Apocalypse: The Primordial Pearl Recognizes Its Master, Starting with Infinite Space

"Roar—Roar—!!!"

A roar tore through the ruins, and a colossal corpse, three meters tall and covered in dark gold scales, roared, shaking the heavens and earth, its sound waves causing the broken walls to hum.

Its steel-pillar-like arm swept out, and the bone spikes on its arm made a whooshing sound as they swung.

The breath emanating from his mouth was filled with a fishy, ​​foul odor.

"Boom!"

Lin Chen quickly rolled away to avoid the attack.

The entire load-bearing wall behind them suddenly exploded, sending debris flying like rain.

Even though Lin Chen rolled and dodged, his back was still ripped open by a bone spur, leaving a deep gash that exposed the bone. Blood instantly soaked through his patched combat uniform.

He gritted his teeth and forced himself to sit up, shouting hoarsely, "Zhao Kai! Hold him off! Hold on a little longer!"

"Brother Chen! I really can't hold on any longer!" Zhao Kai cried out from the flank, wildly swinging his chipped alloy knife. "This monster is definitely not level six... its scales are impossible to cut!"

They had never seen a zombie covered in scales before.

Not far away, the corpse of a similarly sized mutated giant ape lay on the ground, its skull shattered—clearly, its internal crystal core had been devoured by the monster. It had likely completed some kind of evolution.

"Bang!"

Lin Chen turned his head and saw that Li Qiang had collapsed to the ground on the other side, his right leg torn open by bone spurs, and blood was flowing out continuously.

He barely managed to lift his head, his voice barely a whisper: "Brother Chen... I can't go on either..."

All three were injured to varying degrees, their combat strength diminished. But even in this desperate situation, Lin Chen's eyes grew increasingly cold.

He stared intently at the zombie's dark scales and its eyes, which were turning from red to purple.

A glint of light flashed in his eyes: "Its eyes have turned purple... This is a seventh-tier zombie! It swallowed the mutated beast's core and has evolved! But its movements are sluggish; it must be severely injured and at its last gasp! Hold on—if we kill it, we can turn the tide!"

He glared at the two of them again, then stood up, ready to strike again.

These two are acting strange today; they haven't performed at all.

But given their years of brotherhood, he simply assumed they were conserving their spiritual energy: "Stop conserving your energy, use your supernatural abilities to take him down!"

A seventh-tier crystal core! If they succeed, at least one of the three will have a chance to break through the sixth-tier barrier!

A fiery blaze ignited in Lin Chen's eyes. Zhao Kai and Li Qiang exchanged a silent glance, their expressions also filled with ecstasy, as if they had forgotten their pain.

Although the Corpse Emperor moved slowly, his injuries healed extremely quickly.

The three of them did not dare to stop their attacks for a moment—Lin Chen slashed with his long sword, while Li Qiang's fireballs and Zhao Kai's ice arrows bombarded the Corpse Emperor in turn.

Ignoring Lin Chen's attacks, the Corpse Emperor relentlessly focused his attacks on the weakest member, Li Qiang.

Li Qiang charged left and right, but ultimately had no way to avoid it. He was pierced through the chest by the Corpse Emperor's claw and fell to the ground.

Seeing the opportunity, Zhao Kai quickly retreated to a distance.

The Corpse Emperor turned and pounced on Lin Chen—he had already figured out how to defeat them one by one, and his intelligence was probably no less than that of an ordinary person!

"I can't hold on any longer! Brother Chen, think of something quick!" Zhao Kai shouted as he retreated, his gaze sweeping over a broken wall on one side of the ruins, a hint of something unusual hidden in his tone.

"Thump!"

Lin Chen kept dodging, but the Corpse Emperor's giant fist was already raining down!

Unable to dodge in time, he was blasted several meters away. Although he instinctively veered to the left, a rusted steel bar pierced his right chest from behind.

"Wow—" A mouthful of blood spurted out, kicking up a cloud of dust.

The excruciating pain surged like a tide, which only fueled Lin Chen's ferocity.

He discarded his dulled longsword, drew a dagger from his side, channeled his last strength into the blade, and shouted, "Earth Release: Flash!"

His figure vanished suddenly, and in the next instant he appeared behind the Corpse Emperor.

A cold glint flashed, and the dagger plunged fiercely into his skull—the heavily wounded Corpse Emperor was unable to react in time!

"Pfft!"

The blade plunged in fiercely, and Lin Chen twisted it forcefully, bringing the Corpse Emperor's movements to an abrupt halt. The massive body crashed to the ground.

A purple crystal core the size of a fist rolled into the dust, making a crisp "tap" sound.

Exhausted, Lin Chen knelt down and reached for the crystal core—

The moment I got my hands on the crystal core, a sudden chill ran down my back, and a sharp pain exploded inside me!

"A level seven crystal core!" Zhao Kai's sobs had long since vanished, replaced only by naked greed. "It's mine! I finally got it!"

Lin Chen suddenly turned around—Zhao Kai was holding that familiar alloy knife, the blade stained with his blood!

"Zhao Kai...you?" Lin Chen's voice trembled.

Zhao Kai grinned maliciously, kicked him over, and stomped hard on his right hand.

