115: Chapter 115 Activity Week

Minister Su Hongye walked out of the office and pulled the door shut behind her, closing it tight.

She stood in the hallway, looking down to straighten her slightly disheveled black pencil skirt and the wrinkled hem of her suit jacket.

At this moment, a deep, lingering flush still stained her delicate cheeks, and her breathing remained somewhat ragged.

She frowned slightly, a trace of unconcealable pain etched between her brows, and her gait held a hint of stiffness that would be hard to notice.

Yet for her, this feeling of being crushed and controlled was the very poison that sustained her sense of security in this apocalypse.

Not until the clicking of Minister Su Hongye's high heels faded completely at the end of the hallway did Shadow reappear out of thin air in a corner of the office.

"City Lord, the matter has been handled. The Winged King will need some time to make a decision."

"Then let him take his time. We aren't the ones in a hurry, anyway."

City Lord Zhao Tianyu didn't care in the slightest.

Shadow bowed his head slightly and suddenly said.

"Minister Su Hongye's ambition is growing. She wants an heir with your bloodline, which is tantamount to seeking the right of succession for the future Sky City."

City Lord Zhao Tianyu stood before the floor-to-ceiling window, holding a pure white silk handkerchief, slowly and methodically wiping his long, slender fingers.

Upon hearing Shadow's words, he tossed the handkerchief casually onto the table beside him.

"An heir? Does she even deserve one?"

He turned around.

"Not to mention that I don't regard her in the slightest. Besides, with our constitution, conceiving a child is already extremely difficult."

Then, he suddenly thought of something. He walked back to his desk and opened a drawer: "The only reason I kept her in the core layer is because she was previously the head of Hongyan Pavilion. Sky City needs to absorb a large population, and among this group, female survivors have the most fragile psychological defenses. Keeping someone like Minister Su Hongye as a glamorous 'signboard' can stabilize the women in the city to the greatest extent."

Shadow was silent for a moment before saying: "However, Minister Su Hongye currently has extremely high prestige among the women in the city, and she has even formed a semi-independent internal affairs team of her own. City Lord, wouldn't allowing such influence to grow unchecked become a hidden danger?"

"A danger?"

City Lord Zhao Tianyu scoffed, his eyes filled with disdain.

He pulled out his chair and sat down, crossing his long legs and resting his hands casually on his knees: "In this Sky City that I built with my own hands, there will be no hidden dangers. They have just been living the good life for too long; in their comfort, they have forgotten that this is an apocalypse that can chew people up at any moment, and they have also forgotten who bestowed all of this upon them."

He tapped the desktop lightly, and a black electronic data tablet slid in front of Shadow.

"I have never believed in absolute loyalty; I only believe in checks and balances."

City Lord Zhao Tianyu pointed to the data tablet.

"Inside this is a list. It records several women currently living at the bottom layer of Sky City who have extremely high potential ratings."

Shadow picked up the data tablet, scanned the information on it quickly, and immediately understood City Lord Zhao Tianyu's intention.

"Go make the arrangements."

"Keep an eye on them in secret. When necessary, quietly provide them with some help and resource allocation. Pull them up from the darkest depths, and give them power and status."

Shadow gripped the data tablet tight and bowed slightly: "Does the City Lord mean to make them the people who keep Minister Su Hongye in check?"

"Even an obedient dog will develop the intention to bite its master if it feels it has become irreplaceable in the house."

City Lord Zhao Tianyu leaned back in his chair, his gaze passing through the floor-to-ceiling window to overlook the entire bustling city: "Let those fierce wolves who have crawled up from the bottom keep an eye on her. Once Minister Su Hongye forgets her place one day, or if her influence truly touches my bottom line..."

"These people can replace her at any time and become the next representative."

Inside Cloud Top Fortress.

By now, many days had passed since that batch of 'living ancestors' had boarded the ship.

Zhou An stood outside the one-way transparent observation wall, watching the vibrant simulated grassland inside, his eyes filled with admiration.

"The speed at which they're putting on weight is simply outrageous."

Inside the observation wall, the Gale Horned Bulls, which could previously only be described as healthy, were now a full size larger. Their coats were sleek and glossy, and the cyan horns on their heads even had faint, shimmering currents of wind elemental energy.

Most eye-catching of all was the bull in the center of the herd, its massive body like a small mountain.

Its eyes were blood-red, its muscles knotted like hard rocks, and every breath it took stirred up a miniature storm on the grass.

Muzi, who was nearby, pointed to the bull in the center.

"Boss, do you see that bull?"

"That was modified by Shen Xingyue. She triggered its bloodline, and it has promoted to Epic grade. It is now a perfect, top-tier stud!"

Zhou An nodded: "In this day and age, doctors have to moonlight as veterinarians."

