Chapter 314 Tolls
Bang!
The steel cage was opened, and dozens of survivors captured by Brother J regained their freedom. Half of them were members of the robbed bus convoy. Basically, all the combat-capable members of the team were captured.
certainly.
If she were a woman, even if she had the ability to fight, she would first be "played" by this group of people.
"dad!"
The girl on the bus got off and rushed towards the middle-aged man whose shoulder was slashed.
"Thank you!" The middle-aged man looked pale, and seemed to have just come back to his senses from despair.
Out of sympathy, Lin Xian asked Shu Qin to return their vehicles and the stolen supplies to the convoy. Some convoys in other train groups also gave them some things, which could be regarded as mutual assistance in their doomsday journey.
The remaining people were all survivors from other convoys. Judging from their condition, they had been locked up in this cage car for at least two or three days. They were all extremely excited when they were released. Some of them were wearing helmets and anklets, and they were people with special abilities. Lin Xian discussed with the other convoys, and some of these people joined some small train groups of the joint train, and some joined the large bus convoy. Otherwise, these people would have been left dead in the wilderness.
However, these people's fighting power is not weak, and even the Ocean is eager to get it.
Lin Xian picked up one of the anklets and found that it actually had a remote-controlled high-voltage discharge device on it, which was specifically used to restrict some low-level psychics. In addition, the Crimson Vultures' convoy of more than 40 people actually had two vehicle-mounted arc pulse cannons and 20 standard rocket launchers, as well as various types of explosives and ammunition, and even self-destructive drones. It didn't look like a wild device at all, which made Lin Xian and others sense something unusual.
At the same time, the United Train Regiment also obtained a lot of useful information from this group of prisoners.
The most important of these is the information about the Desert Iron Alliance that Brother J mentioned. It is said that this Iron Alliance is a bandit alliance that has only emerged in the western Gobi and Takhan Desert in the past month or so, and has become notorious for its brutality and looting in a short period of time. Although the major survivor alliances and even the interstellar armies stationed in Phoenix bases such as Jinhe are constantly encircling and suppressing it, the strange thing is that this force has not been wiped out, but has continued to grow.
Relying on this Mad Dog Alliance model of provoking one person and leading to siege, the fleeing survivors had no way to escape. When the members of this Iron Alliance encountered the weak, they would directly rob and kidnap them. When they encountered a large group of carts, they would take advantage of the vast uninhabited terrain of the Gobi Desert to escape, and then organize more Mad Dog convoys to counterattack.
If it is not a huge alliance convoy, a large convoy of hundreds of people would not be able to do anything to this group of people. In order to avoid trouble, those alliance convoys would even want to simply give out some supplies as tolls, but this does not necessarily mean that they can sit back and relax. Maybe they can bribe a certain bandit group, but they may encounter another one before dark. In this doomsday, the thugs and bandits will not talk to you about any morality.
After all, the survivors' goal is to escape, and this group of sand bandits are completely doomsday extreme thugs. They built secret strongholds in the Gobi Desert, just like a doomsday carnival.
"You...you guys should pass through Axai next, right?"
Just as everyone on the united train was packing up and getting ready to set off, the young man with a sunburned face spoke over here.
"Yes, do you know what?" Shi Diyuan responded directly.
The young man said hurriedly, "I know a piece of information, I don't know if it's useful to you. There is a large caravan stationed in Aksai, and the leader of the caravan claims that he knows a secret route that can bypass all the bandits and go directly to Quancheng. He asked us to buy this secret from him at the price of one first-level blood essence for five people..."
"What?" everyone exclaimed.
"One blood sperm for five people?"
"Does anyone believe this? This must be a lie."
"Announce to the public?" Shi Diyuan glared and laughed, then cursed, "What a crazy idea! Is that bandit a fool, or is it that the bandit can't hear or see the message he sent to the public? Why should we let him go?"
Lin Xian noticed something unusual and asked the young man, "You mean you were attacked because you didn't pay the toll?"
The young man nodded quickly and explained, "In fact, we didn't believe it at first, but the people in the convoy said that they had negotiated with the sand bandits, and most of this blood essence had to be handed over to the Iron Alliance, so it's not a route in essence, it's just a toll."
"Now I understand." Qian Dele stared at him and said, "After all this talk, that group of people are actually in the same group as the Sand Bandits."
