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

There was no announcement at temporary assembly station No. 39.

Red work lights illuminated both sides of the assembly rail, one after another, spreading deeper along the track. The light was not diffused, but shone on the rail surface like cut blood clots. Heavy-duty wheel axles, empty seat assemblies, and standard carriage frames were arranged on both sides of the assembly rail. The materials were neatly stacked, with labels facing outwards and joints facing inwards.

The heart of the carriage, the pump, sits in the center of the assembly rail. The pump body is preheating, and the low-pressure hum of the oil inlet makes the surrounding air feel stifling. The automatic assembly arms slide out from the top rail; four main arms, each ending in a quick-assembly fixture and a recognition lens assembly. A nameplate hangs on the first arm, the ink still wet—"018 Carriage Forming Machine. Standby."

Wang Hu crouched at the edge of the 012 protective shell, his flashlight beam sweeping across the assembly rail. The beam was dispersed by the hot mist, landing on the empty seat assembly. The seat latches were fully open, and the seats were moved row by row, the temperature reaching thirty-six degrees Celsius.

"The materials are all genuine," Xiao Huo reported.

Su Yuan stood beside the driver's seat, his mechanical left eye fixed on the screen. He didn't shut down the engine. The 017 isolation transport rack hung behind 012, the life support tank pump still pulsating in the yellow zone. A lead-boron partition temporarily covered the empty seat lock, its edge pressing against 009's old thrust hook. The partition trembled slightly from time to time, not from the wind, but from the seat lock opening and closing on its own underneath.

Tang Lan's voice came from 013. "The wounded's wristbands are all cut off. The Bonebreaker is asking us if we should stop."

"Don't stop," Su Yuan said. "Station 39 won't salvage the carriages. Only dismantle the equipment."

The assembly arm moved.

Without warning, all four main arms descended simultaneously from the top rail, the quick-release clamps opened, and the green light for the camera module illuminated. The announcement only came on at that very second. It wasn't the authoritative voice, but a recording from the old Blue Star factory—a steady tone, a moderate pace, and every word delivered with standard Mandarin intonation.

"Incomplete live carriage embryo detected. Initiating completion process. Please align the vehicle with the assembly position. Assembly station 004 will provide automated molding service."

The first assembly arm passes over 012 and grabs directly at the 017 transport frame. The second arm goes around to the side door of 013, and the quick-assembly clamp is aligned with the wristband signal interface on the outside of the casualty compartment. The third arm sinks down and slides along the rail surface towards the sealing nozzle of the 005 protective compartment. The fourth arm moves laterally and stops directly in front of the 014 cooling interface.

Simultaneously, positioning teeth rise from below the rail surface. Four rows of racks bite into the front rail, middle section, tail rail, and the bottom of the 014 coupling, with the tooth tips engaging the wheel flange gaps. The entire train is then locked into its assembly position.

Su Yuan didn't move. "Xiao Huo, release the full channel scan results."

The scan results are displayed on the main screen.

Each of the four assembly arms has four layers of shear locks inside. Shear slots are connected below the positioning teeth. Once the 017 escort frame is grabbed by the first arm, the shear locks close simultaneously, identifying the 013 side door wristband inlet, the 005 outer frame of the protective compartment, and the 014 cooling interface as "compatible parts." 018 is not about dismantling a car, but about building one. It involves disassembling the entire trainset into parts for a single, dummy carriage.

Carriage 013.

On the left-hand side of the casualty ward, a survivor with frostbite on his arm stared out the window. The clamps of the assembly arm were pressed against the outer wall of the side door, the shadows of the grippers falling on the edge of the stretcher. The announcement played again, this time with an extra sentence.

"The complete process includes life support extensions. The medical extension module can be obtained simultaneously with 013."

The survivor's lips twitched. "Medical extension—"

Tang Lan's gun was pressed against his gaze. Not aimed at a person, but at the protective cap of the detachment mechanism.

"It said it would give you medicine. It didn't say it would give you your life." She holstered the gun and slapped the brake valve with her left hand. "013, brake pressure stabilized at 70%."

The survivor looked away. No one spoke again in the carriage.

Carriage 005. The young survivor pushed the secondary anti-push frame locking pin into place, causing the bottom of the protective compartment to flip over and engage the rail plate. Simultaneously, the reverse cooling of the 014 cooling interface was activated, causing the coolant temperature to jump from 0.2 degrees Celsius to -8 degrees Celsius, and a thin layer of frost formed on the outer wall of the fast-cooling jacket of the energy conduction tube. 014 became a low-temperature dead target in the assembly arm's identification lens.

"Replenish life support—" the broadcast repeated.

