The "Survival on the Train" game has bugs, it's really laggy!

The front wheels of the Devourer rolled over the ruins of Station 15, and the track surface gradually widened.

Material storage station No. 16 has no door.

The tracks were open on both sides, the lighting dim but not flashing, illuminating rows and rows of steel shelves. On the shelves were ceramic slabs, cooling pipes, old track rolls, and anti-magnetic beam sections, even the classification labels were intact. It was more organized than any of the previous stations.

A handwritten metal sign hangs on the right-hand railing, secured with thick wire. The lettering appears very fresh when the light shines on it.

"Take any materials you like, but don't touch the empty innermost carriage."

Wang Hu stared at the words, his hand not on the crane boom control lever, but instead touching the safety catch and locking it with a click.

"Take whatever you want," he repeated. "The last person who told me 'take whatever you want' was selling fake water in the wasteland."

The scan results from the small fire scan filled the main screen. There were no turrets, connecting arms, pressure stabilizing rings, or ground-mounted flaps around the platform. It was purely a material storage area.

But the low heat source in the bottom right corner of the main screen remained stationary.

"Carriage 006. No power, no engine response." Xiao Huo's ears twitched twice after he finished reporting. "There's a seal on the right side."

The voice of a young survivor came from the tailgate of No. 005. His tone tightened slightly.

"Second compartment from the right in compartment 005... the black liquid has swelled up a little."

Wang Hu turned to look at the surveillance camera behind him. The image was blurry; he could only see the silhouette of the young survivor crouching next to the isolation box.

Su Yuan did not look deeper into the platform.

"Take the outer ring first."

Wang Hu waited for half a second. He didn't receive the order to "approach 006". Instead, he heard Su Yuan add a sentence.

"Demolish the distant ones first, then deal with the nearby ones."

enough.

Wang Hu jumped out of the passenger seat. Two maintenance team members followed. The heavy-duty crane arm extended from the right side of the Devourer, and the hook swung towards the nearest row of racks.

The first set of materials was hauled down. Cooling pipes, new markings, uniform wall thickness. The veteran mechanic heard the sound of metal hitting the ground on the third channel.

"Cooling pipe? What's the marking?"

Report from Xiaohuo: "Same class as Cold Spring Type IV. Pipe diameter is half a size larger."

"take."

The second group consisted of ceramic plates, similar in material to the insulation plates recovered from Cooling and Rail Changing Station No. 08, but larger in area. Wang Hu dragged them to the side of the external bucket of the refining furnace.

"Should I swallow it or not?"

Su Yuan didn't answer immediately. "Pile them up first."

The mobile refining furnace was started up at low power. The dark gold conduit hadn't extended; only the bucket was half-open, waiting. Wang Hu moved everything he could from the first row of shelves: anti-magnetic beam sections, old track coils, and universal locking pin packages, piling them on the right-hand platform of the Devourer.

Tang Lan tightened the bandages on the wounded soldier in compartment 013. The shock from the previous stops had loosened the bandages on two seriously injured soldiers, so she tightened one of them.

"Don't move."

The wounded soldier groaned softly, but didn't utter a sound.

In the third section, the veteran mechanic crouched down to inspect the shock-absorbing underbody armor. The newly repaired outer beam was still stable, and a half-full cup of water on the cup holder only wobbled slightly.

"The third quarter was normal."

The young survivor lay beside isolation container number 005, staring at the lower edge of the seal on the second compartment from the right. The drop of black condensate had bulged slightly since it entered the station, but it hadn't lengthened or drifted in any direction.

"Number 005 is normal. The black liquid hasn't moved."

As Wang Hu dragged down the entire second row of shelves, the refining furnace began to feed. The bucket closed, and the dark gold conduit cut the anti-magnetic beam section. The flame at the furnace opening was suppressed, and in less than thirty seconds, the first batch of molded parts was ejected.

"External beam reinforcement strip." Xiao Huo reported.

The maintenance team welded the reinforcement strip to the side of the No. 013 casualty compartment. The materials used at this station were indeed of high quality; the welds were deep and firmly bonded. Tang Lan heard the welding gun firing through the bulkhead and glanced up.

The second component is the "Universal Locking Pin Pack".

Two locking pins were missing from the third guide frame, leaving the area empty since Gun Gallery 09. The veteran mechanic took the pins, squatted down, and hammered them in. Thump. Thump.

"The third quarter is complete."

Everything is going too smoothly.

When Wang Hu was dismantling the third row of shelves, he was holding a ceramic slab in his hand. Suddenly, the floor beneath his feet lit up.

Yellow line.

