This did not surprise Li Ye.
Humans and monsters were mortal enemies on the Wasteland.
"Faced with a great enemy, we no longer have many options." he said slowly. "Let’s unite first to fight against the Zombies, and as for the rest... we can settle the scores later."
Grok clearly remained noncommittal about this, merely nodding slowly.
Old Zhou and the others standing not far away were utterly dumbfounded.
It was truly hard to imagine that there could be such a genuinely manly Goblin in this world.
A real man, and a Goblin—those two things seemed completely incompatible.
Yet, here it was, appearing before everyone.
"Damn it, even Schwarzenegger would give a thumbs up if he saw this Goblin!" Li Ye thought to himself.
On the quiet street, the leader of the Monster Resistance and the human Lord stood face-to-face, with their companions standing nearby."I really can’t believe a human could come this deep." Grok spoke. "I think I’ve already guessed your goal... you’re aiming to destroy the Flesh Furnace zone of the Zombie Army, aren’t you？"
Seeing Li Ye nod, he paused for a moment, then continued his questioning.
"If I may ask bluntly, how much combat power do you currently possess？"
"We only have a single Level 2 City for now." Li Ye answered.
Grok was taken aback, then gently shook his head.
"I see..." he said in a low voice. "In that case, it might be far from enough."
"You seem to know quite a bit about the Flesh Furnace. May I ask, what exactly is the level of defense there？" Li Ye inquired.
From Grok’s account, he learned the following:
The Flesh Furnace was the core area of the Zombie Army’s civilization, a giant industrial zone for manufacturing a wide array of Zombie vehicles and Mobile Cities. It could even produce Zombies using flesh and bones.
The Zombie Army had stationed 20 Mobile Cities and a million-strong Zombie Swarm for defense there.
"My god..." Li Ye’s expression changed instantly upon hearing this.
This level of defensive strength was truly difficult to break through.
He couldn’t help but sigh.
It seemed that the reward promised by the Apocalypse Sect wasn’t as easy to obtain as he had thought.
Even the previously estimated 20% chance of success now seemed overly optimistic.
"Don’t lose hope so quickly, human." Grok spoke. "In fact, your arrival and your offer of cooperation surprised me. We might still have a sliver of chance."
"Then could you tell me about the Monster Resistance’s combat strength？" Li Ye asked. "This way, I can have a clearer picture."
Grok nodded in agreement and began his explanation.
According to him, the Monster Resistance currently had 2,094 members, composed of Goblins, Gnolls, Boarmen, Minotaurs, and Serpentfolk.
All of these monsters were at Level 2, including numerous elites and Elite Captain-grade members.
Level 2 Firearms, Level 2 Rocket Launchers, Level 2 Melee Weapons, Level 2 Off-road Vehicles, and Level 2 Helicopters... their equipment was quite decent.
The Resistance owned one Level 2 City, six Level 1 Mobile Cities, 98 Off-road Vehicles, 150 Motorcycles, and 12 Helicopters.
They possessed a total of 1,290 Level 2 Firearms, 12 Level 2 Heavy Machine Guns, 52 Level 2 Rocket Launchers, and an assortment of Level 1 weapons.
"They actually have that much？" Li Ye exclaimed.
It seemed the Monster Resistance was indeed a formidable force.
This increased their odds of breaching the Flesh Furnace.
Grok added more intelligence.
As the industrial heart of the Zombie Civilization, the area around the Flesh Furnace was surrounded by a dense network of railroads and transport routes.
These railroads acted like lifelines for the Zombie Army, continuously transporting vehicles and Firearms produced in the Flesh Furnace to various locations within the Zombie Dynasty—even to frontlines battling humans.
Newly manufactured Zombie Mobile Cities also traveled along these routes.
As the leader of the Monster Resistance, Grok had commanded his members to blow up a large number of railroads and main roads, delaying the Zombie Army’s troop deployments to the frontlines.
In fact, this had inadvertently helped the humans, easing the pressure at the front.
Looking at the Goblin before him, Li Ye couldn’t help but feel conflicted.
Monsters were too much like humans—was this a good thing, or a bad one？
After several hours of discussion, the two sides finally came up with a breakthrough plan.
Li Ye then led his people back to Tomorrow to rest. During this time, he logged into the Eternal Night Zone channel once again.
By then, Fang Yong and the others had already sent a message, informing Li Ye that they had discovered a Wormhole.
They felt both delighted and uncertain about it.
Everyone knew the teleportation function of Wormholes, but few dared to try them.
The reason was simple—Wormholes teleported randomly, and no one knew where they would send you.
