The wall blocked their path forward. When Qian Ming saw the helicopter circling in the sky, he knew it was over.

They had lost the chance to leave successfully with people; when the road was sealed, they either had to die or escape.

No longer caring for those women, he ordered the Divine Dragon Army to disperse and start retreating into the forest.

As many as could escape were considered lucky; this was the cold temperate coniferous forest area, the most dense in Qin Han, belonging to pristine deep mountains and forests. Once inside, the helicopter would be of little use.

Ye Fan's four helicopters began to carry out airborne operations. One paratrooper after another slid down and began attacking the surroundings continuously.

Many who ran slowly were directly knocked down.

Some people planned to rely on the forest to negotiate with the Dawn Army, but the four hundred paratroopers had already caught up.

Although these Divine Dragon Army soldiers had combat power superior to the Survivor Alliance, and even more than the Wangbei Army, compared to these near-special forces warriors, they were clearly still lacking.

Both sides then opened a fierce battle on the edge of the deep mountain. The Dawn Army was clearly at an advantage under helicopter cover, and the Divine Dragon Army soon suffered heavy losses, forced to retreat into the forest.

Ye Fan ordered part of the troops to continue the pursuit and then had some go down to drive and bring the Women's Army back.

The four combat helicopters pursued for a while longer in the sky, guided by radar, using machine guns to sweep and eliminate the Divine Dragon Army attempting to hide nearby and wait for a chance to counterattack.

This asymmetrical firepower left the Divine Dragon Army unable to resist; surrounding people were gradually eliminated, and the remaining could only flee into the deep mountains.

Qian Ming was unable to escape.

He tried several times to find a chance to counterattack, but the opponent's powerful firepower gave him no opportunity.

Eventually, he fell under the machine gun of a Three-Star Combat Helicopter.

Ye Fan was seated on the helicopter at the time; he wanted several times to go down and duel this Evolver himself but was stopped by the guards around him.

Since the opponent's evolution value had reached 1.2, although Ye Fan's special left eye gave him a higher chance of winning, the guards were still not reassured.

In the end, Ye Fan had to abandon the idea.

With the Red Alert System in place, he wanted to unleash power and slay all foes, but it seemed he needed to wait for the opportunity.

Ye Fan retracted the constructed system wall.

"This time seems to have formed a grudge with Crane City people, but there's no way around it since they dared come here looking to reap without sowing."

The chasing unit returned one after another, and the results were quite good. Only a few people managed to escape.

Even if the remaining returned to the Divine Dragon Army, they would definitely highly praise the Dawn Army's combat capability, making the Divine Dragon Army have to think carefully before any future incursions.

The aircraft carried some food for distribution among the women, and the convoy quickly returned.

Quickly they returned to the Huacheng region, and by nightfall, the Dawn Army's receiving convoy also arrived.

They brought the women warm clothing and medicine, treating the sick promptly.

After resting for a night, the convoy returned to Dawn City by the afternoon of the next day.

The arrival of seven thousand female comrades enveloped Dawn City in a pink atmosphere.

Survivors were evidently in high spirits.

Earlier they thought it was enough to survive in the apocalypse, living day by day with no future.

Being able to eat was enough; perhaps the next meal would be unavailable, or maybe by the next meal, they'd become food themselves.

Especially over one hundred days since the apocalypse began, people were almost hopeless about restoring a civilized society.

So it was just about coping and muddling through.

But arriving at Dawn City was completely different.

The arrival of the Women's Army brought the survivor count in Dawn City to over forty thousand, and the gender ratio approached normal levels.

Perhaps in such an environment, there really was hope for restoring civilization.

The sight of hope sparked unprecedented enthusiasm among people, leading them to work harder.

The main task now is collecting supplies from Qinghe Town.

Survivors used their contribution points to exchange for vehicles, heading to Qinghe. There were no zombies left there, and everything could be freely transported, presenting a huge opportunity.

With enough contribution points, one could buy a room number in Dawn City, and perhaps next year there might be a new building to claim.

Because they heard a saying circulating among the new women arrivals.

No house in Dawn City? Then what to use to marry a wife?

********

After bringing back the Women's Army, Huacheng only had one major power left: the Wangbei Army.

The situation with the Wangbei Army was a bit special. Although Zhang Xiaofei had Zhang Zhijian's instructions, Zhang Zhiguo was still alive after all.

Many of the old members of the Wangbei Army remained loyal to Zhang Zhiguo, requiring his consent for any collective migration action.

Zhang Xiaofei reported to Ye Fan the situation over there, suggesting that to solve the Wangbei Army issue, either Zhang Zhiguo needed curing or killing.

And now Zhang Zhiguo had people guarding him around the clock, offering no chance to act.

Ye Fan inquired what kind of person Zhang Zhiguo was, and Zhang Xiaofei said he was much stronger than Zhang Zhijian.

Zhang Zhiguo's illness was also quite peculiar; he became a vegetative state after an accident.

Ye Fan consulted the Three-Star Medical Soldiers under his command, but they had no certainty of curing the vegetative state.

Ye Fan considered for a while and gave the last position in the Heroic Battalion to Xiao Jing.

