[Edward POV]
From the old man's memories, I learned the lore of the world. Forty-five years ago, the world ended. A meteor carrying an extraterrestrial virus fell from the sky, releasing judgment upon mankind.
"Simple enough." I shrugged as I listened.
Half of the human race was infected almost instantly, and those who didn't turn were slaughtered by those who did. Within a single year, ten billion people dwindled to barely a million scattered survivors.
Humanity should have been erased, yet some refused to die. Among the ruins, people discovered that the monsters carried crystallized cores inside their bodies.
"It reminds me of a lot of stories I've read before."
The weakest, the gray core, when consumed, allowed a human to resist the virus longer. Their immune systems hardened, their bodies became tougher, and they could breathe in the poisoned air without falling sick.
The yellow cores, born from stronger zombies, granted something more—a spark of mutation that bloomed into abilities.
One survivor might find wings sprouting from his back, granting him brief flight; another might vanish into the shadows, their body molded for stealth. Others grew armored skin, claws, or speed that rivaled the infected themselves.
"People call these mutants warriors, but some have lost themselves with their newfound strength, becoming tyrants instead," the old man said with hazy eyes.
Those who survived long enough to claim a green core found their powers evolving.
Their first ability sharpened to frightening heights, or a second one awakened, weaving them further from humanity and closer to the monsters they hunted.
Each human mutation was unique, shaped by their hidden aptitude, their will to survive, and the cruel chance of the virus.
Yet even with power, the higher levels of infection loomed beyond reach. No human alive could fight a level four zombie alone, for the pink cores they carried were too dangerous to claim.
Blue cores, born of level five creatures, were spoken of only in whispers, and the rainbow core of a level six monster was more myth than fact—a promise of godhood, or madness, depending on who told the story.
"Hmmm… But I got all the cores at once though," I muttered, checking the rainbow core I'd taken from the White Witch of the Northern City.
I crunched on the gray core to build up some immunity as I pulled my helmet back. The indicator told me that I wasn't infected, but still, I didn't want to keep the helmet on for the entire month.
The zombie I killed had a title, for she was a nightmarish existence to the survivors.
If she set her eyes on someone, she would obsessively hunt them—just as she followed the old man's teammates back to the encampment and slaughtered the two thousand people who lived there.
"Now that I think about it, she is pretty unique compared to the others. More intelligent," I muttered. "Thank goodness I handled that early."
If she had continued to hunt me and stumbled into the research lab I was heading toward, she might have destroyed the equipment there and interfered with the research.
As I thought back on the lore of this world, it felt familiar, but at the same time, like a mixture of a lot of novels I'd read before.
"It's simple enough to understand. Evolved zombies fight against evolved humans."
To get to the research center in Tanuki City—yes, highly referential to Resident Evil's Raccoon City—I turned on the suit's flight mode and flew toward the city, five hundred kilometers away.
I didn't kill the old man; I left him there after giving him some nutritious food.
He had dulled the blade of his spear, only wanting to rob me instead of killing me. He had been starving for two whole months now.
In this world, even mushrooms could turn you into a zombie. People could barely eat anything, as everything was infected—the crops, the jungle fruits, the beasts.
Some decided to resort to cannibalism to feed themselves. I had to admire the old man's morals for not wanting to resort to that.
The old man had told me that as long as the Petranodon—the pterodactyl-like creature I'd seen at the beginning—ruled the skies, no one should dare to fly.
But the mutant animal only flew during the day, and slept at night. The sun was already down, so there was no problem for me to do this except for the few flying beasts I encountered.
One of which was a three-headed owl. I managed to kill it with one swing of my sword. Surprisingly, they too had cores inside their bodies. This one had a green core—the level 3 core.
"Finally!" My eyes brightened up underneath the helmet as I saw the towering black building at the middle of Tanuki City.
There used to be perimeter defenses around the city, but they had been breached. However, the research lab was still intact since it had its own defense system.
But it seemed that whatever defenses they used to have weren't working anymore, as the power had been cut off by the tremendous damage from fighting the zombie horde.
I flew through the broken window in the building, and saw a lot of still-intact medical equipment there.
"Yes!" I pumped my fist in celebration.
The first thing I did was to identify the machines, and then bring them all up to one floor. I picked the floor where the windows were still intact.
Finally putting my backpack on the floor, I took out a small android core which I had fashioned into a small nuclear reactor to power up all of the machines.
Before the second day began, I had already set up everything to study the virus here.
"Oracle, connect to the research facility mainframe," I ordered my AI.
"Understood– there's a lingering intelligence inside the mainframe. Should I devour it and take over completely?"
I was interested in otherworld AIs, but I didn't want to split my focus.
"Just devour it."
"Understood."
The Gray AI was killed in just a few seconds; its terabytes of data were swallowed by Oracle easily.
The "Canopy" Corporation was a huge pharmaceutical company in this world before the zombie apocalypse happened.
They had tried to cure the world, but were only halfway there before the zombie horde attacked their facility, prompting them to escape from the lab hurriedly.
"There's a fallout shelter underneath this research lab," Oracle said, surprising me.
I asked, "Are there survivors?"