The one Li Ye had experienced earlier was relatively friendly, merely transporting him from one side of a forest to the other.
Some Wormholes, however, were far more outrageous—they could send you to completely unknown new regions.
Some Mobile Cities had terrible luck, being teleported from low-level zones to completely unknown high-level ones.
And the unluckiest were teleported from land to the sky—or even the ocean.
Entering a Wormhole was a complete gamble, so unless it was a last resort, most avoided it.
Yet Li Ye appeared relaxed about it. After all, he understood how Wormholes worked.
He did his best to reassure Zhou Xing and Fang Yong and urged them to proceed to the Wormhole as soon as possible.
Naturally, the two were deeply hesitant. They didn’t understand why Li Ye was so confident. But after a fierce internal struggle, the two eventually decided to trust Li Ye and head to the Wormhole.
"Whew." Li Ye let out a long sigh.
Now that his teammates had retreated safely, he could focus entirely on the mission to storm the Flesh Furnace.
Everyone aboard Tomorrow began intense combat preparations.
After finishing a series of tasks, Li Ye returned to his room and took a nap.
When he woke up again and subconsciously opened the System Panel, the sixth piece of Epic Intelligence had already refreshed.
He froze upon seeing its content.
【6. In six hours, the Flesh Furnace zone will undergo a routine guard rotation, during which there will be a three-minute vacuum interval between the old and new guard shifts. (Intelligence Value: Epic)】
"What a rare opportunity." he couldn’t help but sigh.
As expected of Epic Intelligence, the value remained incredibly high.
This three-minute vacuum interval in the Zombie guard rotation would create an opportunity for Tomorrow and the Monster Resistance.
A fleeting, game-changing opportunity.
He quickly got up, got dressed, and called in Old Zhou and Lin Wu for the final battle deployment, and sent people to inform the Monster Resistance.
A dozen minutes later, both sides set off toward the Flesh Furnace zone.
To avoid exposing their movements, everyone chose to turn off their lights as much as possible, slow their speed, and reduce the noise from travel.
"Time’s almost up." Li Ye said in a low voice.
At this moment, Tomorrow and the Monster Resistance had reached their destination and were quietly lying in wait in the darkness.
Just a few kilometers ahead was the Flesh Furnace zone.
There, several Level 2 Zombie Mobile Cities were patrolling, and the outer perimeter was surrounded by a terrifyingly large Zombie Swarm.
Time ticked by second after second, until finally, as one Zombie City sounded its whistle, the patrolling Zombie Cities began to withdraw in one direction.
The wandering Zombie Swarm followed closely behind the Zombie Cities.
The guard rotation time Li Ye had anxiously awaited had finally arrived.
At this moment, the road ahead was no longer blocked but wide open.
After confirming the guards had left, Li Ye waved his hand.
"Begin the operation!"
Tomorrow and the seven Monster Mobile Cities immediately revved up their engines and charged toward the Flesh Furnace.
During this time, Convoy One and Two and the Storm Infantry Vehicle descended to the ground via the lift platform. Black Hawk Helicopters took off one by one from the upper deck, while Combat Personnel on the armor deck were fully stationed at the Cannons and Heavy Machine Guns.
Everyone wore grave expressions.
After a round of bombardment, the wall of the Flesh Furnace was blown open, and Tomorrow along with the Monster Mobile Cities surged in.
"We did it!" As they entered the Flesh Furnace zone, Li Ye was overwhelmed with joy.
According to his initial expectations, heavy casualties would be needed for Tomorrow and the Monster Resistance to breach the Flesh Furnace, yet now they had entered without a scratch.
Now, the reward promised by Bishop Heath was within reach.
Amid his joy, he finally got a clear view of the Flesh Furnace zone.
"What... the hell is this？" his expression changed.
As the industrial heart of the Zombie Dynasty, the Flesh Furnace looked like a giant open-air factory fused from flesh, bones, and machinery.
The first thing that came into view was the Raw Material Processing Plant, primarily composed of Smearing Platforms, Digestion Pools, and Shredders.
On the Smearing Platforms were countless collected Zombie remains, slowly fed into the Digestion Pools via conveyor belts, turning into fuel for the Flesh Furnace.
The Digestion Pools also extended conveyor belts, upon which lay half-burned Zombie bones. The Shredders would then crush them into powder to be transported elsewhere and reforged into White Bones.
Next were numerous Assembly Workshops, housing countless large and small flesh-mechanical arms and semi-mechanized Zombie workers. At that moment, they were assembling weapons, vehicles, and even Mobile Cities.
Following that were the Flesh Reactors, Neural Dispatch Centers...
