Apocalypse: I Built the Infinite Train
Chapter 309: Brand New Battle Armor

Under the silent night sky, the withered tumbleweeds on the Gobi Desert rolled with the wind.

Now that they had left the Extreme Cold Vortex behind, the temperature had risen above zero degrees. But the temperature difference on the desert at night was huge, and the wind and sand were biting.

The massive track foundation laid across the desert was raised with hard stone, and in this desolate no-man’s land, there were no rail guards whatsoever.

Clang, clang, clang, clang—crisp tremors of steel rails gradually rang out. The yellow sand around began to tremble, and with the blinding flash of train lights, a black-and-green heavy armored locomotive thundered forward with unstoppable momentum. Behind it stretched a steel dragon, extending all the way to the edge of the earth.

More than 500 carriages all had their lights on. Shadows of people moved within—some were sitting, some standing, some pacing, some chatting. All of them were survivors of the apocalypse, exiles of civilization.

The exteriors of these carriages were all covered in thick armor, riddled with bullet holes, claw marks, dried blood, and rotting monster limbs. The steel wheel shock absorbers rattled violently as they roared past.

September 3rd, 2069. Apocalypse Day. D-97.

Led by Dragon Mountain No. 1 and the Infinite Train, the joint convoy had escaped the Polar Night from Xilan City’s mass evacuation and Abyss Zone No. 5. There were only 100 days left until Apocalypse Day. Three major abysses remained.

In less than a hundred days, Bluestar’s ten-billion-plus population had been wiped out by 99%. Thirteen planet-devouring abysses continued expanding. The Dark Invasion had mutated humans into zombies and eerie entities. Blizzards, black rain, and other natural disasters ravaged the land. Flora and fauna went extinct. Human cities were overrun by zombies and anomalies. The entire continent of Nine Provinces and Four Oceans had fallen into bleak desolation.

As they fled for months, the survivors looked out at the desert from the carriages—some were lost, some fearful, some anxious, and others still held on to optimism, constantly encouraging their teammates.

The Sun Train followed behind the Joker Convoy and Monica Queen. This hastily assembled convoy, like Qian Dele, was still getting used to the trains. But adapting to vehicles was nothing for this team that had clawed their way out of a blizzard.

In one of the front carriages, led by Luo Yang, members of the original Chasing Sun Convoy—A Min, Lolo, Li Guangwen, and A Bai—gathered together. This used to be a passenger carriage, but all the seats had been removed and replaced with simple bunk beds.

More than thirty young men and women were eating while chatting excitedly. They were a knowledgeable bunch and brought lively energy, although there was still a lot they didn’t know—like how to cook.

Everyone was simply eating canned food, along with some biscuits, chocolate, or candy. They were happily discussing one topic:

Joining the Infinite Train.

“Oh my god, I can’t believe we’re actually going to join Captain Lin’s convoy. This is awesome!” A girl sitting cross-legged on the top bunk shouted while holding a spoon and a can.

“Captain Lin is seriously amazing. He’s got mechanical abilities!” A talkative guy stood by the window, gesturing animatedly. “Did you guys see that? The Infinite Train’s armor is crazy strong—just like a mecha. And they’ve even got a G-3 Electromagnetic Railgun on board! That’s federal military-grade stuff, and Captain Lin made it with just a flick of his finger!”

“Yeah, yeah! I heard during that bug battle, the Gatling guns the Infinite Train gave us were all made by him!”

“F***ing awesome!”

“That’s gotta be the number one ability in the world!”

“Hey, do you think Captain Lin can handcraft a nuke?”

“Of course he can. Come on, abilities can evolve! Who knows, maybe someday he’ll build a damn starship!”

“Woooah, a starship~”

“Yeah, yeah, and don’t forget about KIKI and Fire Bro on the Infinite Train. One’s got telekinesis, the other’s fire-type. Insane combo!”

“Li Guangwen, your shockwave ability’s got competition. Better start learning fast!”

