Chapter 101: The Command Center of the Ruins Base

On the second floor, beside the central control platform, Samuel Young, dressed in a black formal suit, was remotely monitoring all activities near the space gate. His height had already reached 2.1 meters, with his physical body further enhanced.

As for his psychic abilities, unless he intentionally released them, it was difficult to detect any difference between now and the past. In reality, his psychic power could now influence the subconscious of ordinary people, with the effects becoming more pronounced the closer they were to him. Samuel no longer dwelled on these changes.

From 1993 to the end of 1997, he had opened a total of five space gates. For his employees, these were known as the Zero-One to Zero-Five Universes, but to him, they corresponded to *Tomorrow*, *Avatar*, *Doom*, *Hell*, and *World War Z*.

The fifth gate was opened on December 31, 1997. After a series of investigations, it was confirmed that the location on the other side of the gate was a desert outside of Dubai, and that the city itself was occupied by millions of zombies.

These zombies ran swiftly, only cared about biting and infecting others, and weren't distracted by the "delicacy" of flesh—Samuel immediately recognized them as the type of zombies from *World War Z*. 

In the movie, the sudden outbreak of the zombie virus led to an unprecedented war, with only a few governments and military forces remaining operational. Brad Pitt's character, a UN investigator, discovered that zombies ignored people with terminal illnesses. After a series of trials and confirmations, this led to the successful development of a "camouflage" vaccine, giving humanity a chance to fight back.

Knowing all this, Samuel ordered the Bioengineering Department to preemptively develop the "camouflage vaccine" and then launched a full-scale counterattack against the zombies. 

Apart from the virus that triggered the zombie outbreak, the Zero-Five Universe didn't offer any special technology or resources worth noting. However, in addition to rebuilding the Earth in that universe, Samuel saw the zombies as perfect training material for his troops.

This was why the train Claire had taken was full of new recruits from ARS and AECS. The company needed to build and maintain a positive public image in the Zero-Five Universe and prepare for potential media battles, which is why many personnel, including Claire, had been summoned.

As of now, Atlas commanded a population of approximately 46 million, having rebuilt numerous regions and cities and absorbed a large number of local inhabitants. 

In terms of military strength, Atlas had over 300,000 troops. The elite ARS had added four reinforced infantry companies and two armored companies, bringing its total to just over 10,000 personnel. AECS had a force of 50,000, mostly made up of armed security, mercenaries, and UDF veterans with strong military skills, all requiring extensive combat training.

Then there were the clones, who weren't counted as part of the official troop numbers. Over the past two years, the production lines at the Akra facility had expanded to seven, with each line producing 1,600 units annually. This brought Atlas's total number of clones to over 24,000.

As time went on and production lines increased, it would take less than a decade before these mindless, soulless clone soldiers could replace human soldiers, taking on the bulk of battlefield casualties.

Atlas had already announced on its official website in the main universe that the space elevator it was building in Gabon would be completed by April 14, 2000, and that humanity would return to the Moon and establish a permanent city there by 2003.

Using the mass-produced Bose-Einstein condensate technology acquired from the *Hell* universe, Atlas successfully upgraded its Gauss and plasma weapons and, most importantly, its antimatter engines.

This significantly accelerated the development and construction of a new generation of spacecraft, based on the technology of the Adventure Star and developed on Pandora.

Samuel's *Reset* ability only applied to a single universe. However, in interstellar warfare, casualties numbering in the hundreds of thousands, millions, or even tens of millions would become commonplace. Therefore, clone armies would serve as the primary expendable resource.

The mass production of bio-weapons had also been on the agenda since 1996. Tens of thousands of non-infectious Hellhounds were distributed to various units for reconnaissance, patrol, and other tasks.

The Tyrants, however, required suitable pilots, and the time needed to cultivate their bodies was too long. As a result, the company currently had "only" 600 units, which was still sufficient for special operations and to assist ODST in orbital assaults and infiltration missions.

Another bio-weapon, the Homelanders, had their brain programming completed in mid-1997, with final adjustments made by the end of the year. 

Though they were rigid in behavior, lacked independent thinking, and only understood how to follow orders—common issues in the "Reconstruction" project—their superhuman physical bodies, along with abilities like flight and laser eyes, still gave the bio-engineered Homelanders tactical-level destructive power.

However, if the enemies were psychic users or employed supernatural means like magic, the Homelanders' destructive power would be significantly reduced. Moreover, on interstellar battlefields, the Homelander's body couldn't withstand the main cannon of a warship.

For example, Atlas had developed an electromagnetic railgun using electromagnetic acceleration and room-temperature superconductors. Currently in the experimental stage, this railgun was 300 meters long and could accelerate a 0.7-ton tungsten steel alloy needle projectile to 0.09% of the speed of light.

0.09% might not sound like much, but it equates to a speed of 270 kilometers per second. For reference, the first cosmic velocity is only 7.8 kilometers per second.

Using the formula K=1/2mv², the energy released when the needle-shaped tungsten steel projectile hits its target would be around 8.21 million joules. 

Given that 1 gram of TNT is equivalent to 4,184 joules, this would correspond to 2 tons of TNT.

While a tactical-level metallic hydrogen bomb would cause more damage to the surface and buildings in the atmosphere, a tungsten steel projectile traveling at 0.09% of the speed of light would be more effective for penetrating and armor-piercing.

Of course, accelerating a needle projectile to 0.09% of the speed of light requires energy that must be provided by a fusion reactor or a dedicated fusion engine on a spacecraft.

At this moment, Samuel was no longer pondering space colonization or interstellar warfare. Instead, he focused on the various holographic screens displaying the date "February 9, 1999, 14:19."

Several fully calibrated Hellhounds crossed the shimmering water surface, successfully passing through the sixth space gate. The images they captured were transmitted via wired connection, displaying the environment on the other side to Samuel.

The situation there was grim. The area around the space gate was filled with the ruins of buildings, and the sky was shrouded in thick clouds. Despite the lack of direct sunlight, the temperature was a scorching 49 degrees Celsius.

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