This three-star medical soldier that had followed him from the beginning, Ye Fan wanted to transform her into a heroic unit.

Half an hour later, Xiao Jing, the director of Dawn Hospital, officially became a hero-level medical soldier.

Ye Fan asked her what she could treat.

Xiao Jing told him that apart from people who had completely turned into zombies, she could treat most human diseases and even injuries, but her energy was limited; she could only treat one case of a disease like vegetative state, which is nearly terminal, per week.

For Ye Fan, this was sufficient. He immediately took Xiao Jing personally and flew to the Wangbei Army on a combat helicopter.

As soon as Zhang Xiaofei saw Ye Fan, he warmly welcomed him inside, while Xiao Jing personally went to see Zhang Zhiguo.

The treatment process wasn't difficult, and about an hour later, Zhang Zhiguo, who had been asleep for more than two months, woke up from his slumber!

The news caused a sensation within the Wangbei Army!

The Wangbei Army had been having hard times, having been defeated by the Dawn Army. They lacked the strength to face the Rakshasa people across the river, and their situation was precarious.

The Rakshasa people even stationed some soldiers at the docks on the Shenlong Riverfront, and if they intended to cross the river, the Wangbei Army wouldn't be able to resist.

After waking up, Zhang Zhiguo was informed of everything by those around him.

After hearing about the events of this period, Zhang Zhiguo felt somewhat disheartened.

His brother was dead, the Wangbei Army was in such a state, and his ambitions were thoroughly worn down.

He handed over all matters of the Wangbei Army to Zhang Xiaofei, agreeing to live as an ordinary civilian in the Dawn Army.

With Zhang Zhiguo's orders, there were no dissenting voices within the Wangbei Army.

Next was the mass transfer of personnel.

A convoy from the Dawn Army arrived, and combined with the Wangbei Army's own convoy, thousands of heavy trucks transported away all metals from the steel group.

They wouldn't leave anything behind for the Rakshasa people.

Over sixty thousand members of the Wangbei Army set out on the road heading south, towards Dawn City.

Ye Fan's Dawn City accepted sixty thousand from the Wangbei Army, adding to the existing forty thousand, bringing the city's population to just over one hundred thousand!

If not for capturing Qinghe Town with its abundant resources, Ye Fan wouldn't have been able to swallow such a large population in one go.

After absorbing the Wangbei Army, the Huacheng Region was essentially unified.

Though there were many scattered populations outside, those people were spread throughout Huacheng, and finding those close by was possible for Ye Fan; those far away were impossible to seek out one by one.

As for the Hai Shan Wei from the northern Rakshasa, Ye Fan thought for a moment and decided not to move them for now.

The timing wasn't mature yet, as Xiaoyu hadn't entered the Tank Factory.

********

The interior of Dawn City was chaotic; a large city with a population of one hundred thousand had numerous matters to manage.

Fortunately, Ye Fan had a logistics department here, and he delegated these headaches to his subordinates to handle.

He himself began the next phase of construction.

The Army Heroic Battalion production sequence was already filled; if he wanted to add more army heroes, he'd have to build another.

However, he did not construct one but rather first established an Air Force Heroic Battalion.

The primary goal of constructing the Air Force Heroic Battalion was to unlock the next building.

It was now December 23rd.

There was just over a week left until the new year.

With the construction of the Air Force Heroic Battalion, the temporary Dawn Theater was completed as well.

During this period, the Daqing Mountain Prison Base had inquired twice whether performances could proceed.

The response from the Dawn Army was somewhat ambiguous because Ye Fan had many issues to manage.

They came again today, and Ye Fan personally met the people from Daqing Mountain prison base at the city gates.

However, the people from Daqing Mountain, upon seeing Ye Fan, were much more humble in demeanor.

Dawn City now boasts a population of over one hundred thousand, a bona fide large city, and Ye Fan has become the dominant force in the Huacheng City.

The standard for major powers is to have a population of ten thousand or more.

Clearly, Ye Fan's Dawn City is now the fourth major force in Divine Dragon Province after Ice City, Oil City, and Crane City.

Therefore, the people from Daqing Mountain Prison Base were visibly scared when they saw Ye Fan.

Ye Fan was quite friendly, patting their shoulder: "Huacheng and Coal City are neighbors, after all. I came from Coal City myself, and since you have this goodwill, I naturally won't refuse. Welcome to present a magnificent performance here on New Year's Day."

"Good, good, thank you, Leader Ye. At that time, our leader, Yan Zhihuan, will personally lead the team to come!"

The Coal City people appeared thrilled, and after receiving the confirmation, they bid farewell to Ye Fan.

After this person departed, Ye Fan glanced at the few figures hiding behind the city gate.

Xiaotian, Heaven-Suppressing, Da Pang, Xiaomei—these people, who could identify espionage units, showed no reaction.

This indicated that the visitors had no ill intentions.

Ye Fan rubbed his chin: "Either the other party has no ill intentions, or their secrecy is extremely well done, and many people aren't aware of the truth."

"Really painstaking, isn't it?"

On December 25th, nearing four months into the apocalypse, Ye Fan completed the construction of the Air Force Heroic Battalion and unlocked the next building.

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