331: Chapter 331 wasn't a disaster for him, it was a restock!

The change happened simultaneously.

5,769 people felt the vibration beneath their feet at the exact same moment.

It wasn't the violent shaking of an earthquake, but an extremely subtle, continuous tremor.

It was as if the entire microscopic world was breathing.

Then, everyone saw it.

silver light.

From the direction of the rift's core, a wave of silver light was spreading outwards.

It wasn't an attack.

It wasn't an explosion.

It was dissipation.

After Lin Yuan absorbed the energy entity, the energy source maintaining the entire microscopic effect vanished.

Without the energy source, the rules of the microscopic world began to collapse.

The silver light receded like a tide, dissipating in reverse from the core to the periphery.

Wherever it passed, space was restored.

The ice field was changing.

Cracks began to appear on the ice beneath their feet—not shattering, but expanding.

Everything was growing larger.

Or more accurately—everyone and everything was simultaneously returning to their original size.

The bodies of the 5,769 people began to expand at the same time.

From the size of ants, they returned to the dimensions of normal humans.

There was no pain during this process.

There wasn't even any discomfort.

It was just like a compressed video playing back at high speed.

Lin Yuan looked down at his hands.

His fingers were lengthening and thickening at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Ye Qingxue, beside him, was the same.

Her body was growing, her clothes were growing, her hair was lengthening—wait.

Her hair wasn't lengthening.

Her hair had always been that long.

It just looked short in the microscopic world.

In the distance, Huo Yan and the 800 Century Warriors were also recovering.

The Blue Star survivors were also recovering.

Everyone, simultaneously.

Lin Yuan withdrew his gaze and looked into the distance.

The entire ice field was changing.

Those ice crystals that had looked as huge as mountain ranges in the microscopic world were shrinking—no, it was that everyone was growing larger, so the ice crystals were relatively smaller.

Those ice pillars that once required one to look up at them now only reached knee height.

Those ice fissures that were once as wide as rivers were now just thin lines on the ground.

The perspective was changing.

The world was changing.

Everything was returning to its original state.

About three minutes later, the silver light completely dissipated.

The 5,769 people collectively returned to their normal size.

The extreme cold wind and snow of the White Frost Era rushed towards them.

The minus sixty-degree cold wind, carrying ice crystals, hit their faces like knives.

But no one felt cold.

Or rather, no one cared about the cold.

After experiencing the Vanguard arrival, the energy beast tide, and the silver doppelgänger patrols in the microscopic world, the minus sixty-degree wind and snow felt like a spring breeze.

Huo Yan stood on the ice field and took a deep breath.

The cold air rushed into his lungs, making him shiver.

But he smiled.

This was the cold of the normal world.

The wind of the normal world.

The snow of the normal world.

He looked down at his hands—normal-sized hands, normal-sized fingers, normal-sized fingernails.

No longer an ant.

He turned his head to look around.

The 800 Century Warriors were standing on the ice field.

Everyone's expression was similar—a dazed look of having lived through a lifetime, mixed with the relief of surviving a disaster.

A few veterans were patting each other on the shoulders with enough force that it looked like they were trying to pat the other into the ice.

A few younger ones were stomping their feet on the spot.

Not because of the cold, but to confirm that their feet were truly stepping on normal-sized ground.

There was also one person squatting on the ground, poking the ice surface with his finger.

He poked it three times.

Then he looked up and said: "It's real. The ground is real."

Huo Yan didn't mock him.

Because he himself had secretly poked it just a moment ago.

In the distance, the reaction of the Blue Star survivors was even more intense.

Some were crying.

Some were laughing.

Some were doing both.

A female survivor hugged the person next to her and shouted: "We're back! We're back!"

The woman being hugged also shouted: "I know! Let go! You're choking me!"

It was chaotic, noisy, and completely without order.

But no one went to maintain order.

Because this kind of chaos was good.

