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

Lin Chen pondered for a moment, gathered his thoughts, and then left the room.

He greeted Su Yun, mounted Yuanzai, and headed towards the military camp in the north of the city.

Yuanzai hadn't been ridden in a while, and he started whining and throwing a tantrum, walking awkwardly the whole way.

Lin Chen patted its head and coaxed it a couple of times before it reluctantly quickened its pace.

When the man and the bear appeared at the camp gate, the sentry recognized them at a glance and let them pass.

Lin Chen entered Commander Zhao's office with practiced ease.

Commander Zhao was looking at a map when he saw him enter, and asked with some surprise, "What brings you here?"

Lin Chen sat down opposite Commander Zhao and got straight to the point: "Commander Zhao, I've come to ask you for some information."

He then recounted how the Central Army of Nanhe Province had threatened Liu Feifei with weapons of mass destruction.

After listening, Commander Zhao remained silent for a long time before letting out a long sigh: "I didn't expect those families in the capital... to get restless so quickly."

He turned around, took a yellowed map from the drawer, and spread it on the table.

That was a military deployment map of the entire country, marked with the locations and defense lines of various forces.

Commander Zhao pointed to the map: "Zhengcheng is the core territory of the Chen family in the Central Plains. Before the apocalypse, the Chen family was a prominent family in the Central Army, with members in the military, political, and business circles. After the apocalypse, they took the opportunity to gather the scattered troops and held several armories, including..."

He paused, then looked up at Lin Chen: "Including a batch of tactical nuclear warheads, and crucially, the storage location is unknown!"

Lin Chen raised an eyebrow but remained silent.

Commander Zhao continued, "The quantity is probably quite large, more than enough to destroy the entire city of Zheng. The Chen family uses this thing as a talisman; if anyone touches their territory, they threaten to perish together with them."

We tried to make contact with them before, but they were unresponsive to both soft and hard tactics, only concerned with their own sphere of influence. They don't lack supplies or weapons; what they lack are people.

Ordinary people who can work, cannon fodder, or be enslaved by them. And those zombies, now they're also being raised as upgrade materials.

By gathering survivors and hunting zombies everywhere, you're essentially uprooting them.

Lin Chen frowned and hesitated before asking, "Does he really dare to use a nuclear weapon?"

Commander Zhao sighed, shook his head, and said, "I don't know if we dare to, but we can't afford to gamble. There are still over a million people in Zhengcheng, aren't there?"

Lin Chen narrowed his eyes slightly: "Commander Zhao, do you know where their headquarters are?"

Commander Zhao pondered for a long time before saying, "Theoretically, he should be in the capital, and his second brother, Chen Huaiyong, should be the one left behind in Zhengzhou."

"I believe you should be able to eliminate either side without them noticing, but the key question is, who holds the nuclear button? Or do they both have it? If one side dies, do they have a quick communication channel?"

Upon hearing this, Lin Chen frowned and fell into deep thought.

Indeed, as Commander Zhao said, he was confident in resolving either side's situation, but now that the other side's forces were divided into two locations, who knew if they had any backup plans?

If anything goes wrong, the million people of Zhengzhou could be killed, and there might be even more.

It seems I have to go there myself. I can't deal with people; I need to find their nuclear arsenal first and cut them off at the root!

Seeing that Lin Chen remained silent, Commander Zhao continued, "Actually, there are three families that call the shots in the Central Army now: the Chen family, the Li family, and the Liu family."

Before the apocalypse, these three families were among the most prominent clans in the Central Army, with deep-rooted connections in the military, political, and business spheres.

After the apocalypse, they seized the opportunity to regroup their scattered troops and divide up the capital and several surrounding provinces.

He pointed to the area marked with the character "Chen" and said, "The head of the Chen family is Chen Huaiyuan. Among the three families in the capital, they are the most powerful, have the largest territory, and are the most ruthless. Nanhe Province, Hubei Province, and Shandong Province, which we seized from them, are all in his hands."

Before the apocalypse, they were in charge of the arms trade, with connections to the north and west, and their family had a considerable amount of valuable equipment. The tactical nuclear warheads they possessed were one of the Chen family's trump cards.

Lin Chen looked at Commander Zhao in surprise and said, "Commander Zhao, you must have some powerful weapons at your disposal, right? How come Shandong Province was robbed?"

Commander Zhao sighed: "The regional commander of that province is a spy for the Chen family. With the end of the world approaching, there's nothing I can do."

Lin Chen nodded, indicating his understanding. It seemed the Chen family's strength was indeed not to be underestimated. However, this was only in comparison to others.

Commander Zhao's finger moved to the area with the character "Li": "The Li family, the head of the family is called Li Boyuan. Their territory is in Beihe Province and Tianjin City. It is the smallest in terms of territory, but the most important in terms of location."

Before the end of the Li family, they were in the shipping and trade business, owning many ships and docks, and had some connections with overseas countries.

His family and the Chen family are related by marriage. Their relationship is sometimes good and sometimes bad. On the surface, they are allies, but in private, they often stab each other in the back.

Li Boyuan is more cunning than Chen Huaiyuan. He dislikes direct confrontation, but his ability to sabotage others behind their backs is unparalleled.

Commander Zhao finally pointed to the area with the character "Liu": "The Liu family, whose head is Liu Weidong, has their territory in Shanxi Province and Guanzhong. Before the end of the world, the Liu family was in the energy and heavy industry sector, with coal mines, iron mines, and steel mills. They had a considerable industrial base."

Liu Weidong didn't get along well with the Chen and Li families. He advocated rallying the survivors and restoring production. Many of his subordinates genuinely wanted to get things done.

Of the three families in the capital, the Liu family is the only one that can still reason with people.

After listening, Lin Chen tapped his fingers lightly on the armrest twice and asked, "Do all three of these countries possess nuclear arsenals?"

Commander Zhao nodded: "There's some, more or less."

"Are all these family heads in the capital?"

"Yes. The capital city is still undecided, and none of the three families want to give up. However, each family has its own trusted relatives and clansmen in their respective territories, which keeps them in check. Therefore, the three families are currently able to fight each other without breaking apart."

After a pause, Commander Zhao continued, "Although the three families are constantly fighting internally, they form an alliance against external forces and will not allow anyone to steal their people or crystal cores."

After listening to Commander Zhao's account, Lin Chen gained a basic understanding of the situation of the Central Army, thus achieving the purpose of his visit, and then got up to take his leave.

He rode Yuanzai towards Zhengcheng in Nanhe Province.

Yuanzai's running speed on the ground is ultimately much slower than Xiaohei's flying speed in the sky.

The thick snow severely slowed it down, and even with its speed-type ability, it took it more than an hour to reach Zhengcheng.