CHAPTER 285: CHAPTER 285

Lingquan spoke calmly, as though reciting something he already knew.

[The Apocalypse System is ancient. It has always been this way. Its purpose is not chaos. It is order through destruction. This is its cycle.]

Qingran slowed her steps. "So none of this is new?"

[No, not really.." Lingquan answered. "It has happened before. It will happen again. Civilizations rise. They grow beyond their limits. And when they become unsustainable, the system activates. That’s what it was created for...]

"Then what about us?" she asked. "The people trying to survive?"

[You were always meant to be part of this stage.." Lingquan said. "Every choice you’ve made, every action taken by anyone,none of it is accidental. Everything is part of what was already written.]

Qingran frowned. "Written where?"

[In the Apocalypse Book] Lingquan replied.

[It holds the complete record of all cycles. Every collapse, every rebirth, every name worth remembering. It’s a persistent being I’m afraid..]

She looked ahead, her voice quiet. "So we’re just repeating what’s already happened?"

[You are walking a path that was laid long before your birth. But that does not mean it is meaningless. It was just going to happen..]

Qingran tilted her head slightly. "Then what does it mean?"

[It means your role was always meant to amount to something. Even if you don’t yet know what.]

She didn’t respond right away. The silence in the corridor felt heavier than before. But it was not the weight of dread. It was the weight of something inevitable.

The system was not punishing. It was fulfilling a purpose.

And she—

She still had to decide what her purpose within it would be

[I wasn’t present during the last apocalypse. I wasn’t even on earth. Some distant planet, we systems would have to report back after a while, even the apocalypse system can’t escape this. To us it might look short maybe a few days, but on earth and other planents...years or even eons have passed.]

Qingran nodded as she headed into sector D, she really wanted to find the monster and where it was hiding.

The walls here were damp, and the smell of rot was intense. There was a bit of distance between each sector so you couldn’t catch on, on what was going on in the other one on time.

[This bunker. As fast as it is, it’s very dangerous. There’s a creature running on the loose here and I’m afraid to say, but it now as the ability to multiple. So in the coming days, this entire zone will be overrun by these things. Don’t think you can stop it, they’re like zombies, even if you killing hundreds, their numbers will keep multiplying..]

She exhaled slowly. "Then we’ll just have to find and kill every version of it."

[That is not a sustainable solution. For every one you destroy, two more will form. It isn’t like fighting ordinary infected. These are a direct byproduct of the system’s deeper functions.]

"You mean the Apocalypse System created them?"

[Not exactly. The system sets the stage. The creatures are responses. They are birthed by the conditions it allows, not by direct intent.]

"So it’s like they’re symptoms."

[Yeah.. they’re kind of likenconsequences, not a command from the system itself. That’s why I said you cannot simply eliminate them all. You must understand what they’re drawn to and sever that source.]

Qingran turned a corner, entering a long, dim passage. Broken pipes lined the walls. The scent of mold was stronger here.

"Have they always existed?" she asked. "Or is this a recent evolution?"

[They’ve appeared before. In different forms. On different planets. Even before your kind existed. They adapt to the dominant species, reflect their fears, and exploit their weaknesses.]

"And they always multiply?"

[Yes. In one past cycle, they nearly consumed a world entirely. It was a system-wide failure that required intervention. That record is still in the Apocalypse Book and that’s why it was called for a report.]

Qingran didn’t reply for a moment. Her boots splashed through a thin puddle of brackish water.

"Then what happens if we do nothing?"

[-_-]

[That’s a stupid question, if you do nothing? Girl you’d be eaten, all of you in all zones will be eaten..jeez]

Qingran nodded, she guessed that was it, they had to find the main source and kill it.

"I understand, I know what to do now. It’s gonna be a full battle, these creatures must have already multiplied alot. I’m guessing we have a full blown horde.."

[So it is..]

Qingran pressed deeper into Sector D, the hum of low emergency lights echoing through the narrow corridor.

Every few feet, the walls seemed to close in, the scent of mildew and decay worsening the farther she went.

Her boots moved silently over cracked concrete, her senses stretched thin, listening for anything that might give away movement.

She hadn’t come down here expecting much. But she couldn’t sleep, not with the vague pull in her chest,that there was a monster still lurking somewhere in the dark.

The tunnels began to widen near the end of the corridor. She stepped through a bent doorway into what looked like a storage chamber.

There were old medical carts overturned in the corners, long-forgotten supplies scattered in broken bins.

But it was not the human clutter that caught her attention. It was the soft, pulsing glow near the center of the room.

She approached slowly, her fingers brushing the hilt of her dagger out of habit.

Nestled between crates, half-covered by plastic sheeting, was a cluster of organic pods.

They shimmered faintly under the emergency lights, slick with fluid and ringed by a sticky webbing that clung to the floor and walls.

Qingran crouched beside them. One of the pods trembled, almost too subtly to notice.

"These weird looking pods would be it’s eggs I presume?"

[Freshly laid at that..]

Qingran frowned, finally understanding the process.

"I think these creatures communicate and hunt at night. Then come back to their nests during the day to watch their eggs and sleep."

She didn’t receive a reply from Lingquan for a while, instead the bright light appeared and in it’s wake was Lingquan’s human form.

"Its much more easier to communicate like this isn’t it? These creatures are highly intelligent, I’m surprised you’re able to formulate this much information yourself.."

-_-

"Its not hard. And I’m a genius after all.."

Lingquan laughed, so hard he felt his stomach tighten.

"For a genius, you’ve made a lot of dumb mistakes. Little fool, we need to catch one of these things and study it. Let’s take one of the eggs and burn the rest. It will hatch in the space, there I can experiment on it. For me to identify it, I need a name or to virtually see it."

Qingran nodded and picked one of the eggs, the very one that had trembled but not that she would care about such details.

She handed it to Lingquan and flick her fingers, the temperature in the room raising.

The flames leapt from her hand in a controlled arc, engulfing the nest. The heat surged outward, driving back the cold, burning away the rot clinging to the walls.

The pods shrieked, a sharp high-pitched sound like boiling air caught in a scream.

It took less than ten seconds. The nest collapsed in on itself, the fluid boiling off, the webbing crumbling into ash.

When it was done, nothing remained but charred floor and a lingering glow.

Qingran stood still, letting the light fade from her fingers. Her expression didn’t change. There was no triumph in her eyes, only a chill resolve.

"You didn’t hesitate."

"They were never supposed to hatch.." she replied. "That thing is dangerous enough. Multiplying just makes it worse."

"You understand the stakes now."

She nodded once, turning away from the smoking remains. "We can’t let the others stumble on this unprepared. That creature would definitely come for me, so let’s inform everyone and get them to safety."

Lingquan disappeared for a moment to keep the egg, placing it in an incubator.

When he came out, Qingran was already on her way back to the sector A.

By the time the sun fully rose, the creature would come back.

Qingran figured it would be a nocturnal animal, that’s why it was out of its nest by this time.

"Smart, you really do use that brain of yours."