In the Bonebreaker channel, someone muttered a curse in a low voice: "This time it's not dismantling cars. It's building cars."

018 Push the first heart pump of the carriage to the center of the assembly rail.

The pump body's oil inlet is fully open, and the preheating red light illuminates continuously. The empty seat assemblies spring open row by row on both sides of the assembly rail, the latches fully engaged, the temperature at thirty-six degrees Celsius, and the rhythm synchronized with a person's resting breathing. The pump's blades begin to rotate slowly, and the first empty suction sound is heard from the pump chamber.

The broadcast continued: "If the lead vehicle (001) hands over the incomplete live-carriage embryo, 013 will receive medical expansion; 005 will receive contamination isolation; and 014 will receive cooling capacity enhancement. The completion process will be automatic after handing it over. The countdown is not included in this process."

Base 04 control room.

The technician's fingers hovered above the keyboard. "Conditions are all true. 014 has sufficient cooling redundancy, 013's medicine cabinet definitely lacks expansion, and 005's isolation layer—"

The veteran engineer interrupted him. "The conditions are all true. The consequences are all true too. Once the embryo is handed over, it will treat the entire train as parts. What's pieced together isn't a living carriage, but rather us being pieced in."

There was silence for several seconds in the local channel. Someone whispered in the Bonebreaker channel, "So what do we do now?" No one replied.

Su Yuan pressed the communication button. "Wang Hu, spread the powder."

Wang Hu rolled down from the edge of the 012 protective shell. His boots crunched on the remnants of the rail surface fascia. He tore open the bag of lime powder, grabbed a handful, and tossed it towards the center of the assembly rail. The white powder scattered in the hot mist and landed on the assembly rail surface. Two horizontal airflows simultaneously appeared on the rail surfaces on both sides of the heart pump, cutting the dust in half and swirling it towards both sides of the assembly rail.

"There's an airflow channel." Wang Hu's flashlight beam followed the edge of the dust. "There's a suction port under the track."

The small fire stack is covered with thermal imaging and airflow vector diagrams. The airflow channels extend from the center of the assembly rail to below the positioning teeth, and then branch to the 013 side door, 005 cabin, and 014 cooling interface. Each airflow channel is connected to a hydraulic trigger valve for the shear lock at its end.

"It's not a recognition closure." Xiao Huo's analytical voice boomed across all channels. "It's airflow triggering. It first makes the heart pump take a breath. That breath is drawn in from the assembly rail, and wherever the airflow passes, that place is identified as the 'supporting organ of the live carriage.' Once the trigger valve opens, the shear lock closes simultaneously."

The technician added in the Bonebreaker channel, "So it has to see an empty seat first. An empty seat is the starting point for inhalation. If it can't see the starting point, the airway is blocked."

Wang Hu stood up, lime powder leaking through his fingers. "Let's make it invisible."

Su Yuan's mechanical left eye gear spun once. "Small fire, use the 017 lead-boron separator and the 009 commemorative bracket to block the identification lens. Smash it."

Wang Hu pulled open the spare parts cabinet on the side of the 012 protective case. The 017 lead-boron partition had been stacked in the cabinet since it was removed from the transport rack. He pulled out the partition—four pieces, each half a hand's width wider than the empty seat lock. The partition had rivet holes on the edge, the diameter of which matched the old hook-and-loop holes of the 009 push hook. He fastened the partition above the empty seat lock, aligned the rivet holes with the holes of the push hook, inserted the broken bolts, and tightened it with a wrench.

Four layers are pieced together to form a complete lead-boron shield, which is placed directly above the empty seat lock. The green light of the identification lens group sweeps over and stops on the surface of the shield. The lead-boron layer reflects the lens signal back, leaving only a uniform cold gray in the image.

Meanwhile, 012 moved forward half a meter. The leading edge of the protective shell got stuck in the base groove of the first set of positioning teeth, and the rack could not be lifted. 005 silencing weight sank to the fully lowered position, and the five-ton counterweight entered the rail surface. 014 low-temperature steady-state lock-up, the coolant temperature dropped to minus twelve degrees Celsius, and the thin frost on the outer wall of the rapid cooling jacket reached half a millimeter thick.

The first assembly arm was picked up.

The quick-release clamp is extended to its maximum, aligning with the old lifting lug at the top of the 017 transport rack. The jaws close, gripping the air. The lead-boron shield is higher than the old lifting lug, and the clamp bites into the shield, its teeth scraping against the lead sheet with a short, sharp grinding sound. The green light for the identification lens assembly flashes once and then goes out.

The preheating process of the heart pump is stuck at 49%. The low-pressure hum at the oil inlet paused for a moment, and the pump blades stopped rotating.

