Shelter!

The sky was just beginning to lighten.

At the end of a desolate, abandoned highway, two points of light drew closer from afar.

Soon, the road was illuminated by two glaring headlights as tires rolled over the asphalt, bringing the vehicle nearer to the human base.

Around the shelter stood four colossal iron towers, each dozens of meters tall.

As Lin Ye approached their range, a massive searchlight atop one of the towers swept down, enveloping the vehicle in its beam.

"License plate Yu A7007C—it's Mr. Lin Ye!"

The light flickered as Lin Ye confirmed his identity again with a light signal.

Rumble!!!

The enormous, alloy-forged city gate swung open from the inside.

Clomp, clomp, clomp!!!

The sound of combat boots striking the ground rang out as an eighteen-man squad in black Combat Suits rushed out of the shelter, forming two rows.

The squad leader, spotting the strikingly handsome young man in the driver's seat, beamed with pride and snapped a crisp military salute at Lin Ye:

"Welcome back, Mr. Lin Ye!"

"Welcome back, Mr. Lin Ye!" x17.

"Mm." Lin Ye nodded in acknowledgment.

Under the nearly fanatical, reverent gazes of the crowd, Lin Ye drove through the steel walls bristling with artillery and entered Shelter No. 057.

This wasn't Lin Ye's first time at a shelter.

After his parents were gone, he had entered many shelters.

He had also witnessed with his own eyes those shelters reduced to rubble in the Beast Tide, countless civilians, soldiers, and martial artists perishing among them...

Shelter No. 057.

As a high-level shelter under the jurisdiction of the South Bank Fortress in Shan City, it had always maintained a high safety rating.

Its original form was a bustling town, barely a hundred kilometers from Shan City's main urban area.

But after the sudden cataclysm, the land was scarred and ravaged, mutated monsters ran rampant, and the living environment for humans became extremely harsh.

Human civilization and order teetered on the brink under wave after wave of crisis.

This once-prosperous town had also suffered repeated trampling and devastation by beast hordes.

Thanks to the timely intervention of the Great Xia military, they managed to reclaim this strategic point before a large-scale Beast Tide struck and established a shelter here.

Later, in coordination with the South Bank and North Bank Fortresses, they jointly safeguarded the peace of Shan City.

But due to Shan City's unique geographical features, its living environment couldn't match the plains, which offered better capacity.

Lin Ye drove along crude but tidy streets, flanked by rows of makeshift prefab houses and, even more so, tents.

It reminded him strongly of the aftermath of earthquakes and mudslides in his past life.

Yet the situation facing Great Xia—and the entire world—was countless times more severe than any natural disaster.

Row after row of prefabs and tents stretched on.

Light was scarce across the entire area, with only scattered candle flames and the glow of burning firewood visible.

During the cataclysm, electricity was exorbitantly expensive. Every shelter, fortress, and main city's defense system ran on electrical power.

With the increase in shelters and fortresses, the entire nation's demand for electricity was immense.

At that moment, heads poked out from windows and doorways, cautiously watching Lin Ye, sizing up the newcomer to the shelter.

"It's the martial artist big brother!!"

"It's Brother Lin Ye!"

Someone shouted first, and then the entire shelter erupted like a boiling pot.

"Brother Lin Ye!!"

"Big Brother Lin Ye!!"

"Big brother!"

A chorus of young voices rang out.

Then, groups of children ranging from three to twelve years old poured out of the rooms and ran toward the off-road vehicle.

Lin Ye opened the door and got out, his eyes dark and deep as he looked at these young children.

"Brother Lin Ye, can you tell us stories about the wilderness this time?"

"Yeah, what's our hometown like now?"

Suddenly, Lin Ye felt a light tug at his pant leg.

He looked down slightly and found two little girls, barely three or four years old, standing in front of him.

They wore little dresses washed pale, stared with wide, dark eyes, and asked in milky voices, "Brother Lin Ye, when can we go home?"

Hearing this question, Lin Ye's heart twitched slightly. He didn't answer directly.

He pulled a piece of compressed biscuit from his pocket, bent down, and handed it to the little girl: "Your hometown is sick. The soldiers and martial uncles are treating it... When you've grown up nicely, you can go back."

"I wish I could grow up faster!" The little girl's voice was soft and weak, but when she looked at Lin Ye, her eyes sparkled with hope.

Lin Ye shook his head with a smile: "It's better not to grow up."

"Big brother, do you believe that if I wake up tomorrow, I'll be this tall!"

One of the children stood on tiptoe, raising a hand higher than her head.

Lin Ye smiled but said nothing.

Another child jumped up, raising her hand: "I can be this tall too!"

"Little girls... grow up slowly, don't rush. One day, you'll all be this tall."

Lin Ye walked over to the children, raised a hand, and marked a spot at his own forehead. He lowered his head and said softly, "By then, the monsters will all be wiped out, and you can go home!"

He lifted his head.

Looking at the innocent children before him, endless emotions surged in his heart.

This... was probably the meaning behind the frontline soldiers and martial artists fighting monsters without regard for their own lives!

At that moment, Lin Ye recalled a saying from a certain marshal in his past life—

'Born in this era, sacrifice is a price we must pay. If we don't pay it, then our sons will, and our grandsons will.'

"Mm!" A group of children gathered around him, nodding very hard.

Without overthinking it, Lin Ye called over a few adults.

He carried several large chunks of Soldier-class Monster flesh from the vehicle and instructed them to add it to the children's meal.

Watching the children's envious faces, Lin Ye's expression grew complicated.

The sudden virus had caused species to mutate, and terrifying monsters appeared, smashing and disrupting the existing social order.

Children who should have been playing freely and learning happily on campus.

Instead, they had to huddle in shelters like refugees, full of worry all day long.

Under the threat of the mutant virus and the terrifying monster hordes, the original social order had nearly collapsed...

Education, commerce, entertainment, and culture had all suffered fatal blows under the influence of the Beast Tide.

Except for a few large cities like Capital City that had yet to be hit by the Beast Tide, all other cities in Great Xia were under threat from monsters.

At this moment, about a hundred meters above the shelter.

A flock of massive avian monsters flew in swiftly from afar.

Each one had a colossal body tens of meters long, like small fighter jets, charging straight at the shelter.

Zzzz!!

But just as they approached, blue electric arcs suddenly erupted.

Bolts of lightning, each up to a hundred thousand volts, flashed and exploded.

Crackle!!

In an instant, those avian monsters trying to break into the shelter all burst into flames.

For a moment, sparks flew everywhere.

The avian monsters were all electrocuted, crispy on the outside and tender within, turning into charcoal and plummeting straight down.

Lin Ye silently took all this in without saying much.

The shelters and fortresses of the Cataclysm Era were already humanity's last refuge.

If even the shelters and fortresses were breached, then humanity would have completely lost hope...

After calming the children's emotions.

Lin Ye continued driving toward the military Command Center building.