46: Chapter 46 System Announcement: Swarm Cataclysm Warning

Black Iron traveled steadily across the desolate Gobi Desert.

The people inside the train were still immersed in the joy of soon equipping power armor.

However, peace in the apocalypse is always as fleeting as a joke.

Three o'clock in the afternoon.

The originally clear sky suddenly darkened without any warning.

It was not dark clouds obscuring the sun.

Instead, it was a thick, impenetrable dark red, like dried blood, spreading rapidly from the skyline, dyeing the entire dome into a nauseating crimson.

The air pressure began to drop sharply.

A sense of oppression that made one's chest feel stifled and hair stand on end instantly enveloped all living creatures on the wasteland.

"Beep—!"

At that very moment.

That cold, grand, and emotionless notification sound of the heavenly dao system exploded without warning in the minds of all survivors across the globe.

**[Global Announcement!]**

**[Warning! Planetary environmental upheaval detected.]**

**[The second server-wide disaster—'Swarm Calamity'—will officially descend in 24 hours!]**

**[Disaster Duration: 48 hours.]**

**[Calamity Characteristics: Overwhelming, pervasive, extremely hungry, strong acid corrosion.]**

**[All Conductors are requested to immediately prepare the train for anti-air, sealing, and firepower defense.]**

**[Note: During this disaster, the survival rate for those who leave the train and are exposed outside is: 0%.]**

**[Good luck to everyone.]**

...Dead silence.

Inside the carriages of Black Iron, it instantly fell into a death-like silence.

Everyone stopped the work in their hands.

The girls looked at each other, the slight sense of ease originally brought by nuclear power shattered at this moment.

Swarm Calamity?

Overwhelming? Pervasive?

Compared to those slow-moving, brainless zombies that only knew how to crawl on the ground.

The word 'bug' naturally carried a sense of dread that made one's scalp tingle.

Especially for girls, who could scream for a long time even just seeing a cockroach in normal times.

Let alone mutated, swarming man-eating bugs in the apocalypse!

"Squad... Squad Leader..."

Zhao Xiaotang, who had just been excitedly waving a steel pipe, now had a slightly pale face.

She was not afraid of hand-to-hand combat with a three-meter-tall Tyrant.

But if she had to face millions of dense, crawling bugs, she felt she might go crazy on the spot.

"What are you panicking about?"

Lin Xiao's deep and steady voice spread through every carriage via the broadcast system.

There was no trace of fear in this voice; instead, it carried a composure that came from having seen many great storms.

It was like a needle to calm the sea, instantly stabilizing the restless morale of the entire army.

"If the sky falls, I will hold it up."

"Everyone, put down your work immediately."

"Team leaders, meeting in the No. 1 command carriage in three minutes!"

...Three minutes later.

At the conference table in the No. 1 carriage, all core members had arrived.

Su Qingqian, Zhao Xiaotang, Luo Yao, Shen Man, Liu Ruyan, and even the newly joined "Equipment Minister" Xiao Ai, and the "Agricultural Minister" Tian Yuanyuan, who was covered in dirt, had rushed over.

The expressions on everyone's faces were exceptionally grave.

"Luo Yao, report on the situation in the public channel and the trading hall."

Lin Xiao sat in the main seat, his fingers tapping lightly on the table, his face as calm as water.

"The situation is very bad, Squad Leader."

Luo Yao pushed up the tactical glasses on the bridge of her nose and quickly pulled up a set of data.

"The moment the system announcement was issued, all insect screens, insecticides, and even quicklime and flamethrower fuel in the trading mall were instantly bought out."

"Now the prices on the black market have soared tenfold, and there's even no stock available!"

"The public channel is already a mess, and many survivors who only have one or two broken wooden carriages are already despairingly arranging their affairs."

There was a hint of intolerance in Luo Yao's voice.

The cruelty of the apocalypse was vividly displayed at this moment.

Those ordinary people who couldn't even defeat zombies had no choice but to wait for death when facing the pervasive sea of insects.

"Ten times? This bunch of profiteers making money off the dead."

Lin Xiao sneered.

Of course, he wouldn't be the sucker.

He was a man who possessed an SSS-grade sign-in system and massive supplies.

"Xiao Ai, stop the production progress of the mecha."

Lin Xiao turned to look at Xiao Ai, who had two dark circles under her eyes.

"Ah? But Boss, it's just a little bit away..."

Xiao Ai pouted, feeling a bit aggrieved.

She had been like a chicken injected with blood these past few days, even dreaming about tightening screws.

