Apocalypse: I Can Upgrade Everything

Chapter 104: Number 9

If he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, Chen Ye would never have believed that a whale could fly.

The scene unfolding before him shattered every shred of common sense he possessed.

If someone had told him yesterday, “I saw a whale swimming through the sky,” Chen Ye would have called them crazy—or assumed they were trying to scam him out of money.

From kindergarten to adulthood, from textbooks to nature documentaries, the world had one simple rule: fish live in water.

But the thing before him… this behemoth… drifted like a sentient cloud.

It cast a colossal shadow over the dunes, large enough to swallow the entire camp and one li of the surrounding desert in darkness.

As Chen Ye looked up, the leviathan breached the cloud layer. Its massive tail gave a gentle flick, stirring up the white mist like ocean waves. Its fins rippled sluggishly, its gargantuan body stretching and contracting with the natural grace of a creature swimming in the deep sea.

Chen Ye had the sudden, absurd thought that this whale didn’t belong in the ocean at all. It was born for the sky.

After breaking free from the clouds, the titan dipped its nose, descending slightly.

It was heading straight for the convoy.

Chen Ye didn’t realize when it happened, but his palms were slick with sweat. The cigarette dangling from his lips trembled, threatening to fall.

On his belt, the willow branches wrapped around the handle of the Blood Resentment Machete uncoiled like snakes, winding tightly around his arm—an automatic defense response.

The whale hadn’t even reached them yet, but the pressure was suffocating.

If anyone claimed this thing was just a normal animal, Chen Ye would beat them to death for lying. This was supernatural.

Beside him, Captain Chu Che stood rigid. His fists were clenched white, his eyes glued to the descending monster. He was muttering under his breath, a stream of frantic whispers.

“How is this possible…”

“How did it appear here?”

“Nine. It’s Number 9… Damn it!”

Chen Ye instinctively took a half-step back, positioning himself squarely behind Captain Chu.

He didn’t want to be disloyal. He told himself countless times that he was a man of integrity, a hero in the making.

But whenever true danger descended, his body betrayed him. It had a mind of its own, always choosing to hide behind someone else and let them die first.

He knew it was shameful, but survival was a reflex he couldn’t control.

“ROAR—!”

The two heads of the Iron Lion—the Mad Lion and the Iron Lion—roared in unison. Their eyes burned with wild provocation, glaring up at the sky as if the insurmountable gap in power didn’t exist.

Behind the pink-haired girl, her longsword unsheathed itself with a metallic ring, vibrating as it orbited her body.

Ding Dong remained calm, though her fists were clenched as she tracked the whale’s trajectory.

The ordinary survivors, however, were falling apart.

The whale drew closer. And closer.

Until its massive bulk filled their entire field of vision, blocking out the sky.

“Wait… on its back… there are people!” a survivor screamed.

Chen Ye had already seen it.

The whale wasn’t just a creature; it was a carrier. Its broad back was covered in buildings—dense clusters of small houses, stacked layer upon layer like a favela.

From the windows and balconies of those tiny structures, heads poked out.

Men, women, children, the elderly…

It looked like residents of a high-rise apartment complex leaning out to gawk at a strange visitor.

Except the “visitors” were Chen Ye and his convoy, looking like ants on the desert floor.

Figures stood along the precipice of the whale’s back, looking down at them. Their gazes were heavy, carrying a detached superiority that made Chen Ye’s skin crawl.

They ignored Iron Lion’s roaring challenge. To the whale and its passengers, the convoy was nothing more than scenery.

With a gentle flap of its fins, the whale angled upward. It accelerated, piercing the cloud layer once more, and vanished into the white expanse.

Gone.

On the ground, a collective sigh of relief swept through the camp.

The smell of ammonia filled the air; over half the survivors had wet their pants. Some collapsed into the sand, legs too weak to hold them. Others were still on their knees, kowtowing to the spot where the “deity” had disappeared, their faces twisted in devout terror.

Captain Chu Che’s face remained grim. He turned slowly, eyeing Chen Ye hiding behind him.

“Were you planning to use me as a scapegoat just now?” he sneered.

Chen Ye scratched his head, feigning innocence. “Captain! You misunderstand me! Would I do something like that?”

Before Chu Che could snort in derision, the pink-haired girl, Iron Lion, and Ding Dong gathered around.

“Captain,” the girl asked, breathless, “what was that?”

Chu Che looked at them, his expression unreadable.

“Sky Whale. Number 9.”

The simple designation landed like a heavy stone.

“Captain, are you saying… that was an Artifact?”

Chu Che nodded. “An Artifact ranked in the top ten. The ninth-ranked Sky Whale.”

“My god,” the pink-haired girl exhaled. “I thought Artifacts were just weapons like ours. Your radio was weird enough, but… a city-sized whale?”

“Can living things be Artifacts too?” Chen Ye asked, curiosity overriding his fear.

“Who said the whale is alive?” Chu Che replied flatly.

“So, it’s dead?”

“Heh… who said the whale is dead?”

Chen Ye rolled his eyes. “Captain, you’re being cryptic on purpose. Alive, dead—make up your mind.”

He hadn’t expected the definition of “Artifact” to be so broad. A biological colossus?

“The top ten Artifacts… each one is far beyond your imagination,” Chu Che said quietly. “As long as it possesses a unique ability and serves a specific function, it can be classified as an Artifact.”

He paused, his eyes darkening.

“But don’t envy them. The higher the ranking, the greater the price.”

When he said the word price, Chu Che’s voice dropped an octave, carrying a hint of gritted teeth.

“Captain,” Chen Ye pressed, “do you know something? Why are you always so mysterious?”

Chu Che ignored the question. The sight of the Sky Whale seemed to have pried his usually tight lips open a bit more.

“The ranking of Artifacts isn’t set in stone. The lower the rank, the more frequently it changes, because new Artifacts are constantly being born.”

“What determines the ranking?” the pink-haired girl asked. Her flying sword was an Artifact, but clearly nowhere near the top ten.

“Comprehensive capability,” Chu Che explained. “Some Artifacts have zero attack power, yet they rank extremely high because of their utility.”

Like your Eavesdropping Radio, Chen Ye thought.

“Captain,” Ding Dong spoke up, her voice rare and soft. “Who decides the rankings?”

It was the question on everyone’s mind. When Chen Ye upgraded his machete, the ranking had appeared in his head automatically.

Chu Che shook his head. “I don’t know.”

“And those people on its back?”

“Survivors, just like us. They’re migrating too,” Chu Che said, looking at the sky. “We use cars. They use the Sky Whale.”

“Are there Anomalies in the sky, too?” Mad Lion’s head growled.

“Sky, sea, underground… anywhere you can imagine, there are Anomalies,” Chu Che said grimly. “Even with the Number 9 Artifact, if a powerful Anomaly latches onto them, they’ll hit a dead end just the same.”

The appearance of the Sky Whale had caused panic, but fortunately, it was just a passing scare.

As the camp settled down, Chen Ye’s attention shifted away from the heavens.