Leizhou City.

The headquarters of the Dawn Society is located atop Tianlei Mountain.

Fang Ping, Wu Yanfeng, Xu Mo, Yang Erlang and other senior executives gathered together. They sat in the conference hall, and Fang Ping, as the main person in charge of the four major near-shore areas, reported on the progress of their work.

"President..."

Fang Ping slowly said, "It has been more than a month since the deaths of the three level-nine sea race overlords, including Sprand, but the combined area of ​​the four near seas is too vast, and the number of sea races is countless. Even if you order us to all be deployed to the sea, we still cannot control the entire sea."

“Besides the Bohai Sea, the Yellow Sea, and the East China Sea, which have relatively small sea areas, and with the help of Eric’s Stonefish clan… we have only achieved initial control. However, there are still many hostile sea creatures who are unwilling to submit to us, and most of them maintain a neutral attitude.”

"As for the South China Sea, it covers a full 3.5 million square kilometers. Even if the Bohai Sea, Yellow Sea, and East China Sea are combined, they are only about one-third the size of the South China Sea. Not only are hostile sea creatures lurking there, but there are also a large number of sea creatures of unknown origin."

"If we want to bring the South China Sea into the territory of our Dawn Society, I estimate it will take at least several years, and that's without any external interference, and with a huge investment of manpower and resources."

"..."

After Fang Ping finished his report.

Everyone looked toward the head of the group and found that the chairman remained silent.

Fang Ping couldn't help but feel a little uneasy.

What's going on?

Is the president unhappy?

Or is it...?

Before he could finish thinking, Zhang Hao said thoughtfully, "Then do you think... we need to temporarily suspend control of the sea area?"

"I think we can postpone it for now," Fang Ping nodded.

Wu Yanfeng: "I agree."

Yang Erlang: "Agreed."

"..."

Most of the others voted in favor.

Only Eric, being a member of the sea race, frowned, hesitated for a moment, and then raised his hand, saying, "President, I think we cannot delay, not even for a moment, and we need to devote more energy to taking control of the sea area as soon as possible."

"Oh? Tell me your reasons," Zhang Hao asked.

"Because the Dawn Society has developed so rapidly that the resources on the coastal land are no longer sufficient to support it, we can certainly turn our attention to inland cities."

Eric cautiously replied, "Inland cities certainly have abundant resources and a large number of zombies and mutated creatures that can provide crystal cores, but the resources of the sea are equally important... In terms of sheer numbers, the land cannot compare."

"Although the Dawn Society is powerful now, only you and I have truly reached the ninth level. If we divide our efforts to focus on both the sea and the inland areas, and form a pincer attack... the Dawn Society will inevitably suffer heavy losses."

"Perhaps your strength is enough to take on ten people without fear of anything, but if a large number of zombies and mutated creatures from the inland areas, along with countless sea creatures, sweep in, others besides you may not be able to escape unscathed, so we cannot postpone it."

"Moreover, we must continue to invest energy to control the sea area as soon as possible. Once we have achieved initial control of the South China Sea, resources worth billions or even tens of billions will become the foundation for the Dawn Society's future confidence. Countless inexhaustible crystal cores will continuously strengthen the Dawn Society."

"Even if one day in the future zombies, mutated creatures, and sea creatures sweep in, we, the Dawn Society, will be fearless in the face of any challenge."

"..."

These words were spoken.

Everyone present fell silent.

What he said makes a lot of sense. While the Dawn Society is indeed powerful, there are far too few Level 9 members. If the leader and Eric are overwhelmed with other matters, then those under their command who are not strong enough will be easily targeted.

Especially...

In order to investigate that Corpse King.

Meng Wu dispatched an elite team from the intelligence department, including Yan Ting, a pillar of the team, and Zhu Wuneng, hoping to find out some details about the other side and prevent chaos from breaking out at the crucial moment.

They certainly knew that the zombie king was most likely level nine.

Unfortunately, Dawn couldn't spare any manpower. But Zhu Wuneng was still a top-tier expert among level eight, and with Yan Ting's disguise ability... as long as the Corpse King didn't take action himself, there shouldn't be any problems, right?

Just as everyone was about to say something.

The door suddenly opened, and a man rushed in, looking extremely anxious. This man was Meng Wu.

"Something terrible has happened! Something terrible has happened!!"

Meng Wu's face was filled with panic: "President, something terrible has happened! Of the elite investigation team I sent out, only one person survived. The rest were killed by that Corpse King named Gu Tianle."

"What about Yan Ting? And Zhu Wuneng? They couldn't be dead too, could they?"

"Yan Ting was killed, and Bajie was captured alive."

"What?!"

Zhang Hao's expression changed: "Could it be... that Gu Tianle personally took action?"

"Yes, we underestimated their determination, and Gu Tianle also anticipated that we would send people to investigate it, so he used a series of schemes from the beginning... He ambushed the intelligence team and sent two level-eight zombies to capture Yan Ting alive. Bajie originally had a chance to escape."

Meng Wu clenched his fists and pleaded through gritted teeth, "But Bajie fought a desperate battle with the enemy to save Yan Ting. Although he managed to kill the enemy, Yan Ting was also caught in the crossfire and died. In the end, Gu Tianle personally arrived and captured Bajie alive."

"You know Yan Ting. He was one of the first batch of people who joined the supermarket with me. Although Bajie was mischievous, he wasn't a bad person at heart. Now his life or death is unknown, and it's my fault as his master. It's a pity that I don't have the ability to fight against a level nine corpse king."

"President, can you help me?"