In the apocalypse, I hoarded goods and handed over my storage space to the government.

Above the clouds, the sky is a pure, clear blue.

The special plane carrying Su Ran, escorted by four J-20 fighter jets, moved as smoothly as if it were gliding on the ground.

He leaned against the porthole, watching the mountains and city ruins rushing past below, his weariness barely concealed.

The horde of corpses, like a black ant colony, slowly crawled along the national highway.

The slight weightlessness from flying at high altitude, coupled with the weakness after exhausting his mental energy, made him feel drowsy.

"Report! Unit 01, abnormal biological signals detected 80 kilometers ahead, approximately 300 in number, approaching at high speed!"

The calm and composed voices of the escort squadron pilots came through the headset.

Su Ran tilted her head slightly.

The clouds churned as a flock of giant, mutated raptors with wingspans exceeding four meters broke through the mist.

They resemble enlarged versions of eagles, but most of their feathers have fallen off, revealing dark red muscle tissue and even bare bones.

Mutant Corpse Vulture.

In the final days of his previous life, he was undoubtedly the Grim Reaper of the Sky.

Their sharp claws can tear apart the top of a tank like paper, and when they travel in groups, even armed helicopters dare not take off.

"Sizzle!"

A contemptuous sneer came from the communication channel.

"It looks quite unique, but the sky still belongs to 'humans' these days."

Two J-20S heavy stealth fighters that were escorting it suddenly lowered their noses, their silver-gray fuselages drawing an arc in the air.

"Radar lock, PL-15 ready."

"emission."

No nonsense.

Four PL-15 close-range air-to-air missiles, trailing long plumes of flame, lashed into the swarm of corpse vultures like the whips of death.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

High in the sky, four enormous fireballs exploded at an altitude of 10,000 meters.

No sound came, but Su Ran could see that a large part of the dark "cloud" was cleared away in an instant, and countless burning debris fell like rain.

"Threat eliminated, flight route safe."

Su Ran withdrew her gaze, but her expression did not become more relaxed; instead, it became even more serious.

"How long can this arrogance last...?"

He muttered to himself.

There was a time when a flock of mutated birds of this size would be enough to sound the highest alarm at a survivor base.

At first, fighter jets could be used to drive them away, but later, saturation attacks with missiles were necessary, and finally, even the most advanced fighter jets could not cope with the giant corpse vulture's attack.

Humans were forcibly pushed back to the ground and turned into cave-dwelling creatures.

And in this life...

Su Ran let out a long breath, her tense nerves relaxing slightly.

Looking out the window at the two fighter jets that seemed like guardian angels, a thought suddenly rushed into his mind, instantly making him freeze.

Fighter jets...the sky...air superiority...

"Luan bird!"

He remembered!

That crucial piece of the puzzle he had forgotten in a corner, the only hope that allowed Great Xia to still soar through the skies in the later stages of the apocalypse!

And... the person who could truly bring the "Luan Bird" to life!

Lu Yuan!

That future "God of Machines"!

"Grass!"

Su Ran cursed under her breath and sat up abruptly.

He's been incredibly busy lately.

Containment, relocation, planning, and screening of "seeds"—every single task was related to the fate of the nation, making him almost forget that in some corner of the Kunlun base, there was a genius who could change the course of the war.

Without energy and without new technological theories to support it, the "Luan Bird" will forever remain just an iron frame.

And now, the key has appeared!

Crystal nucleus!

A new era of "nuclear reactors"!

"Pick up Li Guodong."

Su Ran immediately picked up the encrypted satellite phone, her voice leaving no room for doubt.

"Feed? Xiao Su? What happened?"

Li Guodong's hoarse and extremely tired voice came from the other end of the phone, with a cacophony of commands in the background: "I just organized the second wave of the cleanup, what are your orders now?"

"Old Li, there's something urgent I forgot about."

Su Ran spoke very quickly, "Do you still remember Lu Yuan from the Kunlun Base?"

"Lu Yuan?"

Li Guodong was visibly taken aback for a moment, then realized what he meant. "I've been so busy lately that I completely forgot about that kid! He should still be at the 'Luan Bird' manufacturing center."

"Drag him out of the manufacturing center! Now! Immediately!"

Su Ran said decisively, "Tell him to go to Academician Chen Changhe's P3 laboratory and tell him that the 'heart' of the 'Luan Bird' has been found."

"From now on, add Lu Yuan to the 'Weaponization of Crystal Core Energy' special task force. I want them to spare no expense and achieve the successful development of the 'Crystal Energy Converter' in the shortest possible time!"

"Good! Good! Good!"

Li Guodong said "Okay" three times, his voice trembling, "I'll get on it right now!"

After hanging up the phone, Su Ran felt as if a huge weight had been lifted from her heart.

He personally turned the gears of fate back to their most crucial position.

Lu Yuan is a genius in engineering.

With his addition, the R&D speed of Crystal Core Technology can be increased by at least 100%!

"Reporting to Commander Su, we are about to arrive at the 'Peach Blossom Spring No. 2' base—the Taihang Mountain Base."

The cabin announcement came on at just the right time.

The transport plane began to descend, passing through the thick clouds.

The interior of a hollowed-out mountain range came into view, its scale no less than that of the Kunlun Mountains.

The massive alloy gate slowly opened, like a steel behemoth opening its gaping maw to devour everything.

The plane landed smoothly.

The hatch opened, and a gust of cold wind, carrying the smell of gunpowder and earth, rushed in.

A middle-aged general with sunken eyes and a star on his shoulder was already anxiously waiting on the tarmac with his men.

"Advisor Su!"

Upon seeing Su Ran, the general rushed forward in three steps and tightly grasped Su Ran's hands.

"I am Zhou Weiguo, commander of the Taihang Mountain base!"

"Commander Zhou, thank you for your hard work." Su Ran nodded.

"It's not hard for me! I'm so glad you finally came!"

Zhou Weiguo, a straightforward man, was so anxious that his mouth was covered in blisters. "The troops have already been deployed. At the current rate of consumption, if you don't replenish our ammunition soon, we can only fight for another half a month at most before the army is grounded!"

This isn't a complaint; it's a plea for help.

Su Ran listened quietly without interrupting.

He can understand.

With twelve large bases across the country, the allocation of supplies will inevitably have a priority order.

Furthermore, the space in the shelter is limited, so it's impossible to distribute all the weapons evenly all at once.

As the headquarters, Kunlun naturally received priority in supplying supplies.

Now, it's his turn as the "logistics captain" to fill these gaps.