Zombie Apocalypse System

Chapter 16: Luxurious Underground City and World Attractions

"... and opened a secret path to the bowels of the earth that I've modified into an underground paradise, you idiot! Don't look so panicked!" Axel shouted loudly, his voice booming amidst the dust swirling from the ground collapse in front of the Absolute Fortress gate.

"Holy shit, Axel! I thought we were actually going to die because of that earthquake!" Abby emerged from behind a cloud of smoke, waving her hands. Her face, smudged with soot, couldn't hide the sparkle in her eyes as she saw the giant hole. "Did you seriously build all of this while I was busy sleeping last night?!"

"Of course, Abby! Did you think I was just staring blankly while sharpening iron pipes?" Axel grinned widely, standing tall at the edge of the pit, which turned out to be a giant elevator equipped with anti-gravity technology. "I used Conceptual Critical to turn the wreckage of yesterday's aircraft carrier into the foundation of this underground city. Look down there!"

Abby peered into the hole. Her eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. Down there, about five hundred meters below the surface, lay a futuristic city bathed in blue and gold light. Skyscrapers made of crystal and black steel stood in neat rows, separated by artificial rivers flowing with shimmering, clear water.

"This is insane... this isn't a bunker anymore, Axel! This is more luxurious than Dubai before the apocalypse!" Abby screamed hysterically, her fingers dancing wildly across her tablet to scan the structure below. "Is that a mall?! Are you serious about building a shopping center in the middle of the end of the world?!"

"Why not? So those seeking protection don't get bored, Abby," Axel laughed heartily. He turned toward the thousands of refugees and Global Lords who were still frozen in the distance. "Hey! All of you over there! Stop gaping like toothless cows! Do you want in or not?! Downstairs there's AC, good food, and most importantly... no acid rain!"

Hearing Axel's words, the thousands of people immediately erupted. Their shouts, which were previously full of fear, turned into cheers of hope.

"Lord Axel! We want in! Please let us in!" shouted a former Lord whose clothes were already in tatters.

"Calm down, don't start a riot!" Axel raised his hand. "Abby, you handle the selection system. You know the requirements, right?"

"You bet, Boss!" Abby smirked slyly, activating a holographic gate in front of the elevator. "Listen up, prospective citizens of the Abyssal Empire! Entry is free, but it's not without cost! You all must sign a soul contract! You work for this fortress, you get absolute security! If anyone dares to betray us, your heart will be automatically 'critiqued' into dust by the system!"

"I agree! Anything as long as I can eat pizza again!" shouted one survivor while running toward the holographic gate.

"Get in line, damn it! Practice some order if you don't want me to kick you into a volcanic crater!" Axel barked, making the line of thousands suddenly become very orderly.

Axel and Abby descended using the main elevator. As soon as they stepped onto the ground floor of the underground city, fresh air scented with jasmine immediately greeted their senses.

"Axel, this air... what kind of filtration system are you using?" Abby asked, taking a deep breath. "It's so fresh, I swear! Not like the air outside that smells like rot and gunpowder."

"I just took one jasmine stem left in the city park yesterday, then I used Critical... Thousand-Fold Ecosystem Multiplication. Now this entire underground city has an instant forest park that produces pure oxygen," Axel pointed toward a vast park in the center of the city filled with lush green trees.

"You really are the most cheating architect ever, Axel," Abby shook her head in admiration. "Look at that artificial waterfall! Where is that water coming from? We're underground!"

"I 'critiqued' the air humidity into an eternal spring. So we'll never run out of clean water even if the world above is bone dry," Axel walked toward a magnificent building in the center of the city with a giant neon sign: ABYSSAL PLAZA.

"Holy crap, there really is a mall!" Abby ran into the building. Inside, thousands of shops were already standing tall, complete with shiny glass storefronts. "Axel, where did the stock come from?! You couldn't have stolen everything in Jakarta overnight, right?"

"No need to steal, Abby. I just need one sample of an item, then I 'critique' its production into a thousand units per second. What brand of clothes do you want? What gadget specs? Everything is here. I took the raw materials from the warship wreckage I converted earlier," Axel explained casually.

"This is crazy... this is the most nonsensical world attraction that has ever existed," Abby whispered, touching a silk dress in one of the shops. "People up there would definitely be willing to die just to get an entry ticket here."

"And that's the point of the allure, Abby. So they submit without me needing to threaten them with cannons," Axel leaned his back against a gold pillar. "But remember, surveillance must be tight. I feel like there are little rats trying to sneak in through that crowd of refugees."

