Pei Ran took a few steps to the window and looked out.
A green light, like will-o’-the-wisp, drifted gradually backward along the direction of the train. In the pitch-black darkness so thick that you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face, only its light illuminated the path, reflecting on the wall beside it.
This pale gray wall was surprisingly long.
The green light drifted a little further, then suddenly changed direction, rising upward, disappearing to who knows where.
Pei Ran stared at the high wall, pondering. “W, could this be the Tanggu Dam? When we passed by earlier, did you notice? The dam is actually this close?”
This was the section of the track the train had just passed. Pei Ran had been asleep, but W had remained awake the entire time. He must know.
W immediately replied, “The Tanggu Dam is built on the Yala River. Part of its main structure does extend to both riverbanks, but the nearest distance between the track of the Yehai No. 7 and the extended part of the dam is still 170 meters.”
170 meters—it should never be as close as it is now, right before their eyes.
W added, “When we passed the Tanggu Dam earlier, I didn’t see such a wall.”
If he said it wasn’t there, then it definitely wasn’t.
Pei Ran recalled the map and suddenly realized something even stranger.
“The track of the Yehai No. 7 is on the south bank of the Yala River.”
W answered, “Correct. So this doesn’t make sense.”
The Yala River stretches across the Dongmanya Continent, flowing roughly from northwest to southeast. The track of the Yehai No. 7 runs along the south bank of the Yala River, almost parallel to the river.
Therefore, both the river and the dam should be to the north of the train.
The train’s front was currently facing northwest, so the left side of the front was southwest.
The southwest should have been nothing but an endless plain, but now there was a vast, wet concrete wall.
Pei Ran and W shared the same thought. They both turned their heads to look out the right side of the train.
Outside the right side of the train, theoretically, should have been the Yala River and the Tanggu Dam.
Suddenly, with a flicker, the lights in the carriage came back on. It was unclear whether the train had experienced a sudden power outage and the electricity had just been restored, or if Grandma Jiang had turned the lights back on.
This time, Pei Ran saw clearly. Just outside the right window of the train, only a few meters away, was another wet, pale gray concrete wall covered in fine cracks.
There were walls on both sides. It was as if the train had entered a tunnel only slightly wider than the carriage itself.
W said, “The Yehai No. 7 does not pass through any tunnels from its starting station to its final destination.”
This eerie tunnel had newly appeared.
The lights in the carriage were back on, and the green light in Pei Ran’s mental vision, Green Light No. 1, was still alert and on standby. Pei Ran walked toward the rear of the train.
W asked her, “Are you planning to go find Yulianka first?”
Pei Ran replied, “Yes. I’ll kill him first.”
The strange tunnel outside was indeed puzzling, but there was still Yulianka on the train—someone who had already turned hostile, possessed supernatural abilities, and could attack at any moment. Leaving him alive would bring endless trouble. It was better to deal with him first and then figure out the issue with the walls.
W said, “I saw it clearly earlier. Yulianka passed through the carriages and went to the dining car.”
Pei Ran headed straight for the dining car at the rear of the train.
Yulianka’s companions were still sitting in Carriage No. 4. Like everyone else, they looked terrified by the bizarre scene outside.
The dining car was empty, with no one in sight. Only the white tablecloths reflected the light.
Pei Ran quickly walked to the end. Near the rear of the dining car, there was a door, now wide open.
W: “Did he slip away?”
Possibly.
Pei Ran leaned out to look outside.
She didn’t see Yulianka, nor any deformed monsters. There were only two narrow walls.
The two walls stood on either side of the tracks, gradually converging behind the train until they merged above the tracks, as if the tracks had naturally extended from within the walls.
Pei Ran tilted her head back to look up and immediately realized that this place didn’t resemble a tunnel.
Tunnels usually have an arched ceiling, but here there was none.
The two high walls on the left and right stretched straight upward, disappearing into the darkness above. However, both walls tilted slightly inward. If they continued this way, they would inevitably meet at some unseen point high above.
In the distance, above the roof of the Yehai No. 7, the green light reappeared. It drifted and flickered, then vanished into the wall beside it.
A strange thought crossed Pei Ran’s mind.
“W, I’m wondering… could we be inside the dam right now?”
Her bracelet vibrated, and W sent her an image.
“Pei Ran, I’ve found the structural diagram of the Tanggu Dam. The dam itself is a solid concrete gravity dam—completely solid. However, the sections extending to the riverbanks on both sides do have hollow structures.”
Pei Ran opened the image.
