Apocalypse: I Can Upgrade Everything

Chapter 126: I’ll Just Ask for Another Bottle Tomorrow

Villains always have a guilty conscience. Unless, of course, they are professionally trained.

Wu Jianshan was clearly not a professional. Before the apocalypse, he had been nothing more than a loser; the end of the world had simply given him a second chance.

Chen Ye, meanwhile, had a singular focus: he had to get his hands on those Death God’s Blood Tears.

To achieve this, he shamelessly weaponized their fabricated history, recounting “shared” college memories with tear-jerking detail.

In short: he was holding their friendship hostage.

“Old Wu, do you remember who always swiped your card for attendance when you skipped class?”

“When you said you liked Huang Ting, didn’t I step back without hesitation?”

“And that time you got cornered by those thugs outside the internet cafe—who grabbed a brick and charged in to save you?”

“Later, when I got that major demerit on my record, do you remember who I was covering for?”

Chen Ye rattled off these embarrassing anecdotes about “Wu Jianshan” with the ease of a man reciting his own biography.

According to Chen Ye’s narrative, they were so close they practically shared a pair of pants. Even his expulsion from university was ostensibly a sacrifice for this “brother.”

Wu Jianshan was losing his patience. He had important matters to attend to.

Finally, worn down by the barrage of guilt and nostalgia, he caved. He agreed to give Chen Ye two drops of the Blood Tears.

To Wu Jianshan, the substance was precious, but not irreplaceable. As the Grand Bishop, he could harvest a few drops daily. While the tears offered a boost to Sequence Beyonders, the effect was marginal. Wu Jianshan had built up a tolerance to it long ago; consuming it now was like drinking water.

He figured two drops was a small price to pay to maintain his cover. If he refused, Chen Ye—who believed they were lifelong best friends—might get suspicious. A small offering would silence the pest once and for all.

I don’t believe you’ll have the nerve to ask for more after this, Wu Jianshan thought bitterly. Besides, you won’t live long enough to use them all.

With that comforting thought, Wu Jianshan handed over the vial and stormed off.

Chen Ye stared at the small glass bottle in his hand, the corners of his mouth curling up.

To increase his strength, to survive… what was a little shamelessness?

If it meant living another day, Chen Ye would beg, borrow, or steal.

He looked at the crimson liquid with glowing eyes.

System, upgrade the Death God’s Blood Tears. Maximize its effect on Sequence Beyonder advancement.

The System responded instantly.

[Upgrade Task: Death God’s Blood Tears] [Cost: 5,000 Slaughter Points] [Time: 6 Hours] [Proceed?]

So expensive!

Chen Ye winced. “System, how much would it cost to redeem a drop of Blood Tears directly from the store?”

[Redemption Cost: Unrefined Death God’s Blood Tears — 20,000 Slaughter Points.]

Chen Ye: “…”

Robbery. Absolute robbery.

He had realized by now that aside from the Sequence Serums, which were suspiciously cheap, everything else in the System store was priced like luxury goods. Perhaps in the System’s logic, raw power came at a premium.

He looked at his balance. He had a little over 10,000 Slaughter Points remaining—mostly harvested from the recent battle with the Eight-Limbed Human Face and the lingering rewards from the Sky Whale simulation.

It was enough to upgrade the tears twice.

He gritted his teeth. “Confirm.”

[Slaughter Points Deducted: 5,000] [Upgrade in Progress: 05:59:59]

He needed this. A Sequence 3 entity had already appeared, and he was still stuck at Sequence 1. He was falling behind.

Rong City No. 2 Primary School Fourth Grade, Class Three

“Hehe… back then, my dad worked in the mines, and my mom ran a small convenience store in town. Cigarettes, liquor, snacks, that sort of thing.”

“We were well-off in those days. Maybe not feasting on shark fin every night, but we had meat on the table every other day.”

In the dimly lit classroom, Iron Lion lay on a child-sized bed, staring at the ceiling with a warm, foolish grin.

