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Give me the impetus for a massive breakthrough!!! …… “Blood God Hall?” Xu Tianguo glanced at Ye Chen strangely, “Aren’t you military personnel?

Am I right in secretly recruiting talent like this… are you planning a coup?” “Not quite yet,” Ye Chen said casually, “It’s only the beginning of the apocalypse, and there will be many more dangers ahead. If we don’t strengthen ourselves, we’ll eventually be eliminated by this era.

My ambitions aren't that grand; I just want to protect the people around me. Huaxia Base City is China’s base city; I will not betray the nation.” Ye Chen’s goal had always been simple.

To become number one under heaven? If one strove only for that goal, life would be dreadfully lonely.

Beyond fame, there were far more things worth guarding—your friends, your love, your family… Ye Chen simply wanted his only remaining relative, his sister Ye Zhu, to be happy every day, free from the peril of life and death. That was his goal!

Not just merely surviving, but truly living. Although, with his current power, he could easily achieve this goal, what about ten or twenty years later, when he slowly aged?

Could he still protect those close to him? To put it selfishly, Ye Chen absolutely did not want to reach a point where he could no longer kill monsters due to old age, only to be turned into preserved food and sold… Therefore, he must continuously grow stronger!

Strong enough for humanity to truly become the master of Earth, ensuring that his descendants, and his aged self, could continue to survive. The weak strive for immediate survival.

The strong strive for future survival. Xu Tianguo looked at this man in astonishment.

He hadn't expected Ye Chen to possess even a shred of patriotism. In this apocalypse, only a tiny fraction of people still considered the nation, still held affection for their homeland!

After all, when most people were struggling just to survive, who had the bandwidth to worry about a 'homeland'? However, there were still some passionate youths who held the will of patriotism, often in a state of fervor—willing to fight to the death, blood shed, to defend the motherland!

Such people were, after all, few. Xu Tianguo couldn't help but re-evaluate Ye Chen.

A patriotic person meant he still possessed emotion, not merely a monster focused only on survival, capable of slaughtering his own kind and specifically hunting women and children for food! Yet, he couldn't blame those people either.

Perhaps one day, if pushed to the brink, he might do the same. But not now, at least.

Xu Tianguo could see that with Ye Chen’s level of strength, he could easily establish his own base city, recruit talent far and wide, and with a whole host of monster enforcers assisting him, his future achievements would be extraordinary. Such a talent would never be so preoccupied with immediate survival that he would enter Huaxia Base City to serve as a general.

If someone lacked patriotic sentiment, they couldn't do such a thing! Although the system of the base cities somewhat repulsed Xu Tianguo, objectively speaking, he could understand it.

Moreover, after the apocalypse, many high-ranking officials in the base cities had been replaced; some of the older generation were infected by the virus, others died tragically. The current leadership prioritized power and insight; even if you were previously a pig butcher, you could become a high-ranking general charting the course of nations!

Past actions were irrelevant; only present capability mattered! However, high-ranking officials were still high-ranking officials.

No matter who occupied that seat, the things they did were mostly similar—just like the difference between a general manager and a common waiter: both existed to serve the guests! Many people disliked corrupt officials, but if they themselves held that position one day, being able to acquire vast sums of money with a mere flick of a finger, very few could resist that temptation.

“I will explain the specifics once we return to the base city,” Ye Chen looked seriously at Xu Tianguo and the other man, “I will elevate your strength then, but you must maintain a low profile, avoid drawing too much attention, and certainly do not associate with the military. Just be the power behind the scenes.” “Power behind the scenes?” Xu Tianguo was momentarily stunned.

Ye Chen nodded, offering no further explanation. Once the ruins of the Atlantean civilization were excavated, and he located the smelting and refining workshops within, he could build his own force, establishing lucrative businesses like weapon shops to generate profit!

He knew of various miraculous herbs that had evolved and mutated under the virus. Before anyone else knew their value, refining these herbs into tinctures would certainly be something these soldiers, constantly walking the line between life and death, would cherish.

After all, if an arm was injured or broken in combat, it would take days to recover, preventing them from killing monsters and earning an income. If there was a medicine that could rapidly heal the wound, allowing them to quickly return to battle!

Prior to that, he needed a large cadre of talent! Ye Chen glanced at Xu Tianguo, quite satisfied with his capacity for strategic thought.

