Apocalypse: I Build A Doomsday Train Chapter 1: The Infinite Train Plan

In Jiang City during the afternoon, a soft and warm breeze gently blew.

On a high-rise apartment balcony, a subtle dazzling gleam flashed faintly. The man lifted his gaze to the sun, checked his watch, then snapped shut the cover of his astronomical telescope.

Beyond the city limits under the clouds, a creepy hush prevailed, while that colossal cloud formation hung motionless in the sky like a towering mountain.

Drip drip, drip drip—the watch alarm chimed sharply.

17:00 in the afternoon, one and a half hours left until dusk.

The man yanked an iron chain, raising a custom-built alloy gate before the floor-to-ceiling windows, as room light slowly faded away.

Sunbeams sliced through cracks in the alloy sheets, painting striped glows over the living room packed with supplies.

Buzz buzz buzz~

An eerie sound rang out, freezing the man in place while he strained to listen.

All at once, his face drained of color.

Grabbing his self-defense Short Knife, he secured it at his waist, then warily stepped out and ascended the stairs to the roof terrace.

A helicopter drew near from the distance, skimming low with its enormous rotors blasting a thunderous din.

Whoosh whoosh!

From seemingly nowhere, the man produced a lengthy water hose topped with a frayed orange rag, waving it frantically at the chopper.

Aboard the helicopter, the girl in headphones caught the orange signal and wordlessly dragged her fingers along the window.

"Mr. Wen?"

The forward pilot also spied the rooftop orange and turned back hesitantly to ask.

Dressed in suit and tie, the man called Mr. Wen peeked out the window with a blank expression, eyes closing as he declared, "Wishful thinking. Who cares about the lives and deaths of these poor wretches!"

The pilot stayed quiet.

Noticing the girl's stare, Mr. Wen shouted, "What, getting sentimental?"

"Remember, they're not like us. If tomorrow were the end of the world, we would be the last to die, you understand?!"

"Tch~"

The girl's face turned icy, eyes locked outside, clearly scorning the man's remarks.

Woo~

Over the horizon, the helicopter roared by.

The man atop the remote rooftop witnessed it all, then idly lowered the pole, gaze still fixed.

"Damn it, such a good plane, what a pity..."

...

Woo woo woo!

Moments later, a shrill alarm blared abruptly inside the helicopter.

"Danger of stalling - danger of stalling"

"What's happening!!"

"Losing lift suddenly, might have hit an unknown air current," the young co-pilot paled, hands scrambling to hold the flight steady.

The sudden disaster threw everyone into panic.

"We are in the air, is it possible that we've encountered something ghostly in broad daylight?" the once-calm Mr. Wen in the back screamed first.

Glancing at the cockpit radar showed no oddities. Then, light shifted darkly as if shadowed; instincts kicking in, the pilot leaned out to scan the sky above.

That single look shrank his pupils and bleached his face ghostly white.

A bizarre shadow blinked in and out amid the giant overhead cloud, casting the heavens into shadow!

The clouds boiled chaotically, winds lashed with fury!

A colossal suction gripped the helicopter, hauling it skyward beyond control.

"Warning! Warning!"

"Damn it! Captain, what do we do?"

Perplexed, the co-pilot turned to the captain for orders, noticing his transfixed stare, and traced it himself.

As sparse clouds parted during their ascent, the cockpit pair finally glimpsed the shape inside the cloud mass.

The shadow within the clouds... a massive humanoid mummy!

Face-down floating among the clouds, the humanoid mummy's gigantic frame resembled a drifting continent, its torso alone spanning over ten kilometers visible above the cloud tops.

Suspended inertly in the sky, it appeared eerily placid, its whole body dull gray and somber. Valley-deep wrinkles scarred its skin, while bottomless black eyes oozed malevolent dread as it brooded over the city.

"Aaaaah~!"

Screams ripped through the helpless helicopter at that instant!

The back-seat girl went ashen, her pupils darkening progressively.

Hurricane gales shredded at the helicopter's shell; this tons-heavy machine reduced to airborne grit.

In a flash, the hidden pull devoured it upward, vanishing into the clouds soon after.

Distant on the rooftop, Lin Xian viewed the ordeal, face subtly darkening.

Buzz~

In that instant, a strange glow erupted across the horizon. Lin Xian sensed the danger, spat "Damn it," and hurried back to his home.

He lowered the window shutter, misted deodorizer through the stairwell, and slammed shut the iron door.

Awaiting the arrival of night.

Drip drip, drip drip.

Exactly at 18:45, a second eerie light burst beyond the shutter; the sun sank away, wrapping the whole city in utter blackness.

Under this shroud of shadow, malevolent murmurs stirred in dark alleys; shrill screams rang out in the gloom—horror drew near, the bizarre was upon them!

Within the house.

The record player whirled with smooth jazz melodies; Lin Xian, donned in an apron, casually cracked open a can of beans in the kitchen, as the rich scent of tomato and beef soup drifted from the electric stove.

A fresh, lively coriander sprig—today's harvest from the rooftop garden—brought a lift to the mood in these trying times.

Every bit of the chopped coriander went into the pot, including the tiny scraps stuck to the knife.

Out the window lay a hopeless, empty night; footsteps thudded from below the floor, and some evil entity seemed to rasp breaths from the corridor's murky depths...