Mutated System : Rise Of The Alpha

The Father’s Will

Nathan laid the girl down on the sofa, then followed the system's guidance toward a glass cabinet in the corner of the room. He opened it slowly, his eyes landing on a framed photograph—a picture of himself as a young boy standing beside his father.

​He reached out and touched the frame. Suddenly, a small device slid out from the wood, glowing with a faint light. It looked like a fingerprint scanner.

​"So that’s why Dad always told me never to move this picture," Nathan muttered.

​He placed his palm against the device, expecting a scan. Instead, a tiny, sharp needle shot out, piercing his skin. Nathan winced as his blood began to flow, trickling down into the sensor.

​The house groaned. With a heavy, mechanical hum, the living room floor began to split apart, sliding back to reveal a hidden staircase leading deep underground.

​"What were you hiding, Dad?" Nathan whispered, staring into the dark descent.

Nathan descended slowly, the sound of his boots echoing against the metal steps until an automatic steel door slid open with a heavy hiss. Beyond it lay a vast, lightless void—a room so dark it felt like the walls didn't exist.

​"What is this place? It’s empty... there’s nothing here," Nathan muttered, his voice sounding hollow in the darkness.

​As he stepped into the center of the room, the floor beneath his feet suddenly flared with a vibrant green light. Directly in front of him, a projector hummed to life, casting a flickering beam into the air. After a moment of static and distorted noise, his father’s face appeared on the screen.

​"Nathan..."

​The image was grainy, but his father’s eyes were filled with a desperate intensity.

​"If you are watching this, it means the world has already fallen. And I suspect you have mutated, or perhaps... I truly hope it is you standing there right now. I want you to know one thing, Nathan. This destruction—the end of the world as we know it—was the only way to save you. I was willing to let it all burn just so you could live."

​Nathan’s breath hitched. He stared at the flickering image, his heart hammering against his ribs.

​"Your real struggle was never against your illness," his father continued, his voice softening. "It is against this world that has gone mad. Your task now is to fix it. And one more thing... here is a gift to help you begin your journey."

​As the words left his father’s lips, a sleek metallic pillar rose from the floor. Atop it sat a reinforced glass case housing a single syringe filled with a glowing, translucent serum.

​"The choice is yours, son. Goodbye."

​The projection suddenly sparked, the image twisting into a jumble of static before short-circuiting and dying out completely. The room plunged back into a dim green glow.

​"What is this?" Nathan whispered, his fingers trembling as he reached out and grabbed the vial.

​[STAGE ONE SERUM DETECTED]

[INTEGRATION RATIO: 0%]

[PROCEED WITH INJECTION?]

[WARNING: OPTIMIZATION REQUIRED] [STAGE ONE SERUM DETECTED. ESTIMATED POWER GROWTH: 300%] [ADVICE: USE IMMEDIATELY TO STABILIZE ALPHA PROJECT STATUS.]

​"Fixing the world, huh? Fine," Nathan muttered, his jaw tightening. "If this is what I need to survive the mess you made, Dad... then I’m in."

​Without a second thought, Nathan grabbed the syringe. He didn't hesitate. He jammed the needle into his forearm and slammed the plunger down, emptying the glowing fluid into his veins.

​For a heartbeat, there was nothing but a cold, sterile numbness. Then, the fire started.

​[SERUM INTEGRATION: COMMENCING] [UPGRADE PROTOCOL: INITIALIZED]

​"AGHHH!" Nathan’s eyes snapped wide, the blue glow within them flaring so bright it illuminated the entire underground chamber.

​It felt like his blood had turned into molten lead. Every cell in his body was being torn apart and stitched back together with reinforced fibers. His muscles spasmed, and the sheer sensory overload hit him like a freight train. His heart hammered a frantic, irregular rhythm against his ribs.

​[CRITICAL OVERLOAD...] [NEURAL LINK RE-WIRING...] [SHUTTING DOWN SYSTEM TO PREVENT CORE COLLAPSE...]

​Nathan’s legs buckled. He collapsed onto the cold metal floor, his consciousness fracturing into a thousand pieces of static. The last thing he saw before the darkness claimed him was the digital countdown flickering in his blurred vision.

​[UPGRADING... 1%... 2%...]

​Nathan went limp, his body silent and still in the depths of the hidden lab, while the virus and the serum fought for dominance within his soul.

The girl’s eyes fluttered open. She gasped, bolting upright on the sofa as the fog of unconsciousness cleared. Her heart raced as she scanned the unfamiliar room—the dusty shelves, the old photos, and the heavy silence of a house that felt like a fortress.

​"Where... where am I?" she whispered, her voice trembling.

​The last thing she remembered was the terrifying swarm of monsters on the flyover and a blur of blue light before the world went black. She stood up on shaky legs, her hands gripping the back of the sofa for support.

​As she turned toward the center of the room, she froze.

​The rug had been tossed aside, and the floorboards had slid back to reveal a gaping, rectangular hole in the middle of the living room. A cold, metallic staircase descended into a pitch-black abyss, smelling of ozone and sterile chemicals.

​"Hello?" she called out, her voice barely a breath. "Is anyone there?"

​Silence was her only answer. Driven by a mix of sheer terror and a strange, magnetic curiosity, she took a tentative step toward the opening. She peered down into the darkness, her eyes widening as she saw a faint, pulsing green glow emanating from deep below.

​"The guy from the bridge..." she murmured, remembering the shadow that had saved her.

​