Chapter 216: Business is Booming

Hengshan Pass was the first major transportation hub city after crossing the Great Pillar Mountains and entering the Yunjiang Plain. It was much larger than Jiazhou City. Due to its unique geographical location, one could go north to Xilan, pass through Star Abyss No. 4 and No. 5 to reach Quancheng. The southern route led to Qingshui, Lancheng, and Haidong, bypassing Star Abyss No. 7 and No. 8. Heading directly east was the main ring-star rail line, which ran along the outskirts of the Parma Prairie, through the Wei River and Longjiang, all the way to Jinhai and Star City—the former capital of the Dragon Country, now renamed Dawn City by the Federation government.

The train sped along the boundless plain. The sky was bright, with no high mountains in the distance. Along the tracks, some zombies began to appear. They were no longer ‘fresh’—withered and putrid, they were drawn by the sound and ran towards the tracks.

As they neared the city, the surrounding buildings became more numerous. KIKI wasn’t idle; she launched a drone to survey the situation.

In the other carriages, Shu Qin, Da Lou, and the others also began to prepare. Zombies had appeared sporadically on the way, and there would certainly be more inside the city. Coupled with other unknown factors, the entire train was ready for battle.

Inside the city, skyscrapers gradually increased, like a forest of reinforced concrete, looking desolate under the sunlight.

The black rain had not yet reached the Yunjiang Plain. The long-abandoned city streets were overgrown with green plants. Vines climbed up low-rise buildings, and even some animals darted through the streets blocked by abandoned cars. All sorts of ragged zombies roamed about, attracted by the vibration of the rails, letting out low howls.

Various signs were covered in dust. It was as if without people, the roads and facilities aged extremely quickly, and the railings began to rust.

Inside the Infinity’s carriages, many team members pressed against the windows, looking at this unfamiliar city. Unlike the zombie-infested Yubei City, Hengshan Pass was like any ordinary city on the escape route, reminding Lin Xian of Jiang City.

“This place doesn’t look very populated.”

The sun was bright. KIKI observed the urban jungle outside and commented.

“Are you expecting to see survivors sunbathing on the rooftops?” Lin Xian retorted.

KIKI stretched. “Honestly, after running in the dark for so long, this nice weather is really perfect for sunbathing.”

Lin Xian didn’t comment, but stood up. “We’re almost at Hengshan Pass station. Get ready.”

“You got it, boss.”

Clang, clang~

The Hengshan Pass train station was an elevated platform built high above the city, making it a natural shelter. However, from the looks of it, the station had already fallen. The strange thing was, there wasn’t a single zombie, as if they had all been cleared out beforehand.

The black heavy train sped across the city’s elevated tracks and soon approached a large passenger station. There was a Ring-Star Passenger Transport Center here. When Lin Xian looked from the cockpit, his expression immediately sharpened. Inside the station, many survivor vehicles were parked, along with a green, somewhat dilapidated doomsday train covered in steel armor plates.

That train had many firing ports. It wasn’t very long, but it was reinforced with numerous armor grilles. Although not a standard construction, it looked quite sturdy. The locomotive was a Ring-Star Mining series model equipped with a small nuclear engine. It was still a bit inferior to the Infinity’s Gemini nuclear-powered locomotive, but owning a doomsday train with such a perpetual energy source was already very impressive.

Lin Xian glanced over. There seemed to be a lot of people on that train. Before even entering the station, Lin Xian observed several glints of light from the high points of the station. He looked closer and saw quite a few people standing on the steel frame of the station roof, looking this way with binoculars.

“So many people. Could they be convoys stranded here because of the Aberration that appeared in the Parma Prairie?”

Chen Sixuan’s eyesight was extremely sharp. She saw at a glance that dozens of vehicles of all sizes were parked on the platform inside the station—motorcycles, off-road vehicles, jeeps, and vans. At the same time, many survivors were gathered in groups of three or five, as if waiting for something.

Lin Xian quipped, “Think of it another way. Maybe they’re all waiting for us?”

With the appearance of the Infinity, those people began to turn their gazes towards the station entrance. The machine gun turret on the green doomsday train also began to turn, seemingly on guard against the Infinity’s arrival. Everyone watched as a black heavy train, wrapped in a strong wind, entered the station.

On the station’s tracks and platform, a large number of cleared zombie corpses still lay on the ground.

“They’re here, they’re here. It should be this train.”

“Is it called the Infinity?”

“Everyone, be careful. It’s so cheap, it might be a trap.”

