In the 12th carriage, Lin Xian and KIKI were sitting on the empty floor of the carriage, taking a break and watching the PX-05 robot busily assembling at the weapon station.
"How come it’s such a coincidence that we don’t encounter monsters anywhere else, but as soon as we enter the night, we get surrounded by them, and just at the critical moment, someone comes out and leads us to this small town." KIKI propped herself up with her hands behind her, tilting her head toward Lin Xian.
Lin Xian responded with a resigned smile, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath: "I’d really like to know, too. If I did, maybe we could turn from being reactive to proactive in this apocalypse."
KIKI let out a melancholic sigh and lay down on the ground, rubbing her belly and said: "I hate the apocalypse. I miss my ice cream, chips, and milk tea. Just thinking about what unknown horrors might be outside the carriage makes me feel cold and achy in the stomach."
Lin Xian was speechless, retorting, "What does this have to do with horror? You’ve got your period, haven’t you?"
KIKI humphed with her eyes closed and grasped at the air: "Once my superpowers become strong, I’ll fly up to the sky and squash all those monsters. I want to fly into that Star Abyss and see what the heck is in there."
"Kid." Lin Xian said: "Do you remember what you saw in your dream?"
"Ayaya, I don’t wanna listen~"
Unexpectedly, as soon as KIKI heard this topic, she immediately covered her ears with an unnatural expression, seemingly unwilling to discuss her memories with Lin Xian.
"It’s not that," Lin Xian sternly continued, "I mean, I saw a giant floating in the sky in your dream."
At those words, KIKI was also stunned for a moment: "A really big person, a giant corpse floating in the sky, right?"
Lin Xian nodded: "I’ve been thinking that such a thing couldn’t possibly be a figment of imagination. Since I could see it, you must have seen it at some point, too."
"It was that day the helicopter crashed, in Jiang City."
KIKI lay looking at the roof and said: "Because the helicopter had crashed, I couldn’t remember clearly at the time. It was only after some time with you that I began to recall a bit. I think I saw a particularly frightening monster amidst the clouds."
"If it’s that big, isn’t it a monster?"
Lin Xian was at a loss for words: "Right, such a giant, yet it’s a corpse... You don’t know whether it’s alive or dead..."
"Who knows." KIKI closed her eyes, apparently not wanting to ponder too deeply, and snidely said: "We can’t even handle what we’re encountering now; all we can do is run. The more we run, not only are there more monsters, they seem to be getting stronger as if we’ve been targeted and those creatures of the dark have put a bounty on our head. If that’s the case, with so many superpower users on this train, we must be worth a lot."
Lin Xian heard this and his brows furrowed ever so slightly, falling into silence.
Seeing Lin Xian not speaking, KIKI sat up: "What’s wrong?"
Lin Xian shook his head, his mind feeling a bit confused: "Nothing, I was just thinking about what you just said."
"It’s late now, go get some sleep." Lin Xian checked his watch: "I’ll wait for things here to wrap up, and then I need to deal with the train behind us."
KIKI nodded sleepily, stood up and glanced at Lin Xian, took a few steps then stopped. Suddenly she flew back lightly, wrapping her legs around Lin Xian’s waist and hugging his neck, burying her head in his chest like a koala.
Lin Xian raised his hands high, somewhat at a loss: "What are you doing?"
"Don’t move; I’ll just sleep here for a while." KIKI murmured softly from his embrace.
Lin Xian, feeling the girl’s warmth and her tender waist, couldn’t help but say helplessly: "Isn’t this a bit too intimate, given the situation?"
KIKI closed her eyes and took Lin Xian’s hand, placing it on her waist: "Pretentious prude, you didn’t play the gentleman when you peeked at my underwear, yet make such a fuss when I want a hug. You don’t need to move for your Mechanical Devouring skill anyway, I can protect you~"
After speaking, KIKI shifted her position, apparently enjoying the act of entangling Lin Xian with her legs, her body light and cuddled like an obedient cat, feeling soft and squishy.
