The Far North.

  While in Lindong was still in summer, here, it was a bitterly cold winter. It seems the climate after doomsday had been polarized. The hot place became hotter, the cold became colder. The snow drifted in the wind. As far as the eye can see, a white blanket of snow filled the world.

  A giant city stood alone like a beast, the Northern Court.

  Slam!

  The old man’s hand slammed the table. His eyes widened as he looked forward, muttering, “A shelter in Noda, Yuncheng City, was annihilated.”


  The others in the meeting room looked gloomy. As the top brass of Northern Court Shelter, various news reached them every day. However, the destruction of a large shelter wasn’t something they heard daily.

  “It seems a Crack of the Abyss appeared within the city. If we didn’t quickly find a way, we’d have the same fate.”


  “That’s right. But we can’t predict the appearance of a Crack…” A high ranked person echoed.

  He was of medium build, with broad shoulders. He gazed at the other person, “I wonder if the Academy of Sciences can predict it?”


  The dean of the Academy Sciences holding stacks of documents in his hand, spoke, “We can predict the movement around 10 to 15 minutes before its appearance…”


  “It’s not enough!” The senior officer with broad shoulders retorded. “10 minutes is too short to evacuate all survivors and lay out our defenses.”


  “The experts who are currently studying the Crack of the Abyss have provided a new idea.” The Academy of Sciences’ dean pulled out one of the documents and handed it to the officials present, “According to the experts’ research, the Crack of the Abyss belongs to a type of space channel. And essentially, the Crack was able to appear abruptly because the space in our world is not stable enough.”


  “According to his speculation, as long as we can create a spatial stabilization device that reinforces a certain range of space, we can prevent the Crack of the Abyss from appearing in the shelter.”


  “That’s a good idea, it can solve our problem. So, can the Academy of Sciences create the device to stabilize the spatial passages? Can we destroy the Crack with this?” The middle-aged man with broad shoulders instantly thought of the idea.

  The dean nodded, “That’s right. But the device is still merely a concept. Our biggest problem is the lack of deep research on Spatial Theory. And, lack of spatial items to be used as references.”


  “Spatial items?” Someone murmured as if remembering something.

  “Yes. It’s that crystal stone that contains spatial power. If we can use the stone as a template for our research, the development progress of spatial stabilizer devices would advance faster.” The dean carefully spoke, looking somewhat nervous.

  However, one of the officials furrowed his brow, “That crystal stone is the key to stabilizing the Third Secret Realm. And if it’s removed, the Third Secret Realm will most likely collapse.”


  A rift has divided the people in the meeting room into factions. Some people felt that the spatial stabilizer device should be researched as soon as possible. In contrast, the others felt that the Third Secret Realm was also very important, they can’t remove the stone.

  The old man in the first seat pondered for a while and spoke. “Alright.”


  “But the Third Secret Realm…”


  “We have fully explored it. Although there’s still a possibility of omissions, right now, our top priority is to develop a spatial stabilizer device as soon as possible.

  The opposite faction was silenced.

  The old man looked at the person on his side, “What is the development status of the First and Second Secret Realm?”


  The man looked like he was in his early thirties. But the silvery-white hair and the slight vicissitudes let others knew that he wasn’t as young as he appeared to be.

  Shaking his head, “These two Secret Realms are far too dangerous. Less than ten percent of them have been developed so far. The third secret realm itself is an inheritance Secret Realm, and we were only able to develop it in just a few days.”


  The old man nodded, “Then let’s begin our next topic. Minister Chen, tell us about the progress of the Northern Court Defense Circle.”


  A middle-aged man with a mustache on his upper lip coughed dryly. He spoke, “The construction of the defense circle is currently proceeding according to our plan. For the first batch of the Northern Court area, a total of 56 small shelters and 3 medium-sized shelters have all been taken in. The leaders of the various shelters and some high-ranking figures have been placed in the corresponding governmental positions based on their contributions. “


  This was a plan developed in the early doomsday. There were many shelters that could provide protection for survivors that the army couldn’t rescue. However, the small shelters weren’t strong enough to resist the demonic beast wave. So when the survivors’ numbers from small shelters significantly decreased, the plan to construct a defense circle began.

  “We plan to transform 5 shelters, Rinzan Shelter, Yanhe Shelter, and the others into field transit stations for hunters to rest. 3 of them have finished transforming, and the rest will be completed in another day or two.”


  “At the same time, we planned 5 field departure points to be established at various gates of the Northern Court Shelter. The Military’s Rhino vehicles will be responsible for transporting mercenaries back and forth. The railroad connecting the 5 field departure points will be completed within the next month to achieve high-speed access.”


  The old man nodded, “How is the recovery situation around the 8 large shelters such as Jinzhou, Kangding, and Youzhou?”


  “The recovery has reached 40%, we expect it to be completed within three days. By then, with Northern Court as the base, the 8 shelters will act like satellite cities for the construction of the Northern Court Defense System. Humans will be able to move freely.”


  No one else apparently had objections. They continued reporting the situation.

  In the first seat, the old man nodded, “With the completion of the defense circle, we will have more space available for growing food. However, suppose we only grow ordinary food. In that case, the land within the defense circle, even though it’s larger than our shelter, won’t be enough. With the current weather, our food situation is still difficult.”


  “Leader Che, how is the progress of the research on food stocks and new crops?”


  Leader Che spoke up, “We predicted the food stock for the survivors can last for 3 months after the defense circle is completed. Right now, 3 new crops have been selected, they belong to new varieties of plants that have emerged after the doomsday. They are green fruit trees, geodon corn, and climbing crops. And the most important thing is, these crops’ planting cycle is extremely short. Also, the yield per acre is much higher than common crops before the doomsday.”


  “These 3 new crops are currently being tested and will be officially planted in the near future…”