All four assembly arms remained in place.

Control room at Base 04. A technician leaned closer to the screen. "It can't recognize the carriages anymore."

Su Yuan ignored the broadcast. He switched to the eight-cable control interface. "Wang Hu, crane arm."

Wang Hu flipped out the grab claw of the crane arm. The claw tip engaged the bolt hole on the left side of the assembly rail. The Devourer's idle speed was pushed up half a notch, and the engine speed was increased to 900 rpm.

"Full-group load distribution module. Wheel pressure is concentrated on the left side of the assembly rail."

The load distribution module is activated. The hydraulic load equalizer removes the weight from the four rail surfaces and concentrates it on the left rail. Sections 3, 013, 005, 014, and 012—the entire row of wheels presses against the left edge of the assembly rail.

The positioning gear base is bent. It didn't break, but rather bent slowly. The rack is lifting off the rail surface, and the tooth tips are detaching from the wheel flange gap. The rail clamping bolt is being pulled out of the guard rail bolt hole, and the bolt shank is bent into an arc shape.

The assembly arm detected a loss of pressure on the positioning teeth. All four main arms simultaneously switched modes—no longer using the recognition lens, but directly grasping based on coordinates.

The four arms move in unison. The first arm moves laterally, grabbing and locking the center point of the 017 escort frame. The second arm swings sideways, aligning with the upper hinge of the 013 side door. The third arm lowers half a meter, moving from below the rail surface towards the bottom of the 005 protective compartment. The fourth arm extends, bypassing the 014 rapid cooling jacket, and grabs the flange of the cooling interface.

Forced assembly.

Su Yuan's fingers typed a line of Morse code on the keyboard. Tap. Tap tap tap. Tap tap.

"Wang Hu, the eight-cable bite arm joint. Joint, not clamp."

Wang Hu switched to the manual interface for the eight cables on the control panel. The quick-release couplings of the eight steel cables detached from the ground anchor holes and swung into the air. The cables stretched into an arc under the red work lights. He locked them one by one. The quick-release coupling of the left elbow joint was fastened to the outside of the elbow shaft. The right shoulder joint was fastened to the pivot base. The left wrist joint. The right shoulder joint. All eight joints of the four main arms were locked in place by the steel cables.

"receive."

All eight cables tightened simultaneously. The instant the cables taut, the hydraulic hoses connecting the arm joints burst. Not exploded, but the joints were pulled apart. Hydraulic oil sprayed from the gaps in the seals of the elbow, shoulder, and wrist joints, splashing onto the rail surface, a deep red, the same color as the work lights.

The elbow joint of the first robotic arm broke. The cracking sound of the alloy steel was muffled by the low-frequency hum of the assembly rails. The gripper of the lifting arm caught the broken end of the elbow joint from the side and pulled horizontally. The quick-connect hydraulic bus was pulled out from the break, the cable sheath cut by the alloy shards, and hydraulic oil flowed down the cable.

The interface protocol of the quick-connect hydraulic bus is displayed on the main screen. It is a standard four-hole quick-connect system, with independent pressure supply to each arm, but the pressure supply bus shares the same return oil pipe.

"The return oil pipeline was damaged. All four arms are paralyzed."

Wang Hu operated the lifting arm. The gripper pulled the hydraulic main line of the broken arm towards the refining furnace. The dark gold guide tube protruded from the side of the furnace and inserted into the return oil pipe interface. The high temperature melted through the pipe wall, and the hydraulic oil was drawn back into the furnace. The pressure gauges on the assembly arm all turned red. The movements of the other three arms simultaneously slowed down.

Someone was counting in the Bonebreaker channel. "One. Two. Three—"

The shoulder shaft of the third arm was pulled off course by the eight cables. The quick-release clamp, originally aimed at the bottom of the 005 hull, shifted by more than ten centimeters and gripped the ramming frame on the outside of the hull. The ramming frame locking pin made a sound when it was hit, but it didn't bend.

The fourth arm gripped the outer wall of the 014 rapid cooling jacket. The jaws closed, trapping a layer of frost. The 014 jacket had already cooled to -15 degrees Celsius, and an ice shell had formed on its outer wall. The jaws snapped into the ice shell, hydraulic pressure was applied, the ice shell cracked, and the jaws slipped free.

The broadcast changed its wording. The tone remained the same, still the steady recording from the old Blue Star factory. But the content changed.

"The live-carriage has been registered. Damage to the life support module is prohibited. The 018 molding process is protected."

The preheating process of the heart pump in the carriage jumped from 49% to 100%. The pump inlet was fully open, and the vanes began to rotate at high speed. All empty seat assemblies popped open, and the latches were fully engaged. The heart pump began supplying fluid to the assembly rail. The hydraulic fluid in the hydraulic lines flowed towards the assembly arm.

