Returning to hometown to farm: The apocalypse system arrived ten years earlier?

Chapter 350: Survival Strategy Outline for the Dawn Era

However, the battlefield was not in Lijia Village, but in the original county town, covering almost the entire urban area.

Underground City No. 03 is a large city, expanded to accommodate nearly 1500 million people. The area underground from Lijia Village to the county seat is within the main city's boundaries. The 12 satellite cities surrounding the main city are even more remote.

At this moment, the former county town was already a ruin. The county's No. 1 Middle School, where Jiang Cai'er used to study, and the county government building, where Li Xiang used to hold meetings, were engulfed in flames and reduced to rubble.

But none of that matters, because the cities on the surface have long been abandoned and have all gone underground.

Black mist surged and churned, staining the entire world like ink. More than twenty Saint-level beasts hovered in the sky, varying in size but all exuding a powerful aura. Their imposing bodies were faintly visible in the dark purple energy flow, as they were engaged in a fierce battle with the nine Saint-level guardian beasts of Li Family Village.

Below, there were over 30,000 beasts below the Saint rank, of about seven or eight different species, frantically attacking an alloy gate in the dungeon.

The alloy gate is very tall and imposing; after all, it is a place where even main battle tanks can drive in and out. When it was built, all kinds of large trucks could also pass through freely.

Jiang Cai'er, clad in purple mirage armor, was hiding in a ruin, operating various unmanned devices to unleash a barrage of bombs. Saint-level beasts were difficult to kill with explosives, and even nuclear bombs might not be effective, but those below the Saint level were still no match for humanity's high-tech weapons.

A "Moon-Eating Star Beast" spread its scythe-shaped forelimbs, and the dark blue patterns suddenly lit up. The energy beam crashed down, and the shockwave stirred up towering waves of dust on the ground within a five-kilometer radius. The cracked asphalt and concrete fragments melted into glass-like droplets in the high temperature.

"Non-nuclear hydrogen bomb array activated!" Jiang Cai'er's super brain issued the command, and instantly, an attack array composed of hundreds of quadcopter drones swarmed out from a hidden gate halfway up a mountain in the suburbs, with the metal boxes hanging on the belly of the drones glowing red.

This "non-nuclear hydrogen bomb" is not a nuclear weapon, but a high-powered magnesium hydride bomb that can achieve a nuclear weapon-grade explosion with a temperature exceeding 1000°C for 2 seconds. Its power is equivalent to 15 times that of the same mass of TNT, but it will not cause nuclear contamination.

When a group of sixteenth and seventeenth-level "Corrosive Heart-Eating Spiders" spewed venomous webs, three drones deliberately crashed into the webs. Three 2-kilogram "non-nuclear hydrogen bombs" exploded on the spiders' abdomens, creating white fireballs with a diameter of about 200 meters. The high temperature of over 1,000 degrees Celsius incinerated all the spiders into charcoal.

High in the sky, a fixed-wing reconnaissance and strike aircraft cut through the black mist, and the "armor-piercing dragon tooth bullet" mounted under the wing suddenly changed direction—Jiang Cai'er's consciousness directly took over the trajectory through a two-way data link.

A "Blazing Sky-Burning Vulture" dodged the extremely threatening missile with a flash. Just as it was feeling triumphant, the missile suddenly turned back in mid-air and pierced its body through the giant bird's excretory cavity.

What was falling from the sky was not feathers, but broken entrails that smelled of burnt meat.

It wasn't that Jiang Cai'er was abnormal and insisted on choosing that position; rather, the feathers of this Blazing Sky Eagle were as hard as alloy, and its skin was thick and rough. If it exploded from the outside, the power would be greatly reduced, but if it penetrated the body and exploded from the inside, it could kill instantly.

"Vajra Whip Technique, Mountain Moving!" The little white elephant had grown into a colossal creature, its body the size of a small mountain. Its trunk swept up a fifty-ton granite boulder, and the inscriptions flowing on its tusks transformed the boulder into a stream of light, smashing a "Demonic Abyss Demon" flying. The Wind and Thunder Golden Tiger was wrapped in bluish-purple lightning, and when its claws struck, they created balls of lightning, forcing the three strange beasts hovering in the air hundreds of meters away.

