One hundred and five.

The vice president halted in her tracks and turned around, her eyes filled with scornful ridicule. “You think you can kill us? Just you?” As she spoke, she slightly opened her folding fan, and an intense fragrance mixed with a deadly aura emanated from around her.

“I’m the boss, so of course I don’t have to get my hands dirty. The one who will kill you is him.” Ye Yu snapped her fingers, and suddenly, at her feet, appeared a gaunt, short man dressed in black. The man lay flat on the ground like a crocodile, expressionless, his beady eyes fixed intently on them. Every now and then, strange noises escaped his abdomen.

“Bad news, it’s the Entangling Man—Sir, run!” A burly man behind the vice president recognized him, his face turning pale. With no time to seek approval, he immediately used his supernatural powers to whisk away the vice president and others before they could react.

The man on the ground tensed, ready to give chase, but Ye Yu calmly stopped him. “Let them go. Now is not the time for a massacre. Someone is stirring trouble in the shadows.”

The man muttered a few guttural sounds, then vanished.

Just as Ye Yin had guessed, Ye Yu’s wild recklessness was only a façade. In truth, she was a shrewd strategist who knew exactly when to act. This little episode merely diverted both sides’ attention temporarily—it wasn’t intended for the two giants to clash outright, but it was enough to keep them occupied for a while.

A message arrived from the Fish and Water faction of the Third Base, and seeing that her objective had been achieved, Ye Yin felt relieved and began preparations for the transfer.

Teleporting to the Fourth Base was far more difficult than to the farm. The population size was different, making control naturally much harder. Some people disobeyed orders and delayed the process—one would suddenly remember something forgotten, another would go searching for a missing child... The Saintess was clever, using methods suited for herding cattle and sheep to corral everyone behind railings. Anyone who tried to break out was punished, and only then was the situation barely under control.

“Hero, everyone’s here. We can begin,” the Saintess said sternly as she approached.

Ye Yin gazed at the large, dark crowd under the night sky, feeling an inexplicable weight in her heart. With nearly a million pairs of eyes watching, it was not a moment for her to appear personally. Instead, the perfect decoy puppet would take the stage.

The Hermit and Sister An’an naturally stole the spotlight once more. Their cooperation was flawless, their movements graceful, and their spellcasting smooth. Their dazzling techniques and extraordinary skills stunned everyone present, successfully relocating the entire group to a newly established temporary shelter on the outskirts of Hope Base.

September 6, four years into the apocalypse, was a day worth commemorating.

The people of the Fourth Base had been tormented by bitter cold and an unnatural way of life for nearly five years. Most had lost their passion for living and hope for the future. The chaos of the apocalypse, the terrifying threat of zombies, and the bleak outlook had turned them into little more than walking corpses. Until that day, when two godlike figures descended from the sky, allowing them to witness a miracle.

A devastating storm swept everything away; the sky and earth changed color, and the sensation of weightlessness was as if heaven had collapsed or hell had shattered. When people opened their eyes again, they no longer saw the cold base buildings and swirling snowstorms, but lush forests, rich black soil, wild grass and flowers, and babbling streams.

God was not dead; there was still hope.

The cold, numb hearts were torn open by warm sunlight, and the long-suppressed yearning for happiness began to breathe deeply.

Thunderous cheers echoed above the base, startling a large flock of black crows in the Yunze District into flight. The indescribable joy infected the welcoming crowd, who joined in the celebration. Commander He hadn’t seen his people so full of life in a long time; tears streamed down his face as he wildly waved his arms, joining the revelry. Even the usually composed Saintess could not maintain her calm, murmuring repeatedly in the Mai language: “Heavenly gods, heavenly gods!”

Soon, with the help of Commander Cao and others, the new settlement area sprang into vibrant activity. Ye Yin occasionally went to check on it, delighted by the renewed spirit of the people, even dreaming with a smile at night.

Pi picked up a small cold-water sheep, examined it for a long time before setting it down. “It’s not impossible to keep it alive, but you could switch to a different method to activate the livestock containment formation. It’s simpler, but requires more energy—though that’s nothing for the master.”

“I’ll handle the energy. You take care of the rest. The best planting season has passed this year. Until the next harvest, they’ll have to rely on these cold-water sheep for food. Even after next year’s harvest, these sheep can’t be easily abandoned—they’re a considerable asset.”

“Master has done well,” Pi said with a smile. “Now that you hold both trump cards of the cold wave, displacing the capital base’s position of power is only a matter of time.”

Ye Yin smiled. “What do you think? Any major events coming up?”

Pi thought for a moment, then shook his head. “What’s left are all tough nuts. As long as the balance between sides isn’t broken, no one dares to act rashly. So… just wait and see.”

