Apocalypse: I Raised the Ultimate Antagonist from Scratch

The deafening siren of the Class-1 emergency alarm shrieked through the primary atrium of the Research Center, its red warning strobes casting jagged, crimson flashes against the reinforced concrete walls.

Freezing mountain air poured into the vast subterranean hall, carrying with it the sharp scent of ozone, burning oil, and the repulsive, copper-heavy stench of mutated infected.

At the base of the primary blast gate, the massive steel barrier shuddered violently, jammed four feet off the floor by the smashed hydraulic relays. Beyond the gap, the frozen valley gorge was a nightmare of motion—fast-moving crawler variants and heavy yellow-core alphas surged down the icy slope, clawing frantically over one another to squeeze under the broken gate.

”Hold the line! Establish secondary kill zones immediately!” Han Zheng’s deep voice echoed over the roaring wind and continuous heavy gunfire.

On the elevated outer perimeter walls three hundred yards above, Old Wang knelt behind a heavy stone embrasure, his long-range crimson rifle wrapped in a gel-coated thermal sleeve. Through his high-magnification optical sight, he tracked a massive yellow-core alpha. He exhaled slowly, letting his breath settle, and squeezed the trigger with calm, practiced precision.

THOOM!

The modified gel round cut through the freezing air, enclosed in a tight kinetic shockwave. The thermal payload drilled straight through the alpha’s calcified chest plate and detonated its internal yellow core in a single execution. The massive beast collapsed, creating a temporary barrier that tripped the fast-moving runners behind it.

”First tier cleared! Keep those heavy variants off the gate gap!” Old Wang called through his comms unit, instantly cycling the heavy bolt to target another alpha along the high ridge. He maintained his strategic high ground, methodically picking off high-value targets before they could reach the lower threshold.

Down in the atrium, right at the mouth of the four-foot gap, the base’s front-line combatants formed an iron wall.

Xiao Li stepped directly into the center of the threshold, his ’Stone Armor’ power activated. Thick, craggy layers of rock-hard granite encased his skin, arms, and torso, transforming him into a living monolith. As three agile crawlers attempted to slide underneath the steel door, Xiao Li slammed his stone-armored boots into the floor, using his incredible durability to block their advance like a living pillar.

Right beside him, Guo Jian raised a heavy kinetic suppressor, firing dense shockwave bursts that pulverized the skulls of incoming runners, while Lieutenant Chen unleashed swirling whips of thermal flame across the polished floor. The superheated fire ignited the icy slush beneath the threshold, turning the gap into a roaring wall of flame that scorched the mutated flesh of any creature attempting to force its way through.

Behind them, Song Yan extended his arms, his face tight with concentration as his ’Gravity Manipulation’ took hold. A crushing localized gravity field flattened two heavy variants that tried to shove past Xiao Li, pinning them against the concrete floor until Han Zheng stepped forward, redirecting a dense kinetic shockwave from his palms to shatter their spinal columns in a single burst.

Lin Qing moved with fluid agility along the inner perimeter, her eyes sharp and analytical as she directed the squad’s overlapping lines of fire. Though she possessed no energy awakening, she predicted the horde’s movement patterns effortlessly, calling out flankers before they could exploit any gap in the formation.

”Xiao Li, hold left quadrant! Chen, keep that thermal field active on the right channel!” Lin Qing commanded, firing two precise rounds from her sidearm into the eye sockets of a crawler trying to squeeze around the hydraulic housing.

The front gate line was holding firm through pure discipline and sheer firepower. But before anyone could celebrate the choke point, a frantic, screaming voice erupted over the main command channel, cutting through the deafening roar of gunfire in every soilder and guard’s earpiece.

”CODE RED! BLAST GATE COMPROMISED!”

It was the voice of the guard stationed at the primary blast door console, gasping for air amidst the screeching sound of tearing metal and electrical short-circuits.

”IT’S LU NING! SHE SMASHED THE CONSOLE AND PHASED THROUGH THE WALL! THE GATE IS JAMMED—”

The transmission cut off abruptly in a shower of static, screaming winds, and heavy metallic thuds.

In the middle of the atrium, Lu Feng froze dead in his tracks. His weapon lowered an inch, his eyes widening in absolute, sickening shock as the guard’s desperate words echoed in his ears.

’Lu Ning...’

There was no need for security scans or diagnostic logs. The truth hit Lu Feng like a sledgehammer to the chest. His younger sister had unlocked a physical phasing ability somehow, escaped her cell, and deliberately destroyed the gate controls out of pure, unadulterated spite.

She had knowingly opened the doors to hoardes of monsters, threatening every single person in the base—all because her bitter ego couldn’t handle being held accountable for her actions.