"Hey, if they were bandits, why didn't they just rob them all instead of going through all this trouble?"
"So it must be a lie..."
The young man shook his head with a dark face and said, "I'm not sure if it's true or not, but I know that this large group of vehicles has been stationed in Aksai for two weeks and has never been attacked by sand bandits. Moreover, due to the problem of the dark mark, they do not allow other convoys to spend the night in Aksai. At that time, many convoys with us did not dare to go deep into the Gobi Desert for fear of encountering sand bandits, and they were also worried about the night, so they all chose to stay around Aksai and hug each other. However, there were a lot of zombies at night, and there were also strange bodies, so everyone could not resist and either paid the toll or took a detour. Our convoy took a detour at that time, and the result was..."
"It's quite interesting." Lin Xian said with interest after hearing this: "The bandits in the sand united and formed an alliance. Even the Phoenix Federation couldn't clear them out. After spreading their notoriety, they found an agent to collect tolls. This not only prevented those convoys from making a desperate counterattack, but also collected tolls without firing a shot. They really have a trick..."
Everyone looked at Lin Xian, and after hearing his analysis, they all had complicated expressions. This sand bandit alliance seemed to be much more difficult than they had imagined.
"This alliance's idea is really crazy."
Qian Dele clicked his tongue and said, "They are only allowed to bully others, and they are not allowed to provoke them. They even charge tolls. How arrogant."
"Humph! That's because they didn't touch us." KIKI snorted and crossed his arms, "These guys are so abominable. If they dare to mess with us, we will definitely crush them all to death!"
"This method is feasible. I very much agree with it." Lu Xingchen, who had been silent, couldn't help but raise his eyes slightly after hearing this and responded in a stern voice.
Ning Jing frowned and said, "We are indeed worried that they will attack the tracks."
Lin Xian looked at her and smiled helplessly: "This is the point where humans are more troublesome than strange bodies. When the evil people want to kill you, it is not you who decides whether to cede land or pay compensation. Since they are sand bandits, the only way to solve the problem is to kill them."
"That's right!" Shi Diyuan shouted, "Whether it's plunder or toll collection, I'll see this time. The monsters in Xilan didn't scare us. Can a group of sand bandits skin me alive? At worst, we'll just have a fight!"
"that is!"
"These scumbags can't handle the weird bodies, so they only dare to deal with their own people."
Everyone nodded when they heard this. They had all just rushed out of a sea of blood and corpses, and they knew that even if they were worried about this situation, it would actually be meaningless. It would be better to be adequately prepared.
Lin Xian used his mechanical abilities to temporarily turn this crisis into an opportunity to take the initiative, which turned out to be an opportunity for them.
Just like what Shi Diyuan said, why not just be a desert bandit? Not only can they take the initiative to solve problems, but they can also have the opportunity to obtain resources. Now their joint convoy is strong and in urgent need of resources, and they have all kinds of people from all over the world. How could they be intimidated by a group of desert bandits?
Chi, wow~!
At 13:00, the combined train stopped in Robe Town set off again, aiming to reach Aksai before dark!
In carriage No. 2, KIKI was using Brother J's signal device to copy it to the device made by Lin Xian for data analysis. The backbones of Infinity also gathered here to discuss the situation. Even Luo Yang and Li Yi were called over by Lin Xian to run in the team in advance.
Lin Xian had created an additional analog signal and placed it in a corner of Rob Town, while the one on Brother J had been shut down directly. These seven people were handed over to the eighty-something strong men of the Hell Warrior Team to "take good care of them".
Dalou sat far away on the sofa holding a gun, while Lu Xingchen next to him was playing with the Infinity Ring in his hand. Usually they didn't speak much, so they just had to listen quietly.
"Captain Lin, I think this group of sand bandits is not just here for looting." Li Yi was pregnant. It was her first time on Lin Xian's Infinity. She was a little reserved, but she actively expressed her thoughts: "We have encountered this kind of thug convoy in the past. They burned, killed, looted, and did everything. Although they are bad, they are not stupid. They built a big cage to catch people and bring them back. There must be a purpose."
"I think so too." Chen Sixuan nodded and said, "That special headgear and hinge are not something that an ordinary small caravan can get. It means that when they attacked the caravan, they were already prepared to kidnap those superpowers."
"Human trafficking?" KIKI sat on the swivel chair, holding his chin with his hand and analyzed: "What's the purpose?"
