In a frigid apocalypse, I went on a shopping spree with the reborn.

That night, many people had just left the trading area and were still taking stock of their gains when they were stunned by a sudden announcement.

[Congratulations to Jiang Qingyue of "Jiang Qingyue's Little Nest" for becoming the first person in the Eighth Experimental Zone to upgrade their quantum computer to Level 3. A reward of 2 million Transaction Coins and a special item—the Goddess Set—is hereby given.]

Upon hearing this announcement, everyone was shocked, but also somewhat surprised by her reaction.

As a top-ranked powerhouse who has always been on the list, and also a reborn person, isn't it normal for Jiang Qingyue to be the first to advance to level three?

But the second announcement immediately made everyone lose their composure.

[Congratulations to Long Jiuxing of "Jiang Qingyue's Little Nest" for becoming the first person in the Eighth Experimental Zone to upgrade their quantum computer to Level 3. A reward of 2 million transaction coins and a special item—Mind Kill—is hereby given.]

???

Everyone was stunned.

Why are both of them in the first position? Is there a system bug?

Inside the Overlord Base, Liu Yuyao smashed the solid wood table in front of her to pieces with a single palm strike.

"Why didn't I think of that?"

She clenched her fists, not from pain, but from regret; she wanted to slap herself hard.

Chen Sanyang, standing nearby, was completely dumbfounded after reading the announcement: "Boss, I remember you said a while ago that there's usually only one hidden quest like this, and it can't be imitated. Jiang Qingyue and Long Jiuxing completed the same hidden quest before and got double the rewards, so how can they do it again this time? Could they really be giving a gift to the main god?"

Liu Yuyao was also puzzled. After pondering for a while, she guessed, "It might be different. Last time they completed a hidden mission, but this time it's not a hidden mission; it's about upgrading the quantum computer."

As Liu Yuyao spoke, she suddenly realized what had happened, slapped her thigh, and exclaimed in regret: "I know now, Jiang Qingyue must have leveled up at the same time as Long Jiuxing."

"So, if we calculate it by time, since they both reached level three at the same time, they really are tied for first place. Therefore, it's not surprising that both of them received the reward."

"However, Wang Dawei wrote in his diary that for each upgrade of the quantum computer, the main god only prepared one upgrade reward. In other words, the extra one was added by the main god on the spot."

Chen Sanyang stared in disbelief: "You mean, Jiang Qingyue actually took advantage of the main god? By using the method of simultaneously upgrading at this critical point, he forced the main god to give up an extra reward on top of the original plan? Is that even possible?"

Liu Yuyao nodded: "Now it seems that's the case."

The two looked at each other in silence.

Chen Sanyang scratched his head: "Looking at it this way, it's no wonder Wang Dawei couldn't beat them. No wonder he got killed. Although they were both reborn, the difference between them now seems to be greater than the difference between a human and a dog."

Liu Yuyao did not refute.

She had a hunch that even if Wang Dawei hadn't been killed off beforehand, he would have been left far behind by Jiang Qingyue, and might even have been inferior to Long Jiuxing, who hadn't been reborn.

"Boss, why don't we give it a try too?" Chen Sanyang said with envy. "The rewards are too tempting. Not to mention the special items, just the trading currency alone, those two got a whole 400 million this time! That's 400 million! We couldn't even scrape together that much if we ransacked the entire base."

Liu Yuyao rolled her eyes at him. They couldn't even scrape together 100 million, let alone 400 million.

What do you think?

"Stop messing around, there are definitely countless people trying it. Fewer and fewer people are completing the hidden quests lately, which means that the number of hidden quests, like the upgrade rewards, was predetermined by the main god at the beginning of the experiment."

"Once many hidden quests are triggered, the number of quests waiting to be triggered will decrease."

"We need to focus our main efforts on growing food and vegetables, as well as fighting the zombie horde. We must make everyone stronger quickly, otherwise when the fourth cold wave hits, everyone whose physique has not been mutated will die."

