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

At the base of the building, inside a newly constructed, fully enclosed military testing camp.

The extreme cold in November was devastating, with outdoor temperatures approaching minus twenty degrees Celsius.

The heater inside the makeshift hospital was turned on to its highest setting.

Inside the testing chamber, Bai Lu lay on a specially designed testing chair.

Her head was covered with a dense array of highly sensitive probes, and various tubes connected to rows of complex instruments around her.

Outside the cabin.

Su Ran, Ye Xiao, Mo Yun, and Zhu Jingye stood in a line, staring intently at the situation inside.

Zhang Qian and his core research team were frantically typing on the keyboard of the main console.

On the screen, two curves representing the white deer's brainwaves and the mother's mental frequency intertwined wildly.

"A decrease in mental threshold."

"The frequency of maternal consciousness flushing has increased!"

"Have Miss White Deer immediately begin the reinforcement attempt! Begin!"

With each instruction issued, the entire research team operated at high speed.

Ye Xiao leaned against the wall, yawned boredly, and casually grabbed a compressed biscuit from his tactical vest and started eating it.

"Old Mo, can you understand this thing?"

He nudged Mo Yun with his elbow.

"can't read."

Mo Yun pushed up his glasses and answered honestly, but his eyes never left the screen.

It took a full two hours to figure it out.

It was completely dark outside.

In November, the night wind in Wuhan was bitterly cold.

"Alright, test over."

Zhang Qian let out a long breath.

As if granted a pardon, the white deer ripped all the electrodes off its head.

She stepped out of the cabin, took the high-purity extract handed to her by Su Ran, and gulped down two mouthfuls.

"The results are in?" Su Ran stepped forward.

Zhang Qian slammed a stack of printed data sheets on the table, his face looking very serious.

"It's not exactly good news."

Su Ran raised her eyes slightly. "Speak plainly."

Zhang Qian took a deep breath and slammed the report heavily onto the metal table.

"Two fatal limitations."

He held up one finger.

"First, the fourth-order mother body has an extremely strong self-awareness. Although it is controlled by the mental imprint, its instinctive rejection has never stopped."

The steel stamp left by the white deer is being worn away continuously.

"Based on the current calculations, Bai Lu must use her special ability to replenish and strengthen the mutated beast's mental energy every four hours."

"Four hours?"

Ye Xiao stopped chewing on the compressed biscuit, his eyes widening.

"Will Bai Lu even be able to sleep? Does that mean she has to set an alarm every four hours to feed the dog?"

"This is the only way right now."

Zhang Qian gave a bitter smile and sighed.

"Brain engineering is still in the process of trial and error. Being able to control a fourth-order beast with the power of a third-order beast is already a groundbreaking achievement."

Bai Lu rubbed her temples, her expression remaining relatively calm.

"I can handle being reinforced every four hours."

"To truly improve the stability of the spiritual imprint, we probably have to wait until Bai Lu breaks through to the fourth rank."

Su Ran looked at Bai Lu with a deep gaze and analyzed,

"Only then can the White Deer achieve a leap in its mental suppression of this monster, and only then can the wear and tear problem be effectively solved."

He looked at Zhang Qian again and asked, "What's the second restriction?"

Zhang Qian raised his second finger.

Second, control the distance.

The white deer itself and the controlled mother nest must be kept at a relatively close distance.

Once the limit is exceeded, the mental connection will weaken or even break.

He stared intently at Su Ran and said, word by word,

"Based on the signal attenuation test just now, the effective control radius between the white deer and its mother body can be conservatively estimated to be no more than 300 kilometers."

Once this distance is exceeded, the mental connection will break due to interference from Earth's magnetic field.

"Three hundred kilometers?"

Zhu Jingye gasped. "The Kunlun base is almost a thousand kilometers away from Jiangcheng as the crow flies!"

This means that Bai Lu will not be able to return to Kunlun for the time being.

The first biological weapons factory of the Great Xia Dynasty requires its empress to be personally overseeing it.

"Doesn't that mean Bai Lu can't come back to the Kunlun base with us anymore?"

Ye Xiao exclaimed in surprise, his brows furrowing instantly.

Mo Yun's tone was equally heavy, "She was physically bound to Jiangcheng by this biological weapons factory."

These words immediately created a tense atmosphere inside the makeshift hospital.

Having gone through life and death together, no one wanted to leave Bai Lu alone in this ruined city.

Su Ran tapped her fingers lightly on the table, her brain racing.

This arsenal in Jiangcheng will be a trump card for humanity in its fight against future zombie hordes and mutated beasts.

But if the price is sacrificing Bai Lu's freedom and locking her up here...

He looked at Zhang Qian, his eyes sharp. "Doesn't the Academy of Sciences have any other solutions?"

