Furniture City Big Purchase

According to Lin Xian's plan, the most basic issue for making the train achieve a truly long-term survival cycle was energy.

On that front, his ability solved a big chunk of it. The only downside was that it consumed his stamina and required sustained focus, making it hard to multitask on anything complex.

Next came survival essentials: defense and food.

But Lin Xian also knew none of this could happen overnight. Just getting Carriage 1 and its external armor had taken him months of effort. Expecting to achieve everything at once was pure fantasy.

And he was still alone. Chen Sixuan could barely help in this regard.

"I need to find some teammates when I get the chance. First, set up a crew rotation—someone to handle the train's mechanical maintenance, someone to drive, and someone who knows how to grow things..."

"Like a botanist or hydroponics expert. Fresh vegetables and fruit, plus water and oxygen purification."

"Oh, and speaking of food, I'll need a cook..."

"Can't skip a doctor either. What if someone gets sick or injured?"

"Can't all be specialists, though. I'll need fighters, preferably ability users."

"Right, and a lookout team..."

The more Lin Xian thought, the more absurd it got. He let out a breath and focused on driving the train.

"Aus Furniture City..."

In the distance, he spotted a massive building. Lin Xian's expression sharpened. "This place usually sells furniture and home goods. Sparse crowd, probably no supplies. But I could grab some Cold Protection Items, bedding, that sort of thing."

He wasn't thinking about romance. Ever since Apocalypse Day, temperatures in affected areas worldwide had been dropping sharply. Jiang City, despite being in the middle of August summer, only reached twelve or thirteen degrees during the day, and just a few degrees at night.

And the temperature kept falling every day.

He figured the Dark Tide caused by the Star Abyss was Sky-Shading, wreaking havoc on the climate. It might even bring a freezing ice age. Stocking up on Cold Protection Items now was definitely foresight.

Squeak~

Lin Xian stopped the train on an open stretch of track. The rails were enclosed by a tall chain-link fence, with city avenues on either side.

Abandoned cars littered the road. The area was so sparsely populated that even zombies were scarce, leaving an eerie quiet.

The terrain was flat—neither a tunnel nor an elevated track—making it easy to haul things onto the train. The fence nearby added a bit of safety, so Lin Xian felt secure stopping here.

"Teacher Chen, wait in the train. I'll check inside."

He slung on his backpack, grabbed his short blade, and said to Chen Sixuan, "Also, don't open the door for anyone but me."

"Got it."

Chen Sixuan looked a little tense. "If there's a lot of stuff, wouldn't it be better if I came with you?"

"Not for now."

Lin Xian said, "This place looks like it's already been looted. Might not have anything useful. I'll scout first. If there is, you can come down and help carry."

He tossed her a walkie-talkie. "Use this to stay in touch. Phone signals might not work."

"Okay." Chen Sixuan gripped the walkie-talkie and nodded.

Lin Xian opened the hatch, jumped off the train, scanned the surroundings, then climbed over the chain-link fence into the greenbelt. He crossed the road.

The furniture city had a huge parking lot out front, now a mess. A few clearly dead cars sat scattered here and there.

His ability to devour cars was a great option. Cars were everywhere in the apocalypse. The problem was the time it took. He figured that once Mechanical Devour leveled up, it would improve efficiency.

So to be safe, he could only bring devourable machinery onto the train and work on it in a secure environment.

In front of the furniture city's main entrance, the ground was stained with dried, dark red blood. Many brand-new-looking product fragments were scattered around. A cold wind blew, making everything feel desolate.

Lin Xian stepped inside cautiously. The space opened up. He'd been here before—every store was luxuriously decorated, with wide, quiet aisles and few visitors. After the apocalypse, it was completely empty.

He didn't even see many corpses.

Lin Xian walked past the original furniture brand stores. Most were still clean and tidy, just unlit, displaying various sofas and mattresses. The second floor had bathroom fixtures. The whole building was so vast and empty that walking through it alone was a bit creepy.

"This mattress is nice. Medium firmness..."

"Latex mattress, thick quilts..."

Supplies like these seemed worthless in the apocalypse. Most stores hadn't even been looted.

Made sense. In a life-or-death crisis, everyone's first thought would be supermarkets and convenience stores. Who'd run to a furniture city for pillows?

Lin Xian browsed for a while, then hit a headache: these items were bulky. Taking them wouldn't be easy.

He circled around and exited through the fourth door to the loading area. That's when he spotted a few forklifts and a flatbed truck. His eyes lit up. But the moment he walked over, a rotting zombie burst out of the freight elevator shaft and lunged at him!

Urgh!!!

A thick stench of rot hit him. Lin Xian reflexively jumped back. Once he got a clear look, he raised a finger!

Pfft!

A wind blast shot out, punching a hole right through the zombie's head.

Thud. The zombie missed, flopped face-first onto the ground, twitched twice, and went still.

The zombie was still wearing an orange-yellow loader's uniform. Probably a worker who'd taken shelter in the building.

Wind Blast LV.1 4/100

Every time he used this move, his proficiency increased a little, but Lin Xian found that it drained a fair amount of his energy, so he had to use it cautiously.

With that in mind, he pulled his short blade from behind his back. As an Awakened, ordinary zombies posed little threat to him—as long as he didn't stir up a horde or attract some other monster, things were manageable.

The flatbed truck's door was open, and the gas cap was off too. Clearly, someone had beaten him to it. He climbed into the driver's seat, gripped the steering wheel, and activated the Mechanical Heart. He quickly found that the reserve battery was dead, so the engine wouldn't start.

No wonder no one had even bothered to salvage it—they'd just drained the fuel and bolted.

This kind of basic small truck had a bare-bones setup and weak horsepower. Few survivors would choose such a low-displacement model.

But for Lin Xian, it was a gift delivered right to his doorstep.

So he got out, found a forklift, channeled his ability to start it, and then drove it boldly straight through the back door into the furniture store.

He planned to make Carriage 1, where he lived, a bit more comfortable. In the apocalypse, a pleasant living space could definitely lift one's spirits. Since he had this ability, Lin Xian had no intention of living like a sewer rat, barely surviving in some dark, filthy shelter.

New book—please keep reading!