While Cheng Qisheng was thinking about how to make her move, she casually sent a message in the group chat along the lines of, “Hello, everyone. Newbie reporting in,” and only spoke up occasionally after that.
The other city lords didn’t pay much attention. There were lurkers in the city lord group too, and only a small minority actually enjoyed chatting.
Only Blue Leaf felt a little disappointed—if a city lord barely spoke even in the group chat, chances were they had no interest in joining an alliance.
So now, aside from Coriander, only the “Cosmic Lord” was paying attention to Cheng Qisheng.
However, he believed that Cheng Qisheng reaching Tier 2 immediately after arriving meant she was a formidable opponent, so he needed to observe her carefully before making a move.
As for Cheng Qisheng, she knew Cosmic Lord was Tier 3, but she had no idea what kind of powerful weapons or defenses a Tier 3 Safe City might possess, so she too needed to observe carefully before making a move.
Once again, both sides reached the same unspoken understanding: wait and watch.
—For the time being, nothing happened among the city lords, while the Blue Sea civilization resumed its large-scale construction.
This time, however, with the AI core using its enormous computing power to coordinate everything, all the Blue Sea people found the work far easier than before.
As mentioned earlier, although the Blue Sea people were hot-tempered and loved fighting and brawling, they were genuinely willing to work when work needed to be done.
And if they believed that working was the will of their god, they became even more motivated.
Full-scale construction would still take some time, but at the very least, residential zones had already been divided and designated.
Small rooms were partitioned off, and hive-like residential structures quickly took shape. Routes for foot traffic were also planned out. When people went to collect food now, they no longer had to stand in line for hours only to end up with nothing to eat.
After receiving Cheng Qisheng’s approval, the AI core introduced a points system.
The modern lifestyle of the former Blue Sea civilization was no longer suitable for a Safe City that constantly traveled between different worlds.
Now, everything in the Blue Sea civilization revolved around survival.
All wealth from the old society had become meaningless. Currency had vanished, the stock market had disappeared into nothingness, and everything was now determined solely by how much a person contributed to the Blue Sea civilization.
Those who contributed more earned more points and enjoyed higher status. They could eat better food and live in more spacious housing.
Those who contributed less earned fewer points, enough only to maintain a basic standard of survival.
Aside from minors and the elderly, who still received basic welfare, every other Blue Sea citizen had to work hard simply to survive.
The entire society had effectively transformed into a militarized system—everything existed for the sake of survival.
Joining the military and becoming a soldier became the most popular choice among young people.
After all, soldiers not only enjoyed high social status and a stable income of points, but also had a clearly defined promotion system and reward structure.
The government issued tactical watches to soldiers, modified from collected “Genius Watches.” These watches could receive commanders’ orders and provide navigation, but most importantly, they were equipped with cameras that allowed the AI core to monitor combat in real time.
As long as a soldier was willing to fight and achieved results in battle, the AI core would automatically record the footage and calculate their combat contribution into tactical points.
It was much like playing a game, with the system automatically analyzing how much each player had contributed in a match—who secured the kills, who provided assists, and who was the MVP.
All the soldiers had to do was charge into battle, which suited the hot-blooded, combat-loving nature of the Blue Sea people perfectly.
However, there were also people who either didn’t want to be restricted by military discipline or had failed to enlist for various reasons, yet still wanted to earn more points through adventure and combat.
Thus, “Nuclear Crystal Hunters” came into being.
“Nuclear Crystal Hunters? Sounds like something straight out of an adventurers’ guild in a novel—but it’s only been two days, and there are already this many of them?”
Cheng Qisheng looked at the fully equipped Nuclear Crystal Hunters and counted them. Just among the people currently leaving the city under the identity of “Nuclear Crystal Hunters,” there were already more than a thousand.
The Blue Sea civilization truly was bold.
They might drag their feet when it came to other things, but the moment combat was involved, everyone became impatient and aggressive.
She flipped through the job description for Nuclear Crystal Hunters.
Yes—within just two days, not only had the profession appeared, it already had a detailed occupational guide.
So-called Nuclear Crystal Hunters were small teams that ventured outside to kill zombies and collect nuclear crystals, along with various other resources.
These hunters did not advance together with the Blue Sea military. Instead, they operated privately in regions where Blue Sea forces were not stationed.