Li Guangwen chuckled and shot back, “Zhou Chaoxian, you little sh*t messing with me? You think I can compare with those legends? Just let me fire off my bird cannon, I’m good with that.”

Hahahahahaha… Laughter erupted among the group.

Luo Yang sat to the side eating from a can, smiling as well. His eyes were filled with anticipation and excitement. He and his classmates had always been weapon geeks. Among them were students of mechanics, electrical engineering, lasers, and power systems. Their admiration for Lin Xian grew every day. Especially after witnessing the towering Unit 01 fight that S-Class giant sea urchin in Xilan City—Lin Xian had become their mechanical war god!

Luo Yang glanced over at Lolo and A Min, then asked, “A Min, how’s your abdominal injury?”

A Min nodded. “Still hurts a bit, but it’s much better. Sister Chen told us not to do any intense activity for 48 hours.”

Luo Yang let out a breath. “Good. Now that everyone has power armor, let’s all train more and improve ourselves. It won’t just be the two of you doing solo fights anymore.”

Lolo smiled. “But A Min and I make a great team. Don’t forget, our synchronization coefficient is 1.7. With a peak index of 600, we’ve already broken the 1000 mark—officially in the Rampage-level. With our new battle armor, we’re gonna be even stronger. Right, A Min?”

A Min nodded stubbornly. “Exactly. We’re still the main firepower. Two sisters are worth four guys!”

Luo Yang played along with a grin.

“Of course. Even Captain Lin acknowledges your strength. It’s just that…”

Just as he spoke, noise suddenly broke out among the group. Luo Yang looked up and saw Li Yi entering, accompanied by a few middle-aged folks, carrying two large soup pots.

“We made some meat soup. Everyone should have a bit.” Li Yi, with her pregnant belly, said cheerfully. This train only had one dining car, and when she saw that Luo Yang’s group didn’t have any cookware and were all eating cold food, she decided to cook extra and bring it over.

Hot meals didn’t have to be fancy. Luo Yang and the others knew how to make simple soups—it’s just that as a bunch of young people used to ordering takeout, they had gotten used to cold cans. For convenience during travel, no one thought to bring cookware to cook over a fire. So when it came time to distribute supplies from the permanent reserve storage, they only asked for canned goods and self-heating meals—no rice, flour, oil, or meat.

“Whoa, it smells amazing!”

As soon as the two big pots were brought in, the young ones—used to cold food—were instantly hit with a wave of rich meat aroma. Suddenly, the cans in their hands lost all appeal.

Luo Yang quickly stood up in surprise. “Sister Li, we’re already eating…”

“I know.” Li Yi smiled, her eyes sweeping over the group. “Conditions on the train are much better than when we were on the road. Since I saw you all eating cold, I figured I’d make more. If we’ve got hot food, we should eat hot. You’ll feel stronger afterward!”

“Really? Awesome! I want some, I want some! Thank you, Mama Li Yi!”

“Thank you so much… I haven’t had cooked food in forever.”

“So touched~”

“I want a bowl too!”

Everyone immediately gathered around, scooping up soup one bowl after another, carefully holding it as they drank. A wave of warmth spread through their bodies. In an instant, it felt like half their exhaustion melted away.

“No need to be so polite. We’ve all come through this together. We’re family now.”

Li Yi, busy serving soup, chuckled as she said, “You young people might not like cooking, and that’s fine. Every team needs division of labor. Later on, laundry, cooking, cleaning—we’ve got it covered on our side. And those big guys over there? They might not be great with research, but they’re good with machinery. So we’ll all work together.”

“Sounds great!” Luo Yang smiled brightly, gratefully taking a bowl of soup from her. Looking at her swollen belly while she still brought them food, he felt a bit warm inside.

He said, “We’re all going to follow Captain Lin from now on. The team’s getting bigger, and everyone can put their strengths to good use. I’m sure we can survive this apocalypse together. Right, everyone?”

“Yeah!!” the young men and women shouted in unison.

In that moment, the cold-can-eating carriage transformed into a big family. Under the steel roof of this train, in the midst of a dark apocalypse, a bit of warmth had finally taken root.

