Chapter 337
“Grandpa, is it really you? You look so much younger now!”
Tang Yu’an and Zhou Qi walked into the room and circled around Li Changqing, examining him from head to toe.
Li Changqing chuckled. Although he had become younger, his features were still the familiar ones Tang Yu’an remembered, and the kindness in his expression hadn’t changed a bit.
“All thanks to the cultivation technique you two left behind.”
Li Changqing had spent years in hard training and had just recently made a breakthrough.
To be honest, he knew that his aptitude for cultivation wasn’t great, and breaking through had been difficult. The real reason he succeeded was because the “spiritual energy” in the world had increased.
The two kids had told him before—the fusion between their world and the giant world was accelerating.
In the past few years, natural disasters had begun to occur more frequently and with greater intensity, rivaling the period of cataclysm seventy years ago.
Fortunately, with the protective barrier in place, they had made it through those years safely—and had even grown stronger.
“You two really were gone a long time this time…”
Li Changqing looked over Tang Yu’an and Zhou Qi and couldn’t help but smile. “But compared to five years ago, you haven’t changed much.”
Tang Yu’an scratched his head. “We were in China cleaning up the aberrants—only about half a year passed over there. I didn’t expect five years to have gone by here!”
Li Changqing nodded. “Yes, the time gap is getting bigger and bigger.”
Of course, in reverse, the gap between them and the giant world was shrinking—while five years had passed in the Wasteland world, fifteen had passed in the giant world.
During those years, Li Changqing had made regular trips to the giant world to help Tang Yu’an clear out the vending machine storage. After all, with that much time passing, if it wasn’t cleared regularly, the machine would have overflowed long ago.
That likely played a part in his breakthrough too.
The concentration of spiritual energy in the giant world was incredibly high—Li Changqing was almost “drunk on oxygen” the first time he went. But after gradually adapting, his physique changed significantly.
“So should I call you ‘uncle’ now?” Tang Yu’an joked.
Li Changqing shook his head. “Still call me ‘grandpa.’ We mustn’t forget where we came from.”
His life might not have been legendary, but it had certainly been full of ups and downs. Those experiences were a treasure—precious memories he didn’t want to forget.
He would never forget the day he first took the two kids to Mount Jufeng. At the foot of the mountain, Xiao An called him “grandpa” for the very first time.
Even after all these years, even now that he had gained so much—he still couldn’t forget that word “grandpa,” that warm, bright campfire, and that bowl of hot soup…
“Haha, okay then.” Tang Yu’an smiled and agreed.
“Staying for lunch? Or are you leaving right away?” Li Changqing asked.
“Let’s stay! I’ll call Sister Lin back too. Let’s all have a reunion!” Tang Yu’an said.
Li Changqing nodded. “That girl hasn’t come back in two or three years either. What about Granny Guo and Kang Kang? Want to call them too?”
Because of the need to cultivate the purple-layered trees, Kang Kang had been staying in China—she was now even more famous than the Peace Trading Company.
Granny Guo hadn’t been idle either—she had been working with agricultural scientists to develop high-yield rice strains that could survive in extreme conditions. Recently, their efforts had paid off.
As long as further testing proved that the rice could be grown in the natural environment without the use of abilities, they’d be declared successful.
Of course, that was just for China.
In fact, once the first rice strains were harvested, Granny Guo had already sent seeds to Desolate City, entrusting them to Li Changqing.
After being cultivated and tested in the city, the rice had proven successful. Now it wasn’t just Desolate City—Lin Hai Town, Yanlong Base, and even the prairie communities had begun clearing land for cultivation.
Before long, everyone in the home base would be eating rice made from this new strain.
For Granny Guo, that dream had already come true—she could leave this world without regrets.
“Things are pretty much settled in China now. Kang Kang and Granny Guo can come back,” Tang Yu’an said.
With all the aberrants within the borders eliminated and the purple-layered trees planted along the frontier, there was no longer any worry about invasions.