The old-fashioned yellow line protrudes from the cracks in the ground, extending along both sides of the track and leading deep into the platform.

The loudspeaker came on.

It wasn't the mechanical female voice from the previous stations, nor the male dispatcher's voice from station 15. It was a neutral, flat system notification tone.

"Unformed material unit 006 detected."

"According to Article 7 of the Great Wall Material Transfer Regulations, the lead vehicle must be attached to an empty carriage before it can continue to collect materials."

Wang Hu was still holding the ceramic slab. The next second, the latches at the bottom of all the outer shelves closed simultaneously. The materials that hadn't been moved down were locked to the shelves.

The empty shelves further ahead sank directly into the ground. The rail gaps widened by two inches, the shelves shrank downwards, and in less than five seconds, only a row of flat metal covers remained.

There was only one path left on the platform.

The inner track leading to 006. The yellow light is on.

An old stamped plate popped out from the right wall. Three lines of text were pressed on it.

"005 and 006 are transported in pairs."

"The recipient of 005 must also be affiliated with 006."

"Refusal to affiliate with the company will result in the suspension of resource allocation."

In the AM relay channel, someone from the Bonebreaker spoke first.

"If 006 doesn't hang up, he won't get the materials. This station has storage authority, not military force."

The fire control officer at the slaughterhouse stared at the empty inner track on the screen. "It's harder to deal with if it doesn't attack you than if it does."

The adjutant leaned closer. "How will Su Yuan choose?"

The fire control officer did not answer.

Inside the cockpit of the Devourer, Su Yuan's hands never left the steering wheel. He didn't even look in the direction of 006.

Little Fire's ears were pressed down. "Black liquid in the second compartment from the right, number 005..."

It paused for a moment.

"Slightly tilted towards 006."

The voice of a young survivor came from the tailgate of No. 005, his throat tight. "That drop of black stuff—it's veering forward. It's not flowing, but it's veering."

A robotic arm hangs down from the ceiling.

Four slender arms, with a much lighter travel distance than the connecting arms at Station 15, and no needles at the front, only old-fashioned magnetic chucks. Two arms are aligned with tail hook 005, and two point towards hook 006 deep inside the platform.

It is in the correct position.

We need to bring 005 and 006 together.

The broadcast continued.

"Open the seal on the second compartment from the right in compartment 005 to verify that compartment 006 is safe when empty."

Inside Unit 013, Tang Lan had lowered the muzzle of her gun. Not at the wounded, but at the mechanical arm approaching Unit 005 through the side window of Unit 013.

In the third section, the veteran mechanic cursed out, "Open the seal? Something that wasn't allowed to be opened at the previous dozen or so stops, are we opening it here?"

The young survivor shielded the second storage compartment on the right with his entire upper body. A drop of black liquid at the bottom edge of the seal veered forward, drawing an arc thinner than a hair. He dared not touch it, but simply used his body to block the gap between the storage compartment and the mechanical arm on the ceiling.

"Not open."

The warehouse station's announcement changed its tone.

"understand."

It paused for two seconds.

"Alternative solution: If not attached to empty car 006, tail anchor 005 can be unloaded in exchange for a batch of basic materials."

A crack appeared in the right wall. It wasn't an isolation pit, nor a dismantling roller. A clean conveyor belt emerged from behind the wall. The belt surface was flat, with low guardrails on both sides, and it appeared white under the light.

At the end of the conveyor belt were several sets of finished parts: anti-magnetic beams, thick ceramic plates, and old track rolls. They looked even better than those on the outer shelves.

A different sound came from the AM relay channel.

"There are no disassembly rollers under the conveyor belt this time."

"Replacing 005 with new materials...it seems..."

Someone on the Bonebreaker chimed in, "005 has been a burden from the start. Nobody knows what's in the second compartment from the right, and it's dragged on long enough."

In the control room of Base 04, the technician looked at the structural scan of the conveyor belt and hesitated for a moment. "The bottom structure of the conveyor belt is indeed clean. There are no recovery wells or energy extraction needles."

The old engineer didn't speak. He stared at the bottom of the guardrails on both sides of the conveyor belt.

Lu Mingyuan asked, "What do you mean?"

The veteran engineer shook his head. "Wait for Su Yuan."

Inside the cockpit of the Devourer.

Su Yuan finally spoke.

"Pinkish-gray".

Wang Hu dropped the ceramic slab in his hand and grabbed the bag of lime.

The first handful of powder was sprinkled onto the conveyor belt of the unloading chute. The powder landed on the belt surface, the fine white powder spreading out—it wasn't carried away by the conveyor belt. The belt didn't turn. But the edges of the powder slowly gathered, seeping into the small holes at the bottom of the guardrails on both sides of the conveyor belt.

