19: The worst of times! The best of times!

The Life Wall is 108 meters high and 36 meters thick, with embedded special-grade rebar and entirely cast from special-grade cement!

Countless sharp alloy spikes are embedded on the outer wall.

These spikes, like a hedgehog, tightly encircle the Life Wall!

Any Monster daring to attack the Life Wall will be riddled with holes!

Besides this, the outer wall also has countless dark, gaping holes!

These are gunports!

Once a beast tide attacks, bullets, cannonballs, and howitzers will be fired through these gunports, delivering the most concentrated firepower to the Monsters.

"The Life Wall, encircling Chang'an Base City, has a total length of 116.3 kilometers!"

Guo Mi's eyes gleamed with admiration: "The textbook says that tens of thousands of workers spent 13 years to complete the construction of the Life Wall!"

"This is the true Life Wall, and it's also the protective barrier for the 80 million people of the Base City!"

"For decades, how many times has it withstood beast tide attacks and helped humanity through disasters!"

"Yes! This is the true Life Wall!" Zhang Fan repeated in a low voice.

The Life Wall is not an absolutely solid, absolutely safe steel fortress!

There have been several historical instances of Monsters breaking through the Life Wall and reaching inside the Base City.

But this does not diminish the greatness of the Life Wall, nor can it negate its immense utility!

After all, the number of times Monster waves have attacked the Base City is simply too many!

According to statistics.

The success rate of the Life Wall in defending against beast tide attacks is as high as 91%!

This success rate is very high and fully meets the expected construction standards!

As long as it can block most beast tide attacks, the Life Wall's mission is accomplished!

After all, where in this world is there an absolutely solid, absolutely safe place?

"Seeing the Life Wall, I thought of the news I saw two days ago!"

Guo Mi suddenly chuckled: "I heard that the Brahma Wall built by our neighbors, the 'A-san', inexplicably collapsed again in one section, crushing over eight hundred people to death!"

"A-san? Isn't that normal?" Zhang Fan couldn't help but smile.

A-san is a magical country, and the 'San-ge' are a peculiar group of citizens!

No matter what happens to A-san, Zhang Fan would not be surprised.

"You're right!"

Guo Mi deeply agreed.

A dedicated army is stationed on the Life Wall, with guards every three steps and sentries every five steps, closely monitoring the situation outside the Base City.

Should any sudden situation arise, the stationed troops will discover it immediately.

In addition.

The stationed army is also responsible for vetting Titan Warriors entering and exiting the Base City.

First, for going out.

National law stipulates that only individuals with a monster hunter certificate and units with outbound qualifications are permitted to enter the Wilderness Area.

Therefore, ordinary people cannot leave the Base City and enter the Wilderness Area.

Even a Titan Warrior, if he does not have a monster hunter certificate, likewise cannot go out.

Just like Zhang Fan, if he wasn't led by Jiang Shengnan, he wouldn't dream of crossing the Life Wall!

Secondly, for entering.

The Wilderness Area is a paradise for Titan Beasts and a forbidden zone beyond the reach of law.

Where there is no law, crime easily breeds!

The Wilderness Area has therefore also become a haven for wanted criminals, bandits, and gangs.

Crimes such as murder, robbery, and organ trafficking are common.

So in the Wilderness Area, one must be wary of Titan Beasts, and even more so of humans!

To guard against these people, entry into the Base City is subject to strict scrutiny!

Without relevant documentation, or if suspicious individuals are found, entry into the Base City is strictly prohibited.

Jiang Shengnan piloted the flying car, landing at the inspection station above the Life Wall.

Several armed soldiers came forward to inspect, checking the vehicle and documents.

Only after all inspections were cleared was passage granted, and the car took off again, officially entering the Wilderness Area.

The Base City and the Wilderness Area are separated by only a wall, yet they are two different worlds!

One represents civilization.

One symbolizes savagery.

Looking out, the Wilderness Area is a vast expanse of over one-meter-tall wild grass, with forests visible everywhere.

