Apocalypse: I Built the Infinite Train
Chapter 355: Mechanical Army

Outside Moonlight Shinji’s private residence, rows of mechanical maids bustled to and fro, presenting exquisitely prepared dishes. Inside the hall, however, the atmosphere had gone utterly silent.

Everyone was staring at Lin Xian with bewildered expressions. Even Chen Sixuan looked confused, and KIKI furrowed her brow at him before saying after a moment, “D*mn, Lin Xian, this is your idea? Not bad—you’re getting bolder! Hehe, I’m all for it!” She raised her hand high, visibly excited to show her support.

The others looked at each other, still a bit unsure. Across from him, Senju Shun stared at Lin Xian. “Lin, are you saying... you want to fight for the South Gate or the Moonlight Orbital Ring?”

“Oh, don’t get me wrong.” Lin Xian smiled slowly. Just as everyone was about to sigh in relief, he took a bite of food and added, “But doesn’t it sound like something worth trying?”

Everyone: …

“So you’re planning to go up against Dawn City and the Phoenix Society?” Qian Dele asked, looking utterly baffled.

Lin Xian shook his head with a chuckle. “I’m just curious about the Heavenly Canopy. What kind of thing could block out the entire world? Besides—has anyone confirmed that the South Gate and Moonlight Orbital Ring even still exist?”

Moonlight Shinji narrowed his eyes with a smile, arms tucked into his sleeves as he glanced around the room. “That’s precisely why Silent City has focused only on upgrading the starship system—no point in chasing baseless speculation.”

Monica gave Shinji a sidelong glance. Everyone could hear it in his tone—compared to Dawn City and the Phoenix Society, Silent City was more like an independent hunter group. While Moonlight Shinji maintained cooperation with Phoenix, his real priority was enhancing his own strength, preparing for the worst-case scenario—surviving even if the rest of the world perished.

“So you’re saying Silent City will only stop at Yongcheng Port and won’t go north to meet up with the Dawn Center or head for the poles?” Shi Diyuan asked.

Moonlight Shinji nodded. “Correct. So, if you’re planning to head for the Dawn Center, you can divert through Jinhai. That might spare you some unnecessary trouble. Also… your train—”

He looked at Lin Xian. “Even though you pulled off a spectacular maglev leap using the superconducting magnetic array, that kind of overclocked maneuver must’ve caused serious structural damage. Lin, if you’re not planning to join Silent City, then you’ll have to either upgrade your train or replace it entirely. And with things in this state, I imagine your concerns about the tracks are growing too, right?”

Lin Xian nodded. Shinji wasn’t wrong. The maglev leap had worked—but the damage to the Infinite Train was significant. Most of it was structural: the drive chassis, metal fatigue from deformation, and so on. Even if he patched up some surface damage, the Infinite was still a mash-up of various freight and passenger cars. Except for Carriage 3 and 4—the research units—the rest were far from new. After all the abuse and two massive spatial jumps, the hidden dangers were piling up.

And if the Infinite Train was in this shape, the rest of the Unified Convoy must be worse—cracked cars, warped hulls, shredded wheels, twisted frames. Honestly, it was a miracle no one got torn apart during the maglev phase or plummeted during the spatial shift.

If not for the alliance with Silent City, they’d have survived the transfer only to get stranded deep in the Luling Forest with no way out.

As for the tracks—those concerns were now pressing. Lin Xian couldn’t risk a growing team becoming trapped. Back when there were only a few carriages, KIKI could lift them with telekinesis. That wasn’t an option anymore.

Shi Diyuan and Ning Jing both wore serious expressions. For Dragon Mountain No. 1, this was a real challenge. Meanwhile, Qian Dele and Monica didn’t seem worried.

Monica’s train had all-terrain capabilities and was built as one integrated unit. It held up beautifully during the maglev jump—even the armor was intact. Turns out expensive builds really are worth the money. As for Xue Zhenjun, she never cared. To her, whether it was a train or car didn’t matter—she just liked the freedom of not having to drive.

“Yeah, I used to dream of making the train fly. But with that so-called Heavenly Canopy hanging above us, maybe the ground’s safer. Guess there’s only one option left now, huh?” Xue Zhen muttered.

Silent City had a main city, a No. 7 City, and seven circular floating cities. Besides housing people, they also functioned as propulsion engines and strategic platforms.

Moonlight Shinji had even planned to gift one to Xue Zhen—but now, Shi Di was starting to think it might not be worth it. Even Silent City didn’t dare lift off lightly. Aircraft were still more reliable on the ground. At least down here, you could run. In the air, there’s only falling.

“All-terrain, huh?” Xue Zhen chuckled. “We could modify yours for that—it wouldn’t be too difficult for Silent City.”

