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

5 / 35

The holographic projection screen in the main control room flickered with a blood-red glow. Ji Yun's audio recordings, sealed away for fourteen years, played on a loop.

"Don't light it! That will broadcast Earth's absolute coordinates to the entire universe!"

The audio background was interspersed with the sounds of thick flesh tearing and bones cracking.

Wang Hu stared at 02:41:12 on the screen, his eyes bloodshot. Jiang Yu's remaining left arm gripped the edge of the control panel tightly, his fingernails scraping against the metal plate with a harsh sound.

Su Yuan's face was hidden in the halo of the control panel. His index finger was still pressed on the fire button of the train cannon, his knuckles taut.

The numbers on the screen changed to 02:41:11.

Su Yuan didn't look at the countdown.

"Little Fire, connect to the 011 True Brain," Su Yuan said coldly. "Use the planetary-level defense matrix module that you just rebuilt to reverse engineer the entire physical structure and energy circuit of the beacon. Extract the function of every single component."

Wang Hu slammed his fist on the control panel, denting a hole in the alloy panel.

"Why bother? Old Su, just open fire and blast it to smithereens!"

On the other side of the control room, Tang Lan held a heavy sniper rifle, the reflection from the scope shining on her face.

"We can't just fire indiscriminately." Tang Lan's voice was cold and hard. "Both AI Lu Ye and Ji Yun mentioned 'beacons.' Their descriptions are seriously inaccurate. If we blow one up, who knows what self-destruct protocol it will trigger?"

"Bombing it might mean death, but not bombing it and letting this damn clock run out is definitely death!" Wang Hu gritted his teeth.

The main screen flickered twice, and Xiao Huo's mechanical voice announced: "011 True Brain Analysis Complete. The beacon is directly bound to the final defense network of the Pangu Project. This defense network covers the entire solar system. Broadcast signals are one of the ways to activate the defense network. The original logic was to lure external threats to the pre-set annihilation zone. However, AI Lu Ye has tampered with the underlying protocol."

011 The frequency band access of the real brain is displayed on the screen as a line of green code unfolds.

"The lure protocol has been replaced by the sacrifice protocol. If the beacon itself is physically destroyed, the binding protocol will be broken, Pangu's final defense network will be permanently disabled, and Earth will completely lose its outer physical barrier. If the broadcast is allowed to continue, the deep space entity will be permanently locked to Earth's coordinates."

The control room fell into dead silence.

Shattered, the Earth's barrier shattered.

If we don't fight, we'll attract the all-consuming deep-space entity.

This is a desperate situation. The countdown has reached 02:40:05.

Tap tap, tap tap tap.

Qin Yan's Morse code rang out rapidly, breaking the oppressive atmosphere.

"The beacon is absorbing energy." Xiao Huo translated simultaneously, "In the middle layer of the space orbit, the bioelectricity of 300,000 hibernation pods is being forcibly drawn away by the beacon to serve as backup ignition energy."

The monitoring feed in the lower right corner of the main screen instantly switched to the middle layer of the sky orbit. The cluster of green dots representing the vital signs of 300,000 hibernation pods began to flicker extensively.

Within seconds, thousands of green lights turned a glaring yellow. A yellow light meant that the brain's life support system was nearing depletion.

Su Yuan raised his eyelids, his eyes filled with a chilling coldness.

"Using my people as backup batteries?"

He gripped the heavy pusher on the right side of the control panel with his backhand and pushed it directly to the top of the red zone.

"Drain all energy from the 014 backup cooling compartment. Connect to the mother-nest-level overpressure fuel circulation pump. Backpressure the entire line back into the mid-level hibernation chamber. Fight it!"

The command was given, and the entire Devourer shuddered violently. A massive amount of energy surged backward through the thick pipelines into the middle layer of orbit. The previously faint yellow lights were instantly replaced by a green glow.

On the instrument panel, the energy reserve value of the Devourer itself plummeted.