In a hidden ventilation opening, a small alloy gate trembled, and five "Lunar Eclipse Larvae" were gnawing at the protective layer with their mandibles. Suddenly, seven alloy robotic dogs pounced from the shadows, their hydraulically driven titanium alloy jaws precisely severing the larvae's nerve ganglia.

An orange cat with a missing ear tip bristled, let out a fierce screech, and its extraordinary claws gleamed with a metallic sheen as it pinned a stray alien cub to a concrete wall.

This orange cat is the captain of the Dungeon Super Cat Squad, nicknamed "Orange Cat Sheriff". The squad it leads is very brave and skilled in battle, and with the advantage of its size, it has hunted down many monster cubs.

Besides the extraordinary cats, the extraordinary spirit dogs also participated in the battle. However, the strength of the cat team and the dog team was relatively low, so they stayed with the base warriors to guard the entrances and ventilation passages and did not risk going to the main battlefield outside.

Among the strange beasts, some could burrow into the earth. They sank into the soil and attacked the underground city's protective layer, but the protective layer was too thick and sturdy. The alloy gate was also quite thick. Li Xiang had used earth-based abilities and crystal-based weapons to reinforce it with multiple layers of defense, making it arguably the most solid fortress in the world. He naturally put a lot of effort into his own base, spending the most time building defensive fortifications.

Unable to breach the protective layer and alloy door, the alien beasts attempted to enter through the narrow ventilation openings. However, these openings were cramped, allowing only small beasts to pass through. These beasts were mostly cubs and posed little threat; cats and hounds, being smaller, voluntarily entered the ventilation ducts to ambush and kill them from within.

Ten miles away, in a hidden ventilation shaft, the adorable, round body nimbly dodged the acid spray, followed by a barrage of bamboo arrows that pierced through the strange beast that had invaded the ventilation shaft.

This is one of its awakened superpowers: the Spirit Bamboo Arrow. Li Xiang tested it, and even the extraordinary armor below the tenth rank that he condensed with crystal gold could not withstand it; its power is astonishing.

Outside, high in the sky, the nine-headed Saint-level beasts were at a disadvantage because the number of Saint-level beasts far exceeded their own.

Jiang Cai'er suddenly flashed into the center of the battlefield. She touched the forehead of a Saint-level beast with her fingertip, and the beast suddenly froze. In its sea of ​​consciousness, all attack routes became unsolvable mathematical puzzles.

What level of cultural understanding did this strange beast possess to solve such a difficult problem? It was utterly bewildered. Its strength was also insufficient to forcibly break through Jiang Cai'er's mathematical maze.

In that instant, the fiery wings of the Crimson-Striped Phoenix-Winged Tiger swept past, decapitating the beast.

Jiang Cai'er turned around, and endless data streams flashed in her pupils. Twenty "Bayesian Storm" warheads shot out from between her eyebrows. Under the cloud of probability, the left forelimb of the three Saint-level alien beast suddenly quantized and disappeared into a parallel spacetime.

While helping the nine-headed beast, Jiang Cai'er also had to operate various unmanned equipment. Fortunately, her super brain could handle hundreds of thousands of tasks at the same time.

"Third air defense array is loading railgun shells!"

As the command was issued, a launch silo with a diameter of 100 meters suddenly cracked open in the ground, and twelve tungsten alloy projectiles wrapped in plasma shot into the sky, instantly turning the swooping Fiery Sky Eagles into a rain of blood mist and feathers.

In the sky, a Saint-level beast, seeing Jiang Cai'er's ferocity, was terrified and tried to break through the encirclement to escape, but was blocked by a group of enemies. Kung Fu Panda unleashed a soft force, and his huge energy claws extended dozens of meters, "crack," actually bending the beast's spine at a right angle.

At the same time, a "Void Soul-Devouring Leech" was reduced to ashes by the little fox's foxfire.

When Li Xiang returned, the battle was already nearing its end. Even if he hadn't appeared, Jiang Cai'er and the others would have been able to repel the invading enemy.

However, with Li Xiang's arrival, the defeat of the alien beasts was accelerated. In less than half an hour, not a single one of the more than twenty Saint-level alien beasts escaped.

