Apocalypse Gachapon Chapter 2353: Hate

Ye Zhongming and the Mechanical Genius both looked grim.

Not from exhaustion—but from seeing a... device behind Kani.

To be with the Mechanical Genius, Kani had made a special trip back to the Ferosong people, hoping to gain her race's recognition and blessing for their relationship.

If possible, who wouldn't want the best of both worlds?

Moreover, the Su Clan had already made inquiries, so both the Mechanical Genius and Kani felt there would be no problem.

But there was a problem.

"Why did your race do this to you?!"

The shota spoke through gritted teeth.

True, the shota felt he didn't like Kani—he disliked her short stature, even though he wasn't taller. He disliked her freckles, even though he wasn't handsome. He disliked her low Furelai, even though his was lower.

But he knew one thing: Kani had once left the Ferosong people without a word for his sake, and this one trip back was only to ask her race to let her stay with him.

After all, Ferosong blood ran in her veins.

But that mediocre race had forced Kani to install a device called "Dragon Heart."

This device required periodic returns to its installer to refill a "life fluid" whose formula only the installer knew. If she didn't return, the Dragon Heart would wither—and once it withered, Kani would die.

The Dragon Heart had replaced... Kani's original heart!

It was an utterly vicious act!

The Ferosong people had even prettily told Kani it was for her own good, since the Dragon Heart was worth millions of Moonspan Gold and would speed up cultivation, rapidly raising Furelai.

But the drawbacks—or side effects—were equally obvious. Once near a bottleneck—at ten thousand, twenty thousand Furelai, and other round numbers—breakthroughs became extremely dangerous, with a chance of exploding. At the hundred-thousand Furelai threshold, survival odds were one in ten!

Even if you were incredibly lucky and broke through a hundred thousand, the Dragon Heart's flaws emerged: the energy it produced and the life force provided couldn't withstand so much energy, making further cultivation extremely difficult. Progress would stop at twenty thousand Furelai—the Dragon Heart's theoretical limit. Essentially, after the great expert threshold, the user's strength would stagnate.

For Kani's own good?! They gave her this?

Perhaps it sped up cultivation below great expert, but each death gate stood before you, requiring you to pass one by one. The faster you cultivated, the sooner you faced life-and-death trials!

With success rates around thirty percent, the odds of reaching a hundred thousand Furelai were less than ten percent!

Plainly, this was to control Kani and thereby control the Mechanical Genius—to influence Ye Zhongming, the Star-Eye Clan, even the Su Clan!

Trading an ordinary clansman for potential benefits—the Ferosong people had made a good calculation.

And by doing so, they showed they weren't afraid of offending Ye Zhongming or the Star-Eye Clan, because they were stronger than the Star-Eye Clan. As for the Su Clan, they probably figured the Su Clan wouldn't intervene for Kani. The earlier inquiry was because Ye Zhongming knew the Mechanical Genius—Ferosong had given face. Now they were acting against their own clansman; no one could stop them!

But to the Mechanical Genius, this was an insult. To Ye Zhongming, this was contempt and provocation!

They hadn't considered the Mechanical Genius's or Ye Zhongming's feelings at all.

They felt they could safely control them!

"Mother... fucker!" After the Mechanical Genius asked that question, the room fell silent. He could guess most of it, and his fury condensed into two words laced with blood.

Like a wounded beast letting out an unwilling cry.

"They want me to find out why the Star-Eye Clan suddenly became strong, and why they established good relations with the Su Clan. They... don't believe it's just because White Robe and Jie Su are friends."

Even now, Kani didn't speak ill of the Ferosong people, but her tone and how she referred to her race showed she had grown distant from them—and hateful.

"Before, I heard the shota say the Ferosong people never treated him as one of their own—only as cannon fodder to draw enemy attention and firepower, since his battle puppets were the best cannon fodder."

"At that time, I was already angry."

Ye Zhongming sat in his chair, speaking calmly.

"Later, the Ferosong people agreed to let the Mechanical Genius leave them. I was grateful—I even sent things through the Su Clan to express my thanks."

"But now..." Ye Zhongming's gaze fell on Kani.

"I'm very angry at them. I hate them."

"Shota, from now on, you are Kani's Meiao. What do you say?" Ye Zhongming's gaze was calm, almost cold.

The Mechanical Genius nodded slowly.

Though Ye Zhongming called him shota, he was already an adult—if not before, then now.

He knew he had to take responsibility for Kani. It seemed Ye Zhongming was forcing him, but the Mechanical Genius felt no resistance—only a growing, hidden joy.

Kani broke into a radiant smile.

"You see, the shota is mine, and now Kani is the shota's, so she's mine too. My people are not to be treated like this."

Ye Zhongming stood, walked to Kani, and reached out to ruffle the girl's fluffy hair.

"From today, you have nothing to do with the Ferosong people. You are only the shota's woman, only my friend, only... one of us Earthlings. Alright?"

Kani looked at the Mechanical Genius, then at Ye Zhongming, and nodded.

The Cloud Peak King smiled too, and the room lost its coldness, becoming warm again.

"I won't let anything happen to you. Don't worry—I'll send you somewhere where someone will find a way to solve the Dragon Heart. No matter how much Moonspan Gold it costs, no matter how difficult, the shota and I won't let anything happen to you."

The Cloud Peak King's words were a bit rambling, but the other two heard the immense confidence and an inexplicable emotion in them.

Ye Zhongming touched a material and resumed crafting equipment, but in his heart, in a dark corner, he carved a race's name.