Published: February 12, 2025
The wind and rain stopped in the morning, and every tree looked as if it had been washed clean.
In this vast woodland that could almost be called a forest, numerous evolvers lived, some strong and some weak, but they all shared one common trait... they could not leave this place.
The hunting grounds, the roulette here, the fertile soil, the clear streams, and even the trees themselves were all the conditions they relied on for survival.
In a very remote location, there was a waterfall that wasn’t too high, and behind the waterfall stood a stark cliff over two hundred meters tall.
In the other three directions, there were two habitats of high-level mutated creatures, and one side led to a small but exceptionally dangerous desolate land.
It could be said that this place was almost forgotten.
Yet, right here, at this moment, there was a bustling scene.
Ye Zhongming stood atop the crown of a large tree, using the thick trunk as cover, quietly watching the group of... women and children below.
He could easily discern that they were all evolvers, most of whom had a decent evolution level, with many at the five-star level, and five or six of them were six-star evolvers. There was even one woman wearing silver armor, who was a seven-star evolver.
Besides these women, there were also over a dozen children, ranging from seven to over ten years old, playing at the water pool formed by the waterfall.
However, whether the busy women or the children, they were all remarkably quiet, even their conversations were barely audible.
This was a camp, a camp for escaping livestock from the zero commerce association.
The woman named Xiaohua had informed Ye Zhongming of the location.
Now, her mouth was sealed, her body bound, fixed to the trunk, her head just beside Ye Zhongming, and could be crushed at any moment.
Ye Zhongming pointed to the seven-star woman who was washing a child's hair, glanced at Xiaohua, received affirmation, and said nothing, continuing to watch from his vantage point.
By the pool, several wooden huts had been built, and these fifty or so people lived here.
Xiaohua told Ye Zhongming that they had all escaped from the zero commerce association; over two hundred had fled initially, but many had died after being pursued for some time. Some perished while searching for this hiding place, while others sacrificed themselves for this small camp.
As for how they sacrificed themselves, Ye Zhongming could imagine.
After breakfast, nearly half of the thirty or so women jumped into the pool; there was a type of blue fish there, which had a low evolution level but tasted good, serving as their main food source. The rest of the women, apart from keeping a few behind, formed a gathering team to collect edible wild vegetables and mushrooms from the surrounding woods.
As for hunting, they could not do it. According to Xiaohua, they had decent evolution levels but lacked lineage skills and equipment, not to mention their combat experience was almost nonexistent. Going near high-level mutated creatures would be like delivering themselves on a plate.
As Xiaohua explained, to avoid the zero commerce association, they had to choose this barren land as their camp. To survive, she and some sisters were sent out to adapt to the apocalypse while bringing back profession scrolls, skill scrolls, bloodline crystals, and various equipment for their sisters here, imparting the knowledge and experience they learned outside.
However, the zero commerce association had issued bounties; once recognized, they would be caught and sent back. Of course, due to their high evolution levels, many small forces were willing to take the risk to shelter them, hoping to train them into qualified warriors.
These small organizations were Xiaohua and the others' targets, to join such teams to learn and live, and then bring back houses for the rest of the camp and... hope.
It was a risky plan, but there was no alternative; staying here was just waiting for death. Yet going outside was equally dangerous. They had already sent out three batches of sisters, each around fifteen members, and possibly only five or fewer returned from each batch.