Chapter 357: Ark

As Xie Ning made her way through the base, she saw that it was brilliantly lit.

Numerous well-trained soldiers were gathering in the main plaza up ahead as vehicles loaded with ammunition rolled slowly past them.

Even the air seemed to crackle with a faint tension.

The moment Xie Ning stepped into the main control room, seven or eight pairs of eyes from all directions snapped to her.

"Ningning’s here." Gu Chen beckoned to her from the main control screen.

"What’s going on?" Xie Ning walked over to stand beside him.

"Look here." Gu Chen pointed at the screen.

"We’ve accessed the cameras near the base. Right now, we can see as far as fifteen kilometers out."

Xie Ning soon noticed a region that seemed to be teeming with figures.

To be more precise, it was a multitude of corpses moving rapidly forward on the screen.

"The snow melted, so the zombies all came out?"

Though she posed it as a question, Xie Ning knew deep down this was probably the case.

"Mhm." Gu Chen shifted the view on the screen. "Based on their speed of advance, they’ll probably reach our base in about two to three hours."

"Why are they moving toward the base?" Xie Ning paused. "Have they evolved?"

"They’ve likely evolved thermal senses, allowing them to move toward areas with concentrations of people." A gaunt-faced man wearing thick, bottle-bottom glasses abruptly swiveled his chair to look at them.

This was Lu Congwu. He was currently on the same virus reagent development team as Dr. Xie and Dr. Wei.

The man with the bottle-bottom glasses confidently extended a hand to Xie Ning. "Hello, Miss Xie."

Xie Ning gave a slight nod, returned the handshake gently, and immediately turned her gaze to Gu Chen. "What’s your plan?"

"The base leadership is hoping the major Superpower User teams will help with the base’s defense."

Xie Ning nodded and was pulled by Gu Chen toward a small room next door.

The small metal door closed heavily, blocking out the curious gazes of the group in the main control room.

Xie Ning dragged a stool over and sat down in front of Gu Chen. "I’ve read some files about the X Realm."

"Is this zombie evolution related to them?"

"The zombie evolution is inextricably linked to this Ice Age." Gu Chen walked over and gently took her hand. "Three years ago, when the existence of the X Realm became known, the director of the Global Superpower Academy held a high-level discussion with our side."

Xie Ning’s ears perked up. She had a feeling Xiao Gu was about to reveal a major secret.

"The content of the talk is unknown, but after that, seventeen Survival Arks began to be secretly built around the world."

"Here in Jiuzhou, we have three."

Xie Ning’s expression was grave as she nodded. "Are they finished?"

"They’ve more or less entered the final stages of completion."

"So, that Global Superpower Academy was already planning to take all the rich people who could pay for a ticket, along with the Superpower Users, and just run for it on the arks?" Xie Ning sneered.

"But they didn’t expect the worldwide zombie crisis to come so quickly. It caught them completely off guard, didn’t it?"

"Serves them right. The rich have probably all died in this crisis. Now they can’t sell their tickets!"

Gu Chen heard the sarcasm in her voice and instinctively reached out to pat her head. "Ningning."

"So what now?" Xie Ning asked, a humorless smile playing on her lips. "In three hours, a massive horde of mutated zombies will be here to besiege Jingji Base. And those people are planning to run again, aren’t they?"

"The arks are almost ready. Since Jingji will fall sooner or later, they might as well abandon the base and run. The worst that can happen is they board the arks a bit earlier!"

Xie Ning slammed her hand on the table. "They can forget about me charging to the front lines, fighting and dying for that garbage. I don’t give a damn if they live or die. To hell with them!"

Gu Chen jumped in surprise and rushed to hug the furious girl. "No, no, Ningning, please let me finish. Don’t be angry, don’t be angry. Here’s the thing."

"We won’t abandon a single survivor in Jingji Base. Men, women, old, or young, all of them will be evacuated when the time comes."

"But the final work on the Arks, including another round of inspections and transporting related cargo aboard, will probably take another half a month or so."

"We can’t evacuate now, so we absolutely must defend Jingji."

"In half a month, we’ll begin evacuating people to the Arks. Then, we still have to go to East China and South China to bring over survivors from all the bases there, including Golden City Base."

"All of them?" Xie Ning asked doubtfully, staring into Gu Chen’s eyes, dark as two deep pools.

"All of them."

"If we can, we hope to help every one of our compatriots, to work together and overcome these difficult times."

Xie Ning gradually calmed down. After a long while, she said faintly, "If I were a normal person, without a superpower..."

Gu Chen swept her up into his arms and playfully squished her cheeks. "Hello there, my normal Ningning. Whether you’re normal or not, I’ll always protect you. So stop overthinking things, alright?"

"Even if you lose your superpower, or your Space is gone, even if you lose everything... Don’t worry. Your boyfriend can still provide for you and keep you happy and well-fed."

"As long as your boyfriend has soup to drink, you’ll have rice to eat. Be good."

Xie Ning shot him a deadpan look and let out a tiny huff. "Well... for my boyfriend’s sake, I guess his girlfriend can reluctantly cooperate with you all."

Gu Chen couldn’t help but chuckle softly. ’So prickly.’

"Actually, I called you over to give you a heads-up. Although the base will conscript all Superpower Users to help on the front lines, that’s only as a last resort."

"Our defense work at Jingji has been decent for the past year or so."

"As long as we can hold the line here..."

Xie Ning reached out and pinched Gu Chen’s face. "You don’t have to work yourselves to death. Since you plan to defend the base, just issue the conscription order sooner. Your teammates aren’t made of iron."

"The sooner more Superpower Users get involved, the better the defense will be."

"Okay." Gu Chen looked down at his girlfriend. "What’s a Sixth Rank Gold Element like?"

Xie Ning thought for a second, then nodded with a serious face. "Very, very powerful."

Gu Chen couldn’t hold back a smile.

When the two of them walked out of the small, sealed room, everyone outside was already bustling with activity.

Seeing him come out, Lu Wei quickly walked up. "Secretary Chen is here. He wants to see you."

Gu Chen nodded, gently squeezed his girlfriend’s hand, and said in a low voice, "Wait for me for a bit. We’ll have a meal together later."

A full stomach was necessary to face the massive zombie horde.

Xie Ning nodded obediently and followed Lu Wei toward a small conference room nearby.

Just then, she saw Xie Xuezheng and Dr. Wei walking toward them. Xie Ning’s steps faltered for a moment, but she continued on with an unchanged expression.

Seeing his daughter, Xie Xuezheng quickly jogged forward. "Ningning."

Xie Ning ignored him, following Lu Wei into the small conference room.

"Dr. Xie, your conference room is next door. Dr. Lu and the others are already waiting for you there," Lu Wei said, turning to Xie Xuezheng.