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First of all, the order in this base is very well maintained. It would be impossible for such an orderly phenomenon to occur in a chaotic survivor base without unified command and faith.

Let alone survivor bases in the apocalypse, even in many ordinary countries, soldiers might not be able to obey orders and follow commands so well when there is an overall civilized order.

Secondly, the commander has strong intelligence, judgment, and deductive reasoning abilities; in short, he is a smart person.

Although the deadly flocks of zombie birds were not seen, it is not difficult to deduce that there must be an even greater danger lurking in the darkness.

Because both the commander and the attacker behind the scenes must know that these zombies, who rely solely on their teeth, nails, and somewhat decaying flesh as weapons, cannot possibly conquer a survivor base with complete city defenses.

Time passed slowly, and the attackers behind the scenes seemed to have their patience completely worn down by the unity of the entire base.

The zombie birds no longer hid; they all flew out of the forest in a flurry, heading straight for the survivor base's wall under the searchlights, attempting to spread the virus over this unyielding wall into the base.

The instant the swarm of zombie birds flew out, several flares were fired from behind the city wall, instantly illuminating half the sky.

Immediately afterwards, the sounds of machine guns and automatic rifles rang out.

The bullets fired by these guns created a barrage of fire in the air, briefly halting the birds' attack.

However, it was clear that they couldn't continue indefinitely, because even the slightest gap created when changing bullets could cause the entire situation to fall apart in an instant.

Frank no longer hesitated and directly activated the orbital weapon on the shuttle.

Leaving aside the ordinary people in this base, since we haven't seen them yet, even the death of just one of these soldiers would be a significant loss to this civilization that is already on the verge of destruction.

Because the attack range was too close to the base, Frank immediately ruled out mass weapons and chose a spell-enhancing launcher engraved with magical runes.

The shuttle in space underwent a final calibration, and the launcher's launch port was aimed at the flock of birds in front of the base.

A second later, the magic patterns on the entire launcher lit up, and energy flowed continuously from the shuttle cabin into the launcher. Then, a silver-white light descended from the sky, forming a light screen in front of all the soldiers.

The soldiers, who hadn't had time to stop firing, found that all the bullets they had fired were frozen in the light screen in front of them. At the same time, the zombies below the city wall were pushed aside by these light screens that were extending slightly outward.

Before Li Jie, the commander of the Starfire Construction Site, could react to what was happening, a loud explosion rang out in the sky, and countless purple rays of light curved and fell from the horizon.

Ninth Ring Spell - Thunderous Purgatory!

These amplified and guided lightning bolts, after striking the ground, seemed to transform into countless lightning snakes, constantly weaving back and forth among the zombies.

Each passage inevitably turns a zombie to ashes, which is much faster than any incinerator. And in the face of lightning, the speed advantage and aerial advantage of the flock of birds are no longer relevant.

In just 10 seconds, within a 500-meter radius of the entire Starfire construction site, not a single zombie survived, leaving only scorched earth.

Meanwhile, the constantly monitoring system also discovered that the zombies that were still relatively far from the Starfire Construction Plant stopped immediately after the spell was cast and then returned to their original aimless wandering pattern.

It seems that the mastermind behind the scenes lost all confidence in launching an attack under such a terrifying assault.

As for why Frank felt the manipulator wasn't directly killed by the lightning, it was because the system's route simulation module detected that the nearby zombies were subconsciously moving away from the area. This might be because the commands unconsciously emitted by the manipulator were received by these zombies.

However, this is not something Frank needs to worry about right now.

The lightning in the battlefield had not completely dissipated, and the remaining light curtain still provided considerable illumination for the entire base.

At this moment, Frank canceled the stealth mode of his armor and walked to the front of the base, braving the remaining electric currents that couldn't penetrate his armor.

He raised his head. "I am a member of the Vanguard Testing Force of the Multi-Humanity Joint Civilization. I have received your civilization's request for assistance. With the joint approval of the Heavenly Court and the Clock Tower, I am now extending my assistance to you!"

Chapter 219 Cruel Reality

Inside the conference room of the Spark Construction Plant, the heads of various departments of the survivor base sat around a table.

"How are the arrangements for that pioneer test team member going?" someone in the conference room asked.

"They've already settled us in the lounge. They seem very cooperative and know we need time to prepare, so there was no rushing us at all," the head of logistics said as he closed the door behind him.