"Could it be sold to those adventist organizations?" Shu Qin responded seriously, "For example, the previous Foundation and the Crimson World, didn't they use superpowers for biochemical experiments?"
"That makes sense!" Luo Yang raised his glasses and responded seriously, "That's why they have a constant supply of resources and are becoming more and more rampant!"
"Then why do they collect tolls?" Lu Chang said.
KIKI said, "This is easy. If you collect tolls, you can't rob them a second time. This is just to paralyze others. Who would really believe the bandits in this environment? I think it would be easiest to just wipe them out!"
Lin Xian sat at the very edge, observing the dark golden hexagonal life information device in his hand, his face as dark as water.
"Hey, Lin Xian, do you see what's going on?" KIKI said, leaning her head back and looking towards Lin Xian.
At the same time, everyone's eyes fell on him.
"This thing may look small, but the exquisiteness of its internal design is no less than the Phoenix Order we obtained."
Lin Xianqian exhaled and said, "So your guesses are all right. There must be a powerful organization behind this group of sand bandits, and they are not just forming an alliance on their own."
"But I still don't quite understand what's going on with that Aksai team, especially..."
It would be relatively easy to understand if there was a powerful organization that brought the sand bandits together and allowed them to kill, rob and kidnap in the western Gobi Desert in exchange for benefits.
But the toll sounds a bit contradictory.
So what KIKI said makes the most sense, and the biggest possibility is that it is just a trick of taking advantage of others.
"So, what useful information can you find?"
Lin Xian felt his thoughts were a little confused, so he focused on analyzing the information package that came with the Iron Alliance Order.
"Not so fast." KIKI pointed at the screen. "This thing is essentially a mobile shortwave transmitter that integrates environmental radio wave storage technology. But we don't have satellite positioning, so this kind of information packet can only be located through mobile direction finding. I have used an omnidirectional antenna to scan the target frequency band, locked the area with the strongest signal and searched for reflected signals all the way. And I can only search for the one with the highest overlap. The signal is still very weak, and we have to drive some distance to find it."
She turned around and said, "If we go in the wrong direction, we won't be able to do it, but if we can find a few more, it will be easier to remove duplicate information."
“Not the other way around.” Lin Xian said, “Their lair will only be in the opposite direction of the polar night. It will only be lost if it is beyond the range of the antenna.”
"Lin Xian, our route will definitely pass through Aksai, what do you think?" Chen Sixuan looked out the window and frowned slightly. On the Gobi Desert south of the train track, more than a dozen vehicles of the survivors were running at full speed alongside the joint train. This was the convoy that had just been attacked, and it seemed that they also wanted to follow behind and seek some shelter.
"We are lucky to have encountered this small convoy." Chen Sixuan said coldly: "Looking at the arrogance of the gang, it is definitely not the first time they have done this kind of thing."
Lin Xian thought for a moment and said, "Let's not go into Aksai yet. Let's stop the car in advance and find out the situation first."
Before the situation becomes clear, Lin Xian decides to proceed step by step, especially in some towns, which already have many zombies and strange creatures gathered there, and now there is a group of unknown origin entrenched there, so he cannot rush in recklessly.
The combined train was running at high speed on the wilderness track, and in order to reach the area near Aksai before dark, the entire train was constantly speeding up.
At around 3 p.m., the train passed through a salt marsh area and entered a dry ancient river channel. The track meandered eastward along the weathered river channel. Wind and sand cut the sedimentary rocks into mushroom-shaped stone pillars, forming a reddish-brown wind-eroded Yardang landform. Judging from the distance traveled, the combined train should be less than two hours' drive from Aksai area at this time.
At this time, all the dark radio stations in the convoy received a radio wave signal in the survivors' civilian frequency band, which came from the direction of Aksai!
"Zizi, Aksai is announcing that all convoys seeking a safe route to Quancheng should go to the Black Rose Bar in Aksai before dark. Please note that convoys and armed personnel are not allowed to enter the city. Only leaders and individual personnel are allowed to enter the city with light luggage. Those who are insincere or fearless of death can directly bypass the city. Those who charge into the city without authorization will bear the consequences at their own risk... Zizi"
"Damn, they actually broadcast toll collection on the radio. Isn't that too arrogant?"
On the Infinity, everyone heard the voice from the radio and immediately found it a little unbelievable.
