Apocalypse: I Built the Infinite Train
Chapter 351: Grand Escape in the Dark!

Luling Forest, east of the White Sea Basin, was once divided north to south by the towering Hengduan Mountains. Beyond Haichu lay the primitive wilderness of the Great Luling Forest.

But ever since Apocalypse Day, darkness had swallowed this forest, and even time itself seemed to freeze here.

Colossal trees towered overhead, their twisted trunks like dying giants in agony. Sticky black resin oozed from stripped bark, resembling congealed blood. The endless forest was engulfed by the Polar Night, all vegetation lifeless, and danger lurked in every shadow.

From the crown of a decayed, rotting treetop, a sudden rustling echoed. The sky trembled faintly, and a blinding light streaked low across the forest canopy, accompanied by the roar of engines. Three low-flying armed transport ships soared east in a triangular formation.

Then, from the rear transport, a small drone shot out. It wasn’t an ordinary drone—it carried a suspended manned capsule beneath it. Inside a special metal cage hung a man, shackled at the limbs. The cage resembled a mummy's sarcophagus, but with a transparent viewport left at the head. His eyes were forced wide open by a cruel mechanical contraption, stretching his eyelids unnaturally.

The man was completely restrained, drugged with sedatives, and could only let out bubbling, agonized groans from deep in his throat.

Inside the transport’s comms channel, a cold voice cut through:

“Seventh Traction Protocol. Subject No. 1652. Prepare for drop.”

Clang!

All hatches on the transport slammed shut as the drone accelerated backwards, hauling the man away. His eyes were filled with terror. In the dark mist, a massive floating statue began to emerge in the distance. And just as it drew close—the strange sculpture turned to face him.

“M-Mom! Ahhh!”

The man howled in panic. He sensed death approaching and struggled violently—but it was futile. Under the drone’s spotlight, a terrifying lion-faced colossus loomed into his view. Its crimson glow flooded his vision. In an instant, red veins burst across his eyes, his skin turned ashen, and the drone’s power system began to emit chaotic pulses.

“Target observed. Initiate release.” came the cold order from the ship.

The drone veered sharply east. Meanwhile, the man’s vitals spiked—heart rate, brain waves, breathing—all spiraled out of control.

The grotesque statue floating above the forest suddenly vanished, then reappeared silently behind the drone miles away. At that moment, the man's eyes oozed thick fluid—he died in despair, mutating into a zombie.

Click—

The cage opened, and the zombified man was dumped like garbage into the forest below, as if finally granted release.

“Subject 1652—drop distance 1400 meters. Subject 1653, prepare for drop.”

Another drone rose from the distant transport…

Wudi Lake, Dark Forest, Unified Train Line

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

A skirmish exploded into chaos. Flames engulfed patches of trees as a section of track, stretching several hundred meters, turned into a battleground. On both sides of the rails, molten gold metal torrents rained down like a deluge. Railgun bursts chopped through the forest like sickles. Rocket artillery, incendiaries, grenade launchers, arc pulse blasts, low-energy beams—all thundered without pause. The battle reached white-hot intensity in moments.

Luo Yang stood low on a slope, his face grim. On his power armor's HUD, alarms and radar imaging flickered wildly. He knew that what was coming from the depths of Wudi Lake was no ordinary threat.

The launch ramp ahead still wasn't finished—he had to buy time.

Meanwhile, in Car No. 21 aboard the Infinite Train, the pre-installed MK-66 rotary cantilever missile launcher slowly rose. A Storm Eye F12 hypersonic airship missile extended from its bay.

It wasn’t meant for Luo Yang’s current foe. Besides that, he only had the Gravity Lens move left.

“Come on! I knew that thing would show up eventually!”

The air boomed. Luo Yang pointed forward, just as a monstrous green serpent—hundreds of meters long—slithered into view. Hundreds of crimson eyes dotted its massive head, exuding icy malice. A crushing wave of dark fear swept over everyone.

As Lin Xian prepared to unleash the Gravity Lens and fire the missile, a sudden sonic boom tore from the eastern skies. A golden fireball split the darkness, descending directly over the battlefield—a massive white missile!

It halted midair with a vector pulse, then unfurled six glowing petals from its base. Its core spun, emitting a blinding white light. This wasn’t fire or explosion—this was pure energy, like a solar flare ripped from the sun itself—slamming straight into the serpent!