The two gray lines are moving in two different directions.

A path leads to 006.

A path leads to the 005 tail hook.

The second powder was sprinkled onto the inner rail of 006. The powder settled on the rail surface. There was no wind. The lights were dim. But the powder slowly crept across the rail surface, moving in the opposite direction, towards 005.

The third shot was thrown into the locked gaps in the rack. The powder sank into the gaps and was swept away by the weak suction below. The direction was the same as the first shot—half to 006 and half to 005.

Wang Hu looked at the gray marks on the ground.

"All roads connect 005 and 006."

The small torches overlap the three sets of pink and gray paths onto the main screen. Dense red lines converge, all leading to the same conclusion.

"006 isn't an empty carriage." Little Fire's claws paused on the control panel. "It's an empty clearance shell. The internal hollow structure creates negative pressure suction."

It expands the data.

"If 005 and 006 come within three meters of each other, the contents of the second right compartment will be sucked into the shell of 006 by negative pressure. 006 will then enter the Great Wall main network as compliant materials."

In the control room of Base 04, the veteran engineer suddenly stood up, his chair bumping into the cabinet behind him.

"Yes." He pointed to the screen. "The conveyor belt isn't for delivering materials. It's for pushing 005 across."

On the AM relay channel, the person who had just said "replace 005 with new materials" shut up.

No one said a word.

Su Yuan didn't look in the 006 direction. He removed the fully loaded rail-mounted passage module from the chassis and placed it above the yellow storage line. The identification chip at the bottom of the passage module contacted the yellow line circuit.

At the same time, Xiao Huo opens the shielded interface of the independent energy dispatch cabinet and aligns it with the station's access control port.

Disconnect the Internet.

The "receive materials" process at the warehouse has been disrupted.

It only lasted for half a second.

But half a second is enough.

The latches at the bottom of the outer rack all loosened the moment the mesh was disconnected. The latches did not fully spring open; they simply lost their electromagnetic attraction and became purely mechanical latches.

Wang Hu didn't need Su Yuan to shout. He swung the crane arm out.

The first hook secures the third row of warehouse frame crossbeams on the left.

"receive!"

The main winch pulls at an angle. The entire row of bins is pulled out by the roots from the ground lock holes. The anti-magnetic beams, ceramic plates, and cooling pipes are dumped into the external bucket with a clatter. The bucket of the mobile refining furnace closes, and the dark gold guide tubes are cut. The flame at the furnace opening flickers twice.

The second hook. The fourth row of warehouse frames on the right. Wang Hu stepped on the edge of the platform, pulled the mechanical lever with both hands, and swept the lifting arm in an arc. The hook tip pierced the weld point of the main beam of the warehouse frame.

"receive!"

The entire row was towed out. Two maintenance team members kicked the old tracks that had fallen onto the rails into the bucket.

The third hook. The second row from the inside. The row closest to 006.

Wang Hu hesitated for a fraction of a second. The hook had already been thrown out. He secured it.

"receive!"

The rack detached from the ground and was dragged toward the refining furnace. There was no reaction from direction 006.

The refining furnace was running and consuming materials. The materials in the three rows of racks were mixed at the furnace opening, and the temperature and pressure stabilized after a surge. The side troughs began to discharge parts.

"Rapid warehouse grabber." Xiao Huo signed up.

The curved claw has three teeth at the front and a quick-lock interface at the rear. It can be directly hooked onto the secondary hook of the lifting boom. From now on, the lifting boom no longer relies solely on the hook tip to hook onto the lifting lug; it can grip the entire boom.

Second Group.

"Tail anchor isolation protection cabin".

The shell has a semi-enclosed structure, with lead sheeting and ceramic insulation on the inner wall, and an anti-magnetic alloy on the outer wall. It precisely fits the outer sides of isolation box No. 005 and the second cargo compartment on the right.

Wang Hu towed the protective compartment toward the direction of compartment 005. The young survivor stepped aside, and the protective compartment was fastened from the outside. The locking pins were hammered in. The seals on the second cargo compartment on the right were completely obscured by the outer wall of the protective compartment.

That drop of black liquid could no longer be seen from the outside.

The lead sheeting and insulation panels on the inner walls of the capsule kept the suction from the 006 direction at bay. The young survivor pressed his palm against the outer wall of the capsule.

"Equipment pod 005 is installed." He paused. "The black liquid has lost its sense of direction. It's no longer veering forward."

The fire control officer at the slaughterhouse stared at the screen. He tapped his finger on the table.

