Published: February 9, 2025
The speed of a 2,000-person team is certainly different from that of a 20,000-person team, and compared to before, the speed has increased by more than double.
However, the distance to Summit Pass is still quite far, and the night is very dangerous, so they cannot rush. Additionally, avoiding zombie horde cities, Ye Zhongming calculated the time and realized that he had delayed too long in Linhai and would be late.
Although the delay wasn’t long, it was already a fact.
Could he speed ahead alone? That thought was quickly dismissed by Ye Zhongming. It was not only dangerous to travel alone, but even if he arrived at Summit Pass safely, there was no guarantee. Who knew if they would take action against him when they saw he was alone?
Since he would definitely be late, Ye Zhongming didn’t rush and instead took care of a lot of things along the way.
First, he halted all repairs and upgrades for the Treasure-Holding Gourd. After feeding it plenty of equipment, he upgraded the Kexijia Energy Charger to silver tier. This raised its attributes to an energy limit of 200p, an output speed of 30p/hour, and an input speed of 60/hour.
Clearly, the most significant change from the upgrade was the increased speed of energy output and input.
Ye Zhongming directly found several people with water attribute skills and had them cast spells at the charger’s collection port. The previously empty energy slot immediately showed signs of change.
He then placed the charger in water to observe, noting some changes, but they were not significant. It seemed that it needed to be placed in a lake or ocean for a better effect.
In the end, without other options, Ye Zhongming contributed several primary water-type natural gems to fill the energy capacity of the 200p charger.
After a few hours of charging the Treasure-Holding Gourd, Ye Zhongming couldn't help but whistle happily.
With the accurate measurement from the charger, he realized how little energy the Treasure-Holding Gourd had absorbed from those damaged weapons before. Now that he infused it with 200p of energy, he upgraded the previously obtained Stable Beast Saddle to silver tier and repaired over a dozen silver weapons that had been damaged in recent battles!
In the past, it would have taken him at least a month to accomplish these tasks.
Next, Ye Zhongming used some more water-type gems to upgrade the Water and Fire Cauldron to silver tier.
This equipment couldn’t use the energy charger but could be charged through the Treasure-Holding Gourd.
That night, Ye Zhongming set up the cauldron, found people who could use both water and fire attributes to kindle the fire, and made some soup. Using the large pot that radiated a silver glow, he cooked a broth from the level five mutated animals hunted during the day, and the aroma was indescribably enticing.
Although there was no recipe and no gourmet chefs among them, the ability of this exclusive equipment allowed the food produced to contain energy, elevating its basic attribute to 120% of its original value. Consuming it regularly would gradually increase their strength.
Ye Zhongming couldn't help but think about the Destiny Rice Seed he had been cultivating. It was much more difficult to cultivate than the Luo Shen Cypress. Despite pouring a lot of mental energy into it, there hadn’t been any noticeable changes. After focusing on battles, he essentially stopped cultivating it. It seemed he needed to spend more time nurturing it; once the seeds matured, they could enhance the power of all skills and allow for continuous improvement.
One pot of broth was clearly not enough. Although the pot was large, it could only satisfy a few people’s appetites in the apocalypse.
After cooking several times, only a few hundred of the 2,000 people were able to get a little, leading to a rotation system for the next meal.
Everyone was not foolish; seeing a silver piece of equipment in front of them made it obvious that the food produced would have benefits.