Although Li Xiang is only at the 22nd level, the attributes of his various supernatural abilities are too abnormal, such as his top speed of Mach 40, which even many gods cannot achieve. His true combat strength should be enough to cross a major realm and challenge a low-level god.

With the death of the Saint-level beast leader, the rest below the Saint level lost all will to fight and were routed by Li Xiang and Jiang Cai'er leading the nine-headed beasts, scattering and fleeing in all directions.

"Brother Xiang, you're finally back." Jiang Cai'er stumbled and almost fell, and Li Xiang quickly caught her.

"Don't worry, I'm here." Li Xiang kissed her, and the other beasts all turned their heads away at the same time.

However, this was not a good time for intimacy. Jiang Cai'er was actually fine; she had just overworked her brain. She was simultaneously controlling countless unmanned equipment and weapons, managing and coordinating the overall battlefield, issuing tens of thousands of commands every second, and fighting powerful Saint-level alien beasts, even killing several in a short period of time. She was working beyond her capacity and had been gritting her teeth to hold on. But when Li Xiang returned, she relaxed and felt slightly dizzy, which made her appear weak.

Well, three parts tired, seven parts feigned.

As expected, Li Xiang felt extremely distressed and pity for him.

All nine Saint-level beasts were injured. The Golden Tiger even broke off one of its claws. Each of its tiger claws, when it snapped out, was equivalent to a sharp alloy blade tens of centimeters long. It could pierce through even an eighteenth-level battle armor in one go. But its opponent was too powerful, and it lost one of its beloved claws.

"It's alright, it will grow back." Li Xiang rubbed the golden tiger's head to comfort it, then checked the injuries of each of the spirit pets, gave them "spiritual dew" to drink, and fed them saint-level spiritual medicine.

Then, the alloy gate opened, and the two people and nine beasts entered the underground city.

Originally, Tuantuan, Jinhu, and Baixiang were guarding the surface, but they were injured. Li Xiang was worried that they would be attacked by strange beasts, so he sent them to the underground city to rest.

The first wave of attacks from the alien beasts was repelled, and the entire underground city of Li Family Village, the main city, and the 12 satellite cities erupted in cheers. Streetlights lit up, and lights came on in the residential buildings as people came out to share their joy.

The wounded warriors and spirit pets were relieved of their duties, given treatment and rest, while the uninjured ones took turns on their shifts.

To ensure 24-hour safety, the warriors and their spirit pets work in three shifts.

Many young people who were not in the combat ranks also volunteered to participate in the base's defense and patrols, but Li Xiang declined.

Li Xiang told them to seize the time to cultivate, as the abundance of extraordinary particles made it an ideal time for cultivation. He added that they could help them later when their strength had increased.

Li Xiang went back to visit his grandmother and the children, and then went into the conference room with Jiang Cai'er to learn about the situation during this period.

“We received distress messages from several hundred underground cities, some of which have been completely lost. We didn’t dare to act rashly before, so I just sent Yao Yao and the others to the three nearest satellite cities to provide support.”

Jiang Cai'er tried to contact Yao Yao, Zhao Xueqing, and Lei Xiaohui. Soon, their images appeared on the large screen in the conference room.

"Ah? Brother Xiang, you're back?" Yao Yao and the others were very excited.

"How's the situation on your end?" Li Xiang asked.

"Too many casualties, they are being treated." Yao Yao, Zhao Xueqing, and Lei Xiaohui gave brief reports on the situation. They had brought a lot of people with them, including some superhumans.

For example, Lei Jiaming, Zhao Xueqing's cousin Han Qifeng, Li Xiang's cousin, and several female anchors from Yongye Media.

Their strength is not high. Even Lei Jiaming, who has the highest cultivation level, is only at the sixth level. Staying at the base would not be of much use in such a large-scale war. However, they can play a great role in treating the wounded and the injured.

Li Xiang didn't stay at the base for long and soon set off again to rescue other underground cities.

With his top speed of Mach 40, he acts as a firefighter around the world, prioritizing domestic issues before venturing abroad.

On Earth, war raged everywhere. Wherever he went, he was only responsible for killing Saint-level beasts. As for those below the Saint level, he left them to high-tech weapons.

Firearms aren't very effective against level six and above, but high-powered bombs, shells, and missiles can still cause significant damage to beasts below the Saint level. However, with everyone now underground, productivity has declined, leading to insufficient production capacity. It's uncertain how long the stockpiles will last.

