Exotic Beast Nest

Xie Lan's expression changed. She thought Ye Xiu was dissatisfied with the suggestion from his former boss and intended to do whatever he pleased.

Ye Xiu shook his head. "Keep the change in leadership of the Wildfire Gang confidential for now."

"You will remain the nominal boss, and everyone else will continue performing their respective duties. This must be set in stone."

He had not forgotten that the official Starfire still had its eye on him.

Besides, revealing himself to others too early would only invite trouble.

When he had brought the Wildfire Gang under his command, did he care about those comforts and that prestige?

Such things were utterly useless to Ye Xiu.

What he valued was that immense force.

Think about it carefully: with the ability to travel between two worlds, could Ye Xiu only make straightforward use of those cultivation resources?

That would be foolish to the extreme.

His earlier experience hunting the Soul-Severing Scorpion had made Ye Xiu realize the potential of this world's technology.

The techniques of the cultivation world seemed to utterly crush the abilities and technology here, but on closer thought, the things here were equally irreplaceable.

Whether it was the various weapons developed through research, those peculiar abilities, or even the high-tech products he had yet to encounter, none of them required spiritual power to operate.

And what did it mean that they did not require spiritual power?

For cultivators, the foundation of all their knowledge was built upon spiritual power.

When faced with things that did not use spiritual power, even the most gifted cultivator would ultimately be left at a loss.

There was no need to question whether technological creations could deal with cultivators.

Even setting aside the technologies developed after this apocalypse, just consider the pinnacle of humanity's weapons in Ye Xiu's previous life: the atomic bomb.

A weapon capable of easily destroying an entire city—even the greatest powers at the very pinnacle of the cultivation world would not come away unscathed if they took one head-on, would they?

Ye Xiu had not forgotten that great power of the Divine Firmament Sect whom he had inadvertently provoked because of Fang Qiong's betrayal.

That person had not found him yet, but that did not mean they would be unable to do so in the future.

The faster his strength increased and the more trump cards he possessed, the more calmly he would be able to face the trouble that came knocking one day.

Of course, the current Wildfire Gang could not obtain weapons of that level.

Such top-tier weapons were naturally controlled by only a small number of people.

But that was fine. Ye Xiu believed that under his leadership, that day would come sooner or later.

After briefly acquainting himself with the gang's higher-ups, Ye Xiu instructed everyone to carry on as usual, then left the laboratory with Xie Lan.

He left behind the Soul-Severing Scorpion's shell. If it was to serve its greatest purpose, it had to be placed in the hands of these specialized researchers.

In any case, he still had plenty of time. Ye Xiu estimated that the next time he returned to the cultivation world would be when he was preparing to take part in the advancement tournament.

With so much time, he believed these people would definitely give him a satisfactory answer.

After returning to their residence, Xie Lan once again went to Xu Hualing to continue teaching her.

Ye Xiu's attitude toward Xu Hualing was obvious. If Xie Lan had previously wanted to help the adorable girl simply out of kindness, then now that Ye Xiu had become the Wildfire Gang's boss, her connection with Xu Hualing had gained another use.

Ye Xiu did not care what Xie Lan was thinking. He had always judged deeds rather than hearts. So long as someone was doing something beneficial to him, what did it matter if they had other motives?

After finishing all this, Ye Xiu instead found himself temporarily idle.

To break through his cultivation realm, he would have to wait until after the advancement tournament to obtain the Foundation Establishment Pill. Thus, simply harvesting low-level zombies was no longer necessary for Ye Xiu.

But that did not mean Ye Xiu had no way to increase his strength.

His cultivation realm had reached a bottleneck, but his ability still had room to grow.

Ye Xiu understood the principle that what was used advanced, while what was left unused declined.

It was simply that the growth of abilities was clearly far more mysterious than cultivation. Although it appeared that crystal cores could improve them, Ye Xiu always felt it was not that simple.

Perhaps he should find someone with a high-level ability and ask for advice?

As Ye Xiu pondered, an idea suddenly came to him.

Inside an office of the Starfire organization.

Ye Xiu looked at Xu Xiao, whom he had not seen for some time. Fatigue was plainly written across the other man's face.

The two sat facing each other. Xu Xiao, seated across from him, looked somewhat surprised.

Xu Xiao had indeed considered recruiting Ye Xiu before, but after that meeting, Ye Xiu had vanished without a trace. Several times, the people Xu Xiao had specifically sent out had failed to find any leads.

Xu Xiao took it as Ye Xiu's silent refusal and soon put the matter out of his mind.

Who would have thought that after these past few months, Ye Xiu would suddenly come knocking again?

"It seems Brother Xu has run into some trouble?"

Ye Xiu came straight to the point. "I was busy with personal matters some time ago. Now that I have some free time, we can put our previous matter back on the agenda."

When Xu Xiao had recruited him before, Ye Xiu had temporarily declined on the grounds that they should observe each other first.

Now that his strength had reached a bottleneck, Ye Xiu did not mind taking this chance to further develop their relationship.

As far as Ye Xiu was concerned, the more friends, the better.

As an official organization, Starfire's strength naturally needed no questioning.

The reason Ye Xiu had not chosen to join directly before was purely because he was wary of the tangled, complicated internal factions within such a large organization.

But that did not mean Ye Xiu was unwilling to build a good relationship with the authorities.

He needed to cultivate his own forces while also drawing closer to other powers. Only then could it be called well-rounded.

Xu Xiao stared at Ye Xiu for a long while.

At last, he finally let out a sigh.

"Brother Ye has sharp eyes. Recently, Starfire has indeed encountered quite a troublesome problem."

As he spoke, he reached out and took out a scroll.

"This is an exotic beast nest the organization recently discovered while exploring."

"An exotic beast nest?"

Confusion appeared on Ye Xiu's face. Xu Xiao gave him a somewhat strange look, then still opened his mouth to explain.

"Brother Ye should also know that ever since the mutation more than ten years ago, it was not only humans who could turn into zombies. Those animals changed as well."

"They likewise possessed all sorts of peculiar abilities, occupying mountains, forests, secluded valleys, and even the oceans. Even zombies had to avoid their edge."

"It is said that among the high-level exotic beasts, there are even species that have developed intelligence."

Ye Xiu nodded. Of course he knew that.

More than half of the various materials produced by the Wasteland World came from exotic beasts. Compared to zombies, which placed greater emphasis on crystal cores, those exotic beasts were the ones truly covered in treasure from head to toe.

"But beast herds are not entirely harmonious either. Though they all belong broadly to the beast race, because of differences between species, different kinds of beasts still prefer to gather and live with their own kind."

"An exotic beast nest is the name for a region after a single exotic beast has occupied it and transformed the area."