"By the way, how's the thing I asked you to do going?"

Upon hearing this, Chen Sanyang looked troubled: "Boss, most people are unwilling to give birth. I've also come up with a solution, promising a large reward. Once a woman becomes pregnant, she will be properly taken care of, and the child will be raised by the base."

"But many people are still unwilling to have children. There are very few who are willing, and there has been no news so far."

Upon hearing this, Liu Yuyao sighed and encouraged, "Increase the reward even further. Wang Dawei's diary mentions that the first child conceived and born after the apocalypse will not only receive the standard 6 trading coins for the hidden mission, but will also gain unparalleled talent, making them the most suitable people to survive in this apocalypse."

"As long as we protect him in his childhood, it's only a matter of time before he becomes an unparalleled powerhouse. The benefits of having such a genius born in our Overlord Base are unimaginable."

Chen Sanyang hesitated, as if he wanted to say something but then stopped.

Liu Yuyao had a headache: "Speak."

"Boss, don't be angry when I say this. I just think that even if a genius like this was born in our base, he might not be absolutely loyal to you."

"You might as well have the baby yourself. When you're older and the child is grown up, you can take over the reins of the Overlord Base. Wouldn't that be great?"

Upon hearing this, Liu Yuyao stared at him for a full half minute.

Chen Sanyang felt a chill run down his spine from the stare: "Boss, why are you looking at me like that? You wouldn't happen to want to have a child with me, would you? Let me tell you, I've already castrated myself. Even if I wanted to, I wouldn't be able to!"

Liu Yuyao's lips twitched: "Little Sanzi, tell me, how old am I?"

"Four... Chen Sanyang suddenly realized: "Holy crap, boss, you haven't gone through menopause, have you?"

Liu Yuyao nodded.

Ever since she arrived at this tyrannical base with Wang Dawei's diary, became the deputy captain, and wielded power, she had this plan.

After much deliberation, I ultimately had no choice but to give up.

Firstly, she is old and has long since gone through menopause.

Secondly, she and Wang Dawei had wanted children in their early years. They went to the hospital for check-ups, visited top-tier hospitals in major cities, and tried countless folk remedies. Strangely, despite being healthy, they were unable to conceive.

Thirdly, now that she is in charge of the entire Overlord Base, she urgently needs to improve her own strength, and the zombie horde will soon take shape.

As the base's strongest fighter and highest authority, she must engage in long-term, high-intensity combat. Once pregnant, she can only rest and take care of her pregnancy.

Having witnessed firsthand Wang Dawei's ruthless exploitation of the Happiness Base, she has her own principles for managing the base and would never forcibly seize supplies from her subordinates.

Therefore, if she wants to increase her strength with a large number of crystal cores, she can only rely on gentler methods, such as selling vegetables or personally hunting zombies...

In addition, she was older and a woman, so even if people didn't say it, they still had reservations about women holding power.

If a burly, strong man holds a high position, others will naturally be convinced; but if it is a woman, no matter how strong she is, she will always attract a lot of criticism and dissatisfaction.

To suppress all criticism and maintain control of the base, she needs overwhelming strength, a sound system, and loyal subordinates, not a child born after ten months of pregnancy.

Her decades-long marriage to Wang Dawei made her see through people's true nature.

Even one's own flesh and blood may not be absolutely loyal.

One can understand this by looking at Wang Dawei's attitude towards his biological parents.

If having children truly ensured a peaceful old age, Wang Dawei's parents wouldn't have suffered so much in their hometown.

"Little Sanzi, increase the birth reward to 10 transaction coins."

Chen Sanyang: "Isn't this too much? We still need to accumulate trading coins to prepare for the first upgrade reward of the Level 4 optical brain!"

