Freeze the entire population, activate my Superman system?

"What did you say?"

As soon as Ling Shuang entered the management office's conference room, Zhang Mu's words froze her in place.

"We're running out of timber."

Zhang Mu repeated it, his expression unusually serious.

"The green trees and landscaping timber we had stockpiled, plus the planks from several vacant houses, have almost run out by today."

That beast recklessly gave birth to its offspring and then stealthily hid outside the breach, out of reach of the Frost Ballista.

All the arrow towers require wood to power them, plus heating...

He paused, his voice lowering.

"I'm afraid they won't make it to the day the lockdown is lifted."

Although the management office was responsible for statistical analysis, he, as the lord, still bore a great deal of psychological pressure.

The temperature near the artificial lake has now dropped to -5 degrees Celsius.

If the heating supply is indeed affected, the consequences would be unimaginable.

"If we dismantle all the timber from the empty rooms, how long can it last?" Zhang Mu asked, turning his head.

"It's already being demolished."

Guo Yueshan took over the conversation,

"Starting this morning, I had the defense team lead people to inspect each vacant house and dismantle any usable wooden cabinets, floors, and door frames."

But to be honest, it's just a drop in the ocean.

Xiao Shen calculated that the timber that could be dismantled from a high-rise building would only be enough for the arrow tower to fire continuously for one hour.

The study was quiet for a moment.

Ling Shuang frowned slightly.

"I wonder if upgrading the territory will solve this resource problem."

Hearing his words, Zhang Mu was stunned.

"Brother Shuang, my upgrade button is grayed out!"

"The next stage seems to be satellite city-level territory, which grants one unit of fire crystal mother ore and ten units of fire crystal."

"Don't even mention that we've never seen what fire crystal mother ore is; as for fire crystals, you're probably the only one you still have."

Ling Shuang did not reply, but simply raised his left hand to indicate that everyone should look at the ring on his index finger.

Zhang Mu looked at Ling Shuang in surprise.

"Where did this ring come from! Shuang-ge, did someone propose to you outside?"

He seemed to have learned something incredible, and pointed at Ling Shuang, saying...

"Is it the female ghoul nightingale you mentioned last time? The one that's kind of amazing-looking? Come on, tell me, has she been 'lubricated'?"

The curious glances of everyone instantly focused on Ling Shuang, and a strong sense of gossip filled the conference room.

Ling Shuang's lips twitched, and she immediately gave Zhang Mu a Leo kick to his buttocks, sending him sprawling dramatically onto the table.

"Insubordination? Damn it! He's crippled! He's crippled! He can't be a lord anymore!"

Ling Shuang, having restrained herself from kicking him, knew perfectly well that this kid was blatantly putting on an act, and continued,

"This is a subspace device left behind by the Atlantis civilization; you can think of it as a space ring from a novel."

All eyes once again fell on the silver ring on his index finger.

Its texture is simple and unadorned, with a faint sheen.

Ling Shuang spoke calmly, but her words were like a pebble thrown into a lake.

Zhang Mu suddenly stood up, and Jiang Xiaobei, who was standing next to him, dropped his walkie-talkie onto the table.

The spatial ring has arrived.

This is so revolutionary to our existing scientific understanding.

"That ruin?" Zhang Mu's voice trembled. "They really let you in?"

"Not only did they go in," Ling Shuang activated her spatial ring with her consciousness, "they also brought a gift for you, Lord Zhang."

The next second, the conference room table was suddenly filled with energy crystals radiating intense heat!

A full one hundred standard fire crystals!

What's even more shocking are those twenty fist-sized fire crystal mother minerals.

The dark red light veins inside moved like living things, each one like a miniature heart pulsating slowly.

At this moment, Zhang Mu's lord panel exploded.

[Detected: 100 units of high-density fire element energy and 20 units of fire element mother ore]

[Can trigger a series of upgrades to town-level territory benefits]

Current Level: Town Level

[Original upgrade path: Satellite City (requires 1 Mother Ore + 10 Standard Fire Crystals) → Main City (requires 10 Mother Ore + 80 Standard Fire Crystals)]

[Current upgrade requirements: 8 Fire Crystal Mother Ore + 66 Standard Fire Crystals. Do you confirm the discounted upgrade?]

"A double jump..." Zhang Mu's lips trembled slightly, "A direct jump to a satellite city? No, a double jump?"

Guo Yueshan turned to look at Shen Yuan with a puzzled expression. "What does this mean?"

Shen Yuan pushed up his glasses, his heart pounding with excitement.