In the center of the ruins of Eden, the nearly 100-meter-high beacon base emitted a dull, rumbling sound of physical resonance due to the loss of backup power.

A red alert light swept across the entire top layer of the sky track.

The hidden highest level of authority left by AI Lu Ye was completely triggered by the energy shortage of the beacon.

Above the dome, the outer shells of hundreds of massive alloy maintenance arms peeled away, revealing dark golden attack claws inside. Accompanied by the crackling of high-voltage arcs, hundreds of giant claws simultaneously changed direction, locking onto the Devourer below.

In the wasteland, the wreckage of more than thirty platinum mechs, which had just been shredded by machine gun fire, began to reassemble. The broken metal limbs were pieced together under the influence of a strong magnetic field, and their red electronic eyes lit up one by one.

Instead of attacking the Devourer, they formed an impenetrable defensive perimeter around the beacon base.

The remaining defense mechanism at the top level of the entire Sky Orbit system has only one task left: to protect the beacon and complete its countdown at all costs.

"Clear the area," Su Yuan uttered.

Wang Hu had been holding back his anger for a long time. He ripped off his helmet and slammed down on the control pedal of the external self-propelled artillery module.

The heavy six-barreled machine gun began to roar wildly. Large-caliber depleted uranium armor-piercing rounds tore through the air, leaving behind more than a dozen bright orange whips of fire, blasting the foremost assembled mechs back into pieces scattered on the ground.

Jiang Yu dragged the broken rifle to the side hatch, braced his arm against the butt of the rifle and pressed down on the muzzle, unleashing a barrage of fire at the attack claws falling from the sky.

Tang Lan knelt on one knee, her sniper rifle resting steadily on the car window sill. Each shot rang out, and a mech's core was precisely pierced by a high-explosive round, turning into a ball of intense heat.

A tooth-grinding whistling wind came from overhead.

Four giant, electrified attack claws pierced through the anti-aircraft fire net and headed straight for the top of the 013 casualty compartment.

Su Yuan flipped his wrist and pulled the control lever sharply.

Eight heavy-duty steel cables shot into the sky from the rear of the vehicle, precisely wrapping around the hydraulic joints of the two attack claws.

"Wind, reverse pull."

The winch hissed under the strain. The giant attack claws were yanked off course, colliding with each other and exploding in blinding sparks.

The heavy-duty lifting arm extended from the side of the vehicle, and three half-meter-thick hydraulic jacks were inserted directly into the gaps in the bases of the other two attack claws, prying them open forcefully. The alloy shattered, and severed mechanical fragments crashed down beside the tracks.

"Refining furnace, start sucking at full load," Su Yuan gave the order directly.

The massive feed inlet of the mobile refining furnace opened. Thirty-six dark gold guide tubes, like tentacles, wrapped around the severed repair arms and mecha fragments, dragging them directly into the high-temperature furnace.

The furnace fire roared, instantly melting a pile of scrap metal into molten iron.

"Perfect timing, my stove hasn't been full yet." Su Yuan's eyes reflected the light of the stove fire, his voice extremely cold.

The defense network was torn open by the firepower. The parsing progress bar on the main screen finally reached its maximum.

"Planetary-level defense matrix module analysis complete," Xiao Huo quickly reported. "The module itself carries a frequency band simulation function, which can disguise itself as a 'fake beacon' to send a security broadcast. However, this disguise requires a crucial termination key. Once the simulated broadcast is started, the physical connection cannot be severed without the key. Cross-comparison with the 011 True Brain database shows that the underlying permissions of the key belong to the old Blue Star 020 temporary escort."

── 2000 words ──

Escort No. 020.

The isolation box that was forcibly stuffed under the train at the No. 42 military train reorganization and acceptance yard and has been hanging on the outside of the 005 protective compartment ever since.

Su Yuan immediately disconnected the fire control panel: "Connect the communication channel of the 020 isolation box."

Audio input.

The only sound in the control room was the hissing noise of the electrical circuits.

