Infinite Train Project

Jiang City, afternoon. A gentle breeze blew.

A faint glint flickered on the balcony of a high-rise apartment. The man looked up toward the sun, checked his watch, then closed the light shield on his telescope.

In the distance, the city beneath the clouds lay deathly still. Above it, an enormous mass of cloud hung motionless like a mountain.

Beep, beep. His watch sounded an alert.

5:00 p.m. An hour and a half until nightfall.

The man pulled on an iron chain, raising a custom-made alloy shutter outside what had once been a floor-to-ceiling window. The light inside gradually disappeared.

Sunlight filtered through gaps between the alloy slats in narrow strips, illuminating a living room piled high with supplies.

Bzzzz...

An unusual sound rose. The man stopped what he was doing and tilted his head to listen.

His expression changed instantly.

He tucked his self-defense knife into his waistband, then cautiously left the apartment and climbed the stairs to the rooftop.

A helicopter approached at low altitude, its massive rotors growing deafeningly loud.

Whoosh, whoosh!

The man produced a long water pipe from somewhere. A strip of ragged orange cloth was tied to its tip, and he quickly waved it at the helicopter.

Inside the helicopter, a girl wearing headphones noticed the orange flash. Silently, she traced it with her finger against the window.

"Mr. Wen?"

The pilot in front had also spotted the orange on the rooftop. He turned back and asked tentatively.

The man addressed as Mr. Wen was middle-aged and dressed in a suit and polished shoes. He glanced outside, then closed his eyes indifferently. "Delusional fool. Who cares whether those paupers live or die?"

The pilot fell silent.

Noticing the girl's gaze, the middle-aged man said loudly, "What, feeling a sudden surge of sympathy?"

"Remember, they're not like us. Even if the world ends tomorrow, we'll still be among the last to die. Understand?!"

"Tch."

The girl stared out the window, her expression cold, utterly dismissive of his words.

Whooo...

The helicopter roared across the sky.

Watching from the distant rooftop, the man lowered his pole, his gaze unhurried.

"Fuck you. Such a nice helicopter, too. What a waste..."

Whooo! Whooo!

A few minutes later, an urgent alarm suddenly sounded inside the helicopter.

"Stall warning—stall warning."

"What's happening?!"

"We've suddenly lost lift. We might have encountered an unknown air vortex!" The young copilot's expression changed drastically as he desperately tried to maintain their flight attitude.

The sudden crisis threw everyone into a panic.

"We're in the air! It's broad daylight! Have we run into some damned monster?" The middle-aged man in the back, previously composed, was the first to shout.

The pilot checked the onboard radar but found nothing unusual. Then the light in the cockpit abruptly changed, as though a shadow had fallen over them. Sensing something, he hurriedly craned his head to look up.

At that sight, his pupils contracted and his face went deathly pale.

An eerie black silhouette loomed within the enormous cloud overhead, blotting out the sky!

Clouds churned. A violent wind erupted!

An immense suction caught the helicopter, dragging it upward out of control.

"Warning! Warning!"

"Shit! Captain! What do we do?!"

Still unaware of what was happening, the copilot looked frantically at the pilot, only to find his attention fixed on something. He followed his gaze.

Thin wisps of cloud dispersed around them. As they climbed higher, the two men in the cockpit finally saw the silhouette clearly.

The black shape within the clouds was actually... an enormous humanoid corpse!

The desiccated humanoid corpse floated face down at an angle amid the clouds, blotting out the sky. Even the exposed portion of its torso alone appeared to measure at least ten kilometers long!

The Floating Sky Giant Corpse remained motionless. At first glance, he resembled a floating continent, gray-black from head to toe. The folds of his dried skin were clearly visible, like deep valleys and ravines. His hollow black eyes held no trace of life as he hovered high above the city, radiating an eerie, oppressive presence.

"Aaaah!"

Screams erupted inside the out-of-control helicopter!

The girl in the back went deathly pale, darkness gradually invading her pupils.

Hurricane-force winds tore at the helicopter's fuselage. The industrial machine, weighing several tons, was now no more than a speck of dust in the air.

The invisible suction swallowed it upward in an instant. It soon vanished into the clouds without a trace.

On the distant rooftop, Lin Xian watched, his expression darkening slightly.

Buzz...

A strange flash of light crossed the skyline. Lin Xian snapped out of it, spat, "Fuck," and immediately headed back to his apartment.

He pulled down the shutter, sprayed odor neutralizer in the stairwell, and closed the iron door.

Then he waited quietly for night to fall.

Beep, beep.

At exactly 6:45 p.m., a second strange flash shone beyond the shutter. The sun set, and darkness swallowed the entire city.

