Lin Xian closed his eyes, exhaustion washing over him like a tide. Compared to when he first departed from Jiang City, relying on the Infinite train to evade the zombie crisis, his mind was now clouded with heavy drowsiness. From the floating giant corpse to the Mushroom Tower, from human abnormalities to dark invasions, humanity still did not fully understand the enemy they faced.

The Doomsday, the endless corpse tide, invasive mutations, Dark Tide, Polar Night, abnormal entities, the gradual expansion of the Star Abyss, S-level consciousness, the mysterious characters on the photovoltaic wings of the Southern Celestial Gate—originally, Lin Xian thought that as the escape and war progressed, humanity would gradually uncover all the darkness.

It was like discovering the Dark Mark, cold-dark particles, the alliance of dark energy, and the mycelium brain-machine… When humanity felt they were about to lift the veil on the terrifying mist, the next night would still be filled with despair.

What unsettled Lin Xian this time was the dimensional entity black hole of the Silver Dragon Ten Thousand Mistakes. After witnessing the dimension line of time with his own eyes, Lin Xian felt his worldview and motivation deeply shaken. He realized that destruction was not an inevitable outcome;

it was merely an event manifestation in a higher dimension. This idea might not be absolute and was still open to discussion, but it was chilling all the same.

If time was an entity, did the countdown he saw represent that he was already on a fixed event path, and all his current actions and efforts would ultimately lead to this outcome? Lin Xian dared not think about it, but he had indeed just altered the team's disaster fate.

“Should I talk with Director Ding about the Silver Dragon Ten Thousand Mistakes and that countdown…” Lin Xian pondered, then dismissed the thought. It was better to sleep first. Maybe at dawn, he could try contacting Chu Yan and the Phoenix Society.

.....

Gurgle, gurgle~

The muffled sound of water pressure by his ear made Lin Xian feel like he was sealed inside a canned soup pot. The oxygen machine and air system filled the carriage with a fresh but metallic scent, making one imagine the train racing across a vast prairie in the breeze. But Lin Xian guessed that the Infinite was still thousands of meters beneath the Pacific Ocean, drifting like a ghost.

Opening his eyes, he saw the dimly lit bedroom, illuminated only by the faint glow of onboard instruments. Lin Xian lay flat on the bed, hearing no clatter of wheels on rails. The train’s smoothness felt like being in the clouds. If not for the underwater pressure sounds, he could have mistaken this for waking up in his own bedroom at midnight.

Quiet, cool, comfortable. As long as he didn’t think about the abyss below the carriage, it was quite pleasant.

Beep beep, beep beep.

The watch’s prompt sounded, causing Lin Xian to frown immediately and raise his hand to check it.

8:00.

He had slept nearly nine hours!

“Damn…” He had overslept!

Lin Xian was about to turn over and get up, but when he sat up, he found someone lying on him. He pointed and turned on the light, discovering it was Shiori. The young girl looked utterly exhausted, not wearing power armor, just lying on Lin Xian’s stomach with one finger extended toward his chest, maintaining her ability activation.

“That big girl must have been releasing her ability all night.” Kang Gui’s eyes flickered. Lin Xian carefully lifted Shiori’s forehead and found the girl was in a deep sleep, her cheeks slightly flushed, hair pressed into sleeping lines.

Seeing this, Lin Xian sighed slightly, “No wonder she slept so long.”

Shiori’s ability had no effect on mental healing, but when facing the raging white-dark invasion force in Star Abyss 5, she could help the team regress, purify, and heal, a very rare ability system. After being cared for like this all night, Lin Xian felt only tiredness but also a clear refreshment throughout his body, even his concentration sharpened.

“Thanks.” Lin Xian said loudly, then got up and carried the girl to the sofa chair, covering her with a blanket.

After finishing, he stepped out, preparing to head to the cockpit. But before opening the bedroom door, he noticed all the carriage lights were off except for the strong corridor lights, outlining the train and hallway.

Lin Xian frowned, stood up, and walked into the cockpit. He found Chen Sixuan leaning asleep against the driver’s seat, while only Viola stood proudly with her hands behind her back at the control console, guarding her post.

“Why is everyone asleep?” Lin Xian looked puzzled. “Also, have we left the ocean current? Why wasn’t I notified?”