"The energy that Manager Ling provided is enough for us to directly upgrade to the main city level, and there will be discounts for consecutive upgrades."

He raised his head and stared intently at Ling Shuang.

"One hundred fire crystals and twenty mother ore."

Manager Ling, you've truly given us a huge surprise.

"We encountered an artificial intelligence entity named Batica, the guardian of Atlantis's energy storage."

Ling Shuang responded briefly, "She said that my genetic makeup matches Atlantis's direct bloodline by 99.17%."

These resources were her gift to her people.

The meeting room was silent for a full five seconds.

"99.17%," Zhang Mu murmured, then slapped his thigh hard.

"Holy crap! I knew you were cheating so outrageously!"

So you're a direct descendant of Atlantis? Didn't that ancient civilization sink to the bottom of the sea?

We discussed this issue after you told me about it last time.

However, according to historical records, Atlantis was not known to be a technologically advanced civilization! They were simply more advanced for their time.

Ling Shuang shared all the information about the Civilization Trial that she had heard from Batika with everyone.

While everyone was chattering and discussing, Shen Yuan immediately grasped the crux of the problem.

"If Atlantis left this world as the victorious civilization."

"So what do we do?"

Wang Can replied naturally.

"We'll definitely beat them!"

Conquer gods, demons, and all races; show your human prowess in this breeding farm.

Let that god think we are the strongest warriors.

"That's how it's written in novels; I think we should start with the ghoul clan."

Shen Yuan smiled helplessly.

"Brother Wang, you didn't listen carefully. This is a trial world that has been used but failed."

Even the artificial intelligence of Atlantis doesn't know why we've arrived.

Even if there is a god, would a god still care about an abandoned testing ground of a civilization? How are we supposed to get out?

Zhang Mu was stunned for a moment, then patted Shen Yuan on the shoulder.

"If we can't get out, we can just settle down here. Anyway, Brother Shuang said there are humanoid girls here."

Once my territory has developed and Brother Shuang has become a superman again, I'll send people to capture all those beast-eared girls and examine them."

Shen Yuan stared at him with wide eyes.

Dr. Zhang isn't usually like this.

What's wrong? You're about to become a lord of a major city, are you getting cocky?

However, Shen Yuan thought about it again.

He felt that although Zhang Mu's words were vulgar, they also made sense.

Even if you emerge victorious, it's just the beginning of the next trial of civilization.

In this apocalyptic world, simply being able to survive is the greatest luxury.

At this moment, Guo Yueshan coughed awkwardly, instantly interrupting Zhang Mu's reverie.

"Dr. Zhang, how about we talk about upgrading?"

Zhang Mu immediately came to his senses.

There were quite a few people from the management office present at the meeting.

But then he raised an eyebrow indifferently.

It's not like I need to put on airs at work.

Can't doctors like anime? I even went to a comic convention with him this year.

Zhang Mu turned to look at Ling Shuang.

"Is this Civilization Trial related to territory upgrades? Do Atlantis and the like also have a lord system?"

"I forgot to ask Batyka, does anyone know?"

Perhaps the rise and fall of civilizations on Earth, generation after generation, are all related to this trial of civilization.

Ling Shuang didn't dwell on the issue. "Upgrade first. There are enemies outside the breach. I need to find a way to take them down."

And there are discounts, even with multiple discounts.

Zhang Mu took a deep breath and pressed the confirmation button on the screen.

The next second, most of the fire crystals on the conference room table disappeared.

Om-!

A dark red beam of light shot into the sky from the center of the row houses, piercing through the roof and even through the dome of the safe zone! It crashed straight into the sky.

Then came the second beam of light, the third, the fourth...

The heating stoves, whether basic or intermediate, scattered across various territories, all emitted a low hum at the same time.

The flames inside the furnace changed from a dark blue to a crimson red, and then the entire furnace began to "melt".

It didn't disappear, but was broken down into the most basic energy units by an invisible force, turning into countless crimson light spots that converged towards the back of the community like a swarm of fireflies.

On the back mountain, on that once barren rocky slope, the ground began to shake violently.

A massive energy furnace, entirely cast from a mixture of dark red metal and stone, "grew" out from underground.

It stands over forty meters tall, with a cylindrical lower half and an upper half consisting of intersecting energy conduits and a pulsating fire crystal core.

The dark red light patterns on the surface of the furnace body flickered rhythmically, like breathing.

Each time it lights up, a visible heat wave spreads outwards from the furnace body in all directions.

All individual heating boilers were dismantled.

Only this towering main-city-level [Energy Furnace] remains within the territory!