Beneath the veil of night, sinister whispers rose from shadowy alleys. Piercing howls echoed through the darkness. Terror approached, and the uncanny descended!

Inside the apartment.

A record player played mellow jazz. Wearing an apron, Lin Xian leisurely opened a can of beans in the kitchen. On the electric stove, a tomato and beef brisket soup gave off an enticing aroma.

A vibrant green sprig of cilantro lay on the cutting board, today's reward from his rooftop garden. In times like these, a little green always lifted the spirits.

He sprinkled the chopped cilantro into the pot, not even wasting the tiny piece stuck to the knife.

Outside lay a hollow, despairing night. Something paced beneath the floor, while an eerie presence seemed to be breathing in the depths of the pitch-black corridor...

As though long accustomed to it, Lin Xian calmly set out his dinner and ate quietly by candlelight.

"Sunrise has been pushed back to noon. There should be fewer than five days until the next polar night."

At the table, Lin Xian wrote in his journal as he ate.

The batteries and generator in the storage room primarily kept the refrigerator and alarm system running.

Lighting, however, was a liability. Any light shining in a pitch-black city would undoubtedly turn his shelter into a beacon.

After dinner, Lin Xian began sorting through the day's haul.

"Two cans, two bottles of water. Oh, and a bag of expired chips..."

Strangely, food and water occupied little of the large backpack. The rest was filled with an odd assortment of junk.

Several broken phones, a speaker, a busted electric shaver, and a hair dryer.

To Lin Xian, this trash was pure treasure.

The corners of his mouth lifted as he placed his hand on the speaker. A faint glow appeared around his hand and in his pupils. His hair stirred without a breeze, as though some strange power had emerged. Before long, the glow faded, and the speaker beneath his hand suddenly crumbled into a small pile of brown ash that fell to the floor.

[Devouring successful. Mechanical origin points +1. Mechanical Devour skill proficiency +1. Bonus reward: your strength increased by 1.]

[Current Mechanical Heart level: LV.1, 176/500]

[Notice: upgrading the Mechanical Heart grants special skill rewards. When the Mechanical Heart reaches LV3, LV6, or LV9, you will receive a mysterious awakening.]

[Basic attributes]

[Strength: LV1, 22/50]

[Speed: LV0, 28/30]

[Defense: LV0, 15/30]

[Current basic skills]

[Mechanical Devour LV.1, 265/300]

[Mechanical Manufacturing LV.1, 112/300]

[Mechanical Scan (passive)]

[Mechanical Repair (passive)]

[Mechanical Operation (passive)]

The familiar glowing panel appeared before him, and delight flashed in Lin Xian's eyes. He had never expected a broken speaker to give him a point of strength.

That single point of strength was nothing to scoff at.

Ever since his strength rose from LV.0 to LV.1, he had undergone a staggering transformation.

He had originally been a scrawny college homebody who struggled to carry a jug of water. Now, he could do nearly a hundred one-handed push-ups in one go. The difference was astonishing.

At first, Lin Xian had thought his ability was useless. Now, he increasingly felt it had tremendous potential. If his strength and speed kept improving, his own combat power might eventually rival that of Espers with physical mutations.

[Devouring successful. Mechanical origin points +1.]

[Devouring successful. Mechanical origin points +1.]

The broken phones he devoured afterward gave him no further attribute increases.

"Looks like higher-powered stuff gives better results..."

He sighed. He had previously tried devouring car engines, but had only succeeded once. That single attempt had earned him twenty mechanical origin points and a five-point attribute bonus.

There was a simple reason he now started with these small objects and insisted on bringing them back to his apartment.

The larger the mechanical structure, the longer it took him to devour, and the more exhausting it became.

Devouring that car engine had been like getting trapped in a terrifying supernatural loop. It took over an hour and nearly drained every ounce of his strength. Lin Xian was truly grateful that no Zombie or Ghoul had bitten him to death in that state. His ancestors must have been watching over him.

After that experience, Lin Xian understood that haste got him nowhere. He embraced safety first and survival through caution.

What he had not expected, however, was the sudden golden flash from the panel after he devoured the hair dryer.

[Devouring successful. Mechanical origin points +1. Mechanical Devour skill proficiency +1. Bonus reward: you obtained the Wind Cannon skill!]

[Wind Cannon LV.1: condense air at your fingertips and release it instantly, inflicting a degree of destructive damage.]

"A skill?!"

Lin Xian's pupils contracted. This was the first time he had obtained a skill through Mechanical Devour.

"I can actually get skills from devouring ordinary things?"

A hair dryer... Wind Cannon??

What kind of logic was that?