"The convoy is not allowed to enter the city..."
"Lin Xian, why don't we just rush in and take them all down!" KIKI was immediately furious when he heard this on the radio. They were collecting tolls on the Infinity. Was it because the temperature of the electromagnetic gun was not high enough or the firing rate of 1130 was not fast enough?
"Don't worry." Lin Xian said calmly: "We have too many people and too many cars now, so we are too conspicuous. There must be bandits around Aksai. In order to avoid alerting them, we don't plan to go into the city. It is safer to spend the night in the wilderness."
What happened in Robe Town did serve as a reminder to the United Train Regiment that bandits were rampant in this area, and that they had formed a huge alliance with a complete chain of interests and arms supply, and should not be underestimated.
In this situation, their train with more than 500 carriages and a length of 15 kilometers could easily become a target. Although those hunting sand bandits might not be able to compete with the united train in terms of firepower, the trouble of flies and mosquitoes was also a trouble. There were two concerns facing the united train, one was the lack of water, and the other was the strange bodies in the dark.
Therefore, Lin Xian and Shi Diyuan both decided not to rush into the town blindly. They now have drones, flying psychics, and even Night Star hypersonic aircraft, which they can use to find out the truth and act accordingly. Compared with the previous team's exploration of the city, they have many more means. Anyway, the expansion speed of Star Abyss No. 5 is very slow now, so they don't have to worry about the coverage speed of the polar night for the time being.
"Then what?" Chen Sixuan asked.
Lin Xian looked at everyone and said, "Do you think the voice in this radio station is familiar?"
"ah?"
"familiar?"
"Who is it..." Everyone looked puzzled.
KIKI frowned when he heard that, so he turned up the volume of the radio again, and at this time, the voice of the broadcast sounded again.
"Zizi, Axai is reporting, this is the Fu Lu Shou convoy, all those who want to find a safe route to Quancheng..."
"Fu Lu Shou?!!"
"It's that big gold tooth!" Sasha exclaimed.
"Oh my goodness, that stinky profiteer came here?!" Miao Lu also widened her eyes.
Everyone in Infinity has a deep memory of this person.
"It's the convoy from Hengshan Pass!" Even Luo Yang and Li Yi had dealt with them at Hengshan Pass before.
"Who was it I thought? It turned out to be this guy." KIKI frowned, "How did this guy get involved with the bandits?"
Lin Xian said in a deep voice: "Let's stop the car later and go with a few people from the convoy to check out the situation in Aksai. Maybe we can meet this...'old friend'."
As soon as he heard the lazy voice on the radio that sounded a bit like a profiteer, Lin Xian remembered the guy from Hengshan Guan who bought him a truckload of automatic rifles. This guy had given him a lot of useful information before, and the two had also talked about the possibility of cooperation.
At this time, this man appeared here inexplicably and was related to the sand bandits, and the joint train must pass through Aksai, so Lin Xian decided to take people to explore the situation in Aksai. He now has various drones, including KIKI and many flying special ability people, so he can roughly understand the situation even without entering the city.
Half an hour later, the joint train stopped in an empty and uninhabited Gobi Desert. Apart from the foundation stones beside the tracks, there were no human buildings to be seen. In the wilderness, not even a zombie could be seen. There was only yellow soil, sand and dead grass on the ground.
A gust of wind blowing across the Gobi Desert would stir up billowing waves of dust, the harsh sound of iron wheel brakes would stop, and the long black steel dragon would come to a standstill on this wilderness that was steaming with heat waves.
Seeing the united train stop, the survivors' bus convoy also came over and stopped next to the train.
Since everyone knew this convoy, the other train groups didn't say anything and just let them follow.
At the same time, two large off-road vehicles drove down from Longshan No. 1. Their armor was not very strong, but their advantages were high chassis and strong power, and they were also painted in desert paint, making them very suitable for driving in the Gobi Desert.
In addition to Ning Jing, Xiaoqing and Abai, Qian Dele from Joker's team also followed.
The one who is going to go with Lin Xian is KIKI. On the Longshan No. 1 side, Shi Diyuan originally wanted to go himself, but his injuries have not healed yet, and Lin Xian also wants him to stay and take charge of the situation, so this time at Longshan No. 1, Ning Jing will still bring Xiaoqing and Abai to follow him.
