I created a safe zone in the nightmare world.

Chapter 324 The Last Seventy-Two Hours (4K)

Seventy-two hours, that's a very short time!

For most of the initial civilizations preparing to fight against the cataclysmic disaster, this short period of time only allows them to make last-minute efforts based on the revelations the world has given them.

Conquer Nightmare? No civilization would waste its time on that.

Firstly, you can't conquer many of them.

Secondly, even if you conquer a nightmare region, what help would that do in resisting the cataclysmic disaster?

Does not.

But the safe zone is different.

"Seventy-two hours is a long time."

Shi An thought to himself, "In the past, we didn't dare to conquer many nightmare regions. We had to conquer them slowly and methodically. But now that the cataclysmic disaster has begun, we have nothing to worry about."

Within these seventy-two hours, the ability to navigate the safe zone will be fully utilized!

With full power, how many regions can members conquer in three days?

Three? Four? Or more?

"It's just that we've just finished three major battles, and the members are not in good condition. Only about a third of our forces are available for combat, otherwise—"

Instructions issued!

Many members, even powerful leaders like Master Yunwu, couldn't immediately understand the store manager's intention behind this order.

"But the store manager must have his reasons for doing this."

"Besides, before the cataclysmic disaster officially strikes, most of us are just martial artists and won't be of much help. We might as well go and conquer the Nightmare region. Perhaps if enough Nightmare regions are purified, the cataclysmic disaster can be weakened!"

The powerful warriors scattered and launched attacks.

Start with the nightmare regions that are easiest to conquer.

This time, many members of the Extraordinary Realm also participated in the battle.

In the previous major battles, whether it was dealing with the Entropy Civilization raiding team, launching a full-scale counterattack, or the battle for the Sunrise Royal City, they were unable to help at all and could only stay in the safe zone, anxiously waiting for information.

Every time a powerful cultivator at the Transformation Realm is brought back severely injured, their hearts leap into their throats once again.

They were terrified that what they would receive in the end was news of defeat.

"I never want to experience that feeling of helplessness again!"

"I will fight! I will become stronger! I will fight against calamity!"

They are qualified to fight in the conquered regions.

Stronger Transcendent Realm cultivators, such as those in the late Transcendent Realm or at the Great Perfection of Transcendent Realm, quickly venture into various territory-level nightmares under the guidance of Transcendent Realm experts to engage in combat, investigation, and gathering clues for future strategies.

At this time, many of the slain lords were still alive and had not yet recovered, so the various attack teams still had an advantage.

Even those at a relatively weaker Transcendent Realm can still play a role.

Their role is to travel evenly to and disperse to various areas, where they activate membership cards and open the doors to the safe zone.

Thus, once the strategy enters a crucial stage, the ascending realm experts will be able to rely on these gates existing in various areas to arrive at the scene in the shortest possible time.

This tactic is the guarantee of a highly efficient strategy.

The long-time members are quite familiar with the safe zone.

For the sake of efficiency, all three generals, Xiao Xue, Ming Yi, and Zhuo Miao, participated in this major campaign. Only Li Feng was too exhausted and returned to headquarters to rest under Shi An's orders.

"Conquering the regional-level Nightmare difficulty will at least yield epic-level loot, with a small chance of obtaining rare items like epic buildings. Who knows, you might even get a wonder that can counteract the 'Sun Devouring Disaster.'"

Even if not, any epic building can significantly improve my safe zone.

"Furthermore, conquering larger regions can expand the safe zone's island area. If the worst-case scenario occurs, and we are unable to resist the Sun-devouring Catastrophe, at the very least—"

We can transfer all the survivors of the Blue Star civilization to the safe zone island area.

In this world today, the total number of survivors in the major modern worlds and numerous lost towns is approximately forty to fifty million.

There are a lot of people.

However, the safe zone is quite large, so accommodating so many people shouldn't be a problem.

However, if it really comes to that, the war potential of the Blue Star civilization will inevitably be greatly reduced.

"Therefore, we cannot afford to fail!"

Time ticks by.

At this moment, it's not just the various strategy teams that are racing against time.

The think tank is analyzing it.

"The Calamity of Devouring the Sun — Dark Zone — Erosion — Light!"

