10.000x Doomsday Survival

5. The Zombie Queen and the Second SSS-Grade Target

Crash!

Axel landed on both feet at the very bottom of the basement. Concrete dust billowed wildly around him. Thanks to the Dragon Marrow Serum, plummeting from the eleventh floor felt exactly like hopping off a chair. However, the sight down here was entirely different from the floors above.

The basement walls, which were once solid gray concrete, were now completely coated in a layer of pulsating red flesh. The stench was no longer merely rotting garbage. It reeked with the pungent, metallic odor of blood that had been stale for weeks.

"System, where is Scarlett Thorne?" Axel asked quietly. He gripped the Spear of the Thunder God tightly. The electrical sparks arcing from his weapon served as the absolute only source of light in the room.

[Answer: Target is located fifty meters ahead inside the main electrical panel room. Warning! Target's life signal is critically weak. The Zombie Queen is currently implanting her eggs into the Target's body.]

"Bastard. I am not going to let my SSS-Grade target turn into a zombie factory," Axel grumbled.

He began walking through a corridor completely flooded with sticky slime. Every time his boots struck the floor, a sickening squelching sound echoed. Suddenly, from the pitch-black darkness of the ceiling, over a dozen small zombies with unnaturally long arms leaped down.

"Just cockroaches," Axel muttered, twirling his spear.

Slash! Slash! Slash!

Axel's movements were now completely beyond human logic. He moved like a dark phantom gliding straight through the horde of monsters. Every single swing of his spear did not just sever the zombies' bodies. It completely incinerated them to ash in a fraction of a second.

[Ding! Twelve Crawler Zombies killed. Contribution Points +12.]

Axel arrived in front of the electrical panel room. The door was no longer recognizable, completely engulfed by a massive, pulsating lump of flesh. In the very center of that fleshy mass, a young woman with short silver hair was tightly bound inside a transparent cocoon.

The girl looked incredibly pale. Her eyes were closed, and thick black veins were already creeping from her neck up to her cheeks.

[Scanning Target.]
[Name: Scarlett Thorne]
[Age: Nineteen Years Old]
[Genetic Potential: SSS-Grade Mechanical God]
[Status: Infected by Queen Virus 89%, Critical.]

"Damn it, it is already at eighty-nine percent," Axel noted, looking toward the massive shadow lurking directly behind the cocoon.

A creature with a human torso on its upper half and a giant, bloated abdomen covered in egg pores on its lower half emerged from the darkness. It was the Zombie Queen. Her face still resembled a beautiful woman, yet her mouth could rip open all the way to her ears.

"Fresh humans," the Zombie Queen's voice rasped. The sound grated like sandpaper against Axel's ears.

"Fresh my ass. I came here to pick someone up, not to become the father of your children," Axel retorted casually.

The Zombie Queen was utterly furious. She spewed a thick green liquid from her mouth. Axel instantly leaped to the side. He narrowly dodged the highly acidic fluid, which melted a gaping hole right through the solid concrete floor.

"System! What is the secret item I obtained from the Logistics Warehouse earlier?" Axel demanded as he continuously dodged the Zombie Queen's tentacle strikes.

[Answer: Secret Item detected, Divine Purification Mist. Function: Destroys all parasitic organic matter within a ten-meter radius and instantly restores damaged human cells.]

"That is exactly what I need! Bring it out right now!" Axel yelled.

A small silver-white bottle materialized in Axel's left hand. He immediately sprinted forward, lunging straight at the Zombie Queen. The Queen attacked with ten tentacles simultaneously, but Axel darted in a zigzag pattern with a speed entirely untrackable by the naked eye.

Axel leaped high into the air, soaring right over the Zombie Queen's head. He smashed the bottle directly on top of Scarlett Thorne's cocoon.

Pshhhh!

A golden mist instantly exploded, enveloping the entire room. The Zombie Queen roared in excruciating agony. The layers of red flesh clinging to the walls began to melt and burn to ash.

"AARGHHHH! IT BURNS! YOU CHEATING HUMAN!" The Zombie Queen's body began to blister heavily before completely dissolving into a puddle of black liquid.

Axel cared absolutely nothing about the Queen. He looked at Scarlett. Her cocoon shattered, and the black veins on her face vanished in a fraction of a second. Scarlett fell forward, and Axel immediately caught her body in his arms.

"Hey, wake up. You are not dead yet, right?" Axel tapped Scarlett's cheek gently.

Scarlett opened her eyes slowly. Her irises were a bright gray, radiating a highly genius yet freezing aura. "Who are you? Why is there lightning in here?"

"I am Axel. Your savior, or perhaps your brand new boss," Axel stated.

[Ding! You have administered the Divine Purification Mist to SSS-Grade Target Scarlett Thorne!]
[Triggering 10,000x Super Critical Rebate!]
[Congratulations! You have obtained Stage 1 God Fortress Blueprint, 10,000 Tons of Titanium-Alloy Material, and Central AI Anya!]

The Horizon apartment building suddenly shook violently. This time it was not because of a zombie. It was because Axel's system had begun its work.

"Axel, there is a voice in my head," Scarlett whispered. She clutched her dizzy head.

"What kind of voice?" Axel asked.

"A girl's voice. She said the Fortress System Initialization has begun and is connecting to the consciousness of Scarlett Thorne." Scarlett stared at Axel in deep confusion.

Axel flashed a wide grin. "That means we just obtained the absolute key to conquer this world, Scarlett."

