Information Center

At that moment, everyone turned to look at Lin Xian.

Lin Xian took a breath. After thinking it over all night, he had decided to explain his abilities as multiple powers. "I do have more than one ability. Besides making the train run, I can repair and build machinery. That's why I had the confidence to launch the Infinite Train Project."

Lin Xian couldn't keep secretly absorbing and building machinery forever. Since they were teammates, he might as well be honest.

"If I have the materials and blueprints, I can build weapons, equipment, and armor directly. Anything mechanical, I can handle."

The Lou siblings exchanged astonished looks. Lou Shasha gasped. "Wow, Brother Lin, you're amazing! I knew I was right to save you!"

Lin Xian turned to Kiki with an amused look.

"Little girl, when I say I can build things, that includes the radar, Sentinel System, weapons systems, defense systems, drones, railcars, medical systems, life-support systems, powered armor, and everything else you imagined... Do you still think my Infinite Train Project is a pipe dream?"

Kiki froze for a moment. She opened her mouth, then stubbornly met Lin Xian's smiling gaze.

"So... so what? Can you design and operate all those systems by yourself?"

"No."

Lin Xian smiled at Kiki. "That's why I need a genius like you on board. Without your Information Center, all those things would just be empty shells."

A flicker of delight crossed Kiki's eyes. She shot Lin Xian a sly glance, clearly pleased.

"Well now... that's nice to hear. Fine. If you can get the heating working, I'll think about it."

"Deal."

Lin Xian let out a long breath and looked at Chen Sixuan, then at the others.

"At first, all I wanted was to build a mobile fortress where we could survive this damn darkness and the end of the world. But since this train started moving, every day has brought some new terror or danger. I'm sure you've all been like me, running from place to place, never knowing if you'd make it through the day, just hoping for a chance to catch your breath and drink some water. So many people died in the Polar Night. The ones still alive are being driven mad..."

"So I've realized that, in this endless night and winter, this train needs a lot of friends. Together, we can survive longer and travel farther."

"The Orbital Ring is 320,000 kilometers long. We might not make it all the way around, and we might not escape the Polar Night. There could be countless problems ahead. But if there's a chance to live one more day, I won't give up. As long as I have an ounce of strength left, I won't let this train stop. I want everyone who comes aboard to be family, facing whatever life and death bring us together."

He spoke casually, almost as if they were chatting.

But the looks in the others' eyes quietly began to change.

Kiki's sly expression faded. She stared steadily at Lin Xian, lost in thought.

Lou Shasha bit her lip. Some of the nervous fear in her eyes had given way to hope.

Da Lou glanced at his sister, then at Lin Xian, and nodded. He said nothing, but his gaze grew firmer.

Chen Sixuan's eyes reddened. At first, she had relied on Lin Xian simply to save herself. Now, hearing him lay out his plans and hopes anew, she couldn't help feeling moved. For a moment, she thought that even if their days from now on were filled with flight and disaster, one day the sun would rise again.

"All right. Let's divide up the work."

Lin Xian felt some of the weight lift from his shoulders. As the team grew, he felt more at ease.

"Okay!" Sha Sha was the first to raise her hand, her face bright with enthusiasm. "Brother Lin, I can take a night watch too. Don't treat me like a kid!"

Lin Xian gave a wry smile. "The way you handle that grenade launcher, you're hardly a kid."

"Hehe." Sha Sha looked pleased with herself.

"I'm in!" Teacher Chen smiled and raised her hand too. She hadn't felt this lighthearted in a long time.

"Just tell me what to do, Brother Xian," Da Lou said.

"Me too." Kiki smiled at him, looking serious for once.

"Good!" Lin Xian nodded. After taking stock of their spoils, he gave everyone their assignments.

Lin Xian and Chen Sixuan would take turns driving the train. When it stopped, Da Lou would stand guard. Since Da Lou knew a little about mechanical repairs, Lin Xian also asked him to help with inspections and maintenance.

The train was getting bigger, and it wasn't realistic for Lin Xian to use his ability to repair everything himself, especially the little things.

As for Kiki, Lin Xian planned to work with her on a new design for the entire train. Once the radar and Sentinel System were running, they would have another layer of early warning.

Their haul this time gave Lin Xian much greater confidence in the Infinite Train Project. It wasn't just what he hoped his abilities could do in the future; the Lou siblings had also joined them as two invaluable allies.

Lou Ye was honest and straightforward, willing to work hard without complaint. He had an enhancement ability, and his towering build alone made people feel safer.

With him standing guard at night, Lin Xian could rest much easier.

He also knew plenty about weapons and mechanics, making him an excellent teammate in both combat and practical skills.