Wang Hu gripped the microphone and roared, "Hey! Stop playing dead! Hand over the key right now! If the countdown ends and everyone on the bus dies, you're dead!"

The communicator remained completely silent.

Two seconds. Five seconds. Ten seconds.

Just as Wang Hu was about to take his tools to smash open the isolation box, a slight physical sound came through the microphone.

Tap. Tap tap.

It wasn't the Morse code pattern that Qin Yan usually used. It was an old-fashioned pause with a mechanical feel to it.

Xiao Huo immediately captured and translated this tapping frequency band.

A line of text pops up on the main screen.

"If you want the abort key, exchange it for something from compartment 005."

The carriage fell into a deathly silence. The roar of artillery fire was completely shut out.

Tang Lan removed her finger from the sniper rifle trigger, her brows furrowed tightly: "No. Cargo compartment 005 is an absolute no-go zone. What's inside is of paramount importance."

Wang Hu suppressed his anger, his face grim: "Using the anti-living core that Ji Yun desperately sealed away to exchange for a broken key whose authenticity is unknown? This deal is absolutely unacceptable!"

To gamble the most terrifying trump card of the entire Great Wall defense line on a radio beacon that never stops is an immeasurable risk.

The structure of the Skyrail's top layer is collapsing rapidly due to intense fighting and energy depletion. Large chunks of quartz glass and architectural debris are falling from the dome, hundreds of meters high. A series of impacts echo across the Devourer's outer armor.

The red countdown light grew increasingly glaring: 01:00:23.

There's one hour left.

Su Yuan stared at the conditions proposed by 020 on the screen, a low, cold laugh escaping his throat.

He suddenly stood up straight and stepped onto the edge of the center console.

"Exchange?" Su Yuan gripped the control stick tightly with both hands, his laughter chillingly cold. "In my dictionary, there is only robbery, not exchange."

Everyone turned to look at him.

Su Yuan pulled up a holographic 3D image of the orbital base and pointed to the beacon's massive and heavy physical foundation.

"Disconnect all energy supply to the defense matrix module. Transfer all vehicle power to the main engine and heavy-duty winch."

"Eight cables rise to ceiling, prepare for physical locking of the beacon's outer framework."

"Extend the crane boom to its maximum length and jam the base flange."

Su Yuan's voice was filled with an arrogant intensity that seemed capable of tearing everything apart: "We won't shut it down. We won't destroy it. We'll rip it off the orbit and take it with us!"

Wang Hu froze for a second, then slammed his hand on the control panel, his eyes bloodshot, and burst into wild laughter.

"That's my fucking commander!"

Jiang Yu skillfully locked the side hatch anti-impact latch with one arm.

Without saying a word, Tang Lan put away the sniper rifle and used the seatbelt to secure herself tightly to the passenger seat.

Commands were issued. The massive hull of the Devourer resembled a behemoth gathering its strength. Its wide tracks gripped the alloy ground tightly.

Eight heavy-duty steel cables burst through the air, their high-precision steel hooks precisely gripping the eight stress points of the beacon base, locking them in place.

The heavy-duty lifting arm pierced the crack at the bottom of the beacon at an angle, and the hydraulic push rod pressed against the main support bearing.

"Full column output power, max it out!" Su Yuan roared, "Get up!"

The engine roared with terrifying force. Four main exhaust pipes at the rear spewed out hot, blue flames. The heavy tracks writhed wildly on the ground, sparks flying, carving four deep grooves into the alloy armor plates.

A sickening cracking sound echoed through the ruins of Eden.

The six 10-meter-thick support pillars outside the beacon base collapsed one after another, and huge metal fragments were ejected in all directions.

"Pressure the refining furnace, give it your all!"

The mobile refining furnace is operating at full capacity, with all its kinetic energy utilized.

Boom—Crack!

The main body of the broadcast beacon, which is nearly 100 meters in diameter and weighs thousands of tons, was uprooted from the foundation of the core control console of the space orbiter.