BOOM—

No shockwave. No mushroom cloud. Just a blinding pillar of white light. Plasma arcs ionized the air in layers of blue. The entire forest lit up. Even distant mountains were bathed in light. A searing heatwave and massive ion surge blasted outward—forcing the entire front line to retreat. Shouts, curses, and panic erupted.

“Holy sht, what the hll is that?!” shouted Shi Diyuan.

“That’s… that’s the Heberon Constrained Beam Cannon!” Old Mo shielded his eyes, shouting.

“A f***ing space-based weapon?!” Luo Yang gasped.

Lin Xian was stunned. When the light faded, the serpent’s body lay in two smoldering halves. The cut was molten, blackened. The monster had no time to even release its red mist—just instant death. The Heberon’s power was terrifying.

Even so, the serpent’s severed head and tail thrashed wildly, spewing red fog. The earth shook. Smaller eerie creatures were crushed beneath its spasms.

Lin Xian froze—then came a delayed transmission:

“You’re welcome, Lin.”

Mochizuki Shinji.

Of course. Only Silent City would have access to a one-time-use orbital weapon this absurdly powerful.

At Silent City’s central control room, Shinji stood unfazed, monitoring data. He knew Lin Xian had returned to the front alone, with the main force left behind in Baicheng. If trouble came, they’d be too far to help—so he gave him a contingency.

“Thanks,” Lin Xian said, eyes fixed on the dead serpent. “But things just got a lot louder…”

The serpent’s death throes and the orbital blast had stirred the entire valley. From the distant dark sky, a massive shadow as tall as a mountain began to stir, slithering toward them. Creatures all across the forest, underground and underwater, began to awaken.

“If there’s going to be noise, let it be loud,” Shinji muttered, eyes narrowing. His nanotech pupils contracted as he watched the skies over Silent City and Baicheng light up.

In Baicheng, the streets and buildings were overrun by howling, screeching Eerie Entities. Colossal abominations trampled through the collapsing roads, crashing into buildings. A dark red dragonfly-like creature, large enough to wrap around entire buildings, flitted through the air, its countless spindly limbs trailing behind.

Up above, twisted, incomprehensible atmospheric organisms squirmed in the black mist. The entire city had become a scene straight out of the Parade of Demons legend.

Meanwhile, atop the hills of Wangshan Pass, a man-made city with a diameter exceeding 15 kilometers began to hum. The main fusion reactor of the city activated, its plasma core restrained by powerful magnetic fields, blazing like an artificial sun igniting in the abyss.

Instantly, bands of light lit up the city’s edge. An array of secondary thrusters dotted the curved shell of the floating city, spewing bluish ion flames and illuminating the darkness.

Simultaneously, the enormous treaded structures embedded in the crust began to rumble and crawl. These metal tracks, each over a hundred meters wide, tore free from the earth, dragging the city upward.

The sky twisted.

Silent City’s main engines surged, vaporizing clouds within kilometers. Entire hillsides began to collapse. Massive heat-dissipation fins extended, blasting out scalding gusts. Boulders crushed beneath treads tumbled endlessly. The entire city was rising!

Ahead of the main city, four smaller disc-shaped floating cities—each hundreds of meters wide—lit up as they also lifted off. These sub-cities could detach and operate independently.

But with this activation, the world itself seemed to respond. The sky thundered. Lightning flared. On the distant, warped horizon, a massive, terrifying silhouette rose from the earth to the sky—

The ground groaned.

At the Baicheng rail terminal, KIKI and the others suddenly felt it—a crushing pressure, like something titanic and world-ending had appeared overhead, writhing in the dark canopy of the heavens, emitting an overwhelming sound.

Chen Sixuan furrowed her brows and looked up. The more evolved her senses became, the more acute the dread. This was more terrifying than anything they had encountered in Xilan City or Underground City No. 9. It was cataclysmic. Just sensing its presence made everyone feel like powerless ants.

Beside her, A Bai’s neck shrank instinctively, his body trembling as he whispered:

“So…so scary. The sky…”

Floating mid-air in battle, KIKI stared at her trembling hand, bewildered.

“What’s going on? Why is my heart racing so fast?”

“Fire Fist!”

On another side of the battlefield, Lu Xingchen hurled a fireball that vaporized a crowd of Eerie Entities. He frowned and muttered:

“Feels like some unstoppable devil is hovering right above us.”

“It has to be a Star Abyss Behemoth!!”

Below, Ning Jing and Xiao Qing coordinated their attack, cutting down more foes.

Whoosh!

Behind the rail terminal, a sonic boom rang out as a sword slash cleaved an airborne moth-like monster, spewing a trail of burning blood.