018 They had to force the heart pump into the 017 transport rack.

The pump body slides out from the center of the assembly rail, and the bottom slide rail and positioning tooth retainer engage. The pump body slides over the rail surface, and the quick-connect interface aligns with the life support water tank inlet at the bottom of the transport frame.

Su Yuan spoke coldly. "The record is invalid. The heart pump is offline."

The small fire uses a 20-ring calibration round to cut the frequency. The calibration round slides from the external magazine into the magazine, and the frequency is adjusted to be the same as the control pulse of the assembly process but in opposite phase. The in-phase oscillation is fired. The rhythm of the assembly rail is disrupted. The pressure bus feedback signal of the assembly arm is cut off. The slide rail of the heart pump is stuck halfway.

The side of the mobile refining furnace cracked open. Four dark gold conduits extended out, sliding along the rail surface. The conduits avoided the circulating water tank and the supply pipe, bypassing the tank's outer shell and embedding themselves in the power interface of the heart pump base.

The conduit is heated simultaneously.

The bolts on the power interface were red-hot, the metal expanded, and the threads came loose. All eight cables were pulled in, and the couplings secured the lifting lugs on both sides of the pump body. With a tug on the steel cables, the pump body was forcibly pulled off the slide rail. Hydraulic oil sprayed from the broken end of the base, and the air intake in the pump chamber abruptly stopped.

"Only connect the power interface. Do not touch the water tank." Xiao Huo's message was simultaneously transmitted to all channels.

The heart pump was towed towards the refining furnace. The blind stop valve on the side of the pump automatically closed, sealing off the remaining liquid inside. The yellow light on the circulating water tank's level sensor flashed briefly, then stabilized in the green zone.

018 The entire station is flashing red lights.

The broadcast finally changed. It wasn't a recording from the old Blue Star factory anymore; it was a synthesized voice from the platform itself. Urgent, high-frequency.

"The live embryo in the carriage was damaged. Mandatory recall will be carried out."

The remaining three assembly arms simultaneously lunged towards the 013 side door and the 005 naval compartment. The shoulder, elbow, and wrist axes were all over-pressured, and the hydraulic lines of the joints were subjected to pressure exceeding their design limits. The quick-assembly clamps opened to their maximum extent, exposing the electromagnetic engaging plates on the inner side of the grippers.

The 013 side door was held in place by a clamp. Current was applied to the electromagnetic locking plate, causing it to adhere to the side armor plate. The newly fitted heavy armor frame of the military train shuddered, but the welds remained intact. The anti-identification shielding layer of the door lock was interfered with by the electromagnetic engagement, causing the indicator light at the wristband signal input to flash once.

The 005 hull was gripped by the second arm. The grippers locked onto the edge of the jacking frame of the hull's outer frame, and the hydraulic cylinders applied pressure, lifting the jacking frame upwards. The rail plate at the bottom of the jacking frame popped up from the rail surface.

Su Yuan did not withdraw.

He stepped on the gas. The Devourer sprang from idle to 1200 RPM. The output of the Mountain-Suppressing Core was pushed up to 70, and the dark gold patterns on the energy conduction tubes lit up. Dark gold exhaust gas spewed from the exhaust pipe, cutting the red light on the assembly rail in two halves.

"Press it down."

The front beam of the Devourer pressed down on the assembly rail. The heavy armor frame of the military train slammed into the center of the assembly rail. Remnants of the positioning teeth were crushed by the wheels. The furnace of the mobile refining furnace roared, and the furnace opening opened. Dark gold conduits fully extended from the side of the furnace body—not four, but twelve.

The conduit is simultaneously inserted into the joints of the three assembly arms, the flange of the heavy-duty wheel axle, the base of the empty seat assembly, the connecting bolts of the standard carriage frame, and the material rack interlayer on both sides of the assembly rail.

The refining furnace began to devour.

The assembly arm was snapped by the simultaneous force of eight cables and conduits. The alloy frame was dragged into the furnace and melted at high temperature. The heavy-duty wheel axles were pulled from the base, and the bearing balls scattered. The empty seat assemblies were dragged into the furnace mouth in a row, and the self-heating fins were peeled off from the bottom of the fixture. The connecting bolts of the standard carriage frame were cut by the dark gold conduits, and the frame was divided into several sections and slid into the furnace.

Wang Hu used the crane boom to clamp the elbow joint of the second assembly arm. With the claws gripping tightly, he pressed the hydraulic pressure. The elbow joint cracked, and the quick-release clamp detached from the 005 protective compartment. The anti-push frame was pressed back into the rail surface. He disassembled the joint of the third arm in the same way.