A cold, heavy stillness settled deep into Lu Feng’s chest. Every remaining trace of familial affection, every lingering shred of guilt he had carried over locking her away, evaporated into ash. His jaw clenched tight, his hazel eyes hardening into cold, uncompromising steel.

”She made her choice,” Lu Feng spat through gritted teeth, racking the heavy bolt of his rifle. His voice was devoid of emotion, stripped clean of any remaining brotherhood.

Before Lu Feng could process the betrayal further, Sun Hao’s urgent voice clattered over the comms from the central command hub, accompanied by the rapid clatter of keyboards.

”Commander Han! Lieutenant! The gate breach isn’t isolated to the primary atrium!” Sun Hao warned rapidly. ”A pack of agile crawlers slipped through the lower maintenance shafts directly beneath the gate platform! They’ve split up! They’re scattering through the secondary ventilation grid—heading toward Sub-Level 2, the medical wing, and residential corridors simultaneously!”

Han Zheng turned instantly to Lu Feng, his face grim and urgent. ”Lu Feng, take Marcus and Jiang Feng. Get down to the sub-levels and clear those scattered ones before they reach the civilians or the children!”

”Understood!” Lu Feng barked, turning on his heel and sprinting toward the stairwells with Marcus and Jiang Feng right on his heels.

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The quiet, carpeted residential corridor was illuminated by the same pulsing red emergency lights.

Outside the heavy steel doors of the residential suite, Ah Hua stood guard alongside Guo Jiong and two veteran Depot guards. Ah Hua’s physical frame was clad in heavy armor, a belt-fed heavy machine gun resting across his chest.

The air in the quiet hallway felt suffocatingly heavy. The distant thuds of artillery from above vibrated through the reinforced walls, but here in the residential wing, the immediate threat felt eerily close.

Suddenly, a strange, wet scratching noise echoed from the air vents set high into the ceiling above them.

Ah Hua snapped his head up, his grip tightening on his heavy weapon. ”Guo Jiong! Vents!”

CRASH!

The vent grates burst outward, shattering onto the tiled floor in a shower of metal screws and dust. Four agile crawlers—their limbs elongated, their eyes milky white, and their jaws dripping with black saliva—dropped directly into the narrow corridor.

”Light them up!” Guo Jiong roared, raising his assault rifle and opening fire alongside the two Depot guards.

A hail of heavy gunfire filled the narrow hallway, the deafening reports echoing violently off the concrete walls. Bright muzzle flashes illuminated the corridor as Guo Jiong and his men laid down continuous suppressor fire, shredding two of the incoming crawlers before they could hit the carpeted floor.

Ah Hua stepped forward, stepping into the front line with a furious roar. His enhanced physical strength surged through his muscles as he raised his heavy belt-fed weapon, letting loose a devastating stream of heavy kinetic rounds that tore through the remaining two crawlers, painting the walls in black bile.

However, the noise of combat drew more infected from deeper inside the ventilation network. The metallic echoing of claws against air ducts intensified throughout the entire ceiling structure, and six more crawlers burst out of multiple vents along the length of the hallway, their dark bodies swarming down the narrow walls with unnatural speed.

”There’s too many in close quarters!” Guo Jiong shouted, firing his sidearm as a crawler lunged for his arm. He ducked under its sharp claws, firing three shots directly into its underbelly, but the sheer momentum of the swarm began driving a wedge down the narrow corridor.

The two guards beside Guo Jiong fought valiantly, placing themselves between the monsters and the residential doors. But in the tight, confined space of the hallway, they lacked energy awakenings. A swift crawler lunged from the upper wall, pinning one guard to the floor by his shoulders, while a second variant struck the other guard’s throat before anyone could cover them. Both guards collapsed onto the blood-slick carpet, dying instantly as their weapons clattered uselessly against the floor.

”Fall back behind the fire doors!” Guo Jiong commanded grimly, his teeth bare as he backed down the hallway, maintaining continuous pistol fire to draw three of the remaining crawlers away from the residential suite.

”I’ve got the suite door!” Ah Hua bellowed, his voice echoing like thunder through the passage.

Using his immense physical strength, Ah Hua kicked a fallen crawler back into the wall, shattering its ribs, and stepped straight into the threshold of the residential suite. He planted his boots firm, taking a heavy defensive stance right outside the lock frame, his machine gun blazing as he created a impenetrable funnel of lead to ensure not a single infected could force its way past him into the room where the kids were sheltered.

Inside the suite, behind the doors, the children could hear the heavy thuds, screeching claws, and roaring gunfire echoing from the hallway outside.

In the center of the lounge, Han Ye stood motionless, his dark eyes fixed on the back wall of the room. He felt the cold energy shift in the air a split second before anyone else—a sharp, spiteful distortion that had nothing to do with the monsters outside.

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