.....

On the Infinite Train, unlike other convoys, there wasn’t much of a communal dinner. Because of the busy schedule around the Zero Element Center and the recent escape, and also to prepare for taking over after Lin Xian at dawn, Chen Sixuan was making the most of her time to rest in the master cabin of Car No. 1.

Inside the luxurious sanctuary cabin, she slept soundly. In her heart, she knew—as long as Lin Xian was there, she could completely let down her guard. Even if the world outside was overrun with a corpse tide, she wouldn’t panic.

In Car No. 2, the private space shared by KIKI and Shasha, two specially designed wrap-around sleeping pods were staggered opposite each other. Both of them were sleeping deeply. The only place still lit in the entire carriage was the Information Center.

On the screen, aside from the radar surveillance system, there was also an analytical program that KIKI had set up, still continuously running system data from 【Grace】.

In Car No. 3, after wrapping up the final stage of her experiment, Ding Junyi put away all the lab instruments. Once she had stored both the Hell Black Chrysanthemum and Silver Dragon Ten-Thousand Error, she grabbed a clean set of underwear and headed to the bathroom in Car No. 1 to take a shower.

Only after that did she return to her room, turn off the lights, take off her glasses, strip down completely, and lie flat on her bed. She even slept with precision.

Because of her profession, she had high standards for sleep quality, and she was the only person on the train who didn’t have to worry about rotating shifts.

Except for Lin Xian’s arrangements, she still stuck to her old routine from before Apocalypse Day—sleep at 9 p.m., wake at 7 a.m.

However, there was one habit she had changed.

Before, she always locked her door to sleep. It gave her a sense of safety and calm.

But now, even though the rest room door had a lock, she no longer used it.

To her, if robbers or eerie entities barged in, a lock wouldn’t help anyway. Death, to her, was a peaceful thing.

But if locking the door made it inconvenient for Lin Xian to come in, then to her, that would be an unbearable betrayal.

So, it was a simple logic problem. A habit that could be corrected.

Because in Ding Junyi’s mind, if Lin Xian wanted to come in—then he could.

Car No. 4, after modifications and with Ding Junyi’s plant-type ability, had turned into a mini green forest.

The 30-meter-long carriage was filled with neatly arranged aerial vegetable growth beds overflowing with fresh greens, spinach, and seedlings under chaotic lighting—like water celery and kale.

On both sides of the carriage, Lin Xian had planted green vines like pothos and ivy, along with moss-covered walls and maidenhair ferns for water-oxygen cycling and visual relaxation. The whole carriage now smelled like a living forest.

These plants weren’t just for decoration. Most importantly, they helped circulate air.

The train’s purified water, after usage, would go through a recycling mechanism to nourish the plants. Then, the water would be cycled again for hygiene supply. Lin Xian’s multiple water purifiers would separate out waste and impurities and recycle the water back for drinking.

Although it sounded a bit gross, in the apocalypse, it was a necessary setup.

Clean water untouched by the Dark Invasion was extremely scarce.

Actually, according to the filtration standards of Lin Xian’s A1-Class Subcritical Reverse Osmosis Water Purifier, plus the Eerie Cube’s shielding against dark energy, the water the Infinite Train crew drank had always met the Level-1 Purified Water standard—regardless of how many times it had cycled.

But even so, the Infinite Train was now starting to feel the pressure of a drinking water shortage.

The snow from the Extreme Cold Vortex was toxic.

Since Clearwater Town, the train hadn’t restocked fresh water in ages.

With the black rain and the Dark Invasion, land-based water sources were becoming increasingly contaminated.

While basic filtration could still be done globally, the dark energy itself remained a huge unsolved problem.

Car No. 5—Daluo was on mid-shift duty.

As usual, he was performing maintenance on all the carriage’s weapons, including the new G3 Electromagnetic Railgun and the gun tower elevator Lin Xian had installed.

