Chapter 2323: Easy money

No one knew what would happen if that element remained in the body for too long.

For now, it seemed Cloud Peak's people could use it to enter the boundaries that had previously been impenetrable. But afterward? As long as they stayed in the Desert Secret Realm, would they have to keep the element in their bodies?

It was fine for now—but what about later? It seemed to have no side effects on the Desert Secret Realm's natives, but what about Earthlings? Would it truly have no side effects?

What if one day, this element suddenly penetrated into the cells?

Ye Zhongming was deeply concerned.

This wasn't paranoia—it was that the element gave him a creeping unease.

The element had also entered his body, and he hadn't noticed a thing.

The Cloud Peak King was on the verge of becoming a great expert. Having something enter his body without him sensing it was truly terrifying.

From another perspective, if someone learned to harness this element and turned it into a virus, then...

Liu Zhenghong thought for a moment and said, "Generally speaking, the microscopic world is similar to our social structure—elements or genes also follow certain rules. If their rank is insufficient, they can't do whatever they want."

"Of course, the microscopic world once had an advantage over us in that they have far more opportunities to change their own state than we do, and it's easier for them because they're more prone to mutation."

"Take this element, for example. Though it currently shows incompatibility with other environments, I can't guarantee that one day it won't adapt—and whether it remains harmless after adapting, I can't say either."

"But..." Sister Hong snapped her fingers. "I can guarantee one thing—it will never be smarter than me. It only has instinct; I have intelligence."

"So don't worry. Now that I know about it and have a preliminary understanding of how to use it... it won't escape Liu Zhenghong's grasp."

Seeing Sister Hong like that, everyone laughed and felt infected by her confidence. Since she said it would be fine, it probably would be—and even if there were problems, they could be solved.

Sister Hong said Ye Zhongming didn't need to know the principles, but he still asked about the details in depth and committed them to memory. He might need them once he returned to the sky.

As the time for Ye Zhongming's return drew nearer, Cloud Peak seemed to fall into a hush.

The high-level members in the know either grew silent, restless, lost in thought, or listless...

This was the Cloud Peak King's influence.

His every word and action could sway the emotions and even the fates of many.

Before leaving, Ye Zhongming did his utmost to leave behind things that could boost Cloud Peak's strength.

Equipment was the most basic. He also left behind much of the knowledge he had brought down from above, all of which would greatly benefit Cloud Peak's development.

Before departure, Ye Zhongming also made a decision: to have Red Sister and Master Le take the potion and become nine-star evolvers.

On the surface, it might seem unnecessary, but after the events of the Demon Whale and the secret realms, Ye Zhongming realized that under certain circumstances, Cloud Peak could still be pushed to its limits—and Le Dayuan and Liu Zhenghong could be threatened.

That was something Ye Zhongming could not tolerate.

If one day they truly faced a situation without protection, Ye Zhongming wanted them to at least have sufficient self-defense capability, and at the very least, not fall behind in evolution level.

He also looked forward to seeing what surprises Liu Zhenghong and Le Dayuan would bring him and Cloud Peak once they became top-tier.

Three bottles of top-tier evolution potion—two were used, and the last he didn't decide on himself, leaving it to Xia Lei to allocate according to past practice.

When it was time to leave, Ye Zhongming received news that the largest battle since entering the Titan Secret Realm had just occurred, with total forces committed on both sides exceeding one million.

Unfortunately, he couldn't wait for the outcome. At the appointed time, his body vanished from Earth.

……………

Far beyond Earth's outer space, Ye Zhongming appeared on a21's smuggler ship.

With him was the "smuggling" party that had come along.

a21 wore his mask, his eyes tinged with resignation.

He had indeed made money, but the cost-benefit ratio wasn't great.

Because most of the lifeforms transported weren't top-tier, the smuggling price per individual, per agreement, wasn't high. Even with small margins and high volume, he wouldn't earn much.

In exchange, he bore the enormous risk of being discovered. If exposed, at best he'd lose his smuggling route; at worst, his true identity would be compromised.

This was something he was unwilling to do.

But when it came to someone of higher rank within the Dark Direction, that was a different matter.

He had some suspicions about the identity of the man before him, but they remained just suspicions—because he knew that even if he found out, he wouldn't reveal anything. There was no benefit in it.

Not only that, he also gave the smuggling party—all wearing masks, even their war beasts—every possible convenience. He stopped Ye Zhongming and handed him something.

"I don't know what this planet means to you, but even if it's not your homeworld, it must be important. I hope this information can help you."

Ye Zhongming opened it and was surprised—it began with many images of Earth.

Or rather, images of the Slave Race enveloping Earth.

Ye Zhongming had seen similar holographic imagery at the Star-Eye Clan, but compared to this, that was far too crude.

a12 had given him not only the holographic images but also various analyses of this Slave Race, and even some specially gathered recent data!

This might not mean much to others, but to Ye Zhongming, it was invaluable.

He expressed his gratitude.

"By the way, do you deal in star charts?" Ye Zhongming asked a21 before parting.

"Star charts?" a21 was taken aback.

It was hard to say—star charts could be valuable, as they contained information on shipping lanes, resource planets, and the like.

But they could also be worthless, as survivor fortresses drifted constantly through the universe, rendering old charts useless.

"I want all kinds of star charts—ones that can't be found on public networks. If you have any, I'll take them all. As for the price, I'll set it—but at minimum... a hundred thousand Moonspan Gold per chart. For large or super star regions, the price will be much higher."

Looking at the masked Ye Zhongming, a21 was tempted by the offer. He had at least ten charts in his possession that weren't on public networks—that was a million Moonspan Gold right there.

If he put in more effort and collected more, eighty or a hundred wouldn't be a problem. Was this money that easy to make?