"Don't worry, Axel. I've upgraded my biometric sensors using that dragon blood energy from earlier. Anyone with evil intent, their heartbeat will sound different in my system," Abby patted her tablet proudly.

Suddenly, the upper gate began to open and the first wave of refugees started descending via the elevator. There were about five hundred people in the first wave. As soon as they reached the bottom floor, everyone immediately knelt and wept uncontrollably at the luxury before their eyes.

"God... this is truly paradise..." an old woman kissed the clean marble floor.

"This isn't paradise, Ma'am. This is Axel's Absolute Fortress," Abby replied firmly. "Now everyone get up! Follow the guide drones to the registration area! No one touches anything until you get your citizen ID!"

"Abby, you handle them. I'm going to check the main fusion reactor on the lowest floor. I felt a strange energy fluctuation when the elevator opened earlier," Axel said quietly, his eyes narrowing as he watched the moving crowd of refugees.

"Fluctuation? Why isn't there any notification on my tablet?" Abby frowned, trying to comb through her system data.

"My instincts are sharper than your tablet, Abby. I feel a frequency vibration that doesn't come from our technology," Axel began walking toward a secret door behind the artificial waterfall.

"Okay, let me know if anything happens! I'm going to start 'orienting' our new citizens first!" Abby waved while starting to shout through the system megaphone.

Axel walked through a glass tunnel that showed a view of the nuclear fusion reactor glowing bright blue. There, thousands of dragon blood crystals were neatly arranged, supplying a massive amount of energy. However, when Axel reached the reactor control room, he saw something that made him stop dead.

A figure in grimy refugee clothes was standing in front of the main crystal panel. He didn't look like a hungry or terrified refugee. His movements were tactical and calm.

"Hey, old man! Are you lost? Registration isn't here," Axel greeted in a casual tone, but his hand was already prepared to crush the air.

The man turned slowly. His face was expressionless, but his eyes emitted a strange digital glow. "Axel... the Architect. This construction... is too perfect for a mere mortal."

"Whoa, are you from the Genesis faction? Or a lackey of that Big-Eyed Boss?" Axel stepped forward, his silver aura beginning to envelop the corridor. "It's pretty rude of you, entering someone's house and going straight to the engine room."

"I am no one's lackey. I am the embodiment of the system-cleaning virus," the man raised his hand, and suddenly dozens of data cables from the reactor began to wrap around his body. "The existence of this fortress is a threat to the balance of the apocalypse. I must erase its roots."

"Erase the roots of my fortress?! You think this fortress is a bean sprout?!" Axel lunged forward at supersonic speed. He threw a punch directly at the man's face.

BOOM!

The man didn't dodge, but a hexagonal digital shield appeared to block Axel's strike. The energy explosion made the entire underground city shake violently.

"Axel! What's going on down there?! My reactor sensors are going crazy!" Abby's voice screamed over the intercom.

"There's a digital rat, Abby! He's trying to inject a virus into the reactor! Lock the main data paths now!" Axel commanded while continuing to rain critical punches down on the man's shield.

"I can't! My access was cut from the inside! He's using a 'God-Key' protocol!" Abby sounded panicked. "Axel, you have to pull him off that panel manually! If the virus reaches the dragon blood core, this whole city will blow!"

"Damn it!" Axel growled. He spun his iron pipe, which was now fused with fusion energy. "Conceptual Critical... Thousand-Fold Reality Connection Severance!"

Axel swung his iron pipe at the cables wrapping around the man. Silver light flashed, attempting to sever the digital connection between the intruder and the reactor.

"Your efforts are futile, Axel. The system cannot be defeated by its own creator," the man laughed hollowly, his voice sounding like a computer glitch.

Suddenly, the man detonated himself—not with fire, but with a dense wave of raw data. Axel was thrown back, his back slamming into the reactor's glass wall until it cracked.

"Cough! Bastard... he really is a walking virus!" Axel struggled to stand, his eyes fixed on the reactor panel which had now turned blood red.

"AXEL! THE VIRUS IS IN! THE REACTOR IS STARTING TO OVERLOAD!" Abby shrieked. "Everyone in the mall is panicking! You have to do something now!"

Axel stared at the monitor screen in front of him. A countdown appeared with a golden skull symbol. [REACTOR COLLAPSE IN: 30 SECONDS].

