Chapter 554

The ground sank.

The soldier stared blankly at his cracked iron spear in his hand, not even seeing how Lin An struck.

The pit on the ground was as deep as a person.

If that strike had landed on me just now...

I would probably have turned into a puddle of flesh on the spot.

Originally still harboring thoughts of resistance, he instantly became obedient.

Such power is terrifying.

Just who is this person?

Could he be one of the strongest Ascetic Practitioners rumored to come from Shesha State?

But how could such a being return to this barbaric southern frontier?

He forced himself to keep the last shred of dignity as a soldier of the Great Xia against foreign tribes.

The soldier struggled to suppress his fear, his expression grim:

"Your Excellency, why humiliate me by asking such a question?"

"An Ascetic Practitioner is just an Ascetic Practitioner!"

"Through tempering the body and spirit, one obtains transcendent power."

"You yourself are an Ascetic Practitioner—this is no innocent question!"

Looking at Lin An's exposed skin and eyes, he couldn't help but continue:

"You must be an Ascetic Practitioner over a hundred years old!"

"If you can reverse time, why make things difficult for us!"

"Shesha, are you trying to start a war with my Great Xia!"

Clinging to the tiger's skin, the soldier could only hope that the mysterious person before him would show some restraint.

Lin An's strike just now truly made him abandon any thought of resistance.

Huh?

Lin An listened and felt this person was just talking nonsense, saying nothing of substance.

But upon hearing the last sentence, he couldn't help but freeze.

Reverse time!?

What does that mean!?

Long'an Base.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Hundreds of engineering machines roared, crowds in various uniforms bustling to build the outer city safe zone.

Thousands of Awakened Ones in combat gear patrolled in squads.

Drill commands echoed to the heavens, while transport planes occasionally shuttled down from the sky.

Fighter jets circled and patrolled the air.

The original paint reading "Looking River" and "Encircling River" was repainted with the two characters "Long An".

From time to time, armored vehicle convoys formed supply-search teams, returning laden with goods.

"Speed up the progress!"

"Deploy three more engineering teams to join the construction!"

"If we don't finish the living quarters, those who come later will have nowhere to live!"

Outside Long'an Base, Huang Haitao loudly directed the survivors to speed up.

The tireless sandworms grunted as they dug the foundations, their originally massive bodies seeming to have slimmed down considerably.

Hundreds of designers drafted from the survivor ranks now scratched their heads and sighed.

Since a month ago, after merging from their respective factions into Long'an Base, they have worked nonstop until now.

In just one month, Long'an Base has absorbed over 2.4 million survivors.

Moreover, large numbers of survivors from surrounding war zones keep arriving in waves, wanting to join.

Originally designed for 300,000 people, the base is nearly bursting at the seams from the influx.

To keep up with the schedule, nearly everyone has been put to work on construction.

Except for the law enforcement office handling military officers, all Awakened Ones in the base have been drafted to work.

Earth-affinity Awakened Ones built the outer walls, metal-affinity ones controlled the steel reinforcement...

Even the water-affinity ones were pulled to open land and plant crops.

Though exhausted, everyone's hearts were full of hope.

The construction speed of Long'an Base exceeded their expectations.

One after another, sci-fi‑mystic defense towers rose from the ground.

Relying on the Land of Rules, the hardest‑to‑build walls sprang up in a short time.

Of course, this was all accomplished by relying on the vast quantities of zombie corpses purchased by Chu An, which supplied the spiritual energy.

Siege battles, annexing military regions, auctions.

After three harvests, Long'an Base became filthy rich.

It changed every day.

The entire Long'an Base is now divided into three layers.

The outermost layer is the dark crystal wall encircling the entire safe zone, which is constantly being heightened each day.

Defensive positions, combat units are also stationed here.

The second layer is the outer city, residence for non‑Awakened Ones, three levels up and down, designed to accommodate a population of four million.

The inner city is the original Long'an Base, simultaneously constructing many spirit‑energy buildings.

At the core fortress, Gao Tian looked hurried, his face solemn.

Behind him followed Wang Meng and the others.

Under his lead, the group, faces uneasy, rushed into the core fortress.

"Where is Chu An?"

