Standing on the hill beside the Beast Manor, Li Daqian watched the distant Cloud Peak group with a complex expression.
“Dad, will Yuanyuan… be okay?”
Beside him, the Spotted Giant Bear lazily sprawled on the ground alongside a white level-six unicorn horse. A young woman, eyes red and voice trembling, gazed at the departing group.
She was Li Zhizhong’s wife, Li Daqian’s daughter-in-law, and Yuanyuan’s mother.
In just two days, her husband had fallen into a coma, and her daughter had been sent far away. The blows were almost too much to bear.
“Zhizhong’s condition is critical, and I’m tied up with the villa’s affairs. For now, you’ll have to take care of him. Once he wakes up, you can go to Cloud Peak to be with Yuanyuan.”
Hearing this, the woman felt slightly better, though the thought of her husband’s coma still brought her grief.
“Dad, do you think Yuanyuan will suffer?”
“She’ll likely endure some hardship during the examination, but Yuanyuan is sensible and strong. Don’t worry too much. Ye Zhongming and Liu Zhenghong will take good care of her. You can rest assured.”
The woman quickly agreed. She had married Li Zhizhong after the apocalypse and knew she had to prove her worth to gain acceptance. Otherwise, her father-in-law might replace her, especially since Li Zhizhong is in a coma.
“Hmm…” Li Daqian hesitated momentarily before continuing, “Try to instill a sense of gratitude toward the Beast Villa in these women. When the time is right, promise them that if they go to Cloud Peak, we’ll provide them with evolution potions up to level four. We don’t need them to become spies, but they must never forget our kindness. When necessary, they should influence their future partners at Cloud Peak to favor our villa without compromising Cloudtop’s interests.”
The woman was momentarily stunned. Though she didn’t fully understand her father-in-law’s intentions, she nodded in agreement.
“The future… may belong to him…”
Li Daqian murmured to himself, his voice so low only he could hear it, as he watched the distant figures disappear.
……………………………………
“The first three undead creatures you summoned lasted one hour and twenty minutes. The later ones had varying durations, with the shortest lasting three hours and five minutes, and the longest being the bone bird that just shattered, lasting eight hours and fifty minutes.”
Xiao Min stood beside Ye Zhongming, reporting the data while looking at the scattered bone fragments on the ground. She seemed even more excited than Ye Zhongming.
It was no wonder. Since the undead creatures appeared yesterday, the female guards had been itching to test their skills. The strength displayed by these skeletal warriors and rotting corpses had piqued their interest.
However, when Ye Zhongming was asleep, they dared not act without permission.
After leaving the Beast Villa, Ye Zhongming selected some undead creatures for the women to practice on. The female guards had thoroughly enjoyed the exercise, as the undead creatures, with their level-five strength, posed enough of a challenge without being overwhelming.
What made Xiao Min even happier was that her boss had gained a brand-new ability.
Ye Zhongming listened and nodded slightly. At his level, the opponents he faced were top-tier powerhouses. These level-five undead creatures weren’t much of a threat to them, but they could be a useful distraction.
What preoccupied Ye Zhongming was the other place Li Daqian had taken him to before they left.
It was a valley with conditions far worse than the children’s. Inside were a few dilapidated red-brick buildings with faded, barely legible signs. It once seemed to have been a processing base for a logging company.
Ye Zhongming saw many young, even beautiful, women eating in the cafeteria. They smiled, but their eyes were uncertain about the future. They feared Li Daqian, so when they saw him, they instinctively stood up.
Nearly ten thousand women were crammed into a few buildings, eating in shifts. Their living conditions weren’t exactly harsh, but they were far from comfortable.
These women shared one common trait: none of them had evolved. They were all ordinary humans.
They were people Li Daqian had taken in, specifically for… reproduction. And these were only a portion of them. There were others, deemed of “lower quality,” in other locations, totaling over thirty thousand.
People from peaceful times might view their treatment as unfair, but this was a form of salvation for Ye Zhongming and Li Daqian.
Compared to those who had been devoured by zombies at the start of the apocalypse, leaving not even bones behind, these women—crowded eight to a twenty-square-meter room, sharing toilets, eating communal meals, and spending their days sewing, washing, and preparing feed for war beasts—were living a relatively stable and secure life.
Li Daqian said that Cloud Peak could take these women at any time, allowing them to become spouses of its warriors and increasing the birth rate.
Of course, the best solution would be for Liu Zhenghong to conduct research and solve the problem entirely. While forty thousand women might seem like a lot for Cloud Peak and the Beast Villa, it was a drop in the bucket for the entire country.
Ye Zhongming was troubled by the dilemma of whether to accept these women. Each choice seemed to have pros and cons.
“Boss, Five Ring Money is catching up.”
A female guard handed Ye Zhongming a note. It was from Chameleon, who had taken over perimeter security as soon as Cloud Peak left the Beast Manor. This would continue until they reached a Chameleon contact point and used the teleportation equipment to return to Cloud Peak.
Ye Zhongming ordered the group to halt and wait for Deacon Water to arrive.
“Cloud Peak continues to amaze me,” Deacon Water said as she approached alone, showing no concern for her safety. This was a sign of trust in Ye Zhongming, though she knew that if he wanted to kill her, the people she brought wouldn’t be able to stop him.
She was referring to how Cloud Peak had detected Five Ring Money’s approach early and stopped to wait. Deacon Water hadn’t noticed anyone monitoring Five Ring Money, yet Cloud Peak had known.
“Deacon Water, you couldn’t have missed our boss so soon after parting, could you?”
Xiao Min sneered from the side. She always felt that this woman had designs on her boss. With Xia Bai not taking charge, Xiao Min was effectively the female guards’ commander. As a seven-star evolved with her sisters backing her, she had no fear of a heavyweight like Deacon Water.
Deacon Water’s eyes flickered, but she suppressed her anger.
“I came to discuss something with Mr. Ye—about the equipment rankings.”