"What's the situation in the shelter?" Li Chen rubbed his forehead.
The cultivation pods had produced 120 Android Warriors.
Li Chen had only brought twenty of them out.
The other ninety had been divided into three squads and sent to the small counties surrounding Donghai City to carry out Rescue Missions.
The remaining ten had been stationed at the Rescue Shelter.
To prevent it from being attacked.
"The shelter has encountered its first wave of zombies. They have been held back for now."
"Please be careful on your way back, Host. Prepare for battle."
Noah displayed part of the surveillance footage from around the shelter.
There were six screens in total.
Every screen was packed with zombies.
Some had wandered over.
Most, however, had been people fleeing for their lives who had passed by and tried to call for help.
They had ended up being bitten to death by zombies halfway there, joining the zombie horde.
Ten Android Warriors held the shelter entrance, using their firepower to stop the zombies from advancing.
However, it was useless.
There were simply too many!
Just ten warriors could not handle them at all.
Because they were so close to the shelter, they had not used highly destructive weapons in order to avoid accidental injuries.
Li Chen immediately gave the order.
"Any squads that have completed their Rescue Missions, return to the shelter at once."
The shelter was Li Chen's Main Camp.
Having zombies surrounding the entrance to his Main Camp was infuriating no matter how he thought about it.
"Yes. Two squads have already completed their Rescue Missions. The remaining squad is still carrying out its rescue operation, with an estimated completion time of five minutes."
"The three squads have rescued a total of 682 children, 20 kindergarten teachers, 5,310 technical personnel, and 2 researchers."
Li Chen nodded slightly as he listened to Noah's report.
The research institute was in the city.
That was why the team led by Li Chen had moved relatively slowly.
The other three squads, however, had mostly been operating in sparsely populated areas.
That was why they had been able to make repeated trips in such a short time.
"This is... artificial intelligence?" Doctor Yang's astonished voice rang out.
"Of course. Noah is different from the weak artificial intelligence developed before the apocalypse. It is an upgraded version of strong artificial intelligence."
"Once we return to the shelter, you'll see even more technological creations far beyond this era."
Li Chen smiled faintly.
Doctor Yang and Ning Jing exchanged glances, each seeing the doubt in the other's eyes.
How was that possible?
In theory, strong artificial intelligence could even develop a mind of its own!
It could handle complex situations!
Doctor Yang only half believed Li Chen's words.
But Li Chen did not take it to heart.
Noah was a product of a Level 3 Civilization.
But even if he said so now, Doctor Yang probably would not believe him.
Now that it was the apocalypse, Li Chen was absolutely confident that Doctor Yang and the others would work for him.
Even exposing Noah did not matter.
The bus gradually drove out of the city.
After being on edge the entire way, the people on the bus were all exhausted.
Most of them had fallen asleep.
When Li Chen arrived at the shelter, the other three teams arrived at the same time.
Android Warriors stepped down from one modified bus after another in an orderly manner.
They all aimed their guns at the entrance to the Rescue Shelter.
Hearing the commotion, the zombies followed the scent over.
"Roar—"
The roar tore through the sky.
The people who had been asleep on the buses were instantly startled awake.
They all craned their heads to look outside.
Cold sweat broke out across their faces!
"What's going on? Why are there so many zombies?"
Someone shouted.
But the only response was the rat-a-tat-tat of the warriors' gunfire.
"Tighten the formation!"
"Wipe them all out!"
Following Li Chen's orders.
The Android Warriors slowly tightened their encirclement.
Amid bursts of gunfire, the zombies gathered at the shelter entrance fell in wave after wave.
"Quick! One got through over there!"
"Report! Only two rounds of ammunition left!"
"Take this, Exploding Egg!"
Boom—
The warriors' excited voices mingled with the explosions.
One Hand Grenade after another exploded.
Large numbers of zombies instantly fell to the ground!
The heatwave from the grenade explosions also set the surrounding zombies ablaze.
The battle had lasted less than ten minutes and was already nearing its end.
The few scattered survivors no longer posed any threat.
"Fall back!"
Li Chen gave the order.
The buses drove straight over the zombies, roaring across the steel bridge.
They arrived at the outer perimeter of the shelter.
"Holy shit, did you see that? Are they Special Forces? They're incredible!"
"I've lived in Donghai City for so many years. How come I've never seen this shelter?"
"Does this shelter only have an iron fence?"
The survivors inside the buses all pressed against the windows and looked outside.
Some were shocked by the warriors' overwhelming strength.
But even more of them looked worried.
Li Chen had originally placed the shelter underground.
Now, there were only iron fences, generators, and a few other pieces of equipment on the surface.
No matter how they looked at it, it did not seem fit for people to live in!
"Open the door."
Li Chen spoke calmly.
Noah immediately carried out the order.
Beep, beep, beep—
A flash of light flickered across the ground.
The mist surrounding the area slowly dispersed.
Then the ground suddenly split apart!
A circular platform was revealed.
The ground beneath the convoy slowly descended!
The warriors held their guns and shot all the scattered zombies around them.
Before long, the circular platform reached the seventh floor—the Human Residential Area.
"It's an Underground Shelter!"
Someone immediately screamed excitedly.
To everyone, it all seemed as miraculous as a movie.
All the survivors let out a sigh of relief in unison.
They were finally safe!
At a glance.
The residential area was filled with compartments made of metal.
A few decorations had been placed along the corridors.
It looked somewhat like the space cabins in a sci-fi movie.
The heavy metal surrounding them made people feel safe without realizing it.
The survivors could not help but turn their gazes toward Li Chen.
Li Chen was the person in charge of the shelter.
Why had he built something so massive?
But Li Chen did not explain. Instead, he gave Noah another order.
"Combat Team, rest for five minutes, then eliminate all the zombies at the entrance."
"Logistics personnel, assemble. Be ready to clear the zombie corpses and extract the crystal cores."
"Yes!"
Noah immediately relayed Li Chen's orders.
When they entered, the zombies at the entrance had already been mostly cleared away.
The Combat Team took a brief rest.
Within minutes, they had completely cleared the area around the shelter.
The logistics personnel immediately moved in with practiced efficiency. One team carried away zombie corpses, while another extracted crystal cores.
Before long, all the tasks had been completed, and they returned to the shelter.
Li Chen looked at the management-type Android Warrior.
"Number One, lead the Logistics Team in registering the survivors and establishing data files."
"Yes!"
Android Warrior Number One answered respectfully.
"Please get off the buses in an orderly manner."
"Welcome to the Star-Level Shelter."
"If you do not wish to join our shelter, leave immediately."
"If you wish to join, line up here to register."
Under Number One's lead, nine logistics personnel began guiding the survivors off the buses to register.
Several thousand people were divided into eight lines.
Holding scanners, the logistics personnel first checked each person's physical condition.
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