The disinfectant was sprayed for about five minutes, then the machine was turned off and replaced by several dryers.

The dryer sucked up air with great force and quickly dried everyone.

However, the door to the disinfection room was not opened after the drying process.

One-Eyed Dragon turned to look at Lin Bin and the other three, especially at Yin Xin, his brows furrowing. However, he didn't say anything, only addressing the others.

"According to regulations, after disinfection, everyone needs to be isolated in the isolation room for 48 hours, and an additional two disinfections are required every day before they can enter the base's living area."

Yin Hang seemed a little nervous, and he hugged his sister tightly.

Lin Bin: "Okay, we understand, we understand."

"As for you..." After saying that, the one-eyed man turned his gaze to Xiao Jin: "You don't need to. Just come with me to see the base commander."

The others looked at Xiao Jin with concern.

Xiao Jin remained calm and didn't say a word before walking out through the hidden door that appeared on the wall.

The weightless feeling of the elevator descending enveloped Xiao Jin, and the cage-like car emitted a penetrating sound of rusty metal scraping against each other.

The stark white emergency lights overhead flickered, casting shifting shadows on the grotesque scar that ran across the one-eyed man's left cheek. His remaining right eye, sharp as a hawk's, scanned the vast space gradually revealing itself below through the elevator railing.

Clang—

The elevator reached the bottom, and the heavy doors slid open to both sides. A cloud of murky air, mixed with the smells of engine oil, disinfectant, sweat, and a faint stench of blood, rushed in.

Immediately afterwards, Xiao Jin's vision cleared up.

The air-raid shelter has been transformed into a honeycomb-like steel fortress. Beneath the towering arched dome are endless passageways and tiered platforms reinforced with high-strength alloy supports.

The blue-white arcs of welding torches rose and fell, accompanied by the constant, ear-piercing screeching of steel being cut. People dressed in uniform gray overalls moved like busy worker ants among the massive construction machines.

Someone was welding and reinforcing the support beams, sparks flying like a waterfall; someone was pushing a cart full of heavy reconstruction materials, the metal wheels grinding against the rough ground with a piercing groan.

Others were working together to hoist a heavy generator into the pre-reserved foundation pit; their heavy shouts sounded small yet resilient in the vast space.

Xiao Jin's gaze swept over the figures working in the peripheral area.

Upon closer inspection, most of them were emaciated, with tired and numb eyes, and their movements were stiff from long-term hunger and heavy pressure, forming a stark contrast with the cold and solid steel jungle around them.

Moreover, their bodies were covered with terrible sores caused by the poisonous fog.

“The base doesn’t support idlers.” The one-eyed man’s rough voice was unusually clear amidst the roaring noise. He strode forward without looking back: “No matter who you are, if you want to live and eat, you have to work.”

Moving bricks, digging dirt, cleaning pipes, even just cleaning toilets! This is a base, not a charity hall. He paused, then added, "Soldiers earn their own rations."

Xiao Jin remained silent, but in her heart she was quite certain of what the one-eyed dragon had said.

This is not peacetime; it's survival of the fittest, and the stay-at-home dad mode doesn't work anymore!

Soon, Xiao Jin followed the one-eyed dragon out of the elevator, and was greeted by a silver passageway.

At the end of the passage, a heavy, lead-gray alloy door slid open silently, revealing a completely different world behind it.

Upon entering, Xiao Jin noticed that the air instantly became cold and dry, and sharp noises were blocked out, leaving only the low hum of the ventilation system.

This is the heart of the base, the operations room, and the command center.

A woman stood with her back to the door in front of a huge surveillance wall made up of dozens of screens.

The screen was displaying real-time images of every corner of the air-raid shelter, infrared scans, and blurry detection signals from the surrounding gray fog.

She wore a crisp, dark green combat uniform, her shoulder insignia indicating a high rank, and her posture was as upright as a pine tree. Hearing footsteps, she slowly turned around; it was the base commander.

Xiao Jin looked over and met a face with sharp, angular features etched by wind and hardship. The other person's eyes, however, were like tempered iron—sharp, calm, and devoid of any lingering emotions.

Her gaze swept past the one-eyed man and landed directly on Xiao Jin, scrutinizing him from head to toe. In just a moment, it seemed she had already assessed seven or eight tenths of Xiao Jin's true nature.

"Base Commander, the person has been brought here." The one-eyed man nodded slightly and stepped aside.

The base commander nodded, his gaze still fixed on Xiao Jin.

"Nice to meet you. I am Jiang Ting, the person in charge of the No. 078 Spark Base." Her voice was not loud, but it carried an undeniable penetrating power.

"Xiao Jin." Xiao Jin met her gaze, neither humble nor arrogant.

But then she repeated, "The Fire Seed Base?"

“That’s right.” The base commander nodded. “The purpose of the Fire Seed Base is to preserve the flame for humanity. Everyone here is an elite from all walks of life, including every soldier on duty.”

Those ordinary people you see are actually exceptions.

At this point, the base commander chuckled: "Actually, according to the rules, even if you had said those things outside before, I could have simply refused to open the door."

"But you still let us in." Xiao Jin glanced back indifferently.

The air around him seemed to freeze for a moment after he finished speaking, but the base commander quickly recovered.

Her eyes were firm as she said, word by word, "Yes, as the head of a base, I have failed in my duty and disobeyed my superiors' orders. But as a soldier, this is what I must do."

The one-eyed man beside him bit his lip.

"This base is number 78, so does that mean there are many bases like this?" Xiao Jin looked away and quietly changed the subject.

"Yes." The base commander nodded.

"Judging from the appearance of this place, it doesn't seem to have been built in a short time. Since the higher-ups predicted the disaster in advance, why didn't they inform the general public?"

The base commander fell silent for a moment: "...Because it's too late."

"Too late?"

"You might not believe it," the base commander said with a bitter expression, "A few hours before the poisonous fog appeared, someone suddenly came to the top and brought news of the apocalypse."

But nobody believed it, not even a sunflower with legs that delivered the news.

Xiao Jin was stunned for a moment when she heard this.

A sunflower with legs?

Could it be some player's item or pet?

It has to be said that Xiao Jin's idea is very likely, otherwise how could it be such a coincidence?

"Although it was strange, most people did not believe the apocalyptic theories and instead focused their attention on the sunflower. Everyone was curious about how it appeared."

But Sunflower ran away after delivering the message, and despite the immense manpower and resources mobilized by those above, they still couldn't find it. The base commander seemed a little tired and slowly sat down.

Seeing this, One-Eyed Dragon led Xiao Jin to sit on the other side of the chair.