Apocalypse: I Build A Doomsday Train Chapter 5 - 2 Apocalypse Help Line_2

An oxygen-generating plant cultivation zone would be the perfect setup, but since Lin Xian has no clue about it, he had to keep it empty for the moment. The final #3 carriage is stocked with all sorts of tools, motorcycles, cranes, welding machines, and it'll serve as material storage down the line.

While he busied himself constructing his mobile fortress, his phone buzzed out of nowhere.

Lin Xian jumped in shock, given that most satellites lay in ruins, leaving satellite communications spotty at best these days. He mainly kept the phone charged for saving data, maps, and potential emergencies, never dreaming he'd get an actual call.

He picked up, and a faintly anxious woman's voice sounded from the line.

"Lin Xian, are you still in Jiang City? I... I want to join your orbital train plan."

The caller turned out to be Chen Sixuan, Lin Xian's college teacher—the only one from his contacts he'd managed to reach in the apocalypse's early days.

Chen Sixuan, twenty-seven, beautiful as a flower, single with no boyfriend, stood out as a rarity in pre-apocalypse Jiang City's rush-to-marry culture.

From what he recalled, this university foreign language teacher stood tall, hailed from a cultured family, embodied the ideal city beauty, and drew all eyes on campus.

Back when Lin Xian first pitched his train plan, she shot it down since he hadn't shared his superpower, making it seem utterly far-fetched; back then, Chen Sixuan still clung to the naive hope that rescue teams would swoop in.

Yet after Jiang City's inaugural polar night hit, hordes perished in utter despair as the creepy blackness relentlessly stripped away survivors' final shreds of reason—Lin Xian had witnessed endless societal breakdown and heartbreaking human suffering. In such a world, a woman without superpowers held less value in survival squads than a single barrel of fuel!

He'd assumed Chen Sixuan had either bolted with some group or met her end, so her sudden call stunned him. If she hadn't fled, how on earth had she held out this long?

Right then, in a barricaded apartment with curtains sealed shut, Chen Sixuan—hair a mess, clad in loungewear—huddled rigidly in the sofa's corner, staring at her phone's dying battery while her once full, silky lips turned ashen and quivered without stop.

Over two grueling months, she'd plunged through her life's blackest chapter, starved and trapped in eternal nights.

Night after night, horrifying noises from the void yanked her from sleep, leaving her mind hazy and her frame shockingly emaciated.

At the start, she pinned hopes on official rescue squads, with plenty of admirers even dropping off supplies at her door—until she grasped the total crumble of global order and the polar night's grip, trapping her in utter despair.

That's when she started desperately hunting for aid.

Post-polar night, Jiang City's populace had mostly vanished like ghosts, the few left scrambling to escape in migrations. Any groups open to her demanded a nude pic upfront to judge her "quality."

That's when it hit her hard: she was no more the captivating university lecturer or the prize catch for Jiang City's rich heirs. Now, she dragged everyone down; in this end-times hell, even her looks only bought a second's notice if she sold herself outright.

With Chen Sixuan teetering on total breakdown, Lin Xian flashed suddenly in her thoughts.

Every power bank lay drained, her phone clinging to its final whispers of juice.

In that instant, no scheme seemed too outlandish—even just getting the call through ignited a spark of hope.

"Teacher Chen, are you okay?"

Lin Xian's composed, even voice washed away Chen Sixuan's panic right away.

"Student Lin, I'm... I'm still alive. Are you still... in Jiang City?"

Chen Sixuan clamped down hard on her fingers.

A heavy silence stretched out before Lin Xian's voice broke through once more.

"I am."

Chen Sixuan shuddered as tension flooded out, hope igniting in her gaze; she blurted into the phone,

"Where are you? Can you come get me..."

The words barely left her mouth before regret slammed her.

It came off as absurd. Mere days earlier, reaching out to an eastward-bound escape crew, she'd blurted the exact line—and got back near-sneering mockery, boiling down to: "Even now, you fancy yourself a princess?"

She backpedaled fast, "No no no... I mean, where are you? Can I come to you?"

To survive, she had no choice but to take the gamble; otherwise, once her phone died, just two grim choices awaited her—hiding in the apartment until death claimed her, or wandering out to be shredded by zombies.

"Teacher Chen," Lin Xian's voice sounded from the other end, "do you have any supplies, or have you awakened a superpower?"

At those words, Chen Sixuan's heart plummeted.

She glanced around her barren apartment, lips quivering, and in a voice nearly breaking into sobs, she replied, "No... I don't have any."

"If, if you want me..."

Chen Sixuan had never dreamed she'd one day utter such desperate, begging words to one of her own students.

Yet before she could complete her plea, the voice cut her off, "Sorry, Teacher Chen, my supplies are limited too. If you want to join my plan, you need something valuable to contribute—sexual favors mean nothing to me."