“Rest assured, I have executed your plan. The current situation is normal,” Viola turned to Lin Xian, speaking calmly. “Our navigation group entered the flow diffusion area south of the Queensland Islands at 5 hours 32 minutes. This area averages 3,300 meters deep. After analysis and exploration, Ms. Chen Sixuan approved my proposal to maintain low-speed silent movement toward the Republican Archipelago. For safety, I set the cruising speed to 15 knots, maintaining a depth of 1,500 meters, sufficient to deploy unmanned submersibles in observation mode for protection.”

Lin Xian nodded, “So we cruised toward the Republican Archipelago for five hours?”

“Yes. After leaving the danger zone, the team gradually rested. Perhaps the escape from the offshore island consumed too much energy;

most crew members are in deep sleep. I believe this is a good protection and evolution method, so I adjusted the entire train’s lighting to let everyone rest quietly until dawn.”

“It’s not because they used too much energy, it’s because the Hellish Black Chrysanthemum released too much pure dark energy!” Lin Xian turned to the almost opaque green energy filling the carriage, frowning as he muttered, “So much… what’s going on?”

He did not understand why the Hellish Black Chrysanthemum absorbed so much dark energy without having killed many abnormal entities. Lin Xian headed toward the rear carriages, increasingly sensing the dark energy growing denser. A thought crossed his mind.

If too much dark energy was absorbed, would there be side effects? So many people were in deep sleep. It felt a bit off.

But as Lin Xian returned to Carriage 1, suddenly a light screen popped up.

[Converted non-mechanical energy, gained 1000 mechanical source points.]

“Sure enough, the Heterogeneous Cube is converting mechanical source points for me again…”

[Converted non-mechanical energy, gained 1000 mechanical source points.]

Another step forward, the light screen continued popping up.

Lin Xian stopped, seeing the Mechanical Heart’s display showing delayed probe messages popping up one after another, making him unable to move forward.

[Converted non-mechanical energy, gained 1000 mechanical source points.]

3000...

4000...

The numbers on the Mechanical Heart’s experience level kept increasing as the screen relentlessly flashed.

5000...

7000...

10000...

[Converted non-mechanical energy, gained 400 mechanical source points.]

When the last mechanical source point popped up, Lin Xian was shocked to see his Mechanical Heart level jump from the previous 22,220 of the devoured battle-damaged Dauntless-class directly to 39,800! An increase of 17,580 points!

“What the hell? Did the Hellish Black Chrysanthemum take the wrong medicine?” Lin Xian was stunned and hurried toward the rear carriages.

In Carriage 2, KIKI, who had recovered, was asleep in the information center seat. The monitoring screens displayed external carriage conditions. The young girl showed no signs of fatigue or injury from overuse of her ability. Instead, she lay sprawled in the swivel chair, still sucking on a lollipop stick.

Lin Xian walked over and pulled the stick from KIKI’s mouth. The candy was all gone. He picked her up and placed her on the bed. Above, Shasha was also snoring soundly.

Carriage 3’s messy laboratory had been tidied. Lin Xian opened the rest room, finding Ding Junyi sleeping with great ceremony. He quickly closed the door. Carriage 4’s separate rest area housed Xiao Yuan and Miao Lu, assistants to Director Ding;

they too were in deep sleep.

Similarly, Daluo, Fire Bro, Takahashi Ryunosuke, and Mo Xiaotian in Carriage 5 were all asleep. In Carriage 6’s dining area, Luo Yang, Lü Chang, and Qian Dele were dozing on the sofas. Dozens of people in Carriages 7 and 8 were also fast asleep.

Everyone on the train was sleeping!

The more Lin Xian looked, the more uneasy he felt. He quickly hurried to Carriage 10 and contacted North Wind 09 via communicator.

“Cai En, can you hear me?”

“Crackle... What’s up, Lin?” Luckily, Cai En responded immediately.

“Everyone on the train is asleep. Doesn’t this seem off?”

In North Wind 09’s command cabin, Laine stood in the center wearing headphones. Only a dozen submarine operators were quietly on standby. Most others in the compartments were asleep. He said immediately,

“Don’t worry, Lin. Your military probably has Forbidden Artifacts similar to our Dark Energy Copper Ball. This is the side effect of absorbing too much dark energy, roughly like oxygen poisoning. There’s no danger;

it actually benefits everyone.”

Hearing Laine’s words, Lin Xian stopped at the door of Carriage 9, Monica’s room, and asked,

“Will absorbing so much at once harm the body?”