"Mechas are useful for dealing with single powerful enemies, but using them to swat mosquitoes is like using an anti-aircraft gun to kill a mosquito—overkill, and the joints are easily corroded by acid."

Lin Xiao explained patiently and then opened his exclusive Conductor point mall.

Compared to the trading hall for ordinary players, his mall had quite a few advanced black-tech blueprints.

His fingers flipped rapidly across the virtual screen.

Soon, his gaze locked onto a blueprint emitting a purple glow.

**[High-Frequency Insect Repellent Wave Generator (Blueprint).]**

**[Price: 10,000 points.]**

**[Description: Dual-purpose equipment for pre-war agriculture/biochemical defense. It can emit a specific frequency of infrasonic waves. It is harmless to human hearing but will directly destroy the central nervous system of arthropods and insects, causing them to lose their sense of direction, go mad, or even suffer brain death. Effective coverage radius: 500 meters.]**

"You're the one."

Lin Xiao clicked to redeem without hesitation.

10,000 points were instantly deducted, exchanged for a blueprint full of a sense of technology.

"Luo Yao, Xiao Ai."

Lin Xiao slapped the blueprint onto the table.

"Drop all work and gather all the manpower and material resources of your two departments."

"Within twenty hours, I want this machine installed in the center of the roof of Black Iron."

Xiao Ai and Luo Yao leaned over to take a look at the blueprint.

The eyes of the two tech-savvy girls instantly lit up.

"Don't worry, Boss! The structure of this thing isn't complicated; it's mainly the audio oscillation core, and we have ready-made parts in our workshop!"

Xiao Ai patted her flat chest in assurance.

"Good, I leave the anti-air and sonic dispersal to you."

Lin Xiao nodded with satisfaction, then turned to look at the others.

"Next, is the preparation for the hard battle."

"Liu Ruyan, take the mobile team to inspect the entire train."

"All ventilation ducts, drainage pipes, and even the gaps at the carriage connections, seal them all for me with three layers of fine stainless steel mesh!"

"Don't be stingy with materials; if there isn't enough wire mesh, cut it from steel plates!"

"After sealing, Luo Yao will connect these meshes to high-voltage electricity. Even if a fly flies in, it must be turned into charred carbon for me!"

Liu Ruyan's expression was solemn; she was wearing a capable black combat uniform today, her long legs tense.

"Understood! I guarantee not a single bug will fly in!"

"Xiao Tang, Qing Qian."

Lin Xiao looked at his right-hand women.

"To deal with a sea of insects, your swordsmanship and fists are too inefficient."

"Area-of-effect damage is the way to go."

"Go to the armory and move out all the flamethrowers."

"If there isn't enough fuel, go to the ammunition conversion box, throw in all the scrap metal and low-level weapons we captured from Black Stone City, and convert them all into napalm fuel tanks!"

A trace of cruel fire flashed in Lin Xiao's eyes.

"Since bugs are afraid of fire, I will turn this train into a moving fire dragon!"

"The dozens of girls in the combat team will each be equipped with a flamethrower!"

"As long as you find bugs approaching the shield, burn them fiercely! Turn this Gobi Desert into their crematorium!"

"Yes!"

The two women accepted the order in unison, and fighting spirit ignited in their eyes as well.

Burning bugs was much more stress-relieving than hacking zombies.

"Shen Man."

Lin Xiao's gaze softened a bit as he looked at the virtuous helper sitting beside him.

Shen Man immediately straightened her body, causing a surge in her chest, her gentle eyes fixed tightly on Lin Xiao.

Ever since they broke through that layer of relationship, she radiated an astonishing charm of having been nourished.

"The burden on the logistics team is heavy."

"Take people to rush production of first-aid bandages and hemostatic medicine."

"Most importantly..."

Lin Xiao looked at Tian Yuanyuan, who had been somewhat nervous.

"Yuanyuan, do you have any left of that 'Plant Life Essence' you got from the demon flower before?"

"Yes! There's still more than half left!"

Tian Yuanyuan nodded quickly.

"Very good. Coordinate with Shen Man's healing ability to extract those essences and make them into anti-venom serum and 'Life Potions' that instantly restore stamina."

"Bug attacks are often highly toxic, and this batch of potions is our last line of defense."

"Also, go to the greenhouse and harvest all the mature vegetables."

"Although there is an energy shield, just in case, we cannot let those bugs destroy our granary."

"Leave it to me! Squad Leader!"

Tian Yuanyuan clenched her small fists; this was the first time she had undertaken such an important combat readiness task in the team.

