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

The military's "Project Fire" has been largely finalized, and the seeds of human civilization have been sown.

However, no one can predict whether this seed will ever see the light of day again, blossom, and bear fruit.

Commander Peng, along with Tang Xiaoran who resolutely stayed outside, returned to another underground base of the military.

Thanks to long-term military preparedness efforts, the military possesses multiple underground bunkers of this kind.

The military bases are all located tens of meters underground, and the extreme cold on the surface is insulated by thick layers of soil and concrete. The interiors rely on a limited number of generators to maintain basic lighting and heating.

Today, all military personnel who did not participate in the "Spark Program" and those who chose to stay, as well as some civilians who volunteered to follow, have been evacuated to this location.

Compared to the well-stocked and long-planned "Project Fire" shelters, this military base appears much sparsely populated.

They have already handed over the vast majority of the supplies to Professor Tang.

Besides the supplies promised to the Chang family, the military only reserved about a month's worth of supplies for its own use, so supplies were not plentiful.

Moreover, the staff was reduced to about five thousand at this time.

However, there are as many as four thousand people with superpowers. Some of them are former soldiers, while others are ordinary people with superpowers who were rescued by the military. Moreover, most of these people with superpowers have reached the second level.

Although the number of people has been reduced sharply, the team's cohesion and average combat strength are probably second only to Lin Chen's team in Guangzhou today.

After Commander Peng arranged for Tang Xiaoran to be settled, he returned to the command office with Staff Officer Chen.

"When we came back, I noticed that the wind and snow outside seemed to have lessened a lot?" Commander Peng said, looking at Chen Jianhua beside him.

"That's true." Chen Jianhua nodded.

"What's the situation at the other bases in Guangdong Province? Have they held off the zombie horde? Is it possible... that they're moving towards us, or that we could go and provide support?"

Commander Peng intended to integrate the remaining military forces to focus on clearing out the zombies in a certain area, thus preserving a clean and peaceful paradise for humanity.

Staff Officer Chen shook his head, his tone heavy: "We've contacted them all. Each base has a considerable number of survivors, and their situation is similar to ours; they're all struggling to stay afloat."

"But at this stage, a rendezvous is simply not feasible. What's holding us back isn't just the zombies everywhere, but the frozen roads caused by the extreme cold. A large-scale evacuation is too risky and almost impossible to accomplish."

"The nation is facing a difficult situation..." Commander Peng sighed deeply, looking at the map of China on the wall, his feelings extremely complicated.

"Alright, pass down the order that each base should prioritize preserving itself and strengthening its defenses for now, while actively clearing out zombies within its jurisdiction and accumulating strength. As for regrouping... let's wait for the right opportunity."

"Furthermore, it's uncertain how long the communication network can be maintained, so this order should be relayed as soon as possible."

"Yes, Commander!" Staff Officer Chen replied, but he still hesitated and was reluctant to leave.

"Is there anything else?" Commander Peng asked, somewhat puzzled.

After hesitating for a moment, Staff Officer Chen finally voiced his doubts:

"Commander, should we suspend supplies to the Chang family?"

"There aren't actually that many people at the Chang family's place, and you've only prepared enough food for one month for everyone..."

Commander Peng chuckled and said, "Are you all getting emotional?"

Staff Officer Chen quickly shook his head: "That's not true."

How could Commander Peng possibly believe such a thing: "It's normal to have emotions."

"I'll make myself clear today, so go back and tell the soldiers as well."

"The supplies were given to the Chang family, but this is the apocalypse. If we run out of supplies, we can 'borrow' some from the Chang family! Why are we keeping so many?"

Commander Chang also emphasized the word "borrow" very heavily.

"If he refuses to lend us the money, we're still ordinary citizens of China. Isn't he using the 'official' name? Well, then we'll just stay there and not leave. Anyway, the transportation route between the two sides has already been opened."

"Moreover, the base has such powerful weapons; I'm not worried about him not complying."

"Alright, go tell the soldiers that the key is to continuously improve our strength."

Staff Officer Chen finally understood the old commander's intention. He had thought to himself, "The old commander isn't exactly a pushover. Even a pushover couldn't have achieved the level Commander Peng has reached."

"Yes. Understood. Issue the order immediately."

Chang Chengye never dreamed that the supplies he was trading with the military were now being targeted by both Lin Chen and the military!

In his previous life, Chang Chengye was not so short of supplies; he only exchanged some weapons and troop transport vehicles with Professor Tang from the military.

In this life, because Lin Chen had looted all the nearby large shopping malls in advance, Chang Chengye was extremely short of supplies. Although the military agreed to the deal, it also made them easy prey.

He also didn't expect that the military would experience a shortage of supplies due to the Fire Seed Project.

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Early the next morning, at the Mountain and Water Garden Shelter.

As soon as it was light, many people got up.

The outer city area was already bustling with voices and footsteps. Small groups of three to five people were discussing today's route in hushed tones; there were also larger groups with better equipment, who were conducting final checks before setting off under the leadership of their captains.

They are about to leave the relatively safe walls and step once again into the perilous, frozen world outside.

For humanity in the apocalypse, the hardship is never just the biting cold.

Food and clean water are the more urgent supplies.

Although survivors who have awakened their superpowers have developed basic immunity to the zombie virus, drinking contaminated water is still a painful experience.

Once the high concentration of zombie virus in the water enters the stomach, it will violently clash with and neutralize the supernatural energy in the body. The excruciating pain, as if the internal organs are being scraped by tiny blades, is extremely unpleasant.

Therefore, it is extremely important to seek out uncontaminated bottled water and food when you are out and about.

However, at the Mountain and Water Garden Shelter, Lin Chen wanted to motivate everyone to prioritize hunting zombies.

He deliberately set the exchange rate for basic resources to be extremely generous, making the direct profits from searching for resources far lower than those from hunting zombies.

In the early stages of the apocalypse, when there were still plenty of supplies in the city ruins, he had to raise the value of crystal cores and cleverly guide everyone to focus their energy on hunting zombies so that he could obtain crystal cores more quickly.

Lin Chen also woke up very early in the morning.

His near-fifth-level physique brought him boundless energy, which meant that even though he had played "Dou Dizhu" (a card game) with Liu Feifei and Liang Siqi until late last night, he was still full of energy.

It's just that the two beauties are suffering, as they're still not fully awake.

He strolled into the cafeteria.

Some early-rising team members were already seated in the lobby, discussing their plans for the day in hushed tones.

Li Ya, Su Yun, and others were already present.

The sounds of pots and pans clattering and the aroma of cooking food wafted from the kitchen.

Good morning, Brother Lin!

"Brother Lin, so early!"

Several team members who were drinking porridge saw him and quickly greeted him.

"Good morning." Lin Chen nodded in response, then walked to the food station and picked up a bowl of millet porridge and a basket of steamed buns.

"Brother Lin, we're running low on ingredients, and the water in the jug is almost gone too," a cook quickly reported to Lin Chen.

"Okay, I'll go get some more later." He walked over to where Li Ya was and sat down between Li Ya and Su Yun.

As soon as they sat down, Zhou Xiaomin and Ma Xiaoyan said with a hint of reproach, "Brother Lin, I heard you were working out for a long time again last night? You should take care of yourself!"

The bitterness in their words was extremely obvious; they had followed Lin Chen before Liu Feifei and Liang Siqi.

Oh well, what can you do when they're not as pretty as her?

Lin Chen remained calm: "Don't worry about that. Your Sister Ya and Sister Yun know my abilities. You can ask them if you don't believe me."

Lin Chen decisively shifted his firepower.