Extraterrestrial demons invaded; I laid the groundwork eight years in advance.

10:00 AM, Qingfengyuan Residential Area.

Shen Bai ended the call with Li Zhou; Li Zhou would handle the rest.

"It's time to go to the research institute to check on the equipment progress."

As Shen Bai spoke, he got up and walked out of the bedroom.

Shen Tian was curled up on the sofa watching TV, holding a bag of potato chips in her hand.

It's the weekend, so she didn't go to school.

"Are you up?"

She asked, her eyes fixed on the television.

"Okay." Shen Bai went to the kitchen and poured a glass of water. "I'm going out for a few days. I'll leave this afternoon."

Shen Tian raised her head, glanced at him, and smiled slightly.

"Going on a trip? Or on a date?"

Shen Bai took a sip of water, his face expressionless. "You're overthinking it. Go for a walk by yourself."

Shen Tian stared at his back for two seconds.

"travel?"

  

"you?"

She curled her lips slightly, a hint of disbelief in her smile.

"You're too lazy to even take your annual leave, and now you suddenly want to travel?"

Shen Tian scoffed and lay back down on the sofa, but her gaze lingered on him for an extra second.

"Okay. Come back soon, and be careful."

Shen Bai paused, holding the water glass, but didn't turn around.

"Okay." Shen Bai put down his water glass and went out the door.

A black sedan was already waiting downstairs, its engine roaring to life, and the outline of Qingfengyuan gradually shrank in the rearview mirror.

The car drove through the city and finally stopped in front of the research institute.

When Shen Bai and Liu Feng entered the laboratory, Gu Weijun was standing in front of the control panel, holding a tablet in his hand, his eyes behind his glasses were bloodshot.

He has hardly left this place in the past eight days.

"prophet."

Gu Weijun saw him bow slightly, open his tablet, and begin his report.

"Based on the knowledge of weapon crafting, runic writing, and potion making you provided, we have completed the first batch of equipment. However, the raw materials are too scarce, so in order to increase production, we tried a hybrid process—mixing the raw materials with high-strength alloy fibers and other materials. Although the performance is slightly lower than that of pure monster materials, it is still 50% better than the original equipment."

He retrieved the data.

"Final product: 5,000 composite combat suits, effective against attacks from apprentice-level monsters; 6,000 various weapons, capable of easily penetrating the scales of apprentice-level monsters; and 3,000 basic enhancement potions."

He paused, his tone tinged with helplessness.

"Ultimately, it's because there's not enough raw material. With tens of thousands of Dawn Breaker members, including both official and reserve players, we can't even provide one piece of equipment for each person."

Shen Bai took a combat uniform and pressed the surface of it.

It's hard enough and lightweight; it's almost at the threshold of becoming an extraordinary item.

"Performance is acceptable. Prioritize allocation to front-line combat teams. Produce as many as possible in the remaining time."

"OK."

Gu Weijun responded, and then took out a pale red test tube from the refrigerator; the liquid inside was slightly shiny.

"Basic enhancement drug, increases strength, speed and reaction by 30% to 50% within 30 seconds after injection, lasting for 15 minutes."

"The side effect is a period of weakness lasting two to three hours; continuous use is not recommended."

"How much more can be made from the raw materials?"

"Blood reserves are limited; we can only produce a maximum of two thousand vials. We'll need more monster corpses later."

Liu Feng chimed in from the side.

"The monster corpses from other provinces are already on their way to the research institute and are expected to arrive today."

Gu Weijun's eyes lit up.

"Then we should be able to produce another batch."

Shen Bai nodded and then asked.

"Where are the weapons I asked you to forge last time?"

Gu Weijun squatted down and laboriously dragged a long black box out from under the control panel.

"It's done. We used the best batch of monster bones and scales, following the blueprints you provided, and the fusion process was enhanced three times."

Shen Bai took the box, opened it a crack, glanced inside, and then closed it again.

"Put it in the car."

After hearing this, Liu Feng took the box and turned to leave.

Gu Weijun pushed up his glasses, hesitated for a moment, and then spoke.

"Prophet, there are a few things I still don't understand about the 'preservation of energy channels' mentioned in the art of weapon crafting..."

Shen Bai glanced at him but did not interrupt.

The two sat down at the control panel. Gu Weijun opened the tablet, pulled up several microscopic structure diagrams, and pointed to the patterns on them.

Shen Bai occasionally offered a few words of advice, and Gu Weijun's eyes lit up, becoming more and more excited as he spoke.

Outside the window, the light gradually shifted from the brightness of midday to the softness of the afternoon, and then gradually dimmed.

The discussion continued into the evening.

Shen Bai glanced at the sky, finished asking his last question, and stood up.

That's all for today.

Gu Weijun let out a long breath, his eyes filled with satisfaction.

"I see... I need to process this first."

Take care of yourself, don't push yourself too hard.

"Understood. Thank you, Prophet."

Shen Bai left the research institute.

The car drove into the night, not heading towards Qingfengyuan, but directly towards Xiaoqingshan.

Shen Bai leaned back in the back seat and spoke to Liu Feng, who was driving.

"Starting tonight, I'll be staying in Xiaoqingshan. I'll send my frequently used equipment over there."

Liu Feng nodded: "Understood."

Shen Bai opened Xiao Cheng's data panel and browsed it in his consciousness.

Revitalization countdown: 2 days and 4 hours.

Spiritual energy concentration monitoring: It has increased by 47% in the area surrounding Shanghai compared to a week ago, by 39% in Jiangsu Province, by 42% in Zhejiang Province, and by 35% in Anhui Province.

He stared at the data, his fingers tapping lightly on the car window.

The car drove up Xiaoqingshan Mountain and stopped in front of the villa.

This was the residence that Li Zhou had reserved for him. It was located on the hillside west of the Dawn Headquarters, hidden by bamboo groves and secluded from the world.

After entering the room, Shen Bai went to the study. The large screen on the wall displayed a map of Shanghai and its surrounding areas, and Xiao Cheng's data scrolled in real time: rift markers, spiritual energy concentration curves, the locations of each team... everything was at his fingertips.

He took out his phone and scrolled to his chat history with Shen Tian.

The latest message was a selfie she sent—milk tea, sunshine, and a smiling face. Shen Bai stared at the photo for a few seconds, a rare smile appearing on his lips.

Shen Bai walked to the floor-to-ceiling window and looked at the myriad lights along the Huangpu River.

He recalled Shen Tian's words that morning: "Come back early and be careful." But if the scale of the invasion during the spiritual energy revival exceeds expectations, how many of the thousands of homes before him would be spared?

He turned off his phone, placed it face down on the table, and his gaze returned to calm.

At that moment, Li Zhou's message was synchronized into my consciousness.

"Sir, there's been a result with Chen Zhengping. Progress is going smoothly; the higher-ups have agreed to cooperate, and the organization is tentatively named the 'Extraordinary Security Management Bureau,' with him in charge."

"Faster than expected."

Shen Bai replied.

He had thought that it would take the higher-ups at least two or three days to digest the intelligence, debate, and negotiate, but he didn't expect that a conclusion would be reached in just one day.

This shows that Chen Zhengping made thorough preparations before the meeting, and also that the grassroots security reports had already prepared the higher-ups psychologically.

"Chen Zhengping is a smart man."

"The head of the Extraordinary Public Security Bureau will most likely be him. You can start establishing direct contact with him through your channels."

"Understood. I'll contact him tomorrow," Li Zhou replied.

Shen Bai disconnected the connection and said nothing more, his gaze fixed on the two thousand and twenty-six green dots.

Some things were prepared many years ago.