Apocalypse: I Raised the Ultimate Antagonist from Scratch

Over the radio, chaos erupted.

"LIN QING!" Xiao Li yelled, his voice cracking with sheer panic. "NO! NO NO NO!"

"Yang Jun!" Lieutenant Chen roared into his headset, his voice shaking violently. "What happened up there?! Did you see her?!"

Yang Jun took a slow, deep breath, adjusting his rifle sling over his shoulder as he forced his voice to sound breathless and panicked into his microphone.

"The thaw..." Yang Jun reported, his tone carrying a perfectly fabricated tremor of shock.

"The heat shift fractured the cliff face... a massive ice cornice detached directly above her ledge. I tried to shoot the base of the slab to break its momentum, but... it was too heavy. Lin Qing swept over the cliff."

Below in the courtyard, Lieutenant Chen slammed his fist against the side of the truck, his eyes wide with horror as he stared up at the gaping, shattered drop where the ledge had been just seconds before.

"We have to get down to the bottom of the ravine!" Zhou Ming yelled, his face white as paper. "We have to find her!"

"Look at the ridge!" Xiao Li shouted, pointing toward the surrounding cliffs.

Drawn by the thunderous roar of the ice collapse, dozens more cold-adapted infected were emerging from the high snowbanks along the canyon walls, their dark, frost-covered bodies pouring down toward the medical depot like a dark tide.

"We can’t get down to the ravine from here!" Lieutenant Chen said, his teeth grinding together as he made an agonizing decision. "The pack is swarming the road! If we stay here, we’ll be surrounded and wiped out! We fall back to the base, report to Commander, and bring a heavy rescue squad back with armor!"

Yang Jun climbed down from the gantry, his boots hitting the concrete floor with a heavy thud. He joined the squad as they scrambled into the armored transports, his face completely masked in solemn, grim silence.

As the heavy armored vehicles reversed out of the courtyard and sped back down the snow-covered pass, the vast, white mountain wilderness swallowed the quiet ravine below, leaving no trace of the fallen soilder behind.

The return journey to the sanctuary base was a blur of high-engine roars, whiteouts, and suffocating tension. The snowplow treads tore through the freshly frozen drifts on the mountain road, pushing the heavy armored transports past their safe operational limits.

Inside the cabin, no one spoke. Lieutenant Chen’s knuckles were bone-white as he gripped the wheel, his jaw clenched so tightly the muscles quivered.

Beside him, Zhou Ming sat staring blankly out the frost-streaked passenger window, his hands trembling over his unopened medical kit.

Only Yang Jun remained motionless. Sitting in the shadowed corner of the rear transport, he leaned his head against the ice-cold steel wall, his long sniper rifle resting between his knees.

To anyone looking, he seemed like a man paralyzed by shock and grief. But beneath his closed eyelids, his mind was cold, calculated, and still processing the echo of the shot he had fired.

It’s done, he told himself, the ghost of his sister’s face flashing briefly through his memory. The mountain took her. It’s over.

Forty minutes later, the armored transports thundered through the outer perimeter gates of the main base. The heavy iron doors slammed shut behind them, sealing out the rising howling wind of the valley.

Han Zheng was already waiting in the loading bay.

He stood tall and imposing in his dark overcoat, his shoulders broad against the swirling white flurries drifting through the open bay.

Standing a few paces behind him were Lu Feng, Dr. Zhou, and small Han Ye. They had all gathered near the main storage bays, expecting to see Lin Qing step down to oversee the logistics of unloading the supplies.

Instead, as the heavy door of the lead transport hissed open, Lieutenant Chen practically tumbled out onto the frozen concrete floor. His face was drained of all color, his eyes haunted.

Han Zheng’s sharp eyes instantly scanned the exiting squad. He saw Zhou Ming. He saw Yang Jun and Xiao Li descend silently from the trailing vehicle.

He did not see Lin Qing.

The temperature in the loading bay seemed to drop ten degrees in a single second. The air grew suffocatingly dense, heavy with an oppressive, invisible pressure that made even the soldiers on the perimeter walls shift uncomfortably.

Han Zheng stepped forward, his heavy boots echoing like thunder against the concrete. His eyes locked onto Lieutenant Chen.

"Where is she?" Han Zheng asked. His voice wasn’t loud, but it carried a terrifying, icy weight that made Lieutenant Chen flinch.

"Commander..." Lieutenant Chen’s voice cracked. He swallowed hard, struggling to force the words out of his throat. "There... there was a structural failure at the depot. A thaw collapse."

Yang Jun stepped up beside Lieutenant Chen, taking a slow, heavy breath. He looked Han Zheng directly in the eyes, his expression a flawless, tragic portrait of remorse.

