Apocalypse Gachapon - Chapter 2020: Blackmail

When Ye Zhongming went, he happened to encounter White Robe, who was walking out angrily.

This Star-Eye Clan idol was a battle maniac to outsiders and a bit informal with familiar people. But in fact, White Robe was always very calm, even when others considered him crazy.

Just as Ye Zhongming had said to that Su Race elder, everyone said he was crazy, but he had remained so for this long without anything happening, even rarely getting injured. This was enough to show that White Robe was far calmer and more measured than he appeared on the surface.

What kind of matter could anger someone like this so much?

“Old Ye, you came just in time. Come, gather some people, let’s go make some trouble.” White Robe grabbed Ye Zhongming and started walking outside.

Ye Zhongming didn’t understand and was about to ask when he saw Cheng Liujin come out as well.

“White Robe, I know you’re angry, but now is not the time to cause trouble. Instead, we should calm down and think of a countermeasure.”

The Gold Camp Order Leader stood in front of the two. He was truly afraid that Ye Zhongming, also young and hot-blooded, would follow White Robe to make trouble.

“What exactly happened?”

Ye Zhongming glanced at the two clan leaders’ room and asked Cheng Liujin and White Robe.

White Robe snorted coldly, lowering his head slightly, his gaze sharp, seemingly unwilling to talk.

Cheng Liujin sighed and said, “Today, our clan received a notice from the Darkstrip City Committee, mainly concerning three matters.”

“The first: the Xuehuo people’s transport team outside the city was attacked, but they haven’t been able to find out who did it. So the notice says they will search various races and even require all races within the city to cooperate, with all members cooperating in their investigation.”

Hearing this, Ye Zhongming narrowed his eyes and said, “They suspect us?”

Regarding the matter of attacking the Xuehuo people, others didn’t know, but among the Star-Eye Clan’s high-ranking officials, it wasn’t a secret. Upon hearing this news, Ye Zhongming’s initial reaction was that the matter had been discovered.

Cheng Liujin shook his head: “I don’t think so. You acted very quietly. Later, I went to clean up the battlefield again; nothing would be left behind. If they truly had any evidence, why would they give us any notice? They would have sent troops long ago.”

Only then did Ye Zhongming learn that Cheng Liujin had gone to the scene again after they left that day.

“Their doing this, I think, is extortion and a warning,” White Robe suddenly interjected at this moment.

Cheng Liujin continued: “The second matter is a continuation of the first. Because something happened, the Eight Powers decided to expand the city guard system in Darkstrip City, forming a Second City Guard Army. Each race must not only provide personnel but also pay a city guard tax, with a ratio existing. Sending people means paying less tax; not sending people means paying more tax.”

Just hearing this, Ye Zhongming mostly understood. He estimated this was a way for these races to exploit the smaller races.

“These bastards! What city guard?! It’s just their private army, yet they want us to pay to support them! Look at how many races have perished in Darkstrip City over the past century to know how many disgusting things these beasts have done!”

White Robe’s body radiated killing intent, clearly genuinely moved to kill.

“So, they have already chosen to provide personnel, meaning we have to provide money, is that it?” Ye Zhongming also felt very angry in his heart.

The cosmic races were like this; they had even lost their true homeland, yet they were still oppressing the smaller races like this! Perhaps this was the process of reshuffling; inevitably, some races would be eliminated.

“No, we can also provide personnel, but there is a quota based on the race’s ranking. Our clan’s ranking among the cosmic races is very low; we can only provide around 100 people at most. We pay a bit less money, but not much less.”

After speaking with Ye Zhongming and Cheng Liujin for a while, White Robe’s emotions stabilized somewhat. He answered Ye Zhongming’s question.

“The entire city guard is two thousand people. One hundred is one-twentieth. In theory, the reduction in money should also be this proportion, but in fact, it’s not; it’s only reduced by a tiny bit. Moreover, there are strength requirements for warriors joining the city guard; basically, only our Gold Camp warriors meet the requirements. But even so, for paying just that tiny bit less money and sending one hundred people, not only do we not receive any supplies, but we have to do all the dirty and hard work. Wherever there’s danger, our people are definitely sent first. When the First City Guard was formed last time, the situation was like this. The warriors we sent all died within a few months. They actually demanded we continue sending people. I…!@#$%^&*…!”

White Robe spewed a stream of obscenities, cursing all the races of the Eight Powers.

Ye Zhongming understood this kind of thing all too well. It seemed whether on Earth or among the Ten Thousand Races of the universe, or in any era, such situations occurred.

It was clearly exploiting these smaller races with little ability to resist.

“If we only pay money, how much is required?” Ye Zhongming asked.

“There are two methods. One is a one-time payment of 500,000 Moonspan Gold per year. The other is installment payments, paying five times a year, one hundred and ten thousand Moonspan Gold each time.”

Ye Zhongming gave a cold laugh. They were truly treating the smaller races as fat sheep.

“And the third matter?”

Cheng Liujin pulled the two to sit down on the side and answered: “The third matter concerns you. Didn’t you want to buy land? Originally, it was agreed: the reward plus one and a half million Moonspan Gold. After Yashinan got your confirmation, he submitted this. But before your assessment ended, the Darkstrip City Committee sent a reply, listing various reasons, saying how good that place was, that one and a half million wouldn’t do, they wanted two and a half million!”

“Damn it!” Hearing this, Ye Zhongming couldn’t help it either. These bastards were simply bullying others too much.

“Regarding land, can the Eight Powers of Darkstrip City also have a say?” Ye Zhongming didn’t quite understand the relationships here.

“Nominally, they can’t; it requires approval from the survivor fortress we’re on. But under this hierarchical reporting system, they extorted an additional 1 million Moonspan Gold from us. Giving some of it to the higher-ups arbitrarily, no one will speak for us. Even just looking at this price, those higher-ups all understand. Jumping levels to complain won’t be dealt with either because if they handled it, it would cut off their own source of wealth.”

Ye Zhongming and White Robe both sighed. Even knowing what Cheng Liujin said was right, they still felt utterly stifled.

White Robe had completely calmed down. He and Cheng Liujin looked at Ye Zhongming, intending to say something to comfort him.

Apart from the two clan leaders, the one under the greatest pressure regarding this notice from the Darkstrip City Committee was Ye Zhongming.

“Give them the money!”

Ye Zhongming suddenly stood up.

“They want money, right? Give it to them. Even the first matter, as long as they don’t make things difficult for the Star-Eye Clan, we’ll give them money. However much they want, we’ll give it.”

White Robe and Cheng Liujin also stood up, wanting to dissuade Ye Zhongming from essentially complying with their extortion.

“It’s fine, just give it to them.” A cold expression hung on Ye Zhongming’s face. “It won’t be long before they realize… money isn’t so easy to spend.”