Liu Yuyao said, "In this kind of weather and medical environment, women are risking their lives to give birth. No reward is too high, but it must be voluntary. You need to keep a close eye on this. Anyone who dares to force a woman for a reward will be publicly executed."

Chen Sanyang asked, "Is it in such a hurry? Once the base stabilizes and people's livelihoods are secured, there will definitely be people willing to come."

Liu Yuyao sighed, "By then it will be too late. Jiang Qingyue is definitely making preparations as well. We must not let her seize the initiative."

"Now that Jiang Qingyue is top-tier in strength, and Long Jiuxing's combat power is also ridiculously strong, if she were to snatch the title of the number one genius in the apocalypse from the start, no one would be able to compete with her in the future."

"Although we are not her enemy, we cannot refrain from vying for opportunities and treasures."

Jiang Qingyue was completely unaware of Liu Yuyao's apprehension.

Wang Dawei's later diary entries did not contain any information about the world's number one genius, so Jiang Qingyue was completely unaware of it.

At this moment, she was in the shelter, happily looking at the 400 million transaction coins, and unusually praised the main god: "You're quite generous."

Isn't this more profitable than growing and selling vegetables?

More importantly, with a huge amount of trading coins in hand, there are only 5 million trading coins needed to upgrade to the fourth-level optical brain.

"There are two more special items, take a look!"

Jiang Qingyue couldn't wait to open the item panel, silently praying that it wouldn't be a useless item like the slippers.

Aside from the "Child of Heaven's Will," the furry slippers on Yan Bao's feet are definitely the most useless special item she has ever obtained; they are purely decorative.

Name: Goddess Set, Serial Number 8491

8: Originating from the Eighth Experimental Zone

4: Increase beauty by four points

9: A total of nine items were placed in this test area.

1: You are the first recipient

Jiang Qingyue looked helpless. Oh no, why did my luck stat stop working?

Adding four points to beauty? What a useless attribute!

Before checking the details, just looking at the name, she thought it was a good thing, either like a fairy's feather robe that would allow her to fly, or like a war god's armor that would enhance her combat power.

The result? Only four points of beauty?

Jiang Qingyue was speechless: "Are you kidding me? This is a reward for upgrading a Level 3 quantum computer! It cost 1 million trading coins to upgrade, and this is what you get?"

They're even more useless than Yanbao's fur slippers.

Seeing her dejected look, Long Jiuxing pursed her lips and reminded her, "Sister Xiaoyue, you can sell this set of equipment to Nangong Zhao."

Jiang Qingyue was slightly taken aback.

She thought of Nangong Zhao, who still had exquisite makeup and gorgeous clothes even in the apocalypse. He valued appearance the most and had enough money, making him a suitable buyer.

"Contact her another day, and check on your reward first."

Name: Mind Killer, Serial Number 8111

8: Originating from the Eighth Experimental Zone

1: Simply say the name to kill someone named (昪甡).

1: Only one item was deployed in this pilot area.

1: You are the first recipient

Jiang Qingyue: "..."

Long Jiuxing: "..."

Long Jiuxing looked up: "Sister Xiaoyue, do you recognize these two characters?"

"Biàn Shēn," Jiang Qingyue slowly pronounced the words, searching through the Hundred Family Surnames in her mind, but it seemed she had never seen the surname "Biàn" before.

Long Jiuxing said, "I'll go get my phone and check."

"Forget it, don't bother." Jiang Qingyue waved her hand. "Even if someone really has such an awkward name, it's useless. We have no grudge against them, why would we want to kill them for no reason?"

Long Jiuxing thought about it and realized that it was indeed true.

It seems that both of the special items we obtained this time are extremely useless.

The Goddess Set can at least be exchanged for money, but this Mind Killer set is probably impossible to sell.

Seeing her dejected expression, Jiang Qingyue smiled and comforted her, "Think of it this way: what if we get incredibly lucky and get name-change cards so we can change everyone's names to Bian Sheng? Then your 'Mind Kill' will be an invincible weapon, guaranteed to kill anyone you name!"

