The Thief on Board

"Ugh!"

The bloody scene shattered the composure of Chen Sixuan, a gentle university teacher. The moment she stepped off the train, the stench of blood hit her, and she began to retch.

Lin Xian was about to comfort her, but she raised a hand.

"No... I'm fine."

Chen Sixuan looked awful, but Lin Xian could see how hard she was trying to adjust to the sight before her. He understood and said nothing more.

"Be careful. There might be survivors or other Zombies."

"Mm." Chen Sixuan nodded, and the two began searching the SUVs parked at the platform. They soon found large stores of water and food from the Oasis Convoy.

"There's so much food!"

Chen Sixuan deliberately kept her eyes off the bodies on the ground. She opened a car door and started gathering supplies.

Lin Xian took a look around. Most of the supplies were still intact. He frowned, figuring the attack on the Oasis Convoy could not have been carried out by people, or everything would have been looted already.

Then he saw the insect legs on the ground, and his heart sank.

Whirr—

Lin Xian lowered Carriage 3's liftgate and called to Chen Sixuan.

"We're short on time. Just toss everything in. We can sort it out on the road."

"Okay!"

They split up and searched the destroyed convoy for anything they could use.

To Lin Xian's surprise, Chen Sixuan, who had been retching every few steps with her brow knotted tight, was soon swept up in the joy of finding supplies. Full of energy, she carried load after load back to the train.

One moment, she told Lin Xian she had found a whole box of instant noodles.

The next, she cried out over several cases of canned food.

She even found a basket of bottles and jars in one of the vehicles, all filled with toiletries for washing faces and hair. She was delighted.

Watching her run back and forth beside the bodies without hesitation, Lin Xian marveled at how much faster she had adapted than he expected.

"Look, Lin Xian. What's this?"

Chen Sixuan had pulled a black leather case from a large Raptor. Inside were a purple plastic rod, a small cup with a hole in it, several pieces of lingerie that were hard to describe, and even a USB drive carefully stored in a box.

The box was labeled "Precious Teacher Materials."

"Teacher materials?" Chen Sixuan was a teacher herself, and curiosity stirred. Thinking it might be something important, she picked up the purple plastic rod in confusion. Then she saw the strange clothes and suddenly understood.

"Ah!" She tossed it away at once, glanced awkwardly at Lin Xian, and blushed bright red.

Lin Xian found it amusing. Physical needs were only natural, but bringing this much gear on an apocalyptic escape? Whoever owned it was something else.

The Oasis Convoy had been wiped out less than two days after leaving Jiang City, and Lin Xian had ended up with most of its supplies.

They spent more than half an hour loading everything. Lin Xian estimated that even if they ate three hearty meals a day, the food would last them two months.

By any measure, it was a huge haul!

Liu Wei had been quite a character. Lin Xian had heard of people blocking roads and stopping cars, but Liu Wei was the first he knew of who had dared to stop a train. Being an Esper had made him recklessly bold. He had brought his death on himself—and left Lin Xian a generous gift.

After searching the site, though, Lin Xian found only three rifles and a handgun. None were in good condition, and not a single bullet remained.

"They fought this hard... What kind of monster was it?"

Frowning deeply, Lin Xian took the guns from the bodies. Unless he could make bullets, they were little more than decorations.

Maybe I should just absorb them...

But after finally getting his hands on guns, absorbing them felt like a waste.

Whatever. I'll take them for now.

"That's about enough. Let's get moving."

Lin Xian raised the hydraulic liftgate and prepared to leave. They needed to get back on the road, and they had gathered nearly everything useful.

Just then, his Mechanical Heart spread across the entire train, and he sensed... movement inside!

He frowned and turned to signal Chen Sixuan to be quiet. Seeing his expression change, her face tightened too, and she looked toward the train.

Someone was aboard?!

Lin Xian's expression darkened. Only then did he remember the unknown person they had left on the train.

"Lin Xian, it's that girl!" Chen Sixuan realized it too.

Standing there, Lin Xian did not know whether to laugh or sigh. The girl who had supposedly been unconscious for three days had been sneaking around behind his back?

Clunk, whirr—

The door to the Infinite's Cockpit opened. Lin Xian boarded first, Chen Sixuan followed, and he shut the door behind them.

Lin Xian started the train, then spoke to Chen Sixuan behind him.

"Teacher Chen, be careful. That girl has an ability. I'll go deal with her."

He did not want to waste travel time. And since he suspected the girl had an ability, he kept Chen Sixuan back for her safety.

"Okay. Be careful."

Chen Sixuan was astonished. She had kept an eye on the unconscious girl throughout the journey, wondering how anyone could sleep for three days without waking.

They were short on time. Lin Xian had to drive and deal with the girl, so Chen Sixuan had to watch the track ahead.

Lin Xian entered Carriage 1. Sure enough, the sofa was empty, and several lengths of rope lay on the floor where the girl had wriggled free.

He slowed his steps and shut the door to each carriage as he went, hoping to trap her.

As he reached Carriage 2, a wooden club suddenly swung straight at his face, accompanied by a clear shout.

"Hey!"

The girl had put all her strength into it, determined to make her ambush count!

But Lin Xian was already faster than an ordinary person, and he had been on guard. The instant the weapon appeared, he caught it in his hand.

Her ambush failed. The girl cried, "Ah!" and let go of the club. She turned and ran toward the rear carriages, her footsteps thudding, then tried to shut the door behind her.

What she did not know was that Lin Xian controlled the entire train. He could open that door whenever he wanted.

Whoosh—

The door the girl had shut slid open. Lin Xian strode through, his face cold, gripping his short knife.

"I knew something was off. You couldn't stay asleep that long without getting hungry or needing the bathroom. Turns out you could untie yourself."

"Ah!" The girl clutched half a piece of bread she had been eating. Frightened by his knife and the look on his face, she ran, shouting, "Don't come any closer! Stay away!"

She retreated all the way into Carriage 3. With nowhere left to run, she glanced around, grabbed a cardboard box, and hurled it at Lin Xian. As he dodged, she tried to slip past him and flee the other way.

Lin Xian remained cautious. The girl might have a powerful ability, so he readied his Wind Cannon and prepared to raise an Ice Shield at any moment.

But all she did was throw a box at him. He was taken aback.

With no way to retreat, the girl tried to dart past him. Lin Xian caught her wrist, pulled her back, swept her foot out from under her, and pinned her to the floor. "Ow!" she cried, then begged, "I was wrong! I was wrong! Please don't kill me, Big Brother!"

Lin Xian frowned. He had subdued her far too easily, without the resistance he had expected. He clearly remembered her sending Old Man Li flying during the Black Night. What was going on?

Then he caught a faint, sly glint in her pleading eyes, and his guard went up.

She was putting on an act!

He played along and demanded coldly:

"You stole my food and tried to attack me. Is that how you treat the person who saved your life?"

Sensing that Lin Xian did not intend to kill her, the girl doubled down on her innocent act. Her face flushed as she pleaded more desperately.

"I was wrong! I was wrong! Please don't kill me!"

Pinned beneath him, the girl thrashed wildly, kicking at him with the bare legs below her tiny shorts.

Please keep reading and support the new book!