As long as you have the courage, fierce ghosts go on maternity leave.

In the not-too-distant space, a man with a bloodstained straw hat was laughing as he spoke to Quillhart. The man’s straw hat was merely a evil spirt Ghost Treasure. His level, however, was on par with Quillhart’s current one, both of Imperial status.

Evil Spirit, Ferocious, Fierce, Ghost Soldiers, Ghost Generals, Ghost Princes, Ghost Kings, Imperial...

An Imperial ghost, with only an Evil Spirit-level straw hat on his head and a white bone cane in his hand that was but a Evil Spirit grade Ghost Treasure. This pitiable appearance, if seen in Horror World, would be the laughingstock of the other ghosts.

In Horror World, even a common soldier-class ghost wouldn’t look so shabby! Even the once Chosen One wouldn’t fall to such a state.

However, the envious and admiring glances from others towards the man with the straw hat, particularly from Quillhart and another Imperial in the bar who couldn’t help but steal glances at the cane, suggested a different story—as if it were a peerless beauty.

Upon reflecting a bit, Alexander understood the reason.

In the real world Mist, or rather where those black beetles descend so swiftly, everyone was caught off guard and with little time to react. The only way for these people to obtain Ghost Treasure was to venture into Horror World and partake in Instances.

But now, Horror World’s Dark Hell had been emptied. From the Ghost Lords to the common ghosts, except for a few who stayed behind, all had followed Alexander to unite the worlds. Without the Horror Instances, these people naturally had no way to acquire Ghost Treasures.

In the real world, mass-producing weapons industrially is far too simple. But those things are utterly incapable of sustaining substantial Ghost Energy, and even barehanded fighting would be more effective.

No wonder then that these people could be so fervent over an Evil Spirit-grade Ghost Treasure. After all, Alexander had experienced the sharp teeth of those black beetles firsthand—it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say they could ignore defenses.

Having a handy weapon or Ghost Treasure could significantly enhance the combat abilities of these survivors who relied on Ghost Nerve to improve their strength, lacking an Instance system, talents, or the boost of Ghost Skills.

With this in mind, Alexander thought of an excellent idea.

To Alexander, these survivors were excellent enforcers, perfect minions. Alexander, the capitalist who wouldn’t even spare his own duplicates, naturally wouldn’t pass up the chance to exploit this labor force.

However, before now, Alexander didn’t know with what to employ them. After all, the black beetles were everywhere, and their effects were much better than his own Ghost Food.

Now the biggest problem was solved! Just the promise of Ghost Treasure, even the lowest grade, could make an Imperial-level survivor like Quillhart green with envy. Could there be cheaper minions than these?

Fortunately, Alexander had a good habit; he never discarded anything, especially the items he had painstakingly obtained in Instances, however worthless.

He would just store them in his storage space. The storage space that Karin had provided was large enough to hold anything.

The entire Cangshan City Instance had been stripped clean by millions of duplicates. Anything that could be considered a Ghost Treasure was taken, down to the floor tiles.

In Cangshan City, there were two billion Emperor-grade Ghost Treasures alone, not to mention the common ones.

Initially, Alexander, driven by a thrifty instinct, had collected all the Ghost Treasures, never considering that there might come a day when even the lower-grade Ghost Treasures would be useful.

The saying "a penny saved is a penny earned" indeed held true!

While Alexander was gleefully considering how to exploit these cheap survivors, on the other hand, Quillhart’s face had turned completely dark.

Now that Quillhart had advanced to Imperial, he had obviously become arrogant. He had previously promised to treat all survivors to drinks, but he had not realized the serious consequences this would bring.

...

"Have you heard? The Survivor Bar Quillhart has brought a big spender! They say all expenses at the bar will be covered by the generous Mr. Alexander he brought with him! He even used a king-grade beetle as a down payment!"

"Good heavens, it’s incredible! Quillhart is throwing money around in the bar, and all of the survivors’ expenses are being paid for by Mr. Alexander. He’s already handed out dozens of king-grade beetles!"

"Everyone, rush over! There’s a rich man treating everyone at the bar, all expenses paid, and I heard every person gets a king-grade beetle just for showing up!"

"What a spectacle! What a spectacle! Quillhart has brought a super mysterious figure who says he’ll foot the bill for all the survivors in the city. He’s filled the bar with beetles, all of them king-grade!"

"Your news isn’t accurate. I heard the bar couldn’t even hold them all, and many are Imperial or even Emperor-grade beetles!"

...

Whenever something big or surprising happens, news tends to spread with the speed comparable to that of the internet. And once the word of mouth starts, it becomes uncontrollable, getting more and more exaggerated with each telling.

Soon, almost the entire survivor base knew that a mysterious figure had come to the bar, not only paying the bill but also giving away beetles. Many had already picked up Emperor-grade beetles.

Hearing this, who could resist going to the bar to see for themselves? Not just from Base One, survivors were using the base’s teleportation stones to spread the news to other bases.

"Thalendis!"

In the central command hall of the Survivor Base, a middle-aged man burst in, his face flushed with excitement as he spoke to the many team captains in a meeting and the commander of Base One seated at the head:

"There’s a mysterious person at the Survivor Bar who’s said to have just come out of the Horror Instance. He wants to pay for all the survivors!"

Hearing his words, the captains present laughed.

