Apocalypse: I Can Upgrade Everything

Chapter 154: My Days of Slacking Off on the Battlefield 2

If this Anomaly siege had been like their previous encounters, the standard protocol would be to form up the convoy and break out toward a designated Safe Zone. But given the sheer scale and terrifying nature of the entities surrounding them, running blindly into the fog would be a guaranteed death sentence.

Furthermore, Sun Qianqian, Ding Dong, and Iron Lion were zealots; it was highly unlikely they would ever abandon “Captain Wu Jianshan.”

Chu Che, despite his lingering grief, had already made his peace. “Captain Wu” had saved him during the initial apocalyptic outbreak, treating him well when the world ended. But after reading Choi Soo-eun’s bloodstained diary and the unsent letters, Chu Che had firmly decided to sever all ties with the man.

As for Chen Ye? He didn’t possess a single shred of guilt.

Even as the Anomaly horde breached the school grounds, Chen Ye simply tucked himself into a pitch-black corner to comfortably slack off. He had absolutely zero intention of contributing to the defense.

Why waste energy fighting a doomed battle when he needed every ounce of strength for his eventual escape?

From his hiding spot, Chen Ye watched Sun Qianqian standing on the third-floor balcony. Wreathed in roaring flames against the snowy night, the woman looked undeniably, breathtakingly fierce. It was the kind of epic scene that belonged on a movie poster.

A photo… Chen Ye quietly slipped a hand into his pocket, debating whether to pull out his phone. If he could snap a clear picture of the Death God when she finally made her appearance, it would be invaluable data for his future simulations.

But in that exact second, every instinct in Chen Ye’s body screamed a fatal warning.

A bead of ice-cold sweat instantly materialized on his forehead, tracking slowly down his temple.

He rigidly turned his head.

A figure wrought of pure white was walking toward him, step by agonizingly slow step.

It was the Snow Woman. Her stark white hair trailed all the way down to her ankles, shifting and writhing in the air despite the complete absence of wind. But it was her eyes—hollow, glacial orbs—that terrified him. A single glance from those eyes felt like plunging bare flesh into liquid nitrogen.

With every delicate step she took, the frenzied Crawlers swarming the courtyard immediately flattened their bodies against the freezing concrete, bowing in absolute, trembling submission. Even the falling snow seemed to part around her, subjugated by her sheer presence.

So strong! It was the only coherent thought screaming through Chen Ye’s mind.

Closer.

She was getting closer!

Chen Ye’s knuckles turned white as he gripped the hilt of his Heavy Machete, his clammy sweat soaking the willow branches wrapped around the handle.

The Snow Woman’s gaze was hollow and unfocused, making it impossible for Chen Ye to tell if she was looking at him or staring right through him. He knew his Absolute Aura Shielding theoretically erased every trace of his existence, but his heart still hammered violently against his ribs like a trapped bird.

Then, she stopped.

She stood less than ten feet away from the thick shadow concealing him.

Chen Ye’s stomach plummeted into his boots. Are you kidding me? Of all the places in this entire damn school to stand, you had to pick the spot right in front of my face?!

He didn’t dare breathe. But a moment later, a fraction of the tension left his shoulders. The Snow Woman wasn’t looking at the shadows; she had tilted her head up, staring blankly toward the third floor.

Up on the balcony, Sun Qianqian had locked eyes with the Snow Woman. The massive fire dragon coiled around the girl’s body reared back and unleashed a deafening, furious roar.

“Roar!—”

Even from his hiding spot below, Chen Ye felt a blistering wave of heat wash over his face.

Sun Qianqian’s expression was dead serious. Her pink hair whipped wildly in the thermal updrafts, her delicate features pulled tight with concentration.

The Snow Woman didn’t even flinch at the dragon’s provocation. She simply raised a pale, nearly transparent index finger and pointed lazily at the balcony.

“Awoooo!”

As if a dam had burst, a tidal wave of white Crawlers shrieked and began scrambling up the walls in a rabid frenzy.

Sun Qianqian’s lips moved in a frantic, silent chant. Answering her call, the fire dragon dove headfirst into the rising tide of monsters.

When the two forces collided, the sickening, nauseating stench of burning rotting flesh instantly flooded the air.

Ignoring the hundreds of Crawlers currently being incinerated into falling black ash, the Snow Woman smoothly shifted her finger, pointing it directly at Mad Lion.

The horde immediately pivoted. A tsunami of pale flesh crashed over the massive man, burying him instantly. Within seconds, a writhing, screeching mountain of Crawlers piled up over his location, completely swallowing him whole.

“Scram!”

A thunderous roar shattered the air. The mountain of monsters violently exploded outward in a shower of gore.

Standing in the epicenter of the crater was a hulking, thirteen-foot-tall behemoth of rippling muscle. Mad Lion had fully unleashed his power. His hands violently morphed, the flesh and bone twisting and hardening into massive, grotesque battle axes. With every wild swing, dozens of Crawlers were cleaved effortlessly in two.

