Doomsday: I Build an Infinite Train.

Chapter 417 Undersea Volcano
"You mean, that monstrous mother nest is a giant floating island?!"

Upon hearing this news, everyone on the Infinite changed their expressions. Just the way Ryan said it gave off a tremendous sense of pressure, and according to Erica's description, this thing seemed to appear during the day.

"Yes."

"Do you know when it appeared?" Ryan asked seriously, his tone grave. "Ten days ago, to be precise, after the Battle of Dawn City, this thing suddenly appeared on the sea, accompanied by a storm area with a diameter of over 100 kilometers."

Lin Xian frowned upon hearing this: "You mean this thing is related to the events in Dawn City?"

Ryan shook his head and gave a wry smile, saying, "Who knows? But since then, quite a few strange things have happened." He looked at Lin Xian and the others and said, "The sea groups within a few hundred nautical miles of Haiyan Island have been affected to some extent. Several small organizations have been wiped out. That direction is very turbulent now. I suggest you make some preparations. Otherwise, once you leave Haiyan Island, unless you fly, you won't see land for several days. Several base stations in the ocean have lost contact, and no one knows the specifics."

"This is so dangerous, you actually want to organize a hunt?" KIKI looked bewildered. "Isn't this courting death?"

Ryan spread his hands: "Including us, there are currently 4 sea groups, with a total of more than 2,000 people."

Lin Xian sensed that this matter was not simple and laughed, "More than two thousand people, have you already determined what that floating island is? Are you so confident?"

"You're organizing this hunt just for level 4 Blood Essence?" Monica asked.

Ryan gestured for Lin Xian and his group to follow him into the aircraft carrier.

"If you're willing, we can share the information we've gathered with you. I believe that once you understand, you'll realize why we're doing this, and that it's also closely related to you. We can also take you on a tour of our floating home."

"Okay." Lin Xian nodded, not refusing Ryan's invitation.

Passing through the green field area on the deck, the group arrived at the hatch on the side of the island superstructure. The heavy blast door slid open slowly, and a damp, warm smell rushed out.

The first floor of the cabin has been transformed into a multi-level vertical planting area. LED supplemental lights are suspended on metal brackets, illuminating a row of water culture troughs. Lettuce, tomatoes, and strawberries are growing vigorously in nutrient solution. Several staff members wearing protective suits are checking the growth of the plants.

“This is our artificial light hydroponic area,” Ryan explained. “The ship has a small nuclear power plant on board, which provides enough electricity to sustain planting all year round. However, to save energy, most of the crops still rely on natural light from the deck. We have shut down the main nuclear power reactor for two months, mainly for safety reasons.”

Inside the planting area, a middle-aged man wearing a straw hat looked up, saw Lin Xian and his group, then glanced at Ryan, and pointed to the strawberries: "Guests? Would you like to try some?"

Before Lin Xian could reply, Sasha's eyes lit up: "Wow, is that okay?"

"Of course!" The man smiled and handed over a few bright red fruits: "After the apocalypse, there won't be many opportunities to eat fresh fruit, let alone at sea. These strawberry seeds are worth several blood essences."

Sasha took one, took a bite, and the sweet and sour juice burst in her mouth: "Mmm...so sweet!"

Monica looked around: "How do you solve the pollination problem?"

“Initially we relied on manual labor, but later we introduced… some bees.” Ryan smiled inexplicably and pointed to a few transparent beehives in the corner: “Found on Sea Rock Island, but be careful not to get stung. Post-apocalyptic bees… are a bit fierce.”

"There are still bees alive." Lin Xian was somewhat surprised.

“Actually, there are quite a few.” Ryan replied with a smile, “Cockroaches, geckos, ants, and reptiles are the most common. You can find some in the wild if you look carefully. There are also some fish in the sea, but we don’t fish easily, you know.”

Afterwards, Lin Xian and Ryan passed through several supply warehouses. Inside the blast doors, there were mountains of Wu Zixu statues, neatly categorized and stacked on metal shelves. Food, medicine, tools, weapons... there was even an entire wall of entertainment items, from playing cards to old-fashioned game consoles.

"You guys have collected quite a lot of things."