She meant it as a casual joke, but Long Jiuxing took it very seriously, looking at her and saying, "Sister Xiaoyue is the luckiest; it's all up to you now."

Jiang Qingyue felt a little guilty under her sincere gaze.

Her luck has been really bad lately; all the special items she's gotten have turned out to be useless.

However, even without special items, what more could one ask for with millions of trading coins in hand? One shouldn't be too greedy.

"Come on, we're lucky today, let's celebrate with hot pot!"

Long Jiuxing was slightly taken aback: "Sister Xiaoyue, are you sure you want to eat hot pot in the middle of the night?"

Before Jiang Qingyue could answer, the two little ones, who had been fast asleep, woke up instantly upon hearing the word "hot pot." As if a switch had been flipped, they quickly darted out of the room and jumped onto the two people's shoulders.

"Chirp chirp chirp!" Boiling meatballs! Boiling beef!

"Hiss hiss hiss!" Want some midnight snack? I'll go get some meatballs!

Regardless of whether it's late at night or the early hours of the morning, the two little ones get excited and wag their tails non-stop when they hear about extra food, behaving like spoiled dogs.

It's only because they don't know how to make them that the meatballs have survived to this day.

Jiang Qingyue glanced at the time: "It's only one in the morning, still early. Before the apocalypse, this was the time to stay up all night and have fun. If you're sleepy, go back to sleep. I'll call you when it's ready."

Long Jiuxing: "Let's do it together, hurry up."

Long Jiuxing went to the planting room to pick fresh vegetables, and the two little ones ran to drag out their favorite beef balls. Yanbao even carried an extra piece of beef.

Jiang Qingyue prepared the hot pot broth, then went to the frozen food section to look for ingredients: a bag of mantis shrimp, a bag of fish balls...

Remembering that Yanbao loves noodles, I grabbed a few more packs of bread.

With all the ingredients prepared, Jiang Qingyue turned on her phone and played "Boonie Bears".

Two adults and two children sat together, enjoying hot pot while watching cartoons.

They ate for more than two hours, until four in the morning, before slowly walking back to their respective rooms, patting their round bellies, and falling asleep immediately, sleeping soundly until they were completely unconscious.

It was also 4 a.m., in Quanshui City, the "I Reign Supreme in the Apocalypse" team.

Captain Nangong Zhao stayed in front of the personal terminal, glancing down from time to time, patiently waiting for news.

The underling beside him yawned repeatedly, looking sleepy: "Captain, what are you waiting for?"

"Waiting for someone."

The younger brother was completely puzzled: "Being able to send each other messages means the other person has also upgraded their personal terminal to level two and added you as a friend. If she doesn't contact you, why don't you just send her a message first?"

Nangong Zhao said calmly, "What if she's asleep? It's so late now."

The younger brother scratched his head: "Then you should rest too, Captain. It's almost dawn anyway, you can contact us again tomorrow."

Nangong Zhao shook his head: "What if she wasn't asleep and sent me a message, and I didn't see it right away?"

The younger brother's already muddled mind went completely blank: "So...did I sleep or not?"

"How would I know?"

The younger brother yawned as he advised, "If you didn't see it, you didn't see it. You can reply tomorrow."

"No way." Nangong Zhao's gaze remained fixed on the personal terminal screen, his tone serious. "What if she sends a message and I don't reply for a long time? What if she thinks I don't want it and sells it to someone else?"

"What are you selling?" The underling was completely bewildered, utterly unable to understand what kind of treasure could make his captain stay up all night guarding the personal terminal.

Nangong Zhao did not answer, her gaze still fixed on the computer screen. She and Jiang Qingyue were not exactly close, but they had some acquaintance. The other party did not seem to be a member of the Cupid suit.

They will definitely take action.

Based on this level of friendship, I should probably ask her if she wants it first, right?

Yes...right?