Looking further into the distance, one can also see dilapidated high-rise buildings.

That was where humans used to live; 50 years have passed, and they are completely ruined.

These buildings are covered with various climbing plants, almost completely obscured.

As for roads, streets, and vehicles on the road, they are completely submerged by wild grass.

"In just 50 years, traces of human life are almost gone!"

Zhang Fan sighed: "If another 100 years, 500 years pass…"

"I'm afraid the entire Wilderness Area, all traces of human existence, will be completely erased!"

"Yes!"

Guo Mi nodded in deep agreement: "Nature's ability to restore itself is amazing!"

"Compared to all of nature, our human power is truly too insignificant!"

"Not necessarily!"

Jiang Shengnan said indifferently: "If one cultivates to the Half-God Realm, with a single thought, heaven and earth can be overturned, continents can sink; then one would be qualified to contend with nature!"

"That's true!"

Zhang Fan nodded.

Half-God!

They are the strongest humans!

Every Half-God, with a mere flick of a hand, possesses destructive power capable of destroying heaven and earth, indeed having the ability to contend with nature.

The flying car flew low over the wild grass, at a steady pace.

As a teacher, Jiang Shengnan explained the Precautions (matters needing attention) of the Wilderness Area to Zhang Fan.

"The closer to the Base City, the weaker the Titan Monsters; the further away, the stronger the Titan Beasts!"

"So farms, agricultural fields, vegetable plots, and orchards are almost all near the Base City!"

"Look over there!"

Zhang Fan followed Jiang Shengnan's finger and saw a large expanse of golden wheat fields.

It was May, and the wheat had already ripened.

The golden wheat swayed in the wind, creating beautiful ripples.

"That's the wheat field — Wheat Field No. 013 — developed by your Zhang's Group!"

Jiang Shengnan said indifferently: "A total of 3,600 mu of wheat have been planted, with Core Formation Realm experts overseeing it the entire time. It should be harvested in a couple of days!"

"This wheat is growing so well!"

Zhang Fan couldn't help but exclaim.

Land in the Base City is extremely valuable, and even for 80 million people, it's crowded, so there's naturally no space to grow crops.

But people need to eat; eating Monster meat every day isn't enough, they also need carbohydrates.

Therefore, many powerful organizations have opened up a lot of farmland near the Base City.

Wheat fields, vegetable plots, orchards… even farms, are all built outside the Base City.

Indeed, doing so carries great risks!

If something goes wrong and a Monster horde pays a visit, there might be no harvest at all!

But the returns are equally astonishing!

Look at the price of flour now; a jin costs over a hundred yuan, more expensive than many meats!

Moreover, today's wheat is genetically modified crop, improved through generations.

It has high yield, short growth cycle, is cold-resistant, drought-resistant, and has strong disease and pest resistance.

Just plant it in the ground, and it can be harvested in three or four months, with a surprisingly high yield.

Crucially, the land is free; there's no rent to pay, and no land tax.

Although the risk is high, the returns are equally exaggerated, coupled with various government policy supports.

So any organization with capability will go gold-digging outside the Base City.

Under Zhang's Group, there are many farms, vegetable plots, orchards, and breeding farms.

These farms, vegetable plots, and orchards earn Zhang's Group a lot of money every year!

"This is the worst era, but also the best era!"

Guo Mi looked out the window: "Opportunities are everywhere outside the Base City!"

"Occupy a piece of land, enclose a lake, plant a mountain full of chestnuts, and you can make a fortune!"

Zhang Fan nodded silently.

This era lacks everything: flour, vegetables, fruits, nuts, tea… there's nothing that isn't scarce!

This has led to human material life being far less prosperous than 50 years ago.

Coupled with the surrounding Monsters, life is constantly threatened, living from hand to mouth.

This is the worst era!

But precisely because everything is scarce, opportunities are everywhere.

As long as one seizes an opportunity, it's possible to rise with the tide and stir up trouble.

This is also the best era!

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