“Some of them are from the previous fleet,” Ryan said, walking ahead. “Our fleet, apart from going to the islands, mostly hauls things out of the sea.”

"Fishing?"

“There are plenty.” The mechanical giant Azir said jokingly as he strode along, “Sometimes you can find hundreds or even thousands of containers by following the ocean currents. They are all sunken ships from the Apocalypse that have floated up. Once they are salvaged, you can find all sorts of strange and wonderful things. It’s like opening a blind box. I must say, it’s quite interesting.”

“We also buy on the black market, or trade with other sea groups.” On the other side, Vanessa turned to look at Lin Xian and said meaningfully, “There aren’t many people you can meet at sea.”

Upon hearing this, Lin Xian immediately remembered something and asked them, "We came from Takow Deepwater Port yesterday. Do you know what happened there?"

"Robbery and murder."

Erica walked ahead, coldly saying without turning her head, "That's the first port in the Asia-Pacific region to go out to sea. Countless people who wanted to be the fishermen and the birds have died there. Moreover, it is also a disaster area for attacks by strange entities after nightfall. It has long been a ghost port. Many train groups have had accidents there. You are lucky."

Lin Xian was taken aback upon hearing this; the situation was roughly as he had guessed.

A petite girl was counting cans of food. When she saw Ryan come in, she immediately ran over to report: "Commander, there are only 20 boxes of compressed biscuits left in Warehouse No. 3. We need to replenish them as soon as possible."

Ryan ruffled her hair: "Got it. Send a squad to the East Coast tomorrow."

Lin Xian noticed several damaged drones and power armor parts piled up in the corner: "You guys do mechanical repairs?"

Azlan grinned, revealing a set of iron teeth: "There are no 4S shops at sea, if it breaks, you have to fix it yourself."

As you walk further ahead, the noise gradually increases.

Inside a spacious cabin, sparks flew as several mechanics modified weapons and vehicles, while welding equipment, hydraulic tools, and disassembled engine parts were piled up in the corners.

“This is our small arms factory.” Azlan patted a half-finished power armor: “Although it can’t compare to the Phoenix’s technology, it’s enough for some repairs.”

A young man with greasy hands looked up and shouted excitedly, "Commander! The sonar is fixed! We can use it tonight!"

Ryan nodded: "Well done, Tom."

Afterwards, Lin Xian and his group followed Ryan to the aircraft carrier's flight bridge, which is also the information and intelligence center of the Falcon Squadron.

This is a circular compartment surrounded by displays and control panels, with a large chart table in the center displaying detailed information about the surrounding waters. Several operators are monitoring radar and sonar data.

"Welcome aboard the Neptune." Ryan smiled slightly.

As soon as Lin Xian and his group entered, they noticed that the walls were covered with many hand-drawn drawings, labeled with various strange marine creatures: "What are these...?"

“Our ‘Enemy Catalog’,” Gedi walked over, pointing to one of the pictures. “This is a giant deep-sea squid with barbs on its tentacles, capable of easily tearing apart ship hulls. This is a human-faced jellyfish, electrified, and capable of launching mental attacks to pull live prey directly into the deep sea…”

"Human-faced jellyfish..." When Lin Xian saw this, he remembered what Viola had photographed underwater in Takow Deepwater Harbor, and it seemed to be this thing.

Looking at the various blueprints covering the walls, Sasha shrank back: "Why are there so many monsters in the sea..."

“I don’t know about that, but we’ve discovered that many of these strange creatures share some similarities with the original deep-sea creatures of Earth.” Ryan turned around and said in a deep voice, “Everyone says there’s only one Star Abyss in the sea. If we’re really going to talk about it, isn’t the entire ocean of Earth just one abyss?”

His words caused Lin Xian's expression to change drastically: "What did you say?"

Ryan shrugged, glanced at Lin Xian's serious expression, and said casually, "Those monsters hide in the deep sea abyss, day and night. They look like monsters mutated from the carriers of Earth's creatures. If you look at it this way, the entire ocean is actually a star abyss, isn't it?" Lin Xian was stunned for a moment, surprised by his idea, and then came to his senses and said, "That makes a lot of sense."

