Unexpected Gains

In the Black Night, the Infinite sat silently on the tracks in the valley like a mechanical monstrosity.

Inside Carriage 3, Lin Xian's eyes glimmered as he activated Mechanical Repair, restoring the rear panel and side armor. Chen Sixuan was not idle either, using a medical kit found from the Oasis convoy to disinfect the wounds on Lin Xian's hands and face.

"Hm?"

At that moment, Lin Xian stared at the display before him, his pupils filled with shock.

He discovered that both his attributes and skill proficiency had increased dramatically!

[Current Mechanical Heart Level: Level 1, 310/500]

[Notice: Upgrading the Mechanical Heart grants Special Skills rewards. Mysterious Awakening can be obtained when the Mechanical Heart reaches Level 3, Level 6, and Level 9.]

[Basic Attributes]

[Strength: Level 1, 47/50]

[Speed: Level 1, 16/50]

[Defense: Level 0, 28/30]

[Current Basic Skills]

[Mechanical Devour Level 2, 8/500]

[Mechanical Manufacturing Level 1, 112/300]

[Mechanical Scan (Passive)]

[Mechanical Repair (Passive)]

[Mechanical Operation (Passive)]

[Special Skills]

[Wind Cannon Level 1, 66/100]

[Ice Shield Level 1, 18/100]

"I didn't devour any machinery, so why did my attributes increase too?"

After the battle, Wind Cannon had risen directly from 25 to 66. Ice Shield had gained 5 points during his last fight with Liu Wei, but this time, it had gained 12 points outright!

If those increases could be explained by fighting powerful enemies, then the changes in his basic attributes left Lin Xian completely baffled.

Previously, attribute increases had always come as extra rewards from Mechanical Devour.

But this time, his Strength had increased by 14 points, his Speed by 7, and even his Defense by 8. It was no less than what he would have gained from devouring four large freezers.

"What's going on?"

Lin Xian was both shocked and delighted. He had never known attributes could increase this way.

"Then why didn't killing so many Zombies raise them at all?"

He fell into deep confusion.

"Could killing Aberrant Entities improve my abilities?"

After thinking it over, that was the most reasonable explanation. Lin Xian recalled the black centipede on Old Man Li and the white humanoid monstrosity at the furniture mall. He had not killed either of them. Only the Giant Insect from tonight, which had appeared three times in a row, had finally been dealt with.

He sighed softly. Whatever. Something was better than nothing.

Judging from his current attributes, both his Strength and Defense were close to leveling up. That was the real good news.

Every increase in attribute level meant a tremendous boost in strength for him.

At that moment, hundreds of kilometers away in Jiang City, the entire city had entered Polar Night!

The city's nighttime streets and corners were filled with Zombies and aberrations, while the radio stations had gone completely silent.

High in the sky, within the enormous cloud mass, the sky-shading Floating Giant Corpse suddenly shuddered. Clouds scattered around it as it obscured the stars like a mountain.

The Zombies throughout the city suddenly became frenzied. Monsters lurking in countless corners began howling as black Blood Aura was forcibly drawn from their bodies. A strange gravitational force gradually pulled at them, as though heaven and earth had inverted. Like wheat flattened by a tide, the Zombies collapsed and died in unison, and the entire city was instantly shrouded in the aura of death!

Then, the continent-sized Floating Giant Corpse slowly turned toward the east.

It began to move!

After a night of repairs, Lin Xian had restored most of the damage to Carriage 3. He had also patched the damaged sections with steel armor, so it was more or less fixed.

He was so exhausted that when he opened his eyes again, Chen Sixuan was waking him.

"Lin Xian, Lin Xian."

When he opened his eyes, Teacher Chen's beautiful eyes were brimming with excitement. "It's daytime!" She took Lin Xian's hand and pointed at his watch.

"Look."

Lin Xian focused his gaze and felt the sunlight outside the window. The time on his watch read 16:26!

That was an hour and a half ahead of schedule!

Lin Xian's eyes widened, and all sleepiness vanished at once. He asked Chen Sixuan, "How far did we travel last night?"

"At least 400 kilometers. If the mileage display isn't wrong, we're only about 50 kilometers from North Bay Town."

His gaze swept toward the sofa, where he found Kiki already awake. She was sitting there, smiling with narrowed eyes as she waved at him.

"You're better?" Lin Xian asked.

"I'm better!" Kiki looked full of energy. "After getting some sleep, I feel much better!"

Lin Xian frowned and suddenly looked at her. "I think I forgot to tie you up."

Kiki's little face immediately darkened at his words. She looked at him nervously. "Hey, I saved you yesterday, and you still want to tie me up?!"

"I don't have to." Lin Xian said seriously, "Considering what you did last night, I can let your stealing food slide. But if you don't answer my questions truthfully now, I'll still throw you off the train."

Kiki frowned and looked at him with some fear, stammering.

"W-what questions?"

"You said your father is the owner of Linglong Group and a second-tier investor in the Dawn Project. Is that true?"

Kiki asked doubtfully, "Didn't you say you weren't interested in that?"

"Answer my question!" Lin Xian said bluntly. He could tell that this girl had a flighty personality and that it was hard to know how much of what she said was true. On top of that, she now knew how to use her abilities. If Lin Xian did not make her clarify her stance, he could not keep her around.

Seeing Lin Xian being so stern, even Chen Sixuan beside him could not help feeling nervous.

She secretly wondered why she had never noticed before that Lin Xian was so calculating and decisive. When he became stern, it almost felt as though she was not the teacher and he was not the student.

"It's true!" Kiki glared at Lin Xian irritably, thinking that this guy was really too fierce.

"Where were you going in the helicopter?"

"I'm not too sure about that. I only know it was heading toward Mount Daluo..." Kiki said.

Lin Xian felt that she did not sound like she was lying, so he continued asking.

"Then do you know why the plane crashed?"

Kiki's expression changed upon hearing that. She shook her head. "I don't remember much. The plane suddenly lost control. In the sky... it seemed like there was something there."

Lin Xian frowned.

Sure enough, something terrifying had to be lurking inside that enormous cloud formation over Jiang City, something that made one's heart pound with fear.

That sense of oppression was even greater than the arrival of the Black Night!

"Alright, one last question."

Lin Xian let out a long breath and scrutinized Kiki. "You're young, but you seem to know a great deal about technological equipment. Why is that?"

When Kiki heard him say it was the last question, her whole body tensed. But when she heard what he asked, she relaxed, her eyes lighting up as she replied confidently.

"Then you're seriously underestimating me. I know every kind of cutting-edge information system you can think of. There's nowhere online I can't get into. Before all this, I could even get you the specs for the Star Army's most advanced super-heavy integrated armor. Have you heard of the Compound Multi-Aperture Array Photonic Radar? What about the I-17 multi-petal Plasma Cannon, classified as top secret and still in the testing phase? I know tons of fun stuff like that."

"Your Juying 03E heavy-duty gas turbine locomotive was built in 2028 and has been retired for nearly ten years. It can barely handle the turbulent surges and high-salinity storms on transoceanic tracks anymore. Of course, you've traveled less than 1,000 kilometers so far, and you're still far from the Oceanic Orbital Section. Food, water, air, information, defense, medical care... aside from the temporary issue of lacking energy, everything else is still a blank slate. Am I wrong?"

Chen Sixuan, standing nearby, was utterly incredulous. It was hard to imagine that this young girl knew so much.

Please keep reading the new book!