Chapter 116: Reorganization |
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The Infinite Train’s orange-red headlights cut through the stormy night, illuminating the blizzard. The train's icebreaker shield plowed through the thick snow like a hot knife through butter.
Neither zombies nor abandoned cars could withstand the raw power of the locomotive!
Everyone held their breath, sprinting forward.
Inside Car 2, KIKI monitored the radar system closely while deploying two drones to scout the night.
“That big creature must’ve been buried in the underground city. It’s not chasing us.”
After nearly an hour of racing across the snowfield, the number of zombies and obstacles steadily decreased. The tense atmosphere inside the train finally started to ease, broken by KIKI’s voice.
“Really? We… we’re safe?” Zhao Yan, who had been paralyzed with fear, suddenly seemed to come back to life, trembling as she spoke.
“Looks like it.”
Lin Xian nodded and began gradually slowing the Infinite Train. “You’re right, but we can’t let our guard down. While we rest, I need to reorganize the carriages behind us. If we don’t, they’ll slow us down.”
The relentless escape had drained everyone. They had covered at least a hundred kilometers across the snowfield. Lin Xian did want to stop and rest, but the train’s current setup was far from ideal. Behind Car 5 were two flatbed carriages, followed by the Gemini 11R Nuclear Electric Locomotive, and then two Kor-3 Biological Science Research Carriages, hastily linked with temporary couplings and lacking any armor protection. It was an improvised setup, necessary for their desperate escape, but it needed fixing.
After the high-speed chase, the train’s iron wheels were burning hot, melting the snow beneath them and sending up plumes of steam.
“How’s it looking?”
Lin Xian entered Car 1, his expression still tense. KIKI was operating the drones, keeping watch around the train.
Hoo…
After a night of tension, KIKI finally let out a breath, licking her lips before replying, “I can’t guarantee much, but that big guy definitely didn’t follow us. If it had, we’d have picked up on it by now.”
“That reminds me.”
Lin Xian pulled out the Soul Wave Detector and tossed it to KIKI. “Didn’t you pick up a Blood Crystal? Try scanning it.”
“On it.”
Realizing what he meant, KIKI pulled out the large, eerie-looking Blood Crystal and slotted it into the device. The detector immediately activated, emitting a strange energy fluctuation.
0!
Lin Xian was taken aback. That number suggested there wasn’t a single zombie nearby...
“Could it be broken?” KIKI muttered in disbelief.
“Doubt it.”
If there was one thing Lin Xian knew well, it was machines. He glanced around at the snowfield. The blizzard was intensifying, rapidly covering everything. Ordinary zombies wouldn’t be able to keep up in such conditions—they’d likely be buried by morning.
Ding Junyi, who had been silent until now, eyed the device in KIKI’s hands and asked, “A Level-2 Eerie Blood Crystal? Did you guys take down a B-Class Nocturnal Entity?”
Lin Xian looked at the Soul Wave Detector again. Finally, the shadow of that Deep Abyss Behemoth faded from his mind. He turned to Ding Junyi and couldn’t help but ask, “Is ‘shock’ or ‘fear’ just not in your emotional system?”
Ding Junyi looked at him curiously. “Why do you ask?”
“If I screamed and panicked like Dr. Zhao and Dr. Xu, would I get more concern and protection from the group?”
Silence.
Chen Sixuan and KIKI exchanged strange looks.
Zhao Yan and Xu Wen, on the other hand, seemed somewhat displeased and speechless. Even though they had worked with Ding Junyi for a long time, they still weren’t fond of her way of speaking.
Lin Xian was momentarily stunned by her words, then sighed. “Alright, back on topic.”
He picked up the eerie Blood Crystal. “By the way, how do you classify these things? Your naming system is different from the Phoenix Federation’s.”
“It’s actually the same!”
Xu Wen, who had finally regained some color in his face, jumped in. “The Apocalypse Union and the original Federation were both working on the same Grand Envoy Project. After the Federation collapsed, the research approaches diverged slightly, but the terminology remained mostly consistent. Whether it’s ‘Nocturnal Entities’ or ‘Eerie Entities,’ they all refer to the same kind of creatures. Our research into Soul Wave Values is also aligned. The only difference is that the Underground City Project no longer receives broad scientific support.”
Lin Xian raised an eyebrow. “Your biological research department knows about the Grand Envoy Project?”
“Not entirely.”
Zhao Yan’s expression turned tense. “Right now, anything related to dark energy is under research. Whether it’s zombies, corruption, human eerie entities, blood crystals, scourge flora, or abilities, they all seem connected to this dark energy. But after the Federation collapsed and the Angel Project was restructured, our Underground City fell under the Dawn Project. We don’t have the manpower or firepower to gather large quantities of Blood Crystals or scourge flora for research.”
Technically, the Dawn Project no longer belonged to the official Apocalypse Union, but its leaders still saw themselves as the rightful government of the world. That’s why they had deliberately differentiated their terminology in research related to the Polar Night.
“For example, both ‘Nocturnal Entity’ and ‘Eerie Entity’ mean the same thing. Currently, anything with a Soul Wave Value fluctuation within -100 is classified as C-Class or standard level. The range from -100 to -1000 is defined as B-Class Eerie Entities. These creatures are where we find Level-2 Eerie Blood Crystals. The size of these crystals varies slightly, but we aren’t certain if they directly correlate to threat levels or if they simply indicate how many humans the creature has consumed.”
“Consumed humans?”
KIKI frowned. “I thought the Soul Wave Value was just a measure of an eerie entity’s threat level. I even thought ability users were classified using similar values—things like Evolution Level or King Kong Level…”
Zhao Yan’s expression changed. She stared at KIKI in surprise. “How do you know about that?!”
“That was a rough classification system proposed in the early days of the Grand Envoy Project.”
This time, Ding Junyi spoke up.
“Ever since the Dark Night Infection theory was introduced, both the Phoenix Federation’s new Grand Envoy Project - Nightwalkers organization and our Dawn Project have agreed on one core belief: the Apocalypse Polar Night is a global evolution event.
Most people fail to evolve and instead succumb to corruption, turning into zombies, human eerie entities, or experiencing biological mutations. Meanwhile, the Abyss spawns eerie entities.
With each cycle of the Polar Night, more people die or succumb to corruption. But at the same time, every survivor undergoes continuous evolution—not just in terms of abilities, but in overall physiology. Their cellular activity increases, their muscle potential grows, and their resistance to viruses and bacteria strengthens…
In simple terms, as long as someone stays alive, they’re evolving.
This evolution might be subtle in the short term, but over time, by the time humanity enters the Second Polar Night, survivors will have already surpassed their previous physical limits.”
“That’s why the original Federation eventually split into three factions after the First Polar Night.”
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