“Actually, I didn’t expect to meet the Swordholder here. Perhaps it’s fate. You helped Vanessa and Gedi, and this information might be useful to you.” Ryan walked to the main screen and pulled up an aerial image: “This is a picture of the underwater cliff area on the east coast of Chasan Island. Erica’s air patrol team took this picture from above. Chasan Island is the farthest island in the southeast of the sea cliffs, less than 100 nautical miles from that storm area.”

Lin Xian and Monica's team focused their attention on the aerial photograph. At first, they didn't notice anything unusual because it was an overhead view of the sea under a blue sky and white clouds. But a second later, their expressions changed. When they zoomed in, they discovered that this seemingly ordinary aerial photograph concealed a scene that sent chills down their spines.

Beneath the azure sea, a circular, bottomless abyss was churning the water in a swirling motion, resembling a gigantic underwater maw. Even more terrifying, this whirlpool was only a few nautical miles from the shore. The white sandbars under the sunlight stretched not far before the dark seabed cliffs. The maw seemed to be some kind of living creature, sending chills down one's spine.

"What...what is this thing, an underwater whirlpool?" KIKI, who has a fear of deep seas, was immediately horrified upon seeing it and frowned as she spoke.

"That's not a whirlpool."

With his arms crossed, Gedi pointed to the center of the aerial photograph: "See our unmanned reconnaissance vessel? The sea is calm."

“A bizarre entity?” Monica frowned. “This scale is more than just a special-level entity.”

“This is just one example.” Ryan immediately switched the image and said to Lin Xian, “Now, this strange sea pattern has been discovered in many places on the east and south coasts of Sea Rock Island, and that storm-shrouded floating island is approaching Sea Rock Island at some speed.”

"This situation is unusual, and we have also discovered that many malevolent creatures that roam the island during the day have appeared frequently, and their numbers have almost tripled in the past 10 days."

Lin Xian stared intently: "What do you think is on Haiyan Island that has attracted this strange mother nest?"

Ryan stated frankly, "Vanessa and Gedi came here to confirm this theory."

"Oh~"

KIKI then realized: "So you think there's something on Sea Rock Island that's attracting the surrounding Special-level sea monsters and that floating island, so you want to lie in wait, ambush and kill the Special-level monsters, and seize the Level 4 Blood Essence?"

After hearing this, Ryan and the others remained silent, it seemed that KIKI was right.

Monica crossed her arms and smiled nonchalantly: "Are you kidding me? Hunting a Special-level enemy, and not just one, what's the difference between this and suicide?"

Ryan smiled, not angry at Monica's teasing, but instead looked at Lin Xiandao.

"Captain Lin, if I told you that if you use level 4 blood essence for crystal cultivation now that you've reached the Destruction level, the success rate is at least 9%, would you take the risk?"

"No." Lin Xian said indifferently, "If this plan were just like that, it would be incredibly stupid. But I think it's definitely not that simple, right?"

Vanessa and the others remained calm, indicating that Lin Xian's guess was correct. Ryan took a deep breath and then said...

"Yes, level 4 blood essence is an extremely precious material for the Interstellar Army and the Phoenix Society. For us survivors to deal with a special-grade blood essence is an absolute hellish difficulty, let alone a whole group of them."

As he spoke, he switched the images on the screen. A holographic image of a three-dimensional underwater continent was displayed. Ryan pointed to a peculiar area northeast of Sea Rock Island, where the terrain was extremely strange, resembling a cone. Lin Xian immediately understood and said in a deep voice...

"Underwater volcano?"

"Mount Garan, located in the Garan Trench in the southwest of the Pacific Ocean's deep mid-ocean ridge, is 96 nautical miles from Sea Rock Island. It is an active volcano that has been relatively inactive for over two thousand years. However, its last eruption generated a tsunami exceeding 490 meters, which divided Sea Rock Island into 14 pieces..."

Lin Xian frowned: "Is this related to the strange entity?"

“No, it’s related to something on Searock Island,” Ryan said, dropping a bombshell.

"What? Volcanoes are related to things?" KIKI looked completely bewildered. "What are you talking about?"

