Chapter 322 Prologue of an Era

The change of an era, the clash of two different worlds—this scene truly elicits a sense of sentimentality.

The sun continued to rise as usual, the new district gradually awakening, with the bustling traffic below and the noise from the old district not far away, as if nothing had happened at all.

However, the invasion incident last night likely kept the entire city awake—after all, the site of a completely unknown and terrifying event was right next door. Even in the new district’s Safe Zone, there were probably not many who could sleep soundly.

Of course, those who went to bed early likely had no such worries, but they probably pondered what the people around them were chatting about.

A crisis that could have wiped out the city was extinguished, yet beneath the surface calm, this world seemed to be pushed to the brink of collapse.

Xia Xinyan still remembered the real world before the expedition from her past life—many remote areas were destroyed by invasion incidents, turning into death zones. Cities erected quarantines and built walls, and people no longer dared to step casually into the no-man’s land… At that time, reality still leaned towards human dominance, but in some ways, it wasn’t much different from the Dark Zone.

The only difference was that the human strongholds were slightly larger.

Therefore, after this invasion incident, watching the people in the Old Town busily carry out clean-up work, Xia Xinyan couldn’t help but wonder if this time reality would eventually repeat the mistakes of her past life.

Ling Mo probably guessed what she was thinking and uttered that phrase.

He also believed they could make that phrase come true.

Because Xia Xinyan knew everything about the Dark Zone, knew what they would face, and was aware of several emergency response methods. With Xia Jincang acting as a bridge, this information could reach the nation, even the world.

He didn’t ponder it as deeply as Xia Xinyan did, using these to secure benefits for himself and the Chicks—perhaps he thought about it but didn’t delve as deeply. Right now, he primarily focused on strengthening the Chicks’ capabilities enough to participate in those decision-making events. Even though they had Xia Jincang and the Summer Family as their backing, it was still contingent on Xia Xinyan’s face and status. Not to mention, Ling Mo couldn’t accept that.

Having a force he could control was something he urgently needed to achieve. At this stage, Ling Mo finally had thoughts similar to the Fatty’s.

This also signified that he didn’t intend to remain a hands-off leader anymore.

Collaborating with Tiger Ba Tian’s Tiger Hall might be an opportunity. For mid-sized forces like theirs, forming alliances was a great idea for rapid improvement.

But even with forming alliances, he needed to find a way to make the Chicks the primary player in the alliance.

This needed to be backed by strength.

In any case, Ling Mo’s thoughts were already stirring.

He needed to gamble for a future.

For himself, and for Xinyan.

He didn’t know Xia Xinyan’s true past, nor did he understand Monica’s redundant memory theory. His knowledge of Xia Xinyan’s so-called “past” was still limited to her personal recounting of her downfall as a spoiled lady, and he was willing to take that narrative seriously.

Thus, in this lifetime, he would not let Xia Xinyan fall to such an end. Not only that, but he also intended to protect everything he wanted to protect, as well as everything Xinyan wanted to safeguard.

He was confident.

The clean-up in the Old Town ultimately took over a week—mainly due to the damaged Mall Building that was now deemed dangerous, so the final verdict was to demolish and rebuild. This was the biggest loss from this invasion event.

And it wasn’t even caused by monsters.

The invasions in other regions didn’t cause much damage, which could be considered a silver lining. However, after this series of events, society was finally thrust into a new era, and all major forces accelerated their actions, causing society to change dramatically from one day to the next.

The Ability Bureau took a stark turn from their previous gradual approach and quickly established a comprehensive presence nationwide, ultimately confirming the abbreviation—“Ability Bureau.”

All major forces also began to shrink, uniting with the Ability Bureau to create an active defense net, forming rapid response teams aimed at quelling the danger in every invasion incident before it could fully develop.

The focus was on remote areas, such as villages, where the Ability Bureau primarily provided support. After all, the people in those areas couldn’t all migrate to cities and could only set up warning systems on-site.

In the short term, whether online or in reality, there was indeed a sense of human unity.

Xia Xinyan also instructed Xia Jincang to communicate fundamental methods for dealing with invasion incidents to everyone. This was the most effective information possible, with the rest of the details saved as leverage for exchanges. She always needed to think of herself.

Additionally, it was worth mentioning that the Chicks also adopted a contraction strategy similar to most major forces. Their primary stronghold was at the location chosen by the Fatty, not far from the Villa Area. This previously desolate area now surprisingly became a small town in scale.

As for whether there were any illegal constructions… At this point in time, no one seemed to care.

Xia Xinyan and Ling Mo also moved to this stronghold, which meant familiar faces were basically just a step out the door, providing some sense of security.

Tang Tang, under Xia Xinyan’s arrangements, took over the management position. Although being assigned such an important role right after joining the Chicks surprised her, she lived up to Xia Xinyan’s previous observations of her remarkable talent, gradually getting the hang of it and beginning to manage the Chicks aptly within a week.

Meanwhile, the Fatty officially established an alliance with Tiger Ba Tian representing the Chicks. Currently, it was a mutual aid relationship of equal status, considering they had only recently come into contact and couldn’t start thinking of overpowering each other right away.

As such massive changes were occurring in reality, while the players’ main focus shifted to the Dark Zone, the final competition of the God of War Cup had to be put on hold. The organizers didn’t mention when the remaining matches would continue, and neither Xia Xinyan nor Ling Mo were in a hurry.

They were still busy building up the Dark Zone stronghold and exploring the surrounding areas, advancing steadily with smooth progress.

However, the frequency of demon appearances in the Dark Zone had also increased significantly, with the overall danger finally becoming apparent. Many players were hesitant to enter the Dark Zone without forming teams—not only because the demons targeted isolated players, but they were also bold enough to attack major strongholds, without a hint of hesitation.

In mid-July of the real world, the Tiger Hall’s stronghold in the Dark Zone was attacked by demons.

Then the Chicks received their first call for help from their new allies.

After hanging up the communication, Ling Mo glanced at the Fatty grilling meat in the courtyard: “Haven’t you always wanted to find an opportunity to elevate the Chicks to a leading position? Well, it’s here.”