Apocalypse Gachapon

Park Xiuying’s hands slowly moved away from Ye Zhongming’s eyes. She let out a faint sigh, stood up, and discarded the two white paper patches she had peeled off from his eyelids. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

When she turned around, she met the questioning gazes of Xia Lei, Liang Chuyin, and the others—only to shake her head in response.

Disappointment flashed in everyone’s eyes.

Ye Zhongming had been back for many days, yet his eyes still hadn’t fully recovered.

Though he could now open them, his vision remained weak, far from his previous state.

During this time, the people of Cloud Peak had exhausted every possible method—equipment, potions, jobs, scrolls—anything that might help had been gathered and tested one by one. The slight improvement in Ye Zhongming’s condition left them unsure whether it was due to his own formidable recovery ability or the effectiveness of their efforts.

“It’s fine, see? I’m getting better. Why do you all look like that?”

Though Ye Zhongming’s vision was still blurry, Yellow Ball was by his side, allowing him to “see” through his mentally linked battle beast. Moreover, he had grown accustomed to relying on other senses—his hearing, smell, and touch had all sharpened significantly.

“Always so stubborn!” Xia Lei snapped, her frustration evident. When Ye Zhongming returned to Cloud Peak with his eyes blinded, the usually composed leader was so furious that she overstepped her authority, summoning the members of Chameleon and berating them harshly. Many present had glimpsed murderous intent in her eyes.

No one doubted that if Ye Zhongming’s eyes never recovered, Xia Lei—already inclined toward ruthlessness—would slaughter without hesitation to vent her rage.

The blind loyalty of Chameleon, obeying Ye Zhongming’s orders even at the cost of leaving him to face danger alone, infuriated her to the core.

“I have the Beautiful Celestial Body. I’ll be fine. Given time, I’ll fully recover.”

While his words were partly meant to reassure, Ye Zhongming genuinely trusted his body’s resilience. The faint return of his vision, he believed, wasn’t due to the treatments Xia Lei and the others had scrounged up—it was his own extraordinary healing at work.

“I don’t know if the Beautiful Celestial Body can heal you, but I do know you were hurt by someone named Ah Xiu.”

Xia Lei had previously demanded that God Hall hand over the culprit, but Ye Zhongming had stopped her. Though she understood his reasoning and acknowledged the director’s deliberate restraint during the battle, she still couldn’t relinquish her grudge against Ah Xiu.

She was Cloud Peak’s leader, the unquestioned authority in Ye Zhongming’s absence—but she was also a woman. When someone she loved was harmed, her protective instincts erupted like a bristling mother cat, defying logic and sometimes surpassing even a man’s capacity for vengeance.

“Let’s talk about the chests,” Ye Zhongming said, knowing his woman just needed to vent. He gestured toward Guang Yao.

“We’ve been sending people to search since we first received word. Based on the intelligence we’ve gathered so far, at least five thousand chests have landed within the country—though this is certainly not the full count. It might not even be a third of the total, but these five thousand are confirmed.”

Ye Zhongming nodded, signaling him to continue.

“Early rumors claimed the chests contained only non-wheel items, but that’s incorrect. About half hold wheel rewards—though strangely, they’re all concentrated in job scrolls, skill scrolls, bloodline crystals, and functional cards. Not a single piece of equipment has been found.”

“I’ve compiled a list of the items we’ve identified from the chests.” Guang Yao handed Xia Lei a stack of over a dozen densely written pages. “If Zhongming wants to hear it, you can read it to him.”

Xia Lei scanned the pages and couldn’t help but mutter, “This many?”

“And this isn’t even everything,” Guang Yao replied before turning back to Ye Zhongming.

“After analyzing these items, the answer is obvious—they were ‘dropped’ by those beings from above, through some method.”

He paused there, noticing Ye Zhongming’s deeply furrowed brow. He didn’t want to interrupt his leader’s thoughts.

But Ye Zhongming wasn’t just pondering why the alien races had scattered so many chests. He was also wondering—why hadn’t this happened in his past life?

This event was now common knowledge across the country. If it had occurred in his previous timeline, he would’ve remembered.

Yet, it hadn’t. It was a change brought about by his rebirth.

Ye Zhongming knew his return might trigger a butterfly effect—some who should’ve been powerful were gone, while others who should’ve died still lived. History had already been altered, and the future would inevitably diverge.

But he hadn’t expected the shifts to be so drastic.

History had become unrecognizable because of him!

The alien races transmitting items from beyond Earth didn’t surprise him. As an agent of the Taros Red Dwarves, he had received rewards this way.

But he also knew the method came at a great cost to them—it was supposed to be limited.

So why now? Why were they flooding Earth with their equipment on such a massive scale?

Ye Zhongming couldn’t make sense of it. He didn’t believe these beings had good intentions. To them, Earth’s humans were likely just lowly, uncivilized creatures. The spokesperson system was merely a form of slavery disguised as employment.

If spokespeople like him had to risk their lives for rewards, how would they feel now that others could obtain them through sheer luck? Were the alien races abandoning their agents?

And more crucially—were they preparing to reveal their existence to humanity?

Was this… their way of laying their cards on the table?

“We’ve secured 175 chests so far. Thirty-two were obtained by Chameleon and merchant teams from other regions and are still en route. Those near the villa have all been transported here, waiting for you to open them.”

“A few were acquired through purchases, though not many—the prices are insane. An unopened ‘sky chest’ is now being bid up to a seven-star evolution potion.”

“They’ve lost their minds,” Liang Chuyin muttered.

“The entire country has gone mad over this. There’s even a rumor…”

Guang Yao hesitated. He was meticulous and disliked relying on speculation, but the rumor was too widespread to ignore. He wanted Ye Zhongming to judge its validity.

“Right now, all the chests are white. But some claim the next batch will be silver—and what’s inside… will be even better.”