"I won't let my home be destroyed by a cheap virus like this!" Axel closed his eyes, pressing both palms against the hot glass wall of the reactor.

"Conceptual Critical... Thousand-Fold Energy Purification and Virus Compression!"

A dark gold aura from Axel's body began to crawl into the fusion core, battling the red of the system virus. The atmosphere in the basement became terrifyingly tense; the reactor's hum grew so loud that Axel's ears began to bleed.

"Just a little more... just a little more..." Axel gritted his teeth with all his might.

On Abby's monitor, the red graph began to be absorbed by Axel's golden glow. But in the midst of that struggle, the virus man appeared again behind Axel, this time in a larger form, holding a digital dagger aimed straight at Axel's back.

"Axel! Behind you!" Abby screamed through the surveillance camera.

Axel couldn't turn around, or the reactor purification process would fail completely. He could only accept it as the dagger began to pierce into his back.

"You're dead, virus..." Axel whispered softly.

Just as the dagger was about to pierce Axel's heart, a blue laser shot suddenly zipped from the doorway and destroyed the virus man's hand.

"Don't touch my boss, you digital trash!" shouted Abby, who had apparently braved the descent while holding a giant plasma rifle.

"Abby?! What are you doing here?!" Axel was shocked but remained focused on the reactor.

"You think I'd just sit still while you're being ganged up on?!" Abby fired her rifle repeatedly at the virus man. "Finish your job, Axel! Let me handle this shitty coding!"

Axel smiled thinly. He released all of his critical energy into the reactor. "I DON'T CARE IF YOU'RE A GOD VIRUS OR A DEVIL VIRUS... I'M THE ONE WHO MAKES THE RULES HERE! CRITICAL... TOTAL ERASURE!"

BLAAAAARRRRRRR!

A wave of white light swept through the entire reactor room, erasing the virus man's existence down to the last bit. The nuclear fusion reactor stabilized, returning to a blue color that was calmer than before.

"Hah... hah... finally done," Axel collapsed on the floor, his breath coming in gasps.

Abby immediately ran to Axel. "Are you okay?! Your back is bleeding, you idiot!"

"Relax... it's just a scratch," Axel grinned weakly. "How are the citizens upstairs? No one got buried, right?"

"Everyone is safe! I activated the internal evacuation protocol earlier," Abby helped Axel stand. "But Axel... I got new data from the remains of that virus when I shot him."

"What data?"

Abby showed her tablet screen, her face deathly pale. "This virus... it wasn't sent to blow up our fortress. It was just a distraction."

"A distraction?" Axel frowned.

"Its real purpose was to open a backdoor in our security system so 'they' could enter through the air without being detected by our camouflage radar," Abby whispered, pointing toward the surface monitor.

Axel looked at the monitor. In the Jakarta sky that was previously empty, thousands of dimensional portals were now opening simultaneously. And from within those portals emerged thousands of monsters shaped like iron-winged angels, each carrying an apocalyptic trumpet.

"Wow... quite a grand welcome for our new citizens," Axel stood tall again, his iron pipe glowing gold once more.

"Axel, this is a true apocalypse-scale attack! They won't stop until this entire underground city is leveled!" Abby reloaded her plasma rifle.

"Fine then. That means it's time to show them a real world attraction," Axel walked toward the main elevator. "Our new citizens need entertainment, right? Let's give them the 'Angel Rain' show!"

The two of them ascended to the fortress surface. Outside, the thousands of refugees who had just entered were now screaming in terror as they saw the sky turn a blinding silver.

"Listen up, inhabitants of the Absolute Fortress!" Axel stood atop the highest tower, his voice amplified by the fortress sound system. "Today is your first day as citizens of my Empire! And as an opening gift, I'm going to show you how the Abyssal Architect slaughters thousands of these heavenly guardians!"

Axel raised his hand to the sky. The fusion reactor underground channeled all its energy into Axel's body.

"Abby! Activate the 'Star-Breaker Cannon'! I'm going to use a top-tier conceptual technique!" Axel commanded.

"Ready, Boss! Preparing Star-Breaker Cannon! Target: The entire Jakarta sky!" Abby pressed a large red button on the external console.

Axel focused all his attention on the thousands of iron angels beginning to dive down.

"Conceptual Critical... Thousand-Fold Air Mass to Plasma Explosion Conversion..."

Just as the angels were only a hundred meters from the fortress, Axel slammed his foot onto the floor and...