Published: February 8, 2025
The number of people in the Ying City team had increased significantly since they first set out.
With so many people moving through a world dominated by mutated life forms, the commotion was naturally considerable. Although Ye Zhongming had employed various strategies, such as advancing in batches, splitting into smaller teams to spread out, and annihilating small-scale mutated life forms while avoiding large zombie hordes, the results were generally average, yet they did not provoke large-scale battles.
However, the measures taken by the Ying City team were all aimed at mutated life forms. It was inevitable that they would encounter human survivors along the way. Regardless of their intentions, these survivors continuously joined various factions, becoming part of the team.
Ye Zhongming did not pay much attention to this. In the apocalypse, the sacrifice of former members of a battle team and the recruitment of new members were very common occurrences. Even the Cloud Summit Villa selected some individuals to join them.
Unlike other factions that tended to choose strong survivors with high evolution levels, Cloud Summit Villa usually opted for ordinary people or those with very low evolution levels.
In the eyes of other factions in Ying City, this was seen as Boss Ye being generous, a concession made for previously taking in those female warriors into Cloud Summit Villa. Ye Zhongming had never explained this rumor.
Yet the reality was a matter of trust. Ye Zhongming had made too many enemies, and he was constantly on guard against retaliation from those factions. The profession of a spy was the most worrisome, and even choosing ordinary people or those with low evolution levels could not completely eliminate this risk. Ultimately, it was essential for newcomers to develop a sense of belonging to Cloud Summit Villa through continuous evolution.
This was a long process. Recruiting new members to strengthen Cloud Summit Villa was necessary, so spending extra effort on solidifying the foundation was not an issue.
Thus, when this team arrived at the Cloud Port Alliance, a peculiar phenomenon occurred. The core group from the Ying City Alliance, namely the Cloud Summit Villa team, had many low-level or even unevolved survivors, contrasting sharply with the formidable strength of the Cloud Summit Villa’s battle team.
Of course, apart from absorbing survivors, the Ying City reinforcements also gained a lot. During the nearly twenty days of travel, they engaged in battles several times each day, varying in scale and collecting plenty of magic crystals and materials. Due to their proximity, some trades from the Cloud Summit Villa trading post could also be conducted among the reinforcements. Most of these items ended up in Ye Zhongming's pocket, with the cost being that the equipment of the Ying City reinforcements was continually improving.
Smart individuals naturally understood this as Ye Zhongming's disguised exploitation and utilization. It not only allowed him to earn profits but also strengthened the Ying City reinforcements, adding leverage for the upcoming battle at Cloud Port, and compelled the Cloud Port Alliance to concede more benefits, achieving three goals in one move.
However, regardless of which faction in Ying City came to this realization, they did not find it problematic; tangible benefits were what mattered.
Thus, when the Cloud Port team encountered the Ying City team, the former was quite surprised.
It was hard to determine the evolution levels of these reinforcements at first glance, but their equipment was undeniably impressive.
The five core leaders exchanged glances, sensing the astonishment in each other's eyes. They were less concerned about the ordinary factions and more focused on the core team known as Cloud Summit Villa.
A thousand-strong team, all equipped with white-grade gear!
This was somewhat frightening!
The Ying City reinforcements were equally astonished by the team they were welcoming because these individuals were quite different from those they had met before. In terms of aura and equipment, the disparity was vast, but one thing remained consistent: these people were likely all powerful.