Zhongshan had been cleared out. Inside was a vast space filled with modern facilities, astonishing the hundreds of evolved humans.
Teams of evolved human soldiers passed by, carrying standardized steel blades, a strange blend of modern and ancient.
As the evolved humans grew stronger, ordinary firearms became less effective than cold weapons. Furthermore, many armories were destroyed, so the ability of Figure's Vanguard to equip standardized steel blades proved it was no simple organization.
Lu Yin and the others arrived at a massive plaza. Evolved human soldiers stood in a circle around them, and not a few female soldiers solemnly observed them.
More than 10 meters above the plaza was a transparent glass floor, which also enclosed a large space.
At this moment, near the glass, several men and women laughed and looked down.
"I wonder if we can recruit any useful ones this time. Even if they don't reach Human-level, it'd be good if they're not too weak," a middle-aged man grumbled.
"Don't have too high expectations. Human-level isn't that easy to achieve. The few Human-level captains in this convoy have already been assigned by Figure Saint; you and I haven't gotten a single one," a charming woman beside him said, dissatisfied.
"It's not impossible. It's not easy to protect tens of thousands of survivors all the way to Jinling. I think highly of these people. You just don't want to give them all to me," a young man on the other side said with a laugh.
"Dream on. Let's see how Feng Hong arranges things. He's the trainer this time, so he'll definitely take the best ones," the middle-aged man said.
These individuals were all Vanguard Commanders of Figure's Vanguard. Of the eighty thousand evolved humans in Figure's Vanguard, only those who reached Earth-level could become Vanguard Commanders. Achieving Vanguard Commander status meant being an absolute hegemon in Jinling, second only to Figure Saint Zhou Shan.
To the millions of survivors in Jinling, Figure Saint was like a god, and a Vanguard Commander was like heaven.
"I heard that Snow Maiden, under Saint Luo, is coming to Jinling for a sparring match. Who among you plans to go?" the charming woman suddenly asked, smiling at the people beside her.
The others remained silent, unwilling to take the bait.
The charming woman chuckled. "Rumor has it that Saint Luo publicly declared Snow Maiden invincible among Earth-level. You all, are you really not going to find out?"
The others still said nothing.
The charming woman pursed her lips and smiled, needing to say no more.
Saint Luo Bai Xue, standing proudly on the snowy mountains, created Blue Vanguard. Although she was listed among the Seven Saints alongside Figure Saint Zhou Shan, her status was even higher than Zhou Shan's.
To outsiders, the Seven Saints of China appeared to have equal status. In reality, only a select few knew that the Seven Saints were divided into Upper Three Saints and Lower Four Saints. Saint Luo Bai Xue was one of the Upper Three Saints, while Zhou Shan belonged to the Lower Four Saints.
In the plaza, evolved humans underwent inspections one by one. This was primarily because many viruses had mutated after the apocalypse, especially the Zombie virus, which was difficult to cure. Figure's Vanguard had to ensure that all evolved humans were not infected with viruses, as it would be very dangerous otherwise.
It was quickly Lu Yin's turn.
As he watched his blood sample being preserved to the side, the nurse began filling out his personal information. Lu Yin's eyes flashed, his legs exerted force, and his figure suddenly blurred, then instantly returned to normal. No one saw clearly, only that the color of the blood in the sample changed slightly, seeming to carry a hint of purple, but then quickly returned to normal.
"Lu Yin, right? Please wait a moment, it'll be done soon," the nurse said to Lu Yin with a smile.
Lu Yin nodded. "Thank you," he said, then walked to another side.
After a while, nearly 500 evolved humans had completed all their inspections without any issues.
Not long after, a middle-aged man in a dark military uniform walked in. As he approached, a natural pressure emanated from him, and all the evolved humans looked at him in surprise.
Crack!
The ground cracked, and a wave of qi swept through, shaking all the evolved humans.
"Earth-level! An Earth-level powerhouse!" someone exclaimed. All the evolved humans looked at the middle-aged man with awe and envy.
