The System responded instantly.[ADAPTIVE REWARD CONVERSION: ACTIVE.][CURRENT ENERGY RESERVES: LOW.][AWAITING NEW DAMAGE TO CONVERT...]Jonah opened his eyes.The dark brown color of his human eyes vanished. The terrifying, glowing crimson light roared back into his pupils. Rings of pure gold spun around his irises.The thick, iron scars on his stomach and right shoulder began to glow with a dull, hot red light. He looked like a furnace starting to burn."Dad," Kevin whispered. He stepped back. He remembered the horror of watching his father fight earlier. "You promised. You promised you would fight like a human."Jonah did not look at his son. He kept his glowing eyes fixed on the sea of monsters."I lied," Jonah said. His voice was no longer a human rumble. It was a vibrating, heavy, metallic sound. It sounded like an engine running on blood and fire.Jonah reached behind his back. He grabbed his heavy black rifle.He did not aim it at the monsters. He threw it onto the white ston

Jonah knelt on the smooth white stone. The cavern around him was shaking violently. Dust and small rocks fell from the dark, broken ceiling.“Don't let this be what saves us.” Lisa’s weak, beautiful voice echoed in Jonah’s mind. She was terrified of him. The woman he loved like a sister had looked at his glowing, iron-scarred body and seen a monster.Jonah looked at his massive hands. They were covered in thick, dark metal scars. They felt incredibly heavy. The intoxicating, god-like power from the Adaptive Reward Conversion still buzzed in his blood. The System wanted him to use it. The System wanted him to step into danger, take more pain, and become a living weapon. But Jonah made a choice.He closed his glowing, golden eyes. “Turn it off,” Jonah commanded the machine in his head. “Shut down the conversion.”The System fought back.[WARNING: DISABLING REWARD CONVERSION WILL RETURN ALL SUPPRESSED PAIN.][HOST WILL EXPERIENCE MASSIVE PHYSICAL TRAUMA.][DO YOU WISH TO PROCEED?]"Yes

The Dead Zone did not need to bite you. It did not need blood. It was an environmental collapse. It was a weather system made of corrupted computer code and living meat. And it was moving like a fast-flowing river."Kevin," Jonah said quietly. His voice trembled slightly."What is it, Dad?" Kevin asked, looking at his father’s pale face.Jonah pointed his thick finger out at the expanding yellow wave."Look how fast it is moving," Jonah said.Kevin watched the fog roll over a distant hill, swallowing the trees in an instant."It is moving at almost sixty miles an hour," Jonah calculated using his own human brain. "It is not stopping. It is not slowing down."Elena stood up. She looked at the horizon. "Where is it going?" she asked."It is going everywhere," Jonah answered.The global implication hit them all like a physical blow.This was not just a strange, local event. This was not just a single corrupted forest.The giant bone spine behind them was acting like a massive broadcast

The pure blue light from the Echo Seed washed over the rocky ridge. It felt like warm, clean water. It washed away the smell of rotten meat. It pushed back the dark yellow fog.Jonah sat on the hard dirt. He breathed in the fresh air. His massive chest moved up and down slowly.The deep, terrible cuts on his stomach and shoulder still hurt. The pain was a hot fire under his skin. But he did not mind the pain. The pain meant he was a human, not a machine. He had his soul back. He looked at his small family.Lisa was sitting up against a large gray rock. She was incredibly weak. Her face was very pale. But her dark eyes were open. She watched Jonah with a soft, thankful smile. She knew what he had given up for her.Elena sat next to Lisa. The young woman with the burned face was holding a small cup of clean water she had saved. She helped Lisa take small, careful sips.Marcus, the old man, stood near the edge of the blue light. He was looking out at the massive valley below. The yellow

Kevin walked slowly toward the floating black core. He held the blue glass bottle tight against his chest to protect the tiny spark.Kevin’s one good eye stared deep into the terrible darkness of the sphere.He watched it. He felt the cold air rushing toward it. He watched the light bending around the edges.The core struggle of Kevin’s young life had been trying to understand the broken technology of the world. He had believed the virus was just a bad computer code making monsters out of dead meat.But as he stared at the black core, a massive, horrifying insight hit him."Dad," Kevin whispered. He did not turn around. His voice echoed lightly in the cold stone room."I am here," Jonah said, stepping up behind his son."We were completely wrong about the virus," Kevin said slowly."Wrong how?" Lisa asked from the back of the room."The virus didn't build this," Kevin explained. He pointed at the black sphere. "This is not a machine that makes monsters. This is not a corrupted program