What was the point of going somewhere the military had already secured?
Sure, it was safe—but there were no zombies left to kill for nuclear crystals, and no resources left to scavenge. Any territory officially occupied by the military was considered government property.
Uncleared areas were different.
Even information alone could be valuable—for example, estimates of how many zombies were in a particular region, what the surrounding roads and routes looked like, or where large factory machinery might be located.
And even without selling intelligence, the entire zombie world itself was one enormous treasure trove for Nuclear Crystal Hunters.
First, killing zombies yielded nuclear crystals, which could be directly exchanged for points.
Second, this world had probably been in a post-apocalyptic state for around half a year. As long as one searched carefully, there were still plenty of usable supplies to be found—whether for personal use, exchanging for points back in Blue Sea, or trading with others. As long as they made it back alive, there was profit to be made.
Even ignoring the material gains, the very idea was incredibly appealing: “My homeland is safe in the rear, while I carry a backpack and venture through another world on an adventure.” It perfectly suited the Blue Sea people’s innate love of combat and romantic fascination with the wilderness.
What? They couldn’t speak the local language?
Not a problem.
Just use gestures.
And didn’t that make it feel even more like an adventure in another world?
After reading the information and reports on Nuclear Crystal Hunters compiled by the AI core, Cheng Qisheng came to a conclusion.
“An adventurers’ guild… and a pretty chuunibyou one at that.”
Still, she didn’t disapprove of it.
In fact, she was quite pleased.
As the creator god of Blue Sea, as long as she wished, she could see the surroundings and visual perspective of every single one of her believers.
The Nuclear Crystal Hunters were scattered all over the place on their adventures. To Cheng Qisheng, following them was no different from watching a livestream of the zombie world—except the footage was even clearer.
The creator god watched these “brave adventurers” and decided to give them a little more incentive.
She issued a directive.
“Selling intelligence this way—going somewhere to gather information, then bringing it all the way back before it can be sold—is far too inefficient.”
“Aether, grant the Nuclear Crystal Hunters loan access to tactical wristbands. Add an [Information Trading] function so they can upload major intelligence as soon as they discover it.”
Aether reminded her, “City Lord, my computational coverage only extends within a five-hundred-kilometer radius of Blue Sea Safe City.”
“I know,” Cheng Qisheng said. “Just add it. The information will find its way back eventually.”
After all, she had managed Dark Star for hundreds of billions of years. Her ability to multitask had long since been trained to an absurd degree.
She had never had a choice.
The great creator god often found herself witnessing, all within the same field of vision at the same time:
—A professor in a white lab coat and glasses hiding in an underground laboratory, mixing various chemicals while laughing nervously and declaring that he would change the world.
—A genius who had lost his family to enemies, kneeling before their graves and swearing that the entire world would pay for their deaths.
—An ambitious figure determined to unify the world, already developing weapons and preparing to purge all opposition.
—An organization attempting to alter the planet’s environment, planning to launch climate weapons and reshape the atmosphere.
It wasn’t hard to imagine just how explosive Cheng Qisheng’s mental state had been back then.
She had forced herself to endure a level of mental strain that was enough to cause constant headaches, multitasking and cleaning up disasters in real time, barely managing to keep several civilizations alive for so long.
Otherwise, back in the “caveman era,” if some mentally unstable tribal chief had pounded his chest while howling “Uraaa!” and led the remaining primitive humans to challenge a three-meter-tall, one-ton cave bear, humanity would have gone extinct ages ago.
At her peak, Cheng Qisheng could monitor hundreds of millions of people at the same time.
Now she was only keeping an eye on the Nuclear Crystal Hunters. Once they eventually gathered intelligence and brought it back to the Safe City, she wouldn’t even need to devote much attention to the matter.
But… was this really something a normal person could do?
Forget it.
It didn’t matter.
The most important thing right now was to stabilize this world, secure more resources, and obtain more nuclear crystals.
Being good at multitasking was a useful ability anyway.
She could keep an eye on the city lord group chat, monitor the military’s expansion and frontier development, and follow the hunters’ perspectives to see what the outside world beyond the zombie apocalypse was like—all at the same time.