"None at the moment."

Zhang Qian's answer was crisp, tinged with a hint of helplessness.

"Unless Bai Lu's superpower level breaks through again, or our Academy of Sciences can develop a truly perfect brain-computer interface to replace her work."

Su Ran fell silent.

He turned to look at the white deer.

Bai Lu held the thermos filled with warm water, her hands steady and showing no sign of panic.

Sensing the worried looks from Su Ran and her companions, a rare bright smile appeared on her face.

She calmly met their gazes.

"Are you all stupid? I'll just wait until this Tier 4 Hellhound mother has recovered from her wounds, then take her back to the Kunlun base, won't I?"

"Why not just take it back to the Kunlun base?"

After Bai Lu said that, the makeshift hospital was silent for a full three seconds.

"yes!"

Ye Xiao froze for two seconds, then suddenly slapped his thigh.

"Since we've already put a leash on this big guy, we can just walk him around once he's healed!"

Who says we have to stay in this wretched place to the death?

"So, you don't need to spend all your time in Jiangcheng with me."

Bai Lu sat up from the testing chair and glanced at everyone.

Su Ran also seemed to be deep in thought. She turned to look at Zhang Qian and spoke gently.

"Professor Zhang Qian, given the current situation, how long is it expected to take for this fourth-tier mutated mother entity to recover?"

Zhang Qian adjusted his glasses, grabbed his assistant's laptop, and pulled up the Mother Nest energy transmission model.

"Based on the current supply rate of the Jiangcheng Mother Nest, combined with its self-healing ability as a fourth-tier creature, a preliminary estimate is... it will take at least ten days."

"Ten days."

Bai Lu picked up the conversation, her gaze sweeping over Ye Xiao and Zhu Jingye in turn.

"For nearly half a month, you've been stuck in Jiangcheng with nothing to do but watch helplessly."

"Ye Xiao, our Kunlun base team is currently ranked number one on the global leaderboard. We can't let anyone from another region surpass us."

Ye Xiao raised an eyebrow, glanced at the leaderboard on the tactical terminal, and grinned.

"Got it. Leave the top-ranking task to me. Get to work, stop pretending to be dead, pack your gear! Let's go!"

As he spoke, Ye Xiao slapped Zhu Jingye hard on the shoulder.

The force of the blow was considerable, causing Zhu Jingye, who was already aching all over from the transfer of damage, to wince in pain and gasp for breath.

"No, Brother Ye..."

Zhu Jingye clutched his shoulder, pleading for mercy with a pained expression.

"I really need to rest for a couple of days, I can't take it anymore! I feel like all my bones are aching!"

Ye Xiao ignored Zhu Jingye's pleas for mercy and put his arm around Zhu Jingye's neck.

"Stop talking nonsense! You can rest just as well in a leather airplane seat! No man can do without it!"

Without waiting for Zhu Jingye's resistance, she directly took Zhu Jingye onto the Xuan Nu fighter jet that was hovering to the side.

Su Ran withdrew her gaze and turned to look at Mo Yun.

"Old Mo, the Awakeners headquarters can't be left unattended for too long."

The global rankings have been public for a while now. Go back to Kunlun and screen all the promising newcomers, ranking them by their potential.

"Understood. Leave it to me."

Mo Yun straightened his glasses, and without saying a word, turned around to arrange the return flight route.

In just a few minutes, the tactical squad was split up, leaving only Su Ran and Bai Lu in the five-person squad.

……

into the night.

The edge of a temporarily cleared helipad on the roof of the Jin Mao Tower.

In November, the night sky over Wuhan was covered by thick clouds, and not a single star could be seen.

Below the building, military searchlights formed a network, and countless heavy machines roared as engineering troops expanded the defenses on top of the existing fortifications.

Bai Lu was wrapped in a large military windproof coat, holding a steaming thermos in both hands.

She leaned against the rooftop railing, looking down at the bustling torrent of steel below.

Su Ran walked to her side and stood beside her, then took something out of the infinite space and handed it to her.

"Eat it while it's hot."

Bai Lu subconsciously turned her head, and when she saw what Su Ran was holding, her eyes lit up instantly.

Those were a dozen or so sizzling lamb skewers, glistening with oil and sprinkled with cumin and chili powder!

"You actually have such a good thing in your space."

The white deer opened her small mouth slightly and began to eat without any hesitation.

In this apocalyptic world filled with stench and blood, crystal core extract can repair the spirit, but when it comes to comforting the heart, these skewers full of the warmth and humanity of everyday life are priceless.

Emotional value is sometimes more important than weapons.

"That's rare."

The white deer chewed on its meat while speaking softly and indistinctly.

"What?"

