Apocalypse Gachapon

Chapter 2274: Anything can be delivered?

When Ye Zhongming arrived at the courtyard where the top-tier member gathering was being held, he was actually the last to arrive, so all eyes fell on him at the same time.

Fortunately, the Cloud Peak King was someone who had seen great spectacles and had killed a peak expert, so he walked steadily toward the only empty chair.

Coming last did have its advantages—at least the impostor knew where to sit.

After sitting down, Ye Zhongming swept his gaze across the room. There were twenty people in total. Even after he lowered his gaze, the image was imprinted in his mind. After carefully recalling it, Ye Zhongming gained a preliminary understanding of what the masks represented.

Among the twenty people in the room, half of them wore masks of a lighter shade than those of Ye Zhongming and the others, and on some inconspicuous places—such as the edges of the masks—there were additional faint patterns.

The other nine had masks almost identical to his, differing only in the length of the patterns, which at their convergence formed different designs representing different numbers.

The one on Ye Zhongmingʼs face was an ancient character from some language, somewhat similar to traditional Chinese characters. Not many people recognized it nowadays, and Ye Zhongming had only learned it after prior research.

From 1 to 10, all were present today.

Ye Zhongming was a11, and his mask bore the number 1—so were the others a12 through a20?

Those with the lighter masks were founders a01 through a10?
Was this gathering so complete?

Based on Ye Zhongmingʼs guess, the person wearing the a02 mask stood up, clapped his hands lightly, and said, ”Everyone is here, so letʼs begin.”

”First, there is one matter that requires everyoneʼs consent: the expansion of the top-tier membership. Because this affects our interests, even as founders, we cannot make an arbitrary decision.”

Number Two glanced around the room and continued, ”Increasing the number of top-tier members will naturally reduce each personʼs share of dividends. However, at the same time, new members will bring new momentum, new tasks, and more revenue, which in turn offsets the losses from the reduced dividend ratio. So, we ten founders are all in favor of adding more top-tier members. This time, we want to seek the agreement of all top-tier members.”

”Of course, if you all disagree, we founders also intend to respect your opinions and cancel this expansion.”

After hearing Number Twoʼs words, Ye Zhongming gleaned several pieces of information.

First, the ten top-tier members of this organization must all be people with great backgrounds and strength; otherwise, the founders would not care so much about their opinions.

Second, top-tier members here were clearly different from those in other organizations—they held shares and could receive dividends, and they had decision-making power on major matters.

Third... Ye Zhongming felt he was in a somewhat dangerous position. If top-tier members were so important, what did that mean? It meant that there was a possibility of Kunzuoʼs identity being known.

On the surface, he showed nothing, but Ye Zhongming raised his alertness to the highest level.

If anyone knew that A11 was Kunzuo, and they certainly knew about the widely publicized death of Kunzuo, then he would be exposed as an impostor.

He swept his gaze around again and, seeing no one acting strangely, felt slightly more at ease.

”Alright, here is the list of candidates for this round of top-tier member promotions. Please take a look. Initially, we plan to promote two. If you all agree, we will choose two from these four. If you disagree, then consider it unsaid.”

”Please review it first.”

With that, a list was sent to each personʼs dedicated terminal. It contained their numbers. Since everyoneʼs identity was kept confidential, the information provided included the tasks they had completed and posted, how much they had earned and spent here, as well as analyses of task acceptance and posting ratios, task difficulty, and their areas of expertise.

After looking it over, Ye Zhongming was deeply impressed—this was professionalism!

Since he was an impostor, he did not know what tasks these current top-tier members had completed or commissioned. But just from these candidates, one could tell that the existing top-tier members could be described as ”immensely capable” in every sense.

A few minutes later, Number Two, the founder, asked again, ”Has everyone made a decision? After reviewing the four candidatesʼ profiles, do you agree to increase the number of top-tier members?”

The top-tier member whom Ye Zhongming guessed to be a20 suddenly asked, ”How will the shares be calculated?”

”Previously, each of us founders held five percent, and each top-tier member held four percent. The remaining five percent was the development fund, and five percent was operating expenses. Now, each founder will contribute 0.4 percent, and each top-tier member will contribute 0.3 percent.”

”Thus, the founders will have 4.6 percent each, and you top-tier members will hold 3.7 percent each. The total seven percent contributed will be evenly distributed to the new top-tier members, with each receiving 3.5 percent. After some time, once the two new top-tier members have been truly accepted by all of us, 0.4 percent will be taken from the development fund and given to them.”

The room fell silent. Everyone was calculating in their minds—except for one impostor who was pretending to calculate.

”a20? Do you agree?”

”I agree.”

”a19? Do you agree?”

”I agree.”

”a18? What about you?”

”I agree.”

...

Soon, everyone agreed to increase the number of top-tier members, and Ye Zhongming naturally agreed as well. However, when it came to choosing which two to promote, opinions diverged.

Ye Zhongmingʼs views differed greatly from the majority.

”Esteemed A11 top-tier member, could you explain your reasoning?”

Clearly, Kunzuo had held a certain status before; almost everyone in the room seemed quite respectful toward him.

”I choose Candidates 3 and 4. Letʼs start with Candidate 4. He is ranked last because his overall evaluation for related tasks is the lowest among the four. But everyone should not overlook one thing: although he has posted few tasks, he has completed the most—even only slightly less than the other three combined. What does this tell us? It shows that this person is highly capable, has a wide sphere of influence, deep connections, and a proactive attitude. Most importantly, he is willing to work for our organization.”

”If we do not absorb such a person promptly, it will dampen the motivation of many members.”

Ye Zhongming spoke at length, but the real reason was only one: among his few commissioned tasks were requests to purchase certain cosmic warships, and the quantities and models of those warships were essentially the same as those Jie Su had procured through his connections.

This was half a comrade, so of course he should bring them in.

”I may be posting a large number of tasks in the coming period, some of which may not interest many of you. But I need such a person to complete them for me. I certainly do not want this person to lose enthusiasm—or even stop coming to our gatherings—just because they failed to be selected as a top-tier member.”