Monica’s face turned pale, her usual calm gone. She muttered:

“It’s like a nightmare… I don’t even have the courage to look up.”

“Then don’t!”

A golden flash—Qian Dele stopped abruptly, gritting his teeth:

“We just have to hold out until our main force arrives!”

Back at the Xishan Bunker, while Silent City’s people were boarding their mobile base vehicles in order, chaos broke out among the teams of Hu Lushou, Lu Zhao, and Xie Guan. Panic spread. People bumped into each other while moving supplies. Everyone’s face was pale with fear—even before a shot had been fired, they already felt the overwhelming threat.

Hu Lushou climbed into his armored RV, clutching his double-layered bulletproof vest, and even wore a sturdy Starfleet helmet. Yet still, he was shaking all over, heart pounding.

“Sht, sht! We’ve definitely stirred up some world-class monster this time. My f***ing heart’s about to explode!”

Driving up front, Sun Chang glanced at the formation of Silent City base vehicles ready to move. She said quietly:

“We just follow them out. Live or die, it's in fate’s hands.”

“Easy for you to say!”

Hu Lushou’s teeth chattered as he trembled:

“I’ve survived death more times than I can count! They say if disaster doesn’t kill you, blessings follow—so with a life this charmed, I’ll damn well survive this too!”

He grabbed his walkie-talkie and yelled to his troops:

“Everyone get your sh*t together! Just stick with Silent City and Infinite! We’re not dying today!”

“YES, SIR!!”

Near Butuo Lake, the Unified Train Line was already neck-deep in the monstrous Monster Tide. After finishing off the serpent, Lin Xian immediately returned to building the launch track. Materials flew out in a frenzy. Soon, a vertical acceleration rail, dozens of meters tall, stood completed.

Not far from the track’s end stood the shimmering Superconducting Magnetic Anchor Array, glowing with blue-violet arcs. The powerful electromagnetic field caused the newly built rail to groan and vibrate. Metal scraps and bullet shells were sucked into the air like drawn to a black hole.

“It’s ready—start it up! Move back!”

With the last track segment finished, Lin Xian gave the signal.

“Fall back! Get to the train! We’re moving!”

“Don’t linger!”

The front line retracted quickly into a ring around the train formation. Lin Xian and Shi Diyuan led hundreds of elite fighters as they retreated under fire. Though the Eerie Entities weren’t targeting the rail directly, everyone knew: they had to draw the enemies to the train or risk losing the newly built track.

“Protect the track!”

At that moment, all personnel felt a shared purpose. Some even charged forward when large Eerie Entities approached the rail, sacrificing themselves to draw the creatures away.

“You motherfing bugs! Come at your granddaddy!”

“Spread out! Spread out!”

“Blow the fers up!”

Gunfire raged. Lin Xian leapt onto the roof of the Infinite Train. A chill ran down his spine. He turned—and from the distant black curtain over Wudi Lake, a mountainous mass emerged, blotting out the sky. Black mist parted as monstrous spiked legs pierced upward like a spinal ridge.

“S***!”

His eyes narrowed. That twisted mountain he saw earlier—it was moving toward them!

He bolted back inside and retrieved the Eerie Cube from the camp center. Almost everyone had boarded. The Eerie Entities swarmed like a tide, smashing against the Unified Train’s armor. Screeches, claws, and roaring artillery merged into one deafening storm. Lin Xian didn’t even reach the cockpit—he triggered the launch early.

BOOM!!!

The Whale 03E Heavy Gas Turbine Locomotive roared like a furious beast. Its immense torque shook every carriage into motion. The entire train shuddered violently.

The front of the train was already crawling with monstrous entities, clawing and stabbing at the Infinite's armor. Under the force of twenty linked locomotives, the steel wheels finally began to roll across the deep-set tracks.

Buzz—every engine fired in unison. A combined power of over a million megawatts surged forward, driving the 15-kilometer-long steel dragon into motion. Sparks flew. Twin-helix carriages spun and shredded anything clinging to the exterior.

[Carriage Armor Integrity: 98%]

[Track foundation is deeply sunken. Traction compromised.]

Grace’s voice echoed nearby.

[Detected: Gigantic lifeform 12 kilometers ahead. Movement speed—]

“F*** it—GO!!”

Lin Xian clenched his jaw. His Mechanical Heart roared. The Whale 03E's Icebreaker Shield cut through scorched earth, bulldozing the swarming monsters ahead. The overwhelming mechanical force crushed flesh and armor alike. Gunfire blazed from the rear. Everyone fought with everything they had.