Su Ran snapped open a can of chilled energy drink with one hand and took a big gulp.

"I mean, this kind of time when you don't have to be on edge every day, and you don't have to face the constant carnage."

Bai Lu looked at the meat skewers in her hand, a rare gentleness appearing in her eyes.

"Since the cataclysm broke out, I've almost forgotten what it feels like to stay quiet."

Every day is nothing but killing... It's so nice to be able to sit here and enjoy the breeze for a while now.

Su Ran turned her head and looked at the tip of her nose, which was a little red from the night wind.

He wanted to say something, but he didn't know what to say.

In this meat grinder-like era, no one can truly remain uninvolved, not even the most elite awakened beings of the Great Xia Dynasty.

After a few seconds of silence, Su Ran reached out and gently patted her somewhat thin shoulder.

"You earned all of this."

Su Ran spoke gently, her voice soft and measured.

"If it weren't for you, the Empress of Great Xia, risking your life to press that spiritual imprint, this city beneath our feet would probably have been physically wiped off the map by thermobaric bombs long ago."

You did a fantastic job; everyone here saw it.

Upon hearing this, the white deer paused slightly in its chewing motion.

She didn't speak, but lowered her head, took a bigger bite of mutton, and mumbled something indistinctly.

"The lamb skewers are so delicious!"

……

In the following days, the machinery of the Great Xia state was fully mobilized in Jiangcheng.

With the Jin Mao Tower as the absolute center, five ring-shaped stepped defensive positions rise from the ground.

Electromagnetic pulse towers, crystal core railguns, and heavy armored patrol formations all landed.

This level of defense is partly to protect this "biological arsenal" that is about to mass-produce monsters.

The other half is to deal with the devastating disaster that might be caused if the fourth-order mother body goes out of control.

At the same time, the Chinese Academy of Sciences launched a full range of research projects targeting alienated organisms.

To work with these special advisors, Su Ran received a new task.

Be a super porter.

On the outskirts of Jiangcheng, in feeding area number one.

Su Ran stood on a high platform at the edge of the basin.

Below is a huge pit that is fifty meters deep.

He raised his right hand, a thought flashing through his mind.

"space."

Rumble!

Hundreds of thousands of corpses of ordinary zombies, first-tier mutated rats, and second-tier berserk wild boars poured down from the void like a black waterfall!

This is the result of Su Ran's efforts over the past three days, shuttling between various front-line war zones in Great Xia and using his infinite space ability to "procure" supplies.

A total of one million mutated creature remains were piled up into small mountains in the deep pit.

"Gulp..."

Standing beside Su Ran, Zhang Qian stared intently at the mountain of corpses below, his breathing heavy with excitement.

"Miss Bailu, Consultant Su is all ready."

Bai Lu stood beside Zhang Qian, her eyes slightly closed.

The next second, a blinding blue light shone from between her brows, and she issued the command.

"Eat."

Tens of thousands of second-tier hellhounds swarmed out from the underground pipe network of Jiangcheng.

Like a black tide, they surged into the No. 1 feeding area through the reserved channels.

These bloodthirsty monsters pounced on the mountain of corpses, beginning to tear and devour them in a frenzy.

After finishing its meal, the hellhound immediately returned to the bottom of the Jin Mao Tower.

They insert their mouthparts into the dark red fleshy walls that grow on the outer perimeter of the building, and feed all the refined high-energy nutrient solution back to the mother nest.

This is a "fattening program" tailored by the Daxia Academy of Sciences for the mother nest.

Nutrients are coming together in a crazy way.

In just a few days, the entire Jiangcheng Mother Nest experienced explosive growth.

Thick, dark red veins climb wildly along the steel skeleton of the Jin Mao Tower.

The fungal carpet that was originally only half of the building structure has now not only been fully restored, but is even thicker than before!

……

Seven days later.

The six floors above ground house the core embryo room, which has been significantly renovated.

The blinding light shone on a huge fleshy wall in the very center.

The surrounding area is filled with the most advanced and sophisticated testing instruments that the Chinese Academy of Sciences can currently provide.

Wearing protective clothing, Zhang Qian stared intently at a translucent embryo hanging on the fleshy wall.

The embryo was two meters tall, and its surface was covered with large blood vessels that were pulsating rapidly at a certain frequency.

Each jump caused the surrounding detection instruments to beep.

"laugh!"

The airtight door opened, and Su Ran and Bai Lu pushed the door open and entered the embryo room.

"Professor Zhang, how is the situation?"

Su Ran glanced at the violently writhing embryo and got straight to the point.

Upon hearing the sound, Zhang Qian turned around abruptly and shouted.

"Advisor Su, Miss Bailu, we might really be succeeding!"