Chapter 174: Car Remodeling Complete

The external armor electric blade device was Lin Xian’s own idea. There was no blueprint; it was purely based on the principle of the GK03 electric knife. But with the power supply from the nuclear-powered locomotive, he could crudely attach this simple high-voltage blade device to the train’s armor.

When he had just re-armored the entire train, Lin Xian had already left a metal-inlaid ceramic groove between the flap plates and side plates of the steel plates. Now, he only needed to manufacture the body armor blades, embed them, and then connect the discharge modules.

It seemed simple, but Lin Xian thought the effect and power would not be bad. That electric knife could even cut through the defensive skin of an evolutionary-grade human-faced Aberration like Tang Hai. Even if an Aberration crashed into it, it would definitely be torn apart, if not killed.

Swish, swish, swish!

Silver electric blades, ten centimeters wide and several meters long, were created by Lin Xian section by section. Then, they were inlaid, fixed, and with the help of a few assistants, it took over an hour for Lin Xian to finally finish the installation, drenched in sweat.

Hiss~

The automatic door opened, and KIKI walked out excitedly. Seeing Lin Xian still busy, she couldn’t help but say, “Wow, you’ve worked hard, busy man.”

“I was the only one who rested on the Sky-Corridor. None of you slept, so of course I have more energy than you.”

After finishing the installation, Lin Xian said to KIKI.

KIKI looked at the long blades Lin Xian had installed and nodded with delight. “Is this the electric blade device you mentioned yesterday? You really made it.”

Lin Xian reminded her, “Just test the retraction and extension. Don’t turn on the power.”

“Got it~”

KIKI returned to car number two and operated the system. In an instant, a faint motor sound was heard. On the side wing plates of the Infinity, a circle of silver sharp blades slowly extended, their cold light glinting, sending a chill down one’s spine.

Lin Xian was very satisfied with this. “Not bad. Although it’s a bit simple, a cold weapon might have a miraculous effect at a critical moment.”

[Congratulations, your Mechanical Manufacturing has successfully upgraded to Level 3.]

A light screen flashed in front of him, and Lin Xian breathed a sigh of relief. He looked at the time; it was already 4 PM. He looked up and saw that the more than thirty vehicles of the Fireline convoy were still neatly parked on the roadside. The supplies on them had all been cleared by Shu Qin and her people.

“Let’s deal with these cars first.”

If they encountered trouble after dark, it would be a complete waste if they couldn’t take these dozens of cars with them. The train was mainly composed of passenger cars and didn’t have the flatbed trailers from before. Besides, it was useless to bring so many cars. It was better for him to decompose them into materials.

So Lin Xian took a bottle of water from the car and chugged a few mouthfuls, then began to devour the cars without stopping.

Besides the one heavy truck that had been driven away, there was still one left. Lin Xian walked to the side of the truck and started devouring it, beginning with the largest one.

[Devouring progress 1%]

A light screen appeared. Lin Xian calculated the time and found that it would take less than 20 minutes to finish devouring this heavy truck. In fact, his Mechanical Devouring had already reached level 3 in Yuchi. On the way from Daluo Mountain’s Underground City No. 9 to Yubei, he had only devoured his own Circinus 7F electric locomotive once, so his devouring level hadn’t improved much.

[Devouring successful. Mechanical Origin Points +20, Mechanical Devouring skill proficiency +10, additional reward: Strength +2]

[Decomposition: Obtained high-manganese steel *10, hot-rolled forged steel *10, cold-rolled dual-phase steel plate *5, ordinary carbon steel *20, non-metallic foam materials, non-metallic composite materials…]

“Phew~”

“A modified heavy truck only increases Mechanical Origin Points by 20. It seems to be about the same as the previous dump truck. Besides the engine, there are no too advanced mechanical structures.”

Without hesitation, except for leaving two armored off-road vehicles in better condition, all the other cars were devoured by Lin Xian one by one. Each car took about 5 minutes, and some were even faster.

As the sun was about to set, all thirty cars had been devoured by Lin Xian. The highway was empty, with only bloodstains and tire tracks left on the ground.

Lin Xian opened his Mechanical Heart panel.

