However, no matter how urgent the hope may be.
Time continues to move forward at its own steady pace.
Given the current scale of Su Wu's influence.
Many actions and plans.
Supported by meticulous calculations, vast human resources, material assets, and intelligence.
Are executed with the precision of prophecy.
There is no possibility of being ahead of schedule or exceeding expectations.
April 13th.
The third batch of population relocation begins.
Accompanied by the recent production of 100 caravan trains, which have gradually joined the relocation effort.
The caravan trains stretch across the vast lands of the Kuangjiang River basin.
Carrying 6 million people in one go.
This population, equivalent to that of a large pre-apocalyptic city.
Brings life to the glaciers and ice fields along the migration route.
A flood of related photos, videos, and even various derivative creations are uploaded to the internet.
Creating a unique prosperity in the post-apocalyptic environment.
On the snow-covered silent plains.
Inside one of the caravan train carriages.
A young man is holding a phone, conducting a live broadcast.
He points the camera out the window.
With a voice filled with excitement and novelty, he explains to the hundreds of viewers on the other side of the network.
"In a few minutes."
"We will enter the ice fog ahead."
"According to the information I've found."
"That ice fog is named Low-Temperature Cold Wave A027."
"It covers an area of approximately 140 square kilometers."
"At its narrowest point, it's only 3.2 kilometers wide."
"Don't be fooled by its small size; it has actually existed for over three months."
"It's one of the longest-lasting and coldest cold waves currently known in East Asia."
"If you were driving an ordinary modified off-road vehicle."
"Once you enter, there's basically no chance of coming out alive."
"It's truly a death zone."
Despite speaking of such dangers.
The young man's face shows no sign of fear.
Instead, he looks as if he's about to embark on an exciting adventure in an amusement park, full of enthusiasm.
The caravan trains have been active on the East Asian continent for quite some time.
Proving their safety and reliability through countless perilous journeys.
As long as you stay inside the train.
And don't foolishly venture out.
You're unlikely to encounter any accidents.
If it weren't for the overcrowded carriages, where even sleeping requires sharing the same bunk in shifts.
Boarding a caravan train.
Would be almost like going on a trip.
As the young man continues his explanation.
His carriage gradually approaches the ice fog.
The howling wind slams against the thick windows.
Producing increasingly clear rustling sounds.
Then, fine ice crystals begin to cling to the edges of the windows.
Narrowing the view of the outside world from inside the carriage.
"We're in."
The young man uses his phone camera to capture the moment they enter the ice fog.
Then, upon realizing.
That the outside world is now obscured, with nothing visible beyond a meter or two.
He turns the camera back inside the carriage.
The interior layout, apart from the separate toilet at the end and a few limited bunks.
Resembles a subway carriage.
With only two rows of welded chairs on either side.
These benches offer little in terms of comfort.
But with over a hundred people crammed into the small space.
Due to the large number of people, they have also become scarce items.
Except for some patients identified by Artificial Intelligence.
Everyone could only take turns sitting for a while.
Most of the time, they had to stand.
However, the narrow space.
Did not prevent passengers from engaging in pastime activities.
Some offered their seats as platforms, gathering two or three people to play cards or set up a chessboard.
Some were chatting in low voices, or holding their phones to read books or listen to music.
"Everyone seems normal."
"The situation is the same as before."
The young man casually commented.
Then he moved the camera to the front of the carriage.
There was a TV playing a Jianghe City program.
From the TV's slightly scratched and distorted shell, it was clear that it was probably not a mass-produced product made with the carriage.
But a second-hand product obtained from somewhere.
This is normal.
Even for powerful forces at the level of super cities.
In this post-apocalyptic world where resources and energy are extremely precious.
It is impossible to specifically develop industry to produce such non-essential civilian products.
Basically, they just pick up and use pre-apocalypse civilian electronic products.
The young man didn't mind these.
What he wanted to show the online audience was the real-time internal and external temperatures displayed in a corner of the TV screen.
Room temperature 23.2 degrees.
Outside temperature minus 117.6 degrees.
"It's the same as the data I found."
"The temperature outside is indeed close to minus 120 degrees."
