Chapter 29: Insect Corpses
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Clang~ Clang!
The carriage fell silent once more.
Lin Xian gritted his teeth and looked up. To his horror, the enormous mandible was still embedded in the armored grille. His heart tightened, and he hurriedly turned to look back. The metal coupler, like a thick fishing line, dragged half of the giant insect’s tail along the tracks, leaving behind a shocking trail. The tail had long since been torn to pieces, its flesh a bloody mess.
“Is it dead?!”
At that moment, KIKI finally lowered her hands and abruptly raised her head. However, because she moved too quickly, her head struck Lin Xian squarely beneath the chin.
Bang!
The crisp impact echoed through the carriage.
“Ow~” KIKI cried out in pain, instinctively clutching her head with both hands.
“Damn!” The collision left Lin Xian dizzy as well. Holding his chin, he grimaced and cried out in pain.
Neither of them had time to confirm whether the giant insect was truly dead. Each simply held the injured part and groaned.
“That hurt like hell, you jerk!” KIKI glared at him and pouted.
“Is your head made of iron?!” Lin Xian roared.
There was no time to bicker with the little brat. Enduring the pain, he rose to his feet and looked at the motionless insect corpse outside the carriage. Only then did half of the tension leave his heart.
To make certain, he began slowing down gradually. Knife in hand, he cautiously made his way to the rear of the train and leaned out to look. The insect’s body, which had been clinging to one side of the train, had been ground down until only a layer of skin over its abdomen and a dense mass of claws remained. Half of the corpse had even been torn away and snagged on the coupler.
Screech!
Lin Xian slowly brought the Infinite to a halt.
“It really is dead!” Seeing Lin Xian stop the train, KIKI stood up excitedly, rubbing her head as she hurried over. But when she saw the fragments of insect flesh scattered across the ground, her face immediately turned green, and she retched. “That bug is disgusting!”
Lin Xian turned to look at KIKI, his gaze carrying a trace of wariness.
Unexpectedly, a thin stream of bright-red blood began to trickle from both of KIKI’s nostrils. She paid it no attention. When she noticed Lin Xian looking at her, she casually wiped the blood away, lifted her little chin, and stared at him smugly.
“Well? I told you keeping me around would be useful.”
“You know how to use your ability now?”
“I think so…”
“When did you figure it out?”
“I used it just now to save you.” KIKI blinked. “See? I told you I’m actually a good person.”
As she spoke, a great deal more blood poured from her nose. Her face had turned an alarming shade of white.
“It’s strange, though,” she said, looking at Lin Xian. “After using it just once, my head started hurting, and I feel really dizzy…”
Lin Xian understood that she had exhausted too much of her energy. He grew serious as well. Glancing at the rear bulkhead, he found a towel and tossed it to KIKI, telling her to wipe the blood from her face.
“Is everyone all right?”
After the train stopped, Chen Sixuan hurried over, still shaken. But when she saw the devastation in Carriage Three, she immediately began retching as well.
The insect corpse gave off a foul, nauseating stench. Even the strongest-willed person could not help but frown at the sight.
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Lin Xian looked at Chen Sixuan. He had to admit that Teacher Chen was far more intelligent than he had imagined. In that moment of crisis, she had been the one to come up with a way to deal with the situation.
“We owe this to you,” Lin Xian said seriously.
Chen Sixuan avoided his gaze and replied somewhat awkwardly, “It didn’t really have anything to do with me.”
“How could it not? If it weren’t for your idea, I really wouldn’t have known how to deal with that monster.”
“Hey!” KIKI planted both hands on her hips, looking deeply offended. “Why is no one thanking me?”
As she spoke, another trickle of blood ran from her nose.
Lin Xian frowned. Seeing that something was wrong with her complexion, he asked, “How do you feel?”
“I…”
Before she could finish, KIKI’s eyes narrowed, and her entire body swayed as she collapsed toward Lin Xian. Her small face pressed against his chest. Before losing consciousness, she suddenly reached out and grabbed his arm, whispering weakly,
“Don’t… don’t throw me off the train…”
Lin Xian’s expression shifted slightly. Looking down at KIKI, who had already fallen asleep, he finally felt some of the worry in his heart ease.
It seemed the girl understood her own circumstances. At the critical moment between life and death, she could still be of help. With that thought, he lowered his guard against her somewhat.
He raised his head and met Chen Sixuan’s eyes.
“Keep an eye on her. I’m going to check the surroundings. If there’s no immediate danger, we’ll stay here until dawn.”
