Apocalypse: I Can Upgrade Everything

Chapter 151: If You Can’t Beat Them, Join Them

“You… you’re really not human,” Chu Che hissed through gritted teeth as they walked to meet Wu Jianshan.

Chen Ye simply spread his hands, his expression utterly nonchalant. “If you can’t beat them, join them. Isn’t that just common sense?”

Chu Che shot him a look of profound disgust but swallowed his retort. They had already arrived at Classroom 4-1.

Wu Jianshan was waiting for them. The man looked even more emaciated than their last encounter, his sallow skin stretched so tightly over his facial bones that he resembled a living skull.

Sun Qianqian and Ding Dong, who had escorted them under the guise of guards, moved to leave. Sun Qianqian opened her mouth, hesitation flickering in her eyes, but Wu Jianshan cut her off.

“Don’t worry. They are my friends too. I won’t harm them.”

Dismissed, Sun Qianqian had no choice but to slip out, pulling the door shut behind her.

Wu Jianshan waved a skeletal hand toward the center of the room. “Please, sit.”

The classroom had been thoroughly repurposed into a makeshift office and private quarters. A barren desk sat near the back, completely devoid of paperwork, flanked by a crude single bed. The centerpiece of the room, however, was an ornate tea table. Two empty chairs waited on the opposite side.

“I heard you’re quite the tea enthusiast, Chu Che. I wonder if today’s brew will be to your liking,” Wu Jianshan said, taking the host’s seat. Ignoring the tense silence of his guests, he casually began the brewing process.

Chen Ye and Chu Che exchanged a fleeting glance before slowly taking their seats. Beneath his relaxed facade, Chen Ye’s mind raced, his guard raised to the absolute maximum. Chu Che remained stoic, watching the boiling water in silence.

Plumes of steam curled lazily into the freezing air. Boiling hot water cascaded into the clay teapot, and the dried leaves slowly unfurled. Wu Jianshan poured the rich, reddish-brown tea into a transparent glass pitcher. Against the backdrop of the heavy snowfall outside, the rising heat looked incredibly inviting.

He distributed the steaming liquid into the small teacups before them.

Thanks to Captain Chu Che’s strict rationing, it had been a long time since Chen Ye had tasted tea. He couldn’t tell a premium leaf from a cheap one, but in the post-apocalyptic winter, a hot cup of anything was a luxury. To him, the bitter liquid tasted like divine nectar.

Even Chu Che’s tense shoulders relaxed slightly as the hot tea warmed his throat.

“Chu Che. Chen Ye,” Wu Jianshan spoke abruptly, shattering the quiet. “You must have seen the notebook and letters by now, yes?”

Chu Che’s expression instantly hardened, his hand jerking so sharply he nearly spilled his cup. Chen Ye, however, didn’t even blink. His face remained a mask of polite indifference.

“Actually, I’ve been searching for that diary for quite some time,” Wu Jianshan sighed, tossing a worn notebook onto the table. “I just never expected it to be in Choi Soo-eun’s hands.”

The diary had taken a long journey—from Choi Soo-eun, to Xue Nan, to Sun Qianqian, and finally, full circle, back to Wu Jianshan.

“Choi Soo-eun… she was a massive idol before all this. Beautiful, famous. When she first arrived at the school, some of the men had dark intentions. I was the one who protected her. I gave her food. I kept her alive!” He leaned forward, his hollow eyes burning. “To be perfectly honest, if it weren’t for me, ninety percent of the people in this camp would already be dead. But, alas… there are always those who lack basic gratitude.”

Wu Jianshan ignored Chu Che entirely, locking his gaze onto Chen Ye. “I killed Choi Soo-eun, Chen Ye. Do you think I was wrong?”

“Every man for himself, or the heavens will strike you down,” Chen Ye replied smoothly, his voice cold and transactional. “If I were in your shoes, I would have done exactly the same.”

A flicker of deep appreciation crossed Wu Jianshan’s skeletal face. He shifted his gaze to Chu Che, but the weary captain remained stubbornly silent.

“You’ve read the diary. You’ve seen the letters,” Wu Jianshan continued. “So you know the truth behind the God-Worshipping Sequence. We don’t pray to deities. We worship ourselves.”

He took a slow sip of his tea. “I don’t even know how I Awakened, how I became part of this Sequence. At first, I was ecstatic. I thought I was blessed—a genuine Sequence Beyonder. But that joy was agonizingly short-lived. In the early stages, the God-Worshipping Sequence is pathetically weak. With no actual god to draw power from, we aren’t much stronger than ordinary humans.”

“I tried everything to gain power. In the end, I had no choice but to find Xue Qing! Yes, the sister of that hideous brute in your convoy.”

“When I first realized that ‘worship’ required live sacrifices, I was conflicted. I really was! I’m not a psychopath. But in this world, people change. Without a sacrifice, the Anomalies outside would have breached the school. They would have ripped every last one of us to shreds, bite by bloody bite.”

“I’m sure you can guess what happened next. That’s right. I offered them to the Death God. You have no idea the rush it gave me. With just my first sacrifice, I skyrocketed from Sequence 1 to Sequence 2. The stronger the Death God becomes, the more powerful the abilities I can exchange from her.”

“The sheer ecstasy of growing stronger… it’s intoxicating. Addictive.” He leaned in, tapping a bony finger below his eye socket. “Look closely at my eyes. Yes, these used to belong to the Death God. The Mercy Mask. Even the Eight-Limbed Human Face and the Abyssal Blood Eye cannot resist the Death God’s suppression! And all it cost me was my sense of taste!”

