Beep, beep.
Inside the carriage No. 6 of Infinity, an alert broke the silence of the deep night. It was already 12:40 AM, and although they were engulfed in scarlet, outside, the concept of day and night held little meaning beyond signaling danger.
Lin Xian, who was studying the Tongshi Device, stopped his watch and glanced at KIKI asleep on the sofa. Raising his hand, he summoned a service drone to bring a blanket and gently draped it over her.
A train hundreds of meters long had only two people, making the scarlet even more desolate. The scarlet shrouded the sunlight, and without the Sunâs warmth for a long time, the surface temperature rapidly dropped. Although it wasnât snowing or windy, the temperature had reached minus 23 degrees. The Power Armorâs analysis estimated that as they continued heading to higher latitudes, the temperature might plummet below minus 40 degrees.
Even though Lin Xian and KIKI now had superpowers and the protection of Power Armor, such low temperatures didnât affect them, but Lin Xian could imagine the plight of the survivors trapped in the scarlet becoming more desperate each day.
Scarlet, like the Extreme Night, would rapidly siphon heat, meaning that food consumption would also increase.
Lin Xian paused his manufacturing, thought of Grace, and began to summon her. Six hours had passed, and he needed to know the response from the Phoenix Society.
"Grace, did the information package from the Starry Sky Laboratory arrive?"
[Yes, I received some information, but itâs very brief.]
"What is it?"
[The content is: âPlease use your special ability on the Civilization Preview Ball.â]
Lin Xian was momentarily stunned, confused, "This... nothing else?"
[No.]
Immediately, he furrowed his brows. He had expected the Phoenix Society to pass on a large amount of information, or perhaps Ye Lan would stop him from going to Colorado. Yet, after waiting six hours, all he got in return was one sentence.
"What happened?"
The noise caused KIKI to sit up, warily watching him, "The message from the Phoenix Society came?"
"Strange..." Lin Xian shook his head, "They only sent me one line, something about... âPlease use your special ability on the Civilization Preview Ball.â"
Hearing this, KIKI slightly furrowed her brows and then said, "It sounds like they donât believe itâs you."
"Donât believe itâs me?"
"Isnât it obvious? Chu Yan ran away, and youâve been missing for a long time. Now you suddenly activate the South Heavenly Gate, itâs quite normal for the Phoenix Society to question your identity, right?" KIKI replied.
"Then why ask me to use the special ability on the Civilization Preview Ball?"
KIKI shook her head, "That, Iâm not sure about. Could they communicate with you through the Civilization Preview Ball, or is there some other secret?"
Lin Xian now took out that silver ball, focusing his gaze, "This thing was given to me by Hua Xiaoling, it belongs to the Tower People, how could the Phoenix Society contact me through this..."
"Unless..."
Lin Xianâs expression changed slightly as something suddenly came to mind. He looked up at KIKI, "Chu Yanâs residual consciousness?!"
"Oh, that thought!" KIKIâs eyes lit up, looking at Lin Xian, "Maybe itâs really like that!"
Lin Xian nodded, thinking for a moment about the silver ball in his hand. Special ability? That would be nothing other than his Mechanical Heart.
So, he immediately prepared to use Mechanical Devouring, but as soon as he initiated it, his heart trembled, and he hurriedly restrained that thought, exhaled, and said
"No, Iâve tried this before, like a Taboo Item, it canât be devoured."
"Then how is it to be considered using your special ability?" KIKI asked.
Lin Xian also fell into contemplation. Mechanical Manufacturing and Mechanical Control were obviously incorrect, while Mechanical Devouring couldnât be completed. Just then, a strange thought popped into his mind. Earlier, because of what KIKI said, he also thought of Chu Yanâs ability to use Gravitational Lenses. If he followed this line of thought...
A chill rose in his heart. Without any hesitation, Lin Xian summoned a small drone, used its mechanical arm to suspend the silver ball in mid-air, and pointed a finger.
"Be careful."
After speaking to KIKI, he immediately released the Gravitational Lens!
Vacuum!
A strange spatial ripple resonated within the carriage. The cold light flickered on and off, and the center of the silver ball emitted subtle arcs of electricity. Then a pitch-black vortex slowly appeared. Under Lin Xianâs control, a small Black Hole, roughly the size of a ping-pong ball, rapidly formed. The light from the cold lamps in the carriage was instantly warped, completely stretched like ripples in water. Simultaneously, a gust of cold air began to swirl inside, jostling the kitchenware with a clang and sending debris flying.
Lin Xian and KIKI stared intently at the silver Civilization Ball. At this moment, both of them saw a strange scene from different anglesâlight and objects separated, revealing a beehive-like mesh space centered around the Civilization Ball, extending in every dimension.
The image flashed quickly, and Lin Xian promptly shut off the Gravitational Lens. As the wind ceased and the vortex vanished, the Civilization Ball returned to its original state.
The carriage fell silent again. Lin Xian and KIKI exchanged looks, feeling a strange sense of bewilderment...
"Did you see it?"
KIKI nodded, "It looked like some kind of spatial stratification."
The drone returned the Civilization Preview Ball to Lin Xian, and he inspected it carefully, frowning, "It seems like nothing happened, could we be mistaken?"
KIKI was at a loss for words. Just as Lin Xian was about to ask Grace to obtain more detailed information from the Starry Sky Laboratory, a voice suddenly echoed abruptly within the carriage.