In the apocalypse, I hoarded goods and handed over my storage space to the government.

"Knock knock knock!"

Just then, someone knocked urgently on the heavy soundproof door of the lounge from the outside.

"Go in." Su Ran pulled himself out of his thoughts and spoke in a deep voice.

The door slid open, and a fully armed special agent from the National Security Bureau strode in.

Behind him were four heavily armed bodyguards.

The four of them worked together to carry in two heavy, silver, temperature-controlled briefcases and carefully placed them on the long table.

"Reporting to Advisor Su!"

Special agents stood at attention and saluted, their voices loud and clear.

"The supplies allocated by Director Qian of the Material Reserves Administration have all been delivered here! Please check them!"

The crystal cores that Su Ran ordered have arrived.

Ye Xiao's eyes lit up when he saw the large black box on the table.

"Good heavens, such a big mobilization? Even the Imperial Guards have been deployed?"

He leaned closer and touched the cold box. "Brother Su, is this box full of that stuff?"

Su Ran walked back to the table and waved for the special forces team to leave.

As the door closed again, Su Ran placed her palm on the recognition area of ​​the first box, then aligned her pupils with the scanner.

"Beep—Identity confirmed. Special Advisor from Headquarters!"

With a mechanical female voice prompting, the hydraulic latch clicked open with a crisp "click," and the lid slowly popped open.

"Second-order crystal nucleus".

"A total of four hundred and thirty."

He leaned on the edge of the box with one hand, his gaze sweeping over the four people present.

"The second-tier top-grade crystal cores selected from the past month's desperate extermination of mutated beasts in all major war zones across the Great Xia territory."

As the lid opened completely, soft, cool-toned light shone from inside the case.

Blue, red, cyan, and yellow—various colors of energy intertwined, illuminating the entire lounge with a bizarre and surreal glow.

"I'm lying down..."

Ye Xiao's Adam's apple bobbed as he stared intently at the box of crystal cores, the veins on the back of his hands bulging.

Bai Lu narrowed her eyes slightly, a strange light flashing in her eyes.

Even the usually composed Mo Yun's breathing became a bit heavy.

"Brother Su, are all of these for us?" Ye Xiao asked.

"Everything is prepared for you."

Su Ran pushed open the second box lid, and the same stream of light spilled out.

"Tonight, I will use the essence of a nation to elevate your realm!"

His voice wasn't loud, but it carried an undeniable air of dominance.

"You are all currently at the peak of the second tier. If you continue to improve step by step and hone your abilities, it will take at least several more months before you can even touch the threshold of the third tier."

He casually picked up a red crystal core.

"Too slow," Su Ran uttered.

"Take it."

With a flick of his wrist, the crystal core transformed into a beam of red light and shot towards Ye Xiao.

Ye Xiao caught it steadily, then looked up and asked in confusion,

"Brother Su, we've already hit a bottleneck at this stage. Our bodies are saturated. Will forcibly absorbing crystal cores still be effective?"

"During the absorption process, 80% of the energy will be lost, but the remaining 20% ​​will still be accumulated in your bones and blood as a foundation."

Su Ran began to explain.

"Doing this is a waste of these precious top-grade crystal cores, but the apocalypse waits for no one, so we can't worry about that now."

Trading resources for time is currently the only way to break the deadlock.

He picked up a handful of crystal cores and tossed them in his hand.

"Besides, even if these crystal cores aren't given to you to use, the military will just take them and use them as fuel, stuffing them into the bomb bays of crystal core weapons."

"The process of the apocalypse has never stopped because of the Great Xia's prolonged existence!"

Su Ran stood up, her voice firm.

"We can't stop it, so we have to outrun those monsters."

He walked towards the white deer, picked out a deep blue spiritual crystal core, and handed it over.

He then turned around, raised his hand, and quickly tapped on the tactical terminal to bring up the holographic projection on the desktop.

"Whoosh!"

