Apocalypse Gachapon

The blade’s edge touched the white filaments, and in that instant, these threads began to move.

The entire cave was filled with white filaments, and their movement made the whole cavern seem alive. The web vibrated back and forth, causing Talking Lady within it to sway like driftwood—much to the black cat’s alarm, which instinctively tried to reach its master.

However, the white filaments moved with incredible speed. The black cat failed to dodge in time and was immediately struck, letting out a pained yowl.

Originally positioned near the cave wall, the cat had rushed into the web of white filaments. After the first hit, it lost its balance and was battered repeatedly within the net. By the time it was flung out, its body was covered in wounds.

Ye Zhongming knew just how strong this black cat—which seemed no different from a house cat aside from its extra demon crystal—truly was. Even he couldn’t have inflicted so many injuries on such an agile creature in such a short time.

Yet these white filaments had done it.

While the black cat suffered, Ye Zhongming wasn’t faring much better. As the instigator, the white filaments didn’t spare him either. After his blade strike, the threads shot toward him at a speed completely unlike their earlier stillness. Fortunately, Ye Zhongming was near the entrance and retreated swiftly upon sensing danger, causing most of the attacking filaments to strike the stone wall instead. The hard rock was pierced like tofu, leaving deep holes in its wake.

Soon, everything settled, and Ye Zhongming stepped back into the cave.

He wiped his left cheek, where a small wound had appeared. It wasn’t serious—only a trickle of blood, already clotting.

The white filaments’ attack had come without warning, their speed leaving almost no time to react. Ye Zhongming didn’t know how sharp the threads piercing Red Hair’s body were, but the ones that had struck at him felt comparable to a purple-grade weapon.

He was also puzzled. These white filaments had allowed the black cat to peel away the gray substance to expose their magic crystal, yet wouldn’t tolerate any attack on their threads?

This behavior—freely revealing their core while fiercely protecting peripheral parts—was bizarre.

The black cat limped to Ye Zhongming’s feet, badly wounded but alive.

Neither the cat nor Ye Zhongming looked at each other. Both were fixated on the white filaments.

After the earlier assault, the threads were gradually calming. Some retracted their protruding tips, others slowed their vibrations, and even Talking Lady’s movements gentled.

It seemed everything was returning to normal.

But on the threads that had struck the black cat, and on the one that had pierced Ye Zhongming’s cheek, their blood remained.

As the filaments settled, small bulges formed where the blood had touched, slowly absorbing it.

Within seconds, the blood vanished entirely. The cave’s filaments returned to stillness, and in the hollow the black cat had exposed, the magic crystal took another step toward becoming fully silver.

Ye Zhongming used a healing crystal on the black cat, then frowned at the scene ahead, searching for a solution.

A direct assault seemed impossible. Given how the white filaments reacted earlier, his strongest attack would likely fail.

So, how could he free Talking Lady?

After being healed, the black cat felt slightly better, though as a mutated creature, the healing crystal’s effects were weaker on it than on evolved humans.

It lay on the ground, licking its wounds, occasionally glancing at the still-unresponsive Talking Lady with deep concern.

Ye Zhongming sat down as well. He took items from his spatial storage one by one, examining and then returning them, searching for anything useful.

But nothing seemed viable.

During this time, he tested further. He had the black cat retreat, then tried attacks with the hammer from the Blue Secret Realm and his demon crystal weapon. Both attempts only provoked counterattacks, yielding no progress.

Ye Zhongming had hit a dead end.

………………………………………………………………

While Ye Zhongming searched underground in Yakutsk for a way to save Talking Lady, another battle between humans and mutated creatures erupted on the surface. Once again, the humans were the aggressors, launching a four-pronged assault—three feints to scatter the enemy, with the main force concentrated in the east.

The fight lasted hours before ending with the humans’ voluntary retreat.

Though brief, it was the largest engagement in the past week. While the human forces suffered over a thousand casualties, they inflicted nearly ten times the losses, including several level-seven and one level-eight creature—a substantial haul.

This was why the human army refused to leave despite the freezing wilderness: such a rich hunting ground was too rare to abandon.

Daily yields of tens or even hundreds of thousands of magic crystals and materials kept everyone invested.

Thus, deployment rotations among the allied forces were hotly contested, sparking frequent arguments between factions.

But in the rear camp, this issue seemed irrelevant. Since Pei Jia and his squad were assigned guard duty, they’d been stuck there. Though provisions were steady and they received occasional shares of spoils from the front, it wasn’t enough to sustain the entire squad, fueling growing discontent.

Pei Jia listened to his subordinate’s report with a faint smile.

“Let them vent. After such harsh conditions, don’t our people deserve an outlet? Even in the pre-apocalypse, men and women fooled around—now? It’s nothing.”

His dark face curled into a knowing grin.

“Besides, dear Adair, don’t you think these Easterners are loaded?”

Adair’s eyes flashed with greed, quickly replaced by worry.

“But their group is strong. Their leader’s likely an eight-star evolved, with capable subordinates and high-level combat beasts.”

Pei Jia laughed heartily.

“Alone, we wouldn’t stand a chance. But remember where we are—and what’s happening! Would these Easterners dare fight all of us?”

He paused, then added, “That redhead’s quite the catch, don’t you think, Adair?”

Outside, the sounds of unrest grew louder. Pei Jia could almost see the demon crystals piling up before him.