18:35.

Darkness had fallen.

The once dead-silent Haiyan Island seemed swallowed by the deep sea. The air was filled with the salty scent of seawater, mixed with the smell of rust and decay, like the breath of some ancient creature slowly seeping into every inch of space.

This sense of despair felt even more terrifying than on land, as if the entire island had suddenly sunk into a bottomless ocean, suffused with fear and suffocation.

Outside the rail station, where the streets had originally been empty, sudden faint sounds emerged. Countless eerie whispers arose, like countless wet limbs dragging across the concrete floor, or some viscous liquid slowly oozing out from a sewer grate.

“Tick, tick.”

A drop of black liquid fell from the station canopy, smashing onto the iron track and instantly corroding it, producing a wisp of blue smoke.

Then came the second drop, the third…

The entire city seemed to have been “awakened” by some indescribable presence.

In the distance, the sea surface churned like a tide of darkness, swallowing the last sliver of daylight. Beneath the waterline, countless twisted black shadows slowly surfaced. They had no fixed form—sometimes resembling humans, sometimes like arthropods, or merely a writhing mass of black flesh covered in sticky liquid that glistened with a strange oily sheen under the moonlight.

“Creak, creak...”

A deep, bone-rubbing sound echoed from all directions.

The streetlights outside the rail station flickered briefly before snapping off with a “pop.” In the darkness, something was climbing along the walls, sharp claws scraping the metal surface with a grating shriek.

The Infinite's engine was shut down without turning on any lights, and all the blackout panels on the armored windows were lowered.

“They’re coming.”

Vanessa’s voice was low and tense. She peered through the gap in the blackout panel toward the platform outside the station. Within the quiet rail station, countless noises began to stir all around. On the front platform, a “person” slowly rose—if it could still be called a “person.” Its limbs were grotesquely twisted and disproportionate;

its head hung low with the neck seemingly broken, bent backward to reveal a face without any features.

The next second, it suddenly raised its head, the hollow “face” staring straight at the train.

A chilling cold swept through instantly. Frost began to form on the Infinite's bulletproof windows. A hand pressed down on Vanessa’s shoulder, pulling her away from the glass.

Since emerging from the 5th Star Abyss, Lin Xian hadn’t felt such a terror-inducing nightfall in a long time. This time, he too sensed a heavy, eerie presence that tightened his expression.

“Fall back.”

Inside the carriage, everyone wore grave expressions, their breathing noticeably restrained. Chen Sixuan felt the chill and spoke softly.

“It’s like a parade of a hundred ghosts. How could there be so many? And... are they moving somewhere?”

Suddenly!

As soon as Chen Sixuan finished speaking, the entire Infinite carriage jolted violently. Something seemed to be climbing outside, producing a heavy, muffled pressure sound. The carriage trembled through and through.

Everyone inside tensed sharply. Lin Xian frowned, raising a hand to signal silence and prepared everyone to counterattack at any moment.

Geddy’s heart raced. Viola’s cleanup work eastward toward the seaport hadn’t finished yet, and sailing at night was extremely risky. If they had to activate the Limited train for a midnight escape, given the swarm of ghosts outside, retreating would be no easy feat.

“Creak, creak...”

The small rail station now resembled a bustling crowd. Strange sounds echoed from every platform and corridor. Near the platform beside the Limited train, faint white shadows passed, accompanied by piercing scraping sounds beneath the carriage’s armor, sending chills down the spine.

Yet the noises inside the carriage gradually lessened, as if fewer monsters were climbing down from the Limited train. Rows of eyes glided beneath the armor plates in the carriage. Everyone held their breath and focused. Just then, the rescued Mexican man raised his hand to signal silence, and the white man beside him motioned for calm.

He then pointed to his wrist. Below the large screen was a countdown timer.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1

At the moment the countdown ended on Geddy’s wrist, the eerie creatures in the rail station outside suddenly stirred violently. Shrieks and howls erupted continuously, and the noises grew louder as they seemed to accelerate toward a certain direction.

In the darkness, everyone aboard the Infinite exchanged glances, listening intently to the dense sounds outside. No one dared to breathe loudly. Sasha pinched her nose beside KIKI, and Mo Xiaotian also dared not breathe heavily.