The refining furnace side chute has started discharging parts.

First item: Offline heart pump for the carriage. The power interface of the 018 heart pump was recast and connected to the outer frame of the 017 isolation life-saving cabin. The pump body is equipped with an independent power supply module, does not connect to Great Wall certification, does not report the carriage number, and only connects to the water tank circulation. Wang Hu snapped the pump body into the bottom of the escort frame, the water tank inlet engaged, and the green light on the liquid level sensor remained constantly lit.

The second component: an automated quick-assembly robotic arm. The joints, hydraulic bus, and quick-assembly fixtures of the four assembly arms of the 018 model were recast. The arm body is mounted on the right-side external rack of the Devourer, equipped with a quick-release interface. Material collection speed is increased to half the original time.

The third component: the outer frame of the 017 isolation life support capsule. It was recast using the original 017 transport frame base, the 018 standard skeleton, and the outer frame. A lead-boron interlayer and an independent life support interface were added to the outer frame, with the circulation pump and offline cardiac pump connected in series. The empty seat lock was modified into a fixed support, which does not generate heat, does not simulate breathing, and does not connect to an identification camera.

The fourth item: the 013 medical expansion base frame. This was recast using heavy-duty wheel axles, mounting rail side guards, and the empty seat assembly base frame. The base frame was installed below the 013 casualty compartment, with the medicine cabinet connected to the expansion slot, and the cooling cabinet's temperature stabilization auxiliary circuit connected to the new base frame's independent cooling circuit. Tang Lan had the maintenance team install it, increasing the medicine cabinet's storage capacity by 40%.

Fifth item: 005 hull reverse grip lock. Recast using shear lock remnants, electromagnetic engagement plates, and assembly arm grippers. The lock body is installed on the outside of the hull; any robotic arm grabbed from the outside will be automatically engaged by the reverse grip lock and dragged back into the refining furnace.

Sixth component: 014 cooling redundancy bracket. Recast using standard car frame lightweight beams, mounting rail guard bolts, and fast-cooling jacket interfaces. The bracket is attached to the side of 014, increasing cooling redundancy by 30%. The reverse cooling procedure remains unchanged.

The seventh item: a full-group heart pump monitoring interface. This interface uses 018 control bus remnants, assembly process pulses, and identification lens fragments for recasting. Connected to the main screen of the "Desolate Wasteland," any abnormal startup of the heart pump in any carriage will be monitored.

Lu Mingyuan stood up across the entire channel. His chair slid back, the backrest hitting the edge of the control panel. He placed one hand on the table and pressed the call button with the other.

"018 The creation process is invalid. All site rules are null and void. 017 The completion permission for the isolation life pod is moved back to the previous level. 018 Filing is prohibited."

He paused for a moment.

"Assembly station No. 39 has been completely demolished. All broadcasts from stations No. 19 to No. 39 confirm that these are inducements, robberies, mortgages, or parasitic traps. Route 009 maintains 100% accuracy."

The Bonebreaker channel is overwhelmed.

"He dismantled the entire assembly plant. He even stole the heart pumps." The communications officer's voice went from a low murmur to a barely audible gasp. "He also built seven pieces of equipment."

The fire control officer added, "018 wanted to build carriages. He used 018's materials to build his own carriages."

The red light at station 39 was still on, but the assembly rails were empty. The heavy-duty axles had been towed away. Only chassis fragments remained of the empty seat assemblies. The standard car frame had been dismantled into several pieces and lay across the rails. Remnants of the assembly arm were piled up next to the external bucket of the refining furnace, with hydraulic oil still dripping from the joint.

The 017 isolation life support capsule was attached behind the 012. The offline cardiac pump was running stably, the water tank circulation pump speed had decreased from the yellow zone to the green zone, and the liquid level sensor's green light remained constantly lit. The lead-boron shield was still above the empty seat lock, its edge pressing against the 009 thrust reverser hook. The seat lock remained stationary.

Su Yuan released the throttle to idle. The Devourer retracted from the assembly rail, its front beam pressing against the remaining rail at the exit of Station 39. Wang Hu climbed back into the carriage from the 012 protective shell and stuffed the lime powder bag into the side cabinet. His gloves were covered in hydraulic oil and lead powder; he took them off, shook them a couple of times, and put them back on.

Lu Mingyuan pressed the second full-channel broadcast button.

"Operating principles updated. Assembly stations will only accept materials, not complete carriages. They will not accept pre-fabrication agreements. Carriage numbers will not be reported. Only the lead car's measured list will be recognized. The 017 isolation life pod is an independent containment unit and will not be included in the group registration. It will not be connected to the Great Wall certification."