Suddenly, a holographic projection of a beautiful girl wearing a futuristic maid outfit materialized right in front of them. "Hello, Master Axel. I am Anya, the Central AI who will assist you in constructing the God Fortress. The stage one blueprint is ready for deployment. Do you wish to remodel this apartment building right now?"

"Hold on a second, Anya," Axel said, lifting Scarlett effortlessly into his arms in a bridal carry. "We are heading back upstairs first. I have some trash to clean up before we renovate this place."

"Understood, Master. Executing a full building scan. There are exactly one hundred and fifty-two zombies remaining, alongside twelve humans harboring malicious intent on the eleventh floor," Anya reported flatly.

"Twelve humans with malicious intent? Wow, it seems the rest of Rio's gang has already gathered," Axel mused as he walked toward the ruined elevator shaft.

He did not bother using the stairs. Fueled by his newfound strength, Axel leaped directly into the open elevator shaft. He began scaling the thick steel cables with a single bare hand while securely carrying Scarlett. His speed was utterly insane. Within ten seconds, he had already reached the eleventh floor.

The exact moment Axel climbed out of the shaft, a highly infuriating scene greeted his eyes. Valerie and Elena were being completely cornered by a group of armed thugs right in front of Elena's door. Cindy was there too, but she stood safely behind a long-haired man holding a machete.

"I already told you! Give us the water or I am slitting this bitch's throat!" the long-haired man roared, violently yanking Elena's hair.

"Axel! Help!" Elena screamed the moment she saw Axel emerge from the elevator shaft.

Cindy was shocked to see Axel return, especially since he was now carrying another woman. "Axel! Who is that girl you brought?! How could you just leave me here to be threatened by them?!"

Axel lowered Scarlett gently, leaning her against the wall. He walked casually toward the armed group. His Spear of the Thunder God continued to radiate terrifying arcs of lightning.

"I leave for exactly five minutes, and you guys are already causing trouble again?" Axel's voice was incredibly low, yet every single person in the corridor felt as if a crushing weight had been dropped onto their shoulders.

"Hey! Do not come any closer! I have a machete!" the long-haired man shouted, trembling visibly.

"A machete, huh?" Axel suddenly vanished completely from their line of sight.

Swoosh!

In a fraction of a second, Axel appeared right in front of the long-haired man. He did not even use his spear. He used his bare hands. Axel grabbed the man's wrist and twisted it a full three hundred and sixty degrees.

Crack!

"AARGHHHHH!" The man collapsed to the ground, clutching his grotesquely mangled arm.

"Anya, activate stage one fortress renovation mode. Clear all this useless trash from my floor," Axel ordered with absolute coldness.

"Understood, Master," Anya's voice echoed flawlessly through the apartment intercom speakers, which had all suddenly flared to life.

Without warning, the floor directly beneath the ten remaining thugs simply vanished. Every single one of them plummeted downward, dropping straight into the zombie nest Axel had just laid waste to. Their terrified screams echoed deep into the shaft before fading completely, swiftly replaced by the sickening sound of zombies chewing on fresh meat.

Witnessing the brutal execution, Cindy's legs gave out entirely. She was now the only one left standing among them.

Axel turned his head toward Cindy. "You are still here, Cin? Why did you not drop down to join your little friends?"

"Axel, they forced me to do it! I swear!" Cindy sobbed hysterically.

"Anya, grant her access to the laundry room. Lock her inside until I decide exactly what to do with her," Axel commanded.

"Right away, Master." A small drone emerged from a wall panel and forcefully dragged Cindy away toward the laundry room.

Axel walked over to Elena and Valerie. He handed a single bottle of Star Evolution Serum to each of them. "Drink this. I do not want subordinates who can be easily kidnapped by trash like that."

Elena and Valerie downed the serum without a second of hesitation. Instantly, their auras transformed. Elena appeared remarkably revitalized with a far sharper gaze. Meanwhile, Valerie's physique became visibly more toned, her presence radiating a fiercely intimidating energy.

[Ding! You have administered the Star Evolution Serum to an SSS-Grade Target and an S-Grade Target!]
[Triggering 1,000x Rebate!]
[Congratulations! You have obtained 1,000 Sets of Nano Combat Gear and the Star Energy Cultivation Manual!]

Axel felt incredibly satisfied. He turned his attention back to Scarlett, who was still sitting on the floor analyzing the AI Anya.

"Scarlett, you can start working right now. I want this apartment building transformed into the absolute safest fortress on the Eldoria Continent before the sun rises," Axel declared.

Scarlett stood up. Her eyes were now overflowing with streams of scrolling digital code. "Give me exactly four hours. I am going to turn this building into a living hell for anyone who dares to come near."

Axel smiled in deep satisfaction. He walked toward the large window in the corridor, gazing out at the utter chaos engulfing the city of Cyber-Vane.

"This apocalypse is going to be incredibly fun as long as I am the one making the rules," Axel whispered.

Suddenly, Anya materialized right beside him. "Master, there is an urgent warning. Military signals from the Iron Fist Base have been detected heading directly toward this location. They are bringing heavy artillery. It appears they were highly attracted by the lightning you unleashed earlier."

Axel tightened his grip on his spear. "Perfect. I was actually looking for more materials for my next rebate. Anya, prepare the absolute warmest welcome possible for them."

The Iron Fist military forces arrived with battle tanks and hundreds of heavily armed soldiers. They genuinely thought Axel was just a lucky survivor who happened to stumble upon advanced weaponry. However, the exact moment they fired their tank cannons, the massive shells simply halted dead in mid-air before forcefully rebounding straight back at them.