Apocalypse Gachapon

“In the universe, planets are as numerous as the cells in a higher lifeform’s body. No one knows exactly how many there are, but those capable of producing life—especially intelligent life—are actually quite rare.”

“Within a single star sector, even the smaller ones might only have a few such planets. And how big is a small star sector? Let me put it this way: even with the most advanced and fastest spaceship currently available, crossing the smallest star sector would still take several cosmic years.”

Jikesu arrived at a slightly more brightly colored building within the headquarters. He swiped his wrist across a wall, causing it to become translucent, revealing a rather cozy lounge inside.

“Don’t be surprised. Although the Star-Eye Clan are assassins, killers, and raiders, we can’t always remain in that state. Without change, we’d go insane.”

Jikesu—through some unknown method—swiped a few more times at a spot in the room, and soon two hot beverages appeared before them.

Ye Zhongming took a tentative sip, and his eyes lit up.

“The universe is full of inexplicable yet ever-present energies and radiation. This drink helps the body resist them.”

The two sat facing each other. Occasionally, others would enter the lounge to have a drink or snack. Whenever they saw Jikesu, they would bow respectfully—this Chief Technology Officer held immense prestige within the clan.

Naturally, this also drew more attention to Ye Zhongming, who was sitting with such an important figure. When they noticed he was wearing the garb of a trash novice, many couldn’t hide their surprise.

Ye Zhongming cooperatively kept the old man company in conversation. Though Jikesu frequently digressed from the main topic, Ye Zhongming understood this was just his way of fostering a sense of belonging to the Star-Eye Clan and helping him adjust.

“The Slave Race actually moves quite quickly through space—though not absolutely fast. So when it searches for life-bearing planets, its path is somewhat predictable. The gods controlling the wheel arrive one step ahead, making the wheel appear on planets along the Slave Race’s trajectory to ‘prepare the field’ in advance.”

“Special drugs will descend upon the planet, screening its lifeforms. Then, using the various items provided by the wheel, they evolve and grow stronger, becoming elite warriors.”

Jikesu stretched and drained his drink in one gulp.

“These warriors naturally fight against other lifeforms on their home planet that have also grown powerful due to the drugs, as well as face the parasites scattered by the arriving Slave Race.”

“Originally, these parasites had no natural predators. They would run rampant across the planet chosen by the Slave Race, with slaughter and plunder as their only instincts. In such circumstances, the Slave Race grows extremely quickly. Basically, from birth, after wandering space for a time to find a suitable feeding planet, they can reach adulthood in a very short period, then continue drifting through the cosmos, feeding endlessly.”

“The warriors created by the wheel, even if unaware of what these parasites truly are, will instinctively resist them. This effectively checks the parasites’ numbers and prevents them from growing too powerful too easily.”

“With losses balancing gains, your home planet has shown no abnormalities so far.”

Ye Zhongming breathed a sigh of relief—the facts aligned with his suspicions.

The Slave Race and the godly race controlling the wheel were locked in this perpetual struggle across various planets, vying for ultimate victory.

“Still, don’t relax too much. Though your home planet remains in decent shape for now, those parasites can’t be completely eradicated. Even if the first batch dies off for various reasons, a second will emerge. They continue living on your planet, constantly absorbing nutrients. Once they grow powerful enough that none can stop them, that will be the planet’s true doomsday.”

These words sent a chill down Ye Zhongming’s spine. His earlier intuition hadn’t been wrong—Earth did seem somewhat dim. Those parasites must have already drained a significant amount of its energy.

Had he not considered this, he might not have noticed anything amiss. But once aware, Ye Zhongming began recalling many things.

Like certain geological changes, or weather anomalies that were once occasional but had become persistent climate patterns…

These were likely all symptoms of Earth losing energy.

“Now that we know all this, the Slave Race shouldn’t be too hard to defeat, right?”

Ye Zhongming voiced his question.

This wasn’t entirely unreasonable. On Earth, he was accustomed to victory. With Chaemeleon, his intelligence network was exceptional. When you understood an enemy this thoroughly, defeating them shouldn’t be impossible—at the very least, there should be multiple strategic options.

Which was why Ye Zhongming was stunned when Jikesu, this high-ranking Star-Eye Clan leader, shook his head!

“It’s nowhere near that easy!” Jikesu practically sighed.

He pulled up an image of Earth and said gravely, “First, don’t let the Slave Race’s flabby appearance fool you—they’re terrifying creatures. This area is already sizable, but do you see? The surroundings are completely clean, no spacecraft whatsoever. Why? Because they’d be attacked. These damned things seem completely unbound by cosmic laws, striking swiftly and viciously. To this day, no spacecraft or airborne lifeform has withstood even a single lash from them.”

The old man grew agitated, miming a whipping motion, then switched the display to show another Slave Race attacking a spacecraft.

The video lasted barely ten seconds, but left Ye Zhongming drenched in cold sweat.

One thing in the footage was familiar to him—a golden battleship!

The same type of craft that had appeared in Earth’s skies on the apocalypse’s first day also offered as rewards on some level-nine wheels.

A battleship capable of space travel—its value was self-evident.

Now, knowing about the Slave Race and the godly race, Ye Zhongming could guess these golden battleships were likely the vessels that delivered those “drugs.”

In the video, one such powerful ship was traveling at full speed through space when a whip-like appendage suddenly struck, blowing it to pieces.

Only after slowing the playback and displaying a full map of the incident’s location did Ye Zhongming realize—the attacking Slave Race had been 310,000 kilometers away! Yet from attack initiation to impact, it took only three minutes and twenty-two seconds to cross that distance.

Traversing nearly the Earth-Moon distance in barely a minute…

That was horrifying. No wonder Jikesu said the Slave Race defied cosmic laws.

“We don’t know the exact attack range limits of juvenile versus mature Slave Races, because testing it is too costly—we can’t afford it. But one thing is certain: our current spacecraft cannot harm them while within their attack range!”