In addition to killing Saint-level beings, Li Xiang also took the opportunity to kill some ignorant high-level alien beasts. After traveling back and forth on Earth for many days, he gained a large number of achievement points, spiritual medicines, and extraordinary items.

In this process, he also gained a preliminary understanding of the number and strength of the alien beasts on Earth.

Those above the Saint rank are estimated to number in the thousands, while those below the Saint rank number in the millions.

What puzzled him was that, apart from about one-tenth of the dungeons that would actively attack humans, most of the beasts simply sought out habitats and began building nests. They didn't deliberately look for human dungeons.

As for those at the god level and above, I haven't seen any at all.

"Could it be that those enormous female beasts, like those on the moon, have also burrowed deep into the earth? What are they planning to do?" This question lingered in Li Xiang's mind.

After he returned, he learned about the situation. Jiang Cai'er had mentioned that radar detected a terrifying beast, two to three thousand kilometers long. This size was even larger than anything seen on the moon.

While size cannot be used to absolutely measure the strength of a beast, it can be used to roughly distinguish them to some extent.

If everything on the moon is at the god level, then those on Earth are very likely above the god level.

It's worth mentioning that Chiba Yukio, Eileen, and Yaki Toto were spared from attack because they were well-hidden and other dungeons or tribes nearby were drawing fire.

They were too busy to help themselves, so they could only do what they could to provide assistance, such as searching for survivors, treating the wounded, and then taking them into the base.

Li Xiang secretly went to visit them, told them to continue to lie low and focus on their cultivation, and then went off to support other places.

The twin jade ornaments originally wanted to go with Li Xiang, but Li Xiang stopped them, saying that they should wait until they were stronger.

On Eileen's side, the children were naturally very attached to Li Xiang. The youngest daughter, Sonia, clung to him, not wanting him to leave, but eventually let go while crying.

Li Xiang also felt very guilty towards the children for not being able to spend enough time with them.

After nearly half a month of fierce fighting, the beasts began to quiet down and stopped launching large-scale and frequent attacks. Li Xiang also felt extremely tired and needed to rest. On his way home, he passed through the Qinling Ancestral Vein and then disappeared into the depths of the ground.

An elderly man in a royal robe came out to greet him. This senior looked tired and was very weak. He had obviously also experienced a series of battles. The underground city he guarded was within a radius of two or three hundred kilometers and was completely unharmed. Li Xiang did not need to worry about it.

The same applies to the capital and Nanjing.

"Senior, do you know the whereabouts and cultivation levels of those female beasts?" After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Li Xiang asked.

The old man in the imperial robe stroked his beard, his expression grave: "Those who came were all at the divine level or above, probably divine king-level beasts. They all went underground, probably plotting against Earth."

"Plotting against Earth?" Li Xiang asked in surprise.

The old man in the imperial robe said, "This may be related to the level of cultivation. I can also be considered to have been born of heaven and earth, and I have been at the divine level since birth, but I have remained at this level for thousands of years without making any progress. I am not really clear about the path ahead or behind me."

After bidding farewell to the old man, Li Xiang returned home and spent some tender time with Jiang Cai'er. That night, as they lay in bed—oh, there was no longer daytime; it was an era of eternal night. However, the underground city would still use the old time and calendar for virtual calculations. Every day, the underground city would announce the time precisely, and the streetlights would start turning on and off at specific times. It was just the opposite of before; previously, lights were practically unnecessary during the day, with many streetlights at night, but now, there were many streetlights during the "daytime" and few at "nighttime."

The residents also maintained their usual routines.

After their intimate moment in bed, the two discussed the matter. Li Xiang provided information from various sources, and Jiang Cai'er used the deductive abilities of a quantum computer to perform complex calculations. Li Xiang only saw her body glowing, flickering uncertainly. After a long while, she shared a horrifying possibility with him.

"Do they want to resonate with the planet's will, or even replace it and become the masters of Earth?"

"If that's the case, and it succeeds, Earth's human civilization may be replaced by alien civilizations."

After all, the ruler of a planet would not tolerate an alien race taking a dominant position. Even if they were allowed to exist, they would probably be used as food, just like humans on Earth treat other animals now.

