Apocalypse Gachapon

“He got away.”

Mo Ye crouched down, running her hand over the ground. With some unknown ability and just a brief closing of her eyes, she made this judgment.

Ye Zhongming fully trusted her assessment.

“He really does have quite a few good items.”

Ye Zhongming muttered to himself, thinking that no top-tier lifeform should ever be underestimated—especially someone like Mu Hanyi, who commanded the Glory Army.

The Glory Army, the Resistance Zone, and Cloud Peak were the three most powerful combat organizations in the country, with the largest numbers of warriors. As one of the “Big Three,” Mu Hanyi undoubtedly possessed no shortage of treasures.

From forcefully breaking out of the Black-and-White Nightmare Space despite taking damage, to using successive methods and equipment to shake off Ye Zhongming and Mo Ye’s pursuit, all of it proved this point.

“Someone helped him.”

Mo Ye spoke again.

Ye Zhongming nodded once more.

After evolving to nine-star, or rather, all nine-star evolved, one’s job would undergo a qualitative leap.

The Rune Master job had undergone tremendous changes at nine-star. With Cloud Peak’s full resources poured into upgrading it to the highest level, combined with equipment tailored for Mo Ye, she now possessed extraordinary abilities.

The types of runes she mastered were numerous. Beyond combat-focused runes, there were also support runes, one of which was the Perception Rune.

It could detect movements within an area, surpassing even Ye Zhongming’s similar abilities in both range and precision.

Moreover, aside from lacking visual feedback, this Perception Rune had another ability that Ye Zhongming greatly admired: a rough, incomplete event reconstruction.

This was why Mo Ye sensed that someone had helped Mu Hanyi escape.

“As for who could help him…” Mo Ye didn’t finish, because she wasn’t entirely certain—she only had a strong suspicion.

“Yes, it must be him.”

Aside from Cloud Peak’s second nine-star evolved remaining a mystery, the identities of the other two in the country were basically common knowledge. Of course, after this incident, Mo Ye’s name would also be repeatedly mentioned by major factions.

The person Ye Zhongming and Mo Ye were referring to was… Ji Ruiguang.

……………………………………………………

“Ji Ruiguang came too?”

Upon Ye Zhongming and Mo Ye’s return, the Cloud Peak members were shocked by this news. Who would’ve thought that all four of the country’s nine-star evolved would gather at Cloud Peak at the same time?

“Wait, does Ji Ruiguang even have any reason to save Mu Hanyi?”

Guang Yao, who had come from the Resistance Zone, was particularly puzzled. While there hadn’t been any major conflicts between the Resistance Zone and the Glory Army, they certainly weren’t friends. If Mu Hanyi died, shouldn’t that be good for the Resistance Zone?

Or, looking at it the other way, if they wanted to move against Cloud Peak, wouldn’t it be better to jointly attack Ye Zhongming and Mo Ye? Yet Mu Hanyi came first, and Ji Ruiguang arrived later—clearly not a premeditated plan. So, did the latter come specifically to rescue him?

Ye Zhongming shook his head, equally confused.

Listening to the clamor below about launching a preemptive strike against the Resistance Zone or the Glory Army before he left for the sky, Ye Zhongming felt a pang of concern.

It seemed his decision to adopt a defensive strategy during his absence and have Mo Ye become nine-star was the right one. Looking at the expressions of those present now, even steady figures like Guang Yao, Lu Yi, Sister Rong, and Ah Tao showed subtle eagerness for battle.

This wasn’t necessarily a flaw—in fact, it was commendable, as losing ambition would be far worse. But in his absence, this aggressiveness could easily spark conflicts, and conflicts meant uncontrollable variables.

Cloud Peak had strong soldiers and abundant resources. Cloud Peak was the strongest in power.

But Cloud Peak was not invincible.

“Boss, someone delivered something.”

Xiao Min walked in, holding a box. The lid was open, revealing a note inside.

This wasn’t the Female Guard arbitrarily opening mail—the post-apocalyptic world was full of bizarre dangers, so they screened for every conceivable threat. For this note and box to reach Ye Zhongming, it had to pass at least five inspections.

Ye Zhongming took it, first examining the box, then reading the note.

Everyone’s eyes were fixed on his face, noticing the odd expression on the King of Cloud Peak.

The boss remained silent, so no one dared ask—after all, they didn’t know if the contents were suitable for public knowledge. But someone with low emotional intelligence blurted out:

“Boss, what’s up?”

Little Tiger craned his neck, practically itching to read it himself.

“A message from Ji Ruiguang.”

Everyone exchanged glances. Not only had this guy rescued Mu Hanyi, but he’d also left a note? Was it a provocation?

Ye Zhongming waved his hand, signaling it wasn’t what they thought.

“It mainly mentions three things.” Ye Zhongming spoke slowly, thinking as he went.

“First, the entry pass needs to be activated as soon as possible. Every day delayed means… losses—yes, he used that word. He plans to activate his in two days and will advise Mu Hanyi to do the same.”

Just this first point left Ye Zhongming baffled. What did activating the entry pass mean? Why the urgency?

The Resistance Zone truly lived up to its name—they really did know a lot.

“Second, he advised me to avoid overusing my abilities recently and to focus on physical conditioning and training.”

This only deepened everyone’s confusion.

This point sounded like nonsense.

Evolved were constantly seeking ways to strengthen themselves—did he really need to say that? And what did “avoid overusing abilities” even mean?

Xiao Hu and others scoffed at this.

“What about the third thing?”

Xia Lei was more concerned with the full context—perhaps looking at it holistically would make Ji Ruiguang’s intentions clearer.

Ye Zhongming placed the note back in the box, retrieving a vial of potion from the bottom. His expression turned grave.

“He said that while we’re away, the Resistance Zone won’t provoke Cloud Peak. He apologized for the earlier attack on our intelligence outpost and offered this eight-star potion as compensation… the one under the note.”

Silence fell over the room.

Everyone knew the Resistance Zone had obtained a formidable piece of equipment from the level nine wheel, installed on their war fortress, making it even more formidable. According to analyses by Guang Yao, Mo Ye, and Le Dayuan’s strategy team, that thing was likely far more powerful than the Annihilation Ultimate-Type Energy Cannons.

Yet after their bold attack on Cloud Peak’s intelligence station, they were now apologizing and offering an eight-star potion? They were backing down too quickly—were they afraid Cloud Peak would retaliate?

“Boss, could the note be fake?”

Xiao Hu voiced his suspicion.

“No. Leaving aside the fact that no one would spend an eight-star potion just to impersonate someone, the residual energy on it could only come from a nine-star evolved.”

Ye Zhongming stood up, pausing for about ten seconds before declaring:

“The Western Offensive Plan is moved up. We strike tomorrow.”