Lin Xian sensed the abnormality, slowly lowering his hand that was about to order an attack, calming himself.

Sure enough, after a burst of intense turmoil, the noises soon quieted down. Though some eerie sounds lingered in dark corners, the dense hunting momentum from earlier vanished completely.

Seeing the calm return, Lin Xian’s eyes flickered as he looked at the black woman and asked,

“What did you do?”

“Bait Agent.”

The black woman introduced herself: “Geddy. This is Vanessa. Thanks for letting us into your shelter.”

“Lin Xian.”

Lin Xian extended his hand to shake hers. Upon hearing the name, Geddy’s expression changed sharply. She gripped Lin Xian’s hand and said,

“Lin Xian, the Infinite?”

“Yes. You know me?”

“Are you really Lin Xian?” The girl named Vanessa also stepped forward, slowly removing her hood to study Lin Xian carefully.

“It’s me. Any problems?” Lin Xian retorted.

Vanessa and Geddy exchanged glances and then broke into incredulous smiles.

“Oh my god, we actually met the Sword Bearer.”

Hearing this, Lin Xian immediately understood that his identity was no longer a secret after the Phoenix Society’s global broadcast. He was used to it, but after entering the ocean segment, he now felt he needed to keep a lower profile. After all, the Crimson World and similar descending factions were not yet fully cleared by the Phoenix Society, and he might draw unwanted attention.

“Let’s talk about the situation.” Lin Xian lowered his voice. “How are there so many eerie creatures after nightfall here? Also, what’s your situation?”

“Many? This is still quite normal.” The woman named Geddy spoke calmly. “These creatures ‘walk’ from the seabed. Even if it’s not dark, they can operate underwater at depth. After nightfall, they gather en masse on the island’s land, so their numbers are huge. It’s both a march and a hunt.”

“No wonder...” Lin Xian said grimly, recalling the indescribable creatures underwater at Taku Deepwater Port. The sea surface was already infested with various eerie beings, like hidden layers beneath a blizzard’s snow. As soon as darkness fell, Haiyan Island was surrounded by a tide of these creatures.

“Have those monsters found a target?”

Monica keenly observed that the sounds outside seemed to be converging in one direction and whispered,

“Is this the effect of the bait you mentioned?”

“Yes.” Vanessa answered. “After nightfall at sea, the number of eerie creatures is too dense. Even without a dark mark, it’s easy to be discovered. So we use a kind of bait agent, synthesized from cold-dark reagents and bioactive enzymes. It creates a fluctuating mark somewhat stronger than a person without a dark mark. Just a tiny bit is enough to trigger attacks over a large area.”

“You mean the dark mark decoy?” Chen Sixuan recalled the eerie container they encountered earlier at Hengshan Pass Station.

“Pretty much. Now most survivors at sea have to rely on this method to escape.” Geddy replied. “The ocean is too vast, and there’s no other way to run.”

“These monsters’ spiritual resonance values are really high.”

Inside Carriage 2, Sasha watched the monitoring screen at the information center, her face full of astonishment. “So scary.”

KIKI looked at Lin Xian. “Good thing you recalled all the drones. I feel like any slight movement might give us away.”

Lin Xian glanced at the time and asked the two,

“What organization are you from? How did you end up here?”

“The Falcon Sea Group.” Vanessa said.

Geddy added, “We’re sea rangers.”

“Sea rangers?” Qian Dele frowned slightly. “You survivors use ships as shelters?”

“Yes.”

The girl named Vanessa continued, “We all received information from Dawn City. We thought some train teams might take the ocean route again. Unexpectedly, the first train team we met was your Infinite. Just a heads-up: the Pacific Ocean’s G3-G9 deep-sea bases have become shelters for some alliances, many of which are former train teams. Passing through won’t be easy.”

“Ambush?” Lin Xian said. The latest_epɪ_sodes are on_the noᴠelfire.net

“Something like that. The ring star orbit is too restrictive. There are more dangers at sea than on land. Your train teams aren’t safe on land either.”

Lin Xian understood now. Few trains entered the orbital segment, so resources were concentrated at base nodes, shelter islands, and survivor ships. Encountering a train heading in would indeed attract attention.

This was likely to cause trouble, but Lin Xian’s main concern was the current strange situation.

