Chapter 162: Joining a New Team

Vroom~ Thud, thud, thud!

The water tank, like a giant metal drum, hit the ground with a tremendous roar, instantly startling all the corpse crows on the Infinity. In a flash, a deafening chorus of caws erupted.

The overwhelming black mass of corpse crows flew frantically toward the rolling metal water tank.

The metal water tank, meanwhile, rolled all the way down the hillside, the roaring sound echoing along with it.

Only then did Lin Xian and the others realize with a shock that the entire roof of the station and the sky above the passenger terminal were covered with a dense mass of black corpse crows, which now poured down like a dark, obscuring cloud.

“So there were so many above our heads…” KIKI felt a chill run down her spine as she watched this scene.

Lin Xian, however, immediately started the train. “KIKI, help me switch the tracks. We’re going into that maintenance workshop to rescue Shu Qin and the others.”

“Okay.”

Vroom~

The Infinity started up again. Taking advantage of the fact that the sky full of black corpse crows was distracted, it quickly headed toward the maintenance workshop.

At this moment, the people in Shu Qin’s convoy saw Lin Xian’s train approaching and immediately began to push open the workshop’s large doors to allow the Infinity to enter.

“Quick! Come in, quick!”

Shu Qin stood at the entrance of the warehouse, holding a walkie-talkie and waving continuously at the approaching Infinity.

Whoosh, clank…

After the Infinity drove in, Shu Qin’s men quickly closed the large sliding doors again.

Bang.

The sound of the doors closing echoed in the spacious maintenance workshop.

“Are you guys okay?”

Shu Qin breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the Infinity drive in. The train doors opened, and Lin Xian and the others got out. His gaze swept across the area. All seven of Shu Qin’s vehicles were still there, but they were covered in black blood and many crow feathers. It seemed they had also had a perilous escape from the siege of the corpse crows last night.

“Why are you hiding here?” Lin Xian got out of the train and looked around. This was a large train hoisting workshop with a curved ceiling and an all-metal structure, which was quite sturdy.

Most of the thirty-odd people in Shu Qin’s convoy were still hiding in their vehicles.

“It’s a long story.” Shu Qin looked exhausted. “Last night, we came down from the Sky-Corridor. We were originally planning to not enter the city first, but to find a safe place to camp for the night and wait for you. Who knew that as soon as a large number of convoys left Jiazhou Spaceport, we were attacked by these strange birds. It was terrifying. Many cars crashed, so most people didn’t have time to stop and just rushed out of the city along the road. But these things fly very fast, so I don’t know how many people managed to escape.”

“We also found this place in the chaos. It was the commotion from the Silver Star and Dragon Mountain One behind us that attracted those strange birds, allowing us to luckily hold on until now.”

Lin Xian frowned. “Are these birds also around during the night?”

“They don’t distinguish between day and night,” a young man from Shu Qin’s convoy walked over with a terrified expression. “They’re everywhere in the sky. We saw those who died get eaten clean in the blink of an eye, not even bones were left. It was absolutely terrifying.”

“They eat people?” KIKI gasped. “No wonder we didn’t see a single zombie. They were all eaten!”

“That should be correct.”

Ding Junyi, wearing a pair of sterilized gloves, used tweezers to pick up a slowly writhing black nematode from the windshield of one of Shu Qin’s vehicles. She said calmly, “This thing even eats inorganic matter.”

She pointed to a tiny, almost invisible scratch on the windshield.

She had originally prepared a test tube, but seeing this, she switched to a thick metal box, placed the black nematode inside, and immediately took it back to the train to begin her analysis.

“That powerful!” Chen Sixuan was startled. “Does that mean the black worms on the crow’s face earlier were trying to devour our porthole?”

“That’s possible.”

Lin Xian looked at Shu Qin’s already battered cars, his expression grave. “But it seems those crows are extremely sensitive to sound, but have no sight. If that’s the case, it’s easier to handle.”

As he spoke, he looked back at KIKI. The girl’s ability was often too useful, saving them a lot of trouble.

“So what’s our plan now?”

“By the way,” Shu Qin turned around at this moment and pointed to the far end of the maintenance workshop. “We found this here. I don’t know if you can make use of it.”

On that track, a city passenger train and a freight train were parked. The heads of both trains were hoisted up on the maintenance platform for inspection, and they didn’t look too old.

Usually, at every major station, Lin Xian would look for usable cars or locomotives. He had paid special attention to the passenger transport center and the branch lines earlier. On the branch lines outside, there were many rusty oil tanker cars and decommissioned freight trains of various types. Many were overgrown with weeds, like a train graveyard.

These scrap vehicles were basically useless. Who knew that Shu Qin had found some good stuff for him here.

Not to mention the freight train, the main thing was that the city passenger train still had a clean white paint job. Excluding the locomotive, there were a total of five cars. The model wasn’t old, and the passenger facilities inside should be quite complete.

“Wow, what beautiful cars,” Shasha said.

“This is the original first-class passenger car. The configuration is very high, but…” Chen Sixuan looked at Lin Xian.

Lin Xian smiled. “But the skin is a bit thin, right?”

Hearing this, Shu Qin’s eyes flickered as she looked at Lin Xian. “Captain Lin, I’ve discussed it with my team members. If it’s possible, we’d like to join your train…”

After she finished speaking, Lin Xian saw many gazes turn toward him from all directions. Some were standing outside, others were hiding in their cars, all with a hint of anticipation in their eyes.

From the bonfire at Quguan to entering Yubei City from Daluo Mountain, Shu Qin’s Big Foot convoy had come all this way, and now only these few vehicles remained. There were still over thirty people in the cars. If they hadn’t allied with Xu Jin’s convoy and later followed the Infinity into the spaceport, they wouldn’t have made it this far.

Now, Xu Jin’s convoy still had over a hundred people, and Old Mo’s group was a collection of friends and family from several large families. Unlike Shu Qin, they weren’t in urgent need of a backer. Perhaps there would be another chance to ally after Lin Xian’s convoy grew stronger, but now they had all been scattered by the corpse crows of Jiazhou City. They could only see what fate had in store for them in the future.

“I said before, if we can make it across the Great Pillar Plateau alive, we’ll join together and form a fortress train to survive together. I wasn’t joking.”

Lin Xian looked at Shu Qin with a serious expression, not hesitating at all in the face of her request.

Hearing this, Chen Sixuan, KIKI, and the others’ expressions brightened, and a look of eagerness appeared in their eyes.

“Really?”

Shu Qin looked at Lin Xian in surprise, then said excitedly, “Thank you, Captain Lin.”

“Wow! Really? That’s great!” The people in Shu Qin’s convoy were ecstatic.

“Thank you so much.”

“We have new companions!!”

At this moment, a glimmer of hope seemed to appear in Shu Qin’s eyes. She turned to her team members and said, “From today on, our Big Foot convoy will officially merge with the Infinity team. Everyone, including me, will follow Captain Lin’s command!”

“Yes!”

“No problem!”

“Captain Lin, we’ll follow your arrangements.”