"In other words."
"If the window glass in front of me accidentally breaks."
"I could likely freeze and lose the ability to speak within seconds."
"Then die of hypothermia within minutes."
"This environment, separated from the world of death by just a layer of glass."
"Can only be truly understood by being in it."
The caravan train didn't travel long in the icy fog.
Half an hour later.
The thick white fog outside the window gradually dispersed.
A continuous range of snowy mountains appeared in view.
At this moment.
Several explosion roars came from afar.
The young man, still live-streaming, followed the direction of the sound.
Aimed his phone camera over.
Then in the zoomed-in lens.
Clearly saw several insect-like creatures moving through the flames and black smoke of the explosion.
"It's the Amethyst Crystal Entity."
"This time we really get to see them."
The young man was somewhat dazed.
Both excited to see this legendary species with his own eyes.
And also feeling a deep-seated shiver and fear.
This is the open wilderness with no barriers.
If they attract the attention of those over there.
The outcome might not be too good.
And the more you fear something, the more likely it is to happen.
After destroying a robot patrol team they were fighting.
The victorious Amethyst Crystal Entities.
Turned their gaze to the caravan train the young man was on.
The 1-kilometer-long body of the caravan train, and the over 20,000 passengers inside.
In the eyes of the Amethyst Crystal Entities.
Were the most delicious fruits.
Without a second of hesitation.
They charged towards the young man.
The young man was so frightened that his hand trembled.
He almost dropped his phone.
Twenty-some seconds later, he watched as the monsters on the opposite side approached with an unstoppable momentum.
Under the intense threat of death.
His body seemed frozen by fear. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't move a muscle.
As for the others in the carriage.
Few noticed the abnormality outside.
They were still laughing and playing cards, listening to music.
If we estimate the worst-case scenario.
This could actually be considered a kind of luck.
They wouldn't suffer much.
Only in the last few seconds after the carriage was torn apart.
Would they realize the arrival of death.
But the worst-case scenario ultimately did not occur.
When the Amethyst Crystal Entities approached within four to five kilometers.
The Icebound-class Land Battleship at the front of the train automatically activated its defense system.
It rotated the Thunder-class Optoelectric Cannon mounted on it.
Aiming the terrifying multi-barrel firing ports at the incoming Amethyst Crystal Entities.
It unleashed an extreme torrent of metal.
Hundreds, even thousands, of 32mm metal projectiles, which could actually be called small Electromagnetic Cannons.
Traveling at speeds several times the speed of sound.
Crossed the distance of four to five kilometers, striking around several Amethyst Crystal Entities.
Instantly shattering the solid ice and snow on the ground.
Creating one huge crater after another.
In this intense barrage.
The leading Amethyst Crystal Entity, with a massive build nearly two stories tall.
After enduring several direct hits from the cannon shells.
Its outer gray armor shattered on the spot, and it collapsed to the ground.
The following Amethyst Crystal Entities were so frightened that they immediately scattered.
Trying to use their agility to avoid the subsequent cannon fire.
But this was clearly futile.
There were simply too many incoming shells.
The Thunder-class Optoelectric Cannon's rate of fire exceeded ten thousand rounds per minute.
Meaning that each of these targeted Amethyst Crystal Entities.
Would have to successfully dodge one to two thousand times within a minute.
A difficulty so high it was nearly impossible.
After struggling for more than ten seconds.
These Amethyst Crystal Entities that attempted to charge at the merchant train.
All fell halfway.
"That was close."
The young man who recorded the entire battle with his phone camera.
Let out a long sigh of relief.
Feeling fortunate to have escaped death.
However, unlike his relief after surviving.
Many viewers who watched the entire event online.
Felt somewhat unsatisfied.
The Amethyst Crystal Entities charged, then were all killed in a single barrage.
The whole process was so simple it was almost boring.
Not at all as dramatic as one might imagine.
Jianghe City, a small farmhouse.
Su Wu, who was conducting a routine patrol of the Kuangjiang River basin on a holographic map.
Happened to witness this small conflict at the foot of the mountain.
He felt no emotional fluctuation.
