Apocalypse: I Can Upgrade Everything

Chapter 171: Monopolizing the Artifact

The mention of the “Divine Elephant” immediately brought the image of the Sky Whale back to Chen Ye’s mind. The memory of that colossal entity drifting above the desert was etched into his soul.

Could this so-called Divine Elephant be another massive living Artifact?

“Tell me everything you know about it,” Chen Ye commanded, his voice as cold as ice.

The girl, Xiao Hua, hesitated, her eyes darting nervously. “I… I’ve only heard stories from others. I haven’t seen it myself.”

“Speak.”

She took a shaky breath. “They say the Divine Elephant is a beast so large it defies nature. It was reportedly spotted wandering near Dawu Village recently. It’s… it’s impossible to describe. Its four legs are like skyscrapers, hundreds of meters tall. And on its back, there’s an entire village.”

She leaned in slightly, a flicker of genuine longing crossing her face. “The people up there live just like they did before the apocalypse. No Anomalies, no hunger. It’s a sanctuary. The elephant is always moving, never staying in one place for long. Everyone in the city has been looking for it, hoping to find a way up. But nobody who finds it ever comes back to tell the tale.”

Chen Ye listened intently. This was far more detailed than the ramblings he’d heard from Mo Huairen in the desert. Mo Huairen had mentioned a castle, while this girl spoke of a village. The core of the legend remained the same: safety. If a place truly existed that could bypass the supernatural laws of the wasteland, it was worth investigating.

“Your little group,” Chen Ye shifted gears, “you had a Sequence Beyonder once, didn’t you?”

He recalled the crippled man, Uncle Zheng, mentioning a protector.

The girl’s posture instantly stiffened. “It wasn’t my fault! That was all Xiao Long and Ah Hao! I didn’t have anything to do with it!”

“Cut the crap. Just answer the question.”

Xiao Hua cowered under his gaze. She clearly wanted to weave a lie, but under the weight of Chen Ye’s presence, she didn’t dare risk it.

“His name was Xia Bo,” she whispered. “He was a Mechanic Sequence Beyonder.”

According to her, Xia Bo was initially the group’s savior. Using his supernatural affinity for machines, he had modified a handful of firearms to be capable of actually harming Anomalies.

Chen Ye’s heart skipped a beat. The guns!

The weapons confiscated during the “cleanup” were currently sitting in the back of Chu Che’s SUV. He had assumed they were just old-world junk, but if they were the handiwork of a Mechanic…

He needed to get his hands on them before Chu Che realized their worth. He couldn’t let the “Old Fox” catch wind of this; otherwise, he’d have to split the loot, or worse, lose it all to the captain’s “logistics” fund. He didn’t trust Chu Che’s moral compass any further than he could throw the SUV.

He estimated that a Mechanic in a small scavenger group wouldn’t have had the resources to mass-produce weapons. There were likely only one or two functional pieces.

Chen Ye kept his face neutral, letting the girl continue.

Xia Bo’s downfall was classic apocalyptic politics. As the leader, he had made the unpopular decision to ration food, cutting them down from two meals a day to one to survive the long winter. This hadn’t sat well with the restless punks in the group. Xiao Long and Ah Hao had used the hunger to incite a rebellion, butchering the man who had kept them alive.

Chen Ye glanced at Xiao Hua. He knew she was downplaying her role in the coup—she was far too intelligent to have been a mere bystander. But he didn’t care about the justice of it.

“The guns,” Chen Ye interrupted.

“They were just to scare you!” she explained frantically, her hands waving. “Most have no ammo. Two of them were the ‘special’ ones Xia Bo made, but we couldn’t even figure out how to pull the triggers. They’re useless to us!”

Useless to you, maybe, Chen Ye thought.

“After the Mechanic died, how did you survive the city?” he asked. “Dawu City is a death trap. How did seventeen ordinary people last this long?”

The girl’s eyes clouded with pure, unadulterated dread. “It’s the Mist Thralls.”

“Mist Thralls?”

“Yes,” she whimpered. “The city is full of them. They’re… they’re the dead who didn’t stay dead. Anyone who breathes too much of the fog or dies in the streets becomes one. They come back for their families. They try to pull you into the fog to join them. We started with over a hundred people. Now… only three are left. If you hadn’t shown up, we would have been taken by the end of the week.”

Chen Ye’s brow furrowed. As he processed the information, the Abyssal Blood Eye flared with a brief, crimson pulse.

Suddenly, Xiao Hua’s right hand jerked. She snatched the hidden blade from her sleeve and, with a violent, uncontrolled motion, slammed it down onto her left thumb.

“AHHHHHHH!—”

Her shriek tore through the silence of the cabin.

Before she could scream again, her own right hand flew up and clamped over her mouth, muffling the sound into a wet, agonizing gurgle. She struggled, her eyes bulging with terror as she tried to pry her hands apart, but her body refused to obey. Blood spurted from the wound, drenching her clothes and soaking into the upholstery of the passenger seat.

The metallic scent of fresh blood instantly filled the cab.

In that moment, something within the truck’s chassis seemed to wake up.

Xiao Hua felt the leather seat beneath her begin to move. It didn’t just feel strange—it was physically constricting. The backrest and the seat cushion began to wrap around her like a living cocoon. It was a slow, crushing embrace, as if the truck itself was trying to absorb her into its frame.

She looked at Chen Ye, her eyes pleading for help, unable to make a sound.

Chen Ye watched calmly. He knew exactly what was happening. The blood had triggered the Doomsday Pickup’s second taboo: [No scent of blood or open wounds permitted within the vehicle. Violation will trigger consumption.]

He wasn’t in any particular hurry. He was actually quite curious to see the mechanical “digestion” process firsthand. However, the girl was still his only map.

“Enough,” Chen Ye muttered, waving a hand dismissively.

The crushing pressure of the seat instantly vanished. The leather became inert once more, releasing the trembling girl.

For anyone else, stopping a triggered taboo was impossible. But the Doomsday Pickup was Chen Ye’s soul-bound Artifact, upgraded personally from a rusted bicycle. He held absolute dominion over its logic.

Xiao Hua scrambled as far away from the seat as the cramped cabin allowed, clutching her bleeding hand and staring at Chen Ye with the eyes of a hunted animal.

To her, the truck was a haunted tomb, and the man driving it was a devil far more terrifying than any Anomaly in the fog.

In the truck bed behind them, the two remaining survivors huddled together, pale and shaking.

Behind them, Chu Che’s voice crackled over the radio. “Yezi? What the hell are you doing up there? I heard screaming.”

Chen Ye keyed the mic, his voice bored. “Just local color, Captain. Keep driving.”