And since cultivation techniques were so useful, Granny Guo would definitely need to assign them to his parents and Xinxin too.
Now that China was stable, they could finally rest and refocus on their little home.
So, Tang Yu’an messaged everyone, calling them all back one by one.
Not just those in China—he invited the sea-whale father and daughter from Lin Hai Town, Stone and Little Grass, the root-bound father and son from the lunchbox industry, and then Tie Jin, A’Lian, Mo Ke, Lan Yunqing, Chi Hao, Hong Li, and Xie Zhaori…
Every familiar face—they were all invited.
Thanks to the teleportation array, travel was easy. As soon as Tang Yu’an called, everyone responded.
Chi Hao and Lan Yunqing were the first to arrive.
“Xiao An! Xiao Qi!” Chi Hao was thrilled to see them again. “Finally! You’ve both grown up so much!”
“Brother Chi Hao!” Tang Yu’an called out with a grin.
Strictly speaking, Chi Hao was their first employee. Though he had slipped up a bit early on, he had helped them a lot and had since caught up in strength.
“You two are truly amazing!”
Chi Hao was full of praise for Desolate City. Then he glanced hopefully at Zhou Qi.
“Xiao Qi, are you cooking today?”
All these years, Chi Hao had never forgotten Zhou Qi’s cooking.
Zhou Qi paused, then nodded. “If everyone wants to eat…”
“Of course we do!”
Not just Chi Hao—even Li Changqing looked over eagerly.
“Then I’ll go get things ready.”
“I’ll help!”
Tang Yu’an followed behind Zhou Qi and went into the kitchen with him.
And so, after all this time, everyone was finally reunited once again—just like when the Shangshen Home Base was first established.
The atmosphere was warm and joyful, full of laughter and conversation.
After a hearty meal and a few drinks, Tang Yu’an and Zhou Qi were led by Li Changqing to tour the current Shangshen Home Base—
Yes, under unanimous agreement, the entire interconnected sanctuary protected by a chain of shielding barriers was officially named the Shangshen Home Base.
After five years of development—and with talent and technological aid from China—the entire Shangshen Home Base showed no signs of its once bleak and desolate past.
Everywhere they went was now thriving, bustling with life and prosperity.
Even Purple Sky Fortress, once abandoned, had been put to good use. Despite the increasing frequency and intensity of natural disasters, the Purple Sky jellyfish had not gone extinct—in fact, they had multiplied even more.
One day, Zhan Xiong had a wild idea and put the hydrogen extracted from the jellyfish, along with their secretions, up for sale in the trading zone.
To his surprise, people actually bought it!
The jellyfish secretions sold moderately well—but the hydrogen? It sold like crazy. Especially after Tang Yu’an opened the trading zone to employees from China.
Since the global collapse, China had lost its ability to import energy from other countries, and domestic energy extraction had been paralyzed during the apocalypse. The country had been facing an ongoing energy shortage.
But the hydrogen Zhan Xiong provided was purified directly by the system—just like the clean water Tang Yu’an had traded through the drifting bottle system before.
This made it a high-quality energy source—and Zhan Xiong sold it at a very low price.
As a result, the hydrogen from Purple Sky Fortress found a stable market, and both China and other parts of the Shangshen Home Base gained a reliable energy supply—a win-win situation!
For example, with the protective shield and steady energy supply, Bingyan Fortress was now fully operational again.
Moreover, the construction team from Desolate City had finally overcome various challenges and successfully built roads all the way to Qingmu Fortress and Bingyan Fortress.
Along the way, dozens of large and small settlements had also been incorporated into the Shangshen Home Base.
Tang Yu’an opened the map and saw a vast expanse of land cleared of fog, covered with countless light dots.
The total population of the Shangshen Home Base had already surpassed 10 million!
Of course, there were still parts of the map shrouded in fog, waiting to be explored. But with natural disasters so frequent and severe—how many survivors were truly left out there?
