After Zhang Chen upgraded, he still had 290 points of the 【Super Crystal Core】.
This amount of crystal cores was but a drop in the ocean compared to the vast quantity needed for his next upgrade.
However... for survivors like Shirley, who had just been promoted to Advanced Transcendent, it was a considerable sum.
"Go call Shirley!"
Zhang Chen said to a cleaner walking by in the hallway.
A moment later, Shirley arrived in the living room of Zhang Chen's room.
"Master, you sent for me?"
She had changed into a light yellow floral dress for the evening.
Originally, it was a very pure and girlish outfit, but on Shirley, the fabric on her chest seemed to be stretched to its limit.
All attention was drawn there, purity instantly becoming insignificant in the face of sexiness!
"Mmm..."
Zhang Chen nodded, shifting his gaze from Shirley's chest to his own hand.
A large chunk of crystal-clear core now appeared on it.
"Master... what is this..."
Shirley asked with surprise.
"I know you have dual talents, and your upgrade requirements are twice that of ordinary people. Here are 200 【Super Crystal Cores】 for you to upgrade!"
"The third phase is coming, and I need you to become even stronger!"
Zhang Chen said with a smile.
"Thank you! Thank you, Master!"
Shirley was so moved she almost cried.
It was known that in her previous life, it was precisely because of the doubled upgrade requirements for her dual talents that Shirley's upgrade speed was greatly reduced.
In the end, although she did not become a slave by virtue of her talent as a Chinese person, she was also unable to advance into the ranks of the strong.
Crystal cores were the most fiercely contested resource at all times.
It not only meant the ability to become stronger, but also that seizing crystal cores could weaken the growth speed of other survivors, thereby consolidating one's status as a strong individual.
Therefore, the strong controlled crystal cores with extreme strictness.
Even in places like the black market, only the strong were qualified to enter.
There was absolutely no opportunity for the weak to exchange for crystal cores.
Zhang Chen directly gave Shirley 200 【Super Crystal Cores】, allowing her to directly increase her level by one. If she had met someone like this in her previous life, it would have been worth paying any price.
"Mmm, it's good that you've upgraded. There's nothing else, you can go rest!"
"Rest well, there's likely another battle tomorrow night!"
Zhang Chen said with a smile.
"Then... am I really leaving?"
Shirley placed her hand gently on her chest and looked at Zhang Chen with a hint of reluctance.
"Mmm, go ahead!"
Zhang Chen nodded.
Shirley then walked out slowly, with a touch of disappointment. In the hallway, she walked to a mirror and looked at herself properly, softly talking to herself:
"Is it that my outfit isn't showing it clearly enough?"
"Perhaps... Master doesn't like the pure type, but prefers the sexy one?"
"Fortunately, last time I crossed over with Sister Rui Na, I took a few more clothes from the mall..."
"Maybe... all men like black stockings?"
The night passed without incident...
The next day, during the day.
Zhang Chen and Zuo Nan studied the route to the mountain.
According to the information provided by Zuo Nan, all seven walled cities had a secret passage that led directly to the Tianlu Mountain Range, and all pointed to the same location.
It was very likely that each city was responsible for producing different parts, and then transporting them through the secret passage to the same location in Tianlu Mountain for assembly.
Ultimately, a complete lighthouse would be on Tianlu Mountain.
As for whether it was launched, that was unknown.
Now that the secret passages had been destroyed, one had to trek up the mountain.
"After my research, there are two routes that are more suitable for ascending the mountain. One is a shortcut, which requires going directly through the dense forest."
"Of course, this route is riskier, and no one knows how many dangers are lurking in the dense forest. As for the teams that entered the mountain before, none of them ever returned alive... so from a safety perspective, I don't recommend this route!"
Zuo Nan recalled past events and still felt lingering fear.
He himself did not have the courage to enter the mountain, but he had personally witnessed seven or eight teams entering the mountain, which was like throwing a few small stones into the ocean.
They disappeared without causing even the slightest ripple.
Zhang Chen looked at the map and said nothing.
Zuo Nan continued:
"The other path goes along the periphery, along the ridgeline."
"Although this route is longer, there are fewer dense forest areas along the way, and fewer monsters are encountered, making it naturally safer!"
"The only drawback is that this path is steeper and more rugged, with some narrow sections and cliffs on both sides!"
"But of course, with the strength of our team members, even if they accidentally fall, they won't die."
"So I recommend taking this route!"
Zhang Chen thought about it for a moment and said slowly:
"No, I think the first route is more stable!"
"After all, the team is larger, and once we encounter enemies on the steep mountain walls, it will be difficult to fight freely."
"If someone falls off the mountain... rescuing them will consume a lot of time, and time is what we lack most right now!"
Zhang Chen considered many aspects.
If there was no lighthouse on Tianlu Mountain, Zhang Chen would have to search the northern plains again.
Finally, he would need to go to the grasslands mentioned by Shirley to find the old man with the yellow ring on his hand to understand the mission to end the apocalypse.
All of this required time.
And the subsequent suppression periods for the apocalypse were all 15 days, and no one knew if it would continue to shorten.
There was no more time to waste.
"However... I haven't experienced how strong the monsters in the third phase of the apocalypse are... but I've heard from other strong individuals that they try to avoid combat as much as possible."
"Frenzied beasts are different from the small bugs in the second phase. Bugs can only be considered the lowest existence in the entire apocalypse food chain!"
"And frenzied beasts are at least predators. The strength difference between these two is not a little bit..."
"Moreover, the dense forest area not only has tens of thousands of monsters that have never been seen before, but also poisonous fog that can cause poisoning and hallucinations..."
Zuo Nan said nervously, trying his best to persuade Zhang Chen to change his decision.
He was afraid of death; if he truly wasn't afraid of death, his strength wouldn't be what it is now.
Of course, if he truly wasn't afraid of death, he might have died before entering the cycle of reincarnation.
Risk and reward coexist; this is the principle in everything.
Unexpectedly, Zhang Chen's expression did not change at all.
However, when he heard Zuo Nan mention tens of thousands of unseen monsters, Zhang Chen's eyes suddenly lit up, and he said:
"Tens of thousands of monsters? Really?"
"That would be great. I originally thought finding the lighthouse would delay my upgrade progress."
"In this way, this route not only saves time but also helps us quickly improve our levels. It's simply killing two birds with one stone!"
"Let's go with this route!"