Before long, Ye Chen reached the center of the Great River via the expressway. From above, the river water surged powerfully, flowing quite rapidly. Several four- or five-meter-long black shadows moved beneath the surface, looking terrifying; if someone fell in, they would likely be gnawed to nothing by those monstrous fish.

Ye Chen glanced at them, thought nothing more of it, and swiftly moved forward. Soon, he arrived at a broken bridge. The stone piers beneath this section of the road had been smashed by some unknown force, causing the roadway to collapse. The gap to the opposite side was about twenty meters, with the rolling river between them. Occasionally, scaled fish-monsters, complete with webbed, clawed arms beneath their fins, swam by; if any living thing fell in, they would instantly be swarmed.

Whoosh!

Ye Chen backed up a few steps, then suddenly burst forward in a short sprint, leaping to the other side of the road. A distance of twenty-odd meters was nothing to him.

...

After descending from the expressway and walking for a while, he soon spotted the White Robe Guanyin Nunnery in the distance. From here, the base city was not far.

Ye Chen walked quickly. This vicinity was frequently patrolled by the army and held no truly powerful monsters. A moment later, he reached the city gate, presented his General’s Order, and was permitted entry into the base city.

"That Three-Eyed Wolf is an evolved-type monster. Its blood doesn't fetch an extremely high price, but individuals with lower constitutions can still increase their strength and fortify their bones by consuming it regularly!" Ye Chen calculated mentally as he walked down the street.

The stronger one became, the more energy the body required. An ordinary person with human strength was satisfied after three bowls of rice per meal. However, as physique enhanced, the nutrients in rice could no longer replenish the body's energy expenditure. It would require the energy equivalent of at least hundreds, or even thousands, of bowls of rice combined just to keep up.

But several hundred bowls of rice—aside from the nutrition—would contain how much residual waste? For Ye Chen, with his Level 30 constitution, using regular rice, he would need to consume at least 900 bowls per meal to feel full. However, the waste (feces) from 900 bowls of rice would fill a large latrine; this was clearly impractical.

The blood of these evolved monsters was the best sustenance!

That Three-Eyed Wolf’s constitution reached Level 55, meaning its blood contained extremely high nutritional energy. Given Ye Chen’s build, using just a small piece per meal would fill his stomach and meet his energy demands, and eating more could further strengthen his body!

"I can’t afford a refrigerator right now; the electricity cost is too high, not worth it. I’ll sell it to the hotel instead. Also, I’ll skin it and ask the Production Department to help fashion it into leather armor or clothing. Its defense will increase significantly, far tougher than my own membrane."

The power station currently moved and built within the base city could barely suffice for the Information Department, allowing the base city minimal operation. Once the Atlantis Civilization is excavated, and its vast supply of energy stones emerges, along with advanced technological knowledge coming under the control of the Research Department, the base city will enter a period of explosive growth!

Currently, the Huaxia Base City could only be classified as a Level One base city in terms of equipment.

"Once I find a refining factory in Atlantis, I can use the Smelting Runes obtained from the Rune Civilization to forge these monster claws into weaponry. Their hardness will far surpass these gold swords," Ye Chen resolved internally to cut off the Three-Eyed Wolf’s limbs and discard them into the spaceship's cold storage. They would serve as raw materials once the refining factory was located.

"Raw materials..."

A thought struck Ye Chen, and his eyes brightened. He conceived a highly profitable scheme. At this time, most people, after killing dark creatures, only collected the 'Jihua' (mutated essence/materials) and discarded the rest of the corpse because it contained large amounts of viruses and couldn't be consumed—even he had done so until now. He suddenly realized that the claws and teeth of some powerful monsters could be collected and later supplied to the personnel he would gather, with any surplus being sold.

With this in mind, Ye Chen changed direction and headed toward the dwelling of Xu Tianguo and the other. At the guard station downstairs of the building, he presented his General’s Order and proceeded inside. In residences like these, entry was forbidden without a residency permit, but the General’s Order was more valuable than any certificate within the base city; it granted access everywhere.

Ye Chen navigated skillfully into the ground-floor lobby and took the nearby staircase up. Before long, he reached the door of Xu Tianguo and the others’ room and knocked.

Knock, knock, knock~~~

Creak!

The door opened, and Huang Tianci’s younger sister poked her head out. Her dark eyes lit up upon seeing Ye Chen, recognizing the benefactor who had secured them housing and food. She immediately said, "Brother Ye Chen, are you looking for my brother?"

Ye Chen nodded, patting her small head, and stepped inside. He saw Xu Tianguo and the other seated on the sofa in the living room, along with a youth in casual wear. This young man had an utterly ordinary appearance but possessed a pair of exceptionally bright, dark eyes. The moment he saw Ye Chen, he immediately stood up happily and said, "Big Brother Ye!"

Ye Chen nodded. This young man was named Zhou Zicheng, one of the people Xu Tianguo and the other had recruited in the past few days. In his previous life, Zhou Zicheng had been an emerging powerhouse in the China District, who later obtained a treasure from an ancient civilization ruin. After that, his rise became unstoppable, rapidly ascending the ranks until he secured a spot within the top 100 on the Huaxia Base City power rankings!

In his previous life, the Huaxia Base City was not what it was now; it was already developed, filled with countless experts and overwhelming powerhouses. Anyone selected from the top 100 on the power rankings was a match for ten thousand enemies. Even with his past-life strength, he could only barely squeeze onto that list!

"Boss!"

"Boss!"

Xu Tianguo and the other turned simultaneously to look at Ye Chen. Just as they were about to rise, Ye Chen waved his hand. "Sit down!"

The three settled down.

"How have things been lately?" Ye Chen asked casually while taking a seat on the sofa.

Xu Tianguo laughed, "We have no worries about food or clothing; this life should be considered very good in the apocalypse."

Ye Chen nodded. "The recruitment speed has been a bit slow recently. Most of the people on the list I gave you are within the Huaxia Base City. We need to gather them quickly."

Xu Tianguo pondered for a moment. "I plan to recruit a few people and send them into the army to specifically take on city guard duties. That way, we can search faster."

"Mm, that's a good idea." Ye Chen nodded in approval.

"However, this will require more expenditure." Xu Tianguo hesitated.

Ye Chen waved his hand and leaned back on the sofa. "It doesn't matter. I'll transfer a sum of money to you shortly." After hunting down the Blood Wind General, he could also sweep through the storage card he had obtained from the Commerce Department; it should contain a good amount of Jihua. Ordinary generals would usually keep some Jihua to ensure they could make purchases if they encountered trouble.

Xu Tianguo smiled. "That settles it then. I'll go gather the personnel right away."

Ye Chen nodded. "Besides this, there is another task for you: recruit a team to go out and purchase the corpses of powerful zombies."

"Zombie corpses?" Xu Tianguo exclaimed in surprise, and Zhou Zicheng and Huang Tianci beside him were equally astonished.

...

Later, go meditate.