"He didn't hack into the warehouse." He lowered his voice. "He dismantled it like a junkyard."

The warehouse station's access was restored. The outer shelving was empty—all of it had been snatched away by Su Yuan in that half-second. When the latches re-engaged, they only held the empty shelves.

The broadcast paused for a few seconds before starting again.

His tone remained completely unchanged.

"The supplies distribution process is abnormal."

"Initiate self-check for empty carriage 006".

The deepest part of the platform.

The rusted wheel assembly in carriage 006 started moving.

It's not a slow loosening. The entire wheelset rusts off simultaneously, rust particles are ejected from the rim edge, and the wheelset begins to rotate.

The seal on the right side has a crack.

Wang Hu saw it. He was retracting the crane arm when he paused for a moment.

A faint light shone through a crack in the seal of 006. It wasn't a lamp, but a reflection—the material of the inner wall refracting the station light. There were no goods inside.

It is a row of black empty slots.

There are traces engraved on the wall of the empty trough. A small flame was used to magnify the image. The numbering format is exactly the same as the residual markings on the outer shell of the second compartment from the right (005).

006 has a connecting tongue extending from the bottom.

It was damp and cold, covered with black condensation. The connecting tongue extended beyond the inner rail, protruding towards 005.

The young survivor took a half step back from the rear door of 005. The protective pod had just been installed when the pylon approached. He raised his voice, "006 is moving! The pylon is coming towards 005!"

Someone shouted into the AM relay channel, "Cut off the tail! 006 is about to be hooked!"

Su Yuan's voice drowned out the channel noise.

"False 006 casing. Do not touch the connecting tongue."

Wang Hu's hesitation vanished instantly. The crane arm extended fully, and the newly installed rapid storage gripper opened its three teeth, clamping onto the main beam at the top of the 006 carriage from above.

They didn't pull them towards the convoy; they pushed them to the side.

006 was secured at the top by the grabber, and the connecting tongue was still probing towards 005, but the car body was suspended, with the bottom locking beam bearing the entire weight.

Su Yuan looked at the external magazine.

"Bottom lock beam".

Wang Hu cut the shells. Two low-velocity armor-piercing shells.

"beat."

Two muffled thuds rolled across the ground. The armor-piercing projectiles missed the 006 vehicle body, instead drilling at an angle into the connecting seat between the bottom locking beam and the rail surface.

Boom! The front seat broke apart.

Boom! The back seat exploded.

006 lost its ground anchorage. The entire weight of the carriage was now hanging on the crane arm's gripper. The coupling tongue lost its power supply, trembled twice in mid-air, and collapsed.

Two dark gold conduits extend from the bottom of the Devourer, serving as a mobile refining furnace.

The first wheel set to be driven into 006.

The second main beam is wound up around the base frame.

Do not touch the seals. Do not touch the empty slots. Only swallow the wheels and structural components.

The 006 wheelset was rolled up by the dark gold guide tube, torn off the axle like a shell, and sent into the furnace. The base frame then broke into three pieces and was swallowed up one by one.

006 was pulled off the inner track.

It wasn't towed out as a whole. It was towed out piecemeal. The wheels were gone, the chassis was gone, only half of the shell and the row of black slots inside remained, suspended in mid-air by the grabber.

Then the wall deep inside the platform cracked.

It wasn't system-controlled. 006 was originally stuck at the end of the inner rail, its body blocking the view behind it. Now that the body has been pulled away, the rear is exposed.

Light shone through the crack.

A whole row.

The entire row of shelves. The material color is different from the outer ring. It's not gray-white steel, but a standard component with a dark coating reminiscent of the Blue Star Expeditionary Force.

When the small fire scan returned the results, the claw paused for a moment on the console.

"Modular carriage frame".

"Pollution-resistant cargo compartment shell".

"Heavy-load connected core".

"Quick repair track laying kit"

In the control room of Base 04, the veteran engineer looked at the scan results and slapped his hand on the table.

"The real warehouse is behind 006."

Lu Mingyuan stood up. The entire control room fell silent for two seconds.

The technician's voice trembled. "Those on the outer ring are bait. The real core inventory is blocked by 006. Only by attaching ourselves to 006 can we get to the back—but attaching ourselves to 006 is equivalent to accepting its authority to absorb 005."

The veteran engineer continued, "Su Yuan didn't die. He dismantled 006. The road is now open."

The AM repeater channel is malfunctioning. The sound is even more chaotic than at the previous stations.

"He tore down the door and blocked the way!"

"006 is just a stopgap measure!"

"The core inventory at Station 16 has been exposed—"

The Devourer did not stop.

