Lin Xian pressed the young girl tightly to the ground, preventing her from escaping with ease.
"Since you're awake, why pretend to be asleep? What is your real purpose!?"
The girl, stubborn in nature, struggled fiercely, "I... I..."
Lin Xian's eyes went cold, placing the short knife directly in front of her eyes, "Do you think I would show mercy out of pity for your beauty?"
Seeing the chilling glint of the steel knife, the girl's eyes bulged in fear, hurriedly pleading, "I was wrong, don't kill me, let me go, I can't breathe properly."
At this moment, the girl was pinned down by him, her face slightly reddening.
Lin Xian frowned, wondering how the girl who managed to blast his door off its hinges earlier was now utterly defenseless.
As he pondered, the girl suddenly burst into tears,
"Wuu wuu, don't kill me, as long as you don't kill me, I will agree to anything."
No sooner had her words fallen, than the girl suddenly turned her head and bit down hard on Lin Xian's ankle.
Hiss!
A piercing pain shot through him, and Lin Xian's brow furrowed, cursing silently, realizing this woman was indeed cunning, launching a sneak attack on him while he was off guard!
In response to the pain, Lin Xian slapped her head with the flat of his knife.
Bang!
A crisp sound rang out, and the girl cried out in pain before promptly passing out.
"Still pretending?!"
Angered, Lin Xian had no thoughts of mercy left as he fetched a bundle of nylon zip ties from the tool box in Carriage No. 3 and firmly secured the girl's hands and feet, finally allowing himself to relax a bit.
He leaned against the compartment wall, glanced at his ankle, and saw a startling set of teeth marks.
"Darn it, I hope I don't turn into a zombie."
However, hearing this, the girl suddenly muttered under her breath with her head lowered,
"You're the zombie, your whole family are zombies."
Lin Xian's gaze turned icy, "Oh, not pretending to be unconscious anymore?"
"Speak up, what's your name, what's your real purpose? Or, you can choose to keep silent, and I'll just throw you off the train right now."
Lin Xian pulled out the short knife, his tone was chillingly ruthless, making it clear he was capable of doing just that.
Clank, clank.
The train moved steadily along, the walkie-talkie remained quiet, and Teacher Chen had not sent any messages, indicating the path ahead was clear.
"My name is KIKI."
The girl's tone changed, shifting from the naïve and girlish tone she used earlier to something colder.
Well well, it really was an act.
"How did you find me, what's your purpose, why have you been pretending to be asleep the whole time? Don't make me continue asking questions; you should be aware of your situation."
KIKI's head was lowered to the ground, and she let out a sigh. Struggling to sit up from the ground because her hands and feet were tied, she looked at Lin Xian with hatred in her eyes. Although her small face was streaked with tears and her eyes were still red, there was not a hint of compromise, her on-and-off crying act was astonishing.
"What else could it be, weren't you the one waving the flag on the rooftop that day?"
Waving the flag?
Lin Xian frowned slightly, "Are you trying to tell me you were on that helicopter?"
"What else?" KIKI looked at him woodenly.
"Continue."
"Didn't you see, the plane crashed?"
"So?"
"I have nowhere to go."
"And then."
"You peeked at my underwear."
"..."
"What does that mean?" Lin Xian frowned.
KIKI bit her silver teeth and whispered,
"Yes, I woke up the next day, but I didn't know who you were, or where I was, as soon as I opened my eyes, I saw you..."
Lin Xian's face changed,
"So?"
"So I naturally took you as..."
"A pervert?" Lin Xian blurted out.
"So, you pretended to faint in order to steal food and attack me?"
"Not really, I just wanted to escape, but never got the chance." said the girl named KIKI with a look of grievance.
Lin Xian's expression shifted, and then he blurted out,
"Fine, you think I'm a pervert who has imprisoned you, right? Then go."
Lin Xian looked at the gradually falling sunset outside and said bluntly,
"Since you're so clever, I'm sure you can survive out there on your own. You seem to come from a wealthy family; why not have your dad come rescue you?"
Lin Xian's gaze was icy, his words carrying a probing undertone.
"My dad is dead."
Her tone was indifferent, as if devoid of any sorrow.
The carriage fell silent for a moment.
"That's none of my concern." Lin Xian stood up directly.
"Wait, I was thinking of escaping initially, but I've realized now that I misunderstood you. Please don't make me get off the train, okay?" KIKI hurriedly said.
Lin Xian sneered,
"You didn't realize you misunderstood me; you know you won't survive if you get off."
The girl was quite clever, but Lin Xian still looked at her calmly, "Sorry, you're of no value to me."
KIKI panicked upon hearing this, and immediately said, "Wait, you... take me to Jin Hai, my father was the chairman of Linglong Group, a secondary investor in the Dawn Plan, entitled to a saturated rescue by the plan. After his death, that entitlement automatically passed to me. If you take me to Jin Hai, someone will come for me. Then, I can provide you with all the resources you want, or arrange a third-class citizen status for you in the Dawn Plan, allowing you to settle in the Underground City."
In carriage number three, the orange glow of the sunset filtered through the gridded armor and retreated across the two of them. Lin Xian frowned slightly after hearing her words.
He had indeed heard of the Dawn Plan; at the onset of Apocalypse Day, numerous versions of the plan had emerged online. It was said to be an official Underground City project to avoid the apocalypse. Others claimed it was a wandering starship project to preserve the seeds of human civilization.
Rumors were rife, along with various conspiracy theories, making it difficult to discern truth from fiction.
"Sorry." Contrary to KIKI's expectations, her words did not receive the expected reaction from him. On the contrary, Lin Xian, with an expression calm like water, directly refused, "I'm not interested."
"You don't believe me?"
"Even if I did, I'm still not interested."
Lin Xian spoke seriously, his gaze piercing as he looked at her,
"Not only am I uninterested, but I also find it quite boring. Why don't you jump off yourself, to spare me the effort."
Regardless of whether what KIKI said was true or false, Lin Xian really had no interest at all. Compared to that so-called third-class citizen status in the Underground City, Lin Xian had more faith in his superpower. As long as he could utilize his ability well, his chances of survival were very high, certainly better than being buried underground. Moreover, in such a place, he might lose his autonomy.
Seeing Lin Xian's indifferent gaze, a flicker of panic finally showed in KIKI's eyes, but she quickly concealed her emotions and disdainfully said to Lin Xian,
"Why are you not interested in the Dawn Plan? Are you just going to rely on this train?"
"Forgive my bluntness, but your plan is really naive. Have you considered, with the apocalypse crumbling outside, the Circular Star Railway lacking maintenance engineers for regular upkeep, what if 1/5 of the 320,000 kilometers of tracks, especially those over the ocean, suffer a fracture? What if the train is damaged? What if resources run out? What if we encounter storms, tsunamis, or earthquakes?"