...As Lin Xiao's instructions were issued in an orderly manner.

The panic that had originally permeated the carriages was replaced by an efficient, operational passion for combat readiness.

The meeting ended.

The entire Black Iron instantly turned into a precision war machine.

The sound of welding with sparks flying rang out at every ventilation duct.

Harsh metal cutting sounds came from Xiao Ai's weapon workshop.

The girls in the combat team were excitedly testing those heavy but secure-feeling flamethrowers.

"Boom—!"

A fire dragon over ten meters long sprayed out from the train window, emitting astonishing heat waves in mid-air.

"Wow! This feels so great!"

A usually delicate girl from the Dance Department, now carrying a flamethrower, laughed like a villain.

In Shen Man's infirmary, a fresh scent of herbs permeated the air.

Vials of emerald green anti-venom serum were neatly stacked in the refrigerator.

Looking at the more than one hundred girls on the train, all following his commands as if they were his own arms, without a hint of complaint or retreat.

Lin Xiao stood in the corridor, a strong sense of accomplishment rising in his heart.

This train was long gone from being that broken piece of scrap metal that leaked on all sides and would fall apart at any moment.

These girls were also long gone from being those vases who only knew how to cry and scream.

They were the strongest corps he had built with his own hands in this apocalypse.

This train had become an iron plate, a true mobile fortress.

"Swarm Calamity?"

Lin Xiao lit a cigar and took a deep puff.

He looked at the increasingly dense scarlet sky outside the window and exhaled a smoke ring.

"Come on."

"Let me see if your teeth are harder, or if my steel fortress is harder!"

...Time until the system-predicted "Swarm Calamity" descends.

Countdown: 2 hours.

The entire Black Iron had turned into a seamless steel fortress.

All ventilation ducts were tightly sealed with stainless steel mesh connected to high-voltage electricity.

The corridor was filled with the pungent smell of mixed insecticide and disinfectant.

The "High-Frequency Insect Repellent Wave Generator" on the roof had been debugged and was now emitting a faint buzzing sound while on standby.

The atmosphere was so oppressive that it made it hard to breathe.

"Bang!"

The heavy alloy door of the weapon workshop was kicked open from the inside.

A petite figure rushed out, accompanied by rolling white smoke of machine oil.

"Boss! Squad Leader!"

Xiao Ai, with a face full of black ash, looked like a little kitten that had just crawled out of a coal mine.

Her originally white tight camisole could no longer be seen for its color, stained with various oil stains, and because of the high-intensity continuous work for three days and three nights, her whole body was trembling slightly.

But in those large amber eyes, a kind of almost crazy, fanatical light flickered.

"I finished it!"

Her voice cracked with excitement as she grabbed the arm of Lin Xiao, who had just walked to the door.

"Three sets! I simplified the blueprint a bit and did my best to rush out three sets!"

"Come in and take a look, my... masterpiece!"

Lin Xiao looked at this genius girl who could barely stand, a rare trace of admiration rising in his heart.

Although supported by genetic enhancement potions, the perseverance to perform high-precision micro-operations for seventy-two consecutive hours without sleep was definitely not something an ordinary person could possess.

"You've worked hard, Little Stutterer."

Lin Xiao ruffled her messy hair and waved his big hand.

"Shen Man! Take her down, feed her two bottles of Life Potion, and let her have a good sleep!"

"Yes!" Shen Man quickly ran over to support Xiao Ai, who was about to collapse from exhaustion.

Lin Xiao did not linger and strode into the weapon workshop that was still emitting high heat.

Following behind him were Su Qingqian and Zhao Xiaotang, who had been waiting for a long time.

When the workshop's exhaust system cleared away the smoke.

Three cold, ferocious metal creations, full of pure violent aesthetics, stood quietly on the central display stand.

"Hiss..."

Even Lin Xiao, who was used to big scenes, couldn't help but gasp when he saw the real objects clearly.

It was too beautiful!

This was simply not that kind of bulky tin can.

But a streamlined exoskeleton armor that perfectly fit the curves of the human body!

The whole body presented the high-end silver-gray matte texture of TC4 titanium alloy.

In order to pursue extreme individual mobility, the armor did not completely cover the whole body, but instead had heavy armor coverage on key positions such as the shoulders, chest, spine, joints, and legs.

The interior was flexible protective gear woven from Tier 3 crocodile leather and high-polymer bulletproof fibers.

On the back of the armor, that "micro cold nuclear reactor," only the size of a fist, was tightly embedded in a hexagonal energy slot, faintly emitting a deep blue halo.