Control room at Base 04. The veteran engineer jotted down the update on the paper at hand. Technicians simultaneously updated the Bonebreaker's operating manual. On the AM channel, the rear support crew began installing anti-identification frames on the older vehicles, following Su Yuan's method. The news spread from Base 04 outwards, the fourth shockwave relaying along the AM channel.

Wang Hu walked past the 017 transport rack. His flashlight beam swept across the empty seat lock. Twenty-three fixed supports rested quietly on the base, neither heating up nor simulating breathing. The life support tank's level sensor glowed a stable green. The offline cardiac pump operated very quietly, almost drowned out by the idling of the Zhenshan core.

He was about to move the beam of light away when the flashlight shone on the side panel of the transport frame. A freshly expelled strip of paper was stuffed into a compartment in the side panel.

There are burn marks on the edges of the strip of paper. The ink stains don't look like they were printed by a printer; they appear to have appeared on some kind of thermal paper itself.

"The registration site for old carriage 019 has received the failure report. The heartbeat data for the unfinished carriage 018 has been transferred. 019 will be on the waiting list at the registration site."

Wang Hu handed the note to Su Yuan.

Su Yuan glanced at it. The gear in the mechanical left eye turned halfway. "018 sent the data before it was dismantled. 019 knows we brought an empty seat."

He turned to the small fire. "What's at registration site 019?"

Xiao Huo accessed the old Blue Star Expeditionary Force database. Layers of old station archives popped up on the screen.

"Registration area for old carriage number 40. There's an identity verification gate at the entrance for the old Blue Star Expeditionary Force. Registration doesn't check weight or documents, only the person."

"Investigate what?"

"Wristband".

Su Yuan leaned back in his seat. His right knuckles rested on the steering wheel cover, while his left hand switched the frequency of the 20-ring calibration cartridge back to the main channel.

"Walk."

The Devourer departed from the ruins of Station 39. One by one, the red work lights behind the train went out. Remnants of the assembly rails lay piled in the darkness, and broken positioning gears, crushed by the wheels, lay across the rail surface. The 017 isolation life capsule hung behind 012, its offline heart pump operating stably.

A row of manual kerosene lamps lit up ahead.

The lamps were the standard old-fashioned kerosene signal lamps of the former Blue Star Expeditionary Force, hanging above a row of iron frames. The wicks burned weakly, the flames forced to the left by the airflow above the rails. Below the iron frames was the entrance gate of the old registration area. The gate had no knife gate, no weighing beam, and no assembly arm. There were only two rows of old-fashioned infrared scanning strips and an iron plaque.

An iron sign hung in the center of the gate. The dim yellow light of a kerosene lamp shone on the sign. The characters were in an old-fashioned handwritten style, painted with white paint. Some of the paint had peeled off at the edges, revealing the rust underneath.

"You can pass through the carriage without registering. But you can't pass without registering living people."

Wang Hu shone his flashlight over. The light from the kerosene lamp was blocked by the flashlight beam. Below the iron plate was a line of small characters, not painted on, but engraved. The edges of the engraving had an oxide layer, indicating that it was quite old.

"The registration area is equipped with a heart rate sensor. Dead people, mannequins, and empty vehicles are not permitted. Please bring a living person."

He slowly moved the flashlight toward the two rows of infrared scanning bars on the entrance gate. The scanning bars were an older model, equipped with an independent power supply box and mechanical relays. Each scanning bar had four pairs of sensing points underneath, spaced the same as the width of an adult's chest.

"It's not a metal detector," Xiao Huo reported. "It's a heart rate sensor. It's used in the old Blue Star factories to verify living occupants. Each pair of sensors can read the heartbeat signal. Only when all four pairs are read simultaneously will passage be granted."

Su Yuan glanced at the main screen. On the old terminal, there was a hidden track behind registration area number 40. The hidden track led to the shuttle station on the inner ring of the Great Wall. There was no way around it.

Carriage 013.

Tang Lan stood beside the medicine cabinet. The newly installed medical extension rack was under the carriage floor, and the temperature stabilizer indicator was pointing to the green zone. Inside the cabinet, hemostatic agents, anti-infective injections, nerve pain relief patches, and frostbite repair gel were neatly arranged. There were three cooling medicine boxes, all locked at the standard refrigeration range.

There were six wounded in the carriage: four with minor injuries and two with serious injuries. The seriously injured were strapped to stretchers, their chest bandages slightly stained with blood, but their breathing was steady. Wristbands were fastened to their wrists, and the indicator lights were glowing a stable green.

