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

The three girls who later joined the construction team hugged each other excitedly, laughing and jumping.

Lin Chen, who had already returned to the shelter, was overjoyed upon hearing the good news.

The successful completion of the underground shelter means that the core members now have an extremely stable "home," a fortress capable of withstanding most external threats.

This long-term base has finally stabilized, and even if he needs to travel for extended periods in the future, he no longer needs to worry excessively about the safety of the rear.

He specifically sought out Hua Hua and the others, his smile gentle and sincere: "Hua Hua, Xiao He, Qing Yue, and the three of you, thank you for your hard work. The underground shelter was successfully completed, and you deserve immense credit. Tell me, what reward do you want? As long as I can do it, I will not refuse."

"Really? Brother Lin!" Hua Hua's eyes lit up.

"Of course, a promise is a promise," Lin Chen affirmed.

Hua Hua immediately perked up, her eyes darting around. She grabbed Xiao He, Su Qingyue, and the other three girls and quickly ran to a quiet corner. The group of heads huddled together, and they began a heated "secret talk."

As Xiao He listened, her face instantly turned as red as a ripe apple, and she lowered her head, not daring to look at anyone; Su Qingyue appeared calm on the surface, but her ears also turned slightly red; the other three girls, like Hua Hua, became more and more excited as they talked, their eyes sparkling.

After some "negotiation," Hua Hua ran back to Lin Chen, a rare smile on her face—a mixture of anticipation and a hint of slyness: "Brother Lin, we've discussed it! But... this reward might take a few days to be redeemed, is that okay?"

Although Lin Chen was a little curious about what they had come up with, he didn't press for details and readily nodded: "Of course, it's on time."

At this moment, Li Ya also brought the Jiang Yingxue and Jiang Yingyue sisters to find Lin Chen.

She first handed a heavy bag to Lin Chen and reported, "This is today's harvest. We cleaned up several factories, which was pretty good. A total of 60,000 first-order crystal cores, and another 20 third-order crystal cores."

Lin Chen took it and nodded.

With the continuous revenue from the Su Yun Commercial Trading Center, the number of first-order crystal cores in his personal reserves has climbed again, exceeding 520,000.

He gave most of the second-tier crystal cores to Li Ya to improve the team's overall strength.

Now, almost all of Li Ya's combat members have reached the third tier, and even the logistics cooks have reached this level.

He kept the third-order crystal core for himself.

As expected, Li Ya's team's hunting profits began to stabilize after a period of rapid growth.

Early "bonus zones" like schools, where zombies are highly concentrated and generally of low level, are becoming increasingly rare.

Nowadays, large groups of survivors are rising up and dividing up hunting grounds, while the zombies as a whole are constantly evolving, with more troublesome high-level individuals emerging, inevitably leading to a decline in cleanup efficiency.

Slower revenue growth is an inevitable trend.

However, this also indirectly contributed to the prosperity of the trading center led by Su Yun.

More and more small and medium-sized groups are bringing the crystal cores they hunt to the Mountain and Water Garden in exchange for much-needed food, weapons and medicine.

It is foreseeable that the crystal core revenue of the trading center will soon catch up with or even surpass Li Ya's hunting income, becoming a more stable and sustainable resource pillar for the shelter.

After Li Ya finished her report, she turned and left. She was a very busy person now. After having two assistants, Qin Yi and Li Shishi, she also brought Duan Rong and Tian Tian into her assistant team.

Seeing Li Ya leave, Jiang Yingyue, who had been waiting nearby, immediately hopped over like a cheerful little bird, affectionately hugged Lin Chen's arm, and gently shook it.

"Brother Lin~" She drawled out the last syllable, her tone tinged with a hint of grievance, "Now we can recruit fewer and fewer people in the outer city. These past three days we've only managed to recruit a few dozen each day, and today was even worse, only twenty or so... It feels like we've almost exhausted all our potential."

She looked up at Lin Chen with pleading eyes, "Sister Xin, sister, and me, can we not have to stay at the recruitment point every day?"

"How about changing it to... like a centralized recruitment every seven days? That way we can save a lot of time to help Sister Ya clear out the zombies, or help Sister Yun manage the trading center!"

Lin Chen turned his head to look at her, his eyes filled with doubt.

Su Yun has the full right to make such specific work arrangement adjustments, so it's strange that Jiang Yingyue came to her specifically to act coquettishly.

"Please, honey~" Jiang Yingyue saw that he didn't answer, but instead looked at her with a probing expression, so she quickly used her trump card, shaking his arm with even more force, her voice so sweet it could melt honey.

Lin Chen knew this girl all too well. Every time she acted coquettishly like this, she was probably hiding something else.

He didn't reply, but turned his gaze to Jiang Yingxue, who was standing quietly beside him, and asked directly, "Yingxue, you tell me. Sister Yun can make the decision on this kind of thing, so why is she coming to me to whine?"

As he spoke, he even touched Jiang Yingyue, who was stuck to him, with his chin.

Upon hearing this, Jiang Yingxue smiled knowingly and gently, explaining calmly, "Sister Yun has agreed to the plan to adjust the recruitment frequency. However, Sister Yun's idea is to start with once every three days for a smooth transition, observe the effect, and then gradually extend the interval as needed."

After listening, Lin Chen felt that Su Yun's consideration was indeed more prudent, and nodded.

Immediately, he pretended to put on a stern face and lightly patted Jiang Yingyue's pert buttocks, who was still acting coquettishly.

A soft "snap" sound.

"Ouch!" Jiang Yingyue cried out softly, immediately letting go and jumping away, covering the spot where she had been slapped. Her face flushed slightly, and she made a face at Lin Chen, "If you don't agree, you don't agree, why hit me... Humph, I'm not playing with you tonight!"

Lin Chen was speechless for a moment.

When we play games at night, this girl is both terrible at it and loves to play. She's always the first to beg for mercy, and now she's using it to "threaten" me. I wonder who will regret it later.

He glanced helplessly at Jiang Yingxue, who was smirking beside him, and sighed, "Yingxue, tell me, you're both twins, how come there's such a big difference? Yingyue isn't even half as gentle and obedient as you."

Jiang Yingxue raised her hand to cover her mouth, her smile deepening, and said softly, "Really? But I always feel... husband, you seem to prefer someone more lively like Yingyue?"

As they spent more time together, Jiang Yingxue became more relaxed and natural in front of Lin Chen, and her words carried more of the intimacy and teasing of family.

Lin Chen was taken aback by the question, and subconsciously frowned, reflecting for a moment: "Really?"

"Of course there is~" Jiang Yingxue said with a smile, then pulled her younger sister, who was still making faces, and left with light steps, leaving Lin Chen standing there in a daze.