You say the cataclysm only comes after you've cleared the entire dungeon?

Central Base, Top Floor Conference Room of the Administration Building.

All the senior executives gathered here. Chen Lishen sat in the main seat, tapping the table with a solemn expression. His gaze was fixed on a certain point on the table, as if he was thinking about something.

"You mean, thousands of zombies and mutated beasts are moving north?"

"Yes." Luo Zeyan's voice came from the mobile phone in the center of the table. "Currently, it's about 130 kilometers southwest of the Shimen base. It's a large-scale operation and moving at a slow speed. But judging from the direction, if we continue forward past the Shimen base, we'll arrive directly at the capital."

Chen Li's molars were clenched so tightly they hurt.

If dealing with a few thousand palm-sized ice beetles is this difficult, what about a few thousand zombies and mutated beasts?

If they actually reach the capital, can the walls of the central base hold them off? Can the existing teams defeat them?

Moreover, "several thousand" is only a rough estimate at present. If they encounter more scattered zombies or mutated beasts along the way, they can recruit them into the team.

So, when they arrived in the capital, there might have been an army of tens of thousands.

Chen Li glanced at Lou Fengyue subconsciously and noticed that although she was leaning back in her seat with her chin resting on her hand, her eyes were as still as a pool of water, and her eyelashes were slightly drooping, which was obviously not as relaxed as usual.

Noticing Chen Lishen's gaze, Lu Xin also glanced in Lou Fengyue's direction: "Loulan, have you encountered this situation during the trial?"

"No." Lou Fengyue straightened up, placed her hands on the table, and spoke the truth. "I've fought my way through an entire city and encountered several zombie hordes, but I've never seen anything like this. Organized, large-scale zombie hordes like this are difficult to fight, and with the temperature affecting the outcome, the chances of winning are very low."

"What should we do then?" Lu Xin asked anxiously, his face flushed red, almost shouting.

Lou Fengyue didn't answer his question; how to handle it wasn't her concern.

With their current capabilities, she and Lou Yunzheng could only save a few elders in their family under extremely low temperatures.

When war breaks out, the entire base cannot be saved.

Chen Li frowned and sighed, his voice deepening, "Captain Luo, at the current speed of the zombie horde, how long do you estimate it will take to reach the Stone Gate base?"

"Three days," Luo Zeyan said. "I don't know if it's due to the zombie horde, but there are far fewer ice beetles near the Stone Gate base. Sensory ability users have detected that the ice beetles are all converging towards the zombie horde."

"I'll send Xie Jingtian's team over there to provide support. They'll escort the survivors over there first, and then we'll discuss how to fight this battle," Chen Lishen said, glancing up at Xie Jingtian in the corner of the conference room.

The latter nodded slightly, then immediately got up and left to gather the team members to set off immediately.

Taking advantage of this break, Lou Fengyue asked the system where this horde of zombies came from.

[Host, most of the zombies and mutated beasts that can move in extreme cold are products of this extreme cold. It's highly likely they sensed the end of the extreme cold and thus moved towards the even colder north ahead of time.]

However, migration is their instinct, and so is hunting. If they encounter living humans, they will still engage in battle.

Lou Fengyue leaned on the armrest of the chair and pinched her brow in frustration.

It means that those guys are moving as a group, and they have to replenish their food rations at each base during the move.

When will the extreme cold end?

[It's not detectable yet; it will likely take at least another two weeks.]

Half a month... then this battle will have to be fought even in a blizzard.

Luo Zeyan's voice continued to come through the mobile phone: "Chief Chen, tell Xie Jingtian to bring more food and supplies when he comes. When they escort the survivors back, our team will stay behind to try to intercept the zombie horde."

"Intercept them?" Chen Li's brows furrowed even more. "Your team only has five people. How can you possibly stop thousands of zombie mutated beasts?"

"We need to delay the zombie horde as much as possible. The base needs to send reinforcements as soon as possible, and we should treat the Stone Gate base as the first line of defense. The central base has tens of thousands of people. Once it is surrounded by the zombie horde, there will really be no way to retreat."

Chen Lishen felt as if something was blocking his throat, unable to take a breath.

After a few seconds of contemplation, he replied, "Alright, Xie Jingtian will go first to pick up the survivors, and the rest of the ability users in the base will set off to provide support no later than tomorrow morning."

"Okay," Luo Zeyan replied, and the communication was disconnected.

The atmosphere in the conference room was thick with tension, as if an invisible layer of frost had settled over everything. The senior executives of each department had their heads slightly bowed, seemingly wondering how to fight this battle.

Or perhaps they were already worried about how they would survive after the base was breached.

Even Loulan said the chances of winning were extremely low. Could those few dozen superhumans in the base really defeat thousands of zombie mutated beasts in the freezing cold?

Chen Lishen's gaze swept over everyone in the conference room, and he tapped the table.

"Don't be sad. Do everything you can and should do well. All departments should allocate all available resources to the front lines."

"All the superhumans who were originally involved in the base expansion project have been recalled to the front lines to build the city walls."

"Medicine, food, water, cold-weather clothing, and weapons should all be prepared to the highest standards and sent to the front lines. We must stop the zombie horde at Shimen."

At this point, Chen Lishen's throat tightened, and his voice softened: "Even if we can't stop them, we must do our best to delay them and give the tens of thousands of people in the central base enough time to evacuate."

Upon hearing the last sentence, Lou Fengyue raised her eyes and glanced at Chen Lishen.

Her peach blossom eyes held no emotion, no surprise, no shock, like a long-dried-up well, without a ripple.

It's like just glancing at it casually.

But those who know her well will know that this brief glance was the signal that she decided to intervene.

She stood up, raised her hand, and there were five large cardboard boxes on the table.

A box of Body Tempering Pills, a box of Holy Light Spring Water, and three boxes of Blood Clotting Ointment—these were medicines she had stockpiled for a long time. They were worthless to her, but to others they were panaceas.

This is only a small part. All the ability users in the base will be transferred to the front line. Those with spatial abilities are not high-level and cannot carry much.

Even if you give them too much, they can't take it all.

She installed the water dispenser in the villa, but there was also an unused water purifier ball in the space, which she took out and placed on the table.

"Have Xie Jingtian take him to Shimen." She turned and walked towards the conference room door, waving her hand without looking back. "I'm going home to catch up on some sleep. Let me know if anything happens."