Chapter 168: The Goal

“If you choose to get on the train, then all the vehicles here will be devoured and recycled by me. In other words, there is no turning back.”

Lin Xian’s words suddenly interrupted everyone’s thoughts.

Whether they were weighing the pros and cons, pondering the group hunting effect, affected by the tragic state of the Fireline convoy, or worried about being abandoned or used as cannon fodder…

At this moment, they all turned their gazes to the heavy black armored train behind Lin Xian. The thick armored grilles still had many dried pieces of flesh on them, and the sides of the mechanical wheels were covered with dark brown bloodstains.

The dense bullet marks, the holes torn by the claws and mouthparts of the white behemoth and the giant centipede, and the huge dents left by the tentacles of the Atmospheric Cloud Jellyfish all testified to the tragic journey out of the darkness.

“That’s right, cowards are not allowed on the Infinity!”

A childish voice came through. Shasha, with her small face held high, broke the silence of the scene. When everyone saw the little girl’s spirited look, their expressions changed slightly.

Seeing Shasha, Miao Lu stood up, unwilling to be outdone. “We are not cowards!”

Lü Chang also said with an excited expression, “That’s right, Captain Lin, we’re with you!”

“Captain Lin, we’re waiting for your orders. We’ll move the supplies from these dozens of cars onto the Infinity right now!”

“The person Sister Qin approves of can’t be wrong.”

“Exactly, exactly.”

“Please let us join. We won’t be deserters!”

The desolate atmosphere was broken at this moment. Lin Xian looked at Shu Qin and said loudly, “Count the number of people. We’ll get ready and board the train tonight.”

Shu Qin nodded and looked at Lin Xian. “Thank you, Captain Lin!”

She looked at Lin Xian, her eyes full of complexity and gratitude. For a team like Lin Xian’s, full of Espers, accepting them was, at least for now, more of a disadvantage than an advantage.

Although there were a few people in her team with good combat skills, and she herself had a certain level of combat power, most of the others had not yet shown much combat strength. Besides being able to help with some logistical work, they couldn’t be of much help for the time being.

Hearing Lin Xian’s words, everyone felt a surge of morale! Excitement was written all over their faces.

“Lin Xian,” Chen Sixuan looked at everyone at this moment. Seeing that their enthusiasm had been mobilized, she consciously asked Lin Xian, “What’s our next step?”

Lin Xian nodded. At this moment, everyone’s eyes were on him. He began to speak.

“Currently, besides the survivors hiding in place, there are basically three choices for the whole world. First, follow the Starry Abyss situation and path announced by the Phoenix Society and flee the polar night. In this process, they will either gradually converge or be accepted by the rescue points dispatched by the Phoenix Society in various places. No matter what, the final goal is to follow the Dawn Center and flee to a wider area to obtain living space.”

“Second, is to gather in some large shelters or main cities to form pockets of resistance, such as Star City.”

“Are there still people going to Star City? Aren’t they afraid of being enslaved by the Federation?” KIKI immediately asked upon hearing this.

“There are,” Shu Qin said at this moment. “Actually, many survivors don’t have much direction. As the capital of the Dragon Country, Star City was the first destination for many people when Apocalypse Day descended, because Star City has very strong city defenses. Moreover, the Phoenix Society’s guidance is more of a general direction of escape. Many displaced people yearn for a stable place to settle down, so even if it means hiding in the sewers, many people will desperately try to get in.”

Lin Xian nodded. Shu Qin was not wrong. After Apocalypse Day, information was scarce. Many survivors didn’t even have a dark radio. Running to big cities or shelters was just an instinct to seek group protection.

Just like the Underground City No. 9 they had been to before, a doomsday shelter plan that was never announced on the internet and was just a rumor, had attracted tens of thousands of refugee convoys to drive toward Daluo Mountain.

Lin Xian still felt shocked when he thought of the tens of kilometers of cars buried under the blizzard.

“What about the third?” KIKI asked.

“The third is what Director Ding mentioned before, the polar ice caps,” Lin Xian took a deep breath and said. “Since most people believe that is the last safe place, there must be people who set their sights on the polar regions from the very beginning. It’s just that it’s currently in a period of polar night. In four months, whether they are hibernating or wandering, they will all desperately run there.”

Lu Xingchen nodded. “That makes sense. What about us? Are we also going to the polar regions?”

Lin Xian shook his head.

Lu Xingchen frowned slightly. “Not to the polar regions, but still following the Phoenix Society’s guidance?”