***
Wang Moning curled up inside a wooden cage, watching the busy Blue Sea soldiers moving back and forth, along with people in white lab coats and various logistics personnel.
Her emotions had gradually calmed down, but she was still extremely nervous, and her memories remained somewhat hazy.
She could only vaguely remember that yesterday, when a soldier tried to make her leave the wooden cage, she had struggled with almost all her strength to avoid being taken out.
Wang Moning was seventeen years old and a senior in high school. Her grades were terrible, so when the zombie outbreak began, she had been attending a cram school downstairs from her home.
She had watched classmates beside her turn into terrifying monsters, then rapidly infect the other students.
She and one classmate had desperately hidden inside the cram school’s storage room, surviving on the food and water stored there.
Then, after an unknown amount of time—perhaps three months, perhaps four—the classmate hiding with her developed some kind of illness.
At first, they complained of severe abdominal pain, then pain in their back and waist as well. After suffering for two or three days, they died.
Wang Moning remained alone with the corpse for a very long time.
The smell of decay, the steadily dwindling food supplies, and the constant pounding and howling of zombies outside kept her nerves stretched to the breaking point.
Then, two days ago, gunshots suddenly rang out and the door to the storage room was opened.
A group of heavily armed soldiers rescued her.
Just as Wang Moning, still dazed, thought she had finally been saved, she was horrified to realize that she couldn’t understand a single word those soldiers were saying.
It wasn’t the language of her country, nor any other widely known language.
Were these people… aliens?
Wang Moning was placed inside a wooden cage.
At first, she thought they were treating her like a prisoner, but after seeing a survivor in a neighboring cage transform into a zombie, she realized it was quarantine.
Even after the quarantine period ended, however, she refused to leave the cage.
Wang Moning had seen people who were released before her being taken away—and never coming back.
She had no idea where they had gone.
The language barrier provided fertile ground for terrifying possibilities.
The people in white lab coats here held extremely high status. Whenever patrolling soldiers encountered someone wearing a white coat, they placed a hand over their chest in what was clearly a gesture of respect.
Wang Moning had watched plenty of movies.
What kind of place gave people in white coats such high status?
Obviously, a research facility.
What if the people who were taken away had been dissected by those white coats?
Or maybe not.
After all, these “aliens” hadn’t actually harmed her yet.
But Wang Moning didn’t dare take the risk.
So she stubbornly refused to come out and secretly observed her surroundings, waiting for a chance to escape.
Unfortunately, security around the alien camp was simply too tight.
There wasn’t a single gap she could exploit.
All Wang Moning could do was wait.
And today, an opportunity finally seemed to present itself.
A squad of alien soldiers arrived with several other aliens wearing different clothes—not military uniforms, so they were probably civilians.
They stood in front of her wooden cage, pointing at her while talking.
It looked like…
They were advertising her.
Were these aliens trying to sell her to someone?
Feeling uneasy, Wang Moning tried to guess what they were saying.
Were they saying she was disobedient?
Uncooperative?
Were they planning to drag her out and dispose of her?
Meanwhile, Sergeant Mia from the logistics support camp was enthusiastically recommending Wang Moning to a group of Nuclear Crystal Hunters.
“She’s very brave, and very strong. Yesterday she even kicked one of our soldiers in the arm hard enough to leave a bruise.”
Mia continued praising this “fierce local native.”
“And she’s got guts. The soldier who brought her back said she survived locked in a room with a rotting corpse for more than a month. A native like this is exactly the kind of talent you want!”
The leader of the Nuclear Crystal Hunters, Song Xi, looked Wang Moning up and down.
“I don’t see any muscle definition on her.”
Mia rolled her eyes.
“Of course you don’t. She’s been trapped for half a year and barely had enough food to survive. Whatever muscle she had is long gone.”
“Just tell me—are you hiring her or not? If you’re not, we don’t have any other candidates to offer. You came too late. The other teams have already hired all the locals willing to work as translators.”
Song Xi cursed, “Those damn long-legged rabbits.”
She and her team had already hurried as fast as they could, but the group ahead of them had moved even faster, leaving them with only one local candidate.
“Fine. We’ll take her.”
Mia stepped aside.
“You handle communicating with her yourselves. As long as she agrees, there’s no problem on our end.”
