My Apocalypse Territory

The next day.

The weather was clear and sunny.

Followers were all busy with their tasks.

Yesterday, after the Ant Queen was executed and the Captain and others emerged from the ant nest, they quickly reported to their superiors as expected.

Luoxia officials placed a high priority on the ant nest and soon dispatched additional personnel to conduct an investigation.

After a complex process of exploration, Luoxia officials finally concluded that the danger level of the area had almost reached zero.

The reason it was almost zero was that a few Demonized Black Ants still lingered in the caves, but without the prolific and domineering Ant Queen, these few black ants posed little threat.

Tang Yu walked through the cave passages.

Beside him was Shay, who understood the situation better after a long conversation with the Luoxia officials dispatched here, following his late-night snack the day before.

"Luoxia has said," Shay explained, "that now the danger rating has dropped, they'll allow us to start work, but they urge us to clear out the remaining Demonized Black Ants as soon as possible."

Tang Yu nodded in agreement.

The caves branched out in every direction, which made the cleaning process somewhat troublesome, but that was all it was, just troublesome. Once the fortress was built and the territory expanded, all the black ants would have nowhere to hide.

He decided to build the fortress in a vast underground space.

With a sub-territory radius of one kilometer, although it was far less than the main territory, it was still quite large. The fortress, built deep underground, would cover the surface range as well. He did not plan to construct many system buildings by then, apart from a Transmission Array that was also to be placed underground, and only a training camp on the surface.

No, that wasn't right.

Considering the number of Awakeners in Luoxia, these were all potential future customers, and one training camp would not be sufficient for such a vast consumer base.

Maybe ten? A hundred?

He was already lost in boundless conjecture.

Before long, they had left the damp, gloomy underground passages and arrived at this subterranean space.

It still retained the appearance from the day before, with thick ice encapsulating everything, including the Ant Queen's enormous body, laid out without missing a single piece.

According to the unwritten rules among Awakeners, the spoils went to the hunter.

Undoubtedly, from finding to killing the Ant Queen, it had been Tang Yu's followers who contributed their efforts. There was no dispute over the spoils, not even for the seemingly valuable green crystals on the stone walls around the underground space.

Luoxia officials only took a small amount for research purposes.

Tang Yu clearly understood that their efforts were not the only reason for this; more importantly, it was Eileen's "Ten Miles of Ice Sealing" ability.

It was a form of deterrence.

Be it the Captain and others who witnessed the scene firsthand or those who came to inspect the underground space later and confirmed the existence of the Ice Snow World, all of them would report back, and as long as the higher-ups in Luoxia were not fools, they wouldn't make a fuss over this matter.

And naturally, the higher-ups in Luoxia couldn't possibly be fools.

But it was uncertain whether the original owner of this land would feel a pang of loss.

Cleaning up was a bit of a hassle because there were still threats from a few black ants. Hence, Tang Yu didn't employ any survivors. Upon reaching the underground space, he simply released many Puppets and had Eileen dissipate most of the Ice Frost Power contained within the ice. After some hard work, by the afternoon, part of the underground space was cleared.

Tang Yu walked to the center of the cleared area.

A screen only visible to him appeared before his eyes, and he navigated the interface with practiced ease.

"Build fortress."

Select, confirm.

Boom, boom, boom.

A fortress, approximately the height of a five-story building, square-shaped with a simple grey-black exterior, quickly materialized before his eyes.

Tang Yu entered it, and unlike the luxurious decorations of castles, the fortress was imbued with a military style, its interior simple but lacking no necessary equipment.

He wasn't concerned with the interior layout of the fortress. As it was built, aside from the primary territory map, a new option for a sub-territory appeared.

This range was smaller, and upon opening it, he noticed many red dots clustered together.

The territory map could not be shared with followers, but dealing with these black ants was straightforward. Tang Yu released over a dozen Fighter Puppets divided into three groups, each group consisting of two Shield Fighters, a Sword Fighter, and two Gun Fighter Puppets. They easily handled the Demonized Black Ants, whose strength barely reached the third layer of Awakening.

After these tasks, Tang Yu returned to the villa he was renting and began living a leisurely life.

The rest, concerning the development of the land, was of course left to others to complete.

"Perhaps the construction here will be completed even earlier than in the Territory, after all, in Luoxia, the one thing we're never short of is ordinary laborers."

