Xu Tianguo glanced over the numerous high-ranking officials present, musing to himself, then lowered his voice to Ye Chen, "The current grain supply is relatively sufficient, enough to last a year. However, those remaining 300,000 people do not have that much, and I fear trouble will erupt then..."

Ye Chen nodded slightly. "That is inevitable. We'll address it when the time comes."

During the Ice Age, commoners were certainly no rarity; without sustenance, people would resort to anything, and at that point, military suppression would be useless. A different solution would be required.

Xu Tianguo held a document, looking over the assembly, and stated quietly, "Everyone has worked hard during this period. According to explorations by the Scientific Research Department, crustal activity has been frequent recently. It is estimated that a volcanic eruption will occur in two to three years, after which the global continental plates will undergo reorganization. Thus, this great flood will not recede for another two to three years. The Base City's grain supply is insufficient; for long-term planning, I hope everyone will refrain from extravagance."

"Two to three years?"

Everyone exchanged glances, somewhat astonished. They had assumed the flood, once it arrived, would quickly flow to lower altitudes. They hadn't expected it to last for two or three years?

Did this mean they couldn't venture out for two or three years?

Thinking of this, everyone couldn't help but shiver, their faces growing somber as they grasped the critical importance of food.

"Hmph!" A young man in the left corner snorted coldly, his expression arrogant. "A bunch of bumpkins. Two or three years is too long? Many prehistoric civilizations perished beneath great floods, just like us now. Back then, the floods lasted tens of millions of years before receding. Now it's only two or three years, and you still think it's long? Idiots!"

Ye Chen lifted his gaze and glanced at the young man. He was inwardly surprised; he actually knew this young man. He was a renowned powerhouse from the former Huaxia region, named Hua Chao, who wielded a broad, long greatsword and carved out a formidable reputation, second only to the top ten Gene Warriors. To think such a talent had already been recruited into the Guangming Base City.

Ye Chen considered this and felt a sense of understanding. He had indeed provided Xu Tianguo with data on many strong individuals from China. With the prestige of the Guangming Base City, recruiting them would not have been difficult.

"Hua Chao!" Xu Tianguo frowned and reprimanded, "Personnel within the organization must be united!"

Hua Chao spared him a glance, his demeanor softening considerably, letting out a faint snort but remaining silent. This subtle expression conveyed much. Ye Chen couldn't help but slightly turn his head to look at Xu Tianguo. Since entrusting the Base City to this man, he hadn't paid close attention. To tame a genius evolutionary like Hua Chao, mere status and position weren't enough; unyielding strength was necessary.

"It seems Xu Tianguo hasn't neglected his own strength while managing the Base City," Ye Chen thought with satisfaction. In truth, he was unaware that a large contingent of talented individuals had been recruited into the Base City—all early-stage apocalypse evolvers whose constitutions improved monthly as the viruses within them transformed. Such individuals, no matter how poorly they fared, would far surpass ordinary people even without consuming base-mutated meat.

Consequently, these people possessed stubborn and unruly temperaments.

As the manager, Xu Tianguo naturally had a headache, and driven by this environment, he dared not neglect his own power. Otherwise, if Ye Chen entrusted him with the Base City only for his subordinates to rebel, he would be in an awkward position.

"Hua Chao, who exactly are you calling bumpkins?" A blue-robed girl looked displeased, her words carrying a distinct edge of hostility.

"Heh!" A middle-aged man beside her sneered, "Hua Chao is the Young Master. It's normal for him to look down on those of us who were commoners before, who slaughtered pigs."

"Everyone, quickly apologize to the Young Master," a young man nearby chimed in with forced joviality.

Hua Chao spared these people a glance and coldly stated, "A bunch of bumpkins, so juvenile!"

"Who are you calling that!" A burly man exploded in anger, clearly already harboring resentment toward Hua Chao, glaring at him furiously.

Suddenly—

A cold snort echoed, and the entire conference room fell silent. Everyone turned to look toward the head seat: Ye Chen.

Xu Tianguo, seeing the icy coldness in Ye Chen's eyes, secretly felt a pang of dread.

Ye Chen leaned back in his chair, gazing across the spacious conference table, his voice flat, betraying no discernible emotion: "I don't care who you are, but once you join the guild, you must abide by the hierarchy I have established. If anyone violates my rules within my domain, it is best they leave on their own accord."

These simple, unadorned words fell upon everyone present, plunging the conference room into profound silence. Xu Tianguo, standing nearby, was secretly amazed. He had always known Ye Chen as someone who preferred action over words, yet now he delivered such a speech. It neither favored Hua Chao nor attacked the others; instead, using the simplest logic, he elevated everyone's status to equality and then suppressed them all in one fell swoop!

The burly man sat down sheepishly, daring not to speak further.

Subsequently, Xu Tianguo announced several matters, and various departments began implementation. The gazes of everyone toward Ye Chen held a newfound degree of respect. If their guild leader was merely powerful in combat, they might feel they could manipulate him easily. But a wise guild leader was far harder to deal with.

After the meeting adjourned, Ye Chen gave a few instructions and then departed alone, returning to his cultivation sanctuary to immerse himself in rigorous practice.

"The weather hasn't turned cold yet, so it's not suitable to leave the ruins to hunt. I will try my luck outside only after the global oceans have frozen over. By then, however, even sea beasts will likely be scarce. Few creatures can endure such an intensely cold, icy wasteland."

With his mind set, Ye Chen began his cultivation.

Without base-mutated meat, developing his physique relied solely on various fitness techniques, though the results were minimal.