The Tanggu Dam straddled the Yala River, and the sections extending to the riverbanks on both sides were trapezoidal hollow structures.
The numbers marked on the diagram had all been erased by W. Pei Ran asked, “How high is the hollow trapezoidal structure here?”
W replied, “The dam itself is 960 meters long and 167 meters high. The two trapezoidal structures are between 90 to 110 meters tall. Based on what we can see now and proportional estimates, it’s roughly this height.”
So, while the Yehai No. 7 was clearly moving backward along the tracks, it had somehow retreated into the interior of the Tanggu Dam.
Pei Ran suddenly understood what the thunderous rumbling sound she had heard earlier was.
The Tanggu Dam, this nearly kilometer-long behemoth, had moved on its own.
Just like the buildings in the small town outside Yehai City, the dam had come to life.
W’s usual slow, lazy tone had completely disappeared, replaced by a noticeable hint of concern.
“The Tanggu Dam holds back the Tanggu Reservoir, the largest reservoir on the East Manya Continent, with a storage capacity of 15 billion tons. If the Tanggu Dam were to fail and collapse, the resulting flood would engulf many cities downstream on the Xipu Plain along the Yala River.”
He continued, “The downstream area of the Yala River is the most economically developed and densely populated region on the East Manya Continent, dotted with cities, towns, and villages of all sizes. If the dam were to collapse, the death toll would be incalculable—especially now, when all functional departments are paralyzed and there’s absolutely no chance of any rescue operations.”
Pei Ran understood what he meant.
Those cities and towns they had seen from afar as the train passed by were no longer just dealing with fires. A flood would be a catastrophic disaster for the survivors who had barely managed to stay alive these past few days.
Pei Ran: But, big brother, forget about the downstream cities for now. Let’s worry about what’s right in front of us.
Right now, one person, one sphere, and this train were all trapped inside the belly of a massive fusion entity, and no one knew what would happen next. On top of that, there was Yulianka, with his supernatural abilities, hiding in some dark corner, watching intently.
Someone was approaching from the front carriages—it was Ai Xia.
She hurried over, frantically tapping her fingers.
Her use of the tapping code had become more and more proficient, and she tapped rapidly. W automatically translated for Pei Ran.
“She says the girl with the parrot is still unconscious. She asked the college students to keep an eye on her with a wrench. Earlier, it was Engineer Jiang who slammed on the brakes. When she was reversing the train, she suddenly noticed a massive object blocking the tracks behind them. She immediately hit the brakes, but the stopping distance wasn’t enough, and it felt like they still collided with it.”
“The problem is, they collided, but not really. There was an opening in the object, and the train drove straight into it. When they were about to hit it, Engineer Jiang was too frantic with the controls and accidentally cut the lighting circuit. She just fixed it.”
After listening, Pei Ran nodded and replied in tapping code: 【Yes, we’ve been swallowed by the Tanggu Dam.】
Ai Xia’s eyes were full of: Huh?
She reacted quickly and tapped back: 【The dam has turned into a fusion entity, like those tall buildings in the small town?】
Pei Ran answered: 【Yes.】
Pei Ran then “asked”: 【Can’t the train drive back out?】
Ai Xia replied: 【Grandma said that as soon as the Yehai No. 7 entered, the opening closed automatically. If we try to force our way out, we don’t know if we’ll crash into it, so she sent me to ask you how to handle this.】
She quickly formed a hand gesture with her hands, giving Pei Ran a questioning look.
She was asking: Should we blow it open?
Blowing it open was a feasible solution.
Out of the corner of her eye, Pei Ran noticed something moving.
She turned her head to look out the window.
By the light spilling out from the carriage, Pei Ran saw the pale gray wall of the dam suddenly twitch.
Then, a continuous series of “crack-crack” sounds followed.
The once-solid concrete seemed to have gained some strange, living quality, rippling like a living thing. As the wall moved, the fine cracks multiplied and grew denser.
Faintly, a low rumbling sound came from the direction of the train’s rear.
Pei Ran leaned out of the dining car door and saw, in the distance, the two walls that had merged above the tracks behind the train slowly parting, like double doors swinging open.
A massive surge of muddy, yellowish water gushed out from between the two high walls. The water level was high, the speed fast, churning and roaring like a beast trying to devour everything in its path.
Pei Ran panicked and pointed toward the front of the train at Ai Xia.
Ai Xia didn’t need to be told twice. She bolted toward the front of the train.
Pei Ran quickly closed the open dining car door and ran forward, still carrying the metal sphere.