“As long as I keep feeding her, I keep growing. Eventually, I will be the god! I’ll never have to bow to anyone ever again!”

Wu Jianshan prattled on, his tone as casual as a man reminiscing with old friends over drinks. There was no unhinged screaming, no hysterical roaring. Yet, whenever the topic brushed against ‘sacrifices’, a deeply neurotic, feverish glint flared in his stolen eyes.

Sitting across from him, Chu Che felt a chilling realization. Every single one of his grim theories had been dead right.

“Once you cross that line the first time, the second is much easier…” Wu Jianshan whispered. “Since you’ve figured it out, I won’t insult your intelligence by hiding it. But honestly? I don’t feel an ounce of regret.”

“As long as I accrue enough power, I can purge Rong City of these Anomalies. Give me enough sacrifices, and reaching Sequence 4, Sequence 5… even Sequence 9… will be child’s play!”

“So what if a few useless, ordinary people have to die? Look at human history! Name one great conqueror, one visionary who ascended to the throne without leaving a mountain of corpses in their wake? A single general’s glory is built on the bleached bones of ten thousand soldiers… A few dozen deaths mean nothing! Name one dynasty, one civilization that was forged without blood!”

“I. Am. Not. Wrong!”

His voice finally cracked on the last word, echoing sharply in the quiet classroom, his face twisting with a sudden, fanatical agitation.

He quickly smoothed his expression, zeroing back in on Chen Ye. “Chen Ye. I know you. We are cut from the exact same cloth. You understand the necessity of my actions, don’t you? You are both intelligent men. In this apocalypse, we must prioritize the greater good!”

He landed heavily on the phrase ‘greater good’. It was a calculated choice—a pitch aimed squarely at the principled, weary Chu Che, not the ruthless Chen Ye. Wu Jianshan had already investigated Chen Ye’s background thoroughly. In the cult leader’s eyes, Chen Ye was a kindred spirit: a pragmatist unburdened by morality.

Under Wu Jianshan’s intense scrutiny, Chen Ye’s dark eyes remained completely unreadable, harboring depths of cold calculation.

Children bicker over right and wrong, Chen Ye mused internally. Adults deal strictly in risk and reward.

He didn’t care about the ethics of Wu Jianshan’s slaughter. It wasn’t his business. However, plotting to use him as a sacrifice? That was a fatal miscalculation.

Prioritize the greater good? Whenever someone peddled that line, it usually meant you were the fuel being tossed into the fire.

“Chen Ye, Chu Che,” Wu Jianshan spread his hands benevolently. “I formally invite you both to join the Death God Church. Help me. Stand by my side. After this next ritual, I will ascend to Sequence 4. And once I am Sequence 4, the Death God’s power will surge, and so will mine!”

“With that power, we can sweep Rong City clean of Anomalies. We can carve out a true safe haven and rebuild humanity. Chen Ye, Chu Che… I need you.”

He stared at them, his gaunt face a portrait of absolute, chilling sincerity.

To sweeten the deal, Wu Jianshan reached beneath his desk and hoisted up a massive box of premium tea leaves and five pristine cartons of Huazi Cigarettes. The gilded packaging of the tea was exquisite; it was a miracle he had managed to scavenge something so pristine in the ruins of the city.

Chu Che’s pupils dilated at the sight of the box. He clearly recognized the ultra-rare vintage.

Chen Ye’s eyes locked onto the five cartons of Huazi Cigarettes, and he couldn’t help but swallow hard. His personal stockpile was running dangerously low. And for him, cigarettes were no longer just a luxury to feed a nicotine addiction; they were a crucial method of combat.

A bright, utterly mercenary smile bloomed on Chen Ye’s face. He reached out and grabbed the cartons. “Bishop Wu, I look forward to our fruitful partnership!”

Even Wu Jianshan was momentarily stunned by the immediate capitulation. “You… you’re agreeing? Just like that?”

Chen Ye chuckled, patting the cigarettes affectionately. “Like I said: if you can’t beat them, join them. It’s just good business.”

Beside him, Chu Che looked as though he had just been force-fed garbage.

And just like that, Chen Ye and Chu Che were newly ordained as the Deputy Bishops of the Death God Church.

By the time the pair finally exited the classroom, evening had fallen. The school grounds were bathed in deep, oppressive shadows, plunged into a terrifying, suffocating silence.

Chu Che let out a long, heavy sigh, his breath pluming in the freezing air. “Do you actually believe a word of his grand plan?”

Chen Ye spread his hands, his face neutral. “Does it matter if I believe him? Did you think I was joking about joining?”

Chu Che shot him a deeply suspicious glare but, once again, chose to keep his mouth shut.

Inwardly, Chen Ye scoffed. Believe him? Only a brain-dead ghoul would buy that garbage. If Wu Jianshan actually managed to ascend to Sequence 4, they would both be butchered before they even knew what hit them. As for the morality of Wu Jianshan’s grand vision? Chen Ye didn’t give a damn about saving humanity or rebuilding Rong City. He certainly wasn’t going to let his own blood grease the wheels of some lunatic’s ‘greater good’.

Perhaps he could find another way to use this…

No. This method was simply far too inefficient—and frankly, a bit too disgusting.

Out on the snow-covered sports field, Choi Soo-eun’s corpse still hung from the thick branches of the old oak tree. The heavy snowfall had already blanketed her frozen form in a layer of pristine white. The air was dead, utterly devoid of wind.

Suspended in the pale moonlight, Choi Soo-eun’s body hung motionless, looking like a macabre, snow-dusted weather doll suspended beneath the massive tree.