Hearing what Lin Xinghai said, Jin Canlan let out a sigh. "It can’t be helped. You and I both know how dire the situation is right now. If we wait another two years, to put it bluntly, who knows if it’ll even be safe enough to attend school!"

"Besides, the timeline would be too tight by then. Even with talent, one still needs time to develop."

Lin Xinghai fell silent, not knowing what else to say.

He quickly changed the subject, asking, "By the way, are there many people as young as your nephew applying to East Sea Academy?"

"Definitely not a lot, but probably not too few, either. Truth is, anyone who understands the current situation wants to take a shot. It’s just that being so young makes Cultivation more difficult, so you really can’t afford it without resources," Jin Canlan reasoned.

Lin Xinghai couldn’t help but nod. Cultivation in this world wasn’t a case of ’the younger, the better.’ It was one thing during the stage of the Optimized, which was purely about optimizing one’s own Genes.

But upon reaching the Blood Qi Realm, one cultivated Blood Qi Power, and that Blood Qi Power had to be tempered from within the body.

Therefore, at this stage, the more vigorous one’s Blood Qi, the faster their Cultivation.

But if someone was too young, before their body had even fully developed, and they tried to temper Blood Qi Power, not only would their Cultivation be slow, but it could even affect their physical development.

Of course, there were ways to compensate, such as taking nutritional supplements every day. But doing so was undoubtedly very... expensive.

This was exactly why Jin Canlan had said that without resources, one couldn’t even afford to practice Cultivation.

Next, Lin Xinghai asked about Jin Tong’s basic situation.

He soon learned that the boy’s Genetic Assessment was also B Level, his current Genetic Optimization Level had reached 99%, and he had also awakened a Rare Level Fire Superpower.

One could say these qualifications were excellent among ordinary people, but in a place teeming with geniuses like East Sea Base, he would probably be considered below average at best.

Next, Lin Xinghai had him demonstrate his Gun Technique, which he evaluated as merely adequate.

His Gun Technique was on par with an average member of the Heaven-Sundering Mercenary Corps. Of course, this skill level was outstanding among ordinary people, but it was unremarkable among geniuses.

Lin Xinghai also noticed that when he’d had Jin Tong get out of the vehicle to shoot at the Zombies earlier, the boy had clearly looked nervous as he faced the small but dense horde rushing toward them.

His combat experience was probably mediocre, too.

Without his help, it would be nearly impossible for the boy to get into East Sea Academy.

At this thought, he couldn’t help but glance at Jin Canlan, who immediately flashed him a simple, good-natured smile.

Lin Xinghai felt helpless against such a shameless person and decided to just ignore him.

An hour and a half later, the small Zombie horde they had drawn to the area was completely annihilated, with over 50,000 Zombies killed in total. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

However, not a single Mutated Zombie appeared during the entire process, so Lin Xinghai didn’t have to make a move.

Having cleared out so many Zombies, and on the edge of the city no less, things would probably be quiet for a while.

Even if the number of Zombies gradually increased over time, clearing them out again would be much less difficult.

The convoy soon set off again. By evening, they had advanced more than 1,300 kilometers.

They had also cleared all three danger zones today. Surprisingly, they hadn’t encountered a single Mutated Zombie in any of them, leaving a fight-itching Lin Xinghai with no way to blow off some steam.

’Then again, it made sense,’ he thought. None of these three places were major cities, and they were all on the outskirts. It would have been strange to run into a Mutated Zombie.

It was only because the Zombie density in those areas was a bit high that they were marked as danger zones.

But under normal circumstances, the military only needed to dispatch a hundred-person escort team to pass through these danger zones safely. The risk was limited.

That evening, the convoy found an open area and set up camp.

The group rested for the night, and they were on the road again at the crack of dawn the next day.

By noon, they were finally approaching East Sea Base.

Although Hua Country had a dozen or so large bases, East Sea Base was one of the five major ones. Moreover, the headquarters of the Eastern Combat Zone was located there.

It could be said that among all the large bases, East Sea Base held a special status.

Lin Xinghai was quite eager to see what East Sea Base looked like.

"We’re almost there," Jin Canlan said, glancing at the map.

Hearing this, Lin Xinghai opened the Armored Vehicle’s firing port and glanced outside, a hint of confusion in his eyes.

He couldn’t see anything in the distance; the towering city walls or skyscrapers he had imagined were nowhere in sight.

"You have to look up," Jin Canlan reminded him.

Lin Xinghai blinked, and as his gaze shifted upward, it instantly froze.

He saw a floating continent—of course, calling it a continent was perhaps an exaggeration, but it was at least a Floating Island with a diameter of over ten kilometers.

He could even see many futuristic-looking buildings on it, and he could vaguely make out hovercars weaving between the towers.

Even though he hadn’t gone up yet, this sight alone was enough to fulfill all of Lin Xinghai’s fantasies about future technology.

"Truly magnificent!" Lin Xinghai couldn’t help but exclaim. Then he asked, "Old Jin, do you think our Star Shield Base could ever develop to this scale? A base flying in the sky... just thinking about it is awesome."

The corner of Jin Canlan’s mouth twitched. ’What is he thinking!’

"That’s probably impossible," Jin Canlan said as tactfully as he could. "The country simply doesn’t have the resources to build such a massive repulsor device right now."

"And even if we could, we couldn’t afford to run it. The Energy this one repulsor device consumes is equal to the total normal consumption of two large bases."

"I see," Lin Xinghai said, his voice tinged with disappointment. "If this repulsor device uses so much energy, then how does East Sea Base maintain it?"

"The country provides the Energy," Jin Canlan explained. "East Sea Base isn’t floating in the sky just for show. It has countless thrusters on its underside. If necessary, it can reach any location in the Eastern Combat Zone within an hour."

"It’s no exaggeration to say that this is basically an Aerial Fortress. Without these Aerial Fortresses, Hua Country wouldn’t be able to defend so many Abyssal Passages."

Lin Xinghai fell silent upon hearing this.

The convoy continued forward and soon arrived directly beneath East Sea Base.

It was then that Lin Xinghai noticed several huge "transparent pipes" connected to the underside of the Floating Island.

From Jin Canlan’s explanation, Lin Xinghai learned that these "transparent pipes" were actually a result of the Space Elevator project.

However, the great cataclysm had broken out before the Space Elevator could be put into operation, so now they were being used for the Floating Island instead.