Apocalypse Gachapon Chapter 2321: Third expansion

Cloud Peak Villa.

Ye Zhongming sat in his villa, slowly sipping tea, waiting for Liu Zhenghong.

He had one day left before leaving Earth to return to the cosmic races. Though he didn't hold out much hope for a breakthrough on the Desert Secret Realm's boundary in such a short time, if they could get a relatively clear result, he would feel more at ease when he left.

Xia Lei came in, added some hot water to Ye Zhongming's cup, then sat beside him, holding his arm.

"Rare to see you so quiet." Ye Zhongming said with a smile.

"Am I usually all loud and boisterous?" Xia Lei pinched his side a few times in mock displeasure.

"I mean, have you run into any trouble?" Ye Zhongming asked, squeezing Xia Lei's cheek—softer than it had been ten years ago, even more so now.

Xia Lei sighed softly. "It's not trouble, exactly—it's just that both new secret realms are troublesome. For now, not only can't they provide much help, they're actually consuming a lot of troops. Since you scouted them, we've sent four main combat battle squads into each—eight main battalions in total, over a million people."

Ye Zhongming listened quietly, understanding Xia Lei's concerns.

As the saying goes, when the cannons roar, gold flows like water.

Sending eight main combat battalions in wasn't just about filling the numbers.

To keep the troops in good condition, food quality and quantity had to be improved.

Against different lifeforms, equipment had to be adjusted. Against Earth lifeforms, weapons prioritized sharpness alongside skills. But in the Titan Secret Realm, they needed longer, larger, thicker, and more durable weapons—otherwise, two clashes would break them, and they'd be useless.

War required all kinds of consumables: arrows, shells, energy sources, medicines, alchemical items, and more.

Especially for a superpower like Cloud Peak, so strong in these areas, they couldn't do without support—the consumption in every battle was enormous.

And then there were combat losses—another headache.

Beyond the precious casualties among the battalion soldiers, there were also equipment losses, war beast losses, genetic lifeform losses, auxiliary equipment losses—each requiring a huge outlay to replace.

Even with Cloud Peak's vast resources, a single war would drain its reserves.

Though Cloud Peak always gained far more than it spent after each conflict, that came later and couldn't be rushed. To maintain fiscal balance, Xia Lei had to plan meticulously.

With two secret realms unlikely to be conquered overnight, and no telling how long the fighting would last, Xia Lei had to ensure Cloud Peak wouldn't be dragged down by them.

"Two secret realms would be manageable, but on Earth, northward and into South and Southeast Asia, progress is steady. However, westward and eastward will soon see concentrated conflicts, needing even more troops."

Xia Lei furrowed her brow habitually.

"Though our policy is to bring other factions along in development to ease our manpower strain, there are still too many fronts. We've already started Cloud Peak's third major expansion—unprecedented in scale, adding twelve new battalions and one million five hundred thousand people. Arming and training them will cost a fortune."

"I've taken a lot of people and put even more pressure on you." Ye Zhongming said apologetically, stroking Xia Lei's hair.

"Haha, but in these past few days, you've also gotten Cloud Peak four more bottles of nine-star evolution potion and directly evolved the Three-Nosed Elephant and two other war beasts to top-tier. Only you could do that."

Xia Lei said this with pride and deep emotion.

If her man hadn't left for over a year, Cloud Peak would probably have grown into a behemoth sweeping the globe by now.

"You could have the Talking Lady and the Brain Child help." Ye Zhongming suddenly said.

Xia Lei hesitated, then nodded. "The Talking Lady's loyalty is fine now—she looks at you the same way Little Tiger and the others do. But as she's evolved to top-tier, she's become increasingly unwilling to associate with other zombies, even showing strong aversion."

Remembering the Talking Lady from his previous life, Ye Zhongming wasn't surprised by her behavior in this one. Evolving to top-tier, she was gradually leaving the zombie category behind, becoming... another kind of lifeform—humanoid, but not human.

"As for the Brain Child, it often disappears for a while and reappears with an elite zombie unit. It does its best to fulfill any requests we make, but now it's also become a level-nine being, with over five hundred elite underlings, including three top-tier zombie kings, and the rest are all eight-star greater zombies. It comes back far less often. Without the Chameleon tracking its location, it would have probably completely broken away from us."

Xia Lei's tone was very different when speaking of this special existence compared to the Talking Lady.

Ye Zhongming tapped his fingers lightly on the table, then said, "Send it a summons—tell it to bring its elite unit and a million-strong zombie horde to participate in our western campaign. If it complies, maintain the status quo. If it doesn't... let it fulfill the role a zombie of its kind should."

For many high-level lifeforms that had submitted to Cloud Peak, Ye Zhongming was very lenient—like that scoundrel Yangos, like the formerly unsettled Talking Lady, like the three war beasts—including the Three-Nosed Elephant—that he had evolved directly by using a large amount of Woming Soil to make Lanyou bloom and bear six fruits.

But toward the Brain Child, Ye Zhongming had no such "sentiment." On the contrary, for all these years, because it couldn't shake some of its zombie habits, it had always been at odds with Cloud Peak.

Now Ye Zhongming's stance was clear: if it could continue to be of use, it could stay; if not, it would be eliminated.

Xia Lei thought it was feasible. After all, zombie hordes were free labor—no cost at all, and they even provided magic crystals when they died.

"Oh, and..." Ye Zhongming suddenly remembered something. "Around this time, very powerful zombie kings should be emerging in various regions. If left unchecked, they could become major threats later. We've already cleaned up the zombie hordes within our territory, so Cloud Peak may not feel it, but outside our influence—especially in the larger cities that haven't been cleared—we must be wary of these zombie kings with diverse abilities. If any grow to the Demon Whale's level, it'll be troublesome."

Xia Lei nodded seriously.

Just then, Liu Zhenghong knocked and entered, followed by two researchers carrying a large metal box.