And linking everything together were countless large and small flesh pipelines.
What surprised Li Ye the most was that the Flesh Furnace could even produce flesh and bone as raw materials.
In the vast fields, flesh and bones expanded and grew as if alive—likely due to cell replication through Flesh Technology.
"Disgusting!" Li Ye shook his head repeatedly. "Open fire!"
As the human and monster Mobile Cities opened fire, the entire Flesh Furnace zone fell into a storm of explosions.
The old and new Zombie guard forces, who had just rotated out, immediately returned, followed closely by a ferocious Zombie Swarm.
With a series of cannon blasts, Tomorrow launched a barrage of Smoke Shells at the enemies.
Having secured their objective, Li Ye had no intention of getting entangled with the enemies and chose to accelerate away.
The two sides thus began a chase through the Flesh Furnace zone. During this time, Tomorrow and the Monster Resistance madly fired at all parts of the zone, turning it completely into a sea of flames.
Suppressing his excitement, Li Ye quickly typed a line in the Eternal Night Zone channel.
【Tomorrow: Everyone, I’ve succeeded!】
The public channel was instantly flooded with exclamations and cheers. At this moment, no one cared about public channel regulations—they celebrated the victory madly.
Bishop Heath then sent him a message.
【Holy Vessel: I must say, you really did a great job, young man.】
【Holy Vessel: Once the information is confirmed, the Apocalypse Sect will fulfill its promise and pay you your reward.】
【Tomorrow: Thank you, Bishop Heath.】
【Holy Vessel: No need to thank me, it’s what you deserve.】
【Tomorrow: I suppose my part is done now. I’ll head to the Cretaceous Zone. I hope you can have someone deliver the reward there.】
【Holy Vessel: Understood. Once again, thank you for your sacrifice and dedication, young man. You’ve made a great contribution to the human camp this time!】
While chatting, Li Ye noticed the Flesh Furnace zone was slowly writhing.
"Although it’s badly damaged this time, since it’s made of Flesh Technology, it’ll likely recover very soon." he thought. After he expressed his concern, Bishop Heath responded with understanding.
【Holy Vessel: We naturally know the Flesh Furnace will recover, but before it’s fully restored and back in production,
the pressure on our three fronts will ease significantly, and human forces in each zone can seize the chance to retreat.】
【Tomorrow: Bishop, I have a question.】
【Holy Vessel: Please, go ahead.】
【Tomorrow: Isn’t the Apocalypse Sect a world-class organization? If you just dispatch a Level 4 or Level 5 City, I think it would be easy to wipe out the Zombie Civilization. Why not do that?】
Li Ye typed out his thoughts. In fact, he had been carrying this doubt in his heart for quite some time.
And Bishop Heath gave a reply.
【Holy Vessel: Silence Agreement.】
【Tomorrow: What?】
【Holy Vessel: When you grow to the point where you can access and abide by this agreement, you will understand everything.】
【Holy Vessel: Young man, this world is far more complex than you imagine. It is extremely complicated.】
【Holy Vessel: And it has long ceased to belong to humans.】
Under Li Ye’s puzzled gaze, Bishop Heath ended the communication.
"Silence Agreement?" Li Ye softly muttered.
He felt it was necessary to find out what this agreement was all about.
He then shifted his gaze away from the screen and let out a light sigh.
His mission was complete, and the matters of the Eternal Night Zone no longer concerned him.
Now, with its task accomplished, Tomorrow could proceed toward the Cretaceous Zone to reunite with the others.
At this thought, his mind and body relaxed considerably.
Tomorrow and the Monster Resistance quickly withdrew from the heavily damaged Flesh Furnace zone.
The Zombies clearly had no intention of letting them go and gave relentless chase.
Li Ye pondered for a moment and then made a decision.
"Ning Wen, don’t hold back on the Frost Shells." he said. "Fire as much as possible to delay the enemy. As long as we can get out, it’s worth it."
As the Frost Cannon continued firing, numerous Zombies along with Mobile Cities were frozen in place, greatly hindering the pursuing enemy forces. During this time, Li Ye spotted an entirely black Zombie City.
That was clearly Madam Mo’s "Voice."
Li Ye had no desire to tangle with such a troublesome enemy and ordered Tomorrow to advance at full speed.
After escaping successfully, Tomorrow and the Monster Resistance bid each other farewell and parted ways.
On Li Ye’s order, Tomorrow turned eastward.
That direction led to the Cretaceous Zone.
On the armor deck, the people aboard Tomorrow embraced one another in celebration, relieved.
Li Ye, too, felt his mood lift.
This journey had been perilous, but it had finally come to an end.