He said, "The fallout shelter isn't connected to the mainframe or any other energy source. If there were survivors, they would've died a long time ago from being trapped inside the concrete compound without a way out."
"They could use alternative energy. Maybe they had evolved humans with an electric power. That way, they could stay off the grid if they used them as a battery pack." I guessed at the possibility of the inner workings of the shelter.
In any case, if they weren't bothering me, I wouldn't go and bother them.
Five days passed by in a flash. I had learned everything the pharmaceutical company had in their data storage.
I also learned the year for this world. It was 2073. So the meteor had fallen in 2028.
The society here was a bit more advanced. They had managed to cure cancer in the 2000s and already had smart products in the 90s.
I also learned about their research to save crops from the airborne viruses. Just like the cure, that research was only studied halfway.
I also found an interesting machine there. It was called the replicator. Basically, it was used to replicate medicines in order to ensure easy manufacturing for a worldwide pandemic crisis.
Then, they distributed the material using an airborne transmission—a gas cloud like in The Amazing Spiderman.
Their data was really helpful to my research. The 'Alien-pox,' as I called it, had some similarities in its characteristics with the zombie virus.
I think in just ten more days, I'll be able to crack the virus and find the antidote for the Alien-pox.
"After seven days, the grain pills can no longer satiate me. I need real food," I muttered, popping the brown-colored rice pill into my mouth.
Using the seeds I'd brought, I set aside a section of the lab to create a hydroponic greenhouse. Aqua's purification spell cleansed the soil and water of any trace of the zombie plague, and I rigged a system of UV lamps to supplement the thin shafts of sunlight filtering in through the reinforced windows.
Tomatoes, potatoes, spring onions, beans—even bananas—were sprouting in neat rows. With the plant growth spell running through the roots, I could already see tender green shoots pushing up, defiant against the sterile concrete around them. In three days they would be ripe.
I was also using the crops to study the data left behind by the scientist, about turning the crops into virus resistant crops suitable for humanity's ingestion.
The quickest way for it to happen was to powderize the zombie or beast cores, and then mix them with the soil. I was testing it out with different coloured cores to see if they would do anything.
"I should take a bath."
I hadn't moved from the floor in a week now, and I smelled like garbage. I could use a clean spell, but I wanted to clean myself in real water.
So I grabbed a large drum can, cleaned it up, and then used a water spell to fill it up before using fire attribute chakra to heat it up.
"Ahh~" I moaned as I took the bath. "I will spare fifteen minutes to take a bath, then I'm going to go back to work," I told myself.
I couldn't relax, not until I found the cure, and until I was sure I could save Jenna and the rest of the people in my world.
A huge monster suddenly dropped to the front of the building. A 20-meter-tall, eagle-looking flying behemoth screeched as it landed.
I sighed and then slowly got out of the bath. "I can't even get two minutes of peace around here."
Since day one, I had been besieged by multiple hordes of zombies and beasts.
Day 1: 30 blade zombies came knocking on the front door.
Day 2: 30,000 humanoid ants.
Day 3: 5000 fishman-looking monsters that came out from the river at the back of the city.
Day 4: A swarm of 3-meter-tall bees.
Day 5: Mushroom army—2-meter-tall walking mushrooms with arms and legs.
Day 6: Level 4 Giant Black Snake—200 meters tall.
Now, this motherfucker.
They seemed to be attracted to the level 6 core I had in storage. The creatures were drawn to the immense energy radiating from it, since they needed cores for their own evolution.
I had consumed enough cores to reach level 3 of the evolved human stage—currently digesting the green ones.
No new abilities had awakened, but the green cores granted me something else– a powerful healing factor and an incredible adaptability boost in every environment.
My physical strength also surged. My chakra level quadrupled. My mana became more dense. At this point, I no longer needed to rely on Uchiha Madara's cards to match his level of destructive force.
I grabbed my black meteorite sword and leapt through the window, completely naked.
"One-handed sword style: Dragon Slaying," I muttered in a cold tone, swinging the blade in a downward arc. A bluish wave of sword energy erupted from its edge, slicing the eagle clean in half from head to tail.
The creature's eyes rolled white, and it crashed to the ground without even getting the chance to strike.
"A pink core? The ants carried green ones. The Fishmen were green too. The black snake is blue…They're getting stronger and stronger." I sighed, prying a baseball-sized core from the eagle's body before burning the remains to ash with a fireball jutsu.
Afterward, I cleaned myself up and put on a bathrobe I found in the facility's worker rest area. The room had beds and pantries for researchers who worked overnight.
I yawned, exhaustion finally catching up to me. I hadn't slept in seven days. "Maybe I should rest."
The perimeter detection system I'd set up with Oracle ensured I would know what was happening within a hundred-mile radius around the lab. Nothing stirred, so I figured it was safe to get some sleep.
My suit moved on its own, functioning as my assistant thanks to the automatic mode I'd programmed for the cure research. Once I put it back on, I let myself fall asleep inside it.
The perimeters had already been inputted, and Oracle required some time to complete the analysis.
I allowed myself six hours of rest.
…
My Observation Haki flared suddenly, dragging me awake.