Lou Shasha was young, but she was mature for her age and fiercely loyal. Lin Xian had her help Chen Sixuan and Kiki. Now she had a little bed of her own and the protection of the train fortress. The constant tension had left her, and she cheerfully helped get the train in order.

According to their route, they would soon leave the Clustered Mountains and enter Yubei. It was a major city far from the Star Abyss disaster zone, and the Polar Night had reached it relatively late. Lin Xian and Chen Sixuan both expected the situation there to be extremely complicated.

But the train had to pass through its main junction to reach the Orbital Ring itself. Before then, the Infinite still needed extensive preparations. Its systems weren't ready, so their situation remained precarious.

The Gas Turbine Locomotive had a steam-heating system, and the passenger carriages had warm-air systems. Either should have worked. The quickest solution was to connect the circuits and use the passenger carriages' warm-air system directly.

But Carriages 1 and 2 were different models from Carriages 3, 4, and 5, built decades apart. Lin Xian also wanted to install a train-wide water and air circulation system later. So he decided to work with Kiki on an Electric-Drive Water-Vapor Circulation Filtration System connected to Carriage 1. It would provide heat while distilling and recycling clean water, giving them drinking water at any time—and perhaps even the luxury of a bath...

Kiki and Lin Xian planned to mount the Electro-Optical Aiming System and Compact Phased-Array Radar at the front of the train for emergency warnings. Installing surveillance and a Sentinel System across the whole train would be far more troublesome.

For one thing, they would need extensive infrared motion monitoring and would also have to account for the exterior armor.

The weapons and defense systems were even harder. Mounting a Close-In Defense Gun System on the train would require not only power and maintenance, but also an ammunition supply on the scale of a small arms factory.

For now, though, those were only Lin Xian's ideas. They couldn't do everything at once. Medical systems, growing plants, and oxygen circulation would all take time.

So Lin Xian's immediate priority was helping Kiki install the information system they had taken from the air-raid shelter's command center in Carriage 2. While they were at it, they would get the Electro-Optical Aiming System and Compact Phased-Array Radar working, along with... the heating.

There was another potential problem, perhaps the biggest of all: if they encountered damaged tracks, how were they supposed to repair them?

That question had troubled Lin Xian more than any other.

No matter how powerful they made the train, what good would it be if the tracks ran out?

Lin Xian still had far too much to do, and the road ahead was full of trouble.

In Carriage 2, they had finished setting up Kiki's simple Information Center, complete with multiple screens. Once connected to the Electro-Optical Aiming System and radar, it would detect anything within a fan-shaped area extending three kilometers ahead of the train. But they still needed a response module that could identify dangers while the train was moving, issue warnings, and allow them to stop in time.

Lin Xian knew nothing about that, so he had to leave it to Kiki.

"Bzzzt..."

"Bzzzt..."

"Strange. We should be well clear of the ionization from the Star Abyss zone, and it's daytime. Why can't we pick up any long-wave signals?" Kiki had spent ages fiddling with Lin Xian's radio. She sighed and gave up.

"What about the network?"

"Forget it." Wearing headphones, Kiki worked at the system, her fingers flying over the controls. "I know the Federal Government still has some communications satellites in orbit, but they've been disappearing from searches one by one. They're either damaged or under some kind of jamming."

Lin Xian clicked his tongue. He had still been able to receive Teacher Chen's call back in Jiang City. It hadn't been long, yet voice calls were already completely gone.

Worse, the long-wave radio he had pinned such high hopes on wasn't working either. That troubled him most of all.

As the train traveled through the mountains, its radio could receive only shortwave broadcasts from within a hundred or two hundred kilometers. Surrounded by mountains, with little nearby but villages and towns, they could barely pick up any messages from other survivors.

And so Lin Xian and the others spent their quietest—and busiest—day since leaving Jiang City. Drawing on the electric locomotive's stored power, the train ran from dawn until dark. When Lin Xian grew too tired to continue, he stopped on a relatively level stretch of plain so they could rest safely.

After nightfall, they lowered every blackout curtain on the train. From outside, though, the enormous train still glowed faintly as it stood motionless on the tracks. Even Carriages 3 and 4 were now covered in heavy armor.

Unlike the armor on the original carriages, however, this was made of ordinary steel with a little of the high-strength steel Lin Xian had left over. It would have to do for now.

After Lin Xian assigned everyone their duties, Chen Sixuan went through the carriages distributing their allotted food and water, like a warmhearted guardian looking after the whole group. When she reached Carriage 5, she found that Lin Xian wasn't inside. He was out on the last flatbed car, tinkering with that contraption that looked like mechanical armor.