The central command had already sent over the contingency plans. Mike skimmed through them briefly before signing off in approval.
There was no need for him to micromanage the details at this scale—those at central command and their disaster response teams were more than capable of handling it themselves.
Over the past two days, Mike had given Wang Chen very specific instructions—do nothing else but keep the strictest watch on Chen Yanshuo. He was to remain alert to any attempts by the enemy to exploit the rotation point between apocalyptic cycles.
Mike's approach was cautious. But the outcome? Disappointing.
Even as the fourth apocalypse loomed, no special updates came from Wang Chen.Chen Yanshuo was still the same lunatic, screaming for death each day.The man backing him remained hidden—deep in the shadows.
This raised doubts in Mike's mind.Could it be as he suspected? That the man behind Chen Yanshuo was someone from above?
Maybe it wasn't that he was hiding on purpose—maybe he simply couldn't act. Maybe he was cut off from Earth, powerless to help Chen Yanshuo.
Mike wasn't sure. It was just one of many theories. But he couldn't afford to doubt those above because of a single person like Chen Yanshuo. After all, everything Mike had now was heavily reliant on the recognition and support of the higher authorities.
Without their backing, there was no way he could have come this far, this smoothly.
If someone up there really wanted to sabotage him, they wouldn't be propping him up at the same time. That would be utterly contradictory.
Mike still wanted to use this critical rotation point to observe Chen Yanshuo more closely. He even considered meeting him face-to-face again—maybe he could glean more intel that way.
But time didn't wait.
As Mike was still weighing his options, a new notification popped up before him.
[Third Apocalypse - Ghost Fog City is ending soon!][Congratulations to all surviving participants. Survivor rewards will now be distributed!]
With this global system announcement, the surviving participants of the third apocalypse received their rewards.
Mike had been through this before. His eyes quickly scanned through the incoming system messages.
[Shelter Status Check: Shelter intact. No compensation issued.][Total Survival Points: Over 10,000 - Tier One reward granted.][Over 100,000 - Tier Two reward granted.][Over 1,000,000 - Tier Three reward granted.]
[Tier One Reward: Random C–B grade item from any category.][Tier Two Reward: Random B–A grade item.][Tier Three Reward: Random A–S grade item.]
[Leaderboard Check: You hold 19 regional first-place rankings.][You have received 19 exclusive regional top-rank rewards.][Exclusive Top-Rank Reward: Random B–A grade reward from selected category.]
[Evaluating your survival performance in the third apocalypse...][Final Rating: SSS!]
[Review: You didn't just survive this apocalypse—you led a coalition across multiple cities and rescued nearly a million people. Your achievements go beyond excellence. You are a miracle of this era. These survivors adore you and see you as both a symbol of power and hope. You have cemented your role as a true leader of this new world. Push forward—show the world even more of your potential. Create hope amidst despair. Let reincarnation have meaning.]
[Congratulations! Based on your final rating, you've received an SSS-tier random reward.][All rewards will be stored in your shelter inventory and can be accessed after the apocalypse ends.]
The messages were long and familiar—Mike had grown used to it by now.
He no longer cared much for the smaller-tier rewards. His focus was squarely on the most important one—the end-cycle rating reward.
And just as expected—SSS-tier.
Mike's eyes lit up with delight."Hell yes! I knew it!" he laughed, unable to hold back."I finally got another SSS-tier mechanism reward!"
"Just like Xiao Ci predicted... surviving alone isn't enough. The real test is helping others survive."
"The greater the challenge, the greater the reward. This isn't just a slaughter machine—it's a test of leadership and responsibility!"
Mike took a deep breath, steadying his excitement. His mentality had evolved after going through multiple apocalypses, and now even such massive rewards couldn't shake his composure.
"But... there's still something that doesn't add up."
"If saving more people means higher ratings, then Chen Yanshuo, who supposedly unified nine cities, should've scored even higher than me, right?"
"If he got SSS-rank three times, there's no way he would've been captured by Wang Chen so easily."
Which means... he probably didn't achieve SSS in all three cycles.
Mike's best guess?Chen Yanshuo didn't really unify the nine cities—at least not in a way the mechanism would acknowledge.
Maybe it was more of a temporary alliance—offering rewards for cooperation rather than assuming full responsibility.
"If that's the case, then the system wouldn't see him as shouldering the full burden."