“Exactly.” Shi Di looked at Lin Xian and Moonlight Shinji and said seriously, “They say it’s impossible, but imagine a train that can run on orbital tracks, dock, leap terrain like a low-altitude base vehicle, float across broken tracks, submerge during tidal waves, dive into deep seas—and if the Heavenly Canopy is breached, soar past the Kármán line and link up with the orbital fleet at the Moonlight Ring.”

Silence.

The entire room went quiet. Even Xue Zhen stared at him, stunned. Monica looked at him strangely too—this woman was hard to read.

Road. Off-road. Sailing. Submersion. Aviation.

Was he trying to build a transforming spaceship?

“Brother Lin…” Shi Diyuan turned to him in astonishment. “What you’re describing… is that even a train anymore?”

“I never said it had to be a train.” Lin Xian replied calmly. “The world’s already gone to hell. Any vehicle design has to cover every angle now.”

Chen Sixuan turned to him wide-eyed. “You plan to go underwater too?”

“Fastest way to South America is through the Oceanic Rail,” Lin Xian said in a low voice. “If we hit trouble, we’ll need to go up—and down.”

“Going up is one thing… but down’s a whole different beast.” KIKI added. “Even starships can’t dive. That sounds... hard.”

Lin Xian smiled and looked at Moonlight Shinji expectantly.

After all, this man was the world’s top mechanical genius—augmented by a quantum brain. Silent City might not match the scale of Starfleet or Xinghua Heavy Industries, but when it came to creativity, Lin Xian knew Shinji was unmatched. So he laid it all out, waiting for the reaction.

To his surprise, Shinji’s expression remained calm. He smiled slightly, studying Lin Xian, as if recalling something long forgotten.

From outside, an old man who had been silently fishing suddenly spoke in a raspy voice, “What an interesting idea~”

“It really is,” Shinji responded to him.

Then he turned to Lin Xian. “That was his childhood dream—an all-capable spaceship. Commercially useless, sure.”

“But... he still built Silent City, didn’t he?” Lin Xian said with a grin, glancing toward the old man’s silhouette outside.

“A sea-land-air mobile city… never thought those giant treads would actually be useful, huh? Must be nice to be rich.”

“Technology and materials do keep evolving.” Shinji stood up. “Take interstellar-grade armor—it can already fly, dive, move across all terrains, and carry massive firepower. The problem is size. The bigger it is, the harder it is to do everything. Even Phoenix’s giant mech project is stuck at a hundred meters—otherwise it’d be a kilometer tall.”

“That might actually be able to take on S-Class monsters.” Lin Xian said.

“Silent City can’t build medium or large starships, but we can help retrofit your train for all-terrain operation. However…” Shinji paused.

“Lin,” he said with a suddenly serious smile. “Jinhai has the world’s largest rail production line. And I know of something there you might be very interested in.”

“What is it?”

“It’s something Dawn City and the Linglong Group are working on… hmm, a ‘train’—with a 5000-megawatt Stardrive-grade nuclear core. Comes with anti-grav engines and a starry sky propulsion system. Superconductive rail-adaptive wheels. Pretty cool…”

“5000 megawatts? You’re still calling that a train?” Lin Xian was stunned. He and Chen Sixuan both turned to look at KIKI.

Back in Yijin City, that woman Tang Yun had mentioned a so-called Eternal-Class Train being built in Jinhai—but what kind of train needed a 5000-MW core?

“Isn’t Dawn City building starships to escape? What the hell do they need that for?” Qian Dele asked.

“Same reason as Phoenix.” Senju Shun spoke with a smile. “Dawn’s starport can’t dock large ships. Xinghua’s fleet base at Yongcheng is occupied by Phoenix. So their only option is to build mid-size ships at Jinhai. But a ship can only carry so many people.”

“So they’re making a flying train?” Shi Diyuan frowned. “These people insane or what?”

“They’re smart,” Monica said calmly. Her voice was analytical. “Even if they can’t break through the Canopy, their ships only carry less than 5%. Heavy industry is in Phoenix’s hands. Dawn City needs a concept to keep the masses calm. My guess? Even if they finish this train, no way the average person can afford a ticket.”

“Smart girl—Cardia’s finest,” Shinji said. “Seems you know quite a bit about federal politics.”

Monica looked up mildly. “I just think the way those snakes do.”

“Well said.” Shinji chuckled.

“The plan is called the Interstellar Ark Train. It’s classified as Celestial Tier. A megastructure train, supposedly able to carry over a million. But I suspect its real function is resource transport—and it’s Dawn City’s fourth fallback after the city walls, underground base, and starships.”

“They’ve really covered all the bases.” Lin Xian nodded. “If their defenses fall, they’ll use this thing to break through—just like Phoenix.”

“That’s our thinking too,” Senju Shun said. “But based on our intel, construction is less than 15% done. Monica’s right—it’s more politics than practicality right now.”

“So they want something like Silent City’s floating platforms?” Chen Sixuan asked.

