Lin Xian approached Drakkon, noticing that he hadn't been seen. The man seemed distracted. He gave him a light tap on the shoulder and said, "We need to talk," before heading toward the third carriage.
"So, what do you want to talk about?" I asked, not entirely sure what he meant.
"You know about the train's development. We're going to stop at a general store or something similar to pick up more furniture for the train. After all, I built this train to live well—not to live like a sewer rat in my own train."
Lin Xian walked toward one of the armored windows of the carriage and looked outside before continuing.
"You said you had plenty of supplies, right? I think it's time to start using them. Tell me, how much fuel do you have for the train? Moving it all the time is exhausting for me. And what about medicine, food, clothes, and those kinds of things?"
I walked over to stand beside him and looked out at the lifeless, ruined landscape stretching endlessly ahead.
"What I have the least of is fuel. If we run at maximum power twenty-four hours a day, I'd say we have enough for fourteen to eighteen days at most. It wasn't easy to get, and this train consumes too much. Besides, it wouldn't be wise to burn all our fuel on the train. If we need it for something else in the future, we won't have any left. At this point, getting a nuclear locomotive would be ideal. That would solve both the movement issue and the electricity problem, since right now we have to keep the train running and burning fuel just to generate power."
He clicked his tongue. "Do you think I haven't thought about that? If I had that option, I would've done it already. Nuclear locomotives aren't exactly lying around everywhere. The best alternative right now would be to find a station with an electric train and couple it to ours. It could generate and store electricity while we move, and once it's charged enough, we could use it as backup propulsion in emergencies. But tell me about the other supplies."
I walked to the center of the carriage and dumped several items onto the floor to represent what we had.
"I have medicine, but it doesn't cure dark energy. In the short term, we shouldn't have problems. I have plenty of clothes, but most of them are for warm climates. Only a few are suitable for the cold, which will become a problem now that it's getting colder. As for weapons, I have around a thousand. They're not top-of-the-line, but they're good enough for now. Furniture—I have a lot, but most of it isn't space-efficient. Thick blankets for winter are in the same situation as the clothes. As for food, I have plenty of canned goods, but very little fresh food—especially vegetables and greens."
I sighed. It had never crossed my mind to raid markets or fairs specifically for fresh produce. The ones I had grabbed from stores and supermarkets hadn't included much of that.
"I see. At least that eases our short-term concerns and aligns with my idea of creating a garden inside the train. But for that, we need specialized personnel—engineers to repair the train, help operate it, and improve it. A botanist or hydroponics specialist to grow plants. A doctor. Fighters… In short, we need skilled personnel and combatants. That's what we lack, and there's no solution in sight."
Before we could continue, Chen Sixuan shouted from the front locomotive.
"Guys, we're approaching a large building called City of Furniture!"
Her voice reminded us—more specifically, reminded Lin Xian—of his intention to gather furniture. Using his power, he began slowing the locomotive until it came to a stop on the exposed tracks, with nothing around us. Then we headed to the first carriage to meet Chen Sixuan.
"Miss Chen, we'll be back soon. Under no circumstances open these doors for anyone other than the two of us. No matter the reason—even if they're begging. Is that clear?"
While he gave instructions, I had already put on my jacket, picked up my reinforced machete, and scanned the surroundings through the windows. I didn't see any immediate danger.
I noticed he was about to head out wearing just his shirt, so I tossed a jacket at him.
"Don't even think about it. Remember last time you went out in just a T-shirt? You got sick and had to take medicine. Put the jacket on. It's better for identification, and if something unexpected happens, it's better to have one than not."
I pointed at the thermometer, which read 12°C. The wind outside made it feel even colder. During the day, temperatures hovered around 12 degrees, but as night approached, they dropped rapidly below freezing. Each day grew colder with the approach of the Abyss.
He nodded, put on the jacket, and opened the door for me to step out and scout the area toward the building. From up close, there were visible signs of looting, noticeable even from afar. There was no sign of life—not even many zombies. This had been a sparsely populated area even before the Apocalypse.
After surveying the area, I returned and saw him stepping out as well. He handed me a walkie-talkie.
"Don't lose it. That's how we'll communicate if we get separated."
I walked ahead, having already scanned the terrain. We crossed a street cluttered with abandoned and wrecked cars wedged between lanes. On the other side, near the store, the parking lot was packed with vehicles in varying degrees of damage. The road was littered with broken appliances and pieces of furniture. Blood—dark and dried—covered the ground everywhere.
Strangely, there were no bodies. No corpses. No skeletons. Nothing to explain why there was so much blood.
Not dwelling on it, we advanced to the entrance of the store, where the concentration of dried blood and debris was even greater. When we opened the door, darkness greeted us. Aside from the faint sunlight filtering through large windows and skylights at certain points, the interior was almost entirely dark.
Our first stop was the mattress store. On the way there, I counted only two bodies—which was odd considering the chaos outside.
I watched as he lay down on one of the mattresses and murmured, "Very good, very good. Firm yet soft. Those Simmons ads weren't just nonsense."
To irritate him, I stored the mattress in my space, causing him to fall flat onto the floor. He looked at me with an annoyed expression, but I paid him no mind and continued storing other mattresses, thick duvets, and heavy winter blankets, practically clearing out the entire store.
"Man, that's so convenient. If it were me, I'd need a forklift to carry just a few. And here you are taking everything in no time."
There was a greedy glint in his eyes. Knowing him, he probably wanted to empty the entire store—even if it was just to have it.
I simply shook my head.
"Anyway, you take the electronics. I'm going to look around and see if I can find anything useful. If you finish before I get back, grab some extra furniture too. You never know if we might trade it in the future."
I nodded and headed toward the other end of the massive building, where the appliances were located—knowing he would probably want to dismantle them later to improve his abilities.