Similar scenes.
In recent days.
Have been appearing more and more frequently around merchant trains and mines.
As long as the scale doesn't escalate to tens of thousands of combat units.
It's not enough to draw Su Wu's special attention.
However, this battle still made Su Wu ponder.
"Although in every battle."
"The merchant train, or more specifically, the leading Icebound-class Land Battleship, still holds an overwhelming combat advantage against the Amethyst Crystal Entities."
"What cannot be ignored is."
"The frequency of battles is still too high."
"The overall scale of the Amethyst Crystal Entities is rapidly expanding."
"They have already adapted to life on the surface and must have found sufficient nutrients for rapid development."
This was a piece of bad news that could not be ignored.
Quantitative change leads to qualitative change.
When the number of Amethyst Crystal Entities reaches a certain scale,
they will inevitably unleash terrifying destructive power.
By then, not just ordinary shelters,
but even the heavily fortified areas like the Qinling Mountains or the super-industrial city of Steel City,
might not be able to withstand the onslaught.
Moreover, the commander behind the Amethyst Crystal Entities
seems to be gaining a deeper understanding of humans.
Many remote mining sites, which contain no humans or edible food, only steel machinery and ores that the Amethyst Crystal Entities consider worthless as stones,
have also been targeted in deliberate attacks.
It seems as though they are attempting to weaken Su Wu's resource supply.
"Continue to expand our military and upgrade our weapons."
With a helpless sigh,
Su Wu reaffirmed his determination to develop military strength.
Although this would consume a lot of resources
and to some extent hinder the progress of the farmhouse's development,
from another perspective,
the Amethyst Crystal Entities are no different from a natural disaster.
Developing military strength to resist them is essentially the same as reinforcing the farmhouse.
After concluding his inspection of the Kuang River basin,
Su Wu weighed his options in his mind.
Through the control console, he recalled all the sixth-generation fighter jets that were transporting supplies.
He had them carry large quantities of reconnaissance drones and special combat drones
to conduct a thorough sweep of the entire Eastern Continent.
The purpose of this sweep was not to target humans or the Amethyst Crystal Entities themselves,
but primarily to eliminate the Underworld Flowers suspected of providing sustenance to the Amethyst Crystal Entities.
"Although we still don't know where the Amethyst Crystal Entities are finding their growth resources,"
"everything follows a pattern."
"Given the current barrenness of the entire surface and even the underground,"
"there are only a few possible channels that can provide growth resources."
"Considering that the rate of human shelter collapses has not accelerated,"
"the most likely scenario"
"is that the Amethyst Crystal Entities have secretly found places where they can cultivate Underworld Flowers on a large scale."
"By intensifying our efforts to locate and destroy these Amethyst Crystal Entity farmlands,"
"we should be able to effectively slow down the expansion rate of the Amethyst Crystal Entity population,"
"buying more time for the farmhouse's development."
Following Su Wu's orders,
the 500 sixth-generation fighter jets, representing his strongest air power,
first gathered at the farmhouse for resupply.
Then, in batches, they flew in all directions,
cruising at subsonic speeds at low altitudes.
While conducting a broad, rough reconnaissance,
they scattered large numbers of drones deep into the wilderness and glaciers.
Under this high-intensity, meticulous search,
many hidden corners that were difficult to spot from high altitudes were uncovered one by one.
Soon, Su Wu saw many places where,
under the erosion of magma,
hidden within the glaciers, there were caves spanning tens of kilometers,
filled with Underworld Flowers nearly a meter tall.
Once discovered, these areas entered a countdown to destruction.
Special combat drones equipped with directional sonic wave weapons
immediately converged on the coordinates provided by the reconnaissance drones,
initiating the harvesting process.
Rushing into the cave, he systematically eradicated the Underworld Flowers in large swathes.
At the same time.
The collective movement of 500 sixth-generation fighter jets.
Also drew the attention of numerous shelters not under Su Wu's control.
Not only the super cities, but even the capital of Dongzhou quietly turned their gaze towards those sixth-generation jets.
Investigating their motives for not transporting supplies but instead engaging in large-scale low-altitude maneuvers.