"This is the feeling!"
Lin Xian's heart roared, feeling the train's roaring power surge through him, quickly sweeping away the shadows of last night. At this moment, he seemed to merge with the entire train, experiencing an unstoppable surge of exhilaration!
Clang clang clang, clang clang clang…
Outside the University City Station, several zombies clad in tattered uniforms wandered on the open-air railway. At this moment, these monsters seemed to have sensed an anomaly from the tunnel, feeling the rails beneath them starting to tremble.
"Uh~ah"
"Gurgle cough~"
The sounds seemed to squeeze out of decayed windpipes reminiscent of rotting wood, as if an invisible rope was pulling them, the zombies slowly turning their heads, fixing their murky, lifeless eyes upon the dark maw of the tunnel.
Woo!
The train horn exploded, a roar as if from the depths of the abyss, and the crimson mechanical beast, like a war god awakening from ancient slumber, roared with endless fury and long-sealed power as it burst out of the tunnel!
"Uh! Ah!"
They howled, swarming forward like a pack of crazed animals. However, their rotting brains could not understand that the source of the deafening sound was not the prey they craved but a steel beast with a terrifying power of 18,500 horses!
Crack, crack~
The accelerating Infinity crushed everything in its path, instantly creating a storm of blood and flesh, flinging limbs in all directions. Lin Xian in the driver's seat shuddered with emotion, releasing the gloom that had suppressed him for over ten days in this very moment!
"Awesome!" Lin Xian roared.
In this moment, he felt the supreme thrill of breaking through the night into dawn!
It signified the successful first step of his plan.
Clang, clang!
With an excited heart, the heavy locomotive charged along the rails, Lin Xian surveying the city turned to ruins for useful information.
The zombies wandering the streets posed relatively little threat to average people unless they stirred up a large surge of them.
Of course, animal-type zombies like dogs or wolves often proved to be much more of a nuisance than the standard humanoid zombies.
Beep beep~
Chen Sixuan's phone was unreachable.
Unable to get through, Lin Xian put away his cell phone, ready to pick her up in person.
He was not one to be indecisive. Having made his plans, he would not hesitate unduly. Unless Chen Sixuan was already dead, he would not change his plans on a whim.
The subway tracks were much clearer than he expected, perhaps because they were usually enclosed, and nobody would be foolish enough to drive a car onto the railway, so he encountered no hindrances along the way.
Yushui Garden's nearest subway station was called Sports West, once a crowded hub of activity. The train entered the underground tunnel, and Lin Xian slowed down.
He was about to disembark to find someone, and making too much noise and attracting zombie attention would be inconvenient.
Shh~
Lin Xian didn't pull into the platform but instead stopped a little further away.
At that moment, he first checked car number 2 and found the girl still asleep, which surprised him.
Who in their right mind could sleep for so long?
"Hey!"
Lin Xian tapped her little face, but no response.
He then boldly pinched her, her youthful cheeks soft and elastic. Despite the bloodstains, her delicate features were still evident—a true beauty in the making.
Who knew to which affluent family this girl belonged.
Never mind, let her sleep.
Lin Xian thought for a moment, for safety's sake, he sealed all the doors between car number 3 and car number 1.
Then he grabbed his Short Knife, carefully observed his surroundings, and disembarked, running along the trackside path into the station platform.
…
Yushui Garden, Block 3, Room 901.
Chen Sixuan had not slept all night, the immense mental pressure leaving her utterly drained, her pretty face void of color.
At this moment, she curled up in a corner of the sofa, her head buried in her knees.
Surrounded by books on Star Orbital, Chen Sixuan's gaze seemed distant, her dry lips constantly moving as she whispered,
"Jiangyu Line, train number HX05681, a total length of 1256 kilometers with stops including first-tier platforms at Jiangning Station and Yu Bei Station… second-tier platforms at Yushan Station and North Bay Station."
Since that last call yesterday, Chen Sixuan pinned all her hopes on the train that would come racing to her rescue.
But as time ticked by, despair began to eat away at her last bit of sanity.
"Beiwan Station, maintenance section..."
She murmured softly, her voice cutting off abruptly as a tremor flashed through her eyes.
