In a hidden corner of S City,
On this night when the vast majority of people were still baffled, the rumbling sound of vehicles echoed incessantly at various intersections of the city.
Convoys of emergency transport vehicles shuttled through the thick darkness, racing against time to allocate supplies such as grain, oil, quilts, and heating appliances.
A silent battle, crucial for the survival of millions, had quietly begun.
Meanwhile, in a secluded military camp on the outskirts of S City, a silver-white train was slowly winding its way. The mysterious metal body, enveloped in blue particles, glowed coldly under the searchlights.
In terms of volume alone, it was already dozens of times larger than the American train that had previously sparked heated discussions across the internet.
"Xiao Liu, can you hold on?" The officer's voice carried undisguised concern, his gaze fixed firmly on the young soldier before him.
Xiao Liu wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, the clammy wetness mixed with fatigue. His voice was hoarse but exceptionally firm:
"Sir, I can still go on! Let the brothers continue bringing in the supplies—don't delay the progress!"
He tilted his fingertips, and fine silver mysterious particles flowed slowly from the tips, winding around the alloy materials piled on the ground.
The rest of the supplies, whether heavy production equipment or boxed compressed food, were all carried by soldiers in neat lines, hauling and moving them into the train carriages one after another.
Xiao Liu was only responsible for the core transformation of building materials, fully expanding the train.
The officer strode forward, reached out to support the faltering Xiao Liu, gently pressed him onto a nearby folding chair, and said in a deep voice:
"Rest for ten minutes. It won't make a difference in this short time. Our underground shelter is being built simultaneously. If you collapse, it will really affect the subsequent progress."
In just four days, this train was no longer what it had originally been. With Xiao Liu overdrawing his mental strength again and again to expand, the carriages had grown to over a hundred, and they had even deliberately divided into two levels, orderly and neat.
District D's military plan had long been finalized: the lower level of the train was planned as workshops, laboratories, and even small production lines, responsible for subsequent material processing and equipment maintenance.
The upper level was converted into dormitories, with simple beds to accommodate commanders, soldiers, and researchers.
At the same time, the underground shelter was being hurriedly built, and the water and electricity lines of the subway station were being renovated, awaiting the subsequent resettlement of ordinary civilians.
The feasibility of the entire plan was extremely high; the only drawback was that they had too little time.
Seeing Xiao Li's pale face and exhausted state, the officer turned to ask the secretary beside him: "Have you found more Train Conductors?"
The secretary sighed softly, his tone full of helplessness, shaking his head:
"The network security department, through keyword screening, managed to find many WeChat groups of Train Conductors. There are dozens of locals in S City, but all of them were intercepted by other military districts first."
Especially District A, which has close ties with the government, grabbed the most and the fastest.
The secretary paused, his expression troubled, and added, "Moreover, the mental strength of ordinary people is only C-level or B-level, barely enough to expand a dozen or so carriages."
He glanced at Xiao Liu, who was resting, and lowered his voice further: "It's only Xiao Liu, a special forces soldier with a rare A-level mental value, who can support such a large-scale expansion."
The officer's brow instantly knitted into a knot, his fingers unconsciously tapping the belt at his waist, his tone heavy: "Isn't there a way to improve mental strength?"
"The researchers have already started studying it, but…" The secretary's voice dropped, and a flicker of dread passed through his eyes:
"During the experiments, more than a dozen Train Conductors across the country have already gone mentally unstable. The rest have retreated into their trains, refusing to come out, spreading negative messages online, and no longer cooperating with the research."
"How can such an immature method be casually used on the people? No wonder we've lost their trust!" The officer said in a stern voice.
The secretary smiled bitterly and handed over a notice: "We just received a message from the city, asking us to cooperate with the research and have Xiao Liu report to the War Eagle Research Institute."
The officer looked at Xiao Liu, who had already propped himself up and started transforming materials again, and his voice surged with anger: "We're up to our ears in work here, and they're adding to the trouble?!"
"Yes, excessive consumption of mental value can drive a person completely insane," the secretary said in a low voice.
At that moment, at the War Eagle Research Institute, Deputy Director Jia Chunyi was slamming the table in fury: "In the face of national crisis, they don't even have that much awareness? Notify No. 17: if he continues to hide in his train and not come out, a bomb will be waiting for him!"
"Yes!" The subordinate acknowledged and withdrew.
Jia Chunyi snorted coldly, saying, "Don't think having a train makes you special. We're not lacking that." But a glint of envy that he couldn't hide flashed in his eyes, as he stared at the list of Train Conductors from various places on the screen, his expression gloomy.
In the District D military camp.
The secretary, looking at the officer's ashen face, hesitated before speaking: "If Xiao Liu goes, what if something happens to him? Some researchers… are completely insane." The words were at his lips, but meeting the officer's stern gaze, he swallowed them back.
Some zealous researchers, under the pretext of righteousness, were conducting inhumane experiments on humans in the lab.
Over in H City, a spy researcher even cruelly dissected a Train Conductor's brain, trying to smuggle it to the M country for study.
Just then, a communications soldier, gripping a walkie-talkie, rushed in quickly: "Sir! The patrol team on the outskirts of the military area found three suspicious individuals trying to probe the flow of our supplies. We've already sent people to tail them!"
The officer instantly composed himself and said in a deep voice: "Report their movements at any time, don't alert them." Turning to the secretary, he added, "Soldiers can't refuse orders, but they can state the situation. District D can't do without Xiao Liu. At this critical moment, millions of lives are at stake."
The secretary nodded, understanding the leader's intention: stall—file all kinds of reports to stall.
The next day, just as dawn was breaking, fragments of morning light seeped through the gaps in the curtains. Lin Mo was awakened by a strange feeling of exhaustion. Days of rushing around stockpiling and mental strain had weighed on her like a stone, leaving her whole body sore and weak, with barely enough strength to lift her hand.
She fumbled for the thermometer on the bedside table, tucked it under her arm, and after a moment, took it out to see 37.2°C—a low-grade fever.
She casually took an ibuprofen, rubbed her heavy temples, and grabbed her phone. On the screen lay the alert from the National Emergency Management Ministry.
"So the country has truly taken action…"
But to maintain stability, the official wording was restrained; how one interpreted it depended on one's perspective.
Lin Mo frowned slightly at the screen, knowing full well: it was impossible for 1.4 billion people to flood to a few southern provinces. The ones who could actually escape were destined to be a minority.
She scrolled through the information feed on social media. The algorithm was still pushing various extreme emotions, trying to bring more traffic to the app:
A top streamer was chopping carved rosewood furniture into firewood, the flames licking the screen reflecting the barrage's frenzy: "Bro, burn it well! Tomorrow it'll all be firewood anyway!"