Song Xi had clearly come prepared.
She motioned for one of her teammates to hand Wang Moning a freshly drawn picture.
That girl called “Yubao” had already proven one thing: even without a shared language, pictures could bridge the communication gap.
When forming their Nuclear Crystal Hunter team, they had deliberately recruited a former professional artist precisely for situations like this, where they needed to communicate with locals.
Wang Moning warily looked at the picture being handed to her.
It showed her…
Or at least, it seemed to.
Same clothes.
Same wooden cage.
In the picture, someone gave her food, water, and several strange pieces of paper. Then she left the cage and went somewhere with several other people, where they were surrounded by zombies.
She was talking to them.
Then they moved somewhere else.
Surrounded by zombies again.
Talking again.
Then another location.
Another encirclement.
Another conversation.
What did it mean?
Wang Moning thought hard.
Was this a threat?
Was it telling her not to refuse a toast only to be forced to drink a penalty toast?
Was it warning her that if she refused to come out, they would throw her into a horde of zombies like the others?
Seeing the local girl apparently deep in thought, Song Xi felt quite pleased.
“She’s seriously considering whether to join us. Looks like we’ll have a translator soon.”
Even if this translator couldn’t understand their spoken language, they could still establish some degree of mutual understanding.
They could learn each other’s languages gradually along the way.
That was still better than randomly encountering unknown locals outside.
“Quick, show her our sincerity.”
The team immediately placed the prepared canned food, compressed biscuits, candy, and several point vouchers in front of the wooden cage.
Song Xi cleared her throat.
“This is your salary. I know it’s not much, but if you come with us, food and accommodation are included. You’ll also receive three percent of the points earned from this expedition. That’s already quite generous—after all, you’re not a primary combat member, and we’ll still have to protect you.”
“I already heard from Officer Mia that you refused to join the construction team and even used force when someone tried to recruit you. Very good. That proves you share our desire for battle.”
“Although the military is unwilling to accept outsiders like you into its ranks, we Nuclear Crystal Hunters don’t mind. Come, join us! Let’s work together—under the watchful gaze of the great Creator God—to build the strongest Nuclear Crystal Hunter team!”
Wang Moning stared at her.
What…
What was she even saying?
Was this a threat or not?
Forget it.
She should just leave first.
If she really was being sold off, then at least going with these people was better than remaining in this heavily guarded military camp.
Maybe she could even find an opportunity to escape during transport.
Hesitantly, Wang Moning took a step forward.
Song Xi’s face lit up.
Her teammates looked delighted as well.
“She agreed!”
“We finally have a translator!”
Seeing the aliens smiling, Wang Moning forced an awkward, stiff smile of her own while secretly thinking about how she might escape.
There were seven aliens in total—eight including her—and they led her out of the camp, all the way beyond the towering defensive wall.
Wang Moning was overjoyed.
She had noticed that enormous wall long ago. When she first began planning her escape, she had spent ages trying to figure out how to get past it.
And now, unexpectedly, they had simply walked her straight outside.
Great.
She had safely gotten out—
…Wait??
Why were there so many zombies outside the wall?
It’s fine.
Since these aliens dared to come out here, they must be completely confident in handling the situation outside, right?
Huh?
Why are they pushing motorcycles out?
At the very least, shouldn’t they be using a four-wheeled vehicle?!
“Wait? You want me to get on? And then what? Where are the protective measures? No—wait! You’re seriously just going to drive out like this?!!!”
Wang Moning was wedged between the others, watching helplessly as they sped forward on motorcycles.
Scattered zombies began converging on them from all directions.
The road directly ahead was relatively clear, probably because it had already been swept once, but the farther they traveled, the more zombies began to surround them.
Whenever zombies got too close, the person riding on the back would swing a weapon and knock them down hard.
If too many gathered at once, the motorcycles would begin drifting, weaving wildly between the zombies in a thrilling game of cat and mouse.
It placed extremely high demands on the rider’s skill.
This was how Nuclear Crystal Hunters left the city.
Simple.
Brutal.
And unbelievably rough.
Wang Moning had already gone numb.
The most absurd part was that she soon noticed other similar teams behind them.
And ahead of them too.
And somehow…
They actually broke through the encirclement.
Are all aliens this insane?!