While wiping down the machine guns, there was surprisingly a pot of hot tea sitting on a small stand nearby. Daluo would take a sip from time to time, exhaling deeply as if chasing away the loneliness of night duty.

Ever since he started rooming with Lu Xingchen, one of Daluo’s few new habits had become drinking tea.

Tea wasn’t a rare resource in the apocalypse. Though traded among survivors, most people used it to mask the foul taste of drinking water.

Someone like Lu Xingchen who genuinely drank it for enjoyment—that was pure luxury.

It meant you needed a clean, safe environment—and the time and mood for tea.

As Daluo sipped and glanced at Lu Xingchen’s room, he figured the guy was still studying that Gold Bracelet.

At the same time, his mind wandered to his own ability.

After the events in Xilan City and several battles, many team members had leveled up in combat. Especially those with Exoskeleton Power Suits, like Miao Lu and Lü Chang—both from the Gene Evolution faction—had made huge gains.

Shu Qin, even more so.

Back during the ability tests, he and Shu Qin had been evenly matched.

But she was a gene-evolver. Naturally gifted to use power armor for massive boosts.

Daluo couldn’t match that.

One, the armor didn’t fit him. Even if it did, his ability required building up through blood energy.

So he was feeling the pressure.

Big build, big appetite, took up space, and he had a 12-year-old sister to take care of.

Even though Shasha was capable, Daluo still felt that he had to become Lin Xian’s right-hand man—to repay the life-saving grace and care Lin Xian had shown them.

Thinking that, Daluo’s eyes hardened.

After wiping the last gun, he started physical training again—push-ups and the like.

“Add 20 more sets!!”

He grunted inwardly, also recalling Lu Xingchen’s suggestion.

Next time they fought off a Monster Tide, he planned to try confronting the black smoke from monster corpses without relying on gas masks.

Even though Dark Invasion energy caused intense physical pain, with his endurance, he was sure he could take it.

In Car No. 6—the dining car—it was already lights out.

But a bright lamp still glowed by an electric stove.

A small iron pot was bubbling, releasing a sweet aroma.

Xiao Yuan stood by the stove like a quiet housewife, watching the pear soup roll and bubble.

This was an upgraded version, made from warehouse supplies. She had added red dates and goji berries to it—not just for taste, but to quench thirst and clear heat.

Once it was ready, she carefully ladled it into a bowl, opened the lid, and let it cool.

She waited.

Knowing Lin Xian was still busy in Car No. 12, she frowned and blew gently on the soup.

What she didn’t know was that Shu Qin, who was on patrol, was standing quietly in the dining car hallway watching the scene, wearing an expression of helplessness.

Xiao Yuan’s feelings were no secret among the team.

But that wasn’t a big deal.

In the apocalypse, men and women going through hardship together developed feelings more easily.

Shu Qin had seen it plenty.

Even without talking about cliché romance, even just fulfilling physical needs was a big deal for mental relief and stress release in this world.

In fact, happy physical intimacy was even said to help resist the Dark Invasion.

But what Shu Qin found hard was—Xiao Yuan liked Captain Lin.

And honestly, a lot of women on the team liked Lin Xian to some degree.

He was the captain—young, handsome, powerful, and carried the vibe of a savior.

With that sense of belonging, how could one not admire someone like him?

But admiring was one thing.

Xiao Yuan was the only one who expressed it so clearly.

Everyone else knew about Lin Xian’s bond with Chen Sixuan—and the fact that he had the beautiful and formidable KIKI as his right-hand woman.

Shu Qin couldn’t say much about it.

There weren’t any marriage customs left anyway.

She just worried that Lin Xian might not feel the same about Xiao Yuan—and that she might end up hurt.

But looking at Xiao Yuan now, full of hope as she blew on the pear soup over and over, Shu Qin could only let out a helpless smile.

“Sigh… well, as long as she’s happy.”

.....

Inside Car No. 12, mechanical lights flashed continuously as countless materials were forged and assembled midair.

Lin Xian sat cross-legged in a corner, fully focused.