“Everyone fall back, find cover first!”

The various survivor groups became noisy. Watching the train enter the station, they all began to retreat behind their vehicles. Some got back into their cars. The long period of flight had made these survivors extremely cautious, not only when facing the night, but also when facing other unfamiliar convoys.

On the green train, many men and women looked on guard, most of them holding guns. The atmosphere was somewhat tense.

Hearing the whispers, Lin Xian was also a little surprised. He hadn’t expected a single radio broadcast to attract so many survivor convoys. It seemed that a gun plus 120 bullets for a box of biscuits was indeed a very good deal.

However, Lin Xian wasn’t losing out. Besides what he had collected from Tang Hai, he had also obtained a large number of firearms from the Fireline and Vajra convoys. It could be said that the train had more guns than bullets. All in all, according to Teacher Chen’s inventory, there were at least over a hundred. And if that wasn’t enough, he could manufacture more directly on the train.

Seeing so many people, Lin Xian was still somewhat on guard. Apart from the bonfire mutual aid meeting organized by Jiang Yun, this was only the second time he had participated in a survivor trade gathering, and he was the one who initiated it.

Screech~

Under the gazes of the dozens of survivor groups, the Infinity slowly came to a stop on the main track platform, the steel wheels letting out a whine against the rails.

Lin Xian walked towards the window. Chen Sixuan, behind him, called out, “Be careful. I see some are convoys that were already stationed here, and some seem to have come specifically for this.”

“It means the message we sent through the radio worked.”

Lin Xian nodded to her. “Don’t be afraid. We initiated this to seek cooperation. This kind of interaction with other teams will definitely be common in the future. While being on guard, we can also try to make contact.”

Since leaving Jiang City, apart from Jiang Yun’s group, he and Chen Sixuan had mostly encountered ruffian convoys that shot on sight. It was no wonder Chen Sixuan was so cautious now. In fact, Lin Xian was the same.

However, being constantly timid was not a solution. Sometimes, proactively displaying strength was also a way to make others ‘stay friendly’.

Moreover, he didn’t want his mechanical Esper ability to be limited to just manufacturing things internally. It was also very necessary to use it to generate value, obtain survival supplies, and even needed intelligence or equipment.

“Mmm.” Chen Sixuan nodded.

Lin Xian lowered the window, his gaze sweeping over the numerous vehicles on the platform, and spoke in a clear, loud voice.

“We are the Infinity Convoy. Are you all here to trade for supplies?”

As his voice fell, a middle-aged man in a hat walked out from behind a car and shouted, “How many guns and bullets do you have? Besides biscuits, can we trade for other things?”

There were four or five convoys of various sizes using this station as a temporary shelter, including the one with the green train. In addition, there were more than a dozen survivor convoys that had clearly rushed here from other areas. Each convoy had only sent two or three people. At this moment, there were at least fifty or sixty people visible on the platform. It was clear that there were quite a few survivor convoys in the vicinity of Hengshan Pass.

“Is it really one box of biscuits for a set of guns?” The window of the green train’s cockpit opened, and a shrewd-looking fat man poked his head out, sizing up Lin Xian with a scrutinizing gaze. “Don’t you try to fool us. There are so many people here. If you can’t produce the goods, we won’t accept it, right?!”

“Right!”

“That’s it!”

“Don’t you dare lie to us!”

…

Lin Xian heard this and replied loudly, “Don’t worry, we have plenty of weapons. We mainly want to trade for some living supplies. Food and medicine are both fine. Blood essences are no problem either.”

Hearing this, some survivors began to walk out.

“I heard you can also repair machinery. Can you fix anything?” a woman carrying a rifle asked.

“Are you going to Star City? Can you take more people on your train? We can provide supplies.”

“Can you repair cars?”

“What kind of water purifier is it? Does it meet the level 2 purification standard?”

“Do you have the latest Spirit Oscillation Value detector?”

The crowd started asking questions one after another, as if they were treating the Infinity as a mobile general store.

Lin Xian waved his hand to interrupt the crowd and said directly, “Repairs can only be done here. I need to see the situation. As for water purifiers, we have both level 1 and level 2 standards. However, we don’t have the latest Spirit Oscillation Value detector, only the first generation released by the Phoenix Society. Also, we are not going to Star City.”

He wasn’t deliberately lying. When Lin Xian said he was going to Star City, he meant finding a way to sneak in quietly, not driving the train in grandly. Even if he disregarded the internal risks of the train and just took passengers, he would still have to deliver them to their destination. He couldn’t just drop them off halfway.