"I have urgent business to find him!"

An Jing Tian, who had just led a team to search and return with supplies, unexpectedly looked at Gao Tian:

"Weren't you out clearing mutants with Mo Ling?"

"Why are you back at this time?"

As the population grew, Long'an Base's attraction to the surrounding Zombie also increased.

Especially with the large-scale migration of survivors, many Corpse Horde staying in the city surged out several times.

Meanwhile, mutants in the surrounding area also appeared frequently.

If it weren't for Mo Ling being there, plus the addition of many Awakened Ones able to draw away the Zombie tide, maintain the defense line.

Their wish to build in peace is just a dream.

"Never mind that, I have urgent business to find Colonel Chu!"

"Mo Ling is still out there drawing away the Zombie tide."

Gao Tian looked around, his face anxious.

The entire core fortress had changed greatly, but after being out for two weeks, he hardly recognized its original appearance.

Inside the hall, over six hundred data analysts and technical staff for various posts have been added.

It looks like a pre‑apocalypse aviation command center; at a glance, everyone is busy working, plus a large amount of equipment made of vacuum tubes.

"Colonel Chu should be on the third underground level, at the spirit‑energy node."

Seeing how anxious Gao Tian was, Jing Tian quickly replied.

His eyes showed some curiosity:

"What on earth is so urgent?"

"Chu An has apparently been studying amoeba worm serum all this time; he should be there."

After obtaining Chu An's location, Gao Tian nodded heavily and directly led Wang Meng and the others straight downstairs.

But before going down, he seemed to think of something, hesitantly glancing at Jing Tian:

"Forget it, come down with me."

"This matter concerns Brother Lin..."

"Huh?"

At the spirit‑energy core.

Chu An walked out of the newly built laboratory with a calm expression, listening to Gao Tian's hurried voice while taking off his rubber gloves.

As Gao Tian finished speaking quickly, Jing Tian widened his eyes at Wang Meng and blurted out:

"What?!"

"You earlier captured Lin Dui's fiancée and later sent her to the Jinbei Military Region for detention?!"

"Why wasn't this said earlier?!"

Wang Meng glanced awkwardly at the agitated Gao Tian, momentarily unsure how to reply.

He previously had no chance to say it, and when he did have a chance, he didn't dare.

Only now has he come to regard everyone as comrades.

The Military Regions have all been merged...

Therefore, while cooperating with Gao Tian in the operation, he hesitantly blurted it out.

After all, this news was bound to come out sooner or later.

"We weren't... at that time..."

Wang Meng made an awkward gesture, then gave a wry smile:

"I was going to say it."

"Just shortly after the capture, you launched the city defense battle, and then engaged in a death match."

"At that time I couldn't even see Lin An, and I didn't know about the merger..."

Jing Tian's face sank; he knew Lin An had indeed been preparing to marry before the apocalypse.

"Are you sure the person is in the Jinbei Military Region?!"

"How many troops guard that place?!"

Although he didn't know how Lin An felt about his fiancée, upon hearing the news Jing Tian instinctively grew tense.

It's over; Lin Dui's fiancée has been captured.

No wonder Gao Tian panicked over such a major matter.

But Lin Dui never mentioned his fiancée before.

Beside him, Gao Tian anxiously looked toward Chu An:

"Never mind how many troops guard it; I'll lead a team straight over—I don't believe anyone can stop me!"

"Lin Dui has been inside for a month, and we can't contact him! The urgent priority is, Colonel Chu, quickly decide what to do!"

His expression was panicked.

But this was beyond everyone's expectation.

Chu An merely gave an "oh" after hearing, then turned and lightly lifted the Glasses Frame and picked up a test tube from the lab bench:

"I know about this."

"The first time I saw Gao Yan, she 'told' me..."

Having said that, amidst everyone's astonished stupor, Chu An gave a light laugh:

"Save what?"

While speaking, he suddenly raised the test tube in his hand, turned his head to look at Jing Tian:

"You came just in time, I was just about to look for you..."

"Take this tube of reagent, find Tang Wan."

"Inject it..."

Inside the test tube were countless tiny, cotton-like worms.

They writhed.

Amoeba worm original solution. From the instance reward.