Xu Tianguo and Huang Tianci were two different types of people. One was astute and preferred to calculate every detail to perfection before acting—a calm, thoroughly considering type, fit to be a strategist!

Huang Tianci, conversely, preferred speed and directness, possessing a bold spirit. He did what he thought was right without excessive hesitation or calculation—a brave, chivalrous type.

Having two such individuals to manage operations would mitigate many potential troubles. “Hoo…” Not far off, the Blood-Toothed Tiger approached, its powerfully built, tall body blocking the sunlight as it stood before Ye Chen.

Xu Tianguo and Huang Tianci flinched, retreating a few steps timidly, gazing fearfully at it. Even though they knew this monster obeyed Ye Chen’s orders, its fierce appearance still shocked them.

The Blood-Toothed Tiger lowered its head, acting like a small cat, looking at Ye Chen with an air of grievance, “The losses this time were substantial. Three of my companions died, and more than a dozen controlled monster corpses were heavily scarred, drenched in venom, their skin turning a sickly blue, completely stiff and unusable for control.” This message was conveyed directly into Ye Chen’s mind by Little Black; the surrounding Xu Tianguo and others could not hear it.

Ye Chen nodded, stroking the Blood-Toothed Tiger’s head. Seeing this, the eyes of Xu Tianguo and the other man almost popped out; they were utterly speechless.

They hadn't expected such a ferocious creature among the insects to not only obey Ye Chen’s commands but to be utterly subservient! “In a short while, I will send a batch of better monster corpses for them,” Ye Chen patted the Blood-Toothed Tiger.

“How much Crystalline Bio-matter did Black collect?” Black sighed softly, “We are almost done dissecting. We obtained five or six thousand pieces in total, including Level One and Level Two, all mixed together.” “It’s fine,” Ye Chen said dismissively.

“Put it all into the spaceship. When we get back, we’ll put it all into the decomposition machine to create standardized gene serums.” The insect swarm had numbered seventy or eighty thousand, and some insect bodies had been crushed into pulp, causing the Bio-matter within their bodies to also turn to sludge.

A yield of five or six thousand Crystalline Bio-matter pieces, based on a 10:1 ratio, was within expectation. One piece equals 50g!

Three pieces make one bottle of gene serum! This meant these Bio-matter pieces could produce one to two thousand gene serums, enough to cultivate a large pool of talent!

“With these gene serums, we have the capital to cultivate talent. Once we open the Atlantean civilization ruins, we can earn even more gene serums to cultivate a batch of powerful warriors!” Light flashed in Ye Chen’s eyes.

“With a formidable team, we can excavate more ruins!” Some ruins were impossible for a single person to enter, containing intricate mechanisms covering many disciplines. The more people there were, the higher the chance of success.

“However, I must accelerate the improvement of my own strength as well, reaching Level 100 sooner to unlock my innate talent power. That will be my true foundation.

I hope this lifetime won't see another low-level talent emerge!” Ye Chen calculated internally. “Move the Crystalline Bio-matter into the spaceship first.

We can’t stay here long.” Black quickly nodded and turned to leave. Not long after, numerous monsters carried a large mass of Crystalline Bio-matter into the spaceship, placing it in the cold storage room, before also heading inside themselves.

Black slowly shrank until it was a tiny dot and vanished. Xu Tianguo watched this scene in amazement, realizing Ye Chen possessed many unknown secrets, but he didn't press for answers.

“Let’s go!” Ye Chen glanced at the ravaged street, his gaze flickering, and turned to lead the way. Huang Tianci, holding his sister, followed closely with Xu Tianguo, knowing the scent of blood here would attract more monsters.

Shortly after Ye Chen and the others departed, two figures emerged from a nearby building. After glancing around and seeing no people or monsters, a spark of excitement appeared on their faces.

They rushed into the pile of insect corpses, rummaging through them, searching for blood they could consume. “Crystalline Bio-matter!” A youth’s eyes lit up as he spotted a small patch of Bio-matter beneath a worm crushed into pulp.

He quickly reached out to grab it, but before his hand could touch the Bio-matter, a searing pain shot through his back. Then, his vision went black, and he collapsed onto the ground.

The other man with him was slowly extracting a sharp spike from the back of a worm he held. The youth’s skin immediately turned purplish-red, and he began foaming at the mouth as his entire body was eroded by the venom on the spike.