Apocalypse: The Primordial Pearl Recognizes Its Master, Starting with Infinite Space

Before long, Liang Siqi returned with several meals, followed by Qi Wei, who looked slightly tired but still had bright eyes.

For the past two days, Qi Wei has been in her small studio almost from morning till night, enchanting weapons.

After her ability level was raised to the second tier, the number of weapons she could handle per day increased from ten to twenty, but this was still a drop in the bucket compared to the enormous demand.

After the weapons were enchanted, she handed them directly to Li Ya.

Li Ya then prioritized distributing weapons to the team leaders, deputy leaders, and outstanding team members as a reward.

"Take a rest. The guns are still usable." Seeing Qi Wei's tired appearance, Lin Chen couldn't help but comfort her.

"Yeah, it's okay. My sisters are working so hard up front, my little bit of tiredness is nothing." However, she was quite happy about Lin Chen's concern.

Just as everyone was eating, the bright lights in the cafeteria suddenly went out without warning, plunging the place into darkness.

"ah--"

"What happened?"

After a brief moment of astonishment, hushed whispers and a slight, uneasy commotion arose from the crowd.

Lin Chen immediately stood up and strode towards the machine room in the basement. Soon, with a low rumble, the dimly lit cafeteria was filled with light again—the backup generator had started.

He returned to the table and sat down. The surrounding noise gradually subsided, but the atmosphere was different.

The power outage, though anticipated, still struck like a heavy blow to everyone's heart when it actually happened.

That doesn't just mean the loss of light and convenience; it's more like a clear declaration that the world we all know is rapidly disappearing.

"The cell phone signal seems to have gotten worse too..."

"It's not just bad, the webpage can't even be opened."

Whispers broke out again, filled with anxiety. The power outage brought communication base stations that relied on electricity to a standstill, and yet another link connecting the past was becoming fragile.

Sitting opposite Lin Chen, Liang Siqi's little fish also made a muffled sound: "Dad... I detected that large areas of signal coverage in the city are becoming blank. Apart from inside our base and the personal base station that Mom set up, there are fewer and fewer places outside where we can receive a stable signal..."

Its electronic voice unusually reveals a kind of "depressed" emotion, and many of its capabilities are inseparable from the support of the Internet.

In the past two days, it was precisely because of its powerful information push and interception capabilities that the reputation of "Shanshui Garden" spread rapidly, attracting many survivors to come and seek refuge, and obtaining countless important messages.

This advantage is now being rapidly eroded.

Liang Siqi gently patted the little fish's metal shell and whispered, "Little fish, be good. Mommy was prepared. There's an independent communication network inside the base. Just take good care of the house for Mommy and Daddy."

The small base stations she had previously set up now became the only signal source for maintaining the monitoring and defense network within the base.

However, the return of the lights could not completely dispel the somber atmosphere that permeated the cafeteria.

Lights can be powered by generators, but the wireless world that was once so accessible and where information flowed freely is irreversibly disappearing.

Everyone knows that the mobile phone in their hand may soon lose even its last function of making calls, becoming nothing more than a useless piece of metal and glass.

The dinner eventually drew to a close in a somber silence.

People finished their food in silence, cleared their plates, and there was far less conversation than usual.

Lin Chen and Li Ya exchanged a glance and stood up at the same time.

"Let's go," Lin Chen said in a low voice, "to the official shelter in Yangcheng. There are some things we need to clarify in person."

Li Ya nodded heavily, and the two avoided the crowd, heading towards the exit of the shelter.

Upon arriving in the outer city area, unlike the inner city where warmth is maintained by generators, the scenery here is more primitive.

The complete shutdown of the city's electricity supply has a more direct and severe impact on the survivors in the outer city who rely heavily on public facilities.

Zhou Tiannian was stamping his feet in front of the property management building: "Fortunately, our team collected several generators yesterday and also brought back a lot of fuel reserves from the gas station. Otherwise, we would have frozen to death today."

Huang An nodded: "Now that most industries have basically come to a standstill, power outages are only a matter of time."

Then his brows furrowed again: "But these few generators can only solve part of the heating problem."

Zhou Tiannian wasn't in such a hurry: "Don't worry, Boss Lin already reminded us before. The others have also prepared a lot of fuel, so there won't be any problems in the short term. In addition, I also exchanged a lot of fuel and warm clothing supplies with Boss Lin for the zombie crystal cores we hunted these past two days."

"We only need to do one thing now: hunt more zombies, get crystal cores, and exchange them for supplies with Boss Lin. We can collect the rest as well. That's the most efficient way."

Huang An nodded: "Yes, indeed. Boss Lin's material exchange price is really cheap, much more cost-effective than us collecting materials ourselves."

Tan Zhaohui, who was standing to the side, opened his mouth as if to say, "Lin Chen has a space without the harsh cold. Should we consider exchanging it for the right to live in such a space, which would be a more permanent solution?"

Although Lin Chen hadn't told them to keep it a secret, he wasn't sure if there were any taboos in the space, so he was hesitant to speak.

But then I thought, with Lin Chen's strength, he probably wouldn't care at all about them leaking secrets, right?

On the open ground and next to the makeshift sheds, bonfires were burning brightly.

The sources of fuel were varied—broken furniture, dismantled door panels, broken wooden shelves, and even books and papers crackled in the flames, turning into brief heat and light.

People sat around the fire, wrapped in whatever they could find to keep warm, their faces flickering in the firelight, silently absorbing the meager warmth.

Several kettles were hanging above the fire.

"The water's boiling, fill my hot water bottle," a burly man said hurriedly.

"Decorate some for me too, my wife is waiting for it to sleep."

"Don't rush, take it one at a time."

Countless ordinary people without superpowers struggled, adapted, and survived day by day in this simple, dusty, and uncertain environment, relying on the meager collective strength and the instinct for survival.

In order to withstand the increasingly severe cold, the outer city is also undergoing changes.

In contrast, the survivors who had awakened their superpowers were in a much better position.

They often wore winter clothes that they had obtained from the inner city or found themselves, which made them move around more freely.

For them, a suitable set of cold-weather gear is enough to withstand the extreme low temperatures, allowing them to focus more on patrols, missions, or improving their own abilities without having to constantly fight against the cold.

Moreover, some members of the outer city guard who have awakened earth-related abilities such as digging, although their rank is not high and their efficiency is limited, have begun to work together to excavate underground spaces.

To facilitate the rapid accumulation of heat, these underground spaces were divided into various small caves.

People then searched for discarded foam boards, old quilts, and even hay, trying their best to stick them to the cave walls or stuff them into the gaps, clumsily but earnestly improving the insulation of these underground dwellings.

At this moment, outside the underground crypts belonging to two adjacent outer city guard units, a burly man was grinning at a rather attractive woman and said:

"Sister Zhao, why don't we just share our two heated bungalows? It'll be warmer if men and women live together, don't you think?"

"Come on, Zhang San, my cave is full of young female college students, while your cave is full of rough men."

"Many of your classmates are from the inner city now. If you're not afraid they'll complain and get help, go ahead." Sister Zhao rolled her eyes.

Hearing this, Zhang San was immediately discouraged, but then his eyes lit up: "Then, Sister Zhao, how about we..."

Sister Zhao immediately flew into a rage: "Zhang San, don't you dare try to take advantage of me. You're just an E-level, first-tier ability user, while I'm at least a D-level, second-tier user. Don't try to eat swan meat like a toad."

He then stormed back to his cave in a rage.

Zhang San returned to his cave with a livid face, but he really couldn't beat Sister Zhao... which was quite embarrassing.

He had no choice but to return to his cave in a huff.