One of the lightly wounded soldiers pulled his frostbitten hand out from under the blanket. The indicator light on the side of his wristband was flashing, but not rapidly. He didn't pay attention and rested his hand on the stretcher crossbar.

Tang Lan's gaze swept over. The indicator light on the wristband flashed a second time. Then a third time. Then it stopped.

"Small fire." Tang Lan pressed the call button, "Check the status of wristband 013."

The small torch displayed the wristband data on the main screen. All six wounded soldiers' wristbands showed green lights—their vital signs were stable. Only the soldier with frostbite on his arm had an abnormal wristband reading thirty seconds ago—not an abnormal vital sign, but an abnormal identification number.

The wristband registration number has changed.

The old serial number was overwritten. The new serial number changed from a string of zeros to three digits: 019.

Tang Lan stared at the number. "When was the second flash?"

"Five seconds ago." The little torch superimposed the timestamp. "The third flash was three seconds after the second. After the number is written, the heartbeat data is uploaded synchronously."

The injured man's hand was still resting on the crossbeam. The indicator light on the wristband had stopped flashing. The number 019 had been etched into the wristband's bottom layer of the record. The electrocardiogram data was transmitted via the wristband's embedded transceiver coil towards registration field number 40.

Su Yuan didn't turn around. "When did 019 get in here?"

小火回放记录。「第三十九号站被拆空的时候。018发了一条成型失败回执给40号登记场。登记场的闸体启动心电感应预扫描。预扫描範围覆盖39号站出口。013伤员舱最近，腕牌先被扫到。019占了一个空位。」

Base 04 control room.

The technician retrieved the old files from registration yard 40. "The unwritten rule of the old carriage registration yard: carriage registration is one level higher than person registration. A living person's wristband can be claimed by an empty carriage. Once an empty carriage claims a living person's wristband, that person is added to the passenger list of that carriage. Car number 01 cannot interfere."

The veteran engineer stared at the screen. "So 019 doesn't register only after scanning the wristband. It's already registered. It's just waiting for the wristband to enter the scanning range."

Wang Hu stood outside the entrance gate of registration area number 40. The beam of his flashlight swept across the inscription on the metal sign. His knuckles tightened as he gripped the flashlight.

"019 doesn't have a car body. How can it register a living person?"

Su Yuan stood up from the driver's seat. The mechanical left eye was facing the kerosene lamp. The flame flickered on the lens surface.

"It doesn't use the car body. It uses our wristbands." He switched the communication button. "Tang Lan, cut off the 019 wristband sharing."

Tang Lan is already in the process. The external transmission of the wristband has been shut down. However, the wristband's serial number record has already been written. The number 019 is imprinted on the bottom of the wristband and cannot be manually changed unless the wristband is physically removed.

The wounded man stared at the indicator light on the side of his wristband. He didn't speak, his hand still resting on the crossbeam. The frostbitten skin on his finger joints was red. The wristband strap pressed against his skin, leaving slight pressure marks along its edges.

"Don't disassemble it yet." Su Yuan's voice came from the driver's cab. "Use the No. 20 ring calibration missile to interfere with the electrocardiogram scanning of registration field No. 40. Scan it so that it can't recognize 019's heartbeat."

The small torch was tuned to the receiving frequency of the electrocardiogram sensor. An inverse oscillation was emitted. The feedback data from the sensing points on the scanning bar began to blur. The mechanical relay of the gate body engaged and disengaged three times. The indicator lights on the four pairs of sensing points below the scanning bar alternately lit and extinguished.

But the kerosene lamp didn't go out. The iron sign didn't move. The gate didn't open.

Xiao Huo reported, "It can only be delayed by one and a half minutes. The electrocardiogram sensor is a hard-wired device from the old Blue Star factory; it doesn't use the control bus. The anti-phase interference can only make the scan bar reading inaccurate, not stop it."

One and a half.

Su Yuan glanced at the main screen. Data from the hidden track behind Registration Site 40 had appeared. The registration site had to be traversed; there was no detour. The gate structure wasn't heavily armored and could be breached, but breaching the gate might trigger a higher level of isolation response. The hard-wired ECG scanner was buried in the foundation; unless the entire foundation was removed, the scan would resume in a minute and a half, and the number 019 and its data would still be read.

"Xiao Huo, what occupant data was transmitted during 019's registration?"

"Heartbeat signal, wristband registration number, and compartment affiliation. The affiliation is 017 isolation life capsule. It recognizes 017 as the mother vehicle."

Su Yuan paused for a moment. "Is the 017 isolation life pod the one we hung outside?"

"Yes. It's mounted behind 012. The offline core pump is connected to the base frame, and the water tank is operating normally."

"018 registered 019 under our 017 account."