Humans might build parks or designate nature reserves to keep rare species in captivity, but the beastmen from deep space are unlikely to be so kind.

Li Xiang: "..."

Jiang Cai'er deduced for a moment and said, "But I estimate that it will take them at least several decades, or even a hundred years, to advance. There should be a window of time for us to develop."

"Brother Xiang, hurry up and develop! The future of humanity depends on you."

"Hmm, develop quickly, then let's cultivate together again, no, ten times."

"Oh dear, I'm talking about serious matters!"

After their passionate encounter, Li Xiang decided to venture deep underground to gather information and see if he could confirm Jiang Cai'er's guess.

Jiang Cai'er originally wanted to go with him, but she had a child to take care of and was too weak to withstand Li Xiang's beatings, so she could only tell him to be careful and not to get too close.

"Yes, I know. Wait for my message."

Li Xiang hugged her and kissed her several times. Then, a yellowish-brown light shone forth and disappeared into the depths of the earth.

Li Xiang used his earth-遁 (earth-遁 is a type of magical ability) ability to descend, covering approximately four to five thousand kilometers, before sensing danger ahead and daring not to approach further.

The Nine Netherworld Eyes were quietly activated, and from a distance, more than a thousand kilometers deep, near the Earth's core, lay more than ten enormous female beasts. They surrounded the Earth's core from all directions, in various strange postures, motionless, as if they were dead.

But Li Xiang felt that was impossible. If he got any closer, like one or two kilometers closer, he would probably be the one to die.

A thought struck him, and he boldly tried to slowly descend further. When he had gone down another ten meters or so, suddenly, the vision of the Nine Netherworld Eyes changed dramatically, and a chaotic world appeared before him.

Inside, more than ten female beasts were engaged in a fierce battle in the sky.

"Is this the spiritual world, or the dark universe?"

At the center of this chaotic world, there is a sphere floating in the air. As an Earthling, Li Xiang can tell at a glance that this sphere is a miniature version of Earth.

"They're fighting each other to get this sphere, aren't they?"

Suddenly, a giant beast looked over, seemingly noticing his presence. Li Xiang was startled and immediately used his extreme speed to retreat, instantly leaving this world.

The giant beast was busy dealing with other strange beasts and had no time to chase him.

Li Xiang was drenched in cold sweat and quickly returned home. He told Jiang Cai'er what he had seen, and Jiang Cai'er's expression also turned serious: "It seems that the previous deductions were pretty accurate. They are not coming for us humans, but for Earth, or rather, for the solar system."

Based on Li Xiang's previous description, it's not hard to guess that the same situation exists inside the moon, except that the moon is much smaller than Earth; the moon is a satellite, while Earth is one of the eight planets in the solar system. Therefore, the behemoths within the Earth's core are far more powerful, reaching the God-King realm.

Inside the moon, it is a battleground for various gods.

"This perfectly explains why only Saint-level and below beasts are rampaging on the surface."

Jiang Cai'er further speculated that those gods were probably competing for dwarf planets, satellites, and asteroids in the solar system, and there were quite a few of these celestial bodies within the solar system.

In addition to one star and eight planets, there are five confirmed dwarf planets in our solar system (Ceres, Pluto, Makemake, Haumea, and Eris, as of 2009). Furthermore, scientists speculate that hundreds more unconfirmed dwarf planets may exist.

There are also more than 500 satellites, such as one Earth, two Mars, 95 Jupiter, 146 Saturn, and more than a million asteroids and comets.

Those at the God-King Realm compete for the eight planets. As for the Beast Kings within the Sun, their realm is unknown, but they naturally compete for the Sun, this fixed star.

Jiang Cai'er estimates that it will take a considerable amount of time for the alien beasts to completely "digest" the solar system. The larger the celestial body, the longer the time will be. This time could be hundreds of years, decades, years, or even months. Nobody knows for sure.

But what Li Xiang was certain of was that it would definitely be more than five years, most likely more than ten or even several decades.

Because in his previous life he lived for more than four years in the apocalypse, and at that time, the earth was still "good enough," at least humanity was not extinct, and many "oases" appeared in the icy and snowy land, which were the lairs of fire-type alien beasts.