After speaking, Lin Xian directly opened the door and got out. At the same time, the automatic door of car number 5 opened, and Da Lou, Lu Chang, and others led the way, carrying out weapon crates made by Lin Xian.

When the crowd saw Da Lou’s imposing figure, the Roarer K23 electric rotary machine gun on his back, and another team member behind him also carrying one, their eyes all narrowed. The initial shock turned into envy and desire.

The fat man on the green train, named Cao Hong, was the captain of that convoy, which was called the “Night Charm.” As the name suggested, there were many women on the train. Seeing this scene, his expression also changed, and he hurriedly called to his men, “Quick, quick, get out and take a look.”

Lin Xian walked forward, placed one foot on a weapon crate, and said magnanimously, “Automatic rifles, VoG grenade launchers, M556 light machine guns, shotguns, 12.7mm vehicle-mounted machine cannons, rocket launchers—I have them all here. I have plenty of other equipment too, depending on your needs.”

“Just as we announced on the radio: an automatic rifle with 120 rounds for a box of biscuits or half a box of canned food. A grenade launcher with 12 grenades for two boxes of biscuits and one box of canned food. A light machine gun with 500 rounds for 4 boxes of biscuits or two boxes of canned food. A rocket launcher for two boxes of canned food, a machine cannon for four boxes of canned food…”

Based on the value of goods Lin Xian had traded with other convoys at Qu Pass, the value of weapons was generally higher than energy and food. After all, they were important life-saving tools and the primary need for most ordinary people.

One level-one blood essence could be exchanged for three Spark-26 fully automatic tactical rifles plus ammunition, and at the same time, it could be exchanged for food for 10 people for 5 days. This meant that one automatic rifle with 120 rounds was worth at least food for 10 people for nearly 1.5 days, which was at least a case of 20 cans of food, or two boxes of biscuits. So Lin Xian’s price was basically half off.

At this moment, Lin Xian was like a nouveau riche, starting to sell off his old belongings. These things were not of high value to him now, and he didn’t feel bad about trading them away.

He also knew that as humanity continued to evolve, the value of low-end weapons would become lower and lower, and the importance of food would begin to surpass weapons.

As soon as his voice fell, the eyes of the survivor convoy members in front of him lit up, and they swarmed forward.

“I have canned food and biscuits, and jerky too~”

“Our convoy needs a lot of weapons…”

Whoosh~

At this moment, the middle-aged man who had spoken first directly pulled open the back of his van. Inside were several large boxes of collected supplies: various foods, canned goods, and even dried rats and lizards. There was even a large glass jar filled with a gray-brown paste made from ground-up cockroaches, with a few cockroach wings stuck to the edge of the jar.

“We’ll take the vehicle-mounted machine cannon and that light machine gun. See if this is enough. If not, we have other stock at our temporary camp. We can add to the price.”

“Hey! What do you mean?” At this moment, Cao Hong from the Night Charm convoy squeezed through the crowd with a few people. Seeing this, he was immediately displeased. “What do you mean you’ll take them all? No one else has spoken yet. If he wants to raise the price, I can raise the price too. That light machine gun, I’ll trade three boxes of canned food for it!”

The man in the hat was clearly from a large convoy, but he wasn’t intimidated by the fat man from the train convoy at all. He said arrogantly, “Brother, there’s a first-come, first-served rule in everything, right? I saw it first, I bid first. Is there a problem?”

“Oh, first-come, first-served is fine, but it depends on whether he’s selling. The highest bidder gets it, right? How about I offer three boxes?” Cao Hong felt he was losing face and got worked up.

“Then I’ll offer four boxes. And I’ll throw in a jar of secret-recipe flavored cockroach oil.”

“Then we can add two bags of crispy bedbug chips!” At this moment, the heavily armed women next to Cao Hong also chimed in.

*Gag~*

KIKI and Shasha had been standing behind Lin Xian with great interest, watching to see what delicious food they could trade for. Hearing about the secret-recipe flavored cockroach oil, their faces immediately turned green, and they almost threw up.

Shu Qin and the others also had colorful expressions. In fact, they were not unfamiliar with these things. But now that they were on the Infinity, their conditions had improved dramatically. Not only could they eat two meals a day, but they also had canned food or starchy foods. It could be said to be a luxury in the apocalypse.

—

*Please vote for me, I would be very grateful.*