Chen Ye and Chu Che listened quietly from their own bunks. It was rare for the big man to talk this much, especially about his past.

“There were five brothers and sisters in my family. Hehe…”

“Dinner time was a war zone. You had to be fast or you’d starve.”

“Five kids?” Chen Ye raised an eyebrow. “How did your parents manage that?”

“Hehe… fines. Lots of fines,” Iron Lion chuckled, though the sound was tinged with melancholy. “My parents said they spent every cent they earned paying the ‘Social Maintenance Fees.’ We made decent money, but with that many mouths and the government fines, we were always scraping by.”

“I’m the oldest. Below me, there’s Number Two—a boy, troublemaker, got beaten a lot. Number Three is also a boy. My dad desperately wanted a girl; he said daughters are ‘little padded jackets’ for the heart.”

“Then Number Four came along—a girl. Dad treated her like a princess.”

“They didn’t plan on Number Five, but… well, he was conceived. Mom couldn’t bear to get rid of him. He turned out to be the smartest of the lot. Very sensible.”

Iron Lion smiled, his eyes unfocused, seeing ghosts in the peeling paint of the ceiling.

“My dad… he got ‘dust lung’ eventually. Pneumoconiosis. You know it?”

“Yeah,” Chen Ye said softly. “Black lung.”

“Common where we’re from. He died young. The mine paid out some compensation.”

“Mom cried every day. The sisters cried every day. The house was just… full of tears.”

“Then, Mom got hit by a car while walking to the market in a daze…”

Iron Lion’s voice dropped.

“Suddenly, it was just me. I was the big brother. I had to step up.”

“That day… so many relatives came to the house. Uncles, aunts, cousins I’d never seen. They swarmed in.”

“Then my Second Uncle came back. If he hadn’t… those relatives would have ‘eaten the juehu’.”

“Eaten the juehu?” Chen Ye asked. “Does that still happen?”

“Hehe… you city folk don’t know,” Iron Lion sighed. “In the villages, when a family dies out or leaves only children… the relatives descend like vultures. They strip the house, take the savings, claim the land. They eat the inheritance until nothing is left.”

“If not for Second Uncle, I couldn’t have raised them. He took us all in.”

“He refused to touch our compensation money. He told me to save it for the kids’ education.”

“Because of us, his wife—my Second Aunt—divorced him. Too many mouths to feed. But he never remarried. He sacrificed his life for us.”

“That’s why… when I saw him today… I was just so happy.”

“I thought I’d lost him. I wanted to care for him in his old age, give him a proper burial…”

Chen Ye fell silent.

He finally understood why Iron Lion looked at Wu Jianshan with such puppy-dog adoration. To Iron Lion, Wu Jianshan wasn’t just an uncle; he was a savior. A second father.

But then, a frown creased Chen Ye’s forehead.

Wait. Why don’t I know any of this?

Old Wu never mentioned a mining town. I thought he was a local from Jiang City?

I remember him complaining about city traffic…

Ah… whatever.

A sharp throb of pain spiked in Chen Ye’s temples. His thoughts grew fuzzy, sliding off the contradiction like water off oil. The cognitive block smoothed over the plot hole instantly.

Headache. Too tired to think.

He dismissed the discrepancy. Instead, he focused on the social dynamics.

With a bond like that… if I ever flip the table on Old Wu, whose side will Iron Lion take?

He checked the System interface.

He still had over 5,000 Slaughter Points left. Enough for one more upgrade.

Chen Ye grinned in the dark.

I’ll go find Old Wu tomorrow and ask for another bottle.

If he doesn’t give it, he’s not a real brother.

It’s just a little bit of blood! Surely he wouldn’t be that stingy?

That wouldn’t be like him at all. Back in the day, we were so close we could swap underwear.

Just then, Chen Ye heard the system prompt: the upgrade of the Death God’s Blood Tears was complete.