Unfortunately, his repeated interference caused massive problems.

The government gradually found it harder and harder to locate the superior beings.

Even Ivy and Silas, assisting her, were unable to track them successfully anymore.

Every lead seemed to vanish mysteriously before they could fully investigate it.

Meanwhile, while the hidden war continued in silence, another major change was taking place throughout the world.

Since Carter’s disrupted connections were finally being restored, communication systems slowly began functioning again.

For the first time in a very long while, they successfully established contact with one of the neighboring countries.

The moment communication was restored, the antidote distribution rapidly began.

Planes carrying supplies crossed borders day and night.

As signals returned and transportation stabilized, an enormous amount of gold and resources flowed into the country in exchange for the antidote.

Most of it eventually ended up in Ivy’s possession.

Ivy calmly hoarded the gold for cultivation because of Ariana’s earlier warnings and explanations.

She understood clearly that ordinary wealth no longer held much value in this new world. Strength was the true currency now.

As for Ariana herself, she had unexpectedly fallen into a deep coma.

Ivy only glanced at her coldly once before completely ignoring her afterward.

Then there was Paris and Siya.

Although both of them behaved obediently on the surface, Ivy never truly lowered her guard around them.

Instead, she only pretended to relax while secretly monitoring every tiny movement they made.

Half a year passed in the blink of an eye.

The world slowly stabilized compared to before, though danger still lurked everywhere.

Ember’s delivery date was finally approaching, and the entire family became visibly nervous. Even Jay, who normally remained calm, could barely hide his anxiety.

He repeatedly questioned the doctors countless times.

"Are you absolutely certain Ember will be safe?"

"Is there really no danger during childbirth?"

"What if complications happen suddenly?"

The doctors could only reassure him over and over again.

Surprisingly, when the delivery day finally arrived, everything went far smoother than expected.

Ember only experienced a brief but intense wave of pain before she was rushed into the emergency room.

Before they could even fully process what was happening, the baby had already been born.

Perhaps because of the superpowers that had strengthened and protected her body, Ember managed to give birth far more easily than ordinary people.

The moment the doctors carried the baby out, everyone immediately crowded around curiously.

Especially Ivy.

She stared at the tiny wrinkled infant with wide eyes before softly muttering in disbelief, "Wow... I never imagined my nephew would look like this."

Ember had given birth to a healthy baby boy.

Although Ivy secretly felt a tiny bit disappointed that it was not a girl like her sister, she still loved the child dearly, almost instantly.

In fact, everyone adored him immediately.

One after another, they began enthusiastically suggesting names while the baby occasionally made tiny sounds in his sleep.

Meanwhile, outside their peaceful family moment, the world continued changing rapidly.

By now, many countries had successfully received antidote supplies.

Since only a year had passed after the apocalypse began, several nations still retained functioning airplanes and transportation systems.

Because of this, humanity managed to handle numerous crises much more effectively.

The greatest issue had never been only zombies.

It was the collapse of human labor.

As humans transformed into zombies, the available workforce drastically decreased.

Entire industries stopped functioning, farms became abandoned, and cities gradually fell apart.

Mutated plants and animals also continued evolving, making survival even harder.

Now, however, as more humans were cured, the situation slowly improved.

Scientists from various nations began researching mutated organisms more efficiently.

For example, a nation known as Country L successfully discovered a treatment capable of curing one specific type of mutated plant.

Although the treatment did not work universally, it was still considered a massive breakthrough.

At the same time, Ivy’s own faction achieved several important results as well.

They successfully created multiple antidotes capable of suppressing mutated viruses and even treating certain mutated animals.

Then Asher delivered another important piece of information to Ivy.

They had located numerous crystal caves.

The moment Ivy reviewed the reports, she immediately sensed something strange.

Every single crystal cave was either near mysterious ruins or hidden within extremely isolated regions.

Some were buried deep beneath mountains, while others existed inside lifeless wastelands where almost nobody had ever traveled before.

Ivy narrowed her eyes while carefully reading the data.

’These caves cannot be natural.’

If such enormous crystal formations had existed before the apocalypse, someone would have discovered them long ago.

The only reasonable explanation was that they had appeared after the apocalypse began.

But that only raised an even more disturbing question.

Were zombies somehow connected to the nourishment and growth of these crystal caves?

Although countless suspicions surfaced inside Ivy’s mind, she chose not to reveal them outwardly.

Instead, she calmly praised Asher for his work and ordered him to continue gathering more information.

The facility’s primary objective remained simple.

Ivy wanted her side to become stronger.

Fortunately, despite the chaos spreading throughout the world, humans who had already awakened superpowers were not losing them.

This was considered an extremely positive sign.

Perhaps the world itself was unconsciously preparing humanity for an even greater war waiting in the future.

A war they still knew nothing about.

Meanwhile, after months of searching, Silas finally managed to track several silhouettes suspected to be superior beings.

The moment he confirmed the information, he immediately rushed to report it to Ivy after realizing that the superior beings had already fully infiltrated Earth.

Ivy slowly massaged her aching temples while staring at the endless reports spread across the table.

This situation was completely getting out of hand. So they had failed after all.

They were not able to close the portal in time, and now the superior beings had officially entered Earth.

Worse still, according to the reports gathered by Silas and the others, the number of superior beings that had crossed over was terrifyingly large.

At least seven.