Chapter 664: Chu An's Comfort

Long'an Base, underground core.

Half an hour has passed since the global announcement, but the team members gathered at the spiritual energy core merely silently accompanied Lin An and did not leave.

"Lin Dui..."

"You also shouldn't think so much... Who knows what this damn system has done."

Xiong Hanzi clumsily tried to comfort the depressed Lin An, feeling around for a while and pulling out a can from under his buttocks.

After the system message came out, the team members who didn't know what had happened, under Chu An's analysis, also realized that Lin An might have 'made a mistake'.

Opening the Training Tower equals prematurely starting the cataclysm process.

That blood-red 30% apocalypse speed increase is clearly some kind of adverse negative effect.

On the control console.

Lin An's complexion was ashen, his head bowed as he sat there.

The horror of the cataclysm is far beyond what present-stage humanity can withstand.

He could only hope.

The monsters of YiKongjian do not appear that early.

If it were merely a global disaster, the Huaxia war zone situated on the continental plate would not suffer too much loss.

Tsunamis, extreme climates, cause the greatest destruction to island-type war zones.

Biological mutation takes time.

But he fears that in the next second, the monsters of YiKongjian will suddenly burst forth.

Lin An never expected this.

The sequence of disasters in the apocalypse outbreak actually follows the judgment of the strongest player.

Or put another way, the fastest-developing base.

Long'an Base being able to be the first to upgrade ranks largely stems from looting large amounts of supplies from other safe zones.

Just that alone would be fine, but there's also the boost from the Doomsday Base Vehicle.

While other safe zones still don't know how to upgrade, Long'an Base upgrades as easily as eating and drinking.

Therefore, this also led to two adverse consequences.

One: the strength of most forces and safe zones simply does not match the high-difficulty cataclysm.

Two: including Long'an Base, essentially it is forcing growth, pulling seedlings to help them grow.

Lin An projected his mental power, wryly looking at the sudden appearance of a light-blue protective shield above the base.

Is it that I was too hasty...

Or am I too eager to reach the Third Level?

The power of the Third Level counts as top-tier combat strength among present-stage humanity.

But against mutants and various events, it's just that.

It can be said that, by his own power, he has sent all of humanity from the newbie village into nightmare difficulty.

Savior?

More like an undertaker...

Standing opposite, Chu An fell silent for a moment, as if seeing what Lin An had in mind.

"It's not necessarily that bad."

"Put yourself in his shoes, Lin An."

"Although the apocalypse difficulty has increased now, often in dire straits under greater pressure, more strong ones emerge."

"A slowly increasing difficulty is essentially boiling a frog in warm water."

"A suddenly increased difficulty has at least three benefits."

Lin An looked at Chu Colonel in surprise, thinking he was just comforting himself.

"What benefits? Are people still dying a lot?"

"Better to face it early and prepare early?"

Chu An nodded and added:

"Pretty much."

"One, as you said, the cataclysm will come sooner or later; the longer time drags on, the fewer humans there will be overall."

"After all, large numbers of survivors die every day."

"Perhaps some survivors, when encountering higher difficulty, instead stimulate their potential, causing a qualitative leap in strength."

"Just as in modern times, true heroes often come from extreme periods, not from numb evolutionary periods."

"Two, the earlier the cataclysm appears, the sooner humanity unites."

"Haven't you noticed? Since you wiped out nine forces, any other force unwilling to join Long An has more or less chosen to band together."

"Human conflict often only ends when faced with absolute life-or-death stakes."

"Three, the early appearance of the Training Tower also means the early appearance of the Third Level."

"This is conducive to accelerating strength growth."

"Chu An adjusted his glasses, smiled slightly, showing no worry at all:"

"The strong remain strong."

"Just as I hope you quickly reach the Third Level and crush all old-era forces."

"Only with the existence of the Third Level can we... replace certain foolish upper echelons."

"Second Level Awakened Ones still fear conventional weapons, becoming lackeys of the old era."

"The Third Level is different. The newly emerged Third Level Awakened Ones will lead the survivors onto the correct path."

His words were aimed at someone.

Gao Tian gazed at Chu An, seeming thoughtful, and heard dissatisfaction in Colonel Chu's words.

Chu An seemed to really "dislike" certain people.

For the usually unemotional Chu An, these words were quite heavy.

After a brief pause, Colonel Chu suddenly changed his tone.

He sniffed, his expression somewhat excited.

"Lin An, can you withstand a nuclear blast?"

"I smell radiation on you..."

Lin An froze at the words, raising his head with a strange expression to meet his gaze.

You're sure you... smelled it?

That's fake.

He clearly remembered Chu An saying his ability could see historical memories.

He probably just saw it, right?

And he even smelled... radiation actually has a smell.

On the control panel, Lin An nodded slightly and slowly exhaled.

After Chu An's "analysis," the original pressure lessened considerably.

By this point, pointless emotions only affect judgment.

"I can only withstand a small-yield nuclear blast; a large-yield one is probably still too much."

"The Uninterrupted State isn't invincible."

"In this nuclear blast, after the Uninterrupted State ended, I actually used the Demonic Form to heal my injuries, and also drew on the Netherworld River's Breath."

"Even so, within two minutes my combat power dropped nearly to zero."

"The subsequent high-energy radiation and blast damage are too high..."

He was still shaken.

Lin An recalled the moment his Uninterrupted State ended, when his genes repeatedly collapsed.

Ten seconds of invincibility is actually far from enough.

The lasting damage from the nuclear blast lasts at least twenty seconds.

After withstanding the peak damage wave, the delayed damage spread over three seconds is still hard to bear.

However, he discovered a new way to use the Causal Sequence.

Continuously borrowing strength from the past to return to the Uninterrupted State's duration.

"Robbing Peter to pay Paul" actually works quite well.

Upon hearing that Lin An was truly at the nuclear blast's center, everyone was startled.

Lin An confirmed that it was different from what they had guessed.

Zhang Tie smacked his lips, and the can in his hand instantly crumpled into scrap metal.

He swallowed the mashed yellow peach in the can in one gulp, feeling sorry for it.

Well, I don't know if I can withstand it...

He was quite moved.

"Squad Leader Lin, how does the nuclear blast feel? Is it exhilarating?"

He couldn't resist teasing.

Lin An raised his eyebrows, seeing Zhang Tie with a look of 'glad it's not me'.

After briefly replying to Chu An, he gave Xiong Hanzi a half-smile glance.

"Just try it and you'll know."

"Right, Chu An."

"Didn't you say you wanted to train Zhang Tie?"

"I heard you've been tinkering with something new lately; why not let him try it?"

"Don't waste the Indestructible Asura's trait."

"Take more hits, and you'll grow stronger."

Upon hearing Squad Leader Lin mention him, Zhang Tie's face instantly fell.

Why do I have to be so loud-mouthed!

The atmosphere eased considerably.

After throwing Zhang Tie at Colonel Chu as a target,

Gao Tian couldn't help but ask his most pressing question:

"Brother Lin, what's the situation with the Trial Tower?"

"I saw the new information saying anyone at Second Level Peak can go."

"This time I'm advancing to Third Level; should I go with you?"

An Jing Tian beside them also gazed eagerly.

Aside from Mo Ling's level staying put, everyone else in the squad is just one step away from Second Level Peak.

The Trial Tower opening a week later can accommodate at least seven or eight people.

Lin An looked at the Trial Tower's information, his brows slightly furrowed.