“Well…” Senju Shun sipped his tea. “We don’t want conflict with Dawn—but they’ve been eyeing Yongcheng Port. Phoenix will gradually withdraw, so if we go there, a clash is probably inevitable.”

“Lin.” Shinji turned to him again. “Once we reach Jinhai, I might be able to turn that into the machine you want. A little surprise. How about it?”

Everyone was stunned.

“Didn’t you just say you don’t want conflict with Dawn?” KIKI propped her chin, eyes flicking between Shinji and Shun. “If you take that thing, isn’t that basically a declaration of war?”

Shinji smirked. “We don’t have to steal it. I just need a bigger platform—Silent City is too small. What Lin wants is bigger than that. Besides, I’m not afraid of clashing with Dawn. Especially not after the mess they just made for us.”

As he spoke, his nano-pupils narrowed, and behind that smile, an almost imperceptible sharpness flashed in his eyes—then vanished.

4:20 a.m. The night winds picked up. The simple dinner was over. The group stepped onto the outer deck—but Lin Xian was asked to stay behind.

As the others walked away, their expressions were mixed. Shinji’s earlier comments hinted that Dawn City might be deeply connected to the Crimson World. Jinhai, being a Dawn-controlled Abyss outpost and industrial base, would be no easy place to pass through.

Shi Diyuan and Ning Jing were already discussing: “If Silent City’s stopping at Yongcheng, should we head north from Jinhai after upgrading?”

“Shame, really. I thought we could stick with this big tree,” Qian Dele sighed.

“What’s the issue? Their goal’s space. If you want, stay here. No need to keep traveling,” Monica said.

Qian Dele pouted. “I’d rather enjoy a few more months of sunshine...”

“Captain Chen, what about you guys?” Ning Jing asked.

Chen Sixuan replied directly. “We don’t plan to enter Dawn City. We’ve had issues with the Federation. Lin’s priority is solving the vehicle situation—so we’ll see how that pans out.”

“Well, right now, we kind of have to stick with Silent City,” KIKI added. “Everyone’s ride needs serious repairs. After all this fighting, we deserve a couple nights’ rest.”

Ning Jing nodded. “True enough.”

She turned to the others. “Let’s all go deal with our teams. We’ll stay in touch via comms.”

“Cool,” Qian Dele stretched. “I wanna go explore that mech city. Been a while since I wasn’t surrounded by zombies. Gotta savor it.”

Monica nodded faintly and glanced toward the high tower before quietly leaving.

Inside the Hall of Gentle Wind, only Lin Xian and Moonlight Shinji remained.

A female android approached, holding a tray with two items: a digital consciousness memory core and a glowing blue photon drive.

“What’s this?” Lin Xian asked curiously.

“Relax. That memory core’s empty. It’s the largest-capacity storage unit available. Just upload your consciousness using a brain-machine interface—shouldn’t be hard for you. After all, you built a Crimson World interface before. And this—this is something I think you’ll really like.”

“What is it?”

Shinji motioned for him to pick it up. Lin placed it on the table.

A scanning ring lit up beneath it. A holographic screen emerged—filled with drone blueprints.

Thunder Wrath – Ultra-high voltage EMP drone, fires electric arc pulses. Destroyer Swarm – Self-destructing micro-drones. Iceburst-166 – Ammonia mist sprayer, freezes and shatters targets with vibrations. Iron Rain – Hypervelocity kinetic drone, tungsten payload, Mach 6 impact. Iron Curtain – Microwave-plasma shield bot, heavy armored defense...

And beyond combat drones—engineering drones galore:

Worker Ant-7 – Nano-3D printing bot, liquid alloy, builds nonstop. Steel Pulse – Piping/wiring robot, with plasma cutters and autonomous energy planning. ClearSky-006 – Cleans and recycles waste. Hive Warden – Structural monitor. Silver Shuttle-α – Magnetic cargo loader. Sentinel-03A – Radar and infrared scan...

There were even medical, agricultural, educational, and psychological service bots—exactly the same kinds Lin had seen operating flawlessly in the White City’s Western Mountain Bunker.

It was through this massive drone swarm that Moonlight Shinji built and maintained Silent City—and cared for 100,000 lives.

Seeing Lin’s stunned expression, Shinji spoke earnestly:

“As a Mechanical Ability User, I’ve simulated your potential extensively. I concluded that your true strength lies in being paired with a massive drone swarm and an AI Core to command them. When you entered the Western Mountain Bunker, I saw you studying every drone. So I figured—this is what you’d want.”

“Being seen through doesn’t feel great… but I’ll make an exception. You’re not human anyway.”

Lin Xian stared at the dazzling display, voice low. He had come here intending to ask for blueprints—but Shinji had anticipated his every move.

Shinji simply smiled. “You already have an AI Core. Now you can build your own personal…”

“Mechanical army.”