Indeed, ever since his rebirth he had been like a machine, constantly planning for survival and growth, shuttling between the two worlds without ever pausing to truly look at the world he was protecting.
Now that the overall situation was settled, it was finally time to catch his breath.
"All right."
Steve set down his glass, nodded with a smile, and a rare ease appeared in his eyes.
"Perfect. I"d like to see what the capital looks like now."
"Wonderful!"
Stefanie bounced off the sofa in excitement, her big eyes sparkling with anticipation.
Nicole, standing nearby, gave a kindly smile. She untied her apron while calling out,
"All right, all right—look how happy this girl is. Steve, you really do need a break; you"re always so busy we never see you. Take your sister out for a stroll while you have the chance."
"Stop standing there grinning; come eat. Once you"re full you two will have the energy to roam around."
"As you command, mom."
Stefanie pulled a face, grabbed Steve"s arm, and headed for the dining room.
Yet in another dimension—the zombie world—the atmosphere was completely different.
Divine Judgement Base, Core Council Hall.
Although Zeus had ordered everyone to battle readiness and gathered most of the base"s high-level Awakened Ones, he knew that relying on his forces alone against that mysterious power possessing undead monsters and satellite technology meant uncertain odds.
Suppressing his pride, he reopened a long-range link with the leader of Indomitus Fortress in the south—
Yasuo.
As for Indomitus Base, which called itself orthodox, Zeus had sent a message, but it sank like a stone without reply.
In the holo-screen, Yasuo"s stern face appeared, but his first words sent Zeus into a rage.
"Zeus, I believe we should think twice. Our urgent task is to deal with the ever-growing zombie tide; since that force hasn"t attacked us, why provoke a powerful enemy?"
"Bullshit!"
Zeus slammed the table so hard the communicator nearly shattered; he cursed at the screen.
"You turtle hiding in your shell! Those monsters haven"t reached you yet, so you talk big without pain, right?"
"You"ve never seen their strength and think they"re no threat? Utterly stupid."
Zeus didn"t know their exact numbers—Tahlako"s intel only said "as far as the eye can see"—but he had personally felt the terror of that green giant.
"Do you know how strong a single one of those monsters is? Do you know how many of them there are?"
Zeus drew a deep breath and played his final card, voice low.
"And don"t forget—they launched a satellite."
"What does that mean? It means humans are behind those monsters."
"Possibly a huge organization with a complete industrial system."
"If we don"t join forces, once they dig in we"ll have Mutated zombies pressing from the front, Indomitus Base eyeing us from behind, and now this monster army with terrifying building power and military might in between…"
"Our two bases will be crushed to death sooner or later."
At these words, Yasuo on the other side fell silent.
He was no fool; he understood the logic of shared doom.
The situation was awkward: they couldn"t defeat the deep-rooted Indomitus Base and were also under pressure from evolving zombies.
If this mysterious power kept growing, there would be no place for them on this wasteland.
After a long pause, Yasuo slowly lifted his head; hesitation vanished, replaced by a sharp, cold glint.
"Fine."
"I agree."
"Marshal our forces, act together, strike first and wipe out those monsters completely."
Only then did Zeus give a satisfied snort and nod.
"Smart choice. Three days, we rendezvous at the Abandoned Industrial City."
At the same time, at the northernmost tip of the continent…
…stood an immense, orderly Steel metropolis.
Indomitus Base.
Having inherited the bulk of the pre-apocalypse nation"s political legacy and military system,
Indomitus Base was the undisputed hegemon in population, technology, and number of Awakened Ones.
Deep inside the base, in a top-level strategic conference room,
a dozen generals with stars on their shoulders and several senior officials in Zhongshan suits sat rigidly, the atmosphere heavy and grave.
In fact, the moment the satellite had entered orbit, Indomitus"s Aerospace Monitoring Center had detected the anomaly.
"Gentlemen, please look at the big screen."
At the head of the table sat a white-haired yet vigorous elder; he tapped the huge display behind him.
On it appeared crystal-clear photos taken by the satellite.
They showed Steve"s Enderman legion, phalanxes of Iron Golems, and blocky buildings under construction.
"According to days of analysis by our intelligence section and research institutes…"
the elder"s steady voice trembled with unconcealable shock.
"we have reason to suspect this sudden force does not belong to our world."
The room erupted in an uproar.
"Not of our world? Chief, do you mean… aliens?"
A Major General couldn"t help asking.
"Not exactly."
The elder shook his head, pointing to details on the screen.
"Look—their biological structure is extremely bizarre. Whether the tall black creatures or the white iron giants, even the buildings they erect display a physics-defying blocky characteristic."
"Such rules simply don"t conform to the biology or physics of our world."
"Therefore I conclude they come from… another dimension, or parallel world."
The conference room exploded in commotion.
"Another world?"
Everyone stared in shock and disbelief.
"They can come here—then… can we go there?"
A bespectacled staff officer keenly seized the key point.
The elder shook his head and answered pragmatically,
"We don"t know. At present we have too little information; we don"t know how they crossed dimensions or where the gateway is."
Pausing, the elder"s eyes suddenly blazed with unprecedented brilliance, his tone turning slightly urgent.
"But from current observations, though they possess strange abilities, their overall tech level and firepower are roughly on par with pre-apocalypse us—even in heavy firepower coverage they"re only at conventional levels."