"Real tests are measured by difficulty."
"And if it's just a loose alliance, then the real hardship still lies with each individual city."
Mike also knew that Chen Yanshuo's ability had a limited number of uses—tens of thousands, sure, but even that wasn't enough to cover a million people.
"And given his personality, I doubt he'd waste his gift on ordinary people out of charity."
Mike calculated carefully.He was now responsible for nearly a million survivors—handling everything from internal governance and security to external defense and disaster response.
His subordinates did the legwork, but they were his recruited talent units. Their work and achievements were credited to him.
Because if he hadn't chosen to shoulder the burden, none of those talents would be working toward the greater good.
In the end, it was Mike who took on this massive responsibility—and pulled it off in a world that was falling apart.
That alone was no small feat.
"Yeah... if he had pulled off three SSS scores, I'd probably be the one behind bars now."
Mike chuckled, rubbing his nose and casually closing the system interface.
Before closing it fully, he skimmed through the chat channels and opened up the Four Cities' local forums.
Public sentiment mattered—he made a habit of listening to the people.
This time, the citizens were buzzing with excitement.There were all sorts of theories floating around about the upcoming fourth apocalypse, mixed with flexing and grumbling about the rewards from the third.
There were no major civil issues. All four cities were well-prepared. The residents were cooperative, waiting out the rotation as instructed.
"Everything's under control. Now I just need to wait for the fourth apocalypse to hit."
But Mike wasn't thinking about the new disaster itself.What he was really looking forward to was the start of the next Apocalypse War Instance.
Usually, just before or after each new disaster, "those above" would contact the commanders—sharing intel and making system-wide adjustments.
In the past, Mike would've been nervous, unsure if his performance had earned proper recognition.
But now? He was eager.
He was confident in himself now. And he wanted answers—especially about Chen Yanshuo.
"I refuse to believe the higher-ups know nothing about what's going on with him."
After all, the system that could monitor the entire Earth, and restructure the command network every month with pinpoint accuracy—how could they not notice something as big as a nine-city unification?
And if they did know... why hadn't they told him?
That's the question Mike feared the most. And the reason he still kept a shred of doubt in his heart.
Just as Mike was thinking of ways to raise the issue in future talks with the higher-ups, another system message appeared.
[Third Apocalypse Rewards have been distributed!][Now initiating Fourth Apocalypse - Plague of the Living Dead!]
This time, the notification came quickly—unlike the previous rotation, which had a noticeable delay.
Mike was surprised. But not as surprised as he was by the disaster type.
"Plague of the Living Dead?"
"That... sounds like zombies?"
"No way. If it is zombies, that's way too easy."
Mike blinked, puzzled.
He had already theorized the possibility of zombie-type disasters. Not just him—the entire analyst team at Central Command and even the public had considered it.
While fictional, zombie outbreaks technically counted as disaster scenarios.
But from every angle—from known types to hypothetical evolutions—no one believed that zombies could pose a serious threat.
Zombies? A threat? That's an insult to modern industrial warfare!
Even in a collapsed world, as long as humans remained sane and organized, what real damage could a bunch of slow-moving corpses do?
Mike glanced out the window.The skies over Jinling were still shrouded in lingering ghost fog—a remnant of the third apocalypse.
Disaster rotations didn't necessarily mean the previous one vanished entirely. The system seemed to operate under its own unique logic. Sometimes, multiple disasters overlapped.
Still—even with Ghost Fog and Living Dead combined—Mike didn't feel particularly threatened.
"Unless... this Plague of the Living Dead is something else entirely."
"Otherwise... I don't see how this could qualify as a proper apocalypse."
Mike frowned, deep in thought.
If it really were just traditional zombies, this fourth cycle might be the easiest one so far. Possibly even less dangerous than the Heat Disaster of the first apocalypse.
By now, any survivors who'd made it this far had at least a Level 2 Shelter, a few talent units, and some decent combat gear.
Even those who weren't fighters must have found themselves a strong group to cling to.
In that context, how could zombies be a threat?
In Jinling alone, there were elite forces, cutting-edge tech, powerful mages, and defenders as tough as tanks.
Was the system underestimating them? Or just not evolving fast enough?
"Is the apocalypse mechanism... getting stuck?" Mike muttered.
But despite his skepticism, a faint unease lingered deep in his heart.
Something told him—this wasn't going to be as simple as it seemed.