Apocalypse Gachapon Chapter 2144: In the caves

"They've come."

Deep within the cavern, at an unknown depth, a voice suddenly erupted, shattering the silence that had seemed to have endured for hundreds of millions of years.

"Heh heh, what a coincidence. Truly."

After a pause, the voice spoke again, echoing through the empty space.

"Can you not speak?"

Another voice emerged abruptly—calm, yet upon closer listening, one could sense the extremely complex emotions within.

"Should I not speak? How many years have we been trapped here? Finally, someone has come. And they are… old acquaintances. Hahaha! Should I not speak? No, I should. I should thank God, Jesus, Buddha, Allah, and all the gods and Buddhas for delivering…"

"Our enemy, right! Before! Our! Eyes!"

The last half of the sentence was enunciated word by word, the fury and resentment within it enough to melt a person.

After these words, another dead silence fell. After a long while, the sound of someone rising was heard, accompanied by a clanking, metallic noise.

"Of course, I hate him. But that has nothing to do with you."

The second voice finished speaking and began walking outward.

"Lure them in. Lure them in. I want to kill them with my own hands. Kill that person!"

With a heavy thud, a stone door of unknown thickness closed, sealing the already distorted, howling voice inside.

Only after the clanking sounds had faded did countless pairs of eyes—some ghostly green, some blood red—open in that vast cavern, accompanied by low hisses.

Outside, the clanking continued for a full ten minutes before finally ceasing. Here, the darkness was not as absolute as before. Two large flames burned in recesses on either side of a stone wall. Between the walls stood a stone platform, covered in countless sword marks and fist prints, as well as some dark purple, dried bloodstains.

On the stone platform lay a human skull and several bones, resembling the left half of a human body.

"I had thought I would grow old and die here. I never imagined I would have a chance to go back. How many years has it been? Have you waited long? It doesn't matter. I will avenge you, and then I will come below to find you."

The second voice had now changed—it was a woman's voice.

"I will come to be with you…"

……………………

Ye Zhongming declined Huo Zhi's invitation, which greatly surprised everyone.

Fighting alongside top-tier experts was a rare and invaluable opportunity. Watching them fight, one could learn a great deal—personal tactics, energy allocation, skill usage, technique coordination, and so on. These were not things just anyone could teach.

For someone like Ye Zhongming, whose strength was advancing rapidly, this was a rare chance.

Yet he refused.

Ye Zhongming was not being arrogant. He had weighed the options and chosen to stay.

For others, top-tier experts might indeed be hard to come by, and they might be intensely curious about everything concerning them.

But he was Ye Zhongming. Behind him stood the entire Library Palace. Through their channels, he could access guidance and instruction from countless top-tier experts at any time. Especially the Dean—though he had never revealed his own level, Ye Zhongming knew he must be a peak expert, certainly among the top three in combat power across the myriad races.

With such a person providing meticulous guidance, he did not need to learn from other top-tier experts—especially Su Clan ones.

So he remained at the camp, working alongside He and other Changxu Water Race members on crafting and alchemy.

He had a bad feeling.

A day later, word came back from the Su Clan: the hunt had been successful. Using formations and the assistance of several small clan alliance experts who had volunteered to go, they had cornered and killed a super-Level Nine mutated lifeform family, gaining tens of millions of Moonspan Gold in revenue.

The battle was said to have been effortless and fluid, opening the eyes of the small clan members.

Cheng Liujin and Lord Eye had both gone. Upon their return, they seemed lost in thought, clearly having gained much.

Time passed. The Su Clan and the small clan alliance hunted methodically. Three days later, the Third and Fourth Regiments returned. Their gains were not as high as those of the First and Second Regiments, but still substantial—around thirty million Moonspan Gold. Their casualties were also low: not as low as the First Regiment's, but still under eight hundred.

The First and Second Regiments set out again. This time, with Chen Ning dismissed, Lady Star took over command of the Second Regiment.

Ye Zhongming was still with the First Battalion, First Regiment. But this time, he led all of his subordinates.

Three thousand men did not enter the Long River Alluvial Plain. Instead, they passed through Su Clan territory and entered the Blue Demon Desert.

Defense zones had been established and hunting zones designated. Normally, this would not be permitted. But Ye Zhongming could.

The Blue Demon Desert was a vast expanse of blue sand, teeming with mutated lifeforms that often hid beneath the sand, launching attacks that were difficult to anticipate. Fortunately, the myriad races had various auxiliary equipment and keen perception, which largely mitigated this threat.

Upon entering the Blue Demon Desert, Ye Zhongming's primary hunting target was a lifeform called the "Leviathan Scorpion." These creatures had extremely strong defenses. Their only weak points were their eyes and a pair of white lines on either side of their abdomen, each about the thickness of a human finger and twenty centimeters long.

Moreover, they were poisonous—highly poisonous. For these reasons, the Su Clan had rarely targeted them in their hunts, only engaging when they encountered them by chance.

For the three thousand small clan alliance warriors who had come here and immediately taken on such a difficult target, there was some initial resistance. But soon, they discovered how easy hunting could be.

Ye Zhongming distributed a tool that everyone called the "Scorpion Clamp." Shaped like blooming flowers attached to a flat metal plate, these devices proved incredibly effective against the Leviathan Scorpions.

Relying on their formidable defense and attack power, the Leviathan Scorpions had very bad tempers. They often moved in groups, and throughout the Blue Demon Desert, few dared to provoke them.

Ye Zhongming and his men started with a small group of about five hundred. After some mild provocation, the scorpions erupted from the sand in a frenzy, attacking the invaders without regard for the strange metal clamps lying on the ground. When they stepped on the clamps, the devices activated, clamping the scorpions' feet while simultaneously unleashing spinning blades.

Due to the positioning and height, these spinning blades had a seventy to eighty percent chance of striking the white lines on the scorpions' abdomens.

In a head-on fight, hitting those weak points would have been nearly impossible—the scorpions would never give such an opportunity. But under these conditions, over two-thirds of the Leviathan Scorpions were severely wounded. Under the assault of three thousand warriors, they were quickly wiped out.

Ye Zhongming looked at the mountain of collected materials and sighed inwardly. The prince of the Huo'er Star People had taken another step closer to death.