With the help of these instructors, Li Dong no longer had to stay at the training base all day, gaining much more free time.
After all, he had many things to attend to in his daily life.
These instructors were specially hired by Li Dong from a professional security company.
However, the training fees were far from cheap.
A customized three-month training program alone cost Li Dong ten million, and additional fees would apply if special content were added later.
The training base here was also recommended to Li Dong by the security company.
This was because the base was operated by a subsidiary of the same security company. Of course, during negotiations, the ten-million fee already included the rental cost of the training base.
Still, this security company was renowned both domestically and internationally, highly professional, and backed by significant state-affiliated influence, making the money well spent.
Overseas, this security company frequently dealt with some of the most notorious security firms in the industry.
Behind the scenes, they had clashed and fought with countless security personnel and mercenaries—though such incidents were rarely reported in the media. Only those at a certain level would know of this company's existence and the services it provided.
Domestically, most dignitaries and wealthy individuals would turn to this company to handle all subsequent troubles when traveling or conducting business abroad.
Not just because of their professionalism.
But also because the company was founded by fellow Great Xia nationals and had state-affiliated backing, making it far more trustworthy.
Of course, this company also earned the bitter resentment of security personnel working under certain foreign conglomerates.
After all, they were rivals!
Who would want to die at the hands of their opponent?
Over the next three months, Li Dong would occasionally make time to train alongside these security personnel.
This would help foster camaraderie, authority, and trust.
During training, Li Dong would also reveal a portion of his true strength, surpassing all the security personnel. This would earn the respect of the veterans and minimize potential conflicts.
Those with a military background only revered and admired those stronger than themselves.
Moreover, Li Dong had also served two years as a conscript.
"Chief Instructor Zhang, I'll leave the rest to you," Li Dong said to the middle-aged man before him.
"Don't worry. There's no job the Star Shield Security Company takes on that we can't complete—let alone something as minor as this," the man addressed as Chief Instructor Zhang replied with a hearty laugh.
Indeed, in the eyes of Chief Instructor Zhang, this three-month training program was nothing more than a trivial task.
Li Dong had actually considered having HR professionals poach instructors from Star Shield Security Company.
But he later realized it was nearly impossible—they simply couldn't be lured away.
In other words, these employees were practically state-affiliated.
At the very least, the higher-ranking instructors retained active-duty status and enjoyed high-tier benefits.
As long as they didn't resign voluntarily, Star Shield Security Company would never fire them. They could keep this job until retirement, with all benefits fully covered.
So why would they ever jump ship to a private company's security division?
Wasn't that a joke?
And beneath their dignity at that.
Survival skills and knowledge in extreme cold environments were certainly possessed by professionals at Star Shield Security Company.
After all, Blue Star had two major polar regions—the Antarctic and the Arctic.
Didn't they still need exploration teams and scientific expeditions to investigate these extreme cold zones?
Since they had to explore these regions, survival skills and knowledge in frigid conditions were not just necessary—they had to be mastered.
The knowledge and techniques humans had accumulated from exploring these polar regions were still highly practical.
Practical as they were, Li Dong didn't possess them, so he also needed professionals to train him.
After the Extreme Cold Apocalypse arrived, even areas near the equator would maintain temperatures of minus sixty degrees Celsius or lower year-round. Learning survival skills for extreme cold was absolutely essential.
Li Dong spent the entire day at the training base, primarily learning how to manage a team.
As for other matters, he tried to postpone them whenever possible.
If postponing wasn't an option, he handled them remotely.
If remote handling wasn't feasible, he delegated them to the relevant management or executives.
And if even that didn't work, they simply had to be delayed.
This five-hundred-member security team was named the Great Qin Heavy Industries Security Team, operating under the security division of Great Qin Heavy Industries Technology Company.
They now wore uniformly colored training uniforms, and the cold-resistant, radiation-proof gear designed for survival in temperatures as low as minus seventy or eighty degrees Celsius had been custom-made by a professional apparel company at Li Dong's request.
However, production hadn't yet begun.
Each set was expensive, and manufacturing them was challenging.
All five hundred security personnel at the training base had signed confidentiality agreements with Great Qin Heavy Industries Technology Company, with most also committing to contracts of five years or longer.
Li Dong's various measures were intended to bind them to the Great Qin Heavy Industries Shelter Base.
The official shelters of the Great Xia Nation wouldn't be able to accommodate too many people. When the time came, any sensible person would know what choice to make.
Moreover, securing a spot in an official shelter wouldn't be easy.
For an ordinary person—someone who wasn't an important scholar, researcher, skilled professional, well-connected, wealthy, or middle-class—the best advice was to just go to sleep and forget about it.
...
November passed quietly despite the numerous disasters that occurred during the month.
Most nations and ordinary citizens on Blue Star remained unaware of the impending apocalypse.
After all, this was an era of mindless entertainment.
Most ordinary people were already exhausted, scrambling day after day just to put food on the table and earn a meager living.
Telling them the apocalypse was coming would be no different from telling them the sky was about to fall—that they were doomed.
Would that cause social panic?
Or would it collapse the existing order?
As the saying goes: When the sky falls, the tall will hold it up.
But in reality, those meteorites in space would indeed come crashing down on ordinary people's heads, and no "tall person" could withstand the impact of a nearly ten-kilometer-wide asteroid hurtling at dozens of kilometers per second.
If someone could survive that, they wouldn't be a carbon-based lifeform anymore. Even a silicon-based being would perish.
Unless they were a planet-busting superhero from the movies or an immortal sage from ancient Great Xia legends, there would be no way to avert the crisis.
But in reality—did such people exist?
No!
Rumors about something akin to the Zombie virus had already begun spreading from the Western Continent.
By now, the nations of the Western Continent could no longer suppress the news.
Countless videos of Zombie virus outbreaks were being uploaded online by Western Continent residents.
The internet was flooded beyond control, creating a growing sense of crisis among many.
No matter how many official media outlets issued denials, it was useless in the Western Continent—the public there no longer trusted their official media.
They believed the official media was lying and deceiving them.
Many wealthy and upper-middle-class individuals in the Western Continent, sensing the danger, were fleeing the region at breakneck speed. However, the Zombie virus pathogens they carried were also being spread to other regions and countries.
Even an upscale neighborhood in the Far Star Union had reported Zombie sightings.
Though the Zombies were swiftly eliminated or captured, it still triggered panic among the wealthy class.
The immediate reaction of ordinary citizens in the Far Star Union was to stockpile guns and ammunition.
It had to be said—the people of the Far Star Union were exceptionally well-armed.
Now, even some media platforms in Great Xia were flooded with Zombie videos uploaded from abroad. The official Great Xia media remained silent—neither debunking the rumors nor reporting on the matter.
It was almost as if they were tacitly acknowledging the truth of these reports.
"December—what a damn awful month. Just before the New Year, and we can't even celebrate properly." At home, Li Dong muttered under his breath as he watched the Zombie videos circulating on domestic media platforms.
But he also knew there was no stopping the spread of this news.
All he could do was pray the virus would spread more slowly.