My Infinite Cultivation System-Chapter 71: Apocalypse Protocol

A thunderous crash echoed through the forest as Wu Cong reappeared, his massive form materializing out of thin air like a glacier given life. In his enormous hand, struggling weakly, was a crimson mantis.

Alex’s mouth curled into a smile that held absolutely no warmth.

The mantis was beautiful in a horrific way. Deep red carapace gleaming like fresh blood, serrated arms that could slice through steel like paper, multifaceted eyes reflecting the moonlight in a thousand tiny prisms. A planetary level monster. A creature that could level small planets.

And Wu Cong held it like a child holding a troublesome insect.

"Bastards," Alex whispered, the word dripping with old anger. "You gave me so much pain. Now it’s time for payback."

He let the transformation rip through him again. Scales erupting across his skin, eyes shifting to vertical slits, aura flaring to emperor level nine.

Wu Cong tilted his massive head, curiosity flickering in those glacier blue eyes. "Master, do you want to kill it?"

"Yeah." Alex’s voice was rough, eager. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

"But master, its skin is very tough." Wu Cong’s brow furrowed, creating cracks in the frost that coated his face. "Will you be able to kill it? I can do it for you if you wish."

Alex shook his head slowly. "No. I need to kill it myself. Let me try first."

Wu Cong considered this for a moment, then nodded. He pinned the mantis to the ground with one enormous hand, pressing down just enough to hold it still without crushing it. The creature thrashed weakly, its limbs scraping uselessly against the frost covered earth.

Alex stepped forward.

"Alchemy."

The world shifted.

Suddenly he could see everything. The molecular structure of the mantis laid out before him like a blueprint. Atoms arranged in intricate patterns, bonds between them strong and complex. Planetary level creatures were built differently. Their very cells were fortified, denser, tougher than anything below.

He tried to use gravity on those molecules. To pull them apart, to destabilize them, to destroy.

But nothing happened.

The molecules were too powerful. Too dense. His gravity manipulation, strong as it was, couldn’t find purchase on something this fundamentally solid.

"It doesn’t matter," Alex muttered.

He was fully determined now.

So he did something insane.

He focused gravity on his own fist.

Five thousand times gravity, concentrated into a single point around his right hand. The air screamed as it was compressed. Light bent around the distortion. His dragon scaled fist began to glow with the sheer pressure of it.

Combined with his emperor level nine strength...

He punched.

The impact created a shockwave that flattened trees for a hundred meters in every direction. Frost exploded outward in a massive circle. The sound was less a punch and more a bomb going off.

[Ding! You have killed a planetary monster.]

[100000 life essence is added.]

"AAAAHHHH!"

Alex’s scream tore through the forest.

His fist... his entire hand up to the wrist... had shattered. Not broken. Shattered. Bone fragments mixed with pulverized flesh, scales scattered like bloody coins across the frost. The force required to punch through a planetary mantis’s carapace had simply been too much for his body to handle.

But he’d done it.

Through the haze of agony, through the blinding pain, Alex looked down at the mantis’s corpse. Its head was gone. Completely obliterated by the force of his strike. Green ichor mixed with silver blue blood on the ground.

He laughed through the pain. A crazy, breathless laugh.

Then he activated his regeneration skill.

Light elemental energy flooded the wound, and slowly, agonizingly slowly, his hand began to rebuild itself. Bone grew first, spiderwebbing out from his wrist in thin filaments that thickened and strengthened. Then muscle, weaving itself around the new bone in intricate patterns. Finally scales, pushing through tender new skin to form a protective layer.

The process took nearly an hour.

And he had one hundred thousand life essence burning in his system.

"More," he breathed, his eyes were wild. "More."

Wu Cong was staring at him with an uneasy looks.

"Master," Wu Cong said slowly, "are you a masochist?"

Alex coughed so hard he nearly choked. "Cough! Cough! Don’t talk nonsense."

His face was definitely not red. Absolutely not.

Wu Cong’s expression didn’t change, but there was definitely amusement in those glacier eyes now. Without another word, he vanished again, presumably to find more mantises for his apparently insane master.

Alex turned to find Ember floating nearby, watching him with those big dragon eyes.