Ye Chen cultivated his inner strength while simultaneously honing his combat skills.

In the blink of an eye, three months passed.

These three months were like a single day. Ye Chen frantically absorbed energy from the air daily, rarely leaving his cultivation chambers. Only when exhaustion set in would he rise, leave, and gather with his sister and Bai Long for meals and drinks.

During this period, the physiques of Bai Long and the others had already reached over 2,000 levels. With the Black Snail Army Corps, hunting high-level monsters was extremely simple, allowing their progress to be rapid.

Through this period of cultivation, all of Ye Chen's techniques became more practiced. Although his physique hadn't changed, his combat strength had increased significantly. The only regrettable aspect was that his internal strength remained stuck at the tenth-tier bottleneck, refusing to break through.

During this time, Ye Chen took stock of his resources and discovered an unexpected pleasant surprise: among the 12 Civilization Ruins obtained by Xu Tianguo, there was a Rune Restorer!

This Rune Restorer originated from the Rune Civilization and was specifically designed to repair incomplete runes.

With the Rune Restorer, Ye Chen's Rune Spaceship could be made operational. However, starting the restorer required a considerable energy output. Fortunately, the presence of the Energy Divine Tree ensured that everything could proceed smoothly.

Hoo!

Ye Chen opened the Rune Space. Inside rested a brand-new Rune Spaceship, its entire surface shimmering with radiant light, emitting waves of spiritual energy. Faint, almost ethereal runes were visible beneath the surface, rendering it incredibly beautiful.

"Waaaoo..." The old Green Rune Man darted out from the ship, gazing at the fully restored vessel, tears streaming down his face with excitement. "It's finally repaired! My old partner, woo-woo, I never thought that in this distant era, billions of years later, I would see you whole again!"

Ye Chen knew the power of this ship: the main cannon could obliterate Rank 5000 monsters, and the smaller cannons could dispatch Rank 1000 monsters! In the early days, he had used the smaller cannons to slaughter waves of insects.

To his current self, the ship's utility was limited mostly to transportation, so he wasn't overly ecstatic.

The old Green Rune Man, being cunning beyond measure, saw Ye Chen's indifferent expression and lack of visible interest, immediately becoming enraged. "What? Do you look down on my old partner?"

Ye Chen stated flatly, "A little."

The old Green Rune Man was thoroughly infuriated by Ye Chen's words, his eyes reddening, gnashing his teeth, "You will regret this! Do you think your wings are hard now, and you no longer need this ship? Hmph hmph! Let me tell you plainly, after the entire Rune Spaceship was repaired, everything became integrated, and its power has increased tenfold compared to before!"

Ye Chen's eyebrows twitched. "Tenfold?"

The old Green Rune Man glanced at him with immense pride. "Since you show sincere interest in learning, I will graciously enlighten you. The ship was previously in a damaged state; the cannons could barely exert their full power. Now that everything is repaired, with amplification runes, acceleration runes, and other enhancements, the power of the cannons is ten times greater than before! Furthermore, it can now kill experts at the Ghost-God Realm!"

"Oh," Ye Chen understood.

The old Green Rune Man waited a moment, but hearing nothing further, he roared in anger, "What do you mean, 'Oh'? Do you look down on it?"

Ye Chen waved his hand. "It's passable."

The old Green Rune Man shrieked, "What do you mean 'passable'? You, you, you, you..."

Ye Chen directly closed the space, casually picked up the tea beside him, and drank it all down in one gulp. Early on, he had wondered why such a high-level intelligent life form, adept at scams and trickery—truly resembling a human—would be attached to a Rune Spaceship whose inherent attack power wasn't that high. Now, it seemed only the fully repaired ship could barely warrant such an entity.

"Fifty thousand... that's not high either," Ye Chen said dismissively. "If the main cannon could output 500,000 destructive power, that would be more like it. It could instantly vaporize even Half-God experts!"

"Of course it can!" The old Green Rune Man's voice suddenly echoed in Ye Chen's mind. "The peak destructive power of this 'Flowing Moon' vessel is indeed capable of killing Half-God experts. Otherwise, facing the pursuit of ten-thousand-level monsters in the prehistoric era, why would the runes and the hull show not a single bit of damage?"

Ye Chen's composure was strong; he wasn't startled by the sudden voice, replying calmly, "Stop boasting."

The old Green Rune Man seemed to have been struck where it hurt, leaping up crazily, "Who said I'm boasting? I never boast!! How dare you underestimate the 'Flowing Moon'? You, you, you, you... Hmph! This 'Flowing Moon' was forged from extraterrestrial meteorite, making it extremely tough, capable of enduring immense bursts of power. As long as you can acquire a Half-God level power rune and inject it, the ship can kill a Half-God expert!" His voice was full of arrogance.

Ye Chen casually asked, "Are Half-God level runes easy to find?"

The old Green Rune Man answered without thinking, "Nonsense! Of course, they are hard to find." Only after speaking did he realize his slip-up and quickly tried to cover it, shouting angrily, "Who said they are hard to find? You can obtain them as long as you go to a Level Six Rune City!"

Ye Chen rolled his eyes.

Level Six Rune Ruins?

He knew of two: one in North America and one in Australia.

Not only were the locations remote, but the other issue was that both ruins were preserved in extremely good condition, their internal difficulty far surpassing that of other Level Six ruins like the Fire Civilization or Atlantis.

Without reaching the Ghost-God Realm, entering those ruins was equivalent to seeking death. The energy attacks and ghost energy corrosion alone were enough to drive anyone below the Ghost-God Realm to despair.