Chapter 913: Escape Zone A
Chapter 913: Escape Zone A
[Unedited! Don’t buy!]
Ren stood frozen inside the ruined convenience store while the holographic blue screen hovered before his eyes.
|| MAIN QUEST UPDATED ||
|| OBJECTIVE: ESCAPE ZONE A ||
|| TIME LIMIT: 06:59:48 ||
|| WARNING: HIGH MUTATION ACTIVITY DETECTED ||
The countdown immediately began ticking downward.
Ren rubbed his eyes hard.
The screen remained.
"This... this isn’t real..."
Evie glanced at him briefly while wiping black blood from her blade.
"It’s real."
"You can see this too?"
"No."
Ren frowned.
"Then how do you know about it?"
Evie didn’t answer directly.
Instead, she walked toward the shattered storefront and observed the streets outside.
The situation had worsened drastically within minutes.
Infected swarmed everywhere.
Burning vehicles blocked the roads.
People screamed while desperately fleeing in every direction.
Some were trampled by the panicked crowd.
Others were dragged down by infected and torn apart alive.
Gunfire echoed nonstop in the distance.
Military sirens had started blaring throughout the city.
Evie’s expression remained calm, but internally, her thoughts were racing.
The timeline was completely changing.
Ren awakened the System far too early.
Variants were appearing earlier than expected.
And the outbreak itself had accelerated by several days.
Something was manipulating events.
But who?
"Evie."
She turned toward Ren.
He was staring at the floating screen again, his face pale but slowly hardening with determination.
"What exactly is happening to me?"
Evie remained silent for a moment before speaking.
"The world is evolving."
"That doesn’t explain anything."
"The virus isn’t just a disease." Evie crossed her arms. "It’s a catalyst."
Ren frowned.
"A catalyst for what?"
"Evolution."
Outside, an infected suddenly leaped onto a fleeing civilian and ripped into his throat.
Blood sprayed across the street.
Ren’s stomach churned.
Evie continued coldly.
"The weak become monsters. The lucky gain abilities. The strong survive."
"And the rest?"
"They die."
The bluntness of her answer silenced him.
Ren looked down at his trembling hands.
Abilities.
Systems.
Monsters.
It sounded insane.
Yet after dying and coming back to life, could he even call anything impossible anymore?
Suddenly—
|| NEW FUNCTION UNLOCKED ||
|| STATUS WINDOW AVAILABLE ||
A transparent screen appeared before Ren.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
NAME: Ren Arclight
LEVEL: 1
CLASS: Unassigned
TITLE: None
STRENGTH: 7
AGILITY: 8
VITALITY: 6
INTELLIGENCE: 12
SPIRIT: 5
SKILLS: None
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
"What the hell..."
Evie glanced toward the screen instinctively despite being unable to see it.
"What happened?"
"It’s showing... my stats?"
Interesting.
So his System developed similarly to Nexus after all.
That was dangerous.
And valuable.
Very valuable.
Before Evie could say anything else—
CRASH!
The convenience store doors exploded inward.
Three infected rushed inside violently.
Their bodies were covered in blood, eyes glowing unnaturally red.
Ren instinctively stepped backward.
Evie moved first.
SHIIING!
Her blade flashed once.
All three infected collapsed instantly, their heads sliding from their shoulders.
Ren stared speechlessly.
She killed them too easily.
Almost casually.
Just how strong was she?
Evie suddenly frowned.
"More are coming."
Ren listened carefully.
Footsteps.
Dozens of them.
The infected were gathering outside the store rapidly, drawn by the scent of blood.
The Variant’s corpse probably attracted them too.
"We need to move," Evie said immediately.
Ren nodded quickly.
"Sleeping Dragon..."
"You still want to go there?"
"My sister is there."
Evie sighed quietly.
Emotions.
Attachments.
Those things got people killed during the apocalypse.
Yet... she understood him.
More than he realized.
"Fine," Evie finally said. "But we move fast."
Relief flashed briefly across Ren’s face.
They exited through the back of the convenience store into a narrow alleyway.
The city beyond looked like hell itself.
Smoke filled the sky.
Explosions echoed constantly now.
Helicopters circled overhead while emergency broadcasts played from giant electronic billboards.
"Citizens are advised to seek immediate shelter—"
"Remain calm—"
"Military forces are being deployed—"
Then one of the helicopters suddenly exploded midair.
BOOOOM!
Flaming debris rained down onto the streets.
Ren froze.
"What destroyed it?!"
Evie’s eyes narrowed toward the sky.
Something moved among the distant rooftops.
Fast.
Too fast to see clearly.
"...We’re leaving. Now."
They sprinted through the alleyways while avoiding the main roads.
Along the way, Ren noticed strange glowing crystals beginning to form on walls, sidewalks, and abandoned vehicles.
"What are those?"
"Mutation minerals," Evie answered quickly. "The world’s energy density is rising."
"...Energy density?"
"You’ll understand later."
Honestly, Ren understood almost nothing anymore.
Suddenly, cries for help echoed nearby.
"PLEASE! SOMEBODY HELP US!"
Ren looked toward the source instinctively.
Inside a small restaurant, a family was barricading the entrance while infected slammed violently against the glass doors outside.
A little girl cried desperately.
"Dad, they’re getting in!"
Ren immediately moved toward them.
Evie grabbed his arm sharply.
"Don’t."
"They need help!"
"And you’ll die helping everyone."
Ren pulled away from her.
"So we just leave them?!"
Evie’s silver eyes remained cold.
"You can’t save everyone in the apocalypse."
CRASH!
The glass doors shattered.
The infected poured inside.
The mother screamed.
The father grabbed a kitchen knife desperately.
Ren cursed and rushed forward anyway.
"Idiot!" Evie snapped.
One infected lunged toward Ren instantly.
Without thinking, Ren grabbed a broken metal pipe from the ground and swung it with all his strength.
CRACK!
The infected’s skull shattered sideways.
Ren froze briefly.
He... killed it?
Then another attacked.
And another.
Adrenaline surged through him.
Years of stress, frustration, and anger erupted violently.
Sleeping Dragon’s betrayal.
His death.
The collapsing world.
Everything exploded out of him at once.
Ren roared and swung the pipe again.
BAM!
An infected crashed through a table.
|| YOU HAVE DEFEATED AN INFECTED ||
|| +5 EXP ||
A blue notification appeared instantly.
"What?!"
The remaining infected suddenly turned toward him simultaneously.
Their glowing eyes locked onto Ren.
Then they charged.
Too many.
Ren’s face paled.
Suddenly—
FLASH!
Evie blurred past him like silver lightning.
Her blade danced through the air beautifully.
SHHK! SHHK! SHHK!
Bodies collapsed everywhere.
In seconds, the restaurant fell silent except for the terrified sobbing of the little girl.
The father stared at Evie and Ren in horror.
"T-Thank you..."
Evie ignored him completely.
"We’re leaving."
Ren hesitated.
The little girl looked at him hopefully.
"Are the monsters gone...?"
His chest tightened.
Evie noticed his expression immediately.
"No."
Ren looked conflicted.
"We can’t just abandon them."
"Yes, we can."
"They’ll die!"
Evie suddenly grabbed Ren by the collar.
Her silver eyes glowed faintly.
"Listen carefully."
For the first time, genuine emotion slipped into her voice.
"This city is already dead."
Ren froze.
Evie released him slowly.
"In a few hours, millions will be infected." Her voice turned quiet again. "In a few days, governments will collapse."