“D*mn!!!”

The train began to accelerate. The Infinite Train, leading the convoy, rushed onto the newly constructed acceleration track with a metallic surface, bursting forth from the sunken, decayed ground. Its immense weight slammed against the broad metal rail with thunderous force, sending sparks and explosive lightning flashing as it charged forward.

The speed was building up!

[Distance to the superconducting magnetic levitation aerial track: 500 meters]

Five hundred meters!

Lin Xian's pupils contracted. As long as they entered the track, the immense magnetic tunnel force would instantly rocket the train forward, yanking the entire convoy out of the mire-like Monster Tide. Though such high-speed overload would subject the inter-carriage joints to massive stress deformation, every car had already undergone emergency reinforcement for this very moment!

Four hundred meters!

Three hundred!

Two hundred!

At that moment, the Infinite Train’s front engine jerked upward and began surging onto the ascending slope. This makeshift ramp was crude, built only to allow a frontal climb. As the Whale 03E Heavy Gas Turbine Locomotive stormed onto it, the entire track and its metal support structure began to groan and wail, vibrating violently.

Simultaneously, the eerie entities clinging to the front and sides of the train began falling away en masse. The entire Unified Train looked like a giant serpent crawling with monsters, with dense swarms of them scattering to both sides like raindrops.

“Cease fire, close the windows, hold on tight!”

As soon as they entered the ramp, Lin Xian issued a command to all crew members.

Immediately, Shu Qin, Daluo, Luo Yang, and the others stopped firing and sealed the shooting ports. Everyone else on the convoy quickly shut their windows, dropped iron gates, and locked the armored grilles. Thousands of people scrambled for their assigned positions—some tied ropes, some gripped handrails, others fastened pre-made safety harnesses.

VROOOOOM!!!

A deafening roar from the sky shook the earth. One of the mountainous shadows stepped into the Bottomless Lake behind them, instantly creating a towering tsunami. The black water surged out, flooding the swamps and forest.

By then, only half of the train formation had exited the circular encampment, while the lead engine was already racing up the ramp.

One hundred meters!

Fifty meters!

Ahead, the unstable superconducting maglev tunnel shimmered with blue-violet arcs. Lin Xian shouted:

“Grace!”

Grace immediately turned and grabbed the assistant handle inside the cockpit.

The Whale 03E Heavy Gas Turbine Locomotive soared off the track, its iron wheels airborne, hurtling straight toward the center of the maglev tunnel. Inside, every metal object was pulled in all directions, as if the entire train were about to be torn apart. At that instant, Lin Xian slammed the activation for the distributed coil power circuit!

ZAP!

The arc-shaped coils installed along the outer carriages burst into bright electrical arcs. Flickering streams of electricity pierced the air, linking with the floating array above. The tearing force vanished. Iron shards and metallic dust floated weightlessly inside the cars.

Magnetic field stabilized!

And then, the train leaped into the tunnel!

Lin Xian felt as if they were being swallowed by a black hole—a powerful G-force slammed him into the pilot seat. The momentary overload nearly knocked him unconscious. In the next second, the Infinite Train shot into the maglev tunnel.

The intense traction ripped at the coupling of the Weilong-Class Carriage at the rear, letting out a sharp metallic shriek. Then, it pulled along Car No. 2, No. 3, No. 4—over five hundred carriages in total—into explosive acceleration!

“Aaahhh!!!”

Everyone aboard felt the massive G-force pushing against them. The entire train roared with noise. Faces went pale. Many fainted from the pressure, then came to again in the nearly airless atmosphere.

As Lin Xian’s vision returned, all he could see ahead in the darkness were flashing blue arcs, like they had entered a high-speed black hole.

Outside the Unified Train, arcs of electricity crackled as it thundered into the levitating tunnel. At this tremendous speed, the eerie entities clinging to the outer hull were flung away like flower petals. The steel dragon was literally flying, accelerating straight toward Baicheng.

Maglev leap!

Lin Xian felt even the air was thinning. He could hardly breathe as he clung to a handrail, monitoring speed and distance through his Power Armor.

600 km/h… 800 km/h!

The Unified Train was nearing commercial airliner cruising speeds. Violent air resistance and turbulence buffeted the train. The stabilizing hydraulic pillars and guidance coils on the exterior strained to keep the carriages steady. Tremors shook every car, the shrill wind shrieks drilling into everyone's ears.