A glaring scarlet timeline stretches across the screen.

"According to my memory, the third-tier mutated creatures will experience a large-scale outbreak in the fourth month after the Red Rain ends."

Upon hearing this, Mo Yun's hand suddenly paused. "So, our window of opportunity is only three months left?"

"That's right."

Su Ran's fingertip touched the end of the timeline.

The indoor air pressure dropped sharply.

"Therefore, I require you to be the first to break through to the third tier at least one month before the formation of third-tier mutated creatures!"

Not just you, but also Jiang Zunyong, Chen Kewang, Long Jiang, and the rest of the first-tier group!

Su Ran's voice was like iron: "Only by being quick in one step can you be quick in every step."

In this messed-up world, falling behind even half a step means the Great Xia will have to pay with tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of lives!

Mo Yun took a deep breath and recorded the data on the tablet.

"Time is extremely tight, but I guarantee I'll finish it."

"It's not just the Kunlun base."

Su Ran turned her gaze to Mo Yun.

"For the other main bases, I have ordered the Supply Bureau to allocate a batch of top-tier second-tier crystal cores in advance, based on the number of awakened teams in each region."

He opened the tactical terminal, and a top-level authorization document was sent directly to Mo Yun's device.

"You can decide how to use these crystal cores and to whom they are given in the future."

Mo Yun's pupils contracted slightly.

Brother Su is about to delegate authority.

"Don't worry about the loss of crystal cores."

Su Ran continued, "As long as there is potential and the mental strength can withstand the impact of the crystal core energy, just throw these crystal cores at me!"

"To forge an army of awakened beings capable of suppressing all upheavals for Great Xia, even when I'm not in the country!"

Mo Yun straightened his back and nodded emphatically.

"clear!"

The instruction has been issued.

Bai Lu leaned back in her chair, without uttering a single unnecessary word.

The azure crystal core floated in her palm.

The mental energy instantly enveloped the crystal core, and the blue light seeped into the skin inch by inch from the palm.

"Alright, I can't fall behind either."

Ye Xiao grinned, picked out a few fire and strength-type crystal cores, sat down cross-legged, and held his long sword across his knees.

Mo Yun then took a specially made explosion-proof box and sealed the remaining crystal cores.

He didn't rush into cultivation; as the "head steward," he didn't rush into cultivation.

Seeing that the others were getting into the zone, Su Ran quietly left the lounge.

……

The next day. Early morning.

Kunlun Base, Awakened Ones Conference Room.

Su Ran stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window.

Outside the window, inside a massive underground deep-sea hangar, a modified high-mobility fighter jet, the "Mysterious Maiden," was towed over overnight.

"drop!"

The access control notification sounded.

"Enter."

The metal door slid open, and Li Guodong strode in, carrying a heavy, top-secret file folder.

His eyes were bloodshot, clearly from staying up all night.

"Xiao Su, the information command center has compiled what you requested overnight."

Li Guodong slammed the file folder onto his large desk with a dull thud.

"Coordinates of all known overseas strategic reserve depots, and the distribution of survivor forces captured by the Tianyan satellite."

"Thank you for your hard work, Lao Li."

Su Ran didn't stand on ceremony and directly broke open the seal, pouring out a stack of high-resolution satellite photos and data reports.

He flipped through the pages expressionlessly.

A few minutes later.

"Old Li."

He suddenly stopped flipping through the pages, slowly raised his head, as if he had suddenly thought of something extremely important.

"I can take my time to review the intelligence, but I have a question I'd like to confirm with you as soon as possible before I leave the country."

When Li Guodong met Su Ran's gaze, his back straightened instinctively, and his expression became extremely serious.

"Go ahead and ask."

"I want to know,"

Su Ran stared at the photos of large human settlements in North America and spoke slowly and deliberately.

"Commander, and the generals at the front, what are your plans for dealing with those unaffiliated awakened individuals abroad in the future?"