Bena quickly assigned tasks. He and two of the bionic people would handle one mutated creature.
Zhou Mei, Lanton, and Zhou Yiming would hold back the second creature, while they let the third continue its assault on the Shelter Entrance.
········
「Two hours later.」
Looking at the three massive mutated creatures lying dead on the ground, Bena set down his short blade, which was caked in their blood. His face was a mask of exhaustion.
The constant fighting and travel had nearly drained all of his physical and mental energy.
If not for their healer, Zhou Yiming, continuously treating them—plus the bionic people from Sub-base No. 2 providing support at a critical moment—Bena felt he never would have made it.
Bena took a few deep breaths to calm his ragged breathing, then began to check on himself and his teammates. He was exhausted, but thankfully, they had avoided any serious casualties. The thought brought him a small measure of comfort.
Zhou Mei and Lanton looked equally exhausted, but they pushed through their fatigue and began to clear the battlefield.
They knew the creatures’ corpses might contain valuable materials that would be a great help to the shelter’s development.
While Zhou Yiming hadn’t fought directly like the others, his healing ability had been crucial for the team’s sustained combat effectiveness.
Right now, he was sitting off to the side, his eyes closed in meditation as he recovered his depleted Spiritual Power.
Bena walked over to Zhou Yiming and patted his shoulder. "Good job. Without your healing, we probably wouldn’t have made it."
Zhou Yiming opened his eyes and smiled faintly. "I just did my part. The most important thing is that everyone made it through this crisis safely."
··········
「Inside the Main Shelter.」
After confirming the threat to Sub-base No. 2 had been neutralized, Ye Yun finally breathed a sigh of relief.
He ordered Bena and his team to get some much-needed rest at Sub-base No. 2, then finally had a moment to look at the broader situation.
Ye Yun sat quietly in his chair, his eyes fixed on the shelter count in the upper-right corner of the system interface.
45,000,000
A mere eight hours had passed since the third crisis began.
The number of remaining shelters had plummeted from over 70 million to just over 40 million, a reduction of nearly half.
Ye Yun could understand why it was happening.
Lately, many shelter managers had equipped their people with more powerful gear.
However, facing three mutated creatures simultaneously was still far beyond the capabilities of most shelters.
Ye Yun figured that if some shelters hadn’t upgraded their Shelter Entrances ahead of time, the number of remaining shelters would likely be even lower.
44,900,000
In the blink of an eye, another 100,000 shelters vanished.
Ye Yun sighed.
’My previous estimate was wrong.’
’This crisis wasn’t something most shelter managers could handle.’
’I’ll be lucky if 40 million survive.’
Ye Yun watched silently as the number of shelters dwindled, his heart filled with a mix of emotions.
He knew every crisis was a severe test for all managers, and this one was clearly far crueler than the last two.
He began to reflect on his own strategies and preparations.
While he had successfully weathered the crisis and protected his own shelters, he also realized his strategy might still be flawed.
Watching the shelter count continue to drop, Ye Yun realized his previous strategy of constant expansion might not have been entirely correct.
’Shelters can certainly produce more resources, but without enough power to protect them, they’re nothing but easy pickings for others.’
’Expanding blindly without enough strength means you’ll just be a sitting duck when a crisis like this hits.’
’I was lucky this time, getting there before the Shelter Entrance at Sub-base No. 2 was breached. But what if my luck runs out next time?’
He knew that not all of those rapidly disappearing numbers represented weak shelters. A good number of them actually belonged to managers who had established a second base.
However, while most of those managers were capable of founding a second shelter, they lacked the power to protect it.
He’d even seen in the public chat that many shelters failed to survive this crisis precisely because they had split their forces between two locations. Their already limited strength was divided, leaving neither shelter with enough power to withstand the assault.
Faced with this brutal reality, Ye Yun began to reassess his development strategy.
He realized that mere expansion didn’t bring true security. On the contrary, it could overextend his defensive lines and spread his forces too thin.
In the Wasteland World, the key to survival was having enough power to handle any emergency.
Ye Yun decided that going forward, he would focus more on enhancing his shelters’ defensive capabilities and his members’ combat prowess.
Time ticked by, second by second, minute by minute.
Just as Ye Yun had predicted, after a period of steady decline, the number of shelters suddenly plummeted.
It plunged from over 40 million to below 35 million in an instant.
But as time wore on, this frantic decline finally reached a turning point.
After the number of shelters fell to 35 million, the rate of decline slowed significantly.
The number was no longer dropping erratically. An hour later, the number stopped changing completely. The final count of shelters that survived the third crisis was 34,500,000.
The instant the number stopped ticking down,
Ye Yun felt a chill run down his spine, even though he’d been expecting it. To think that a full half of the population had been wiped out in this one crisis.
The alien voice that had spoken in everyone’s minds ten days prior now echoed in Ye Yun’s ears once more.
[Congratulations. You have successfully survived the third crisis.]
[As for the managers who died, I can only say it is most regrettable.]
[This world is never static. No one knows if the next crisis will suddenly become terrifyingly difficult.]
[Those who cannot grow stronger quickly will become fertilizer for this wasteland, nourishing those who survive.]
[They have lost their lives forever. Meanwhile, the resources within their bases will become treasures buried in the ruins.]
[These treasures will be awarded to the managers who were first to successfully slay the large mutated creatures.]
[Life in the wasteland is not just about competition and plunder. Perhaps it is also about cooperation.]
[Cooperation and competition are not constants.]
[An enemy you were fighting one moment could become an ally you depend on the next.]
[Will you choose mutually beneficial cooperation, or will you aim for total domination?]
[An even crueler crisis will descend in ten days.]
[All shelter managers, please proceed with caution.]
[Of course, those of you who survived will also receive rewards.]