Meanwhile, parts of the exterior began to shear off under the pressure—armor plates, grilles, fragments all falling away. Crashing monsters added to the chaos. In the rear, one Superconducting Magnetic Anchor Array after another collapsed like dominoes, their lights vanishing into the forest.

The Monster Tide in the Dark Forest only grew stronger. It was unclear whether they were drawn by the train’s crew's markings or driven by the massive creature behind. Either way, they surged in a wave toward the collapsing maglev arrays.

Once the Unified Train passed, all remaining arrays crumbled as if completing their mission.

Watching the accelerating train, Lin Xian barked to Grace:

“Grace, slow it down! If we keep accelerating, we’ll tear apart!”

Though the armor was sturdy, the carriages weren’t built for supersonic travel. The shockwaves could rip them apart.

[Speed control initiated. Estimated arrival at Looking Sun City Track Station: 4 minutes, 36 seconds]

RUMBLE!!!

Lin Xian could barely see anything ahead. Trusting Grace to take over the controls, he gritted his teeth. After the acceleration, they’d need to decelerate to safely merge with Baicheng’s rails. At this speed, the decaying tracks wouldn’t hold. They’d crash and be obliterated.

“All units, report!”

“We’re okay, Captain Lin!” Shu Qin and Daluo’s voices came through.

“Safe!” Luo Yang and others responded.

“We’re good too.” In Carriage No. 10, Li Yi and Sun Yuzhen shielded a group of children. Everyone huddled together in fear. Mo Xiaotian clutched his little sister, gripping the bunk rail with one hand.

“All fine!” Shi Diyuan chimed in. “Sht, that was f**ing wild. Never thought I’d live to see a train actually fly!”

Reports from the other units came in one after another. Though all were alive, most were in rough shape. Many vomited or fainted. Some carriages had warped, their roofs and floors tearing open!

“One minute to deceleration! Hold tight!”

Lin Xian yelled. Through his windshield, he could only see the streaking arcs of the maglev. Everything else was pitch-black. All operations were in Grace’s hands.

He could only pray they wouldn’t slam into any eerie entities upon entering Baicheng. That would be a disaster—like Mars crashing into Earth.

But no such catastrophe occurred.

Thirty seconds later, the airborne train began to decelerate rapidly. Lin Xian lurched forward. Out the window, the silhouettes of buildings emerged. Wailing eerie voices howled past the carriages like banshees.

Ahead, a massive blaze lit the sky. Lin Xian looked up—it was Fire Bro battling in the air.

On the Clock Tower, Chen Sixuan pivoted her gun, spotted the train soaring through the dark skies, and barked, “They’re here! Regroup, KIKI!”

“I know!” KIKI flew toward the track station's coupling array. If there was any misalignment, she could adjust with her Psychic Power.

BOOM!

Monica leapt from a tall building, her sonic blades scattering the Monster Tide. She turned just in time to see the massive train blazing through the sky, its orange-red headlights piercing the dark, soaring past the terminal buildings toward the rail line.

Below, a dozen mechanical arms deployed to generate deceleration fields and catch the landing train.

VMMM! THUD!

A tremendous weightless lurch—gone in an instant. Lin Xian gritted his teeth. The iron wheels crashed down onto the track, sending shockwaves through the earth. Sparks exploded across the rails. A piercing metallic screech followed as the Infinite Train’s twenty-something cars landed, then more of the convoy followed.

Lin Xian handed off full control to Grace. He leapt from the cockpit, pulled his Electromagnetic Rifle from his back, and immediately took aim at the distant Sewage Treatment Plant.

KIKI floated past him using telekinesis. Seeing him in this life-or-death moment, her brows furrowed.

“Lin Xian! You better come back alive!”

The silver bullet fired at high speed—and Lin Xian vanished on the spot.

“Get everyone on board…” Lin Xian’s voice echoed with delay.

KIKI used telekinesis to gather every team member—Monica, Qian Dele, Ning Jing, and the others—and loaded them all onto the Infinite Train. Without pausing, the Unified Train accelerated again and surged toward the city outskirts.

Behind them, the Monster Tide erupted from beneath the passenger station and the tops of buildings. Massive insects pounced toward the train. Giant humanoids smashed the Clock Tower and approached the platform, trying to grab the trailing carriages still in mid-air.

The collapsed maglev arrays sent dozens of carriages into free fall. They smashed through the terminal’s steel rooftops, igniting fires and breaking formation.

Fortunately, the pre-installed securing devices kept the cars from flipping. With powerful traction, the detached cars were yanked back onto the track amid screaming passengers.

Forty minutes had passed since the tide began.

