Apocalypse Gachapon

Chapter 1615: Growing flesh

Even though Ye Zhongming is now a top-tier craftsman, creating purple-grade equipment was far from easy. Even crafting gold-grade items came with a high failure rate, and for purple-grade items, the failure rate exceeded 70% even when using the highest-grade materials.

But when making this round shield, he succeeded on the first try—an absolute stroke of luck.

Perhaps all his bad luck had been exhausted when crafting that purple-grade equipment for Alamos.

Fastening the shield to his arm, Ye Zhongming stepped out of the tent. The moment he exited, he saw the undead dragon-fish sprawled lazily on the ground.

As an undead creature, it knew no fatigue and needed no rest. As long as its soul energy remained sufficient, it was a perpetual motion machine.

Especially after inheriting the teachings of the Nine-Winged Crow, this behemoth’s strength had increased significantly, its overall power now approaching Level 9.

Over the past two days, aside from scouting the surrounding factions, Ye Zhongming had spent most of his time crafting equipment. But there was one other task—monitoring and observing the undead dragon-fish.

Because this creature was undergoing a transformation that no one fully understood.

The cause could be traced back to when Ye Zhongming obtained the White Cave Crystals.

After acquiring two hundred White Cave Crystals from Alamos, the undead dragon-fish had shown an intense interest in them.
Previously, this undead creature had only been drawn to soul-related items, dismissing everything else.

Ye Zhongming was surprised but hesitant to act rashly.

After all, White Cave Crystals were meant for gene-enhanced lifeforms. Both Alamos and Ye Zhongming knew how precious each one was. He had planned to take them all back to Liu Zhenghong, believing that ”Sister Red” could use them to create a batch of truly perfect gene warriors.

But now that an undead creature was drawn to them, Ye Zhongming wasn’t sure what to do. If giving them to it led to unforeseen consequences, the loss would outweigh the gain.

In the end, it was Red Hair who intervened. After communicating with Ye Zhongming, she conveyed that the undead dragon-fish believed the White Cave Crystals would greatly benefit it and was willing to take the risk. Only then did the King of Cloud Peak decide to let it use them.

As for how to use them, Ye Zhongming could only rely on Red Hair—through her connection with the undead dragon-fish—to let it decide for itself.

After several hours of work, only seventy of the original two hundred White Cave Crystals remained in Ye Zhongming’s hands.

He found this both amusing and frustrating.

If Alamos hadn’t lied, then these crystals, when used on gene warriors, offered immense developmental potential. With Cloud Peak’s current strength, two hundred gene warriors equipped with White Cave Crystals could gradually evolve, ensuring at least 80% would survive to reach Level 8 strength, meaning around 150 to 160 high-tier gene warriors could be guaranteed.

But now, the undead dragon-fish had consumed the majority, leaving only seventy.

Based on the original plan, seventy White Cave Crystals would yield just over fifty high-tier gene warriors—a full hundred fewer than with two hundred crystals. Whether the undead dragon-fish’s enhancement from the crystals could match the strength of a hundred gene warriors was anyone’s guess. Ye Zhongming wasn’t sure whether to feel pleased or disappointed.

But since the decision had been made, he refused to regret it. Now, his full attention was fixed on what the undead dragon-fish would become.

Since everything was proceeding according to the creature’s own will, all Ye Zhongming and Red Hair could do was embed the White Cave Crystals into its body—over a hundred crystals methodically placed from head to tail across its massive frame.

The rest was up to the undead dragon-fish itself.

Though Cloud Peak’s numbers weren’t large, creatures like the undead dragon-fish and Yangos were enormous, so their camp sprawled wide. The undead dragon-fish lay in front of Ye Zhongming’s tent for easy observation.

After circling the massive creature, Ye Zhongming noticed several striking changes.

First, the undead fish-dragon’s bones were turning black.

Previously, its bones had been a pale reddish-white, with vibrant red or black patterns appearing during attacks—a trait linked to its innate attributes and skills.

But now, the bones were entirely black, devoid of any patterns. Instead, they gleamed with an oily sheen, and when struck, they no longer sounded like bone but more like metal.

Their hardness had undoubtedly increased.

Second, the undead dragon-fish’s necrotic aura had almost completely vanished.

Even as a top-tier undead creature, it had always carried that unmistakable scent of death—something that set it apart from living beings. Any sufficiently high-level evolution level could identify its nature just by sensing it.

But after the ”modification” from the White Cave Crystals, this aura had disappeared. Even Ye Zhongming, with his eyes closed, could no longer detect any trace of undeath from it.

Finally, the most dramatic change: the undead dragon-fish… was growing flesh.

This transformation left the entire Cloudtop team in stunned amazement.

It meant the undead fish-dragon was breaking free from the category of undead and becoming a true living creature.

This was nothing short of miraculous—a literal resurrection from death.

Ye Zhongming and the Cloud Peak members gathered around the undead dragon-fish, observing the White Cave Crystals now encased in thick, pale-red membranes within its body. Networks of vein-like structures extended from them, forming what resembled a vascular system. No one could help but marvel at the sight.

The undead dragon-fish wasn’t unconscious, just unusually lethargic. When it saw Ye Zhongming, it even rolled over slightly, making everyone nervous that the newly grown structures might detach.

”It looks like this will still take a while,” Ye Zhongming thought, slightly concerned. With the Mountain King wheel’s space potentially opening at any moment, if the undead dragon-fish remained in this state, it would be effectively combat-useless. They’d have to leave people behind to guard it, further splitting their already limited numbers.

”Boss.”

Xiao Min approached, casting a curious glance at the colossal creature beside her before reporting, ”The Cannibal Chain people are here again.”

Ye Zhongming nodded, unsurprised. Even if they hadn’t come, he had planned to seek them out for talks.

Ordering some hides to be draped over the undead fish-dragon—he didn’t want others discovering Cloud Peak’s current ”weakness”—he headed toward the front of the camp.

But after only a few steps, he suddenly turned. A few seconds later, commotion erupted from both sides of the camp.