A Core Ship From The Start
Chapter 1429 - 968: The Path to Survival

Chapter 1429: Chapter 968: The Path to Survival

"Wuu wuu wuu—————!"

As the train whistle echoed, the train sped along the railway track, with the girls inside looking somewhat listless and bored.

"It’s been two days already, and it seems like there’s nothing left in this world...?"

Axelle yawned indifferently while looking at the rapidly passing scenery outside the window, and Lumiaire nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, the cities we’ve passed through are almost all silent as death. Apart from those weird zombies and corpses, you can hardly see any living people anymore, and there are no radio signals, no internet, and no electricity... This world might as well be considered completely destroyed."

"Is there really any hope of saving this place?"

This was not only a question from Axelle but also the shared concern among the others, because Duanmu Huai had already told them the so-called World of Soul Fragments is but the echo of a destroyed world. To leave this world, they must change its endless cycle, but honestly, in the girls’ view... this world was already doomed, and there was no such thing as a cycle to speak of.

"Ah, look, there’s a little deer over there! How cute!"

Just then, Mary suddenly shouted out excitedly, pointing outside the window. Everyone looked up and saw a deer darting through the woods, seemingly chasing after their train.

"Wow, really, it’s so cute."

"There’s still something cute in this world."

Seeing this, the girls gathered around, admiring the deer’s lithe form—however, in the next moment, they saw the deer burst out from the trees, and under the sunlight, it became clear that half of its face was completely rotten, its skull collapsed, and with blood-red eyes, the zombie deer charged towards their train, then... "smack", it disappeared without a trace.

".........."

"...This world is not the least bit cute."

The girls silently withdrew their gaze and once again arrived at a conclusion.

"Wuu wuu wuu———————!"

The train whistle sounded once more, and in the distance, a city could vaguely be seen, which, of course, looked as broken and dilapidated as any other place they had seen.

"Sigh..."

Watching this scene, the girls sighed in unison.

At first, they had hoped to find some survivors. The villages and cities they passed along the way seemed to have truly become ghost towns, while the occasional signs of life they found were mostly animals. Honestly, they didn’t wish to be trapped in this world.

Of course, if they were only dealing with zombie-like creatures, that would be one thing, but the problem was that these cities showed signs of having been heavily bombarded by nuclear weapons. Although the situation was not yet clear, Lumiaire speculated that after the biohazard disaster spiraled out of control, the ruling class of this world tried to use nuclear strikes to sweep away these biohazardous entities. Sadly, from what the travelers witnessed along the way, it was clear that it had not been effective.

"Wuu wuu— wuu—————!"

The train gradually pulled into the station, the shrill whistle blaring once more, echoing above the silent city— and soon enough, this seemingly lifeless city burst into a flurry of activity.

"Wuu... wuu..."

Along with beast-like roars, fungal zombies, covered head to toe with mushroom-like growths, began to charge towards the train, shouting— these were the zombies of this world. According to Lumiaire’s inspection report, rather than zombies, they seemed more akin to fungi. Extremely sensitive to sound, they usually hid in corners like mushrooms and would immediately attack upon hearing noise.

One must admit, it was quite energy efficient.

And comparatively scientific, in the context of fungi... naturally so.

Of course, Duanmu Huai would not allow these creatures on the train. His reason for blowing the train whistle was to draw the attention of any other survivors. Optimistically speaking, given the state of the world, anyone who’s survived this long must have the luck of a main character. If someone could hear their whistle and send out a signal, it would mean there might be living people in the city. Then, finding a clue to leave this world would be much easier.

As for the zombies charging at the train, Duanmu Huai didn’t care in the slightest. Ogis and Gavi had already set up several layers of defenses outside, and any foolish zombies daring to approach were inevitably going to be shredded to pieces. Although Duanmu Huai was curious whether these creatures tasted as delicious as real fungi, unfortunately, it seemed that no one else was interested.

Cutting into the firm, attractive cap of the fungi certainly whetted one’s appetite... Hmm, that was probably a side effect of eating too many demons.

The train whistle nearly functioned like a fuse, thoroughly awakening all the city’s zombies, whose howls rose and fell like a tide of wild beasts. Of course, these zombies were no match for Ogis and were simply and effortlessly sliced into pieces.