“Those seeking refuge in the Shangshen Home Base now include not just humans, but many animals—some of them mutated species,” Li Changqing explained.
If even mutated creatures struggled to survive, what hope was there for ordinary humans?
They had simply been fortunate—blessed with the protection of the God of Commerce, which allowed them to enjoy this peaceful and prosperous life. Outside the barrier, the wasteland remained steeped in darkness.
Tang Yu’an felt deeply moved—but he also knew he couldn’t save everyone.
Doing what was within his power… that was enough.
After the tour, Li Changqing returned to his duties in Desolate City, while Tang Yu’an and Zhou Qi headed to the Giant World.
And so, a new round of system settlement began.
When Tang Yu’an first returned to the Wasteland world, the system had already started its settlement broadcast. Since the data stream was too long, he had temporarily turned off the notifications.
Although the Giant World had higher numbers, the vending machines didn’t calculate experience points—so the settlement process was much faster than before.
Finally, when the system notifications stopped, Tang Yu’an opened his points account to check.
Points Balance: 928,390,000
His eyes instantly widened.
After his brain froze for a second, he finally did the math and interpreted it properly.
“Over 928 million!”
He jumped up in excitement. “Brother Qi! We’re rich! We’re really rich!!”
It all felt a bit surreal to Tang Yu’an.
What’s more, his level had increased to Lv42—he was now a high-level merchant!
Zhou Qi wasn’t particularly surprised—this number was about what he had estimated, given that the home base now had over 10 million people and many years had passed.
The power of time is immense.
He reached out and patted the top of Tang Yu’an’s head, smiling. “So, what do you want to do next?”
“Visit the Fire Dragon Clan?”
Even though fifteen years had passed, for long-lived species like dragons, it wasn’t a long time. When they arrived at the Fire Dragon Clan’s territory, Yan Lie and the others hadn’t returned yet.
Since only half a year had passed in China, Xiao Long Hui didn’t miss his parents too much. After returning to the clan, he and the little phoenix went off to play in the lava again.
Tang Yu’an didn’t worry about them and went to check on the emerald vine’s offshoot.
Fifteen years had passed, and the fiery red mutated vine had grown even more vigorously. Its roots reached deep into the lava, continuously absorbing fire-elemental energy.
It affectionately rubbed against Tang Yu’an’s hand, then conveyed a strange emotion.
Tang Yu’an didn’t quite understand what it meant.
But the emotion from the emerald vine didn’t last long. Soon, it was happily playing with Tang Yu’an again, so he didn’t dwell on it.
Since the dragons hadn’t returned, Tang Yu’an and Zhou Qi decided to stay a while.
They hadn’t had a chance to properly train in a long time. After so much combat, this was the perfect opportunity to slow down, reflect, and seek their next breakthrough.
Time passed quickly—nearly half a month flew by.
Then one day, the little dragon cub and little phoenix, who had been playing in the lava, suddenly flew back in a panic.
“An An! Something’s wrong!”
“What happened?”
“There’s a hole under the lava!”
Tang Yu’an and Zhou Qi already knew about the space rift beneath the lava—that was how they had originally arrived at the Fire Dragon Clan’s territory.
But what the little dragon cub said next made them unable to sit still.
“There are lots of holes now! The lava is flowing right into them! And…” the little dragon cub continued, “I swam through one of the holes and saw… a human city underneath!”
Tang Yu’an and Zhou Qi exchanged a glance, then immediately flew off the platform. Sure enough, they saw several small whirlpools forming in the once-calm flowing lava.
Wearing their shimmering green sun-protection suits, they didn’t hesitate and flew hand-in-hand straight into the lava.
When they passed through the “hole” the little dragon had described, they arrived above Yanlong Home Base.
They saw that the entire sky and earth had turned a fiery red. Scorching, boiling lava flowed down through the spatial rift—at first drop by drop, and then forming continuous streams—turning the whole scene into a living hell.