Yet, for every Anomaly he slaughtered, fifty more threw themselves onto his blades.

Suddenly, an impossibly agile shadow darted through the churning sea of monsters.

It was Ding Dong!

Moving like a viper, she slipped through inconceivable gaps in the horde, sprinting directly at the Snow Woman. By the time Chen Ye tracked her movement, she had already launched herself into the air, bringing her leg down in a devastating axe kick aimed straight at the entity’s skull.

Instantly, a localized, raging blizzard materialized around the Snow Woman, catching Ding Dong’s brutal kick in mid-air.

Before Ding Dong could even recoil, the Snow Woman casually pointed that transparent finger at her chest.

BOOM!

A hyper-compressed blast of snowflakes struck Ding Dong like a derailed freight train. She was blasted backward, slamming into the concrete wall of the teaching building with such force that a massive, spiderweb crater fractured outward from her spine.

Chen Ye sucked in a sharp breath. This Anomaly is absurdly powerful! Thank god I stayed hidden!

“Guh…”

Ding Dong crumpled to her hands and knees, vomiting a thick mouthful of blood onto the snow. Her face was ashen.

Chen Ye knew exactly how lethal Ding Dong was in close-quarters combat, yet she hadn’t even been able to withstand a single, casual strike from this creature.

“Roar!”

Above them, the fire dragon violently tore through the remaining Crawlers and dive-bombed the Snow Woman.

The pale entity simply pointed again. The surrounding blizzard coalesced, rapidly forming into a colossal, roaring snow dragon.

The two elemental beasts collided violently in mid-air.

A massive shockwave of blinding white steam instantly blanketed the entire school courtyard.

Up on the balcony, Sun Qianqian was gasping for air, her clothes plastered to her skin with cold sweat. Summoning and sustaining the fire dragon drained a staggering amount of her energy. Yet, her most devastating strike had been swatted away like an annoying fly.

An icy claw gripped Sun Qianqian’s heart.

The fire dragon shrank, transforming into a glowing longsword that floated defensively by her side. The blade vibrated rapidly, emitting a high-pitched hum—a desperate warning from her Innate Artifact telling her to run.

Ding Dong was critically injured. Mad Lion was drowning under an endless sea of Crawlers. Captain Chu Che was useless in a direct fight.

And the worst part? The rest of the apex Anomalies outside the gates hadn’t even made a move yet.

Just this single Snow Woman was slaughtering them.

And Chen Ye… wait, where the hell was Chen Ye?!

“Chen Ye! Get out here!” Sun Qianqian screamed over the roaring flames, her voice cracking with desperation. “We can’t hold them!”

“Chen Ye!!!”

She frantically scanned the courtyard, completely unaware that the man she was screaming for was currently standing less than ten feet away from the Snow Woman.

Chen Ye heard her perfectly. He didn’t twitch a single muscle. It was as if he didn’t even know his own name.

Is she actually braindead? Chen Ye thought incredulously. The three of you combined are getting absolutely rolled, and you think I’m going to step out there? Screaming my name is useless. You’d have better luck praying to Wu Jianshan.

“Cough… hack…” Down in the snow, Ding Dong unsteadily forced herself to her feet. Her eyes darted around the shadows, searching for Chen Ye. In her mind, the slippery man’s true strength was still a mystery, making him the perfect meat-shield to throw at the enemy.

But no matter how loud Sun Qianqian shrieked, Chen Ye remained a ghost.

If you were going to slack off on the battlefield, you had to fully commit to the bit.

“Hehehe… Humans are so wonderfully fragile. We haven’t even joined the feast, and you’re already breaking?”

A wet, slithering voice echoed across the courtyard. The massive Eight-Limbed Human Face floated over the gates, its grotesque tentacles undulating through the air. One of its fleshy limbs casually snagged a terrified, sobbing cultist who had wet his pants. It hoisted the screaming man up and stuffed him directly into the grotesque, old woman’s face embedded in its center.

“Where is that slippery companion of yours? Why won’t he come out to play?” the entity mocked, chewing wetly. “And what about the great Wu Jianshan? Is the Bishop hiding under his bed? Heehee…”

“Stop screaming,” a low, raspy sigh echoed from the ground-floor stairwell. “He isn’t coming out.”

Wu Jianshan slowly stepped out of the shadows.

At that exact moment, the double doors of the fifth-floor teacher’s office swung wide open.

A stunningly beautiful figure draped in flowing crimson silk stepped out onto the balcony.

Upon seeing the red dress, the panicked, weeping cultists in the courtyard instantly dropped to their knees in the bloody snow. Ignoring the monsters tearing at them, they slammed their foreheads to the ground and began frantically chanting the Death God Scripture.

The Death God.

The Death God had finally descended.