CHAPTER 78: CHAPTER 75: THE ASSOCIATION’S SECOND REWARD! (PART 2)

Each of us is responsible for our own world.

And the portion turned over to the Association is essentially reserved for emergencies, contingency, and the construction of the Association itself.

"Agreed." Both of them nodded, even showing some delight.

They actually had a lot of ideas, but because it was difficult to use the Gray Mist on a large scale, they’d been postponed.

Now, if this rule is implemented, they can finally let loose a little.

"Let’s leave it at that for now," Shen Yu said.

"One more thing." Intersellar world Shen Yu suddenly spoke, uploading a file to both of their personal terminals.

"This is..." Shen Yu guessed what it was, his expression filled with surprise.

"The first set of Worm Martial Arts Technique," said interselar world Shen Yu. "Although it’s only preliminary, the framework has been established. It’s adaptable to the vast majority of people, and combined with worms and muscle fiber enhancement drugs, it can allow for a quick entry within a short time, to gain a certain level of combat power. At the very least, it’s much stronger than having never practiced martial arts at all."

"Good!" Shen Yu clenched his fist. "This is exactly what I needed!"

He even asked about it right away.

As expected, this technique directly reduced the Gray Mist needed for him to create a Martial Arts Technique against the vines, by a full twenty million!

The original eighty million required, now needed only about fifty million.

The Gray Mist on hand was almost enough.

Although this wasn’t a Primordial Spirit Technique, its easy scalability undoubtedly further satisfied Shen Yu’s demands.

Moreover, once he got his hands on the Primordial Spirit Technique, the amount needed would definitely drop again!

These are things that couldn’t have been done with just human wisdom and mutual aid among civilizations.

So it’s only natural that the Gray Mist requirements could be greatly reduced.

Martial Artist Shen Yu was also very pleased.

"Enough, enough. Over the past few days I’ve confirmed that the terrifying tornado at the Earth Martial Sect side is still rapidly expanding, and the rate is accelerating. We really have to boost the martial arts cultivation of ordinary people, or else, before we even finish building the base, the population will decrease massively."

The spread of martial arts is crucial for all three worlds.

This is the key to rapidly strengthening ordinary people.

No matter what kind of apocalypse, what kind of enemy we’re facing, raising average power always boosts survival chances.

If here on the Mother Star everyone had basic martial arts skills, when facing the vines, at least we could always run a little faster!

"Let’s each do our best, then," Shen Yu said at last.

The three nodded forcefully.

Actually, after the initial excitement of meeting each other wore off, the pressure each of them had to bear hadn’t eased by much.

Yet, at least there was hope now!

Shen Yu’s figure returned to his own world once more, this time appearing directly in the command center.

Just two or three hours of war had left Gu Hucheng’s eyes bloodshot, and he looked utterly exhausted.

"How are things now?" Shen Yu asked.

"Very bad. There must be a high-intelligence commander behind those vines!" Gu Hucheng clenched his fist hard. "It’s now actively avoiding any soldiers wearing power armor, climbing or circling around, attacking unprotected civilians."

At this moment, Shen Yu also saw in some video feeds.

Many civilians who hadn’t evacuated in time were huddled in high-rises, while warriors guarded floor by floor, including the outer walls.

Shoot on sight at the vines.

But even so, those vines still slithered out again and again, like vicious vipers.

They also have another characteristic: powerful shapeshifting ability.

Thick or thin, long or short at will.

Shen Yu even saw countless vines thinning down to finer than spiderwebs, silently climbing along walls and pipes, then suddenly stabbing straight into people.

Even with a warrior reacting in time and quickly cutting off the roots on one person, there was still one who was taken away, screaming.

This kind of situation is pure torment for both the civilians and the soldiers.

It’s far more unbearable than dying instantly.

Some people were uncontrollably trembling all over, and this despair of death possibly arriving at any moment— even if they survived, it could become a lifelong trauma.

And this was happening in many places at once.

The enemy not only possesses extremely high intelligence, it’s obviously still learning and thinking, continuously optimizing its tactics.

Yet, they currently had no way to deal with it.

Worse still— what was truly alarming was that as the number of people eaten increased, the number of vines, though previously greatly reduced, was now recovering at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Once their numbers are sufficient, and the vines spread to farther cities, along with these increasingly vicious tactics...

The entire Eastern Country would be living in this persistent fear, as if surrounded by snakes, with death lurking at any moment.

Even Shen Yu felt a heaviness in his heart at this moment.

Even though he already had a plan to deal with these monsters, from proposal to execution to seeing results—who knows how many would die in between.

"How many people are still stranded in the cities now?" Shen Yu asked again.

"These are preliminary stats from ten minutes ago, counting people in county towns still un-evacuated. The total is about thirteen million, with nearly two million casualties so far," Gu Hucheng said heavily. "The warriors have been heroic, they’ve kept casualties down as much as possible."

Yes, if not for those warriors always fighting on the front line, the death toll would have been even higher by now.

In fact, they had previously bought precious time, allowing millions to evacuate in just a few hours.

But still, two million people!

How many years has it been since the Eastern Country suffered losses on this scale?

And the number only keeps rising.

Even knowing this is the apocalypse, knowing there may be even greater losses to come— that every person in the nation, maybe the world, may one day meet disaster...

But just thinking of those families, those children—no comforting words seem enough.

"..." After a moment of silence, Shen Yu looked at everyone gazing at him and slowly said, "There are two things. First, over at the interstellar civilization, they’ve produced the first-generation Martial Arts Technique, tailored for our human race here. Plus, with their science-tech drug, basic martial arts can be achieved in one or two days."

"That’s great news!" This was probably the only time all day that Gu Hucheng’s tone rose!

Many others also showed visible joy.

This really was good news.

Ever since learning that worm meat could help train martial arts, everyone had been hopeful.

In fact, people all over the world were hoping for martial arts to spread!

In an apocalypse, nothing is more uplifting than personal strength increasing.

Especially extraordinary powers— from ancient times till now, that’s what everyone in the world has fantasized about and yearned for.

"Is that drug expensive?" Gu Hucheng immediately asked. "We’ve already started large-scale worm meat farming. If there’s enough drug, we can quickly make sure all troops have it!"

Just one or two days to get started.

From what they know about martial arts, even basic training can break human physical limits in many ways.

Maybe not quite superhuman, but enough to greatly boost combat power.

The best part— a brighter future ahead!

"It’s not expensive. It’s a drug that can quickly enhance muscle fibers, basically like exercising," said Shen Yu. Then, before anyone could show more delight, he continued, "But the second thing is even more important: I’ve just received the Association’s second reward!"

"——!"

Just that one sentence made the over-fifty-year-old General Gu Hucheng’s eyes go wide!