“All right.” Chen Sixuan glanced at the wreckage of Carriage Three and the pitch-black wilderness surrounding them before nodding uneasily.
Lin Xian took a flashlight from the tool chest inside the carriage and jumped down from the rear bulkhead. He frowned as he examined the shattered insect corpse.
He quickly returned to the carriage and dragged out the small crane. Using it, he pulled the red insect’s enormous mandible free from the armored grille. The remaining section of its abdomen then fell from the side of the train and crashed to the ground.
He went around to the rear, unfastened the coupler from the half-severed tail, and hauled it back onto the train.
“This is going to take some repairs.”
Lin Xian stared heavily at Carriage Three in the aftermath of the battle.
“That girl was right. This train needs weapons and defensive systems. Being able to run isn’t enough.”
If Chen Sixuan had not had a sudden stroke of inspiration, Lin Xian truly would not have known how to deal with the monster that night.
His air gun had power comparable to a firearm at close range, but its effectiveness dropped sharply over distance. Whether it was the white giant monster or today’s enormous red insect, both were thick-skinned and incredibly tough.
Conventional weapons offered little advantage against them.
Just as Lin Xian finished clearing away the wreckage and was preparing to return to the train, he suddenly felt the ground beneath his feet tremble, as though something were surging underground.
A rustling sound arose beside his ears. He raised the flashlight and shone it toward the source, only to see a violent black mist pouring from the enormous insect corpse beside the train. Rather than rising into the air, the black mist was drawn underground by some strange force.
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Lin Xian frowned and walked over. The rustling sound beside his ears suddenly grew louder, as though hundreds or thousands of people were crying and wailing. The sound made his scalp prickle.
“What the hell is that?!”
Lin Xian was startled and hurriedly backed away several steps from the black smoke. The cries and wails immediately faded back into a faint rustling.
Within the span of a few breaths, the black mist vanished completely, leaving only the insect corpse in place, still radiating a foul, bloody stench.
“Did I hear that wrong?” Lin Xian stared in astonishment. When he had approached the black mist, he had unmistakably heard the cries of human beings. The sound had been deeply unsettling, as though all the people devoured by the giant insect were screaming at once. It was utterly bizarre.
Hoo~
After returning to the train, Lin Xian tried to raise the rear bulkhead.
Although the train’s body had been ruptured in several places, fortunately the hydraulic lift on the bulkhead was still functioning. Lin Xian activated the Mechanical Heart and raised the bulkhead, then looked at the disordered interior of Carriage Three. Numerous tools lay scattered across the floor.
Among them were the welding machine, the small crane, and his motorcycle.
All of those things were extremely useful. If they were damaged, repairing them would be troublesome.
Lin Xian’s abilities to repair and manufacture machinery were interconnected. They required the appropriate materials, as well as a considerable amount of time.
After the intense battle, he was already utterly exhausted. Fortunately, they were in the wilderness, and the enormous disturbance had not attracted a massive tide of corpses, allowing him a brief chance to catch his breath.
He checked the time. It was already 9:15 p.m. He had spent more than two hours fighting and fleeing from the giant insect.
“How is it?”
Chen Sixuan rose and asked as Lin Xian closed the door and walked over.
“Safe for now.” Lin Xian took a bottle of water from the storage rack and gulped down a third of it.
His gaze swept across the carriage. The little brat had already been helped onto the sofa by Chen Sixuan and was fast asleep. It was clear that although the girl’s newly awakened ability was powerful, it consumed an astonishing amount of energy.
Lin Xian’s expression grew complicated. Although she had saved him just now and the two of them had fought side by side, the girl was far too cunning. Now that she had awakened an ability, Lin Xian no longer felt certain that he could defeat her.
The thought left him troubled.
“Are you hurt?” Chen Sixuan asked, unable to hide her concern as she noticed the traces of blood on his hands and face.
“Just superficial wounds.” Lin Xian sighed, then looked at Chen Sixuan. “We covered quite a distance tonight. Depending on how things look tomorrow, I’d like to rest for a while at North Bay Station.”
Chen Sixuan nodded.
“North Bay Town isn’t very large, so the situation there shouldn’t be too complicated. After North Bay Station, the next major city is Yubei City. From there, we’ll truly enter the Around-the-Ring Rail Line. As for the condition of the tracks…”
She had intended to say that the tracks on the Around-the-Ring Line might be in better shape, but she was no longer certain. After all, the fact that they had not yet encountered collapsed tracks or stretches buried under rubble was already a stroke of luck. Who could say whether the road ahead would be better or worse?
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