The Primordial Creation Pearl advances to level 5

After Li Ya and the others left, Lin Chen was in charge of cleaning up the battlefield, while Su Yun led the twin sisters to assist Zhou Tiannian in settling the outer city troops.

After cleaning up, Lin Chen returned to the city wall and silently gazed at the huge resettlement area below.

"Mom, these people will be housed in Zone F; there are enough empty containers there..."

Su Yun and Liang Siqi, along with Xiao Yu, were directing the management team in the outer city to resettle the survivors.

There are also many drones in the sky, controlled by the little fish, assisting it in completing these commands.

Xiaoyu also divided the entire shelter into sections and used facial recognition to register the survivors with the help of numerous cameras, making it easy to distribute supplies and direct people to their locations.

With the help of the intelligent little fish, the originally chaotic and disorderly resettlement work became orderly.

Zhou Tiannian was much more relaxed, as Xiaoyu was now taking care of the most annoying work.

All he needed to do was lead his growing outer city guard to maintain order in the procession entering the city.

On the outer city wall, Zhou Tiannian had already replaced the exhausted Ma Xiaoyan and others with the outer city troops.

At the outer city gate, countless newly arrived survivors were queuing to register.

As they received their bowls of hot soup, they would unconsciously look up at the figure standing quietly atop the highest point of the city wall and say, "Thank you, thank you."

Despite the distance and the snow blurring his face, everyone knew that it was the god-like man in the video, the most powerful guardian of this frozen wasteland.

Just knowing that he was there, many people's anxious hearts strangely calmed down, and a sense of security and groundedness arose.

"At this rate, these temporary container houses will probably soon be overflowing," Lin Chen muttered to himself, his brows furrowed slightly.

He truly hadn't expected that his video of clearing out the zombie horde would be captured on camera, nor did he expect that Xiaoyu would fan the flames behind the scenes, causing the news to spread like wildfire across the remaining network in the city, ultimately leading to this scene that was almost like "all streams converging into one source."

Li Ya appeared beside him at some point, still carrying the chill of the outside air.

"Thinking about where to stay?" she asked calmly.

"Hmm." Lin Chen didn't turn his head, still looking down. "Is everyone settled in?"

"They've all eaten and gone to sleep," Li Ya reported simply. "Hua Hua and the other two are exhausted again today. They actually built such a big underground room; otherwise, we really wouldn't know how to accommodate these new team members today."

"Yes. I was busy killing zombies today, so I didn't help much. They handled it all themselves," Lin Chen admitted.

"Hmm, Hua Hua dug the holes, and Xiao He used the excess soil to make beds, cabinets, chairs, and things like that," Li Ya exclaimed.

Li Ya took a step closer, naturally took his arm, and gently rested her head on his strong shoulder. She didn't ask any more questions, but simply stayed quietly by his side, waiting for him to think.

She brought back not only new team members, but also today's harvest—the crystal cores obtained by the nine teams during the cleanup process. After each team kept half for its members' cultivation and motivation, the total number of crystal cores handed over still reached an astonishing 40,000 first-tier crystal cores, as well as 50 more precious second-tier crystal cores.

This doesn't even include Lin Chen's own spoils for today.

During the defensive battle that afternoon, he used the terrain of the shipping containers to kill enemies and then carried out a cleanup operation, which allowed him to collect nearly 40,000 Tier 1 crystal cores.

Including his previous inventory, the total number of crystal cores he controlled had quietly exceeded 100,000.

This number signifies that the Primordial Creation Pearl has finally met the enormous demand for another upgrade.

Based on the experience of the previous two upgrades, the area of ​​space this time will probably expand to about four million square kilometers, which is a vast expanse of land close to half of China's territory.

More importantly, some seeds that he tried to bury in the space at the beginning of his rebirth have already sprouted and grown even better than those in the outside world, which proves that the mysterious space is perfectly suitable for growing crops from this world.

Such a vast and fertile land is more than enough to support the tens of thousands of survivors now, and possibly more in the future.

However, Lin Chen's initial idea was not to create a secluded paradise.

He needs crystal cores, and he needs this huge "population" as a "channel" to obtain crystal cores.

Providing free services to everyone was not his intention. Moreover, upgrading the Creation Pearl also requires a large number of crystal cores.

After a long silence, Lin Chen finally spoke, his voice steady yet decisive: "I've already asked Bai Xin and the others to keep a close eye out for newcomers and reliable early recruits from outside the city. We'll select a group of people with relatively simple backgrounds, seemingly trustworthy character, and preferably families with dependents. We'll start with about a hundred as the first batch of pilot candidates."

He decided to proceed with the Creation Pearl Space Development Plan.

It is a terrible waste to leave four million square kilometers of land vacant.

"Okay." Li Ya nodded in agreement, without asking any further details. She knew that once Lin Chen made a decision, he would put it into action.

Night had fallen, and the wind and snow had become even more violent; finally, no new figures appeared on the distant road.

Lin Chen turned around and left the city wall with Li Ya.

The complex affairs of the outer city could only continue to be left to Su Yun and Liang Siqi, and with Xiaoyu's help, they became much more relaxed.

His more important task at this moment is to digest the massive amount of crystal cores, welcome the Creation Pearl's next transformation, and thereby enhance his own power, which has long been stagnant.

Only by maintaining an overwhelming advantage in strength can one always control their own destiny in this increasingly dangerous apocalypse.

Back in the warm underground villa, the restaurant was still brightly lit.

The five cooks are still holding their posts, preparing late-night snacks for team members who have returned from their shifts or are still busy.

After a simple meal, Lin Chen returned to his bedroom, while Li Ya went to her own room—with 1,500 new members joining, she, as the main person in charge of the combat members, also had a lot of things to handle.

Lying on the large, comfortable bed, Lin Chen's thoughts were unusually clear.

Thinking of Li Ya's tired face, he considered whether he should find one or two capable assistants for Li Ya, otherwise Li Ya would hardly have time to make love with him.

Immediately, he calmed his mind and focused his thoughts on that mysterious place within his body.

As the thought crossed his mind, the mountain of zombie remains and the shimmering crystal cores were swallowed up by an invisible vortex and flowed continuously into the inner space of the "Primordial Creation Pearl".

The Primordial Creation Tree awakened once more, extending countless roots that seemed both real and illusory, gently entwining around the energy-containing "nutrients".

The absorption process lasted about half an hour, until the last batch of crystal nuclei were transformed into pure energy and absorbed by the giant tree—

"Buzz!"

An invisible yet incredibly powerful wave suddenly erupted from within the Creation Pearl!

After a brief period of dizziness and disorientation.

The Primordial Creation Pearl sent another message:

[Primordial Creation Pearl - Bound to Host's Soul - Level: 5]

It can unlock the host's potential and awaken S-level or higher superpowers.

Consumes energy to increase a specific ability level by +1 (Cooldown period: 6 days).

Contains the "Seed of the New World," current space: 400 million square kilometers.

Creation Spring: Daily output: 100 Creation Crystals (can awaken supernatural abilities and grant loyalty to the host); 10 Life Crystals (can enhance the user's life level and grant loyalty to the host, currently capped at S-rank).

Note: The host's ability level cannot exceed the current level of the Primordial Pearl.