At that moment, KIKI suddenly felt something from Lin Xian’s lower abdomen pressing against her and her face turned red, she closed her eyes, frowned, and bit her lips muttering: "Pervert~."
Lin Xian could only laugh bitterly: "That’s unreasonable, I don’t want to move either, but what can I do if you keep hanging onto me."
Lin Xian looked down at KIKI, who was nestled in his arms, her eyes closed and her face wearing a hint of sleepiness. He felt a warm tenderness in his heart, knowing that KIKI actually wanted to protect him.
At the moment, the situation outside was unclear, and to absorb those trains, he had to take some risks. Having KIKI, a telekinesis ability user by his side indeed made him feel much more at ease. However, he was also aware that the girl had not slept for two consecutive days. He had passed out from exhaustive strength in the climbing elevator, but KIKI wasn’t in much better shape than him.
"Are you sure you really want to do this?"
"Mhm~" came KIKI’s faint response, seemingly on the verge of falling asleep.
"Alright then." Although it was somewhat unusual, since KIKI was offering her "Special Bodyguard Service," Lin Xian didn’t make a fuss about it.
He stood up, carrying the drowsy KIKI out from the driver’s cab of the nuclear-powered locomotive, and headed towards the front car of the intercity train that had been hauled out from Jiazhou City, ready to begin the Mechanical Devouring.
Before boarding, he took a look around the dark freight platform, took a deep breath, and directly entered the long unused train’s driver’s cab.
With KIKI by his side, Lin Xian felt inexplicably more tranquil. The girl seemed to truly fall asleep in his arms, her breathing evened out, so Lin Xian, holding KIKI who clung like a koala, sat in the carriage and began the Mechanical Devouring.
Lin Xian now opened his Mechanical Heart panel.
[Current Mechanical Heart Level LV.3 (565/5000)]
Strength Level: 3[30%](Burst strength of 300kg)
Speed Level: 2[40%](Limit of 13m/s)
Defense Level: 2[26%](Iron Bone)
[Mechanical Awakening]: Mechanic
[Awakening Skills]: Research and Development Center, Preparation Factory
Mechanical Devouring: 3 (466/1000) Increase devouring efficiency
Mechanical Manufacturing: 3 (260/1000) Increase construction efficiency
Mechanical Passive: Scan/Repair/Decomposition
Wind Cannon (Common) (Level 3, Max level)
Ice Shield (Common) (Level 2 09%)
Backflash (Rare) (Level 1 30%)
Electric Surge (Rare) (Level 1 23%)
[Reminder, VoG Grenade Launcher blueprint is undergoing an upgrade research, 0:00:34]
"Eh, the blueprint is almost ready too..."
[Congratulations, you have obtained the Thunderstorm A1 Grenade Gun (Blueprint)]
"Good grief, from single to automatic fire, Sha Sha is going to be thrilled."
Lin Xian was overjoyed as the Research and Development Center seemed to defy the heavens. If he wasn’t constrained by practical considerations, Lin Xian would have really liked to put the electromagnetic railgun inside to see what kind of contraption it could produce.
But it was just wishful thinking; throwing in something like that with his current level of Mechanical Manufacturing might result in a construction time of fifty to sixty days. Even if the blueprint was produced, it would be unbuildable, a mere pipe dream like a eunuch watching an adult film – a complete waste of effort.
So, Lin Xian pondered for a moment and decided to first test it out with Teacher Chen’s A33K heavy anti-materiel sniper rifle.
[Please choose the research direction of this weapon:]
[Firepower](3 days 15 hours)
[Mobility](3 days 12 hours)
Lin Xian was confused, "Didn’t I raise my Mechanical Manufacturing to level 3? Why does it take so long?"
He thought about it and figured that the anti-materiel sniper rifle itself must be a higher-tier weapon, which is why it would require more time.
For the sake of experimentation, Lin Xian then put the Roarer K23 Electric Revolving Gun and the newly acquired Thunderstorm A1 Grenade Gun blueprint into it for a check, and sure enough, the former required 4 days while the grenade gun required 3 days and 20 hours.