"Ember," he said quietly, suddenly serious. "You have parents, right? I stole you from them. I beat you until you were senseless." He paused, the words heavy on his tongue. "Do you hate me?"

Ember was quiet for a long moment.

"I don’t hate you, master," Ember said finally, his small voice was careful and sincere. "I am incapable of hating you." Another pause. "But I would love to meet my parents someday. If you allow me. Maybe they would agree to make a bond with you too?"

Alex felt something twist in his chest. Guilt, maybe. Or gratitude. Or both.

"It’s not that I don’t want you to meet them," he said, choosing his words carefully. "It’s just that I’m not strong enough yet. They might try to take you back by force. And I couldn’t..." He trailed off, unable to finish the sentence.

Couldn’t lose you. Couldn’t fight them. Couldn’t bear it.

He took a breath. "But I promise you, Ember. Once I’m strong enough to face them, I’ll take you to meet them. And if they want to bond with me too, I’ll allow it."

Ember’s whole face lit up. The little dragon zoomed forward and pressed himself against Alex’s chest, tiny claws gripping his shirt.

"Okay, master! Ember will wait!"

Alex hugged him tight, feeling the warmth of those small scales against his skin. "You’re such a nice kid, Ember."

---

An hour later, another thunderous crash announced Wu Cong’s return.

This time he had two crimson mantises. One in each hand, both struggling weakly against his grip. Their serrated arms scraped uselessly against his frost coated fur, unable to penetrate the hide of a planetary level seven beast.

"Wu cong!" Alex’s face split into a genuine grin. "You’ve done a good job."

The mantises clicked and hissed, their multifaceted eyes fixed on Alex with murderous intent. They knew what was coming. They could sense his lower cultivation level, could probably smell the blood still drying on the frost from the last one.

They had no idea what was about to happen.

Alex transformed again, the now familiar burn of dragon scales spreading across his body. He looked at his fist, still tingling from the regeneration.

"Well," he muttered, "here we go again."

Gravity condensed around his fist which was five thousand times.

He punched.

BOOM.

"AHHH!"

The mantis’s head exploded. So did his hand.

Regeneration. Wait for it to heal. Flex the new fingers.

BOOM.

"AHHH!"

Another mantis. Another shattered hand. Another hundred thousand life essence.

[Ding! The ultimate physique has upgraded.]

[Ultimate Physique]

[Level: 16]

[Life Essence: 0/400000]

[Basic Gene Strength: 16x]

Alex stared at the numbers and cursed.

Four hundred thousand for the next level. The bar kept rising, higher and higher, like the universe itself was trying to slow him down.

But then he looked at Wu Cong, patiently waiting with those glacier eyes, and smiled.

With this ape, he wouldn’t have to wait long at all.

---

Earth

The War Room was silent.

Ten martial emperors stood before a massive screen that dominated the entire wall. On it, four separate feeds showed the same terrifying scene. Massive monsters gathering at the barrier’s edge, their forms barely visible through the shimmering energy field. Occasionally one would attack, slamming against the barrier with enough force to make the entire screen flicker.

Every face in the room was grim.

Julius spoke first, his voice heavy as lead. "How much longer can we keep this up?"

Arthur’s jaw tightened. "Around ten days. Maybe less if they attack in force."

The words hung in the air like a death sentence.

"We still haven’t found Alex." Julius’s voice cracked slightly on the name. "Maybe we’re looking at the last generation of humanity. We should prepare the apocalypse protocol."

No one objected.

No one could.

The apocalypse protocol. A failsafe plan created in darker times, meant to preserve at least a seed of humanity if the worst happened. Children would be hidden in underground bunkers with enough supplies to last decades. Records of human knowledge would be stored in multiple locations. A last desperate attempt to ensure the species didn’t simply vanish.

"Okay, president," someone murmured. The words tasted like ash.

Elyndros, ancient and weathered, spoke up. "Apocalypse protocol, huh?" His voice was quiet, thoughtful. "But do you think after we die, those children will be able to live on their own in a world ravaged by monsters?"

Julius met his eyes. "We don’t have any other options. We can only hope the kids survive and some miracle finds them."

Hope. Such a small word for such a heavy burden.