Apocalypse Gachapon - Chapter 2010: Assault Camp reserve squad

When they saw Ye Zhongming arrive, these somewhat scattered people stood up.

Several hundred people, kicked out of their original teams, were sent to a large warehouse-like residence where no one had managed them for days. Outside, a scene of intense activity; here, a forgotten corner. Anyone’s mood would be bad under such circumstances.

It was only out of respect for the Order Leader and the authority Ye Zhongming had gradually built during this period that they maintained behavior befitting soldiers.

Ye Zhongming walked around inside this large warehouse, observing the conditions. It was slightly better than he had anticipated. Perhaps due to inertia, these Bronze warriors, even if dissatisfied internally, maintained the expected state of soldiers: hygiene, tools, equipment, etc., were arranged orderly, personal bedding and belongings were clean and tidy.

“Chu Sa, once the Novice King, considered a rising star expected to become a pillar of the Star-Eye Clan. Indeed showed the expected strength in the first year after entering the Bronze Camp. Unfortunately, from the second year, his strength stopped increasing and even declined, being surpassed by many peers. This caused a complete imbalance in his mentality. Over the years, although he didn’t abandon himself, he lived every day like a machine, dispirited, unfocused, resulting in him now being abandoned.”

Ye Zhongming suddenly stopped and spoke to a young soldier beside him. That soldier’s face turned red; he lowered his head and clenched his fists, his whole body trembling slightly by the end.

But Ye Zhongming ignored him and continued forward, arriving next to another person.

“Wo Aige’er! One of the few physical strength-type warriors in the Star-Eye Clan. But you never believed you had talent, never felt pride, no confidence, didn’t utilize your strengths, and instead pursued things you weren’t good at. This led you to rank last in every team assessment. You didn’t even care about Furelai; you only wanted to master assassination and raid techniques. These years you have lived terribly.”

“I…”

A tall, strong man, also with a flushed face, wanted to explain, but Ye Zhongming didn’t stop, continuing forward.

“Fu Mei, also a genius figure. At fifteen, her Furella exceeded five thousand. But this wasn’t your most outstanding aspect. What was most surprising and anticipated about you was your mastery of the Star-Eye Clan’s various signature skills. This often allowed you to defeat many powerful opponents even when not superior in strength. But you thus became proud. In constant victory and attention, you developed a proud personality, thinking you could solve everything yourself. Thus, after joining the adult teams, you were disliked by teammates and superiors. Plus, in teams where age didn’t matter but strength did, there were too many older, stronger people suppressing you, affecting your confidence. You only wanted to use training to quickly bridge these gaps, but didn’t understand the principle of ‘more haste, less speed’ and ‘going beyond the limit is as bad as falling short’. High intensity and your own unscientific methods frequently left you injured. You started training again before injuries fully healed, leading to more injuries. Long-term cycles caused your strength progress not only not to accelerate but to fall behind normal warriors. Until now, you can only be called decent, not good or top!”

A female Star-Eye clanswoman wearing black tight combat attire snorted coldly and turned her head away.

“And you, Zheng Qu. Clearly excellent in various combat indices, but with an extremely bad temper. No matter which team you were transferred to, you couldn’t get along with teammates. Clearly an excellent warrior, but disliked by various Thousand-Person Teams. If not for Zhong Hongke always believing you could change, still having hope, the other Thousand-Person Leaders even wanted to send you to the clan’s tribunal. Even so, your temper only slightly improved after joining the First Thousand-Person Team. You still frequently acted impulsively, having conflicts with teammates every other day. You even once injured a teammate nearly to disability. If not for Zhong Hongke compensating a lot of money for you and shamelessly pleading everywhere, you should now be in prison or exiled. But this also made Zhong Hongke, who had taken good care of you, totally disappointed. Now he directly threw you here.”

“You…”

“Me what? You still want to fight me? With that bit of strength you use to bully teammates?”

This Zheng Qu glared angrily at Ye Zhongming, but Ye Zhongming directly retorted, his right hand shooting out like lightning and gripping his chin.

“I am not Zhong Hongke; I won’t turn a blind eye to your temper. So from now on, whether towards me or others, show some respect. Otherwise, I will hang your corpse to dry at the Bronze Camp entrance.”

Ye Zhongming continuously applied force. His strength, let alone a Bronze warrior, even a Gold warrior whose face he grabbed would only be captured. Others even heard slight cracking sounds.

“As a warrior, to constantly have conflicts with comrades who share life and death, how stupid are you?”

Ye Zhongming threw the nearly suffocated Zheng Qu aside, then walked to the entrance, turned around, and faced these less than one thousand people, saying: “The reason you stand here is because your original teams abandoned you for various reasons. Perhaps some have no major faults, but coming here also proves you are not the most excellent. You are people the Thousand-Person Leaders, under my orders, picked out as unwanted.”

“Do not hate your former captains or teammates. The problems lie within yourselves.”

“I know you are now angry, furious, unhappy, your hearts feeling like they are on fire wanting to vent. It’s fine, this is good, at least it shows you still have self-respect, still have a heart that hasn’t given up.”

“Then coincidentally, I also have it, I am also such a person. I want to find some people to accompany me in achieving many great goals.”

Ye Zhongming looked at the people below and said, “I think, none of you want to continue living your current days, right? Then show me change, and I will return to you… your unfulfilled ideals.”

The people below listened very intently. The image of credibility Ye Zhongming had previously established played a key role now; no one felt he was lying or boasting.

“I know, empty words are hard to believe. Then let’s compete. Don’t you think you are very strong? Think you are excellent? Think you are geniuses? Then compete with these people who were your teammates two months ago. If you win, I promise you, I will send you back to your original teams. If you lose, then obey and train properly until I am satisfied. At that time, I will transfer you into the Assault Camp, making you the envy of others.”

“If you cannot satisfy me, then sorry, you will no longer be Masked Warriors.”

After saying this, Ye Zhongming waved his hand. About one hundred Assault Camp members charged in. A chaotic battle erupted in the warehouse.