Outpost

Beep, beep.

18:45. Darkness fell.

At Beiwan Station, the Infinite sat motionless in thick fog. Chen Sixuan was frantic. Only deathly silence came through the radio, without so much as a flicker of a signal. Her heart leaped into her throat.

She looked uneasily out the window. The fog seemed alive, winding through every inch of space and making the night's darkness feel endless.

Frost gathered on the glass. Deep within the fog, something unknown and terrifying seemed to lurk, sending a chill through her and stirring every kind of dreadful premonition.

Swish.

Chen Sixuan pulled down the blackout curtain. She found a sturdy crowbar in Carriage 3's toolbox to defend herself, then settled silently against the sofa, alert to everything around her.

"They're both Espers. Whatever happens, they should be able to handle it."

This was not the first time Lin Xian had failed to return on time. All she could do was guard the train and avoid attracting any monsters' attention.

Vroom—

Just then, a deep, powerful engine roared in the distance. It cut through the fog and struck Chen Sixuan's ears. So out of place against the surrounding silence, it instantly put her on high alert.

She hurried into the Cockpit and peered through the windshield. To her surprise, she saw a locomotive with bright headlights slowly passing along a track farther away.

Clack, clack.

Chen Sixuan clapped a hand over her mouth.

Meanwhile, things had gone more smoothly than expected. The convoy of dozens of vehicles had made it off the main road. Aside from a few scattered Strange Corpses, they had encountered no trouble, and everyone had tacitly refrained from firing and drawing more monsters.

Soon the convoy passed through a stretch of mountain forest. Ahead stood a sign reading [Military Forbidden Zone. Entry Strictly Prohibited]. Before long, a sizable military base came into view.

The military outpost had once been heavily guarded. Now it lay desolate and abandoned at the foot of the mountain, surrounded by silence.

A group of survivors who had been sheltering inside the fortified walls opened the steel gates and moved the barricades aside, letting the vehicles enter one by one.

Night had fallen completely. Countless headlights illuminated the thoroughly looted outpost. Several jeeps stripped down to their frames sat in the yard, along with a Heavy TFV600 twin-barreled tank whose tracks were broken and whose targeting equipment had been removed. Most striking of all was a damaged Iron Guard 3 military Assaulter armor.

"Holy shit, they've even got one of those?!"

A bespectacled young man from the Black Flood Dragon convoy, clearly one of its technicians, jumped out of his vehicle. His eyes lit up.

"It's broken."

Tang Hai directed his men to shut the outpost gates, then walked over. "The Star Army evacuated before the last Polar Night. That thing's basically a lump of metal now. We've already searched it for anything usable."

No one doubted him, but many had never seen military armor like it before. Survivors soon gathered around to look.

"Wu Songlin, Old Eagle, look around for anything useful. Bring whatever you can." Qian Yu clearly had more faith in his own specialists and sent them to search again. Even useful armor plating would do; they had high-speed cutters to outfit their convoy.

"You don't mind, do you?" Qian Yu asked Tang Hai, testing his reaction.

"We don't mind." Tang Hai gave an awkward smile, seeming easygoing enough.

He glanced toward the foot of the mountain. Not far away stood a massive air-raid shelter, its entrance sealed by heavy steel doors. Weathered as they were, they still looked imposing and remarkably strong. "The forty-six of us stayed in that shelter together for nearly three months. Now there are only twenty-some of us left. This place has high walls and thick gates. We can all rest here tonight, then set off at first light."

"Wow, Lin Xian, look!"

Kiki and Lin Xian had also gotten out and were walking toward the crowd.

The moment she saw the nearly three-meter-tall humanoid war armor, her eyes lit up. "That's so cool! If only it still worked. I still prefer the Guardian series, though. It's not so bulky."

Lin Xian had seen the enormous machine too. Heat flashed in his eyes, and his Mechanical Heart filled him with longing.

Military machines like this were what he had wanted all along. Since the apocalypse, he had been stuck in the city with no chance to get near one.

He had already formed a fairly clear plan: besides improving his attributes, he could further develop his Mechanical Heart ability to strengthen himself in combat.

For instance—armoring himself.

Combat prosthetics, rapid-deployment weapon systems, and the like were far more practical than fighting with a short blade.

Beyond industrial and military armor, there were tank guns, railguns, Close-In Defense Cannons, all kinds of automated weapons systems and intelligent machines. If he could devour them, or scan their blueprints and put them to use on the Infinite, the possibilities were thrilling.

"By the way, where are the rest of your teammates? Or is it just the two of you?" Qian Yu suddenly asked Lin Xian and Kiki.

