"Activate Collision Volume Perception System, turn on range radar!"
The auxiliary system of the Power Armor activated, locking onto the humanoid figure in the snowstorm ahead, but soon it flashed yellow.
"Beep beep, no life response."
Lin Xian frowned, took out the Black Gun and walked over, only to find that the figure was a middle-aged woman frozen into an ice sculpture, dressed in thick down clothing, half of her body already buried in snow.
"Captain Lin, there are more ahead."
Shu Qin, who had caught up from the side, also noticed the situation.
As they looked ahead, more survivors frozen into ice sculptures emerged. Lin Xian walked over, finding many buried, holding guns or resistance weapons, killed on the spot.
Further ahead, there was a vehicle encampment, though most vehicles were half-buried by the snowstorm, with thick snow piled on the roofs.
In the undulating wilderness of snow drifts, numerous vehicles were half-buried in the snow, a black off-road vehicle upfront skewed into the snowy slope, the tarp on its roof luggage rack billowed into a pale sail, the cabin window cracked letting in piercing cold wind, a pair of hands frozen into an ice sculpture could be seen on the steering wheel, the man lay frozen over it.
Not far away a bus overturned at a 45-degree angle, its escape window broken into a funnel shape blocked by snow, a woman in a red down coat crawled out through the armor window, the baby in her arms wrapped in icicle-like cocoon, the dangling scarf brushed by the wind clattered like wind chimes, the diesel heater pipe at the bus tail burst, leaking fuel formed stalactite-like ice cones on the vehicle surface, reflecting a dead grey light.
When the wind swept through the car formation, snow grains played a requiem in the door gaps. A peace charm hung from the rearview mirror of a white SUV, its red tassel frozen stiff like an icicle.
Shu Qin glanced over, and softly counted: "Captain Lin, there are 23 vehicles, not a small scale, judging by the parking it should be a camp."
"They must have been attacked." Da Lou grabbed a frozen monster tail from the snow layer, pulling it out with a rustle, realized that the Snow Demon’s mouth was still biting half a human hand, the bright red tissue sealed by ice and snow.
"Completely wiped out."
Lin Xian sighed lightly.
"Alright, let’s hurry back to the vehicle."
They braved the severe snowstorm to return to the train.
As the automatic anti-explosion doors closed, the howling wind was instantly shut out, before Lin Xian could take off his windproof helmet, Chen Sixuan’s voice came through the headset.
"Lin Xian, come to the cabin, there’s a situation."
Upon hearing, Lin Xian immediately took off his helmet, then removed his Cold Proof Clothing, letting the PX05 robot handle the snow, then quickly traversed the corridor to reach the cabin ahead.
Chen Sixuan pointed at the train’s responder: "Someone’s calling us."
"Can the message still be received?"
"The snowstorm is intense, long-distance radio can’t be received anymore, so they must be nearby." KIKI, at the side, said.
Lin Xian pressed the call button directly
Just after he spoke, a loud shout came intermittently from the other side, sounding very urgent.
"Hey, you... driving the train, quickly... leave here, Ma... it’s getting dark, don’t harm us...!!"
Upon hearing Lin Xian realized it might be the Survivor Caravan hiding from the snowstorm and Snow Demons near the Uliyasatai Mountain Pass.
He pondered for a moment, then said directly
"We’ve cleared out the monsters, we’ll be camping here tonight, no malice."
Just after speaking, another voice, sounding rather unfriendly, came through: "What clear or not, do you know there are 4 convoys here, we have enough people, group hunting effect, you understand? It’s getting dark, and you’re still attracting so many monsters, get out, don’t stay here!"
"Hey!" KIKI was immediately enraged upon hearing the provocation and was ready to curse, but Lin Xian stopped her.
Lin Xian pressed the communicator and briefly explained the situation with the Dark Mark: "So, if you aren’t under attack now, nor are we, it means tonight we should be relatively safe, even if there’s trouble, it won’t be too big, just stay put and wait for dawn."
Group hunting effect and Dark Mark, in certain angles, are quite similar, but their essence is different. The former makes it difficult for many survivor teams to join together, even harboring hostility toward other teams approaching. In such cases, these survivor teams besides wanting to join organizations like Phoenix Society won’t easily consider clustering with others.
But Lin Xian knew they completely misunderstood the situation, Snow Demons were dense in the snowfield now, if they weren’t under attack yet, it means they’re safe, and Lin Xian’s Infinity caravan had just charged in and practically killed all pursuing Snow Demons, there were few Dark Marks even if not completely resolved, under such circumstances, grouping together through the long night posed no problem.
Even if no interaction is wanted, staying separate is fine, but their Sentry seemed to notice Lin Xian’s Big Fire train rushing into the mountain pass, not staying calm.
"Safe because you say so? Are you the father of those monsters?" The angry middle-aged voice directly cursed at Lin Xian’s words without hesitation: "Do you know how much we risked during the day to kill the monsters, you can stop anywhere, why stop here, get out."