After a long absence, Ye Chen and the others finally reunited, with much to say between them. Bai Long and Zhuge Fan, in particular, engaged in lively banter, filling the main hall with laughter and sweeping away the previous gloom.
After catching up, they shared lunch. Afterward, Ye Chen summoned Bai Long, Xu Tianguo, and others to the council chamber. He addressed Xu Tianguo, saying, “The leader of that monster empire has now been subdued, but many cities are still occupied by monsters. Clearing and sweeping them out will require considerable effort, a task I am assigning to you!”
Xu Tianguo nodded in assent, “Yes!”
Ye Chen looked toward Bai Long and the others nearby. “For this sweeping mission, the few of you will also assist. Furthermore, the powerful experts from the Xuanyuan Clan will lend their full support!”
Xu Tianguo understood the implication—that when facing formidable enemies, he could dispatch experts from the Xuanyuan Clan—and immediately nodded, “Understood!”
Ye Chen pondered briefly, “One more crucial point: the acquisition of food!”
Xu Tianguo and the others paused, startled. Food had always been the most precious resource in the apocalypse. They wondered why Ye Chen was stressing this point.
Mo Feng frowned, “Is a catastrophe approaching?”
Ye Chen regarded him with a few extra glances and nodded, “Precisely! Everyone knows that under the virus, everything on Earth has transformed—the creatures, the vegetation, the water, all manner of matter. These changes have triggered a butterfly effect, causing massive shifts in the air, oxygen levels, and temperatures!”
Mo Feng sensed he understood something, yet remained uncertain.
Ye Chen surveyed the room. “The fluctuations in temperature, specifically the resulting thermal effects, are causing numerous natural disasters! Such as droughts, earthquakes, and sandstorms.”
Mo Feng’s heart shuddered, and he almost blurted out, “Are you saying this kind of temperature change will trigger all sorts of calamities, and perhaps the Earth will be wiped out by great floods and volcanic eruptions, just like the age of the prehistoric dinosaurs?”
Ye Chen gave a slight nod.
Bai Long looked astonished for a moment, unable to hold back, “That can’t be right, can it? How could a great flood occur without reason? That has nothing to do with the temperature, right?”
Xu Tianguo shook his head, his expression grave, tinged with subtle melancholy. “If that is truly the case, the ice caps of the North Pole will melt. According to scientific statistics, once the Arctic ice melts completely, all the landmasses globally will be submerged by seawater, rendering them uninhabitable! We have already discovered seashell fossils on Mount Everest, which proves that such a disaster is indeed possible!”
Hearing this, everyone present could not help but feel a chill of dread. They could not fathom the scene of the entire world submerged under water. In that event, everyone would be forced to hide forever within the Relic Plane, facing starvation, restricted population growth, and plunging into utter darkness and chaos!
Terrifying!
The thought alone sent shivers down everyone’s spine.
Who knew how long the great flood would last before receding? Perhaps ten thousand years, perhaps tens of millions!
Ye Chen stated sternly, “Before that happens, we must stockpile sufficient food. Time is not on our side. Command all departments of the base city to fully cooperate with the Production Department and cultivate grain!”
Xu Tianguo, aware of the gravity of the situation, nodded repeatedly, “Understood!”
After assigning several matters, Ye Chen stood up and announced, “I will enter a period of seclusion for a time. Two months from now, prehistoric monsters will invade Earth. Everyone prepare for battle!”
The group’s hearts tightened, and they quickly acknowledged the order.
Immediately, Ye Chen left the council chamber and entered a private hall, closing everything off to begin his cross-legged cultivation.
When he acquired the Divine Blood, the black-winged man from the ruins of Atlantis had scheduled his subordinates to arrive on Earth one year later. That was set for April, giving only two months now.
The subordinates of the black-winged man were experts at the Ghost God Realm with a combat power of 500,000. Originally, they would have posed a major threat in Ye Chen’s eyes, but after acquiring the Xuanyuan Divine Sword, they no longer constituted a threat. Now, his only worry was that the ensuing war might cause crustal tremors, thereby bringing forward the Ice Age by two years.
During the Ice Age, food would undoubtedly be the scarcest resource, marking the darkest period in human history.
With Ye Chen’s current physique, he had not yet reached the ten-thousand level to transition into flesh energyization and transform into Ghost God Mode. He still needed to consume food, so his immediate goal was to break through to the Ghost God Realm!
“After the Ice Age erupts, those with weak power will be eliminated; they won’t even be able to withstand the biting cold. Only the New Humans who have consumed gene-mutated flesh will be able to barely survive!”
Ye Chen recalled that nightmare period, and his determination for strength grew even firmer. In his past life, during the Ice Age, he was merely an insignificant figure, struggling daily, living in constant fear that one day he might step outside only to be hunted down and butchered for food.
In this life, that worry was gone. However, according to the Atlantis civilization, the Dark Biological Realm would launch a massive invasion in the not-too-distant future, perhaps ten years from now. He had to accumulate enough strength before then. Even if he ultimately could not resist, he could follow the example of the prehistoric civilization and escape into the Ancient World, a place teeming with countless civilizations, and secure a foothold there!