"The heat shift fractured the high cliff face above the loading dock, Commander," Yang Jun spoke up, his raspy voice trembling with perfectly crafted desperation. "Sister-in-law Lin was on the exterior ledge clearing infected when a multi-ton ice cornice detached directly over her head. I had overwatch from the interior gantry. I tried to shoot the base of the slab to break its fall, but... the ice was too massive. It sheared the entire concrete ledge off the cliff."

Han Zheng didn’t blink. He didn’t yell. He stood completely still, his dark pupils narrowing into sharp, lethal pinpricks as he absorbed the words.

Without saying a word, Han Zheng turned on his heel, strode to the side of the armored transport, and yanked the heavy long-range radio receiver off its magnetic dash mount. He flipped the dial straight to Lin Qing’s secure frequency.

He pressed the side button. "Lin Qing. Report."

Static. Endless, hollow static filled the speaker.

"Lin Qing. This is Han Zheng. Acknowledge."

Crackle... hiss...

Nothing. Not even a trace of breath or background interference.

Han Zheng slammed the receiver back into the cradle with enough force to crack the plastic housing. The vein along his jawline bulged, his hands clenching into iron fists at his sides.

"Commander, the drop was hundreds of feet down into the central ravine," Lieutenant Chen pleaded, stepping closer with agonizing guilt. "The roar of the collapse drew a massive pack of cold-adapted mutants straight to the loading bay. We didn’t have the heavy firepower or the gear to scale down the cliff face right then. If we stayed, we would have been surrounded on the ledge."

"I don’t care about the infected," Han Zheng snapped, turning on the squad with a glare so fierce that Xiao Li instinctively took a step back. "She isn’t dead."

He turned toward the motor pool garage, his commands coming out like sharp, ruthless military orders.

"Lieutenant Chen, Xiao Li, Ah Hua—gear up. You’re coming with me. We are taking the SUV."

Han Zheng glanced sharply at Zhou Ming. "Zhou Ming, grab two full trauma response kits and jump in the back. If she has broken bones or internal bleeding when we pull her out, I need your hands functional."

He was intentionally assembling a team of power-users. If the bottom of that ravine was infested with cold-adapted mutants and blocked by avalanche debris, brute force and special abilities were the only things that would break through in time.

"Dad."

A small, firm voice cut through the shouting and the clatter of weapons being loaded.

Han Zheng stopped, turning to look down.

Han Ye had stepped forward from behind Dr. Zhou. The five-year-old boy stood with his feet planted firmly, his small jaw set, his eyes burning with an intense, unyielding seriousness that looked completely unnatural on a child his age.

"I’m coming with you," Han Ye stated plainly.

There was no whining in his tone, no childish tears—only raw, absolute conviction. "I have powers too. I can track her. I can help fight."

Inside the boy’s mind, his instincts were screaming at full volume. In his past life, he had witnessed countless tragedies, but the thought of losing Lin Qing here—to a random ice fall in a mountain pass—was something he refused to accept. He knew how dangerous the cold-adapted hordes in the valley were, and he was ready to unleash every bit of his hidden strength to save her.

Han Zheng looked down at his son. For a fraction of a heartbeat, the commander’s terrifying aura softened. He knelt down in front of the boy, placing a heavy, gloved hand gently on Han Ye’s small shoulder.

"No," Han Zheng said quietly. His voice left zero room for negotiation, yet it carried a deep, underlying warmth he rarely showed anyone else. "You stay at the base."

"Dad, I’m strong enough—"

"I know you are," Han Zheng interrupted softly, his thumb brushing over the top of the boy’s shoulder.

Han Ye looked closely into his father’s eyes. And in that split second, the regressor boy saw something that chilled him to the core.

Beneath Han Zheng’s towering, invincible exterior, the man’s eyes were bloodshot, his pupils micro-trembling. Han Zheng was terrified. He was terrified of losing Lin Qing, and he was terrified of taking his only son into the same deadly trap that had just claimed her.

Seeing the sheer emotional strain holding his father together, Han Ye swallowed his protest. He slowly nodded, stepping back. "Bring her home, Dad."

"I will," Han Zheng promised.

He stood back up, his face hardening back into steel as he swept his gaze across Lu Feng and Dr. Zhou. "Lu Feng, take full command of base security. Keep the blast doors shut. Nobody enters or leaves this perimeter until I get back with Lin Qing. If anyone violates protocol, detain them instantly."

"Understood, Commander," Lu Feng replied solemnly, nodding his head.

Within less than three minutes, the heavy modified engine of the SUV roared to life with a deafening growl. Snow and gravel sprayed from under its massive tires as Han Zheng slammed the vehicle into gear, tearing out through the perimeter gates and speeding back into the blizzard-swept wilderness like an arrow shot from a bow.

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