Wang Hu threw away the half of 006's casing. The empty tank hit the ground, the black inner wall shattering into pieces, but no liquid leaked out. Empty. Truly empty.

The crane arm shifted its angle, and the grabber extended towards the real warehouse behind 006.

First group. Modular carriage frame. Four main beams plus eight secondary beams, with pre-set welding points and quick-lock interfaces.

Put it into the furnace.

The reinforcing frame on the side of the No. 013 wounded soldier compartment was cast and then welded directly onto it. Tang Lan heard the welding gun click, glanced at the compartment wall, and nodded.

Second group. Anti-pollution storage compartment outer shell. Lead-boron alloy lining, with an insulating coating on the outer wall.

It won't go into the furnace. It will be directly removed and attached to the outside of the tail anchor isolation compartment of cargo compartment 2 on the right of cargo compartment 005. The compartment will then become double-layered—the inner layer is the isolation compartment that was just cast, and the outer layer is this anti-pollution shell.

The young survivor placed his hand on the new outer shell. The temperature was lower than the old one. "Double protection complete for Unit 005."

The third group. Heavy-duty connected core.

This doesn't need refining. It's a finished product. The robust main core of the coupling has a load-bearing capacity two levels higher than the existing Shihuanghao winch cable. It directly replaces the most severely worn section of the coupling between the third section and No. 013.

The veteran mechanic crouched down to assemble it. As the locking pin was hammered in, he patted the connecting core housing twice. Thump, a solid echo.

"This thing can withstand it."

Group 4. Quick Repair Track Laying Package.

The entire module was bundled together with old rubber straps. Inside were prefabricated track sections, portable sleepers, a manual track spike gun, and an old-fashioned track gauge. The package had a back padlock and was directly attached to the pre-reserved mounting position on the left outer beam of the Devourer.

The main screen refreshes.

"New Feature: Fast warehouse crawler."

"New addition: tail anchor isolation protective cabin."

"New addition: Anti-pollution storage compartment shell."

"New addition: Heavy-duty connected core".

"New addition: Quick repair track laying kit"

"Reinforcement of skeleton No. 013 is complete."

"The replacement of the third section of the coupling is complete."

"Double-layer protection for No. 005 is complete."

"The overall stability of the trainset has been improved."

Material storage station No. 16 has been emptied.

The outer shelving sank to the ground, leaving the shelves empty. 006 was dismantled into parts and put into the furnace, leaving only half a shell fragment lying by the rails. The real warehouse at the back was completely emptied, even the shelving was casually dragged away by Wang Hu, and the iron frames were put into the refining furnace as feed.

The broadcast stopped.

The system crashed the instant 006 was removed. There was no "illegal operation" message or "permission freeze" warning. 006 was the core of the entire site's permissions. With the core gone, the site was gone too.

Wang Hu stepped on the broken half of 006's shell and spat on the ground.

"This station is not bad."

He had barely finished speaking when he saw Xiao Huo's ears suddenly flatten out.

Little Fire wasn't looking ahead. It was staring at a line of hand-carved characters peeking out from the 006 empty slot fragment.

The marks are very deep; they were made by repeatedly scratching the inner wall of the alloy with a hard object.

"Don't attach 006, the real carriage coming is 007."

Wang Hu's face darkened.

"007?"

The young survivor heard the number 005 at the tailgate and his hand slipped off the anti-pollution shell.

005. 006. 007.

Consecutive numbers.

The inscription on the small torch was photographed and entered into the database. "006 is the access control shell, what is 007?"

No one answered.

Su Yuan released the brakes, and the Devourer ran over the 006 fragments and drove out of Station 16.

The platform darkened in the distance. Empty shelf bases and sunken covers remained at the edge of the light.

The rapid repair track-laying kit hung on the left outer beam, its alloy casing still warm from the refining furnace. Wang Hu touched it with the back of his hand; it was hot.

"The track-laying kit isn't cold yet—"

He stopped mid-sentence.

A sound came from the tracks ahead.

It wasn't a knock on the door. It wasn't a system broadcast.

That's the sound of the coupling engaging.

Click.

First time.

Click.

The second time. Click.

Seven times in a row.

Metal colliding with metal, at an abnormally fast pace. It wasn't a matter of seven attempts for a single docking; it was seven couplings closing simultaneously.

The small fire rushed to the radar screen.

There was no platform ahead. Marker number 17 was still three kilometers away. The tracks were empty, with two parallel lines, and the light boxes were dimly lit.

But there was an extra spot of light on the radar.

It is not static.

It's moving backward. Retreating towards the direction of the Devourer.

The speed is increasing.

When the torch number was read out, the claw twitched on the console.

"007".