Apocalypse: I Raised the Ultimate Antagonist from Scratch

The heavy, dark silence in Guo Jiong’s room was shattered by the sound of muffled, frantic sobbing.

Guo Jiong, who was awake at his desk reviewing the morning fuel distribution logs, jumped out of his chair as his daughter, Xiao Mei, burst through the inner bedroom door. Her face was pale, tears streaming down her cheeks, her small body trembling so violently she could barely stand.

"Xiao Mei!" Guo Jiong dropped to his knees, catching her in his arms. "What’s wrong, baby? Did you have a nightmare?"

"Daddy... Daddy, no!" Xiao Mei sobbed, her tiny hands clutching tightly at her father’s vest. "I went to get water... and... and the mean lady and the pale man were talking!"

Guo Jiong wiped a tear from her cheek, his protective instincts instantly flaring. "What mean lady? Who was talking, Xiao Mei?"

"Miss Lu Ning and the pale man from the lower bay!" Xiao Mei rasped, her voice shaking as she gasped for air. "Their door wasn’t closed! They said... they said Commander Han is leaving at dawn, and they’re going to make Han Ye suffer! They want to hurt him and blame Auntie Lin so Commander Han hates her!"

Guo Jiong’s heart skipped a beat. A surge of pure, icy fury rushed through his veins. Five-year-old Han Ye was just an innocent child!

Guo Jiong didn’t waste a single second asking further questions. He picked Xiao Mei up, setting her gently on her bed. "Stay here, sweetheart. Lock the door from the inside and don’t open it for anyone but me."

Stepping out into his main room, Guo Jiong reached for his assigned comms unit, dialing Han Zheng’s private high-priority channel.

"Commander," Guo Jiong said, his voice dropping into an intensely low, urgent register the second the call connected. "We have a critical security breach. Gather in the central surveillance room right now. Bring Miss Lin Qing—and call Captain Lu Feng immediately."

Ten minutes later, the central surveillance room was bathed in the cold blue glow of dozens of high-definition security monitors.

Han Zheng, Lin Qing, and Guo Jiong stood around the main console while Lu Feng stood off to the side, his face rigid.

"Rewind primary residential suite hallway to 00:45," Lin Qing commanded softly, her dark eyes sharp as a hawk’s as she operated the console.

The high-angle security camera feed played back on the central screen. The footage clearly showed Yang Jun slipping quietly out of his quarters, walking down the hall, and knocking on Lu Ning’s door. It showed Lu Ning letting him in—and as Guo Jiong had noted, the heavy steel door rested against its frame, leaving a thin sliver of light open to the dark corridor.

A minute later, little Xiao Mei appeared on screen with her cup, pausing outside the door, freezing in horror, and then sprinting back down the hallway.

"Xiao Mei heard every single word," Guo Jiong said, his fists clenched so hard his knuckles turned white. "They’re planning to harm Han Ye during the dawn transport detail while you’re away, Commander. They want to frame Vice Lin Qing and sabotage her to tear you two apart."

Beside them, the air around Han Zheng turned bone-chillingly cold. His broad frame seemed to loom impossibly larger in the dim room, his dark eyes narrowing into slits of pure, terrifying menace. The mere thought of anyone touching his son stoked an infernal, murderous rage inside his chest.

"Lu Feng," Han Zheng spoke, his deep voice dangerously quiet, reverberating like rolling thunder in the closed room.

Lu Feng stood frozen, staring at the screen where his sister’s room was displayed. His face was ghastly pale, his chest heaving as a deep, agonizing heartbreak shattered his composure.

He knew Yang Jun was shady—Han Zheng had already alerted him that Yang Jun was the primary suspect behind Lin Qing’s fall on the ridge. Lu Feng had been prepared to deal with Yang Jun like any other traitor.

But Lu Ning? His own blood sister?

Lu Feng knew Lu Ning was petty, vain, and bitterly jealous of Lin Qing. He knew she idolized Han Zheng and hated being relegated to a civilian status. But he never, in his wildest nightmares, believed she would stoop to targeting a defenceless five-year-old boy.

"She’s your sister," Han Zheng said coldly, turning his intense, dark gaze directly onto Lu Feng. "And Yang Jun was your squad member. How do you want to handle them?"