"It's something forbidden."

Gedi turned to look at Lin Xian and the others, and said frankly, "When we received this information, we had the same expression as you."

Lin Xian was shocked: "There's a forbidden object that can control an underwater volcano, so you're planning to use it to hunt down the strange entity?"

Ryan shook his head, looked at Lin Xian, and said sincerely.
"Lin, don't you understand? We're being hunted down."

Vanessa then stepped forward and said to Lin Xian, "Level 4 blood essence is very precious, but that's not our main concern. What we're really concerned about is how to safely leave this sea area, given that we're surrounded by these special-level anomalies that appear during the day and the unusual activity of the Garan volcano."

Ryan nodded and added, "It is indeed very risky. Now, besides us, people from the Holy City are also looking for this thing on Sea Rock Island, so we are also thinking about ourselves. Blood Essence... is actually the last thing we need to consider in our plan."

Lin Xian's gaze swept over the several large ships around the Neptune. If this fleet wanted to leave, the only option left was to sail north around the deep Pacific Ocean. It would be difficult for this aircraft carrier to move around a large bay during the daytime, so Lin Xian immediately understood what Ryan meant.

At the same time, his heart sank. He hadn’t expected the situation on Sea Rock Island to be so complicated. According to the information provided by Ryan, the special-level anomalies in the surrounding sea area were likely attracted by that forbidden object or by the activity of the Garan volcano, and Sea Rock Island was the center of the affected area.

Fortunately, he had considered the possibility of orbital breakage or storm zones before entering the ocean. The Infinite has underwater propulsion and military-grade diving capabilities of over 500 meters. In dire circumstances, even at the risk of encountering S-class atmospheric creatures in the clouds, he could pilot the Sky Dome across the ocean and head towards the Republic Islands. Therefore, for Lin Xian, it was not a dead end.

However, after seeing the aerial photos of the deep sea, he really didn't want to go into the water or fly unless absolutely necessary. The experience of Qingluan Sky City was still vivid in his mind. At this moment, Lin Xian knew that Ryan's plan seemed to be mainly to avoid being affected by the so-called hunt, so he was also curious about the mastermind of this plan and what the complete plan was all about.

"I'm curious, if a volcano really erupts, putting aside whether you can deal with the strange entities, how will you yourselves survive?" Monica shared the same thought as Lin Xian and went straight to the point.

"We searched for this forbidden object precisely because we didn't want the volcano to erupt. If it falls into the hands of the Holy City, that would be the worst outcome."

Vanessa then said, "Our intelligence suggests that this forbidden object may possess the power to influence the volcano's thermal energy, thereby attracting those strange entities that roam during the day and then launching proactive attacks during the day."

Monica pondered, "So, should we just hunt down the special-level anomalies directly?"

“Yes,” Ryan nodded. “And we believe that daytime is the best time.”

"Why?" KIKI asked, puzzled.

“Three reasons,” Vanessa explained.

“First, adaptability.” She held up a finger. “We’ve encountered them. Although the evil creatures that have just adapted to the daytime have evolved a bio-force field, their lifespan and vitality are extremely poor. This should be the price of breaking through the darkness, and this is precisely our advantage. The daytime is our human’s home ground.”

“Second, the power of the lattice.” Gedi continued, showing the lattice patterns on his arm: “Our dark energy is more effective during the day, so there’s no need to worry about the dark mark.”

“Third, the monster tides,” Ryan added at the end. “There won’t be large-scale monster tide outbreaks during the day. We only need to deal with targets within range, not an endless stream of monster tide reinforcements.”

"Wow." KIKI said with great interest, "You guys really thought it through. But have you considered what if we attract more than one special-level creature? For example, that eerie mother nest, who knows how many eerie creatures are on it?"

Lin Xian looked at Ryan and the others with a complicated expression, and then said to KIKI.
"If I'm not mistaken, they intend to activate the aircraft carrier's nuclear power reactor for full-speed relocation while simultaneously hunting it down."

"And Sea Rock Island and Garan Volcano are a large..." Lin Xian looked at Ryan and the others, saying each word carefully.
"Decoy!"

(End of this chapter)