclear-powered polar vehicles were parked in front of the teaching building and in the playground, respectively, providing power to all the camps. Judging from the neat arrangement of the convoy and the internal order, the strength of this convoy was definitely not weak.

"Zeyang, how many people do you have here now?" Jian Xuwei asked as soon as the convoy drove in through the armored school gate.

“There are about eight thousand.” Jian Zeyang licked his lips, glanced in Lin Xian’s direction, and said with some pride, “In the past two days, I have successively merged with several other teams, and they are all quite strong. There are very few medium and large teams coming here now, and even if there are, they will not enter the city. Many teams in the outer city are expanding in the alliance and are all preparing to head towards the Dawn Center.”

"Eight thousand? That much?"

“As long as the restrictions are lifted, 80,000 is fine.” Jian Zeyang said helplessly, “What Dawn City has no shortage of is people. Everyone wants to live and wants to unite, but a caravan can’t support too many people with no or low combat power. In fact, in order to get the Blood Essence into the city, many caravans have to turn back and risk their lives to kill the strange creatures. What can we do?”

“Strictly speaking, the Apocalypse Day was only 100 days long. 99% of humanity on Earth perished overnight. Even with the existing resources, the remaining 1% is more than enough.” Monica said loudly, “It’s just a pity that the main city lost more than 85% of its territory. Strategic resources and food were heavily contaminated, otherwise they wouldn’t be so scarce.”

“Yes, and there’s also water,” Jian Xuwei said. “Right now, we’re basically just relying on sheer willpower to get water, which is why the mutation rate in the outer city is so high.”

"Sis, Captain Lin, we've arrived."

The convoy stopped in the open space behind the school's research and teaching building. Lin Xian and the others got out of the car, and Jian Zeyang led them into a nearly collapsed and tilted teaching building, walking through the dilapidated corridors filled with water.

"The civil defense defenses below this school are connected to the original maintenance section of Xingcheng Metro Line 12. We use this channel to enter the city and gather supplies," Jian Zeyang explained as he walked ahead, holding a headlight.

The group turned down the stairs into a spacious basement, and then through a deliberately damaged opening, they arrived at an abandoned subway track.

An old-fashioned electric locomotive pulled several subway cars to a quiet stop. The cars seemed to have been simply modified to hold various supplies.

"Sis, are you sure you don't need me to come in with you?" Jian Zeyang saw Lin Xian and the others into the car. One of Jian Zeyang's underlings was driving, and he couldn't help but ask as he watched Jian Xuwei get into the car.

"No need," Lin Xian said. "Your sister put you outside so that it would be convenient for her to support us later."

After he finished speaking, he gestured with one hand, and a burst of electricity lit up the tunnel. Everyone was startled. Before they could see what had happened, they saw Lin Xian point behind Jian Zeyang.

"I'll leave an assistant here so I can communicate with you later."

Jian Zeyang turned around abruptly and was shocked to find a ballerina robot that had appeared in his team at some point. This was Lin Xian's Dancer No. 1. Although its intelligence level was only that of an ordinary combat robot, its built-in VHF transmitter could transmit over a longer distance than ordinary communication devices and was not easily intercepted. Therefore, Lin Xian left it behind to make it easier to learn about the situation outside the city.

"Lying on the grass..."

Jian Zeyang rubbed his eyes violently: "When did this thing appear?"

His subordinates were also filled with shock and shook their heads.

Even KIKI and Monica next to Lin Xian looked puzzled. Where did Lin Xian bring his robot from? Why didn't anyone notice it along the way?

Only Qian Dele, sitting in the corner, witnessed everything thanks to his extraordinary speed. Now, staring at Lin Xian, he couldn't help but smile in surprise.

Did this guy... just open a portal to another world?
Without much explanation, Lin Xian, Jian Xuwei, and the others set off immediately. The subway electric locomotive traveled at high speed on the abandoned tracks, with only the headlights illuminating the darkness.

“With this thing being driven into the city, surely the people of Dawn City wouldn’t be unaware of it?” KIKI said at this moment.

“Yes, but it doesn’t matter,” Jian Xuwei said calmly. “It’s just a matter of price.”

She looked at KIKI as she spoke: "In this apocalypse, everything can be priced, and professional ethics and conscience are the cheapest."

"That's true." Qian Dele smiled upon hearing this.

Lin Xian turned to look at Shiori, who had been silent the whole way. When they met Lin Xian's gaze, Shiori gave him an innocent look, as if to say, "Do I need to say something?"
Got no response.

Then she slowly moved to the side, hiding in Lin Xian's blind spot.

"Let me tell you the plan," Lin Xian said to Jian Xuwei. "Taking control of the main control center shouldn't be too easy."

"That depends on who it is."

Jian Xuwei looked at Lin Xian: "For you... it should be very simple."

(End of this chapter)