Lu Feng swallowed hard, a painful lump rising in his throat. He closed his eyes for three long seconds, breathing through the raw betrayal, before opening them with absolute, unyielding resolve.

"They aren’t soldiers or civilians anymore, Commander," Lu Feng said, his voice rough and tight, but steady. "They are monsters plotting treason and the murder of a child. We don’t cancel the dawn run. We set the trap, catch them red-handed with the evidence, and execute justice without mercy."

Lin Qing looked at Lu Feng with a quiet, solemn respect, then turned to Han Zheng. "If we catch Lu Ning in the act, Yang Jun will realize the plot failed the moment she doesn’t report back. We need to secure both of them simultaneously."

A plan was drawn up within minutes.

At 4:00 AM, the heavy diesel engines of the primary supply convoy roared to life in the lower loading bay, filling the cavernous concrete hall with deep vibrations.

Standing on the high observation walkway, Lu Ning watched through the thick glass as Commander Han Zheng, clad in his full tactical gear, climbed into the lead transport truck. The blast gate rolled open, and the convoy lumbered out into the freezing darkness of the mountain pass.

Down on the floor, Yang Jun wiped an oil rag across his hands, catching Lu Ning’s gaze from the upper window. He gave her a subtle, almost imperceptible nod before turning back to his fuel drum rotation.

’It’s happening’, Yang Jun thought, his heart pounding with a dark, desperate thrill. ’Han Zheng is gone. Lin Qing will be trapped in the main command room reviewing satellite grids all morning. The coast is completely clear.’

By 5:30 AM, the corridors of the residential suite were dead silent. Most off-duty soldiers were resting, and the morning shift had not yet reported to their posts.

Lu Ning stepped quietly out of her room, clad in a thick sweater. Hidden inside the right sleeve of her coat was a small glass vial containing a concentrated, highly toxic industrial cleaning solvent stolen from the secondary maintenance closet.

A few drops in little Han Ye’s morning fruit juice would cause severe chemical burns and systemic shock—enough to put the boy in critical condition while leaving zero obvious external marks of physical violence.

She glided down the hall like a shadow, her heart hammering against her ribs, driven purely by bitter, festering hatred.

’Lin Qing ruined my life’, Lu Ning thought, her face twisting into a malicious sneer. ’Let’s see how she explains this to Han Zheng when he comes back.’

Reaching the high-security door of the secondary residential suite, Lu Ning pulled out a stolen secondary master keycard she had managed to swipe directly from Lu Feng.

She swiped the card. The electronic lock beeped softly, its light turning from red to green.

Lu Ning slipped inside, quietly closing the heavy door behind her.

The outer lounge room was dimly lit, completely quiet. Lu Ning tiptoed across the soft rug toward the bedroom door on the right, unstopping the glass vial in her sleeve.

She reached out, pushing the inner bedroom door open. "Little Han Ye...?" she whispered softly, her voice dripping with fake, sickening warmth.

She froze.

The blood in Lu Ning’s veins turned to liquid ice. The glass vial slipped from her trembling fingers, shattering against the floor, spilling toxic liquid across the carpet.

The room wasn’t empty.

Han Ye wasn’t even in the bed.

Standing right in the center of the room, towering like a terrifying demon under the warm overhead light, was Han Zheng. He hadn’t left with the convoy at all—having quietly transferred control of the lead truck to Lieutenant Chen at the outer gate before doubling back through the secondary blast door. His dark eyes were fixed on her with an absolute, lethal intent that stripped the air right out of her lungs.

Flanking him on the left was Lin Qing, her eyes cold and unreadable, and Guo Jiong, who had his heavy sidearm drawn and aimed straight at her forehead.

And standing on the right, his face drawn in a mask of profound, agonizing heartbreak and disgust, was her brother, Captain Lu Feng.

"Brother Lu... Lu Feng...?" Lu Ning gasped, staggering back against the doorframe, her face draining of all color. "I... I was just checking on the boy—"

"Shut your mouth, Lu Ning," Lu Feng spat, his voice trembling with raw grief as he stepped forward, raising a pair of heavy steel suppression cuffs. "You walk into a trap set by your own family. It’s over."