Chapter Ten: The Strange White Creature
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Lin Xian furrowed his brows and immediately held his breath.
Click~ Click~
The sound drew closer. It was somewhat muffled, and his heart gave a jolt. It did not sound like any kind of zombie.
It sounded more like a crutch or wooden stick tapping against loose gravel.
He slowly opened his eyes, unsure whether the light in them could be detected. Yet when he looked around, he found nothing. Before him was still only the blurred black outline of a small truck.
He turned around. The Infinite stood silently on the railway tracks. Even Chen Sixuan inside had made no sound, perhaps because night had fallen. He had no idea whether she was asleep.
Everything was utterly silent.
Unease gripped Lin Xian. He was certain that he had heard something, and his keen sixth sense told him that some kind of entity was “watching” him.
At that thought, his heart rose into his throat, and he anxiously activated Mechanical Devour.
Faster! Faster!
The relaxed feeling he had possessed that afternoon while moving furniture in the furniture mall was long gone. He remembered Old Man Li from the previous night, and his entire body turned cold. He wished he could return to the train at once.
[Devouring progress: 98%]
Almost! Almost!
Although it had taken nearly an hour and a half, as long as he succeeded, it would all be worth it.
[Devouring successful. Mechanical source points +30. Mechanical Devour proficiency +10. Additional reward: Strength and Speed increased by 5; Defense increased by 2.]
[Congratulations. Your Speed attribute has increased to Level 1, 3/50.]
A flash of light appeared before him. Looking at the surge in his mechanical source points, Lin Xian finally let out a sigh of relief.
As his Speed attribute rose, his vision blurred for a moment, then sharpened again.
Gradually, he discovered that his sight had become clearer and brighter.
Whoosh!
The moment the devouring was complete, the entire small truck suddenly turned to ash. Various loose objects on it clattered onto the ground, creating a disturbance. At that moment, Lin Xian suddenly heard a deep buzzing sound coming from above.
Hrrrrng~
The sound was extraordinarily strange, like the damaged whistle of a steamship echoing through a rusted iron pipe.
It sounded neither human nor mechanical.
A chill immediately ran down Lin Xian’s back. He jerked his head up—and saw a terrifying sight that nearly scared his soul out of his body.
A gray-white humanoid creature, fully three meters tall, had appeared beside him at some unknown point. Its body was long and thin, and its two arms hung almost to its knees. On its grotesquely shaped head was a scarlet maw, while its two round eyes were completely blood-red. With its head lowered, it stared fixedly at Lin Xian.
The creature had apparently been standing beside him for quite some time. Only the commotion caused by the truck’s disappearance had drawn its attention. Realizing this, Lin Xian felt his scalp prickle and his heart pound with terror.
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Hrrrrng~
Another deep, hollow roar rang out. The gray-white monster suddenly raised one of its long arms, its five fingers resembling five steel spears as they viciously clawed toward Lin Xian.
Lin Xian’s pupils contracted. He abruptly drew in a deep breath.
If that claw caught him, he would be skewered like meat on a spit!
Fortunately, his Speed attribute had just risen by one level. His agility now far exceeded his own understanding of his body. Before the white claws could reach him, he had already instinctively retreated a step.
Clang!
A piercing clash of metal rang out. The white monster’s claws struck the railway track, sending sparks flying and producing a harsh scraping sound. Lin Xian’s heart pounded as he raised his hand and fired a Wind Cannon straight at the monster’s head.
Thud!
A muffled impact sounded. The monster’s lofty head seemed to have been struck by something, and its body tilted as it staggered several steps backward.
Lin Xian was stunned. Its hide was this hard? The Wind Cannon had failed to pierce it at all!
Realizing the gravity of the situation, Lin Xian did not hesitate for even a moment. He sprinted into the Infinite while simultaneously activating the Mechanical Heart. As the hydraulic tailgate rose, he started the train moving forward.
The lights came on. Startled by the commotion, Chen Sixuan called out to him from Carriage One.
“Student Lin, what happened?”
“Quick! Go to the cab and watch the track for me!”
“All right!”
Seeing Lin Xian frantically trying to shut the door, Chen Sixuan immediately realized that they were in danger. Without hesitation, she turned and ran into the cab.
Whirr~
The hydraulic tailgate slowly began to close. For the first time, Lin Xian felt that it was closing far too slowly.
Sure enough, when the door was only halfway shut, a gray-white giant hand suddenly seized the tailgate. The black nails on those dreadful fingers dug into the steel, instantly leaving several deep dents.
“What incredible strength!”
Lin Xian’s eyes widened. Bathed in the light from inside the carriage, he could finally see the monster outside clearly.
Its grotesquely shaped head bore only two red holes for eyes, deep as abysses. Below them was a bloody maw occupying half its face, packed with dense, razor-sharp teeth that made his scalp crawl.
This was definitely not a zombie!
Lin Xian’s first thought was that this thing could not possibly be a dead human infected and mutated. It was simply not a creature of this world!
“Damn you!”
In his panic, Lin Xian had no time to dwell on his fear. He hardened his resolve, drew his short blade, leaped forward, and brought it down upon the gray-white giant hand.
Clang!
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What answered him was not the satisfying sensation of flesh being cleaved, but steel-like hardness. The force of the blow numbed the web between his thumb and forefinger.
Seeing the notch in his short blade, Lin Xian sucked in a cold breath.
Damn, it’s that hard!
Hrrrrng~
The white giant seemed to move slowly. One hand still gripped the tailgate, but the immense force of the moving train dragged it down with a crash. It was pulled along the railway tracks by the Infinite.
Apparently enraged, it raised its other hand and reached toward the entire carriage.
Screech! Screech! Screech!
Dragged by the tremendous force, the wheels of Carriage Three shrieked against the rails as sparks flew in every direction.
The moment Lin Xian saw what it was doing, his heart began to race. The creature possessed tremendous strength and was impervious to blades and weapons. If it overturned the train and sent it off the tracks, he would surely die here today.
He made his decision at once. Raising a finger and gathering all his strength, he aimed at one of the monster’s blood-red eyes and fired another Wind Shot.
Thud!
This time, with the aid of the carriage lights, the Wind Shot struck perfectly. Dark-red blood sprayed from the monster’s left eye, staining its pallid face red. The blood slowly trickled into its mouth, and the giant monster immediately let out a shrill, agonized howl.
“Ahhh!”
The cry was high-pitched and piercing. The hairs on Lin Xian’s body stood on end, and it nearly ruptured his eardrums.
Under the force of Lin Xian’s attack, the monster’s hand slipped from the tailgate. At last, Carriage Three’s tailgate slowly closed with black smoke billowing from it.
Bang, bang~
The train gradually picked up speed.
Lin Xian immediately rose to look outside. With no lights beyond the train, the white giant vanished into the darkness in the blink of an eye.
Hoo~
Only then did Lin Xian finally relax. He collapsed onto the floor, staring dazedly at the three savage claw marks gouged into the tailgate before him.
This was the first time in several months that he had encountered something so terrifying.
“If the entire Polar Night is filled with things like that, then damn…”
He murmured to himself. At that moment, he finally experienced the terror of the night firsthand.
Escape!
He had to escape the Dark Tide of the Star Abyss.
The previous night, there had been the monstrous insects that controlled human corpses. Today, there was the white giant. No one knew what other abominations might lurk in the darkness. Any survivors who hoped to live in the dark were simply indulging in delusions.
The only path left for humanity was to escape the tide—to escape the Polar Night.
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