"After the plane crashed, I didn't even know how I'd survived. I just kept running toward your house. I knew I had an ability, but I had no idea how to use it. Then, when I woke up that day, I realized... I realized..."
"Go on!" Lin Xian glared at her so fiercely that Kiki trembled. Close to tears, she said,
"I heard you say you wanted to sleep with Sister Chen after saving her. Then you started talking about some Infinite Train Project, which sounded awful too. So I thought you were... the kind of scumbag who used the apocalypse to trick women. That's why..."
Lin Xian looked at her coolly.
"So you were afraid you'd gone looking for help and walked straight into a wolf's den. You pretended to be unconscious, then took the chance to attack me?"
Kiki nodded, then quickly shook her head. With the cold blade before her, she looked away. "I-I-I wasn't trying to attack you. I didn't have a choice. Think about it—I'd just survived a disaster, and when I woke up, there you were, up to no good. Of course I was scared..."
In the apocalypse, no one could afford to let down their guard. That went for Lin Xian, and it went for Kiki too. She had meant to talk to him when she woke up, but instead she caught him trying something on her.
She took him for a complete pervert. Panicking, she kept pretending to be unconscious while she looked for a chance to make another plan...
But after Lin Xian and Chen Sixuan got off the train, she had barely eaten half a piece of bread when Lin Xian's Mechanical Heart ability gave her away.
"Perfect."
Lin Xian suddenly spoke. "If you don't know how to use your ability either, what use are you to me?!"
His reasoning had come full circle.
As he spoke, he slowly set the short blade against Kiki's neck. Her face changed with fright, and she squeezed her eyes shut.
"No, no, no! Don't do anything rash. We can talk this out!"
Kiki cautiously opened one eye. One look at Lin Xian's menacing expression, and she shut it again.
"Don't kill me. Keep me around. If we run into danger, my ability could give you an extra layer of protection. My life's in your hands anyway, isn't it?"
Lin Xian's gaze sharpened. The girl had finally told the truth, and he felt a weight lift from his chest. With her life at stake, if she really knew how to use that powerful ability, why would she let him keep threatening her like this?
Having worked that out, Lin Xian let out a breath.
"You have a point."
Hiss...
The wheels rolled, and Infinite slowly started moving again.
When Lin Xian lowered the knife, Kiki finally relaxed. She looked at him. "So... are we making up?"
Making up?
It sounded like children playing house. Lin Xian smiled to himself. This girl really was hard to figure out.
He gave her a long look.
"I'll think about it."
"Okay, okay!" Kiki's expression changed, and she suddenly let out a relieved breath. "If you let me stay, I really can help you!"
"But..."
Before Kiki could celebrate, Lin Xian grabbed her, lifted her off her feet, and dragged her toward Carriage 1 with a strange smile.
Caught off guard, Kiki cried out in alarm.
"Hey... what are you doing?"
"Take a guess!" Lin Xian said, giving her a meaningful look.
Kiki panicked. "Hey, hey! I said we could make up! I was wrong, I really was. I never meant to hurt you. You can't bully me..."
"I disagree."
"Wait, I'm not even an adult..."
"Doesn't matter."
"No, wait! I'm actually a guy. Look, I don't even have breasts. I'd be no fun for you. And you've already got that other woman, so stop picking on me."
"I'm not picky."
"Oh, right, I have an ability! Did you forget? What if I accidentally let it loose and hurt you?"
"If that happens, you should thank me for helping you awaken it."
In Carriage 1, Lin Xian added two more lengths of rope around Kiki's hands and feet, tied her up tight, and tossed her onto the sofa.
"Thanks for reminding me. If your ability erupts when you're in danger, I can use you as a shield when it counts. And since you've already slipped your bonds and attacked me once, I'd better tie on a few extra layers so you can't try anything."
"You're despicable! You bastard!" Kiki struggled.
Lin Xian held up a rolled pair of stinking socks. "If you keep running your mouth, don't blame me for stuffing these in it."
Kiki was furious, her face turning red, then pale. She was briefly relieved that Lin Xian hadn't actually meant to "bully" her that way, but the hateful man had tied her up so he could use her as a shield?
He was despicable. Absolutely despicable!
But she was at his mercy and couldn't beat him. When she saw the filthy socks in his hand, she fell silent. She glared at him, eyes blazing, while privately imagining the day she could teach him a lesson.
"Keep glaring, and you can sleep with the Zombies tonight," Lin Xian said coldly when he saw the defiance on her face.
At the mention of Zombies, Kiki instinctively shrank back. Intimidated into silence, she waited a long while before speaking in a voice barely louder than a mosquito's.
"Why do you have to be so mean? What if I need to use the bathroom...?"
Lin Xian suddenly smiled. "You tell me. You still haven't explained how you went three days without eating or using the bathroom."
"You weren't here the night before last. I waited until Sister Chen was asleep, then got up, ate something, and used the bathroom."
"And last night?"
Kiki gave him an annoyed look, her eyes darting away. "You were exhausted last night. I waited until you both fell asleep, then got up..."
Lin Xian frowned. "If I hadn't caught you, were you planning to keep pretending to sleep?"
"Not really." Kiki squirmed. "I was going to come clean today, but I was hungry again, and you two happened to be gone..."
Lin Xian: ...
At 18:45, the sun set, and darkness covered the sky.
Infinite slowly stopped on a railway bridge spanning a mountain ravine. After leaving Yushan Station, Lin Xian had driven the train at full speed for nearly two hours, apart from one brief stop. Heat rolled off the entire train, but the worsening wind and snow soon cooled it down again.
The temperature fell to three degrees below zero. Wind and snow swept in, and the carriage windows began to fog.
Chen Sixuan pulled down every Light Shield and shut the Cockpit door. Beyond the train lay a dark valley. Looking out, she could make out only the faint outline of the mountains.
In Carriage 1, Chen Sixuan stared at the tightly bound Kiki with an odd expression.
"She was pretending to be asleep the whole time?"
"That's right." Lin Xian glanced at Chen Sixuan. "We both let our guard down. We put on a live show for her last night."
"I didn't watch!"
Kiki's face flushed as she protested. "I-I-I kept my eyes shut. I didn't see anything."
Chen Sixuan's face went scarlet. If it had only been her and Lin Xian, no matter how embarrassing it was, she could have thought of it as two people seeking comfort in each other during the apocalypse. But a third person had been there—and had seen them. Even with her old sense of propriety shattered, she felt mortified.
At that thought, she gritted her teeth and glared at Kiki. "Why did you pretend to be asleep? If we hadn't taken care of you these past two days, you'd already be dead."
"I only..."
Kiki gave Lin Xian a strange look. "I just got the wrong idea about this bad guy."
After thinking it over, I made a few small adjustments to this part of the story. Please keep pointing out any problems you find.
Before you continue