Apocalypse: I Build A Doomsday Train

Where did Brother Huo go?

Lin Xian felt something odd, stood up, and walked to Lu Xingchen's room, finding it empty and exceptionally tidy. On Lu Xingchen's private tea table, there was an old-style message machine.

He immediately sensed something was off, waved a hand, and activated it with his mechanical superpower. The machine was switched on, producing a static sound, and shortly after, Lu Xingchen's message played.

"Brother Lin, Brother Lou, all friends of the Infinity, please forgive my departure without notice…"

"I am infected with mycelium poison, knowing that I cannot harm my companions and knowing I cannot continue this journey to the East, I leave on my own to guard peace outside the passage for everyone, doing my last little bit..."

Hearing the words from the message machine, Lin Xian's face suddenly fell.

Lu Xingchen was infected with mycelium?

How is that possible? There were no signs all the way, with KIKI's telekinesis shield protecting us the whole time. Besides that, Lin Xian thought, it seemed it was only when Brother Huo acted alone while handling disinfection on the Joint Train entering the tunnel...

"Damn it!"

The sudden situation threw Lin Xian into a frenzy of powerlessness and anger. He was about to use a communicator to contact Brother Huo, but to his surprise, Ding Junyi's voice suddenly came through the communicator first.

"Lin Xian, there's a situation here!"

Inside the Zero Element Center, Ding Junyi looked at Tang Yun, whose head was already covered with mycelium. The data in the brainwave θ band continued to show a very strange peak graph. Ding Junyi's eyes squinted slightly, not expecting that her cautious action seemed to have detected the true secret of the mycelium network!

"Speak!" Lin Xian on the other end of the communicator was very urgent, immediately shouting.

"Tang Yun's brainwave θ band is interfering with the mycelium, which means the connection with the mycelium and the illusion spores we encountered before are fundamentally different. While the brain continues to generate hallucinations of self-awareness, the mycelium is interfering with all the brain neurons at the same frequency..."

"Get to the point!"

Ding Junyi lifted her glasses slightly, focused on the giant hive center, and said,

"This mycelium network seems truly capable of connecting to everyone's consciousness, but the problem is all brain neurons are being mobilized in a pattern that doesn't correspond to individual consciousness changes. It's very likely that this mycelium network is using human brains as computing processors!"

"In other words, the entire mycelium network is very likely capable of recognizing human thoughts, including Tang Yun's consciousness!"

Rumble!

As Ding Junyi finished her words, the underground tunnel suddenly began to tremble lightly, and dust rolled in waves.

This tremor instantly awoke everyone who was resting in the Joint Train. Many woke up and immediately grabbed weapons, and all internal communication frequencies started to become noisy.

"What's going on?"

"What happened?!"

"Was it an earthquake?"

On the other side, Chen Sixuan, still resting, was also startled awake. Out of cautious instinct, she immediately put on the Black Hawk Battle Armor and started contacting Lin Xian.

"Lin Xian, what's happening?"

"I don't know." Lin Xian had already dashed down the Infinity with KIKI, rushing towards the Zero Element Center, and said to Chen Sixuan: "Teacher Chen, notify all teams to be ready for evacuation at any moment!"

"Alright!"

"Brother Shi, Sister Ning, please check the subway tunnel conditions. We might have to evacuate soon!" Lin Xian simultaneously contacted Dragon Mountain No.1.

In an instant, Shi Deyuan, Ning Jing, Qian Deli of the Joker team, Xiao Meng, Monica of the Queen Mo, Luo Yang, Li Yi, and over a dozen other train team leaders all received the urgent message and everyone entered emergency standby mode immediately.

The corridors of each coach began to be filled with hurried footsteps, the electric airport's engine started to hum, and the countless locking mechanisms of the 15-kilometer Joint Train were quietly released.

"Quick, get ready for action."

"Release the limiter!"

"Raise the reactor temperature, ready to increase power!"

"Weapons station, get the machine gunners in position."

By the subway tunnel entrance, Lin Xian and KIKI hurriedly raced towards the Zero Element Center.

"Sister Ding means those mycelium treat human brains as processors for computation, and can also spy on human consciousness?" KIKI, unable to finish [Grace]'s overwriting work, was pulled away by Lin Xian. Upon hearing Lin Xian's words, she instinctively grasped: "So through Tang Yun, the mycelium might know we're hiding underground?"

Lin Xian's face was grim, as he looked at the surveillance he set up at Yijin Bank's vault and on the street. It was still extremely quiet, so he said: "We're not completely sure yet, but since it's Director Ding's assessment, we must prepare for the worst. The recent tremor is also extremely unusual."

"Where are we going now?"

Lin Xian was burning with anxiety, gritting his teeth, and said: "Find Brother Huo!"

...

At this moment, on the rooftop of Yijin Bank, Lu Xingchen leaned against the edge of the building, scanning the streets under the black night. His ears were filled with whispering murmurs, as if hiding countless unspeakable existences. Within the clouds, strange tentacles sometimes appeared. The city's black, sticky fog had mostly dissipated, and when Lu Xingchen glanced up, he could see the gigantic Heavenly Mushroom Tower and the sky-covering crown, with a touch of coldness in his eyes.

"Truly a world overrun with demonic calamity and filth."

He lowered his head, pulled down his collar, lit a spark with his fingers, and saw that his chest and neck were already covered with large patches of greenish mycelium, involuntarily sighing.

Lu Xingchen picked up a communicator, confirmed the signal was connected, and continued to burn a golden bracelet he picked up from the vault with his finger flame. The bracelet was covered in mud, which he cleaned, and now he's burning it for fun.

After the conversation with Da Lou, worried that the mycelium spores on him would affect those inside the car, coupled with being a Frenzy Level superpower user, he feared his mutation aftermath might bring unimaginable trouble to the Infinity team members, so he quietly left the Infinity. Alone, he reached the bank rooftop above the Zero Element Center, preparing to both keep lookout for the Infinity and peaceably await his inevitable consumption by the mycelium.

Sizzle~ sizzle~

On the dark rooftop, a tiny flame continuously flickered.

"They say true gold fears no fire, this thing hasn't melted despite burning for so long. It seems that even my own path nears exhaustion."

Lu Xingchen, looking at the golden bracelet in his hand which couldn't be melted, murmured in a self-mocking tone.

Suddenly, he felt a faint tremor in the air, immediately sitting upright, his gaze falling on the massive silhouette of the Heavenly Mushroom Tower not far away. At this moment, it seemed there were billions of energy strands climbing the tower's intricate root system, like blood vessels, making the four-kilometer-wide cap atop quiver.

Lu Xingchen stood up, his expression cold and quietly said,

"Interesting, I actually feel observed by a mushroom…"