Twenty minutes remained.

At this moment, dozens of mobile base vehicles and transport ships from the Xishan Bunker, along with hundreds of survivor convoys including Hu Lushou’s fleet, had emerged from the forest. They raced down the highway leading out of the city, heading for the rendezvous point on the Wangshan Pass Plains. This immense steel flood churned up clouds of dust in the dark.

To the east, the Silent City loomed like a floating metropolis. Under the lift engines, its massive transport treads thundered across the ground, shaking the earth as it moved with an overwhelming, mountain-crushing force toward the same assembly center.

On one of the transport ships, Moonlight Shinji stood alongside Senju Shun, Amano Ran, Takahashi Ryunosuke, Shiori, and other core members of the Silent City. Their faces were solemn as they studied the real-time progress of the three-pronged convergence on the holographic map.

Meanwhile, radar alarms blared nonstop.

Senju Shun glanced out the observation window at a colossal dark silhouette emerging on the edge of the cloud canopy. His expression turned icy.

“It really came…”

“The Abyss Fiend!”

“Shun,” said Moonlight Shinji, his sleeves folded, expression calm.

Senju Shun nodded. “I know. Ryunosuke and I will handle the surveillance. Shiori will assist Lin.”

Moonlight Shinji’s eyes narrowed slightly.

“Don’t let him die. That man’s madness… could surpass the darkness.”

Everyone nearby stiffened at his words. Senju Shun glanced toward the sky, his face unreadable.

“…Understood.”

The earth trembled.

Baicheng, the Dark Forest, and Wangshan Pass—a monstrous tide converged like a tightening encirclement toward the plains west of the rendezvous center. There was no escape, no margin left.

Only one chance to fight!

The Unified Train roared. The steel convoys thundered. The Silent City charged!

Countless propulsion arrays pushed this colossal city forward, tearing through the twisted sky canopy and barreling toward destiny!

Inside the Infinite Train, Car No. 3—Ding Junyi clutched her bleeding arm, wounded during the leap. She seemed oblivious to the pain. Her gaze was locked on the Silver Dragon Ten-Thousand Thorn, which she had catalyzed to its limit. All it needed now was Lin Xian’s final command.

Rizhicheng, Sewage Treatment Plant.

Lin Xian crouched atop the same rooftop where Chen Sixuan had once stood, watching a terrifying colossus drifting in the distance. Before it could turn its face his way, he slipped quietly into the shadows.

He leaned against the corner wall, reloading his Electromagnetic Rifle with shimmering rounds while keeping an eye on the time—calculating the ballistic arcs.

In this moment, it felt as if he was the only one left in the world.

Five minutes until the rendezvous.

But the Dark Mark on his body had already drawn the attention of numerous eerie entities. From below the floorboards came the sound of things crawling, and unsettling whispers echoed through the surrounding streets.

Lin Xian was running on fumes.

The shimmering rounds drained him far more than expected. The corruption of Dark Invasion energy gnawed at his mind, amplifying the voices whispering horror in his ears.

RUMBLE! Thunder cracked across the sky.

In the brief flash of lightning, Lin Xian’s pupils shrank violently.

He saw the most terrifying sight yet—a world-ending beast.

Between heaven and earth, a Heaven-Devouring Serpent twisted through the sky and ground. Its size defied reason—he couldn’t see where it began or ended. Just an endless body, like a mountain-sized serpent coiling between the heavens and the earth.

It felt as if all of Baicheng…

No.

All of Abyss Zone No. 5 was its body.

The Abyss Overlord!

“You’ve got to be f***ing kidding me…”

Lin Xian’s face froze.

It wasn’t fear. It wasn’t despair.

He almost… laughed.

After cursing, he took a deep breath, eyes locked on the colossal shadow undulating in the sky. He muttered to himself:

“Just hold on… a few more minutes…”

His lips were bloodless. His breath short and ragged. In the whispers and howls of encircling eerie entities, Lin Xian saw—within his mind’s eye—the faces of every teammate aboard the train.

Chen Sixuan, KIKI, Fire Bro, Daluo, Shasha, Director Ding, Shu Qin, Lü Chang, Miao Lu, Xiao Yuan… and the newly joined Luo Yang, Li Guangwen, Amin & Luoluo, Old Mo, Sun Yuzhen, Li Yi, Liang Lei...

A chilling coldness tried to extinguish the fire in his heart—but he knew, he couldn’t give up.

Because right now, across the plains east of Baicheng, a grand and desperate…

Escape in the Dark was underway.