"Impossible!!!"
Tang Hai stared at the scene, stunned. "How can that thing still start up???"
Feng Yuming froze too. The Phalanx Gun System's optical sensor had turned toward him, and an absurd thought flashed through his mind.
Was that thing meant to be aimed at people!?
Inside the Underground Fortifications' combat information room, Kiki sat before the Close-In Defense Gun Operations System Lin Xian had repaired and run through a successful self-check. She quickly marked several priority targets, then tapped the microphone, cleared her throat, and spoke over the loudspeaker.
"You rotten bastards, bye-bye~"
Then she pressed the fire button.
Whrrrr!
Beep, beep, beep...
The next instant, the nerve-rattling roar of rapid cannon fire filled the sky. Fierce muzzle flashes lit up half the platform. The anti-aircraft weapon, capable of firing 10,000 rounds per minute, trained its barrel on the Corpse Tide surging up from the hillside, the enormous Mist Spider, and... Feng Yuming!
"Fuck!"
Feng Yuming watched the barrel swing toward him. His heart sank, and he tried to raise his black claws to shield himself, but in an instant, the furious stream of metal blasted him into a cloud of blood. Even the ground beneath him vanished, leaving a huge crater!
Whrrrr!!!!!!!
Boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-boom!
The machine cannon's blistering roar filled the sky. The Corpse Tide swarming over the hillside was swept away like rain beneath a windshield wiper. Wherever the fire raked across, only shredded flesh remained!
Hundreds, then thousands of Zombies were torn apart in moments, sending blood and severed limbs flying everywhere!
Beneath the Close-In Defense Cannon was a maintenance shaft housing large subsystems for power and ammunition, right beside the armory's generator units. Lin Xian had absorbed those generators mainly because he'd discovered that only part of this system was damaged. It needed only some repairs, and it was already connected to the defense system's backup power supply. That was how he and Kiki had brought the monster to life.
Watching from beneath the train, Lin Xian's scalp prickled. No wonder they said leveling an anti-aircraft gun at people would land you in a military court. What carbon-based life-form could survive this thing?
But then another thought struck him. If the Star Army had weapons like this, why had the world's defenses seemed to vanish without a trace after Apocalypse Day?
"Run!"
Tang Hai, hiding in the locomotive, had gone pale with fright. His nephew had been obliterated. Without another word, he shoved the throttle forward. The cannon wasn't aimed at the train, and he knew Lin Xian was underneath it. Maybe he could escape and crush Lin Xian at the same time.
Hum~
Lin Xian felt the wheels begin to move and jolted in alarm. He knew Tang Hai meant to use the branch line's stored power to haul his men and supplies out of Beiwan Station, then switch to cars to escape. He grabbed the train's underside and tried to use the Mechanical Heart to take control.
But the moment he activated his ability, Lin Xian knew something was wrong. The train was far larger than he'd expected. With his current stamina, he couldn't seize control of it quickly enough.
"Shit!"
As the train crept forward, Lin Xian prepared to scramble clear of the iron wheels and find another way.
But the next instant, a tremendous clang rang out from ahead of the newly started train. Every carriage lurched to a stop.
What happened?!
Lin Xian seized the chance to slip out from under the train. At the same time, the Close-In Defense Cannon fell silent.
It could fire 10,000 rounds a minute, but its ammunition feed supported only fifteen seconds of sustained fire. That seemed to have been enough. When Lin Xian emerged, the outpost yard and hillside had become a hellscape of blood and flesh. Smoke rose everywhere, and even the grass was gone. He finally saw the giant spider clearly: a blue-green spider as large as a truck cab, covered in black markings.
Only now... it was hard to tell it had ever been a whole spider.
He turned back, puzzled by Tang Hai's sudden stop, and wondered whether the electrical system had been damaged by a stray shot.
Then he looked down the tracks. Out of the thick fog loomed an even larger red steel beast, blocking Tang Hai's path!
The Infinite!