“The ocean… how can those eerie creatures appear during the day?” Lin Xian asked.

“Strange?” Vanessa sized up the group. “Your military ability users are powerful. Haven’t you seen evil creatures active in daylight?”

“No.”

“We haven’t seen eerie creatures active in daylight either. Of course, human ghosts, zombies, or Red Human Ghosts don’t count. What you faced just now should be some kind of eerie creature, right?” Ning Jing spoke up.

Vanessa and Geddy exchanged looks and said, “We call those ‘evil creatures.’ They can appear during the day and take many forms. The most common are Split-Tailed Horrors and Red Bones, but they don’t start out that way. From our observation, these beings are constantly evolving. At first, they appeared during storms or cloudy days, or inside buildings and sewers, and only briefly. But over the past few months, these evil creatures have adapted more and more. They can now operate in sunlight and keep evolving. Their threat level is rising, and ordinary weapons are hardly effective.”

“But they all have one trait: short lifespans, usually only two or three days.” Geddy crossed her arms and said coolly, “They seem like the vanguard of the dark tide.”

At this moment, Ning Jing addressed Lin Xian. “Captain Lin, when we struck earlier, we found these monsters have evolved biological force fields that can resist basic energy weapons, unlike ordinary C- or D-level eerie creatures.”

“What? They have biological force fields?”

KIKI was surprised, floating up from her swivel chair, arms crossed. “Doesn’t that make them even harder to deal with?”

Everyone’s expression grew serious. If ordinary eerie creatures had defensive force fields, that was very bad news for survivors.

“Can you believe how fast these creatures are evolving?” Chen Sixuan frowned deeply.

“Humans aren’t slow at evolving either.” Lin Xian replied, then looked at Vanessa and Geddy. “Can you tell us who attacked you and some information about Haiyan Island?”

“Of course.”

Vanessa said, “Even if we didn’t tell you, you’d soon become their target.”

“What do you mean?”

Vanessa gave Lin Xian and the others a disbelieving look and said bluntly, “Come on, you’re Lin Xian, the Sword Bearer, and your team is full of powerful experts. Being targeted is only natural.”

Lin Xian was baffled, but the woman named Geddy looked at him seriously and said,

“The people I’m talking about are called Wieland, leaders of the Holy City organization, a descending faction. They hunt eerie creatures and other ability users to harvest their crystal lattices for power. They’re connected with the Crimson World and the Sacred Revelation.”

“Wait.”

Qian Dele stepped forward, frowning. “Is there a difference between your sea ranger info and what we land survivors know? What do you mean by crystal lattice? Does this Holy City organization not realize hunting ability users doesn’t help their own ability evolution much?”

At these words, everyone’s eyes turned to Vanessa and Geddy.

Vanessa’s gaze flickered with some confusion. She scanned the group and finally fixed her eyes on Xiao Qing because she had seen Xiao Qing fight before.

Then she softly uttered two words,

“Offense.”

Before the words fell, the girl suddenly flickered, moving like lightning to Xiao Qing’s front and swiftly thrust out a small knife pulled from somewhere!

Clang!

In a flash, Xiao Qing responded decisively, crossing her gun blade in front of her face, precisely blocking Vanessa’s strike.

Unexpectedly, Vanessa, who struck first, smirked slightly and said, “My apologies.”

Xiao Qing immediately sensed a sudden change in Vanessa’s aura. The dagger she blocked emitted an invisible shockwave that materialized like a biological force field, shimmering with silver waves and violently repelling her. Xiao Qing’s body dropped and was blasted several meters back before regaining balance.

Clang!

In an instant, everyone aimed their weapons at Vanessa and Geddy. But Vanessa raised her hands innocently and said,

“Sorry, I just wanted to test whether you possess crystal lattices.”

Then she looked at the shocked Xiao Qing and continued,

“You probably don’t have abilities, but your evolution peak already reached Annihilator-level. Looks like you’re close to breaking through to Angel-level.”

Xiao Qing sheathed her gun blade and coldly replied, “7200.”

“Cool~” Vanessa responded.

Lin Xian looked at Geddy and Vanessa, unsure what they were hiding. Geddy then stepped forward and said to Lin Xian and Xiao Qing,

“Captain Lin, this friend Vanessa’s ability peak...”

“Is 14,000!”