"There aren't many of us," Lin Xian replied casually. He had no desire to chat with Qian Yu. His attention was on the damaged Iron Guard 3 military Assaulter armor. He walked over and quietly activated his Mechanical Heart's scanning system, only to find that many of the armor's subsystems were missing. Its core drive had long since been gutted. There was no way to scan a complete blueprint.

He sighed inwardly and prepared to give up. Like Wu Songlin, he had considered removing the armor plating. He wanted to strip parts from the Heavy TFV600 twin-barreled tank too.

But he had no tools on hand, and with only himself and Kiki, there was nothing he could do besides devour it.

"Not many?" Qian Yu raised an eyebrow and said bluntly, "Then why not join my convoy? Weapons, food—we've got plenty of both. What do you say?"

At that, the others, including Tang Hai, exchanged complicated looks.

He had started recruiting people right in front of them. That took some nerve.

Still, the Black Flood Dragon convoy had reason to be confident. A medium-sized armed group stood a strong chance of surviving the apocalypse, and its equipment made that clear.

They had armored vehicles, trucks, fuel tankers, and even dedicated technicians. Plenty of smaller convoys had considered joining them.

In an apocalypse, who wouldn't want a powerful group to rely on?

But Lin Xian simply smiled and declined. "No, thanks."

Qian Yu's expression changed at once. A flash of anger crossed his eyes.

"What about this beautiful lady?" Qian Yu turned to Kiki and asked as though Lin Xian weren't there. "Would you consider joining my team?"

Kiki gave Lin Xian an odd look before turning to Qian Yu. "What, me?"

Qian Yu looked between them, a false smile on his face. "What, are you two a couple?"

"No."

"Relatives?"

"Nope." Kiki smiled, her eyes narrowing.

Qian Yu brightened. He shot Lin Xian a strange look, then said loudly, "If you're neither family nor a couple, there's no problem. My convoy welcomes capable people. If you're willing, beautiful, I can give you your own RV, all the food and supplies you need, and round-the-clock protection."

Killing intent flashed in Lin Xian's eyes.

Bang!

A violent gust cracked through the air. Smash! The sunglasses perched on Qian Yu's forehead shattered, and the force drove him staggering backward.

Click, click, click, click!

In the next instant, Old Eagle and a crowd of Qian Yu's men raised their guns. The air turned explosive.

"Are you a fucking idiot? Trying to poach my teammate right in front of me? You think I'd feel bad about killing you?"

Lin Xian's gaze turned cold, and a crushing pressure radiated from him. No one had even seen him move.

"You!"

Qian Yu stumbled into his men. For an instant, he had felt death brush his forehead. Once he recovered, rage erupted inside him. He drew his pistol and aimed it at Lin Xian.

"I'll kill you!"

"Really? Then shoot."

Facing more than a dozen guns, Lin Xian did not change expression. He stared coldly at Qian Yu.

"Let's see which of us dies first."

Tang Hai watched from the side, his gaze dark. Behind him, Feng Yuming observed the scene with interest, seemingly unbothered that this fragile "temporary alliance" might start killing each other at any moment.

Kiki walked over and slung an arm around Lin Xian's shoulders. She lifted her chin toward the rows of gun barrels.

"What, you want a fight? I've had my eye on all the good stuff in those dozen or so vehicles of yours anyway. Hey, bad guy~" She looked at Lin Xian. "How about we..." Then she drew a finger across her throat.

At that, the people from the other convoys went pale and instinctively backed away, afraid of being caught in the crossfire.

The terrifying sight of Kiki wiping out an entire vehicle's occupants still haunted them. None of them could imagine their odds in a fight against her.

Qian Yu's anger faltered. He raised a hand to stop his men and looked between the two, his expression shifting. His confidence began to waver.

Truthfully, Lin Xian's refusal had stung his pride, and he had approached Kiki partly to provoke him. He had not expected Lin Xian to attack him outright.

And from the way they talked, it sounded as though the two of them had his hundred-odd people surrounded, not the other way around.

Cold sweat poured down Qian Yu's back. He sensed a grave threat, but after all his bluster, he could neither advance nor retreat.

Lin Xian, meanwhile, was surprised. He glanced at Kiki's small hand resting on his shoulder and wondered what to make of it.

For one thing, he had not known Kiki long. At most, they were comrades who had survived a few difficult days together. They could hardly even be called friends.

He had not offered Kiki any benefits to make her stay, either. If anything, his attitude toward her had been colder than merely aloof. He would not have been surprised if she left or joined another convoy.

But Qian Yu's brazen attempt to poach her right in front of him demanded a response.

He had not expected Kiki to stand by him so firmly. Looked at that way, the little girl really wasn't stupid.

New author here—please keep reading and recommend this story!