Ye Chen kept these plans hidden in his heart. With a sweep of his hand, he activated his Rune Space, retrieving the remaining body of the alluring woman and covering it with his Devouring Power, consuming it furiously!
“The physical body of the Dark Prince is divided into nine parts!”
“The physical body of the alluring woman!”
“The physical body of the man with dual wings!”
“28 Tier 5000 Crystal Cores!”
Ye Chen performed a grand refinement of the wealth he had accumulated during this period. The entire hall was permeated with robust energy fluctuations. Dense energy surged through his body’s pores, flooding into him. If an ordinary person stood here, they would instantly explode and die from the sheer density of the energy!
Ye Chen sat cross-legged and cultivated…
Time flowed.
In the outside world, tense preparations were underway.
The Brightness Base City, having migrated from the Ancient Martial Civilization World, was reconstructing its walls and manufacturing structures. Due to the advance warning, this time they avoided extravagant or beautiful construction; instead, it was simple and ordinary, ready to be abandoned at any moment.
In the entire Brightness Base City, besides the ten thousand regular troops, there were members from other departments, especially the Production Department and Construction Department, totaling about two hundred thousand.
After so long of development, several small guilds had formed within the Brightness Base City. The three largest guilds were Blue Burn, Beacon Fire, and Emperor!
Each of these three guilds had forty to fifty thousand members, operating shops within the base city and managing their own forces. However, in many aspects, they adhered strictly to the base city’s regulations, daring not to overstep in the slightest!
Xu Tianguo invited many veteran generals and party members with deep experience from the peaceful era to discuss reforms. Ultimately, members of the Construction Department were largely reassigned to the Production Department. With the military as the vanguard, they cleared out the monsters near Shennongjia, and in some mountainous and open areas, rice paddies, wheat, and other foods were planted.
The entire city functioned like a massive machine, operating at high speed.
Every day, large numbers of military personnel would depart from the city gates in heavy anti-zombie trucks modified by the Technology Department. These trucks were solidly constructed with thick lead, making them extremely heavy and difficult for zombie hordes to overturn. They were also fitted with massive serrated rings around the perimeter to slice any charging zombies or monsters, preventing them from clinging to the vehicles.
Once these vehicles were developed, they were immediately mass-produced and became the common hunting vehicle of the post-apocalypse. The heavy anti-zombie trucks had no exhaust pipes; they utilized the light energy conversion technology from the Atlantis civilization, driven by electric engines, producing only a slight, barely perceptible tremor.
Under the massive deployment of personnel from the Brightness Base City, the surrounding entrenched monsters were quickly cleared out. Many powerful monsters were slain by the Temple Stewards of the Xuanyuan Clan!
Each Temple Steward could exert a combat power of 3000!
High-ranking Stewards possessed 8000 combat power!
Normally, peak fighters like the Island Master of Ziyun and others rested within the base city, not engaging in battle. For them, everything in the base city was astonishing, filled with technology they had never encountered before.
And the people of the base city deeply admired these tall, imposing “giant” warriors, knowing they were helpers invited by the Guild Master. Each one was immensely powerful, with the lowest being Rank 600!
Especially the 1,500 warriors at the Thousand Level, who, surging out, could sweep away everything in a single charge!
Under this terrifying combat strength, the dense surrounding monsters were cleared like land being bulldozed. Large tracts of open space were secured, and the Black Cicada Insect Legion was stationed on the borders, while the central areas were developed extensively for grain cultivation.
Everything proceeded in an orderly manner. When hundreds of thousands of people put in sixteen hours of full effort daily into agricultural cultivation, the speed was breathtaking. Every day, tens of thousands of acres of land were developed. In just one month, centered around Shennongjia, the plains surrounding several cities were leveled and converted into grain-producing land!
The later stages of development gradually slowed down. A large portion of the army was dispatched to the surroundings to guard the grain cultivation bases, preventing monsters from causing damage.
The movements of the Brightness Base City were detected by the Huaxia Base City. With Murong Xue’s intelligence, she vaguely deduced some inside information. Although she couldn't be certain, knowing Ye Chen never engaged in pointless effort, she immediately followed suit, mobilizing the entire population of ten million in her base city to massively expand and plant grain fields!
However, despite the Huaxia Base City having more than ten times the population of the Brightness Base City, they were not significantly ahead in cultivation. Instead, they were constantly engaged in warfare, driving monsters out, suffering heavy casualties day after day!
Later, Murong Xue had to spend a huge fortune to seek assistance from the Brightness Base City’s military strength, hoping to “borrow” experts from the Xuanyuan Clan to clear the monsters for them!
After receiving Ye Chen’s approval, Xu Tianguo accepted the Huaxia Base City’s request. The price, however, was that the Brightness Base City had the right to share all of the technology patents from the Huaxia Base City!
As a result, the Brightness Base City could use, free of charge, much of the technology the Huaxia Base City had acquired from ruins of civilization. This was a condition that initially seemed disadvantageous, but for some unknown reason, Murong Xue agreed to it immediately!
… I got carried away yesterday and realized after sleeping that writing the sequel to the Darkness saga is incredibly difficult. It presents its own challenges. At the very least, I need to finish writing the main Darkness story before moving on to that, which is disheartening. I will stick to finishing the Darkness arc for now, brothers. Please offer your support; three updates today RO