“That’s good.” Ye Yin said softly, “I have a personal matter to attend to. Before anything big happens, I’ll leave the base in your hands.”

“Yes, Master, rest assured,” Pi replied quietly. “Though compared to maintaining world peace, I prefer stirring things up…”

Ye Yin rolled her eyes. “Hua Hua would be angry if she heard that.”

Mentioning Ye Hua softened Pi’s expression considerably. “Understood.”

Thousands of kilometers away from Hope Base, the cleanup operation at the capital base was progressing smoothly with full support. After joining forces with the main troop, Zhuo Chenglan quickly distinguished herself and was appointed captain of the newly formed Fifth Company, leading fighters from across the country to exterminate the zombie hordes.

“Are you saying many civilian bases are doing well too?” Feng Ying asked in surprise during the campfire meeting that night, addressing a guy from one of the civilian bases.

“Yes, though nothing compared to your scale,” the man replied with a hearty smile. “Besides our village, a few other towns have formed small groups. Life’s pretty comfortable.”

“Can you handle the zombie hordes normally?”

“Not bad. Our area is remote and sparsely populated since most fled south to the big cities. We just stay alert, keeping watch at the village entrance every day. Otherwise, it’s planting and raising kids like usual.”

“Looks like things are better than we thought,” Zhuo Chenglan said, relaxing her brow. “Many places in the northwest are sparsely populated, and many zombie groups have been wiped out over the years. So the number of survivors must be more than official statistics show.”

“Yeah! That’s great news.”

“Heh, what’s so great about it?” A short-haired, fair-skinned woman sneered and stood up. “You keep chatting—I’m leaving.”

Everyone exchanged glances, unsure what she’d taken offense to this time.

A significant portion of the cleanup legion came from various civilian bases—men and women mixed together. They fought side by side by day, drank and joked or even shared tents by night. It was the apocalypse, life and death intertwined; they didn’t fuss over such things, living for the moment as the next meeting was never guaranteed. As the saying goes, men and women working together make the work lighter. The higher-ups mostly turned a blind eye to such affairs, as long as they didn’t interfere with the next day’s mission.

This short-haired woman was named Zhe Hui. Usually unsmiling and seemingly aloof, she kept her distance from both men and women. Yet, paradoxically, she often sat with Feng Ying’s group, cooling the atmosphere with her cold remarks. No one understood what she really wanted.

“That woman has a fiery temper,” someone joked, “Whoever can sleep with her, I’ll call him my big brother.”

“Yeah, her personality’s odd, but the figure’s good, and the face is pretty…”

“Captain Zhuo, interested? I hear she’s selective—hard for anyone but you to get close. The other captains have multiple partners a week; how come you’re alone? Are you guarding some beauty’s chastity? That’d take years—can you last?”

Before Zhuo Chenglan could answer, Feng Ying snapped, “Come on, hasn’t even started drinking and you’re already out of control? Shut up! Whether our captain’s lonely is none of your business!”

“What’s your hurry? It’s not like you’re next.”

“Yeah, do you have a thing for Zhe Hui? Hahaha.”

“Captain, lighten up! The distant beauties can’t compare to the one before your eyes. Women change hearts faster than men these days. If a man as outstanding as you can’t win her, she’s definitely tough…”

“No more jokes like that,” Zhuo Chenglan said evenly, her voice calm but carrying an oppressive weight. “Next time anyone mentions it, they run fifty laps around the camp.”

Fifty laps… The group fell silent, sheepish.

That night, after everyone fell asleep in the tents, Zhuo Chenglan tossed and turned, unable to sleep. She took out the talisman she had carefully kept and her gaze darkened.

Finally, around midnight, just as she was drifting in and out of sleep, a sharp alarm sounded outside.

“Zombie horde attacking! All personnel, leave your posts and engage!”

Amid the chaos in the cleanup legion’s camp, Ye Yin’s mind was equally tumultuous.

With her abilities, finding the cleanup team wasn’t difficult. The hard part was deciding what to do once there. Should she bluntly tell Zhuo Chenglan, “Hey, your combat skills are too low, I’m worried I might die protecting you, so I’m here to support you”?

No, too blunt…

“Um, I’m worried about you, so I came to cheer you on, okay?”

No, too sentimental…

Ye Yin scratched her head irritably, stopped her flying artifact midair, and stared blankly ahead. What would she say to others upon arrival? What if they asked who she was?

Fortunately, she was averse to trouble. Unable to figure it out, she simply stopped thinking and quickened her pace toward the camp.

Author’s note: Little Orchid belongs to Little Ye. Unauthorized persons, please keep your distance. ╭(╯^╰)╮