The sound of bones cracking rang out clearly: "Brother Chen, don't look at me like that. If you have to blame someone, blame yourself for being too trusting."

"Why?" Lin Chen coughed up black blood. "Five years of life and death together! I led you to find food, shelter, and to dig up the armory..."

"Side by side through life and death?" Zhao Kai laughed. "You dare to call me 'brother'? I'm older than you, yet I have to call you 'brother' all the time? I've had enough! You're nothing but my miner and meat shield! If it weren't for your earth-遁 (earth-遁 is a technique in Chinese mythology that allows you to dig for food), I would have fed you to the zombies long ago! Now that resources are exhausted, you—are useless."

He leaned closer, his voice chilling, and said, "The Black Dragon said that as long as I offer up your corpse, I can become the vice-lord of the Black Dragon Legion. From then on, I can command the winds and rains within Ming City!"

Lin Chen turned his head with difficulty to look at Li Qiang: "You knew all along too?"

The latter's eyes were vacant, his chest pierced through: "Brother Chen... I'm sorry... You haven't found food for too long... Brother Kai promised to give me ten cans of food... I don't want to starve to death..."

"Ten cans of food?" Lin Chen laughed bitterly. "My life is only worth ten cans of food."

Zhao Kai stood up impatiently and grabbed the crystal core from Lin Chen's hand: "Enough with the nonsense! Just die already. I'll take full credit for your work!" He wanted to swallow the crystal core before the black dragon arrived and monopolize this incredible opportunity.

"Slap...slap..."

A burst of applause drifted from the shadows of the ruins.

Four figures slowly walked out.

The leader was clad in black armor, of medium height, with bulging muscles. His face was ordinary, not like that of a villain.

Zhao Kai froze, a fawning smile spreading across his face: "Brother Long! You've arrived! The crystal core is here, and the person has been taken care of. As agreed—"

"An agreement? What agreement?" The black dragon sneered, steadily stepping forward. "Have you forgotten what I hate most?"

"Brother Long, I...I don't understand..."

"Traitors." Black Dragon's voice was as cold as ice. "Especially dogs who betray their brothers."

"Brother Long! You can't just abandon me after you've served your purpose!" Zhao Kai's face turned pale, and he retreated repeatedly.

Before he could finish speaking, an armored warrior appeared behind the black dragon like a ghost, and a dagger pierced his heart with pinpoint accuracy.

"You...you guys are playing me?" Zhao Kai looked down at the tip of the blade on his chest, his pupils unfocused.

"Otherwise what?" Black Dragon strode forward, a sneer playing on his lips. "The three of you have repeatedly refused my offers, and you've long been a major concern for me. Especially Lin Chen—he's stolen my supplies multiple times. His earth-遁 (earth-遁 is a type of magical ability) ability is a menace to him."

He looked around, his smile deepening: "I set up this scheme so you would first have a great battle with the Corpse King. You would kill Lin Chen, and then I would kill you. This way, we could eliminate the threat and obtain the Corpse King's Crystal Core—oh, now it's the 'Corpse Emperor's Crystal Core'."

He threw his head back and laughed loudly: "Isn't this a brilliant plan?"

"You... I'll haunt you even as a ghost!" Zhao Kai was so enraged that he vomited blood and collapsed to the ground, dying before Lin Chen.

Li Qiang was also on his deathbed, his eyes glazed over and his spirit broken.

Lin Chen lay in a pool of blood, glanced at Zhao Kai, then looked at Black Dragon, a bitter smile tugging at the corner of his mouth: "Heh, Zhao Kai actually dared to believe your words? And I actually fell into the hands of such a fool."

Black Dragon laughed triumphantly, "This guy is really stupid, hahaha..."

Lin Chen's consciousness had begun to dissipate, unaware that the white bead he had picked up from the nameless Taoist temple in his chest pocket was quietly absorbing his blood, emitting a faint red glow.

"Black Dragon! Zhao Kai! Li Qiang!" Lin Chen roared, squeezing out his last ounce of strength, "If there is an afterlife—I will make you pay for your crimes in blood!"

"Buzz—!!!"

Suddenly, the white pearl burst forth with a blinding red light! The radiance burst open, and the surrounding blood mist churned, transforming into a crimson rainbow that pierced straight through Lin Chen's brow.

A huge vortex split open in the ground, with howling winds and flying debris!

"What the hell?!" the black dragon roared, its eyebrows twitching wildly. "Stealing the crystal core!"

An armored warrior lunged toward the crystal core, his fingertips barely touching the edge of the vortex—when his entire arm shattered like glass!

"Ah—!" Before the screams could finish, his body had turned to dust and scattered all over the ground.

The black dragon's face turned deathly pale, and it staggered backward, exclaiming, "What... what kind of power is this?!"

Amidst the red light, Lin Chen's body gradually became transparent.

He glanced one last time at the corpses of Zhao Kai and Li Qiang, his eyes filled with venom: "Screw your brothers! Screw your loyalty!"

The crimson mist swirled, the light dissipated, and the vortex vanished without a trace.

Amidst the ruins, only the purple crystal core remained, lying silently in a pool of blood.

Lin Chen—had vanished without a trace.