He turned to the communication key. "Wang Hu, go to the 017 isolation life support module. Manually enter the crew data of 019 into the offline heart pump. Have 017 claim crew member 019."

Wang Hu climbed back from outside the entrance gate to the 012 protective enclosure. He retrieved a spare wristband reader from the side cabinet, flipped it over the 012 enclosure, and placed it on the side panel of the 017 transport frame. The offline core pump was located below the base frame, and the side maintenance panel could be opened. He connected the reader to the data port on the maintenance panel. Xiao Huo simultaneously retrieved the crew data from 019.

"Data entered." The reader's blue light illuminated. The offline cardiac pump's main control indicator light flickered once, then remained constantly green. The life support tank's circulation pump increased its speed, and the level sensor's yellow light turned green.

The 017 isolation life-saving cabin has claimed passenger number 019. This passenger's wristband number is 019. The cabin's affiliation is not on the Great Wall Certification main network; it belongs only to the 017 independent circulation system.

Su Yuan pressed the all-channel call button. "Tang Lan, remove the wristbands from the wounded."

Tang Lan took out wrist tag removal pliers from the bottom shelf of the medicine cabinet. This was standard equipment for the Blue Star Expeditionary Force, and every casualty compartment had one. She engaged the pliers in the wrist tag strap, applied pressure, and the strap snapped off. The wrist tag slid off the casualty's wrist. The indicator light went out. The number 019 and the heart rate data inside were manually erased.

The wounded soldier pulled his hand out from under the blanket, his fingers twitching slightly. The marks left by the wristband on his skin faded quickly. Tang Lan placed the removed wristband into the shielding box and fastened the lid.

"Can we read 019 at registration point number 40?" Su Yuan asked.

The small fire scan gate feedback data. The receiver of the ECG induction scan bar no longer receives 019's heartbeat. However, the scan bar still locks onto a crew signal—from the 017 isolation life capsule, an independent circulation loop under offline cardiac pump pressure.

"It can't read it anymore. But its scanning target has shifted from the 013 casualty compartment to the 017 isolation life compartment. It's mistaking 017 for the 019 compartment."

Su Yuan didn't wait for the announcement. He pushed the accelerator halfway. The Devourer's idle speed reached 900 RPM, and it surged forward. The front beam aligned with the entrance gate.

「013半抱死。005消音坠全放。014低温稳态锁死。012压前轨。王虎，017押运架的离线心泵保持运转。让019在017的心泵里活着。」

The entire train glided into the entrance of registration yard number 40.

The flame of the kerosene lamp was pushed down by the airflow from the car body. The words on the metal plate flickered in the beam of the flashlight.

Two rows of electrocardiogram (ECG) scanning strips swept across the entire train. Infrared strips emitted a dark red light, scanning from the front to the rear. The Devourer's Cabin—no water, no heartbeat. Third Life Pod—Blue Star personnel are asleep, heartbeat signals are stable. 013 Casualty Pod—Wristbands all removed, scanning strips did not read registration numbers. 005 Cargo Hold—Unmanned. 014 Cooling Carriage—Unmanned. 012 Forward Tractor—Unmanned. 009 Memorial Hanging—None. 017 Isolation Life Pod—Offline cardiac pump pressurization, circulation pump operating, heartbeat data of crew member 019 transmitted stably.

The second row of red light on the scan bar paused for 0.5 seconds above the 017 isolation life pod.

The mechanical relay of the gate body is engaged.

The entrance gate is opened.

The kerosene lamp flame flickered back up. The inscription on the iron sign was illuminated by the light—"The registration area is equipped with a heart rate sensor. Dead people, dummies, and empty vehicles are not permitted. Please bring a living person."

The Devourer, with its entire trainset, passed through registration yard 40. The kerosene lamps went out one by one at the rear of the train. The outline of platform 41 began to emerge from the depths of the dark tracks ahead.

Wang Hu unplugged the reader from the offline cardiac pump. He tucked the spare wristband back into the side cabinet. The 017 isolation life pod was mounted behind 012, and the water tank circulation pump was running at a stable speed. The empty seat locks were quietly fastened to the base frame.

Just as he was about to close the side cabinet, a piece of paper fell out of it.

It's not a note. It's a registration receipt from the old Blue Star factory. The paper is yellowed, and the edges are folded. The receipt is printed with a standard format.

"019 has been registered. One passenger. The main body of the carriage is the isolation life capsule 017. Next stop: carriage 41 refit station. Refit content: whether the number of passengers in the live carriage and the refrigerated carriage are consistent."

He turned the receipt over. There was a line of handwritten text on the back.

"If the number of people in the refrigerated car is different from the number of passengers registered in the live car, the verification station will make up the difference for you."