"According to the world's revelation, the most important factor in combating the cataclysmic event of the sun's devouring is light."

"Moreover, it is very likely that there is a huge difference between different types of light. Ordinary light sources are easily eroded and swallowed up by dark areas, while high-level light sources can support a long enough period of time, and even steadily protect a base city."

The think tank quickly put forward several suggestions.

The first priority, of course, is to seize the time to develop a light source and a prop that can continuously emit light and heat.

Such items include "Blazing Torch" in the early stages of the safe zone, but these ordinary items are not expected to have any significant effect.

Although three days is a short time, each laboratory still managed to gain something thanks to the Heritage Academy and various other methods.

The second strategy involves constructing numerous light sources within existing large base cities and defense perimeters. The aim is to transform every city into a brightly lit, sleepless metropolis.

Thirdly, "We must shrink the defensive perimeter and recall the personnel scattered in various camps and industrial parks."

After all, it is a cataclysmic disaster. It is foreseeable that most ordinary bases and small towns will not be able to resist the invasion of darkness.

These external industries had to be abandoned.

But giving up would indeed be a pity.

"Well, we can see how things go before making a decision. After all, even if the darkness can't be resisted, the members can still evacuate through the safe zone gates in time."

This is another major advantage of the safe zone.

Even so, it's still important to prepare in advance.

The fourth one —

The fifth one —

The sixth —

Within the safe zone, Shi An issued one urgent mission after another.

At this moment, all members of the safe zone and all those who had fallen into dreams were mobilized.

Combat-oriented members are out strategizing, research-oriented personnel are busy studying, and logistics personnel are preoccupied with the construction of various bases.

Store Manager Shi —

Shi An himself was fine.

No, it's not accurate to say he's acting like nothing's wrong; he simply has to stay at headquarters to oversee the overall situation.

"There are only seventy-one hours left."

Heritage Academy, Exchange Hall No. 1.

Pharmacist Yi, Professor Luo, Liu Yan, Chen Ang, Tian Hua, Jiang Peng, Director Liu—all the well-known researchers in the safe zone came here.

All sorts of materials related to fire and light have been brought out.

"We need to manufacture a high-quality light source, preferably an excellent one!"

"Perhaps we could start with Cloud City; the Brilliant Sword there is very dazzling!"

"I think a lighthouse is a better fit. Lighthouses are architectural wonders and are themselves a major source of light. If we can thoroughly understand lighthouses, we'll have a solid foundation in that area."

"But lighthouses are wonders, and wonders are made by rules; that's not something we can access."

"I think plants can also be used as a light source. Our project team plans to cultivate a plant that can emit light, which can then be used as a protective wall for the base city!"

As they were chatting, someone had a sudden inspiration and hurriedly ran back to their own laboratory.

Shi An listened attentively and nodded slightly.

"Lighthouses are indeed worth paying attention to. I currently have eleven lighthouse blueprints left, but I'm sure we'll get quite a few more in the coming days."

Shi An pondered.

The entropy civilization's raiding party brought many gifts from nature, which he originally intended to use in the Thousand Autumns Botanical Garden to cultivate various precious medicines.

But now that the cataclysm has come, he has no choice but to leave these fragments of wonder behind and use them in more critical places.

"Let's see if we can find a very suitable superior-grade building next."

"Also, the Spring of Purification could perhaps be upgraded."

After the cataclysmic disaster struck, humanity needed to rely on light to resist the encroachment of darkness.

But this is just resistance.

If we want to truly end this calamity of the sun's devouring, we will definitely need to send the Dreamers deep into the dark lands.

Erosion is unavoidable.

Purified water can directly remove erosion.

There are 66 hours left until the cataclysmic disaster strikes.

At this moment, "Manager, these are the blueprints for the first generation of the 'artificial sun'."

This artificial sun was developed by Professor Luo's team in a rush.

Artificial suns are not technologically advanced creations, but it is still quite remarkable that they could be developed in just a few hours.

The artificial sun will continuously emit light and heat, simulating the effect of the real sun, making the entire base city as bright as day.

Professor Luo said, "We have already built a prototype of this artificial sun. After testing, its illumination range is sufficient to cover an area with a radius of sixty kilometers, but this is only under the premise that it has not been invaded by darkness."

"In addition, artificial suns have another drawback: they consume a lot of energy."

