CHAPTER 541: CHAPTER 288: SILENT EXTREME NIGHT

Under the black curtain, only a few city outlines could be seen through the starlight.

Yu Bei City, shrouded in darkness and deathly stillness, was full of war-torn ruins, with extremely low temperatures. Without a blizzard, only the extreme cold remained, as there wasn’t even the sound of wind, making the entire city so quiet it seemed frozen.

In the center of the city, within a massive nuclear explosion crater with a diameter of 6 kilometers, mixed liquids of various blood and rocks had already frozen into ice, and the streets within kilometers had collapsed outward in a radial pattern, melted, and shattered.

Only in the distant sections of the city were there still large numbers of zombies.

Yet all these zombies stood motionless in the night, seemingly trapped in some state of stasis. The surroundings were lifeless and silent; even if these zombies were technically still ’alive,’ they had all lost the instinct to move, standing in large numbers like mannequins in the streets and alleys.

On top of an undestroyed high-rise, Chu Yan, clad in a specially-designed full-cover mech suit, quietly watched the massive nuclear explosion crater in the distance, with her holographic visor continually flooded with various streams of information.

A mechanical female voice sounded

"Distance from Lu City’s No.3 Star Abyss is 5650 kilometers, current spirit vibration value index 1156, radiation index 198mSv/h."

"According to intelligence analysis, more than two S-Class Abnormal Bodies are likely to appear here along with the corpse chaser of No.3 Star Abyss."

"Corpse chaser?" Chu Yan looked at a huge jellyfish tentacle fallen on a distant hillside, pondered for a moment, then turned her head towards the towering ascension passage; outside the airport were piles of charred corpses, ashes like dust covering the ground, showing the ferocity of the evacuation battle at a glance.

Her gaze hardened: "Search for Disaster Plant fluctuations."

"Searching, no Disaster Plant growth fluctuations detected."

"Seems it’s affected by nuclear radiation..."

"Should the next Extreme Night exploration path be guided?"

Chu Yan remained silent, looking towards the direction of the nuclear explosion’s center, thinking for a moment before raising her hand and pointing

"Warning, using Gravitational Lens here is likely to cause tidal resonance, with an estimated 13% increase in the risk index for the subsequent path."

"It doesn’t matter, the second unit of Phoenix Society’s Extreme Night has already explored here, and the corpse chaser is no longer here."

After speaking, she was about to act, but suddenly sensed something, turned around abruptly, only to find a young man standing quietly behind her without wearing any protective suit.

Chu Yan’s pupils contracted: "It’s you again?"

Lin Xian, exhausted, stood on the edge of the high-rise, puzzled while looking at the familiar yet unfamiliar city outline before looking at Chu Yan again

"It seems our timelines are synchronized, and you’re not a fabricated illusion as well."

"I’m not, but you are."

Chu Yan turned her body, looking at Lin Xian through the mech’s protective visor: "My mech’s radar didn’t capture you, indicating only I can see you. Who exactly are you?"

Lin Xian noticed two organizational emblems on Chu Yan’s mech suit, one a Red Phoenix Seal of the Phoenix Society, whereas the leading one was a gray-blue shield badge—NAUF.

"My name is Lin Xian, captain of a survivor caravan collaborating with the Phoenix Society."

"Lin Xian?" Chu Yan frowned: "Is the shelter in Jiang City your place?"

"So I’d like to know why you’re in my property?" Lin Xian asked back.

"That’s something I cannot disclose."

Chu Yan lifted her hand and drew a small Flying Blade from the left shoulder of her mech, tossing it with a flick. Whoosh, the blade swiftly passed across Lin Xian’s face.

"There must be some kind of energy consciousness connection between us, but as I’m unaware of your background, since you claim to be part of the caravan collaborating with the Phoenix Society, I’ll verify with them. When we meet next time, perhaps we can share more information. Besides, it’s best to keep this situation confidential."

As Chu Yan was about to leave, she suddenly glanced at him: "Did you see me longer this time compared to last?"

Lin Xian’s gaze slightly tightened, not answering her question, instead saying

"Wait, let me take a look here."

Yu Bei City in the Extreme Night, enveloped in an absolute desolate silence, lifeless, on the distant edge of the airport platform, vaguely visible were vaporous black shadows of human-like outlines, such as if sketched with charcoal on the majestic Great Wall’s mural defending the outer walls...

Clang, clang~

Clang, clang~

Lin Xian groggily rubbed his head, struggled up, opened his eyes, and found himself lying in the bedroom of the No.1 train car of Infinity, all the lights shut off, and every window darkened entirely, the compartment submerged in darkness.

He looked at the time on his watch.

16:00

Lin Xian tried to open one of the nearby blackout curtains by the window, peeping outside through his custom-installed multilayer bulletproof porthole.

It was pitch black, only the occasionally falling snowflakes outside letting him know it was snowing.

The temperature outside the compartment had risen back to minus 32 degrees, and the caravan seemed to be moving away from the Extreme Cold Vortex.

"Hu..."

Lin Xian took a deep breath, trying to suppress the maddening headache.

The excessive exertion from operating No.1 Machine combined with using the Gravitational Lens, Lin Xian experienced the terrifying sensation of his soul being ripped apart, constantly replaying the feelings of Chen Wei’s death in his mind, causing physiological suffocation.

So he continuously adjusted his breathing, sitting silently for a few minutes before finally feeling somewhat better.

Meanwhile, he recalled the madness at the last moment when attacking that giant sea urchin; at that moment, it seemed he utilized the No.1 Machine’s nuclear power to release such a vast AT Force Field, but this wasn’t Lin Xian’s conscious action, and he did not understand how a Superstring Reactor Phase Rainbow Ring appeared behind him...