"Let's put this aside for a moment. Can someone explain to me what this multi-human civilization alliance is all about?" Li Jie asked after everyone had arrived.

“I know a little bit.” The communications manager raised his hand. “A few days ago, we received a message from an unknown source. The sender was this multi-human united civilization, and the purpose of the message was to declare war on a terrorist organization called Thanos.”

"Because this matter was so bizarre, I personally thought at the time that it might be a phishing message, so the tone was set at the time not to reply, and I was also able to ensure that there was no signal transmitter in the entire base area that transmitted any related information."

"So, his claim that he received our request for help was a lie?" someone in the meeting said.

"We can't jump to conclusions so easily. If the other side is truly a prosperous and advanced interstellar civilization, they might consider any response originating from anywhere on the planet as a request for help from the entire system," Li Jie said, rubbing his temples.

“I think we shouldn’t be discussing what kind of civilization the other side has right now, but rather determining whether we should cooperate with them, how to refuse if we don’t want to cooperate, or how to avoid conflict,” another person said.

"To be frank and demoralizing, I personally believe we have no right to refuse. Did you see the technology they used to destroy those zombies? I don't know what it is, but I'm certain that if this happens again, our base will cease to exist," said the construction plant's technical manager.

"Correspondingly, I also think that someone who can help us solve such a big crisis is probably not our enemy."

He had barely finished speaking when a dissenting voice rang out, "That's hard to say, maybe..."

Just as an argument was about to break out, Li Jie slammed his hand on the table.

"Alright, let's put aside these guesses and speculations for now. Listen to me first. I think we need to cooperate while also being prepared."

"Old Zhou, you take some supplies, key technicians, and some able-bodied men and retreat into the underground air-raid shelter. If this person has ill intentions, you are the spark, the spark of revival."

"As for that vanguard member from the advanced civilization, I'll go and negotiate with him. At the very least, I need to find out why he came here."

……

In the lounge, Frank showed the base full respect, refraining from using equipment to eavesdrop on their meetings or calling in satellites to record everything they revealed.

Even though the other party won't notice if you do this, and they might think you've already done it even if you don't.

Soon, the sound of footsteps came from the doorway, and Li Jie pushed open the door and appeared in front of Frank.

"Hello, I'm Li Jie, the head of Xinghuo Construction Plant," Li Jie said, extending his hand.

“Hello, Frank, a member of the vanguard team,” Frank said, standing up to shake hands.

Li Jie began to ponder: was this person simply being polite, or had they already gathered information about them from various sources, or was this just a con artist with ulterior motives?

Despite his thoughts, Li Jie didn't reveal them and sat down opposite Frank as if nothing had happened.

"Well, after discussion, we'd like to ask you something," Li Jie said, taking the initiative to speak.

"what's up?"

"Could you tell me your personal purpose for coming here, such as why you chose this place?"

"Because this is one of the survivor bases closest to where I landed, I came here hoping that you can cooperate with me to complete the preliminary information gathering work and provide information support for the main force to enter later."

Li Jie paused for a moment after hearing this, then asked, "How would you like us to cooperate? Or what information do you need?"

“The most important information is about this ubiquitous virus,” Frank said, turning his visor transparent. “While we would love to help you, we can’t allow our own team members to risk infection by recklessly entering this planet.”

As Frank spoke, he placed several boxes on the table and gently touched the button on the bottom.

With a bang, the box suddenly appeared dozens of times larger in front of Li Jie.

"Here are some of the more common vaccines, serums, and antidotes that I brought. I need to test whether these can work properly, or you could provide us with a highly reliable vaccine for testing."

Frank continued.

After witnessing Frank's exaggerated technology, Li Jie became even more convinced that Frank came from an extraterrestrial civilization. Their civilization hadn't even come close to this kind of spatial compression and expansion technology.

"Do we need your help to extract the virus and conduct pathological experiments?" Li Jie then asked.

“No, my teammates will conduct an in-depth analysis of the virus. What I need to determine now is the effectiveness of existing drugs against it,” Frank said. “We are on a tight schedule, with only about a month for the initial phase. If we go over time, I can’t be sure whether the aid will continue as planned.”

"So what should I do? We don't even have a biological laboratory here," Li Jie continued.