In her mind, she recalled that student whom she had never paid much attention to before.
Ordinary family, warm smile, usually introverted and not very good at socializing, nor sports...
It was as if... everything about him was so ordinary.
Then she remembered the 'rail train' escape plan he talked about, to start a heavy train, escaping along the Star Orbital...
Does it sound... too sci-fi?
"Can he drive a train? If there is so much gasoline or energy, wouldn't it be more convenient to drive a car?" she asked herself, every question like a sharp knife slicing through her hope.
What if the tracks were broken, could that student repair them, or could she, a foreign language teacher, fix them?
One scary question after another surfaced, gradually engulfing her, making the little hope she had left seem utterly ridiculous...
Large tear drops lingered in her eyes, falling drop by drop.
But Chen Sixuan refused to resign herself to fate, biting her teeth hard, preventing her tears from breaking free, muttering in her heart.
He promised... he will come...
"Beiwan Station, one main line, two arrival and departure tracks..."
In the empty living room, Chen Sixuan's mutterings echoed once again...
Thump thump thump~
A knock on the door, like a stone breaking a tranquil lake surface, instantly rippled, sounding deafeningly loud in the empty room.
Chen Sixuan lifted her head, surprise lighting up in her eyes.
Is it him?
She immediately ran barefoot from the sofa to the door, but hesitated to look through the peephole, and spoke in a panic.
"Who... who is it?!"
But what answered her from outside was a middle-aged man's voice.
"Teacher Chen, it's me, Liang Wei, I've been calling you for two days and you haven't answered, I got a bit worried, so I came to check."
Chen Sixuan's heart immediately plunged into Ice Valley.
Director Liang was a former colleague of Chen Sixuan, a man exceedingly sanctimonious; his eyes often roamed her body inappropriately at school, and she had also heard that Liang Wei harassed several female students before, a real beast in human clothing.
Who knows if it was because of some background he had, such a man actually managed to climb to the office director's position at the university, and Chen Sixuan thoroughly detested him, seldomly interacting with him.
But it just so happened that Director Liang lived in the same residential complex and same building as she did; after the end of the world, Liang Wei would call her every now and then. At first, it was all business-like, expressing that in times of crisis, people needed to band together for warmth, saying he had quite a lot of supplies and that she could ask him for more, if necessary.
But gradually, this man showed his true colors, especially after learning that Chen Sixuan was running short on supplies, he couldn't wait to send her messages, urging her to move in with him.
Hearing Director Liang's voice, Chen Sixuan didn't know whether it was because her hopes were dashed or she was just irritable, but she suddenly felt nauseous and coldly replied.
"I'm fine."
Bang bang bang!
The knocking from outside intensified.
"Fine? Didn't you tell me before that you didn't have much food left?!"
Seeing Chen Sixuan not opening the door, Liang Wei directly leaned against the peephole to peer inside. Seeing him approach, Chen Sixuan couldn't help frowning and stepped back a few paces.
Unaware, Liang Wei saw the figure inside and his eyes suddenly brightened, shouting eagerly,
"Teacher Chen, are you hungry? I still have a lot of bread, cookies, canned beef, and bottled water, I can bring them down to you right now if you want."
Bread, cookies, canned beef, bottled water...
These food names hit Chen Sixuan's ears like a temptation to break through reason.
She... had been hungry for two days.
But she also knew that no matter whether Director Liang's words were true or not, the moment she opened the door, she would become the plaything of this disgusting scoundrel in the apocalypse.
But between shame and survival, which is more important?
Perhaps it was because there was no response for a long time, the remaining patience of Director Liang outside washed away, his expression changed, and he suddenly slammed his hand against the door!
Bang!
"Chen Sixuan, you bitch! Stop fucking playing the saint with me! People are nearly wiped out in this world, if you come with me you might live a few more days. I fucking won't eat you, what are you afraid of?!"
"Open the door for me now!"
Thump thump thump!
As he spoke, the banging turned into kicking, the loud noise frightening Chen Sixuan into turning pale. She spun around, grabbing the fruit knife from the shoe cabinet for self-defense, her eyes filled with struggle.