Back at the water purification facility…

Lu Chen and Mo Ling stood silently. In front of them was a middle aged man sitting majestically on a luxurious leather chair. 

A strong powerful archaic aura emanated from him, an aura of something that clearly did not belong to this world.

The guard had introduced both of them several minutes ago, nevertheless, the man called the commander remained silent until now.

His dark black orbs scanned the two young men from top to bottom several times as if he was trying to peer into their very souls. 

Lu Chen and Mo Ling started feeling a bit uncomfortable and they looked at the guard who had brought them in.

The guard could only smile helplessly and he nodded at them as if he was asking them to wait with patience.

"You both did well." He finally muttered after taking his sweet time. "You can join us."

Seeing the commander nod, the guard as well nodded and then ushered both Lu Chen and Mo Ling out of the room. However, just as they were leaving, the commander's voice once again boomed. 

"It is good to have more people with abilities."

Lu Chen paused slightly, his lips curling upwards into a small subtle grin. He didn't reply anything and just nodded before walking away with the other two.

The Commander was apparently not as simple as he looked.

"Oh, you guys have an ability?" The guard smiled and asked Mo Ling assuming he was the one who was blessed, but Mo Ling smiled and looked at Lu Chen.

"Aha aha ha. Nothing much like that. I can just make some small ice shards." Lu Chen smiled and ruffled his head as he casually replied.

"No no. It is good. When you absorb more mana cores, you will become stronger. People with abilities have more potential." 

Lu Chen nodded as if he was seriously taking notes and pointers while the guard continued to explain to him more about the basic things.

Mo Ling as well played the same tune, whilst simultaneously being amazed at how different people somehow managed to reach the same conclusions. This gave him some hope. Perhaps most of humanity wasn't dead just yet.

The three of them chatted and walked into the main part of the building where everyone else was staying and surprisingly, there seemed to be a relatively equal number of men and women.

All sorts of people from elders to small children and normal families were present among the gathered members and they were leisurely chatting. 

Both Lu Chen and Mo Ling looked at the group in surprise. 

There had to be at least a hundred or more, considering that there were two resting places like this, not to mention all the people who were standing on guard and also the ones who were out scouting like the two they had met!

Moreover, everyone also seemed as if they were just gathered for a casual big family party and didn't look like they were struggling in the midst of a hellish apocalypse.

The guard smiled, understanding the look on both of their faces. "As I said, you can relax now. You are going to be fine. We will take care of you." He patted Mo Ling and started to leave.

"You guys should have some food and rest today. We can talk about what duties you want to perform in our group tomorrow. Unfortunately, everyone has to contribute something."

"Otherwise, the chores start piling up. It won't be too bad. Don't worry. Besides, you need something to pass the time, right? Aha ha ha."

Both Lu Chen and Mo Ling waved him goodbye and then began chatting with the people sitting around. 

Though everything looked alright so far superficially, they still wanted to see how things truly were before making the final decision.

Meanwhile outside this building…

Qin Hua licked her paw, silently observing the guard single-handedly defeating the centipede. She was visibly amazed at the abilities of these people.

[Woof! Woof! Am I slacking off?] She pondered.

After defeating the centipede, the beast boasted about his prowess to his companions whilst ignoring the head of the beast that was cleanly severed from the body.

Qin Hua could even see the shining white orb protruding out. Coincidentally, the guard's back was facing this severed head and he was also not paying attention to it.

The big black wolf looked at the man and the mana core interchangeably, before she broke into a wide grin. [He He He! You snooze you lose! Sucker!]

She moved from one shadow into another and before anyone could recognize her presence, she had already swiped the mana core for herself.

A wave of warm nourishing energy spread across her body and she grinned in satisfaction. 

Moreover, this mana core as well had some earth elemental affinity. So she could only assume that her net affinity towards this element should go up if she keeps absorbing mana cores with a similar attribute.

Woof! Woof!

She confirmed her theory with the system and then casually went back to licking her paws as if nothing had happened, which was actually not that far off.

The guard still did not notice the missing mana core and in fact, only Guan Ye had seen the whole thing, mostly because he was paying attention to the centipede and the acid dripping from it.

While no one had noticed it yet, the poor guy became really nervous nevertheless and started sweating. He felt as if without Lu Chen around, the dog had become more naughty.

And when the guard finally did see the missing core, he simply shrugged his shoulders. After all, some beasts had a core while others did not. 

So they didn't find it too suspicious, though it was still puzzling as to how a powerful beast like the centipede couldn't have a core. 

They discussed it for a minute and everyone went back to guarding.

Guan Ye sighed in relief and searched for the naughty dog once again to keep an eye on her as well but she was nowhere to be seen.