Suppressing his excitement, Lin Xian focused his thoughts, raised a fingertip toward the sofa across the room, and pointed!

Whoosh!

An extremely faint sound cut through the air. A cushion on the sofa seemed to be struck by something invisible and suddenly burst, scattering its stuffing like snowflakes!

"Holy shit!"

Lin Xian's heart raced. He had deliberately used little force or air, worried about making too much noise. After that simple test, he figured a full-powered shot would definitely have some killing potential.

In the year 2069, Apocalypse Day arrived. Thirteen "Devouring Zones," each hundreds of kilometers in diameter, appeared successively around the globe. Officials named them "Star Abysses."

From that day onward, the Star Abysses expanded a shroud of darkness outward as though they were unknown life-forms. People aptly named this phenomenon the [Dark Tide]. Every other day, the swallowed regions expanded by hundreds of kilometers. Daylight began to shorten, and after a certain cycle, the covered regions entered polar night!

Beneath polar night, climate disasters mutated, living creatures became infected, Corpse Tides erupted, and unknown horrors descended from the abyss!

Humanity was forced to begin the Great Migration to escape the Dark Tide!

After the apocalypse began, a small portion of humanity developed various supernatural abilities under the influence of radiation from the Star Abyss Annihilation Zones. This gave them an enormous advantage in the struggle to survive. Lin Xian was one of them.

Soon, survival groups led by Espers began springing up like sparks.

"Jiang City bulletin: all six monitoring teams sent northwest and southwest have gone missing. All survivors are advised to flee east!"

"The [Oasis] convoy, founded by the Esper Big Brother Liu Wei, will depart tomorrow at 4 p.m. from Walmart in Baicheng District. We accept only physically fit individuals aged sixteen to fifty. No elderly people, women, or children. However, anyone bringing firearms or substantial supplies may bring one additional family member..."

"The [Jiang City Bunker] welcomes all Espers and beautiful women. We are based in a military nuclear facility bunker in River City, with over three hundred members and clearly defined responsibilities. We can withstand polar night..."

"I'm in apartment 1304, Building A, Mingwang Residential Area. Plenty of supplies, specially modified apartment. Only taking in beautiful women aged sixteen to thirty. No ugly ones..."

"Ananda is the emissary sent by the Creator to cleanse humanity's hearts of evil thoughts. So long as you are repentant, you may join our Paradise of Ultimate Bliss Cult and be spared disaster. Sincerely offer water, food, and pure young maidens, and our Lord Savior will not harm the innocent. Those seeking deliverance from suffering may contact 139..."

"I am Professor Wang of the Jiang City Research Institute. According to my calculations, Jiang City will be swallowed by polar night again in five days. This time, the sun will never rise again... Hahahahaha! It's over. Physics... how laughable. There's no escape. No one can escape... Hahahahahaha!"

In the darkness, Lin Xian slowly tuned his radio. The broadcasts were growing increasingly extreme. It seemed that after the first polar night, most of Jiang City's survivors had already fled.

Just twenty-one days of polar night had turned Jiang City, once home to over a million people, into hell on earth. Who knew how long the next polar night would last, or whether their supplies would hold out until dawn?

"Infinite Train Recruitment Project—assemble a fully armed heavy train and race along the 320,000-kilometer Orbital Ring!"

Lin Xian opened his phone and looked at the post he had made on a local forum before the last polar night. Most of its handful of replies were sarcastic.

"You've watched Snowpiercer too many times..."

"Bro, the global power grid has pretty much collapsed. How are you going to run it without electricity?"

"Even a gas turbine locomotive burns at least fifty liters of fuel an hour. With that much fuel, why the hell wouldn't I just drive an SUV?"

"An apocalypse clown. One broken stretch of track and you'll learn your lesson..."

"Sounds great in theory—a moving iron fortress that doesn't even fear Corpse Tides. Unfortunately, a fantasy is still a fantasy. There's far too much about it that's impractical."

"Fucking moron."

The post explained that he was assembling a fortress train with specialized cars for living quarters, supplies, medical care, farming, energy, and production. Recruitment was ongoing, with extremely strict requirements: members either had to possess supernatural abilities or professional expertise suited to those cars.

A fully armed, unstoppable heavy train would race east along the 320,000-kilometer Orbital Ring, fleeing polar night. Even if it stopped along the way, its fortress-like armor could withstand attacks from Corpse Tides and uncanny horrors in the night!

It was romantic enough, and crazy enough!

After polar night, however, most network and electrical infrastructure had collapsed. No one had replied to the post in a long time.

Aside from a few survivors he could still hear over the radio, holding out in their shelters,

All of Jiang City lay desolate and silent.

Please follow and keep reading this new book!