Counting the Spoils of War

Clang, clang.

A standard railway stretched for over a thousand miles eastward through the mountains. Since departing Jiang City, the "Infinite" had traveled from night until dawn for the first time.

15:47, earlier than expected, dawn arrived.

Chen Sixuan, who had guarded the train all night without rest, took Lou Shasha and Lou Ye to count the supplies gathered last night now that it was light.

Lin Xian drank a large bottle of water in the cockpit, feeling much more energetic. Fortunately, the overnight journey had only resulted in smashing a few wandering zombies and hadn't caused any trouble affecting the train's travel.

"Good thing the Mechanical Heart was upgraded. Otherwise, pulling so many carriages, my stamina really wouldn't have held up."

The electrical locomotive's stored energy had also become less efficient in assisting operation due to the increased load. Coupled with Lin Xian's ability-enhanced stamina, he would have to stop and rest after running for three or four hours.

"The energy problem also needs to be taken seriously..."

According to his plan, in addition to the electrical locomotive recovering energy through his ability, a backup system capable of actively generating energy was needed, such as a generator or fuel tanks, to ensure the train could continue to run when his stamina was depleted.

According to the law of conservation of energy, increased load meant increased consumption. Unless a small nuclear power unit and his upgraded ability were incorporated into this energy cycle, this rule couldn't be broken. Theoretically, this would enable infinite travel.

"Brother Lin!"

Lou Shasha excitedly called out to Lin Xian from a carriage in the distance, "Come here quickly!"

The train had stopped, and Lin Xian was about to get off to stretch his legs. Hearing the call, he walked over. The rear tailboard of carriage number 5 was already open. Outside, on the grassy slope by the railway, various supplies were spread out everywhere. Because they had been rushed last night, many items were still stained with blood.

"Lin Xian, look, so much."

Chen Sixuan wiped the sweat from her forehead with great joy. She grabbed a few towels and, since there was a small stream not far from the railway, she started washing and counting them with water.

KIKI jumped off the train, took Chen Sixuan's tally sheet, and her eyes lit up.

"Three Colt revolvers, two Glock 17s, twelve assault rifles of various models, and an A33K sniper rifle. And so much ammunition..."

"And this!" Shasha found their M36 grenade launcher among the spoils and said loudly, "This thing is incredibly powerful."

Lin Xian breathed a sigh of relief. Looking at the spoils spread out on the ground, he smiled faintly. "Now we don't have to chop those big bugs with knives."

"Oh, and bad guy, there's something you absolutely wouldn't expect."

KIKI giggled. She climbed into the carriage carrying the armored vehicle, opened the driver's door, and then took out a remote control from inside, pressing a switch.

Woo~

At this moment, a drone cockpit on top of the armored vehicle opened, and two small rotor reconnaissance drones slowly lifted off.

"With this, we can patrol the surrounding 10-kilometer area without even getting off the train."

"Qian Yu from the Black Flood Dragon convoy is quite capable," Lin Xian exclaimed in surprise. "His equipment is worth a lot of money."

"But it's a shame his heavy truck and fuel tanker were driven away..." Lou Shasha said regretfully.

"Besides that, from Tang Hai's two carriages of supplies, we collected over four hundred cans of various canned goods, 41 cases of water, and even 6 cases of cola and 3 cases of red wine. Other short-shelf-life foods filled half a container, and there were over a thousand liters of gasoline!" Chen Sixuan exhaled deeply. "This is simply outrageous. What we found in other survivors' vehicles wasn't even a tenth of what was in those two carriages."

"Of course."

Lin Xian's expression turned serious. "That old guy Tang Hai occupied an air-raid shelter and God knows how many survivors he plundered. All his wealth is here, so it's definitely not lacking."

He just didn't expect that after plotting for so long, Lin Xian would end up picking up the spoils.

With so many supplies, it was enough for 20 people to live for more than three months. Lin Xian's group only had 5 people in total, so they were incredibly well-off.

At the very least, it removed the pressure of food and water for them in the short term.

"There's one more thing..."

Chen Sixuan pointed with a strange expression towards the rear of the train. Besides the four cars, Lin Xian hadn't paid attention to the last flatbed carriage. Now that Chen Sixuan mentioned it, he noticed that the three-meter-tall 'Iron Guard 3' military assault armor and the heavy TFV600 twin-barreled tank had been loaded onto the train at some point, placed behind the last two flatbed trailers.

Lin Xian's expression shook. "When did you get this onto the train? Using the crane?"

This was clearly impossible, as the small crane was electric-powered and couldn't be used by anyone except Lin Xian. Moreover, how could that small crane lift a tank and armor weighing tens of tons?

"Hmph~"

At this moment, a smug hum could be heard. KIKI, with her arms crossed, jumped off the train, lifting her chin.

"Of course, I got this loaded for you. This thing is incredibly heavy, it took a lot of effort."

Lin Xian's heart leaped with joy. He had been worried about it, thinking that even if it couldn't be repaired, it would be a good choice for consumption. Little did he know KIKI had already used her ability to load it onto the train for him.

It seemed his decision to let the little girl rest early last night was indeed the right one; she proved useful at a critical moment.

"Good initiative. You'll get a meat can for dinner today."

"Who wants your meat can?" KIKI said proudly. "You... you just need to help me fix that radar system and all those computers today. Oh, and the heating. I was freezing last night..."

"Cold?"

Lin Xian's gaze swept towards Chen Sixuan. He had enjoyed a warm nest last night and hadn't noticed the severe cold outside.

Chen Sixuan's face flushed, and she quickly avoided his gaze, stammering, "Yes, it's still a few degrees below zero during the day."

As if in response, a gust of desolate, dry, cold wind blew past as they spoke, making one shiver involuntarily.

The weather was getting colder, and with the coming snow, the low temperatures were a severe test for the survivors.

KIKI and Chen Sixuan found a few suitable clothes from the collected luggage. Lin Xian and Lou Ye, perhaps due to their enhanced physiques from their abilities, didn't feel the cold as much.

"By the way, where's Da Lou?"

Because of Lou Ye's build, everyone unanimously agreed to call him 'Big Lou'.

"Brother Xian," Lou Ye said, standing up from a pile of supplies. A motorcycle was being repaired in front of him – it was Lin Xian's.

"Hey, didn't I tell you? He's better at fixing things," Kiki said to Big Lou with great interest.

Big Lou scratched his head with a foolishly honest expression, a wrench in his hand. "This... I know a little about it too."

"Really?"

Hearing that Big Lou knew some mechanics, Lin Xian nodded and said with a smile, "Since we're all friends here, I'll be straightforward."

With that, he turned and pulled a thick steel plate from carriage number 5, throwing it onto the ground.

Immediately, with a wave of his hand, a mysterious light flashed. The steel plate levitated into the air, rapidly forming into a standard shield shape before landing on the ground.

The others were stunned.

Chen Sixuan covered her mouth in surprise. This was the first time Lin Xian had shown the power of his Mechanical Heart in front of everyone, aside from driving the train…

The Lou siblings looked astonished. Lou Shasha exclaimed, "Wow, Brother Lin, what kind of ability do you have?"

Kiki's eyes widened, her cheeks puffed out as she watched. It was clear she was a bit taken aback.

She had initially thought Lin Xian's ability was to drive trains, then later discovered he could create ice, and even fire a gun barehanded. But now, seeing him fold a steel plate out of thin air, his power seemed very similar to hers.

Even though she had read all the internal documents of the Angel Project, she felt she couldn't understand it at all at this moment.

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