It was the kind of chaos that only those who were alive had the qualifications to possess.

Lin Yuan stood in the center of the crowd.

He did not participate in any of the celebrations.

He was sensing the changes within his own body.

After absorbing the energy entity, his power had undergone a qualitative change.

It wasn't a simple enhancement.

It was an evolution.

He could feel a new ability within him.

It was hard to describe in words.

If he had to describe it—it was as if there was an extra anchor point in his body.

An anchor point that could stabilize space.

Previously in the microscopic world, the spatial distortion caused by the silver light made everyone unable to resist.

But now, if the same thing happened again, he could directly stabilize the space around him.

He would no longer be shrunk.

He would no longer be distorted.

His space, he called the shots.

Besides this, he also felt another change.

A more practical change.

His material production efficiency—had doubled.

The amount of supplies that could be produced in one day before was now enough in half a day.

What did this mean?

It meant he could support more people.

It meant the base's material reserves would grow at a faster speed.

It meant—he had become stronger again.

Lin Yuan didn't have any particular expression.

To him, becoming stronger was a very normal thing.

It was as natural as getting full when eating or waking up when sleeping.

He tallied the harvest from this trip to the microscopic world in his mind.

The sealed Vanguard Core—an energy source far exceeding conventional cognition.

Ling Shuanghan's 800 Century Warriors—each one a veteran who had lived for 100 years in the Apocalypse.

Dimensional Anchoring Ability—could stabilize spatial anomalies and defend against the same type of attacks.

Material production efficiency doubled.

And the completeness of the authority fragment, increased from 12% to 19%.

Still 81% to go.

The road was still long.

But the direction was correct.

Lin Yuan withdrew his thoughts and looked around.

The 5,769 people had already calmed down from their initial excitement.

They looked toward Lin Yuan.

Not everyone knew what had happened.

Most of the ordinary survivors only knew a few things—a week ago, a silver light turned everyone into the size of ants.

Then Lin Yuan led them to survive in the microscopic world.

Encountered a Frost Beast Tide, no one died.

Encountered a terrifying silver existence, no one died.

Walked for five days, no one died.

Then the silver light dissipated, and everyone returned to normal.

Zero additional casualties for the whole process.

Zero.

Not a single person died.

In the Apocalypse, this was an impossible number.

Any crisis would have casualties.

Any migration would have people falling behind.

Any battle would have sacrifices.

But Lin Yuan achieved zero.

They didn't know how he did it.

They didn't need to know.

They only needed to know one thing—following this person meant survival.

That was enough.

No one in the crowd cheered "Long live Lin Yuan."

No one knelt down to kowtow.

No one gave a tear-jerking speech of gratitude.

They just looked at Lin Yuan.

Quietly.

Then someone started clapping.

It wasn't known who started it first.

One person, two people, ten people, a hundred people.

The applause spread across the ice field.

No rhythm.

No uniformity.

Just clapping.

5,769 people stood on the minus sixty-degree ice field, standing, clapping.

Some people cried while clapping.

Some people laughed while crying.

Lin Yuan stood in the middle of the applause, his expression unchanged.

He waited for the applause to stop.

He waited for about two minutes.

Then he said one sentence.

"Go back."

The applause stopped abruptly.

The 5,769 people turned around in unison and began to pack up their things to prepare for departure.

No one asked "Where to?"

Because there was no need to ask.

Back to the base.

Back home.

Ye Qingxue walked to Lin Yuan's side.

"Couldn't you have let them clap for a while longer?"

"Clapping cannot keep you warm."

"..."

Ye Qingxue felt she shouldn't have asked that question.

Because Lin Yuan's answer could always make a normal, touching scene become insipid.

The emotion that people had worked so hard to build up was clapped away by his single sentence, "Clapping cannot keep you warm."

But she also felt that this was truly very Lin Yuan.

No sentimentality.

No affectation.

Just doing what needs to be done.