"..." Frank paused for a few seconds, "These drugs have been used many times and are highly reliable. They will not cause any harm to the human body. Therefore, I now need volunteers to help me test the virus directly."

"That's impossible! I won't let a healthy person intentionally get infected with the zombie virus!" Li Jie reacted strongly. They had made such a huge decision and put in so much effort to ensure that there were no infected people in the base. How could they intentionally create infected people?

“I know it’s hard for you to accept, but please consider it carefully.” Frank continued to Li Jie without rushing him, “However, the consideration time must be short. After completing the drug testing here, I need to transmit the information back for countertesting to rule out any possible differences due to different intelligent life species.”

Li Jie was at a loss for words. It seemed that the other side was even willing to volunteer for testing on their behalf. What kind of spirit was this? Had their moral standards reached such a level?!

Truly worthy of being called a cosmic civilization.

Chapter 220 I Volunteered to Become a Volunteer

Li Jie doesn't remember how he left the temporary reception room, nor does he remember how he explained things to the others.

But after he finished speaking, the entire conference room fell into a deathly silence.

"Did he say how many people he needed?" someone finally asked after a long pause.

“There are at least three hundred people in each age group combined. He said that each type of drug must be tested once,” Li Jie said, his voice slightly hoarse.

“Three hundred people…” The speaker was a little speechless. The entire survivor base, including newborns, only had a few thousand people. If this was not handled properly, one-tenth of them might die because of the test.

"what are you thinking?"

Li Jie touched his face. "Let's take a gamble. All kinds of materials are already in short supply, and we can't contact the higher-ups no matter what. If they're showing off this kind of technology just to fool us once, then I have nothing to say."

"Alright! Since that's what you think!" The foreman stood up. "Then let me be the volunteer!"

The technician continued explaining his reasoning, ignoring the stares of the others: "Right now, the entire construction plant doesn't need to design new weapon types. At most, it only needs to repair some slightly damaged firearms. The veterans do these things better than I do. As the least useful person for the time being, I suggest putting me in the right position so that I can make the most of my value."

“No, if civilization revives and construction begins, a technician like you would be far more useful than someone like me. Let me do it,” the logistics manager said, standing up to offer his opinion.

“Agreed, you can’t be a volunteer, but neither can I.” The head of the communications department acted as if he had no one else to do it. “I’ll do it. First, I’ve decided to ignore their public information. Second, I’m a Party member. When something happens, Party members go first—it’s tradition!”

"You pockmarked man! What nonsense are you spouting? It's only because we can't get in touch with our superiors that we can't join the Party on the spot!" The logistics manager's temper flared up.

"We'll see if it's possible or not, but you're not in that position right now, so don't come out and make a fuss." The communications manager said firmly.

Li Jie wiped his face and stood up. "You guys continue discussing. I'll take on the role of volunteer number one. I agreed to this, and if I don't even step forward myself, how can I convince the others?"

"No, absolutely not! How can we let the head of the organization put himself in danger? What will happen to the base if you die?"

An argument immediately broke out in the conference room. While they were arguing, a plump woman carrying a slightly damaged stainless steel basin retreated from a nearby room.

"Auntie Pang, so fast!" The guard on duty at the entrance of the building greeted her. Because of the seriousness of this meeting, all the guards were assigned to the entrance of the building and were not allowed to approach the meeting room without permission. Only Auntie Pang, who cooked, was allowed to go in at this time under the pretext of bringing them food.

"Ah, yes," Aunt Pang replied somewhat absentmindedly.

"Um... Auntie Fatty, are you sure you delivered the food?" The guard pointed to the stainless steel basin, which was full of mashed potatoes. It didn't look like it had been eaten.

"Hey!" Aunt Pang slapped her forehead. "They were arguing inside, and I wasn't paying attention, so I grabbed the wrong one. This was supposed to be an empty basin."

"It's not arguing, it's debating," the guard corrected, then stepped aside. "Hurry up, you haven't rested all night, you can't keep going without eating something."

Aunt Pang hesitated for a moment, then placed the basin on the table next to her. "Could you please take it inside for me? I have something to do. Thank you for your help."

After saying that, Auntie Pang turned and left without waiting for the guard's permission, as if she had something very urgent to do.

The guard felt a bit confused. If it weren't for Aunt Pang or Li Jie's mother, he probably would have reported the situation.