The immense reaction force propelled the Devourer backward by more than ten meters, its chassis carving a half-meter-deep trench in the ground. The steel locks connecting the carriages emitted a violent scraping sound.

The moment the beacon was removed and physical contact was broken, unexpected events occurred.

At the core fracture point at the bottom of the beacon, an energy pulse that could not be seen with the naked eye suddenly erupted.

This pulse did not travel into deep space. It traveled straight down at the speed of light, piercing the blast-proof deck at the top of the space orbit, penetrating the middle layer where the hibernation pod was located, and tearing through the atmosphere and thick clouds.

The pulse shot straight in, blasting directly into the bottom of the man-made super abyss 13,000 meters deep on the surface.

The detector image on the main screen automatically tracks and switches to the real-time image of the bottom of the abyss.

At the heart of the waste graveyard at the bottom of the abyss, the massive mound of remains, built from the bones of hundreds of thousands of old Blue Star expeditionary soldiers, was blasted apart by a burst of violent energy in an instant.

The decaying armor, rusted gears, and shriveled heads were torn to shreds by the powerful energy field.

The earth trembled violently. A gaping abyss, thousands of meters long, opened up from the ground.

A giant hand made of pure dark gold living metal suddenly stretched out from the ground.

The surface of the giant hand was densely engraved with the tattered insignia belonging to the old Blue Star expeditionary force. Its five fingers were spread out, pointing to the sky, completely absorbing the pulse signal that pierced through heaven and earth.

The 011 True Brain emitted a sharp, garbled sound of physical gibberish.

Xiao Huo immediately converted the garbled text. The noise at the end of Ji Yun's recording, which was completely masked by the sound of flesh being torn apart, was finally successfully deciphered.

"...What we encountered...was just a lost messenger...the real messenger...is still in the cradle..."

The abyss is that cradle.

On the main screen, the "devourer" deep-space shadow that had been looming over the edge of the radar's field of view suddenly began to dissipate on a large scale. The immense sense of oppression emanating from outer space vanished into thin air.

That thing was just a passerby attracted by the intermittent broadcasts.

But the crisis was far from over.

The countdown numbers jumped wildly. The red numbers twisted and deformed, eventually settling into an ancient and eerie biological symbol.

The shape of the symbol perfectly matches the outline of the giant hand emerging from the abyss.

An extremely cold and oppressive feeling instantly enveloped the entire Desolate Ship. The temperature in the main control room plummeted to minus ten degrees Celsius. A thin layer of grayish-white frost formed on the control panel.

A muffled, strange noise came from the rear carriage.

Carriage 005, second cargo compartment from the right.

A dark red light suddenly shone from the spot where the old Blue Star's anti-pollution seal had been.

The spectral frequency of the light is homologous to the biological symbols on the screen.

── 4000 words ──

A will, a hundred times stronger than the dark gold alien at Station 58, filled with savagery and extreme hunger, pierced through all the physical armor of the Devourer without hindrance, sweeping over every person in the carriage.

Wang Hu's heavy machine gun slipped from his grasp and crashed to the floor. Jiang Yu's one arm convulsed as he braced himself against the control panel. Tang Lan bit her lip hard; the bolt of her sniper rifle was halfway pushed but wouldn't close no matter what she did.

That will swirled rapidly in the carriage, finally locking onto Su Yuan in the driver's seat.

From the second compartment on the right, a deep, hoarse voice, transcending countless ages, exploded directly in everyone's minds.

"My...key."

Su Yuan raised his head, his eyes fixed on the red light emanating from the cargo compartment in the rearview camera.

He didn't release the control lever. Instead, he pulled down the main weapon control switch next to him.

On the outer armor of the vehicle roof, the base of the 400mm Breathe Butcher railway gun emitted a dull hydraulic thud.

The muzzle was forcibly turned within a second. The sights were locked firmly on the edge of the second right compartment of No. 005. The brass-colored armor-piercing round was fed into the breech along the feed rail. The sound of the breech closing was crisp and piercing.