Abai, the mobile hell black daisy with laser eyes, can help Lin Xian solve many problems. Although it is broad daylight and the sun is shining brightly, it is always a good idea to be more careful.
"I thought we were going to drive a flying vehicle over there." Qian Dele came over and said with a puzzled look on his face when he saw the two off-road vehicles.
"Not necessary for now." Ning Jing said seriously at this time: "Although the speed of the aircraft is very fast, the Night Star aircraft can reach this distance in one minute, but the terrain here is open and cloudless. The sound of a hypersonic aircraft breaking through the air cannot be covered at all, and it will definitely alert the enemy."
"We won't enter the city yet. We'll just explore the periphery and decide based on the situation then." Lin Xian explained.
Although these people can be carried by KIKI's telekinesis, in order to conceal the joint train, the stop location is still more than 100 kilometers away from Aksai. It is a bit inconvenient to let KIKI carry them all the way, so they drive there, which is more flexible.
"I see." Qian Dele said.
Just as he finished speaking, he suddenly found an unexpected person walking over, seemingly ready to join.
Monica.
Qian Dele saw this graceful woman in the Phantom Wolf armor coming over and asked inexplicably, "Hey, when will you need Monica to personally go out and scout the way?"
Monica pressed lightly on her ear, opened the visor on her head, glanced at Qian Dele, then looked at Lin Xian seriously and said
"As the team leader, I also have to be responsible for the team. In addition, after being in the car for a long time, I always want to get out and move around, which can also help improve my supernatural power."
Lin Xian's eyes narrowed slightly: "We are just..."
“I could hear it a kilometer away.”
Before Lin Xian finished speaking, Monica raised the corners of her lips slightly and said to Lin Xian with confidence.
"Get on board!" Lin Xian smiled when he heard that, and without further ado, he directly invited the queen of the train to get on board.
Qian Dele glanced at her with a look that said, "I don't know what you're thinking yet," and then he took out a bottle of moisturizing spray from the inner compartment of his windbreaker and sprayed it on his face. He was originally going to get in Lin Xian's car, but he simply walked to Ning Jing's car in front.
So the two cars started moving towards the depths of the Gobi Desert, one after the other, with their wheels stirring up a cloud of sand.
KIKI was driving, Lin Xian was sitting in the passenger seat, he looked at Monica in the back seat through the rearview mirror, the weather was hot, he took out a bottle of water and took a sip, then broke the silence and said
"Monica, why haven't I heard of you having this ability before?"
Monica leaned back in the back seat with her legs crossed, and looked at Lin Xian with a smile on her face: "My ability is the sound blade, so it's normal for me to be sensitive to sound vibrations, but I never tell anyone about it, otherwise my teammates would not dare to masturbate secretly at night by calling my name."
puff!
Before he finished speaking, Lin Xian sprayed a mouthful of water on the front window. Even KIKI, who was concentrating on driving, blushed immediately and muttered in lip language with gritted teeth: "Disgusting..."
Monica is always surprising when she speaks, unless she keeps silent.
Lin Xian wiped the water from the corner of his mouth, feeling a little sorry for the wasted water. At the same time, his expression began to become strange. This Monica's words were really shocking. If what she said was true, then wouldn't she know everything he said and did on the Infinity?
As if she had guessed Lin Xian's thoughts, Monica spoke directly.
"But you can rest assured that using my supernatural powers consumes my energy. Unless it is related to interests or for reconnaissance purposes like this, I don't have the habit of eavesdropping on others."
Monica was not lying. Using this ability was equivalent to using her supernatural powers. For her, eavesdropping on her subordinates was one of her means of controlling the entire car. The private thoughts of those people were actually under Monica's control, but she did not have the hobby of prying into the privacy of anyone other than Queen Mo.
Lin Xian coughed dryly: "Your ability is much more powerful than I thought..."
"Thanks."
Although Monica did not lie, she did not give a clear response to Lin Xian in her words. As for whether Infinity had any interests for her, only she knew.
In the reflection of the rearview mirror, Monica looked at the vast fields outside with a faint smile on her lips.
Lin Xian's heart was slightly moved. He couldn't figure out the woman's intention. Once this ability was known to others, they would normally be on guard against her, but she told Lin Xian so bluntly...
He didn't know whether it was a show of sincerity or for some other purpose.
However, Lin Xian knew that he must have underestimated this woman.
(End of this chapter)
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