Thanks to the heat and light provided by these fire-type alien beasts, many plants and animals on Earth survived. Due to the abundance of extraordinary particles, many native plants and animals on Earth mutated and became extraordinary creatures.

But more than ten years will pass in the blink of an eye.

Li Xiang felt a lot of pressure, so he said, "Time is tight, let's start our dual cultivation quickly."

"I can't go on, I haven't recovered yet, you should go find someone else," Jiang Cai'er pleaded.

Feeling guilty, Li Xiang said awkwardly, "...Don't joke like that, why would I ask someone else?"

Seeing that Jiang Cai'er seemed to want to say something, Li Xiang quickly changed the subject, put his arm around her and said, "I have been fighting for half a month and have obtained a lot of Saint-level equipment. Come on, pick a few that you like."

For the past two weeks, he has been fighting intensely almost every day, without much rest. Naturally, he has gained a lot of achievement points, spiritual medicines, and extraordinary item rewards. He has over a hundred Saint-level extraordinary spiritual weapons and armors alone.

At the same time, he also roughly figured out the pattern of rewards after the system returned to normal.

比如成就点，击杀1至6阶的超凡异兽，大约是异兽等阶×100；7至12阶则是异兽等阶×1000；13至18阶则是×10000；19至24阶×100000；25至28阶×1000000。再往上就不知道了，因为再往上，他还没有杀过。

His account now has over 50 million achievement points.

The elixirs obtained are the same as the beasts of the same rank, but the extraordinary items are still the same as before, only those of rank 10 and above will "drop", and the extraordinary items that "drop" will be two ranks lower than the beasts of the same rank.

After this period of fighting, Li Xiang's cultivation level naturally improved, and he advanced another level, currently reaching level 23.

He spent over 40 million achievement points to upgrade all his superpowers to the limits his body could currently withstand. For example, his speed was increased to Mach 80 and his strength to 1.5 million jin.

This 1.5 million jin (750,000 kg) is the combined strength of the "Giant Strength" inscription and the physical body. When manipulating earth-based abilities, he utilizes the supernatural power activated by the "Earth Pivot Evolution Record" inscription. The combination of these two is even more astonishing.

Jiang Cai'er selected a piece of spirit armor and two spirit weapons, all of rank 26, the highest rank among Li Xiang's spoils of war. After all, it's for his wife; of course, he wanted the best.

The spirit armor is named "Eclipse Star Armor" and has three extraordinary attributes: "Star Bone Shield", "Earth Vein Resonance" and "Phase Warp".

"Starbone Shield" automatically absorbs attack energy and converts it into shield value when attacked. It can withstand three full-force attacks below level 25 and increases the absorption efficiency of fire/frost elemental damage by 300%.

"Earthly Vein Resonance" automatically connects to the earth's veins when standing on the ground, restoring 1% of spiritual energy per second and simultaneously sensing the status (health, location, and abnormal status) of friendly forces within a ten-kilometer radius. She really liked this attribute because it suited her perfectly, not only solving the problem of spiritual energy depletion during long-term command operations but also enhancing her overall battlefield awareness.

"Phase Warp" is a survival tool. When encountering a fatal attack, it triggers a 0.5-second spatial warp (can be used approximately twice per day), instantly teleporting the user to any friendly unit within 2 meters. This can prevent being ambushed and decapitated by high-level alien beasts, ensuring the survival of core command nodes.

Of course, this is also because Li Xiang has a lot of Saint-level items and is particularly lucky, which is why she was able to pick out the ones that suited her.

If Li Xiang only has five or six items, then he won't have much room for choice.

The two Saint-level spiritual weapons include the Blazing Sky-Burning Bow, which possesses three extraordinary attributes: "Sky-Burning Arrowheads," "Nirvana Fire Seed," and "Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix," making it a ranged attack spiritual weapon.

One item is the "Abyssal Soul-Suppressing Bell," a supportive control-type spiritual weapon that also possesses three extraordinary attributes: "Bone-Corroding Poisonous Mist," "Soul-Suppressing Brahma Sound," and "Abyssal Regeneration."

……

Because Li Xiang shared "Li's Breathing Method and Body Techniques" a few years in advance, many people have been practicing it persistently for several years, forming muscle memory. At this time, extraordinary particles emerged, and many people stepped into the first level of extraordinary.