The middle-aged man walked about 10 meters away from Lu Yin and the others, raising his voice. "My name is Feng Hong, a Vanguard Commander of Figure's Vanguard. Now I ask, if any of you do not wish to join Figure's Vanguard, you may leave."
The hundreds of evolved humans looked at each other, then one by one, some stepped out.
Although Figure's Vanguard was powerful, it imposed restrictions. Many people had never served in the military and had no desire to join, which was normal. Lu Yin was one of them.
Nearly 200 people, almost half, chose not to join Figure's Vanguard.
Feng Hong looked at the evolved humans who didn't want to join, and said indifferently, "Joining Figure's Vanguard means not only your safety is guaranteed, but your family members can also be brought to the vicinity of Zhongshan. You will also receive energy crystals for cultivation every month, and you can even learn combat techniques taught by Figure Saint."
"What are combat techniques?" someone asked curiously.
Feng Hong said coldly, "Techniques that can bring out 200% of your power are combat techniques. Figure Saint's combat technique is Storm Slash. There are very few things in this world that can stop that slash. You should have seen it."
All the evolved humans' eyes gleamed with excitement. Of course they had seen it – the slash that annihilated the mutated vine, cracked the earth, and changed the weather. How powerful!
"Can we learn Storm Slash?" someone asked eagerly.
Feng Hong said coldly, "Anyone can learn it, as long as they gain Figure Saint's recognition."
Upon hearing this, the evolved humans who had originally intended to leave hesitated. One by one, they tentatively returned to their original groups. Only less than 50 people truly intended to leave, and Lu Yin was among them.
Feng Hong waved his hand. "Lead them out."
Soon, nearly 50 evolved humans were led out of Zhongshan.
Lu Yin turned back to look. This place would soon become restless.
Outside Zhongshan, many survivors and even evolved humans gathered. When Lu Yin and the others came out, they all swarmed over. "Brother, do you want to buy some real estate? You can find me, the price is absolutely fair."
"Brother, do you want a guide? Don't look at me like that, there are too many Zombies and monsters outside Jinling city. Without a guide, you'll easily get surrounded."
"Brother, do you want weapons? Sharp combat knives, sturdy spears, anything you need. We even have firearms. Buy a few grenades for self-defense."
...
"Do you have a map?" Lu Yin asked.
A shifty-eyed evolved human immediately darted over. First, his fierce gaze swept around, scaring off his同行 (companions), then he cautiously took out a map. "Brother, this map is ten crystals for a bargain."
Lu Yin's eyebrow twitched. "Ten crystals? Are you crazy? Ten energy crystals for a map? Do you know that one energy crystal can make an ordinary person evolve?"
The shifty-eyed evolved human whispered, "Brother, this isn't an ordinary map. It details the powerful monsters and Zombie concentrations outside Jinling city. You don't want to get surrounded right after you go out, do you? This concerns your life. Isn't your life worth ten crystals?"
Lu Yin chuckled. "Three crystals at most, no more."
The shifty-eyed evolved human said cheerfully, "Alright, I'll make you a friend. Here's the map."
Lu Yin felt he had been conned; this was too easy. But he didn't care. He pulled three rice-grain sized white crystals from his palm and handed them to the evolved human. The shifty-eyed evolved human accepted the crystals, his eyes gleaming with excitement. Then he approached Lu Yin and whispered, "Brother, since you're so generous, I'll give you something. No need to thank me." With that, he slipped a round pill into Lu Yin's hand and turned to leave.
Lu Yin looked at the pill, his expression strange. He recognized this item: a male enhancement pill.
After the apocalypse, many plants mutated, and peacetime medicines had long expired. Medicines made from mutated plants were very effective. Lu Yin had seen others use this type of male enhancement pill, and its effect was truly amazing. But this pill was very precious; if sold, it would be worth far more than three crystals. Where did this guy get it?
Lu Yin didn't think much of it. He casually tossed the male enhancement pill away, looked around, and headed out of the city.
Studying the map carefully, Lu Yin's gaze swept over it, finally settling on the desolate mountain in the south of the city. "Hope there's a clue here."
