Zhang Chen discovered many strange things in Yang Shanhai's meeting notes.
The most obvious was Yang Shanhai's mention that the apocalypse suppression they set was lifted every 30 days.
This indicated that the progress faction had mastered the rules of parallel world fusion and could use them flexibly.
This was proven by the reincarnators who had crossed over in recent issues.
But the problem was this 30-day period!
The notes clearly recorded that the apocalypse suppression was lifted every 3 days, not every 15 days!
However, Zhang Chen clearly remembered that when he was communicating with Shirley before.
Shirley had explicitly stated that the first stage of the apocalypse lasted 30 days, the second stage lasted 30 days, the third stage (feral beast phase) lasted 15 days, the fourth stage (colossal creature phase) lasted 15 days, and then it would enter the ultimate apocalypse.
If it were according to Yang Shanhai's settings, the last two stages should also be 30 days!
Could it be that this world had fused too many parallel worlds, leading to an increase in its own energy, thus shortening the suppression time with each cycle?
If that were the case...
Then would the second stage of the apocalypse in this cycle truly last 30 days?
Just as Zhang Chen was pondering this, a heavy impact sound came from a window to his side.
He looked towards the sound and saw a large bird, whose wingspan was comparable to a small car, frantically flapping its wings, trying to break through the window.
Its massive head and sharp claws continuously struck the glass.
However, the laboratory windows had extremely high defense levels, and this strange bird couldn't possibly get in.
"Wow, there are so many birds outside!"
"I wonder if bird legs taste like chicken legs?"
"If they do... such a big bird... slurp!"
Xiaobai, perched by another window, looked at the scenery outside and exclaimed.
Zhang Chen followed and walked to the window.
He saw countless large birds flying in the sky, changing formations, and approaching in a dark, overwhelming mass.
If it weren't for the dense defensive artillery fire from the city walls, the entire city would likely already be covered by these strange birds.
"This... this is... the terror bird frenzy before the arrival of the beast phase!?"
Zuo Nan, looking at the scene outside, turned pale with fright and muttered.
"Terror bird frenzy?"
Zhang Chen asked.
"I remember that the day before the second stage of the apocalypse ended, this phenomenon appeared!"
"Because these birds are at the lowest end of the food chain in the feral beast phase, they awaken the earliest!"
"They rapidly reproduce by eating mutated insects... that's right, they don't lay eggs. Instead, once they accumulate enough energy, they split into two, just like cell division."
"But... isn't it currently the fourteenth day of the apocalypse? The third stage should still be half a month away."
"Why have these birds appeared now..."
Zuo Nan said with confusion.
"Come to think of it, this means the third stage of the apocalypse has been advanced. The duration of the second stage is no longer thirty days, but fifteen days!"
Zhang Chen said calmly, looking at the strange birds outside.
"What? Advanced? It can do that?"
"If, in every cycle, the time for one phase is compressed..."
"Won't our living environment become increasingly harsh? And the ultimate apocalypse will arrive more frequently?"
Zuo Nan exclaimed in shock, his face filled with despair.
Originally, during his first reincarnation, due to various reasons, he didn't have the opportunity to improve himself properly, and ultimately ended up as a slave.
He had planned to develop well in this reincarnation, at least not to fall behind.
But now, the apocalypse phase had been compressed again.
At this moment, he was the most distraught!
"We need to find Xu Ruina and Shirley quickly, and prepare for the early arrival of the feral beast phase!"
After speaking, Zhang Chen immediately informed the Nightmare members, Zhao Longchuan, Zhang Wenwen, and others about the compression of the second stage of the apocalypse and the imminent arrival of the feral beast phase.
After a slight hesitation, he eventually informed Isaac of this news and asked him to spread it.
As the apocalypse becomes more severe, humanity must unite more to have a chance.
Previously, Zhang Chen believed that the main enemies in the apocalypse were infected mutated creatures and other survivors with malicious intentions.
Now, it seems that in addition to these, there is a special enemy: the natives!
Although mutated monsters are powerful, their intelligence is generally low, and they only know bloodthirsty slaughter.
However, natives are different; they use technological means to strategize.
Such opponents are far more terrifying than monstrous creatures!
"But, where can we find Xu Ruina?"
"They are nowhere to be found in this entire building, and they haven't left any clues..."
Zuo Nan asked.
"I know where Xu Ruina went!"
Zhang Chen pointed to a set of numbers on the notebook.
This page read: tC014562.
When Zhang Chen first got the notebook, it was open and placed face down on the table.
And the page that was open happened to be this one.
At first, Zhang Chen didn't notice this detail. Now, combined with the content of the notebook, Zhang Chen could basically conclude that Xu Ruina and Shirley must have gone to this parallel world.
Because according to the records, the geneticists defeated the progress faction in this parallel world's scientific community.
And Xu Ruina's greatest wish has always been to transform into a normal human appearance.
Since she couldn't find Tang Houde, she might have taken a risk and entered a parallel world to find genetic scientists to return her to her original form.
Xu Ruina herself is a native, so she would definitely be able to use these computers and experimental equipment, making it not difficult to enter the parallel world she desired.
And Shirley, in order to complete the task assigned to her, must follow Xu Ruina closely, so she also entered the parallel world.
The chat function of the ring is likely ineffective for distances that span across parallel worlds.
"But... how can we determine which spatial rift leads to which world? What if we go to the wrong one..."
Zuo Nan asked nervously.
"I know!"
Zhang Chen smiled slightly, his gaze fixed on a spatial rift that intermittently appeared in the adjacent room.
After a while, a line of prompts slowly emerged:
[Number tC014431, this world has been completely infected by biological energy, danger level 3! This world's time flow]
Zhang Chen quickly went to check the other rooms with spatial rifts.
Finally, in the last room, he found number tC014562, with a time flow similar to the real world.
Without any hesitation, Zhang Chen walked into the spatial rift first.