Global Catastrophe: I Became the World Tree-Chapter 183 - 151 Global Situation Changes_2

Originally, Ye Feng thought that the casualties were already quite high, but now he realized that in other cities, the number of casualties was often more than four to five times that of Yang City.

The reason why the casualties in other cities were so much higher than those in Yang City lay mainly in the cleanup operations that followed.

According to statistics, during the initial outbreak and attack of the Mutated Creatures, the number of casualties actually accounted for at most one quarter of the total.

Although the Mutated Beings were attacking furiously at the beginning, that was also when the defenders had the most ammunition and firearms at their disposal.

Additionally, since they were fighting a defensive battle, they could use flamethrowers and poison water among other things; as long as there weren’t widespread collapses in the defense lines, they could inflict maximum casualties on the Mutated Creatures with minimal losses.

However, the subsequent cleanup work became extremely troublesome.

Once these Mutated Beings hid in the city’s alleyways, dark corners, or even the sewers, rooting them out and killing them was like changing from fighting on home ground to fighting away.

The Mutated Mosquitoes, Mutated Eagles, and Mutated Cockroaches were not the worst of it—after a strong insecticide spray, even if they didn’t die, they were essentially incapacitated.

But the Second Stage Mutated Mice were not afraid of such things.

When you searched for them, a Mutated Mouse might suddenly dart out from a nearby trash can, an unsecured door or window, or even around a corner and take a bite at you.

Perhaps once or twice, you could maintain alertness and dodge, but with the increase in frequency, there were bound to be mishaps that resulted in casualties.

And these kinds of troubles weren’t limited to only the searching soldiers.

Since a large-scale extermination of Mutated Beings was necessary, it required deploying a large number of troops, leaving the rear defense inevitably weak.

Often at that time, some of the Mutated Mice would do the opposite and return to prey on the ordinary people.

And it was these various reasons that caused an even greater number of injuries during the latter part of the process of dealing with Mutated Creatures.

Even now, three days had passed, but some of the fourth and fifth-tier cities had not completed the extermination work across the city and needed the assistance of other cities.

It was estimated that it would take at least another 2 to 3 days for all the cities across the country to finish exterminating the Mutated Beings.

Therefore, compared to other cities, Yang City was undoubtedly lucky.

As soon as the assault of the Mutated Creature Group stopped, Ye Feng immediately ordered the Mutated Rat King to herd all the Mutated Mice in the city towards the Donglin Mountain Range.

The difficulty of the subsequent cleanup operations fell by more than 10 times, and there were next to no injuries.

Ye Feng glanced at the domestic situation and immediately started watching international news.

"No way! Another city has fallen," Ye Feng exclaimed in shock.

The casualty rate in foreign cities was at least ten times higher than that of Yang City.

Especially for some small countries, this Mutated Beings crisis was an outright disaster.

According to the latest statistics, more than 50 cities around the world had fallen in the face of this crisis.

Although it’s true that the fallen cities were small, with only a population of a hundred thousand or so, the situation was grave enough to cause panic worldwide.

"I never expected that compared to foreign cities, even the fourth and fifth-tier cities here seem to be doing relatively well," Ye Feng said with a sigh as he looked at the international news.

Because even the fourth and fifth-tier cities, once the country was fully prepared, did not lack important supplies such as firearms, ammunition, or strong insecticides.

So, even if manpower issues made the extermination of Mutated Beings within the city less smooth, defending the original positions was certainly not an issue.

But it was different with those cities abroad. Those cities that couldn’t withstand the first wave of the Mutated Creature assault and were subsequently obliterated go without saying.

In the subsequent cleanup operations, due to too many casualties or a shortage of firearms and ammunition, cities were abandoned and evacuations took place one after another.

Looking at the large number of displaced people abroad, Ye Feng was somewhat silent, because with the resurgence of Spiritual Energy, this was likely just the beginning.

Now is just the third Spiritual Energy Resurgence, but what about the fourth, the fifth?

By then, will humanity have lost its dominant position on Earth?

Ye Feng shook his head, not wanting to think further about these issues, "In the future, as long as I can protect my family and safeguard Yang City, my hometown, I will have no regrets."

"If Dragon Hall is strong enough, perhaps I could even try to shelter the surrounding cities. So, I need to enhance my strength quickly!"

Evening!

Yang City’s largest conference room was once again hosting a high-level meeting.

"This meeting will cover three items. The first item is about the Spirit Fruit," said Bai Yinghui after his opening remarks, turning to Jian Yi, "Chief of Staff, would you please explain the details?"

Jian Yi nodded and stood up, looking a bit weary, "After a day of searching, we haven’t found a single tree around Yang City bearing translucent fruit. So, we’ve found no suspected Spirit Trees."

This matter was under his direct supervision, for which he had mobilized nearly a thousand intelligence personnel to distinguish every area, even every single tree. Nevertheless, they came up empty-handed.

Hearing Jian Yi’s report, those in the meeting room were unsure whether to sigh or to be relieved.

But regardless, they had avoided a conflict and suffered no losses.

Jian Yi continued, "Since we can’t find the Spirit Trees, we will proceed with Plan B. Zhang Ji, you’re well-acquainted with Dragon Hall, so you’ll handle the upcoming negotiations. Is that alright with you?"

"No problem!" Zhang Ji immediately stood up and responded.

"Good! I will have the staff department come up with a negotiation plan for you in a bit," Jian Yi said, then sat down without further comment.

Bai Yinghui, sitting at the head of the table, continued, "Next, I’ll talk about the second item, the forbidden zones."

"Today, after we reported the information about the forbidden zone to the national authorities, they took it very seriously and immediately mobilized various cities to explore their surrounding areas. After a day’s search, two more forbidden zones were discovered within our country’s borders."

Upon hearing this, everyone in the room felt a chill, as these forbidden zones were so mysterious—one was troublesome enough, and now three had appeared all at once.

And this was just within Hua Country; how many could there be worldwide?

"Of course, those two forbidden zones are not our concern; local troops will take care of them," Bai Yinghui reassured.

"Also, the issue of the forbidden zones has been escalated to the national level. As for the Thermostatic Shells, the Chinese Academy of Sciences has already taken over. If all goes well, we should receive the improved Thermostatic Shells by tomorrow, which counts as one of the few pieces of good news," he informed them.

The attendees loosened up a bit at the news.

"As for the third matter, which is also the key point of our meeting, it’s the city-merging plan," Bai Yinghui said slowly, looking at those present.

At these words, aside from Liu Zaoxin who had already been informed, everyone’s face showed a look of shock.

"City merging? With populations ranging from a few hundred thousand to several million per city, how massive an undertaking would that be?" Cao Guangzhi, the Secretary-General, couldn’t help but speak out.

Just the thought of it made him feel overwhelmed.

"Indeed, it is a hassle, but as you must have noticed the situation abroad, we have managed to survive this third Spiritual Energy Resurgence, but what about the next?" Bai Yinghui questioned.

"The current situation overseas is a lesson for us; we need to prepare in advance. City merging, concentrating our forces, has become imperative," Bai Yinghui explained.

"So, how exactly do we merge? Does our Yang City need to merge into another city?" At this point, Zhang Ji couldn’t help but ask.

Everyone held their breath awaiting the answer, which was the crux of the matter; none of them wanted to leave their homes to live in another city.

Bai Yinghui smiled and said, "Rest assured, everyone. No matter how you look at it, our Yang City is a top-tier second-tier city—especially after our exceptional performance during this Mutated Beings crisis. The country has now designated Yang City as a key support city."

"A substantial amount of resources will be allocated to us in the future. With this opportunity, we could even rapidly develop into a first-tier city."