[Current Mechanical Heart Level: LV.3 (565/5000)]

Strength Level: 3 [30%] (Burst 300 kg class)

Speed Level: 2 [40%] (Limit 13m/s)

Defense Level: 2 [26%] (Iron Bones)

[Mechanical Awakening]: Mechanic

[Awakening Skills]: Research Center, Preparation Factory

Mechanical Devouring: 3 (466/1000) Increases devouring efficiency

Mechanical Manufacturing: 3 (10/1000) Increases construction efficiency

Mechanical Passive: Scan/Repair/Decompose

[Special Skills]

Wind Cannon (Common) (Level 3, Maxed)

Ice Shield (Common) (Level 2, 09%)

Flashback (Rare) (Level 1, 30%)

Power Surge (Rare) (Level 1, 23%)

[Notice: The VoG grenade launcher blueprint is undergoing an upgrade research. 3:15:34]

Devouring the cars had increased his Mechanical Origin Points by a total of 320, and his Mechanical Devouring proficiency had also increased by 160. In terms of attributes, his strength had accumulated 20 points, speed 15 points, and defense 18 points.

What surprised Lin Xian was that after so much devouring, he hadn’t obtained a single skill.

“Speaking of which, I don’t think I’ve ever gotten a skill from devouring cars?”

Lin Xian frowned as he looked at the panel. “The Wind Cannon is also maxed out. My means are becoming fewer and fewer. It seems I need to find a way to speed up my progress in mechanical combat.”

At this moment, as night approached, the external assembly work of the train was basically complete. More people meant faster work, and his mechanical Esper ability was also ridiculously efficient for remodeling.

Currently, the armor plates, sentinel surveillance, and electric blade armor for all 12 cars had been installed. The automatic blast-proof doors for cars No. 11 and 5, and the rooftop lifting platforms for cars No. 5 and 2 were also completed. Only the internal water and oxygen circulation pipes were still being worked on. In the living cars, many convoy members were still busy organizing their small homes.

Besides these, the only things left were the machine gun turret on the roof, the 1130 close-in weapon system in car No. 12, and the PX-05 robot. There were also the two intercity train locomotives and several material cars that the Infinity was towing.

However, Lin Xian planned to work on these on the train, prioritizing safety.

Beep, beep.

The watch’s notification sounded. Lin Xian took a deep breath, wiped the sweat from his face, and immediately gathered everyone to board the train.

Night was falling!

Hiss~

The heavy cockpit door, and the blast-proof automatic doors of cars No. 5 and 11 slowly closed. People were busy on the train, all waiting for the arrival of night.

“You’ve worked hard.”

In the cockpit, Chen Sixuan saw Lin Xian walk in and immediately said, “This should be our first night in the Yunjian Plain.”

Vroom~

Lin Xian started the train and nodded. “Daylight will come earlier. I just hope there’s less trouble at night.”

“Are you planning to reach Hengshan Pass tonight?”

“Yes, it’s a large transit station with multiple branch lines. We don’t need to change our route. If the situation is clear, we can rest there for a while. The weapon station hasn’t been built yet, and I’m still a little worried.” Lin Xian looked at Chen Sixuan. “A place like a transit station should have a lot of trains, supplies, and machinery. We have the manpower now, so we should collect what we can. We can’t find much to eat in the wild.”

Chen Sixuan nodded. As the train gradually picked up speed, she said, “What do you think about the group hunting effect that Zhou Yixuan mentioned during the day?”

“It’s possible. I actually had similar guesses before.” Lin Xian took a deep breath, sat in the driver’s seat, and looked at the gradually darkening sky ahead. “Before we entered Daluo Mountain, I didn’t have this idea at all. I just felt that the appearance of Aberrations in the night was too abrupt, as if the night was some kind of spatial overlap. As soon as night fell, they would suddenly appear. Or maybe, they are in a higher dimension and can see us during the day, but we can’t see them…”

This thought had been lingering in Lin Xian’s mind ever since he accidentally saw that corrupted demon on frequency 1542.

These Aberrations didn’t seem to come from some kind of nest. If he had to name a nest, it would probably be the Starry Abysses that were undergoing the dark tide.

Chen Sixuan was surprised by his idea and frowned. “If that’s true, it would be too terrifying.”

“It’s possible that it’s simply because of the large gathering of people in Yubei City that triggered so many Aberration attacks. It’s also possible that these Aberrations were the hunters who were previously chasing those survivor convoys, and they all came out after entering the night in Yubei City?”

Lin Xian shrugged. “After entering Yubei Spaceport, I originally thought I was wrong. After all, after nightfall, so many survivors gathered together, but those Aberrations didn’t appear directly at the spaceport. But now that I hear them talk about the group hunting effect, I’m starting to think it might make sense.”

“If that’s the case…” Chen Sixuan took a deep breath and looked at the time on the train’s screen. At this moment, there were still a few minutes until dark.

Then she looked at the long, dark corridor behind the train and said, “We’ve expanded our team now, so the danger…”

“Is also about to escalate.”