Apocalypse Gachapon

The people outside knew Ye Zhongming would be inside for a long time. After all, all the goods were inside; merely looking around once would require a long time, let alone selecting items worth several hundred thousand points.

However, contrary to everyone’s expectations, the duration was… somewhat frustrating.

Even selecting one million points worth of rewards should have been finished by now? Did he fall asleep inside?

Someone looked at the completely unmoving store door and thought with malicious intent.

But Zizi Kaba and those responsible for the Novice battlefield were guarding it; no one dared to barge in. However, many people were pressuring them, hoping they would go in and hurry him along.

But Zizi Kaba coldly replied: “There is no rule regarding the time limit for selecting goods.”

“Even if he stays inside for one cosmic year, we have to wait outside for one cosmic year?” one person was very dissatisfied.

Zizi Kaba looked at him: “You can also go back to your clan and wait first.”

This person was so angry that he turned and left directly. It wasn’t that he really left, but he went off to the side; it was simply impossible to reason with Zizi Kaba.

Time passed slowly, and there was still no movement inside.

This wasn’t because Ye Zhongming was doing it intentionally, but because, by a twist of fate, he encountered a minor accident.

After originally entering the store, he first walked around to familiarize himself with the available goods. Then, following Cheng Liujin’s requirements, he began selecting the items needed for that small portion of the points.

Just as he was almost finished selecting these rewards that did not belong to Ye Zhongming, the King of Cloud Peak discovered something.

It was a seemingly very inconspicuous ‘Four-Bead Bracelet’ with four gems inlaid on it. Ye Zhongming did not recognize what gems they were, but he felt they probably weren’t a big deal.

He had already written the name on the paper. Ye Zhongming, purely by chance, touched this prize, which was only worth a little over three thousand points. But when his hand touched it, a strange feeling arose.

Ye Zhongming thought about it; this shouldn’t be a feeling of danger, but he couldn’t figure out what this feeling was for the moment.

He walked to the side and sat down. Ye Zhongming took the Four-Bead Bracelet in his hand, carefully rubbing and observing it, wanting to figure out where that strange feeling came from.

However, after a thorough examination, he found no issues with this exquisite bracelet.

The feeling couldn’t be wrong, yet he couldn’t find the cause. This made Ye Zhongming a bit anxious. Subconsciously, he wanted to take off the Bronze Order Leader mask he had been wearing since entering.

This feeling… Ye Zhongming’s eyes instantly widened.

The sensation!

Yes, the feeling on his thumb when he pinched the mask was the same as when he held the Four-Bead Bracelet!

What was going on?

Ye Zhongming hurriedly took off the mask. Holding the mask in one hand and the bracelet in the other, he compared them.

Only after a full ten minutes or more did Ye Zhongming finally determine what was happening.

The two items had both played a ‘little joke’ on Ye Zhongming.

First, it was confirmed that the strange feeling was due to the tactile sensation of the two items’ materials being the same.

The reason it was called a little joke was twofold. First, the gems of the Four-Bead Bracelet were inlaid on a metal material. Ye Zhongming would never have thought this metal was the same as the material used to make the bronze mask because the colors were completely different. Later, upon careful observation and consideration, he discovered that the metal material on the Four-Bead Bracelet had been dyed and featured various patterns carved into it, which initially led Ye Zhongming to believe that this metal naturally had that base color.

The other little joke was that the Bronze Order Leader mask actually had different metals on the inside and outside!

With the naked eye, it was almost impossible to tell the difference. Anyone else, even if they grasped the origin of the strange feeling, wouldn’t be able to see any reason.

But Ye Zhongming was different. He was originally a top-tier craftsman. Given a little time and a specific target, he discovered the secret of this mask.

Were the outer layer and the inner layer different? Ye Zhongming studied it very carefully. He felt that it didn’t seem to have been made this way originally. The metal of the inner layer appeared to have been added by someone later.

The tactile sensation of the inner and outer layer materials was actually extremely similar, and the craftsmanship of their combination was nearly seamless. If Ye Zhongming weren’t a professional, he definitely wouldn’t have discovered it.

Originally, two pieces of equipment having the same material shouldn’t be a big deal; many items are made from the same material. But the strange thing was, before the final battle of the Novice battlefield, when he was chatting with White Robe, this Silver Order Leader had told Ye Zhongming that aside from the few items in the clan leader’s hands, the Star-Eye Clan’s valuable possessions probably only consisted of the three Order Leader masks.

The three masks were all forged from extremely precious materials, which almost depleted the clan’s savings accumulated over many years. Therefore, they were not just symbols of status but also powerful pieces of equipment.

White Robe also stated that the material of the three masks was extremely pure and could not be fused with other materials.

If that was the case, then why was another substance attached to the inner layer of the Bronze Order Leader mask?

Once curiosity arose, Ye Zhongming could no longer forget it. He completely lost track of time and began studying the Bronze Order Leader mask over and over.

Finally, at a certain moment, when Ye Zhongming pressed the edge of the mask with six fingers at different angles, he felt a very slight vibration.

Afterwards, the inner layer of the Bronze Order Leader mask actually peeled off!

Ye Zhongming didn’t feel that he had damaged a cultural relic or inheritance; instead, his heart was filled with excitement.

He knew he might have discovered an incredible secret.

On the side of the peeled-off mask’s inner layer that contacted the face, Ye Zhongming didn’t notice anything special. But on the other side—the one between the inner and outer layers—there were actually several dozen very small metal chips. These chips were all connected by some white substance that almost adhered to the metal surface.

What was this!?

Ye Zhongming touched it extremely carefully and found that the metal chips were just metal chips, but that white substance clearly had activity!

This didn’t mean they were alive, but rather seemed to originate from within some living being, such as an organ or structure.

If that was the case, what was this thing for?

Ye Zhongming thought for a long time but couldn’t make sense of it. He even put the Four-Bead Bracelet together with it, but still couldn’t figure it out.

Were these two items really just made of the same material?

But soon, Ye Zhongming found the starting point of that white connecting substance next to one of the metal chips on the mask’s inner layer, very cleverly placed at the position of the eye socket.

Moreover, the white substance there wasn’t flat like the other parts but had a small opening!

Ye Zhongming’s heart stirred; he had an idea.

He looked outside; it was still extremely quiet. He decided to test his idea right here!

His hand holding the Four-Bead Bracelet exerted force, and this piece of equipment, worth a few thousand points, was crushed by him!