Standing outside in minus sixty degrees clapping really couldn't keep you warm.

This was a fact.

Lin Yuan only spoke facts.

The evacuation work proceeded in an orderly manner.

Ling Shuanghan's 800 people were responsible for logistical cleanup, the Blue Star survivors gathered according to their squads, and the Goddesses led their respective teams.

Everything was executed according to the previous zoning management.

No chaos.

No fighting for resources.

No one even delayed work because they had returned to their normal size.

Because Lin Yuan's base had an unwritten rule—happiness is one thing, but work still has to be done.

Emotion is emotion, efficiency is efficiency.

These two things never conflicted in Lin Yuan's system.

You could move things while crying.

You could line up while laughing.

But you couldn't stop working because of crying or laughing.

Huo Yan adapted to this rule very quickly.

He wiped his tears while directing his subordinates to pack up equipment.

"Third platoon, turn left! Move the equipment crates up! What are you crying for? Cry after you finish moving!"

His subordinates wiped their tears while moving the crates.

The scene was a bit comical.

800 iron-blooded warriors who had lived for 100 years in the Apocalypse, crying while working.

But no one mocked them.

Because it was about the same on the Blue Star side.

Everyone was crying.

And everyone was working.

Luo Qinghan stood on a high ground, watching the entire evacuation scene.

Ye Qingxue walked to her side.

"What's wrong?"

Luo Qinghan was silent for a while.

"Do you know what the most terrifying thing is?"

Ye Qingxue looked at her.

"This crisis..."

Luo Qinghan's voice was very soft.

"To him, it is not a disaster."

She paused for a moment.

"It is stocking up."

Ye Qingxue did not answer immediately.

She followed Luo Qinghan's gaze.

Lin Yuan stood at the front of the line, confirming the evacuation route with Ji Wushuang.

His expression was exactly the same as usual.

No relief from surviving a disaster.

No excitement from defeating a strong enemy.

No sighing of "We have gone through a major crisis."

His expression said—this matter is finished, on to the next one.

Ye Qingxue thought about Luo Qinghan's words.

Stocking up.

This word was used very accurately.

The silver light catastrophe, 5,769 people shrunk, the microscopic world, the Frost Beast Tide, the Vanguard arrival—all of this in Lin Yuan's eyes was probably just a large-scale stocking up.

Stocked a Vanguard Core.

Stocked a Dimensional Anchoring Ability.

Stocked 800 Century Warriors.

Stocked doubled material production efficiency.

And incidentally stocked a new Goddess.

Although that Goddess hadn't officially confirmed joining yet.

But with Lin Yuan's efficiency, it was only a matter of time.

Ye Qingxue was silent for a while.

Then she smiled.

A very light smile.

"That is him."

Luo Qinghan also smiled.

The two women stood on the high ground.

Watching the orderly evacuation team below, watching the sky full of white frost and flying snow in the distance.

The ice field was very cold.

The wind was very strong.

The snow was very thick.

But no one felt this was a bad thing.

Because this was the cold of the normal world, the wind of the normal world, the snow of the normal world.

They were back.

From a microscopic world the size of an ant, they had returned to the normal world.

Everyone.

Zero casualties.

The team began to move.

5,769 people set foot on the road back to the base.

Lin Yuan walked at the very front.

Ye Qingxue walked half a step behind him.

Ling Shuanghan walked in the middle section of the team, with her 800 people.

Huo Yan walked beside Ling Shuanghan, no longer crying.

But his nose was still red.

He secretly wiped it with his sleeve.

Then pretended it was blown by the wind.

On the ice field, the footsteps of 5,769 people merged into one.

Steady, powerful, orderly footsteps.

Not the deliberate uniformity of an army.

It was the kind of uniformity of a group of people who had survived, walking on the way home.

Natural.

Solid.

Every step stepped on the solid ice surface.

Normal-sized ice surface.

Normal-sized feet.

Normal-sized world.

It's really good.