...

...

Out in the wilderness.

About twenty or thirty kilometers from Luoxia.

This was a carefully selected training ground by the Zhentian Martial Arts Hall for its students to practice.

The team, led by the Master of the Hall, was massive. Even though hundreds of people were split into several groups and spread across various areas nearby, each group still consisted of over a hundred people. Moreover, this was an area classified with only a one or two-star danger rating.

Demonized Beasts were even rarer than the students themselves.

Chen Xiaojia was squatting on a large rock, resting her chin on her hands, dozing off out of boredom, "Demonized Beasts are way too scarce, when will it be our turn?"

"It's not that there are too few Demonized Beasts, it's just that there are too many of us. No matter what, we're luckier than the others, being in the same group as the Master. He looked so cool knocking out a Demonized Beast with a single punch."

Beside her, a girl with chubby cheeks was squatting, watching the Master, who carried the air of a high-level expert, observing the situation in the field with a spark in her eyes.

But glancing not far away, at the few survivors currently engaged with the Demonized Beasts, her hand immediately covered her mouth, trying to stifle a laugh despite finding the situation somewhat amusing.

One Awakener faced the lunging bites of a Demonized Beast with a look of panic. He dodged frantically, his Combat Saber swinging wildly and almost injuring himself, yet he struggled to deal any effective damage to the Demonized Beast.

Forget the combat techniques taught by the Martial Arts Hall, this Awakener even shut his eyes, resorting to a frantic flailing. Within seconds, the Demonized Beast had pinned him to the ground, the foul stench from its mouth gushing forth. This Awakener, despite having undergone the Awakening but pampered all his life and hardly ever having held a saber, eventually passed out in fright.

A guard donning a uniform with the Zhentian emblem furrowed his brows and, in a flash, kicked the Demonized Beast away before it could tear the student to pieces.

He did not strike with full force, only sparring with the Demonized Beast.

Another guard went through the roll call list. "Next up, Chen Xiaojia. Where's Chen Xiaojia?"

Every student participating in training was guaranteed at least one opportunity to face off against a Demonized Beast.

From morning, the rotation continued into the afternoon.

Chen Xiaojia jumped up suddenly. She was quite brave, facing the fierce Demonized Beast without being overly timid, although her slightly shaking legs betrayed her inner unease.

The Demonized Wolf howled and lunged to bite.

Chen Xiaojia didn't draw her weapon, instead stretching out her hands. Instantly, several green shoots sprouted from the ground, quickly entangling the Demonized Wolf's hind legs.

The Demonized Wolf stumbled, breaking free from the vines, but soon more and more vines wrapped around it.

Seeing the right moment, Chen Xiaojia drew a plain short sword from her waist, gripped it firmly with trembling hands, and with force, plunged it fiercely into the Demonized Wolf.

There was a squelching sound.

The blade easily tore through the skull, and the Demonized Wolf's struggles diminished until it finally lay dead.

Wisps of soul power drifted from the Demonized Beast, merging into her own body.

The chubby-cheeked girl clapped vigorously, her eyes filled with admiration, "I have a Special Ability, too, but why can't I beat those Demonized Beasts? Eh, what does it feel like to absorb soul power?"

"What does it feel like? Hmm, it doesn't really feel like anything, I suppose." Chen Xiaojia pondered. "My cousin said it feels great when you make a breakthrough, but merely absorbing soul power isn't much."

"It's a pity; this Demonized Beast was too weak. It hardly had any soul power."

She mumbled, realizing her hands were still shaking, quickly turning her face away.

The chubby-cheeked girl looked curiously at the plain short sword Chen Xiaojia had placed at her side, "Xiaojia, is that your own weapon? How come it's so sharp?"

"That's right."

Chen Xiaojia was puzzled.

The weapons provided by the Martial Arts Hall for the other students were not so easily capable of slicing through the hides and bones of the Demonized Beasts.

"This was given to me by my cousin. He also gave me some other items, said they could be used in dangerous situations, but those things look a bit strange."

She didn't mind. With the group from the Martial Arts Hall and with a Master like theirs around, how could they possibly be in danger—

Boom!

Suddenly, there was an explosion in the distance.

Accompanied by the rapid sound of gunfire.

Flames shot up into the sky.