Ice Age Apocalypse: I Hoard Billions of Supplies Chapter 1581: Not Human

Ruan Ping was blasted into the sea. He surfaced from the icy cold water, golden supernatural power gathering beneath his feet to form a stable platform.

He was completely soaked through, gasping for air in great heaves, looking utterly bedraggled. The upper half of his clothes had been blasted to shreds, revealing his deathly pale back.

But at the position of his spine, a terrifying crack had quietly split open, revealing a jet-black spinal column.

Zhang Yi had already arrived at the scene. Seeing what was before him, confusion arose in his heart. "This guy's body... it's so strange. Could he be some kind of modified human?"

Though doubts lingered in his mind, Zhang Yi's attacks showed not a moment's hesitation. Strike while the iron is hot! Capturing him alive was an option worth considering, but the priority was to kill Ruan Ping outright. Not a single drop of slack would be given to him!

The Sword in the Tree sliced through the sky, "Void Slash!"

Zhang Yi hovered in midair, his long blade swinging continuously. Slender black edges fell toward the sea like a massive net, leaving Ruan Ping absolutely no room to dodge.

If Ruan Ping wanted to compete with Zhang Yi in speed, he stood absolutely zero chance of winning. Now that he was severely wounded, he had no means of escape other than to clash head-on with Zhang Yi.

He panted heavily as the golden light on his body flared violently, ultimately condensing into a thick suit of golden armor covering his entire frame!

However, with each Void Blade that landed, the golden light of his armor dimmed a fraction, and Ruan Ping's body was uncontrollably knocked backward.

At that moment, the Tianwei Cannon's second shot had finished charging.

That terrifying power—this time Ruan Ping sensed it immediately, as he was now on guard. But what good did sensing it do? Even just facing Zhang Yi on the front line was already more than he could handle.

"Cripple your own limbs and surrender! Or die!" Zhang Yi said to him.

Ruan Ping's gaze turned dark and grim, his eyes filled with barely suppressed rage and despair. "You want me to surrender? To a worm like you? Hah, absolutely impossible!"

He roared, his right hand condensing golden supernatural power into a massive war spear, hurling it viciously toward Zhang Yi!

But this time, it couldn't even penetrate a single one of Zhang Yi's Dimensional Gates. "You're too weak." Zhang Yi said coldly.

These words infuriated Ruan Ping beyond measure. The golden light on his body was squeezed out like water from a sponge, desperately wrung dry, then transformed into all kinds of weapons to strike at Zhang Yi!

However, the word "Absolute Defense" was no joke. Defense is the best offense—that was Zhang Yi's motto. When facing existences beneath him, Zhang Yi always struck with overwhelming force, never giving the opponent a single chance.

"Since you're courting death, don't blame me for what comes next!"

Zhang Yi twisted two fingers in midair. In the void, an immense power instantly warped and twisted, crushing Ruan Ping's entire body into a tight ball!

At the same time, Lu Keran fired the Tianwei Cannon's earth-shattering strike!

Under the double assault, Ruan Ping's body was nearly blown to pieces. The violent explosion vaporized the waters of the East Sea, blasting a massive spherical cavity over ten kilometers in radius into the ocean surface. Then came the thunderous roar of seawater rushing back in.

It was at this moment that Zhang Yi's pupils sharply contracted, because on Ruan Ping's body, he saw something different. Under their attacks, Ruan Ping's flesh had decayed. His deathly pale skin peeled off in sheets like newspaper pasted on a wall, revealing the dark red, thorn-like skin beneath.

That was not human skin. His arms were covered in dense bumps, and the texture of his flesh resembled metal. Especially his arms—as the skin fragments peeled away, his hands were revealed. No, those weren't hands—they were claws!

Slender, covered in scales, with sharp talons—dark red claws!

"A beast-type Transcendent? Or... was he never human to begin with?" Zhang Yi's heart pounded with shock.

If he were a beast-type Transcendent, there would be no need to hide his true form this way. Unless—he simply looked like this naturally, and thus had to use artificial skin to conceal his appearance.

What the hell was this thing? And where did it come from?

Zhang Yi's mind was in turmoil, but his body reacted before his thoughts, moving on pure instinct.

Kill!

No matter who it was, if it was something that could threaten him, then killing it was the answer! Dead people were the safest kind!

"Star-Piercing Cannon!"

Seizing the moment when Ruan Ping was at his weakest, Zhang Yi gathered the most powerful force within him and fired a Star-Piercing Cannon directly at Ruan Ping!

The hyper-velocity void energy shot through like a sharp blade, piercing through every obstacle between them—and also through Ruan Ping's chest!

Ruan Ping looked down at the black blade piercing his chest, dark green blood flowing down along his wound. He seemed unable to believe what he was seeing.

Zhang Yi knew that Ruan Ping no longer had any strength to fight back—his power was utterly spent.

So—he would take him alive!

Zhang Yi dove down, the Sword in the Tree suddenly swelling massively in midair, transforming into thousands of enormous vines that spread a giant net across the sky, descending upon Ruan Ping's head!

But Ruan Ping looked up, and with an incredibly sinister, bitter expression said to Zhang Yi: "This is not the end—it's only the beginning!"

"After I die, your doomsday won't be far behind!"

"Remember, something far more powerful than me will come! Nothing can change the outcome of your death!"

"This is the price you pay—for killing a god!"

Zhang Yi's brow furrowed, sensing something wrong. He accelerated the release of the Sword in the Tree, intending to bind Ruan Ping completely. The massive vines converged in midair, forming an enormous sphere that compressed inward.

But at that moment, Ruan Ping raised his right hand, fingers pressed together like a sharp blade, and plunged it directly into his own heart!

An utterly terrifying force erupted outward from him as the epicenter!

Ruan Ping chose to end his own life rather than become Zhang Yi's prisoner!

Yet facing an explosion of this magnitude, Zhang Yi did not choose to evade. Instead, he braced himself against the blast and dove straight through it!

"An explosion of this level isn't enough to threaten me! Even if you're going to die, leave your Essence behind for me!"

A crippled Black Chariot trying to stop Zhang Yi from seizing his Essence through a stunt like this? Absolutely no chance. The Sword in the Tree pierced straight through his body, and before Ruan Ping's flesh could be obliterated by the explosion, it wrapped around his Essence and returned it to Zhang Yi's hand.