Cai En replied, “As far as I know, if purified, it’s not a big problem. At least it’s better than cold-dark reagent. No need for vegetable juice or sunbathing.”

He sighed, “But I also think it’s too much, and we have no way to release it. We can’t just open a window and let it all out.”

“There’s also this situation…” Lin Xian was momentarily speechless. He didn’t know if the current situation was good or bad. Even he converted nearly 20,000 mechanical source points through the Heterogeneous Cube, the largest outburst since he gained the Mechanical Heart. This showed how huge the dark energy intake for others must have been—no wonder everyone was sleeping like this.

“Laine,” Lin Xian looked complex, “We didn’t seem to deal with many abnormal entities, so why is there so much dark energy captured?”

“That’s simple,” Laine replied quickly. “That guy is hunting. Remember the plan I told you about at the start?”

Lin Xian frowned, “You scooped up a haul?”

“When we dived and used the towed sonar,” Laine said helplessly. “Honestly, I didn’t expect much. Escaping was the priority. But unexpectedly…”

“How much did you get?” Lin Xian asked.

“98 level-4 blood crystals, 1,295 level-3 blood crystals, and several level-2.”

Lin Xian was stunned, “What did you say?!”

“Lin, don’t be surprised. Thanks to you, these can be allocated by you,” Cai En said leisurely. “This is enough for everyone to cultivate and evolve their Crystal Lattices.”

“Good grief.” Lin Xian was shocked. He hadn’t expected Laine’s towed sonar to accidentally net such benefits. The guy’s crazy plan to ride on Uniga-1 and reap the benefits actually worked.

Over a thousand level-3 blood crystals, nearly a hundred level-4—if they traded those, they could equip an entire Iron Guard Brigade!

“It should be about two hours until dawn. Lin, thanks to you, we all escaped,” Cai En said gratefully.

“Yeah, two hours…” Lin Xian looked at the countdown before his eyes.

01:55:09

Less than two hours remained.

Did this mean something would happen after dawn?

Lin Xian’s mind was complicated. He worried that the rampant energy might burden the team, but he was also uneasily apprehensive about the approaching countdown.

Click~

At that moment, the automatic door ahead suddenly opened, and a voice came from inside.

“You’ve been standing outside so long. Why not come in and sit?”

Lin Xian was momentarily stunned, then withdrew the light. At last, there was a second awake person on the Infinite.

Carriage 9 was Lin Xian’s gift to Monica, his repayment for her giving the Monica train to him and Mochizuki Shinji for modification. This carriage was originally Carriage 1 of the Queen Mo train, upgraded by Lin Xian with system improvements, though the layout remained mostly unchanged.

An independent bathtub, modern hot water system, refrigerated wine cabinet, and separate dressing room. Only through this carriage could one reach the rear Whale-03E Heavy Gas Turbine Locomotive and Twin Star 11R, but because of Viola and maintenance robots, others rarely went to the rear, making this carriage relatively private for Monica.

Upon entering, a scent of xenon gas filled the air. Lin Xian looked up and saw Monica dressed in a simple fitted outfit, similar to yoga wear. She sat cross-legged on the floor, practicing some yoga movements, seemingly stretching while converting dark energy. This outfit served as a substitute for underwear, necessary in the environment requiring constant undergarments beneath power armor. Underwear was cumbersome.

But this tight clothing perfectly showcased Monica’s nearly illicit curves. Just one glance could ignite a man’s primal desires like Mount Garland erupting.

“I didn’t mean to eavesdrop;

it’s just that you were talking at the door. I couldn’t not hear,” Monica said, finishing a leg raise and slowly standing, crossing her arms and looking up at him.

“If you need test subjects for Crystal Lattice cultivation, I can cooperate. I know you have doubts about this evolutionary path.”

Lin Xian was silent a moment, then spoke his thoughts.

“Not doubts, but concerns. I discussed with the Phoenix Society, and they found some side effects in their experiments.”

“After all we’ve been through, what do side effects matter?” Monica replied.

Lin Xian smiled faintly and slowly said, “They all said the same thing to me as you just did.”

He looked seriously at Monica and said, “You’re about to implant a foreign thing inside your body. Aren’t you afraid?”

Monica only smiled gently at this. Her eyes swept over Lin Xian like waves, then she turned and walked toward the wine cabinet. Calmly, she said something that stunned Lin Xian.

“Many have tried to put things inside me. What’s one more?”