It's burning dream crystals!

Counted in piles!

Even so, more of these life-saving items must be made.

This artificial sun is a backup plan; the other projects are also under construction.

Professor Luo then prepared to develop a second-generation artificial sun, aiming to add a charging mode to the first generation.

By charging the artificial sun with spell power input by those who have fallen into dreams, the energy consumption of the artificial sun can be significantly reduced.

Anyway, there are many dreamers among the Blue Star civilization now.

Take Baijiang as an example; there are several thousand extraordinary individuals there. If the future dictates a dark age, with dark forbidden zones everywhere, ordinary Dream Fallers won't be able to leave. Staying in the base and acting as "power banks" will be perfect for them to shine and contribute.

There are 61 hours left until the cataclysmic disaster.

Xiao Xue's team was the first to conquer a region.

Two hours later, the raiding teams led by Mingyi and Zhuo Ling also conquered the second and third regions.

One of the spoils caught Shi An's attention.

This is just a blueprint of exceptional quality, but—

"The Unextinguished Lantern (Excellence)"

"Description: A lantern that will not go out even in the darkest and coldest environments. When the ever-burning lantern is burning, it will bring many benefits to friendly forces within its range, such as warmth, peace of mind, resistance to erosion, and dispelling of coldness. At the same time, it has a certain weakening effect on eerie entities."

This is a very useful tool, even for everyday exploration; it's the ultimate upgrade of the blazing torch.

With the Dark Ages looming, the inextinguishable lantern becomes even more valuable.

That is, as an excellent-grade item, the Undying Lantern is expensive to manufacture and can only be equipped by high-level squads, so it cannot be widely used.

Thirty-nine hours until the cataclysmic disaster strikes.

Based on the existing item Campfire (Rare), the Liuyan Research Team developed the advanced item Torch Campfire (Excellent), which can be quickly deployed in the wild and emits a large amount of light and heat.

There are 29 hours left until the cataclysmic disaster strikes.

All major base cities and urban clusters have completed comprehensive construction.

Artificial suns are hung high in the sky, and countless lights are installed inside each building.

Even the sewers are filled with lights!

Our goal is to leave no dark corners untouched!

There were 26 hours left before the cataclysmic disaster struck.

Zhu Chenying left the strategy team and returned to the safe zone's Heritage Academy, where she gathered several friends to discuss and research the topic.

Several hours later, Zhu Chenying developed two rare-level spells: "Solar Fist" and "Radiant Light Technique".

"There's only one day left."

Shi An murmured.

Over the past two days, the various research teams in the safe zone have indeed developed a number of new products.

The "Night Patrol Lantern" is a lower-spec version of the "Never-Ending Lantern" designed to reduce manufacturing costs.

There is a special plant called "Lantern Grass" that can emit its own light. This Lantern Grass is just a common-grade crop, and the light emitted by a single Lantern Grass is not bright, but it has the advantage of being very easy to cultivate.

Tian Hua is building a lantern grass city wall.

Around the same time.

Mei also left the strategy team because she had an idea.

She quickly developed a "paper doll prop" lanternfish.

With seven hours remaining before the cataclysmic disaster, Shi An ordered the team to retreat, and all members of the raiding party returned to O.

At this point, if the team members work together, they can still conquer one more region in the last few hours.

But it's unnecessary.

Compared to a guide for a single region, it's more important for members to get adequate rest.

For nearly three days and three nights, the powerful members of the raiding party barely rested, except when they were injured or exhausted.

After recovering, they returned to the battlefield.

After three days, not to mention ordinary cultivators at the Transformation Realm, even strange generals like Xiao Xue and Zhuo Miao were exhausted.

After all, they had experienced several top-level battles before.

The raiding party's record is as follows:

"Eight major regions! A full eight major regions!"

Sixty-five hours to capture eight neighborhoods—that's astonishing efficiency.

Many of them are about to die; they are now paralyzed in their intensive care units, their eyes lifeless as if their souls have left their bodies.

Raiders!

Base construction!

Item development!

People evacuate!

And investigation of clues!

"We've done everything we could."

"All that's left is—waiting."

Shi An stood in the Baijiang City base, silently counting the passing time.

Finally, the cataclysmic disaster struck.