Raelthor shook his head, disdainfully saying:

"Aerandir, your judgment in picking deputy captains is flawed! How can you believe such an absurd rumor? I’ve heard something similar before, but it wasn’t as exaggerated back then; it was just that he would pay for survivors who were present. In just fifteen minutes, it’s turned into all survivors?"

Aerandir, the one Raelthor called out, felt extremely embarrassed. He turned to the middle-aged man who had barged in and scolded him fiercely:

"Get out! If you can’t even make a proper judgment, how can I let you manage the survivor combat teams in the future?"

"I..." The middle-aged man’s excitement subsided, and realizing his mistake, he was ashamed and turned to leave.

"Wait a minute!"

Just as the middle-aged man was about to leave, Thalendis, the base commander with short hair and a sturdy outfit, spoke up: "Did you just say that the mysterious person has just come out of the Horror Instance?"

"Thalendis, what’s so surprising about that?" Aerandir asked, puzzled: "Although we can’t suddenly enter the Horror Instance anymore, it’s only been a couple of weeks since the black beetle tide arrived.

Some of the longer Instances haven’t yet completed a full cycle; these survivors must have entered the Horror Instance before the beetle tide. I heard that at Base Two, that lucky Cain also came out of the Horror Instance just last week."

At the mention of Cain, everyone present showed a look of envy, including Raelthor, who once was a top-tier warrior-class Chosen One.

This Cain was indeed a peculiar case. He could be considered the most frequent Instance participant among all the Chosen Ones.

However, his purpose in participating in Instances wasn’t to improve his abilities but to show off in front of newcomers, leveraging his status with the Fierce Ghost Association. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

And it worked; his status was indeed intimidating. Combined with the fact that Cain entered Instances that he was familiar with and that wouldn’t dare to disrespect the Fierce Ghost Association, he managed to make a big name for himself among the newcomers for a while.

But to the veteran Chosen Ones, this was absurd. After all, no matter how many times you do the same Instance, even if it’s highly rated, it won’t award anything of great value.

A Fierce-grade Chosen One would get a reward of a few dozen points of Ghost Energy and some low-level Ghost Treasures from one Instance – what good would that do?

Those who needed it couldn’t offer much in the way of ghost coins, and those who had ghost coins had no use for such low-tier trash. In fact, Cain even earned an additional nickname, "King of Junk."

But now, with the onset of the beetle tide, a vast number of ordinary people had gained sufficient strength. At the beginning of the beetle tide, as long as one was brave and not afraid of death, obtaining beetles was easy.

What Ghost Treasures used to be considered junk had suddenly become treasures coveted by many. Chosen Ones who could enter Instances were not rare, but these survivors were in need!

Even the lowest grade of Ghost Treasure could, after all, hold Ghost Energy.

At this realization, Aerandir seemed to understand something and exclaimed in an epiphany:

"Thalendis wants to buy Ghost Treasures from him? That’s a good idea, but not to speak of a King of Junk like Cain, even an old-hand Chosen One like Raelthor doesn’t have many Ghost Treasures. For the three hundred thousand survivors in our city, it’s still far too few!"

Aerandir thought he grasped Thalendis’s intent, but Thalendis wasn’t paying him any mind at the moment, his eyes fixed intently on the middle-aged man who had rushed in. The man, feeling unnerved under the gaze, nodded hurriedly:

"The news I’ve heard is indeed so. Today Quillhart went hunting beetles with his nephew and niece, and they encountered a mysterious person who had just come out of the Horror Instance."

"You don’t think he has a way to enter the Horror Instance, do you?"

Aerandir, feeling ignored, expressed his dissatisfaction with a frown:

"It’s useless, we’ve tried countless methods. All the Horror Instances are in a closed state, no artifact can get us into the Horror Instances. If there really were a way, Cain, who came out not long ago, would have already taken people back in, where..."

"Shut up!"

Before Aerandir could finish his endless chatter, a sharp rebuke rang in his ears. His gaze turned to Raelthor, who had scolded him, and Aerandir’s face soured as he spoke in a heavy tone:

"Raelthir, I respect you because you were a warrior-class Chosen One who put in a lot of effort at the beginning of the beetle tide. But that doesn’t mean you can treat me as inferior. Survivors have different roles but equal status! Are you trying to break the rules set by Thorneblade?"

At the mention of Thorneblade’s name, everyone’s face changed, except for Thalendis and Raelthor. After all, it was Thorneblade who established thousands of survivor bases around the globe overnight, setting up central teleportation stones to connect the world and avoid the apocalypse.

Yet, at this moment, the two acted as if they hadn’t heard Aerandir at all, exchanging glances, both reading the same meaning in each other’s eyes, and said in unison:

"It’s him! It must be him!"

"Who?" Aerandir now sensed something was amiss, as the two were acting too abnormally, and he asked instinctively.

Thalendis and Raelthor, in perfect sync, said simultaneously:

"Our god! The god of Chosen Ones!"

"A god? Other than Thorneblade, who else..."

Before Aerandir could finish his rebuttal, Thalendis and Raelthor leaped out in unison, dashing out like lightning, their destination obvious without saying.

"Aerandir! Even if you’re not a Chosen One, you must have heard his name! The god of Chosen Ones, the strongest Chosen One, he’s truly worthy of it!"

"The strongest Chosen One, Alexander! Chosen One number 44011, Alexander! Has he emerged?"

Upon hearing the title "the strongest Chosen One," Aerandir finally remembered and his expression changed dramatically.