Tang Yu’an even saw Red Gem’s root system.
He and Zhou Qi looked down and saw that lava had already started dripping onto Yanlong Home Base’s protective barrier, then slid down the shield and splashed onto the ground below.
As more and more lava poured down, Tang Yu’an clearly saw—
Cracks forming on the protective barrier!
[Warning! Warning! The encountered natural disaster has exceeded the protective barrier’s tolerance limit. Do you wish to consume extra points to resist it?]
Tang Yu’an understood immediately—points were essentially energy to the system. He quickly nodded.
He then watched as his point balance started draining rapidly, millions vanishing in the blink of an eye.
“That’s way too fast!”
“Is this disaster happening only here, or everywhere else too?”
The system didn’t answer in words—it simply projected live footage of various places across the home base.
Earthquakes. Tsunamis. Extreme cold…
The entire world was shaking—there was no longer a single place left in peace.
The true apocalypse had arrived!
Tang Yu’an and Zhou Qi’s expressions changed drastically. “System! Hang in there!”
However…
[MR176349 is entering destruction countdown. When point energy runs out, everything will be reduced to nothing. At that time, the Apocalypse Convenience Store system will unbind from MR176349.]
“Unbind??” Tang Yu’an turned pale. “If you leave—what are we supposed to do?!”
They had always hoped to not rely too much on the system—but when real disaster struck, they couldn’t survive without it.
[Originally, the host would be destroyed together with this world, but…]
[Congratulations. You may transfer to dimension MR168845 to escape. This dimension is undergoing drastic changes. The teleportation array will soon shut down. Please leave as soon as possible.]
“You’ll unbind from this world… but will you unbind from me too?”
[Yes. Once the Apocalypse Convenience Store system leaves this dimension, it will also unbind from the host.]
[Please act quickly.]
Tang Yu’an immediately opened the message board and sent out an urgent announcement—telling everyone to use the teleportation array and flee to China.
As messages and questions from others flooded in, he didn’t respond. Eyes red, he asked:
“System, is there really no other way? No way to stop this world’s destruction?”
He looked down at Yanlong Home Base, at the Shangshen Home Base they had built so painstakingly. His heart ached with sorrow and unwillingness.
People’s lives had finally started getting better…
And yet, even if he abandoned everything now, there was no way to evacuate tens of millions of people in time!
[The fusion of worlds is irreversible.]
[Host, this is the apocalypse.]
[Please leave now. The teleportation array is entering its final countdown.]
Tang Yu’an trembled all over.
Zhou Qi couldn’t hear what the system said, but he could guess from Tang Yu’an’s expression. He held the younger boy’s hand tightly.
“Brother Qi… what do we do… the world’s going to be destroyed…” Tang Yu’an sobbed, “Everyone’s going to die…”
Even if they could escape through spatial rifts—what about the people in the home base?
There was no way to take that many people with them!
Had all their years of effort been for nothing? Tang Yu’an felt overwhelmed by despair and helplessness.
Zhou Qi was quiet for a while, then said, “We haven’t used today’s lucky draw yet.”
A glimmer of hope flickered in Tang Yu’an’s chest.
[There are no items in the prize pool that can stop dimensional destruction.]
The system poured cold water over that hope.
Tang Yu’an bit his lip hard—but he still opened the Lucky Spin interface.
[…]
One last spin—trying to grab one last miracle from the system?
qaq
But in the end, the system did not stop him.
Truth be told, it really did like this host. After all, he was truly impressive—the system had never been this wealthy before.
Even if it was all about to be lost… at least they had enjoyed it while it lasted!
The Lucky Spin began to turn.
And finally, as the pointer came to a stop, the entire system interface suddenly flickered a few times.
Then, Tang Yu’an saw—
[Congratulations! You’ve obtained the unique hidden item: “Blank Divinity Core.”]