In the highest floor of Zhongshan's space, a large conference room was filled with people. The head seat was empty. On the first seat to the left sat a man with a scar on his face, wearing a military uniform. On the first seat to the right sat a beautiful young woman wearing glasses. Most of those present were Vanguard Commanders of Figure's Vanguard.
After a long while, Zhou Shan walked into the conference room and naturally took the head seat. His gaze swept over everyone, finally looking at the young woman with glasses. "How are the preparations?"
The young woman pushed up her glasses. "Preliminary estimates suggest it will take at least two months to expand the Jinling base. Combat personnel losses could reach 2,000 to 3,000. If we want to completely expand the entire Jinling area from peacetime into the base, the losses would increase threefold."
Zhou Shan frowned. "The base must be expanded. The push north is relatively smooth; it could connect to the capital in a few months. Once the whole country is connected, reclaiming our territory will be easy. We cannot lag behind; we cannot let others mock us."
"Figure Saint, we just received news that a Sky-level powerhouse, Ku Seng (Bitter Monk), has emerged in Tianzhu (India)," the scarred man suddenly interjected.
Everyone stirred. All of China had only seven Sky-level powerhouses, showing how difficult it was. They hadn't expected Tianzhu to produce one.
Zhou Shan's eyes hardened. "Ku Seng? Investigate his background. Logically, no one else should be able to break through to Sky-level within a year."
"Yes."
"Any other matters?" Zhou Shan continued to ask.
The scarred man was about to speak when an evolved human suddenly stared blankly out the window. The others quickly followed suit, all looking out in stupefaction.
Zhou Shan abruptly turned and looked out the window, his pupils contracting.
Only to see over a dozen meteors streaking across the sky, leaving long fiery trails, one of which was plummeting towards Jinling, finally falling south of the Jinling base. The ground trembled.
At this moment, countless survivors and evolved humans witnessed this scene. The meteors in the sky were as brilliant as fireworks, fleeting in an instant.
Outside Jinling city, Lu Yin, who was following the map towards the desolate mountain in the south, also saw it. And at this moment, the meteor that crashed outside Jinling city was not far from him.
A violent qi wave swept through the sky, dispersing the clouds. The ground cracked in sections.
Lu Yin kicked away a steel frame that had smacked into him, staring intently towards the south. After a moment of thought, he quickly sped off.
Inside Jinling city, Zhou Shan ascended into the sky, intending to head south, but he was stopped. "Figure Saint, countless Zombies are attacking the city wall!"
Zhou Shan's gaze shifted eastward. He saw a dense mass of Zombies wandering towards them. Jinling city had already been sealed off, and many survivors were still trapped outside, screaming in despair.
Zhou Shan held his mountain-splitting giant axe and flew outside the city. He brought his axe down onto the ground. Countless Zombies were cut down. "Open the city gates! Let them in! I will guard!"
South of Jinling city, at the meteor's crash site, dust billowed into the sky. A massive crater, a thousand meters in diameter and conical in shape, had formed. At its bottom was a white sphere, 2 meters in diameter, emitting white smoke, and the surrounding air warped.
Lu Yin approached the crater, hiding in a discarded factory not far from it. Peeking through a wooden plank, he looked at the white sphere. His eyes slightly changed. Although he had some suspicions, its actual appearance still surprised him. "I didn't expect it to arrive earlier than I predicted – a spaceship."
With a soft click, the white spaceship's hatch opened, and a hand reached out. It paused, and then a young man emerged from the ship. He had short hair, wore white light armor and combat boots. He slowly walked out of the spaceship, looked up, stretched his back, and yawned. "So tiring. Trial after trial, choosing such a distant place, and making us fly here ourselves. So annoying."
As he spoke, the young man took a short blade from the spaceship, then took out a watch-like device and put it on his left wrist. He nodded, and a series of beeping sounds rang out. The young man's eyes narrowed, looking towards Lu Yin's direction. "Who's there?" he said, then leaped up, drawing his short blade and slashing horizontally. A massive strike swept through, cutting the factory in half.