This first batch consisted of exceptionally talented individuals, numbering approximately one million. Many of them actually reached the extraordinary level on the very first day, but they did not report it and instead concealed this fact.

Because these people are very smart, they know the principle that the tallest tree in the forest will be felled by the wind.

About twenty days after the apocalypse began, Li Xiang tallied the number of newly promoted superhumans worldwide and found that more than ten million people had already reached the first tier of superhumans, with more than ten of them having already advanced to the second tier.

Thirty-eight of them achieved this breakthrough within a week.

However, Li Xiang suspected that this data might not be accurate, and that some geniuses might be hiding something.

This number far exceeds that of the previous life. Congratulations!

At this time in my previous life, there were no superhumans. Breathing techniques only appeared three months later, and many people kept them to themselves. After a year, there were fewer than 10,000 superhumans.

When Li Xiang died, it was the fourth year of the apocalypse, and there were only twenty to thirty thousand extraordinary individuals worldwide. Saint-level beings were even fewer.

However, Li Xiang believed that in this lifetime, by the fourth year, there would be at least over a hundred people at the Saint rank. Those below the Saint rank should number in the tens of millions; in terms of sheer numbers, they would definitely surpass the number of alien beasts on Earth.

In another ten or eight years, the balance of power may shift. But it's uncertain whether we'll be able to wait that long.

The reason so many people died in my previous life was not only because they were caught off guard and encountered strange beasts on the surface, with nearly four billion dying in the first seven days, but also because of many other reasons for the deaths that followed.

For example, the use of nuclear weapons opened Pandora's box, leading to a desperate, reckless pursuit of revenge by all nations. Japan, for instance, endured several rounds of nuclear attacks. In this life, with Li Xiang's intervention, although Japan's "beastly" tendencies were severe and a small portion of its territory disappeared, at least most of the country remained intact.

In the previous life, people lacked food and clothing, and many had nowhere to live. They wandered the dark and cold earth, freezing, starving, or being killed in the extreme cold. Their food was stolen by their own kind, and they were even used as food. They exchanged children to eat each other. They were used as food by strange beasts and suffered from nuclear pollution and radiation. All these factors led to a sharp decline in the population.

Chaotic order, the lack of underground cities, and the scarcity of heating energy are the main causes of death in the later stages of the game.

In this era, there are many underground cities and farms on Earth. A global anti-monster alliance has been established, and order has not collapsed. Resources and energy have been stored up for several years in advance. There is super rice with a yield of more than 4,000 kilograms per mu. Most countries can temporarily eat their fill and stay warm. There is also Li Xiang's "Li's Breathing Method and Body Techniques" printed globally. With the emergence of extraordinary particles, people can survive and develop, greatly increasing their survival rate.

The war against the alien beasts cannot be rushed; we must develop our strength before we can drive them away and defend against them.

If humanity on Earth unites and remains calm, a counterattack is just around the corner.

In fact, in their previous life, humanity on Earth didn't survive at all; the entire solar system became home to alien beasts. But in this life, there is a chance to survive, and even a chance to counterattack.

Li Xiang and Jiang Cai'er jointly drafted the "Countermeasures Against Alien Beasts," officially titled "Dawn Era Survival Strategy Outline." Through the underground city network, they notified countries and regions around the world, especially those under the Anti-Alien Beast Alliance, to make major strategic adjustments.

The global underground city network remains intact. Although some fiber optic cables were interrupted, Li Xiang repaired them in time. With his Mach 80 speed and mastery of earth-遁 (earth-遁 is a type of escape technique), Earth is like his backyard.

However, there were too many monster lairs on the surface, and it would be impossible to kill them all in a short time. There were simply too many for Li Xiang to handle alone.

Moreover, he worried that once he killed all the surface beasts, or even if he killed more than half of them, the underground ones would probably stop fighting and come out to deal with him.

In addition, preserving these powerful alien beasts is both a pressure and a motivation. In order to survive, humans on Earth will seize every opportunity to cultivate.

Shen Wenqian also used the internet to conduct qualification reviews for advanced breathing techniques, because some exceptionally talented individuals had already completed the beginner version and needed to learn more advanced and profound techniques.

(End of this chapter)