“Didn’t I tell you we’re going to run along the Circinus Line?” KIKI glanced at Lu Xingchen. “Of course, we’ll continue east along the track, right, Lin Xian?”

Lin Xian smiled but didn’t say anything.

“Neither?” KIKI became anxious. “Hey, you’re not thinking of going to Star City, are you?”

“What are you thinking?” Lin Xian took a deep breath and looked at everyone, saying in a deep voice, “Before we crossed Yubei City, my thought was always to enter the Circinus Line and flee east. But now, my thoughts have changed a little.”

Chen Sixuan looked at him. “Are we not taking the Circinus Line anymore?”

“No.”

Lin Xian said loudly, “When I say I’ve changed my mind, I’m not talking about changing the route, the mode of transport, or the destination…”

Everyone was confused. Lin Xian looked around and said slowly, “We’ve been to Underground City No. 9, an underground defense project that cost trillions. But underground, there are even larger subterranean creatures that devoured 360,000 people overnight.”

“In the sky, the Iron Guard Brigade’s powerful Warhawk gunships and Lightning fighters, even the sky city Qingluan, couldn’t escape the fate of crashing…”

“Entering Yubei City, the more people who fled, the more monsters there were. This world seems to have become a huge hunting ground, and those hunters are hiding in the darkness, turning us humans into prey.”

“I’ve told the team before that I will definitely use my mechanical Esper ability to make the train fly into the high sky. This goal has not changed. I also said that if we are destined to not escape the night, it’s better to start preparing for the worst now.”

“This point is the same as the Phoenix Society’s goal.”

“That is, in the process of chasing the dawn, to obtain the power to defeat the darkness!”

Lin Xian’s words suddenly shook everyone’s hearts.

In the grand background of Apocalypse Day, everyone was frantically fleeing, every day was for survival, for seeing a new sun.

But the Phoenix Society’s doomsday broadcast also said that Blue Star would enter a global night in 1 year and 96 days, and this polar night would last for more than 571 years.

If the whole world was destined to not escape the fate of destruction, such an escape would be very negative and torturous for the survivors’ spirit and mentality.

Without a safe destination, without a harbor to dock at, after barely surviving for 1 year and 96 days, what awaited them was still death.

Fleeing with such despair was equivalent to slow suicide.

In fact, this was also one of the reasons why the old Federation government had been insisting on the underground city plan. In a war where no dawn of victory could be seen, only a few people’s faith and will could be relied on.

After experiencing the events at Yubei Spaceport, Lin Xian felt extremely oppressed and heavy.

“If the sacrifice of the Iron Guard 52nd Brigade can only be exchanged for these twenty thousand people to barely live for 1 year and 96 days, it’s almost meaningless. Those young soldiers who died for us must have believed that we who survived would one day be able to defeat the darkness.”

Lin Xian said as he looked at Shu Qin, “Shu Qin, you probably never thought that you could now fight those monsters with your bare hands and become so strong, right?”

Shu Qin was slightly stunned upon hearing this, then nodded.

“And these people…”

Lin Xian looked at the others. “Whether we are Espers or not, we are constantly evolving every day we survive. There are also many people like us who are resisting all over the world. This is our opportunity.”

“So our next goal is not to flee for the sake of fleeing, but to find every opportunity in this process to improve and strengthen ourselves, so that one day we can face the night. If at that time we can defeat the night, then is the polar night still the end of the world for us?”

As soon as he said this, everyone’s eyes widened. Chen Sixuan, Lu Xingchen, Shasha, and KIKI all had a feeling of sudden realization. Even Da Lou nodded repeatedly.

“That’s right!” KIKI crossed her arms and looked at Lin Xian with a surprised expression. “As long as we can survive in the dark, it doesn’t seem to matter if the whole world is swallowed by darkness.”

Chen Sixuan also nodded. “Now that you mention it, the countdown of 1 year and 96 days doesn’t seem so scary anymore.”

“Hmm, that makes sense.”

Screech!

A ball of flame ignited in Lu Xingchen’s palm. “This god’s flame will illuminate the endless long night!”

Shu Qin looked at Lin Xian with a relaxed expression, the fatigue on her face seeming to have faded a little. “Such a goal sounds more motivating than an endless escape for survival.”

“Then Captain Lin, what’s our next step now?”

Lin Xian’s eyes lifted slightly, looking at this empty station, the two trains brought from Jiazhou City, and the more than thirty cars parked on the highway.

The sun was bright, and a gentle breeze was blowing.

“Such a good place, of course, it’s for refitting the train!”