He had originally thought Shen Xingyue was just trying it out; he hadn't expected her to actually be capable of it, and it was said there was even room for upgrading.

Shen Xingyue pushed up her glasses from the side and added: "Currently, these eighteen cows have all entered a stable lactation period. Muzi and Luo Ning designed a fully automatic, sterile milking production line. The [Wind Spirit Raw Milk] produced daily is enough for Zhang Kong to drink, and the remaining quota is enough for all of us to consume daily, with even some left over to make cheese for storage."

"Well done. With a stable source of high-tier meat and milk, our physical constitutions can all advance to the next level."

Zhou An nodded with satisfaction, but he was in no rush to order an expansion of the scale.

"Let's keep raising them at the current scale for a month."

"Observe the adaptability of these animals during long-term high-altitude flight and within the artificial ecosystem, as well as their reproductive survival rate. If everything is stable after a month, we will expand production then."

He looked up at the fortress's spacious ceiling.

Currently, the single-layer area of [Cloud Top Fortress] was 100x100 meters, although based on the core's energy output, the fortress's limit could be even larger.

But Zhou An knew very well that the larger the size, the more terrifying the air resistance and inertia would be. Once that limit was exceeded, the fortress's maneuverability and flexibility would plummet, making it extremely easy to become a clumsy, living target when facing high-intensity aerial combat.

"No rush. Eat one bite at a time, expand the ship bit by bit..."

As he was speaking, Shen Xingyue glanced down at a notification that popped up on the micro-terminal on her wrist, a flash of light reflecting off her lenses.

She turned to look at Zhou An: "Boss, since the grassland side is confirmed stable, why don't you take a moment to come with me to the laboratory? There have been some results recently."

"Oh?"

Zhou An perked up. He didn't hesitate and strode after Shen Xingyue.

The two walked through the hallway and stepped into Shen Xingyue's exclusive laboratory.

The laboratory was pristine and white. In the center, on a sterile, temperature-controlled platform, sat a silver-white, custom-made briefcase. Shen Xingyue stepped forward and skillfully entered the password and pressed her fingerprint.

With a soft "click," the lid slowly popped open.

As a puff of white cold air dissipated, six pale golden syringes appeared in Zhou An's line of sight.

Even though Zhou An was experienced and knowledgeable, at this moment, feeling the immense vitality almost overflowing from the syringes, he couldn't help but hold his breath: "This is..."

"Legendary-grade healing injections."

Shen Xingyue pulled up the holographic data panel on the side.

"This is a product I made using those medicinal plants in the cultivation room."

Shen Xingyue pushed up the rimless glasses on the bridge of her nose, her tone filled with unconcealable pride: "These aren't those assembly-line products from the System Store. As long as the user's brain hasn't been instantly destroyed and their SAN value hasn't hit zero, even if their heart has been pierced, this injection can forcibly reshape cells within ten seconds and pull them back from the gates of hell."

"What's the production rate?"

Zhou An asked.

"The materials have a long growth cycle, and the production failure rate is high."

Shen Xingyue reported rigorously.

"At best, with the current planting scale, we can stably produce about three per month in the future."

"That's more than enough! Shen Xingyue, you've basically just handed us extra lives."

Zhou An exclaimed, not sparing any praise. Afterwards, he personally took out the six syringes from the briefcase one by one.

"Zhang Kong, Lin Qing, Muzi, Dr. Shen, Luo Ning, and me. That's exactly six people."

Zhou An handed the syringes to Shen Xingyue and Li Muzi, saying solemnly, "One for each person. Keep them on your person at all times. This is our ace in the hole for emergencies; when the critical moment comes, do not hesitate."

Just as the two were preparing to deliver the injections to the others, a system notification suddenly rang out.

[The first Activity Week of the second phase is now officially starting!]

All the members of the fortress stopped what they were doing and listened quietly to the system broadcast.

[Activity Week rules are as follows:]

[Resource Surge]: During the activity, the refresh rate of scattered basic resources and associated mineral veins on all ownerless Floating Islands in the Cangyun Airspace will increase by 300%!

[Heavenly Rain]: The "Resource Rain" phenomenon will refresh at random times and locations in the airspace daily, containing a large number of high-tier blueprints, rare materials, and finished potions.

[Core Gameplay: Island Siege]: During the activity, multiple floating "Core Resource Islands" will randomly refresh within the region.

Any faction or individual may land and occupy them.

Occupation rules: The longer you occupy the island's core array, the higher the grade and the greater the quantity of high-tier resources harvested from the island!

Warning: Core Islands will expose the real-time coordinates of the occupier. Prepare to face the counterattacks of your opponents!

[Activity Duration]: 7 days!

"Beep—Broadcast ended. Wishing you all good hunting."