But this was not the end.

"Wuu... wuu..........!"

As the charging Army of Zombies was wiped out, the train whistle blared once again. Duanmu Huai fixed his gaze on the city ahead, waiting for a signal to appear. If there truly were survivors in the city, then someone would likely find a way to make contact... "

"—————————!!"

As Duanmu Huai pondered, suddenly, a signal flare shot straight up from the distance, illuminating the sky.

"Oh? Finally, someone? Too bad it’s a bit too far..."

Looking at the location where the signal flare had been sent from within the city, Duanmu Huai breathed a sigh of relief. Then, he made a gesture, and quickly, the Servo Skull emerged from his backpack and flew towards the location where the signal flare originated. Duanmu Huai also switched on the camera and began to sync with the Servo Skull to view the situation on the other side.

Soon, under the scanning of the Servo Skull, Duanmu Huai saw a group of people besieged on what appeared to be a shopping mall rooftop; most of them were women and children, with a few men. The latter were shooting at the approaching Army of Zombies with guns, while the women were responsible for loading ammunition. Of course, there were also those who went to the frontlines to fight.

All in all, let’s go have a look.

With that decision made, Duanmu Huai resolved to act.

"Axelle, Mary, let’s go!"

"Woo-woo————!"

The train whistle sounded again, and upon hearing it, those besieged on the mall rooftop were also startled and hurriedly looked towards the source of the sound.

"Wait, wait, isn’t that train about to leave?!"

"It shouldn’t be... I don’t know either!"

"We clearly could have just left earlier...! It’s all that damn woman’s fault!"

One of them complained loudly while swinging a baseball bat. They had defended this mall as their base for several months, initially without issues. But as time went on, supplies gradually dwindled, and everyone began to grow more and more anxious. The reinforcements they longed for never arrived, until today — the train’s whistle offered them a new path.

Originally, the whistle had drawn the Zombies away, and the people planned to leave at that chance, seizing the moment when there were fewer Zombies around. But unexpectedly, one Auntie’s pet Teddy went crazy, barking furiously at the outside. As a result, the originally dispersed Zombies were summoned back. What’s worse, just as they were pushing the door open to leave, the suddenly appearing Zombies rushed in, killing the Auntie instantly, and her screams then attracted even more Zombies...

So, having no choice, the people had to fight and retreat, and now, forget about checking out the situation near the train; they were lucky if they could even save themselves!

What should we do now?

As the horde of Zombies poured in, everyone was trembling with fear. Was this where their story ended?

"Hey, look, what is that?!"

Right then, suddenly, someone exclaimed in surprise and raised their hand, pointing towards the distant sky. Everyone followed his finger, and saw a small black dot flying towards them. It wasn’t until it got closer that they recognized it as a — human skull!

"Wait, wait, what is that thing?!"

The sight prompted someone to quickly raise their gun and pull the trigger at the flying skull.

"Bang!!"

However, just as the gunshot sounded, the skull immediately dodged the Attack, then descended again, its eyes emitting a red glow, casting a beam of light as it scanned the people from head to toe. The others were also frightened and dodged hurriedly, but the Servo Skull seemed indifferent to their actions. It simply continued scanning one after another, then stood still in mid-air.

"What, what exactly is that thing?"

Gazing at the motionless Servo Skull hanging in the air, everyone was confused. However, soon they were drawn back into battle with the Zombies before them.

And at that moment, suddenly, a series of heavy footsteps sounded.

"Thud... thud... thud..."

Wait, what was that sound?

Instinctively, people turned towards the direction of the sound, only to see dust rising nearby, car wrecks hurled into the air, countless Zombies scattering and plummeting like droplets. The heavy footsteps were getting closer and closer.

"Thud... thud... thud..."

"Bang!"

Suddenly, right beside them, hundreds of Zombies were flung into the air as if struck by a speeding dump truck. Even those on the rooftop could see Zombies careening past them, crashing into the buildings opposite with a cacophony of impacts... It was almost unbelievable.

"Boom!"

The next moment, before the people could react, a dark figure surged from the ground and landed forcefully on the platform!