THE ART OF Desire

Chapter 3: Symphony of Screams in Malioboro

Je kicked the iron bunker door until it slammed against the hallway wall. The metallic clang echoed, triggering a chain reaction from the darkness. Sekar stepped out beside him, her movements graceful yet lethal, like a predator freshly polished in a god’s workshop.

"Damn... is this Jogja or another planet?!" Je muttered.

In front of him, Malioboro Street—usually filled with the smell of hot asphalt and the aroma of bakpia—had transformed into a mad neon forest. Cracked asphalt was overgrown with giant moss glowing electric blue. Mushrooms as tall as palm trees towered between old buildings, unfurling delicate tendrils that danced in the wind. The air was thick with a shimmering, thin purple mist. It was beautiful, but Je knew every spore could turn his lungs into a flowerbed in seconds.

"Master... danger..." Sekar hissed. Her cold hand gripped Je's arm. Her eyes, now flecked with purple, swept the street warily.

"I know, Sekar. But look at that," Je pointed toward thousands of figures standing frozen along the road.

They were Jogja residents who hadn't been as lucky as Je. Their bodies were no longer human-shaped; some had hands turned into fungal sickles, others had heads blooming like corpse flowers. They were all silent, heads bowed, as if waiting for a command.

[Visual Analysis Activated...]

[Mode: Curator's Eye.]

[Description: You do not see corpses, Host. You see unfinished canvases. The enemy's biological structure is a composition of colors and textures you can manipulate.]

"Shut up, System! Always talking about art. Just tell me how to pass them without becoming their snack!" Je cursed.

[Advice: Maintain your heart rate rhythm. They are connected in a single frequency network.]

Suddenly, from the direction of the Tugu Jogja monument, a high-pitched screech rang out. The sound was like a broken violin, but the volume was deafening. A tall, thin figure emerged from behind the ruins of a mall. It stood four meters high, wearing the tattered remains of a black tuxedo that had fused with its hardened skin. Instead of hands, the creature possessed clusters of long fingers resembling conductor's batons.

"What the hell is that?!" Je’s eyes widened.

[Subject Detected: 'The Conductor' (Special Infected - Tier 2).]

[Ability: Bio-resonance. He leads thousands of zombies through the strongest heartbeat rhythm in the area.]

THUMP-THUMP. THUMP-THUMP.

Je winced. He could hear his own heartbeat echoing in the air, as if a giant speaker were lodged in his chest. At that exact moment, thousands of zombies in Malioboro raised their heads in unison. Their purple eyes flared bright, synchronized with Je’s heartbeat.

"Shit! They’re following my rhythm!" Je began to back away. "Sekar, we have to run!"

"Running... is impossible, Master. They... are surrounding us," Sekar spread her arms. The fungus on her back bloomed, forming a sort of organic shield.

'The Conductor' raised his hands into the air, then swung them with a theatrical flourish. "SCREEEEAAAAAA!!!"

Thousands of zombies began to move. They didn't run brutally like in the old movies. They moved with a strange cadence, stepping forward in a terrifying synchronization, as if performing a colossal dance toward death.

"This isn't an apocalypse, it's a mad art show!" Je pulled Sekar and began sprinting toward a row of ruined shops. "System! Is there a way to break his frequency?!"

[Use Skill: 'Rhythm Theft'. Force your heartbeat to follow another rhythm, or create sensory chaos for 'The Conductor'.]

"Another rhythm? How?!" Je leaped over a park bench covered in slime mold.

[Trigger Adrenaline or... Lust. Emotional instability acts as 'noise' for their system.]

"Are you serious?! In the middle of being chased by thousands of monsters, you’re telling me to get turned on?!" Je swore under his breath while glancing back. The wall of zombies was getting closer, their movements accelerating as Je’s heart pounded faster from panic.

"Master! Above!" Sekar pointed to an emergency ladder on the side of a partially collapsed pharmacy building.

They climbed rapidly. Je could feel the foul breath of the lead zombie nearly grazing his heels. Once they reached the roof, Je saw a sight even more terrifying. Malioboro was completely carpeted by a sea of zombies moving to the sway of 'The Conductor’s' hands in the distance.

"We’re cornered, Sekar," Je panted. The oxygen in his lungs felt heavy. "System, if I die here, I’m going to haunt you!"

[The Host will not die as long as he still possesses 'desire'. Look at Sekar.]

Je turned to Sekar. Under the moonlight filtered by purple mist, Sekar looked hauntingly beautiful. Her torn clothes revealed a body now patterned with glowing organic tattoos. The spores drifting from Sekar’s body began to envelop Je, providing a warm sensation that countered his fear.

"Use me... Master..." Sekar approached, stroking Je's cheek with her cold hand. "Create the 'noise' they hate."

Je swallowed hard. Below them, 'The Conductor' began scaling the building wall with spider-like movements. His large, multi-faceted eyes stared at Je with pure malice.

"Fine, if this is the only way to survive," Je grabbed Sekar’s waist, kissing her roughly amidst the onslaught of zombie screams.

PING!

[Frequency Interrupted! Host’s heart rate experiencing 'Ecstasy' anomaly.]

[The Conductor has lost synchronization!]

Below them, the movement of the thousands of zombies instantly turned chaotic. They began crashing into each other, tumbling down, and shrieking in pain as the rhythm they followed suddenly shattered into thousands of irregular fragments. 'The Conductor' shrieked in rage, his body trembling violently against the building wall.

"It worked, holy shit!" Je broke the kiss, looking down with cynical satisfaction. "Who knew a kiss could be a weapon of mass destruction?"

However, the victory lasted only a moment. Je looked toward the horizon, south toward Parangtritis Beach. Behind a thick red mist, a mountain-sized shadow began to emerge. The shadow had thousands of tentacles stretching toward the sky, as if harvesting the souls drifting in the air.

"What... is that?" Je whispered. A dread far greater than being chased by zombies hit him. This wasn't just an infection; it was something cosmic. Something that viewed Earth as a livestock farm.

"That is The Great Harvester, Master," Sekar hissed, her body trembling violently. "He has come to take what is ripe!"

"Dammit. We just got out of the bunker and the world is ending twice?" Je clenched his fists. "We have to get out of here. Now!"

Just as 'The Conductor' prepared to pounce toward them with a vengeful roar, a massive explosion rocked the street below. An overwhelming smell of alcohol—the scent of 'ciu oplosan' (spiked moonshine)—wafted up powerfully, masking the sickly sweet jasmine scent of the fungus.

"OI! YOU UP THERE! YOU WANNA DIE AND TURN INTO CRACKERS, OR YOU WANNA COME WITH ME?!"

Je looked down. In the midst of the confused zombie crowd, a modified motorcycle with a giant tank and an exhaust spitting fire sped through. The rider wore a faded delivery driver jacket and a cracked full-face helmet.

"Guntur?" Je muttered. "That idiot is still alive?"

[System Notification: New Ally Detected. Survival probability increased by 15%.]

"Get down here, damn it! I don't have enough moonshine to burn them all!" the biker shouted again while tossing a Molotov cocktail at 'The Conductor'.

"Come on, Sekar! We’ve got a ride!" Je jumped onto a drainage pipe, sliding down rapidly toward the greater madness on the streets of Malioboro.

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