Apocalypse Gachapon - Chapter 1837: Huge increase in difficulty

“I want to join you.”

Shi Kangbu’s words were steady, without any resoluteness, which inevitably made people think he was only making such a request because he couldn’t manage on his own.

Jie Kui curled his lip but didn’t speak. This kind of thing was for Ye to decide; he was just following Ye.

Ye Zhongming was not surprised. He didn’t know which race the Star-Eye Clan had entrusted to train Shi Kangbu and Bu Lanuo, but it was clear that race did not take the Star-Eye Clan seriously. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be a situation where the trained warriors showed no respect to their own clan.

He guessed that both had received some possibly unclear promises, such as the opportunity to join the entrusted race or something similar.

But reality had given them a heavy blow. Ye Zhongming didn’t know what had happened to them, but he was certain that things had not developed as the two had anticipated.

Furthermore, they might have been ignored or even abandoned by that race.

In that case, for Shi Kangbu, teaming up with Ye Zhongming and Jie Kui was the best choice.

Not to mention, the abilities Ye Zhongming and Jie Kui had displayed had already made him look at them with new respect.

Ye Zhongming had previously been ranked within the top thousand, though now he was at the bottom.

“I need to know your detailed information and data to judge whether you can join us.”

Shi Kangbu was taken aback, thinking that Ye Zhongming was deliberately making things difficult for him.

In fact, Ye Zhongming really had no such interest. His goal was to establish an elite squad. The members didn’t necessarily need extremely strong personal abilities, but they must have certain characteristics and be able to play a role when needed.

Without understanding Shi Kangbu, Ye Zhongming would not have accepted him into the squad, even if his survival would have been a great help to the Star-Eye Clan’s final ranking.

His eyes dimmed slightly. If it were before, Shi Kangbu would have just turned and left. Even if the person opposite wasn’t exactly insulting him, it still conveyed a look of disdain. His self-esteem would not allow him to lower his head.

However, the current situation and the blows suffered over the past three days seemed to have smoothed out Shi Kangbu’s rough edges.

He woodenly stated his characteristics, including his job and skills, etc.

Ye Zhongming listened attentively.

He finished quickly. Shi Kangbu was prepared to turn around. He thought since the other party was brushing him off, they should have found a reason to refuse by now. Whether he listened or not didn’t matter.

But what made him stop was the words “Welcome.”

Shi Kangbu raised his head and looked at the man in front of him in surprise, momentarily not quite believing his ears.

“The next cycle is a trial period. If you pass, you stay and become a formal member. If you fail, I will kill you. The points can’t be wasted; I’m already a red name anyway.”

After speaking, Ye Zhongming looked at Shi Kangbu, waiting for his response.

“Okay.” Shi Kangbu only weighed it slightly before agreeing.

But that wasn’t all. Ye Zhongming continued, “Upon joining the squad, starting from the next cycle, your points will be uniformly distributed, and your actions must follow my commands. If you accept, then welcome.”

Shi Kangbu took a deep breath. He knew what this meant… it basically equated to handing his life over to this person.

“You… can you guarantee I will get out alive?”

After experiencing three hellish days, Shi Kangbu no longer hoped for anything else, just not to die.

“I can only try my best.” Ye Zhongming did not give a guarantee.

“Okay, I agree.”

“Welcome.”

……………………………………

The twelve hours of rest passed quickly. When there were still more than ten minutes left, the novices gathered again in the novice camp, waiting for the start of the second three-day cycle.

This time, everyone was noticeably calmer, without the unease and nervousness from the start of the first cycle.

Many people knew what they could do and had decided what they wanted to do. Many others had improved or found teams and were ambitious to make their mark.

In the crowd, Ye Zhongming unexpectedly saw Mu Hanyi. This guy, who had been beaten badly by Cloud Top, seemed to be doing pretty well. Feeling the gaze, he looked back and wasn’t surprised to see Ye Zhongming and even nodded.

Although they hadn’t been friendly before and there was enmity, after all, they both came from the China region. Without conflict, nodding could be considered normal.

Besides Mu Hanyi, Ye Zhongming unsurprisingly saw the Hawkins couple, Yaka, and Wade not far away.

Their injuries had naturally healed completely; even the eye Wade had been blinded in by Ye Zhongming was as good as new.

Actually, this wasn’t surprising. What truly surprised Ye Zhongming was that there were two more lives besides these four.

Good people skills? Obviously not. During this trial, where everyone was fighting desperately for points, the word “friendship” was too cheap.

Then… the forces behind the Hawkins couple had exerted effort and found two more strong reinforcements for them?

Ye Zhongming casually guessed and then stopped thinking about it.

So what if they found people? The two sides were already in a life-and-death struggle. Even if they turned all the other tens of thousands of novices into their helpers, Ye Zhongming would only have the option of killing them all.

What surprised the King of Cloud Peak was that the woman he had hoped would join his squad actually found him and handed him a bag of things.

“Simple wound medicine, as thanks for you holding me in high regard.”

Ye Zhongming wasn’t standoffish either. Instead, he asked the woman what materials she needed, etc. The female life hesitated, named a few, then smiled at Ye Zhongming and left.

“What does that mean?” Jie Kui looked at the small leather pouch. Though small, it contained ten pills, general-purpose medicine for treating injuries.

“Currying favor, leaving a way out.”

Ye Zhongming put away the pills. Since the other party had shown goodwill, accepting it was fine. Even if they couldn’t form a squad together later, cooperation was possible.

“Very happy to see you all still alive, though it seems some aren’t doing too well.”

Zizi Kaba’s figure appeared in the air, looking down at the novices with a cold smile.

“There are some things I think are necessary to tell you.”

“Do you think the official store’s things are expensive? Yes, they really are expensive. But there’s some unfortunate news: the store’s things will be even more expensive in the future. Starting from this cycle, the prices will collectively increase by ten percent each cycle. Please be prepared to be ripped off.”

There was an uproar below. This change was simply deadly.

“And also, and also.” Zizi Kaba’s tone made people suspect he had some not-so-good fetish.

“Everyone feels there are too many of you survivors. We don’t have that many resources for you. So in the next cycle, the number of eliminations for the last place will be the last… one thousand individuals in the personal rankings!”