Before him, a silver-black Howler-Class Fully Enclosed Armor Suit was gradually taking shape.

Although it was the male version of the Black Hawk – Silent Hunter, Lin Xian had modified the external armor using the same composite armor configuration he’d scanned from Unit 01’s arm—essentially the same material as Unit 01.

Because of that, it took slightly more time to build than the one for Ms. Chen. Lin Xian had considered that he often had to charge into monster hordes, unlike Ms. Chen, who fought from long range as a sniper. So he upgraded the outer armor material accordingly.

At the same time, Lin Xian added two retractable hooks on the shoulders—high-powered magnetic types—so he could later use the Thunder Falcon 2000 to lift himself for flight.

With the thrust from two Thunder Falcon 2000 Hall-effect propulsion engines, carrying him through the air wouldn’t be a problem at all.

Of course, the downside was that it wouldn’t be particularly fast, and it would heavily drain the drones’ energy.

But the armor already came with a low-altitude leap thruster system. Combining the two basically solved the mobility issue of taking to the skies.

Clack clack clack—

As the final piece of armor finished materializing, Lin Xian finally let out a breath of relief.

He stood up and looked at the custom-designed fully enclosed power armor before him, a glint of excitement in his eyes.

“Finally looks a bit like Iron Man.”

With that, he couldn’t wait any longer and immediately activated the armor.

A holographic projection lit up automatically on the mech’s surface and scanned his face.

Right after, the chest plate of the armor popped open, and bolts, brackets, and armor units on the legs and other sections began unlocking automatically—emitting a series of click-click mechanical sounds that stirred the blood.

Lin Xian stepped forward and entered the fully enclosed armor suit.

【Black Hawk – Silent Hunter Armor 01 initiated. Running system diagnostics.】

A cold mechanical female voice echoed.

Clink~

The helmet sealed shut slowly.

A flash of light filled his view, with a progress bar loading.

Subsystems for motion, defense, radar, situational awareness, life support—each appeared one after another on the holographic interface.

Then the armor units began contracting, bolts auto-tightened.

In that instant, he felt himself enveloped by a powerful mechanical construct.

The inner cushioning liner bound him perfectly.

Lin Xian raised his hand and looked at his mechanical arm through the holo-vision.

Then slowly clenched his fist.

With nearly zero delay, the hand-powered output unit responded instantly, delivering a surge of force.

He could feel it—this hand could crush steel like paper.

【Detecting pilot vitals...】

【Vitals stable. Heart rate... body temperature...】

【Unified control system activated.】

【Current combat training value: 0】

【Motion and combat data required for loop learning to better match pilot movement patterns.】

Inside the power suit, Lin Xian’s eyes reflected the glows of the holographic interface. He grinned with excitement.

“No need to port the motion parameters from that TRP exosuit—let this one learn everything from scratch.”

Ms. Chen had mastered it in a ridiculously short time. This suit’s intelligence level was clearly very high.

Although it was a fully enclosed armor, the experience was vastly different from piloting Unit 01.

Unit 01 weighed ten thousand tons, had over forty engine-muscle actuators, and required two people for neuro-sync interfacing.

It could carry the weight of the world, but its agility couldn’t compare to personal armor—not even to Shasha’s Sally Unit.

There was a massive latency difference in their movements.

That was inevitable—bound by the laws of physics.

The advantage of personal battle armor was that it moved as easily as one’s own limbs—near-zero delay response.

It functioned like an external skin, solving humanity’s poor natural defense.

Especially for gene-enhanced individuals, armor was a game-changer.

Their agility, reflexes, strength—even combat instincts—could be perfectly synced to the mechanical platform.

A powerful suit could significantly boost a gene-evolver’s combat performance.

From that perspective, the Phoenix Society’s ability assessment index was really only a basic benchmark for measuring a gene-evolver’s true combat power.

When human tech and machinery could match human evolution, it genuinely made it possible to rival supernatural powers.

And that—was one of the reasons why 90% of survivors without abilities could still live through the black nights.

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