“Those that wish to live, follow me!” Saying so, Inala turned around and entered the three-metre-wide tunnel, brisk walking through it. He didn’t give enough time for the people in the shelter to think and question him.
His actions pressured them mentally. And hence, those who were desperate to live followed him instinctively. Domino effect and peer pressure later, pretty much everyone followed him.
The eight thousand people formed a long line through the underground tunnel that left Ellora City and stopped three kilometres away from the city walls, at an outskirt within a forest.
There was a small hill there, affixed with a narrow entrance. Inala led a hundred people out of the tunnel and brought them inside the hill.
There was a large cave inside, recently dug. It spanned a breadth and height of four metres, sporting a platform on one side. The cave was seventy metres long, perfectlymatching the train’s length.
It consisted of seven compartments in total, with each compartment spanning a length of ten metres. Ten wooden benches were placed in each compartment, forming a seating capacity of twenty.
There were five passenger compartments in total while the first and last compartments were engine compartments.
“Board this train,” Inala said and pointed at the benches, “Two per each bench. It’s a product of my ability and will swiftly take you to a shelter farther away.” 𝗈𝔳𝑙xt.𝔠𝑶𝓶
“This…” The people hesitated, having never seen a train before. They didn’t know how it operated. They didn’t know Inala, since he was covered from head to toe in armour. Hence, they couldn’t trust him.
Of course, Inala knew their thoughts. Hence, he simply kept up the pressure game, pointing his hand toward the exit, “Leave, if you are uncertain.”
“Go back to your collapsing shelter.”
“N-No, we’ll board it.” The most afraid ones were the first to take a seat. Of course, Inala had selectively brought such people among the first batch. As long as there is someone to take the initiative, the indecisive ones will follow suit.
Soon, the hundred people took their seats. Immediately in response, the doors closed as a powerful gust of wind was generated by the engine compartment, causing the train to enter the narrower tunnel extending forward.
The train tracks were created out of the bones of Slump Lizards. There were many corpses of them in the region, caught between the humans and Centingers. And in a week’s time, the Empyrean Zingers laid down the train tracks.
Thanks to Mystic Bone Art, they could manipulate bone and effectively install them once Inala fed them the necessary information through a Bone Slip.
Seated within the engine room were twelve Empyrean Zingers. Four of them blew the compressed air stored in their lungs—after the space within had been enlarged—through a pipeline, the exhaust of which extended to the back, propelling the train forward.
Once the four Empyrean Zingers finished blowing out all the air in their lungs, they would rest and restock on air while a second batch would replace them. And by the time the third batch emptied their lungs, the first batch would be ready to blow out air once again.
This way, they ensured a consistent thrust was generated to keep the train’s motion steady. As the train was travelling underground, with no disturbances, it reached its destination within an hour.
A reverse thrust was generated at the end to decelerate the train, causing it to accurately stop at the destination, arriving within the smaller region of the Rockatrice Settlement. There was a flight of stairs leading out of the station to the surface.
“Stay here,” Inala got out of the station first and led the people to the surface, pointing them at the fertile lands, “This place is absolutely safe.”
It was true since he planted Prana Bombs throughout the peak of the walls surrounding the settlement. They worked in absorbing any Prana traces the people there emitted. Hence, the Centingers couldn’t detect their existence unless they came close.
The two female Centingers that had camped in the region were killed. Hence, no other Centinger would approach the place anytime soon. After all, the Angan River was very long, causing the three hundred female Centingers to spread out throughout it in teams of two.
“Once I bring everyone here, I’ll make arrangements for food and water. Stay put until then,” His words oozed authority, causing the refugees to blindly accept him. His blood-covered amour and the sheer presence he unleashed were enough proof of his strength.
Hence, in the minds of the refugees, he established himself with the image of a strong saviour who only did things his way.
Boarding the train, Inala made the return journey. For this to happen, the twelve Empyrean Zingers assumed miniature forms and used a pipeline—connecting the engine compartment at the front to the engine compartment at the back—to travel.
Arriving at the other engine compartment, they did the same as before, causing the train to return to the original station.
This time, Inala didn’t accompany the refugees. The first batch would accommodate the subsequent batches. Hence, he needn’t make unnecessary trips.
A round trip took two hours. That meant only twelve hundred people were transported in a day. There were around eight thousand people that followed after Inala. Thankfully, each of them carried as many rations as possible. So, food wasn’t an issue for the time being.
It would take a week before all of them were transported to the Rooster Tribe settlement. There was no other way around it. Only by transporting them through this underground tunnel could Inala avoid the detection of both the Centingers and the peak cultivators of Ellora City.
Also, making one railway line exhausted all the resources he could accumulate. Many of his reserve Empyrean Zingers had died in the recent fights. Hence, he was running low on them.
Even if he were to replenish their numbers using Life Bombs, it would take a few months before they could be useful for his purposes. Hence, he was limited to a single railway line.
Upon seeing how the people remained obedient, after sending a batch of refugees through the train, once Inala exited the hill, he swapped places with the Empyrean Zinger King.
It piloted a realistic puppet of his armoured figure. As it was fully covered by armour, it was hard to see through the disguise. Moreover, Inala imbued his vocal cords into the puppet.
Therefore, remaining in its miniature form within the puppet’s stomach, the Empyrean Zinger King could control this vocal cord to speak with Inala’s voice. And since all the refugees were weak even among the Spirit Stage cultivators, they couldn’t detect its presence within the puppet’s stomach.
Rather, the miniature Prana Bombs embedded throughout the puppet’s body absorbed any ambient Prana used by the refugees to get a feeling of its strength. Two such puppets were also left in the Rooster Tribe settlement, currently hidden.
They only intended to come out if any problems cropped up among the refugees. They were piloted by Empyrean Zinger Scouts.
Upon observing the Empyrean Zinger King perfectly guiding the refugees, Inala sneaked through the forest and made a beeline towards Ellora City. There was still a lot of work left to accomplish.