The sudden collision sent Tang Hai sprawling, blood streaming down his face. He scrambled up in shock. Had he run into some kind of ghostly barrier in the middle of the night? Why did it feel as though his train had hit a mountain?
Then, by the light of the headlamps, he saw a crimson Juying 03E heavy-duty gas turbine locomotive towing a long line of carriages. It had appeared right in front of him!
Tang Hai's face turned green. He looked as if he'd seen a ghost, and his gunmen panicked too.
"Where did that train come from?!!"
"What the fuck!"
"It's a ghost!!"
On one side of the hillside, Lou Ye emerged with a grenade launcher in his arms, his face twisted with fury. He fired straight through a window of the carriage packed with gunmen!
Thump! Boom!
The sudden blast caught them completely off guard, killing and wounding scores. The few survivors jumped from the smoking carriage, only to find a girl standing ahead of them, smiling as she greeted them.
"Hello! Where are you going?"
Then the girl's eyes lit up, and she swept up a hand!
Hum!
An invisible force hurled the men away, killing them instantly!
Tang Hai opened the cab door and jumped down beside the tracks in a panic. Most of the Corpse Tide had been wiped out. Pistol in hand, he prepared to escape along the railway under cover of darkness.
Seeing this, Lin Xian climbed onto the platform and gave chase.
Tang Hai had barely gone anywhere when a graceful silhouette appeared ahead. He cried out, "Who's there?!"
He was about to raise his pistol when the figure swung a crowbar straight at him.
Wham~
Blood burst from his head. Tang Hai's vision went black, and he toppled stiffly to the ground.
Only then did the figure step forward. The train's headlamps illuminated a beautiful face.
Lin Xian's eyes narrowed. As he'd suspected, it was Teacher Chen...
Chen Sixuan gripped the crowbar with both hands. She looked up at Lin Xian on the platform, her expression equal parts tension and fear, her chest rising and falling.
It was clearly the first time she'd hit anyone.
"Holy shit, Teacher Chen."
Lin Xian looked at her in surprise. He had no idea how Chen Sixuan had ended up here, but with Tang Hai down, he raised a hand and finished him off with several Wind Guns.
"Lin Xian!"
Chen Sixuan was shaken by the carnage. Her face was deathly pale. The tracks, the platform, the entire hillside—blood and torn bodies lay everywhere. The air reeked of gunpowder and gore.
Pfft! Pfft!
Lin Xian raised his hand and killed two straggling Zombies behind Chen Sixuan with Wind Guns. Teacher Chen shrieked, "Ah!"
Lin Xian let out a long breath and looked toward Lou Ye in the distance. After a moment, he called out.
"Where's Sha Sha?"
Lou Ye seemed to wake from a daze at Lin Xian's shout. He looked around, found a mound of dirt, and dug twice before pulling out Lou Shasha, her face covered in dust.
"Brother..."
Lou Shasha looked at Lou Ye's bloodied face, breathing hard. "Are you okay?"
"I'm... I'm all right."
He had been shot in the back and stabbed through the arm, yet the tower of a man acted as though he hadn't noticed.
Seeing that both of them were alive, Lin Xian relaxed a little. More Zombie noises came from deep in the fog, so he called to the siblings, "Quick, get aboard my train and take shelter."
Lou Ye looked up at the enormous train, understood, and nodded with earnest simplicity. Without hesitation, he scooped up Lou Shasha and ran toward it.
"Quick... get aboard."
Having dealt with the remaining gunmen, Kiki looked over the ground strewn with shredded bodies and covered her mouth. Wonder filled her eyes. "Wow. That thing's incredible."
Lin Xian stared at her. A sixteen-year-old girl was surrounded by body parts, yet she wasn't scared or disgusted in the slightest. Did she actually sound excited?
At Chen Sixuan's urging, everyone hurried aboard the Infinite to rest for a while.
It was only seven o'clock. Dawn was still at least seven or eight hours away.
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