At this point, Wang Moning wasn’t even thinking about escaping anymore.
Escape?
Escape where?
There were zombies everywhere.
She would be bitten long before she got anywhere.
Silently, she wrapped her arms tightly around the waist of the alien in front of her, afraid she might accidentally be thrown off the motorcycle.
The one whose waist she was holding—Song Xi—swung her club and knocked down a zombie charging from the side.
Song Xi thought to herself that the ancients had been right.
Fighting side by side really was the best way to build bonds.
See?
They had only just started fighting together, and the local translator was already clinging to her so closely.
Ahead of them, a Nuclear Crystal Hunter team cleverly used two motorcycles to trip a large group of zombies, drawing cheers from all the teams behind them.
“WOOHOO!!!”
“Beautiful!!!”
Seizing the opportunity, all the teams accelerated at once and charged toward the fallen horde.
Song Xi joined in as well, shouting excitedly along with everyone else as they rushed forward.
“Kill them all!!!!!!!!”
Hearing the cheers, Wang Moning thought they had finally broken free of the encirclement.
She hurriedly lifted her head—
Only to discover that there were even more zombies ahead than before.
“……”
What—
What exactly are you all cheering about?!
Compared to her panic, Cheng Qisheng remained much calmer.
She was already used to it.
The Blue Sea people were simply like this.
Once combat started, they got excited.
And if combat also came with rewards, they became even more excited.
Her main perspective for the day had been following these Nuclear Crystal Hunters.
Although the experts were already analyzing the situation in this world, it would still take time before they reached any concrete conclusions.
Watching events directly, like a livestream, was much faster.
However, it would still take some time before the Nuclear Crystal Hunters reached the next resource-rich city.
Cheng Qisheng shifted a little of her attention elsewhere, focusing more of it back on the group chat to “fish.”
After waiting for two days, an opportunity finally appeared.
A Safe City that had never spoken since she joined the group finally sent a message.
[Love Meat Safe City: @Coriander Safe City, I got a batch of grain. It’s old grain, but it’s still edible. Five tons of grain in exchange for one thousand tons of wood. Deal or no deal?]
The price was somewhat exploitative, but if Cheng Qisheng hadn’t appeared, Coriander Safe City would have been desperately begging and thanking them for the chance to make the trade.
After all, one side could choose whether or not to sell.
The other side, if they couldn’t buy, would literally starve to death.
But the key difference now was that Coriander Safe City already had another source of food.
Naturally, Wen Huahua had no intention of betraying Blue Sea Safe City’s “big boss.”
He immediately ran to Cheng Qisheng’s private chat.
[Boss boss, I told Love Meat that my residents found food on their own—what do you think? I’m worried that if I tell them you’re the one supplying us with grain, the other city lords might start targeting you.]
Cheng Qisheng replied almost immediately.
[It’s fine, just tell them the truth. I’m not going to reveal my coordinates anyway. Besides, I’ve found some more grain on my side, and I want to see whether I can trade it with the other city lords for different resources =v=]
[Coriander Safe City: Mm-mm, okay boss! Then I’ll tell them the truth. I hope you manage to trade for the resources you want! I can go outside now too—if I find any new resources, I’ll ask you first whether you need them!]
After finishing his usual round of flattery, Wen Huahua returned to the group chat.
[@Love Meat Safe City, thank you thank you! But it’s okay~ The Blue Sea boss in our group already sold us some grain, so we’re not short on food for the moment. Really appreciate you thinking of us, heart~]
[Love Meat Safe City: Got it. Contact me if you need anything.]
The conversation was simple.
But it immediately caused a stir among all the city lords.
Grain was hard currency.
Any city lord willing to sell grain must have surplus stock.
This newly arrived Blue Sea Safe City…
Was it really that powerful?
Not only had it advanced to Tier 2 immediately after arriving, it even had spare grain to sell?
Whether Blue Sea simply didn’t understand how valuable grain was, or truly possessed such abundant reserves, all the city lords reached the same conclusion almost instantly.
If Blue Sea Safe City was willing to sell grain to Coriander Safe City…
Didn’t that mean it might be willing to sell grain to others as well?
At that moment, every city lord began thinking the same thing.
They needed to build a good relationship with Blue Sea Safe City.