The orange-red headlights of Infinity sliced through the pitch-black night beneath the blizzard, as its Ice-breaking Shield at the front plowed through the thick snow like a hot knife through butter, shoving it aside.
Neither zombies nor automobiles could withstand this powerful force!
Everyone held their breath and sprinted forward.
In carriage No. 2, KIKI kept an eye on the radar system while releasing two drones into the night to observe.
"That huge monster must be buried inside the Underground City, not following us."
After dashing across the snowfield for nearly an hour, when the number of zombies and obstacles around them decreased, a feeling of having narrowly escaped death began to emerge, and the tense atmosphere in the vehicle was broken by KIKI’s words.
"Is it true, are we... are we saved?" Zhao Yan, who had been scared stiff the whole way, revived and trembled as she asked.
"It seems so." Chen Sixuan did not pay attention to them; she walked to the cockpit, saw Lin Xian covered in sweat, and voiced her concern, "It seems we’ve escaped danger, should we take a break? The snow is so heavy that our visibility is hindered, and there is a valley to cross ahead. I’m afraid that if the earlier earthquakes have triggered an avalanche, it’ll be troublesome for us to rush through."
Lin Xian nodded and began to gradually slow down Infinity’s speed. "You’re right, but we can’t be careless. While we rest, I need to fix up the carriages behind us, otherwise, it’ll slow down our progress."
Having sprinted desperately, they were exhausted and had covered at least a hundred kilometers in the snowfield. He indeed wanted to stop and rest. Now, behind carriage No. 5 were two flatbed carriages, followed by the Gemini 11R nuclear power electric locomotive. Further back, there were two Cole 3 Type Biological Research Cabins being towed by temporary couplings without any armor protection, an odd configuration indeed, but one made out of necessity in the rush to escape.
After the frantic flight, when the train stopped, the iron wheels were scorching hot, and upon meeting the snow, they emitted hissing steam as they melted it.
"How is it going?" Lin Xian entered carriage No. 1, unable to relax as KIKI operated the drones hovering around the train for vigilance.
KIKI, who had been tense all night, also breathed a sigh of relief, licked her lips, and said to Lin Xian, "I dare not be sure about other things, but that big guy definitely didn’t . Otherwise, with such a commotion, it’d be impossible for us not to detect it."
Lin Xian took out the Soul Swinging Value Detector and threw it to KIKI, "Didn’t you get a piece of Blood Essence? Use this to check it out."
Realizing what he meant, KIKI took out the larger-than-usual Mysterious Blood Essence and immediately mounted it, then activated the device, sending out a strange energy fluctuation.
What Lin Xian didn’t expect was that according to this number, there wasn’t even a single zombie nearby...
"Could it be broken?" KIKI was also somewhat astonished.
"It shouldn’t be." Lin Xian knew best whether the machinery was broken or not. He looked at the surrounding snowfield, where the speed of the blizzard’s coverage was extremely fast. Ordinary zombies indeed would find it hard to keep up, and perhaps they could be completely buried by the snowstorm overnight.
The silently observing Ding Junyi, seeing the device in KIKI’s hand, asked, "Level 2 Mysterious Blood Essence, did you kill a B-level Nightwalker?"
Lin Xian looked at the numbers on the Soul Detection Device, finally breathing a sigh of relief from the shadow of the Abyssal Giant Monster. Now, turning to Ding Junyi with her indifferent expression, he couldn’t help but question, "In your emotional system, are there no such words as ’surprise’ and ’fear’?"
Ding Junyi looked at him curiously, "Why do you ask?"
"If I screamed and panicked like Dr. Zhao and Dr. Xu, could I then gain more concern and protection from others?"
At these words, the atmosphere suddenly became quiet, and Chen Sixuan, KIKI, and the others looked at Ding Junyi with strange gazes.
Meanwhile, Zhao Yan and Xu Wen looked at Ding Junyi with complex expressions, seemingly a mix of dissatisfaction and speechlessness. It was clear that although they had worked with Ding Junyi for a long time, they still couldn’t grow to like her manner of speaking.
Lin Xian was also taken aback by her words and after a long pause, he replied, "Okay, back to the main topic."
He took down the piece of Mysterious Blood Essence. "Speaking of which, how do you define these ghostly things, and why are they called differently from what the Federation Phoenix Association currently uses?"
"Actually, it’s the same!"
At this moment, Xu Wen, whose color was somewhat better, quickly said, "The Tianqi Federation and the original Federation Government started out developing the same Angel Plan project. After the dissolution, the research directions were mostly similar. Both Nightwalkers and Abnormal Bodies refer to such evil creatures. Our research on Spirit Swinging Values is also basically synchronized. It’s just that the Underground City project no longer has widespread support in scientific research..."
Lin Xian was somewhat surprised: "Your biological research organizations still know about the content of the Angel Plan?"
Dr. Zhao Yan, Xu Wen’s mentor, looked at the group with a tense expression and said, "Now, as long as it’s related to Dark Energy, we’re researching it. Whether it’s zombies, the Fallen, human ghosts, Blood Essence, Disaster Plants, Superpowers, and so on, there’s a certain connection to this dark energy. However, after the Federation Government was disbanded, the Angel Plan was also reorganized. We, belonging to the Dawn Plan from the Underground City, simply don’t have the vast Superpower and armed resources to collect this kind of Blood Essence and Disaster Plants for our research."
"The Dawn Plan, theoretically, is no longer part of the officially sanctioned organizations under the current Tianqi Federation. However, the leaders of the Dawn Plan still consider themselves the legitimate government of the world. That’s why they deliberately differentiate the terms used for some extreme-night research from others."
"For example, Nightwalkers and Abnormal Bodies mean the same thing; currently, entities with Spirit Swinging Value fluctuations within negative 100 are classified as C-level or Standard-level. The range exceeding 100 is broader, from negative 100 to negative 1000, which are defined as B-level Abnormal Bodies. From such creatures, you can find Level 2 Mysterious Blood Essence, with slight differences in size. At the moment, we believe this does not necessarily represent the threat level or a certain grade of the Abnormal Body. It might also indicate how many humans the creature has consumed."
"Consumed humans?" KIKI frowned, "I thought that this Soul Swinging Value was directly indicative of the threat level of the Abnormal Body and could also measure Superpower Users with such values, like Evolution Level, Vajra Level..."
Dr. Zhao Yan looked at KIKI in astonishment, "How did you know about this?!"
"This was a broad measurement concept from the early stages of the Angel Plan; it has certain referential significance." Ding Junyi finally spoke up.
"Ever since the theory of black night contagion came out, whether it’s the new Angel Plan [Nightwalker] organization belonging to Phoenix Society or our Dawn Plan, the mainstream view is that the Tianqi extreme night is a global evolutionary ritual. The vast majority of people fail to evolve and fall into zombies, human ghosts, and mutated life forms. Star Abyss breeds Abnormal Bodies. With this premise, after each cycle of night, more people will die or fall. Similarly, every day that a person survives, they become stronger due to this force, with an evolution in all aspects: such as cellular activity, muscle potential, stronger resistance to viral and bacterial infections..."
"Simply put, as long as you are alive, you are evolving. This evolution might seem extremely subtle in the short term, but in the long run, by the time the second extreme night comes, the surviving humans will definitely have surpassed their original physical limits."
"This is also why, after the first extreme night, the Federation Government disintegrated into three factions."