Oracle's voice rang in my ear at once. "Sir, two life forces are climbing the stairs, heading toward your location."
I yawned, stretching lazily as I rose. "Don't worry. They're humans—and harmless ones at that."
Compared to me, they were pitifully weak, even weaker than the old man I'd met before.
"Where did they come from?" I asked.
Oracle responded, "Unclear. They appeared suddenly on the third floor."
"Third floor?" I muttered, disbelief creeping in. "You mean the one with the entrance to the fallout shelter?"
I waited as the humans revealed themselves. They hesitated, peeking through the wall a few times to make sure no zombies were around, and I could hear their childish murmurs as they argued.
"But I don't want to become a sacrifice!" a childish voice cried.
The older voice retorted, "I'm not going to let him kill you! I've had enough. I'll kill that bastard right here and now."
The two girls froze as they stumbled upon my robotic figure. The older one—a Russian-Japanese girl with brunette hair and a soft, delicate expression—immediately raised her spears, and I could feel a telekinetic field pressing against my body.
She looked to be nineteen or twenty years old, while the younger one appeared to be around thirteen to fifteen. Both girls were painfully thin, with short buzzcut hair; their faces were gaunt and yellowed from malnutrition.
"Are you the subordinate who came to take my sister to your tyrant lord?" the older sister demanded.
"Tiga~!" the younger girl cried out softly, her voice trembling with fear.
I yawned and said, "No. I'm here to study. We've been neighbors for a week now, but I never had the chance to introduce myself."
I shrugged off the telekinetic field with ease as I stood, prompting backlash against the older girl.
She stumbled and collapsed to the ground, gasping for air as sweat dripped onto the concrete.
"You… what are you?" she asked, fear tightening her voice. The other girl was trembling and crying.
"No! Don't kill my sister! It's me you want! Kill me instead!" The younger girl jumped in front of her sister, trying to shield her.
"..." I was stunned for a few seconds.
I sighed inwardly. Why did I become the villain here? I literally just stood up from my chair.
"You can calm down. I'm not going to hurt you," I said in a tired tone.
They didn't believe me. Why should they? I was just a stranger. In this world, even their own community wasn't trustworthy—so why would they trust me?
"Tell me more about this sacrifice," I asked, curious about their purpose in leaving the fallout shelter.
The girls exchanged troubled glances. Suddenly, the younger one noticed the drum barrel filled with the water I'd bathed in earlier.
"Tiga! Look! He has clean water!" Her eyes widened in astonishment, and she almost rushed forward before the older one grabbed her shoulder.
"Suna! No! That's his property!"
"But… we don't have water. That's why we have to do the sacrifice…"
"Suna and Tiga, huh?" I muttered, loud enough for them to hear. "I don't mind giving you some water. But not that one. I just bathed in it."
Tiga stiffened and snapped, "Why are you offering us your things? What do you want in exchange!?"
I sighed, staring at her in disbelief.
Retracting my helmet, I revealed my face. "Calm down. I'm not going to hurt you. I don't eat people. See—" I pointed at the farm I'd built.
Their eyes widened. Tiga whispered, "You… you can grow food out here?"
"You can't? How have you survived in the shelter?" I asked, surprised.
"We… we trade," Suna said timidly.
"We had a farm once," Tiga muttered bitterly, "but it was destroyed."
Apparently, the tyrant they traded with was the one who destroyed their farm and poisoned their water supply. In exchange for a bride every month, he provided the shelter with basic food and water.
It was messed up. The shelter had lasted for forty-five years, until three months ago—when the tyrant arrived and demanded this arrangement.
Rumors said that once he was done with the girls, he ate them.
I shuddered, then told the sisters, "You can eat something if you'd like. I'll check your water filtration device later—I think I can fix it."
"In exchange for?" Tiga asked, her suspicion sharp.
"I do want something. Genetic samples from the kids in your fallout shelter. If you have samples from children who never ate the cores, even better," I replied.
"For what? What do you want them for?" Suna asked cautiously.
"To study." I shrugged. "I don't owe you an explanation. I'm offering a trade."
I pulled fresh cores from my ring—yellow, green, blue, and pink. Level 2, 3, 4, and 5.
"Tiga. You want to fight the tyrant, don't you? How about this—I'll help you, and you'll help me. A fair trade."
Her eyes glittered at the sight of the cores. With those, she knew she could defeat the level 4 tyrant.
…
[General POV]
"So, their army is trying to invade another country during a lockdown?" Robin muttered, her tone cold.
"Yes," Woo-Jin replied. "They are taking advantage of the fact that no one dares to open their borders."
Robin paused for a few seconds before speaking. "Kill their leader and everyone involved in the decision-making. Then dismantle their nuclear weapons."
"Understood," Woo-Jin said before vanishing.
Robin turned to the others. "Our Master ordered us to contain the chaos in this world until he returns. So we will show no mercy to those who try to exploit his absence."
Edward had been gone for only a day, yet Robin had already mobilized their forces four times.
"Humans are truly disgusting," Robin muttered, her voice laced with disdain. "On the brink of extinction, and still they think only of themselves."
Her eyes narrowed dangerously. "Should the cure even need to be found?"