In the carriages ahead, many windows were still wide open. Pei Ran rushed to the nearest window and slammed it shut.
The elderly couple was also leaning out to look outside. When they saw the muddy water rushing toward them from behind, they were terrified and quickly closed their window, then ran to the seats diagonally across to close that window as well.
The train had been sitting motionless between the two high walls, which was already eerie enough. Everyone’s hearts were hanging in suspense. Now, seeing people frantically closing windows, they knew danger was imminent and immediately started closing windows themselves.
Pei Ran kept running forward, shutting every open window she saw. Passengers in the front carriages had already heard the commotion from behind, and the sound of windows being slammed shut echoed throughout the train.
The water was moving fast and had already reached them.
Not only was there water outside the train, but the old-fashioned antique train had no sealing whatsoever. Even with the doors closed, muddy water gushed in through the gaps, quickly rising above their ankles.
The water was murky, a muddy yellow mixed with streaks of red, as if blood had been mixed into it.
The water outside the train surged like a tidal wave, and the water level outside the windows rose rapidly.
The area where the train had stopped wasn’t completely flat but rather a slight slope, with the tracks tilted slightly. The rear two carriages were at a lower elevation, and the water level quickly rose above the windows.
Due to the water pressure, the entire carriage now resembled a water-spewing can, with jets of water shooting in from every gap, splashing everywhere.
Passengers from the rear carriages rushed toward the front, but the front carriages weren’t much better. The water quickly rose to knee height.
People climbed onto the seats, standing on them and pulling others up as they arrived.
The family of three arrived as well. The father, carrying his daughter, rushed in from the rear carriages, climbed onto a seat, and lifted his child high above the water.
Sheng Mingxi, Tang Dao, and the others dragged the unconscious Inaya up from the flooded floor, placed her on a seat, and then reached out to help the elderly couple.
Standing high was only a temporary solution.
The water level outside was still rising rapidly. At this rate, it wouldn’t be long before the entire carriage was flooded, and everyone would drown—unless they abandoned the train and found a way to swim out.
Pei Ran took off the metal sphere slung across her body and, amidst the splashing water, removed her coat as she ran.
“W, you’re afraid of water, right?”
“Yes,” W said calmly. “The metal shell of the patrol robot was originally completely waterproof and could even withstand water pressure, allowing it to dive deep underwater. But obviously, that’s not the case now.”
His shell was cracked like an open pomegranate. If it got soaked, his glowing blue core processor would be ruined.
Pei Ran wrapped the metal sphere tightly in her coat and held it in her arms.
Even though the sphere was wrapped in clothing, his voice still reached her ears: “Pei Ran, thank you for trying so hard to save my life.”
“Don’t mention it,” Pei Ran replied. “I’m trying to save my own life.”
This broken sphere of his was essentially a hostage the Federation had left in her hands. Keeping him safe was the only way to exchange him for the precious medicine.
Pei Ran rushed into the driver’s cabin.
The driver’s cabin was at the highest elevation, and the situation was slightly better than in the rear carriages. The front windshield was still above the water, not completely submerged.
Ai Xia, who had run ahead of her, had already arrived.
She stood beside Engineer Jiang, her hands swiftly forming a hand gesture, her fingers intricately intertwined, with her two index fingers pressed together and pointing forward.
Ahead of the train, the scene looked incredibly strange. The headlights illuminated a solid pale gray concrete wall, the lower half of which was also submerged in the muddy water, as if the opening they had driven through no longer existed.
Ai Xia stared at the high wall, her fingers twitching slightly.
It was as if an invisible force surged forward.
Boom—
The high wall ahead instantly exploded into pieces, chunks of concrete flying in all directions, clattering against the walls on either side and clanging onto the metal roof of the train.
A large hole had been blasted through the high wall.
However, what was revealed behind the hole was another identical wall.
Ai Xia was completely caught off guard. She turned to look at Pei Ran, her eyes filled with shock.
And worry. She had already used her hand gesture once.
The power of the second hand gesture was far weaker than the first. Ai Xia bit her lip, turned back, and quickly formed another hand gesture.
Just then, a face suddenly appeared on the windshield of the train.
A wet, pale face—and it was upside down.
The face had a charred hole in its forehead, as if it had been shot through. It hung upside down, descending from the roof of the train, pressed tightly against the window, its body limp and eerily unnatural.
Even though he had turned himself into this ghostly appearance, Pei Ran recognized him immediately—it was Yulianka.