2025-07-05 03:55:32Jonah stood still, listening closely. A faint cry for help echoed from somewhere nearby, bouncing off the cracked walls and blood-smeared tiles of the fifth floor. He didn’t recognize the voice, but he didn’t need to. Someone needed help. That was enough.
He tightened his grip on the axe. “Where are they?” he muttered under his breath, stepping carefully over a torn backpack and shattered glass. His eyes scanned every corner, every door, every dark hallway.
Oddly, he felt light on his feet, faster, stronger than before. He was covering ground easily, moving almost without effort. It felt strange, like the building itself had shrunk or he had become something... more. Each step came with speed and balance he didn’t remember having before.
Jonah looked down at his hands, then back at the hallway. “I’m changing,” he whispered, half to himself. “But I’m not stopping now.”
He rounded a corner and halted. Just ahead, a group of zombies stood outside a half-open door. They twitched, their heads jerking in unnatural ways as they sniffed the air. Their skin was pale and stretched, with dark veins crawling up their necks. They hadn’t seen him yet.
His fingers curled around the axe. “Let’s test this again,” he said, narrowing his eyes.
This time, he would control it, whatever it was that gave him the edge before. He didn’t want to black out again or lose control. He needed to master it.
He charged.
The first zombie didn’t even flinch before its head flew sideways, cleanly severed.
The second tried to swing at him, but Jonah spun beneath the arm and cleaved through its chest.
His body moved without hesitation, like he was dancing through death. Left, strike. Right, dodge. Leap, slice. Again and again.
He was a storm of motion, swift and unstoppable. The seventh and last one fell at his feet, a pool of black blood spreading beneath it.
Jonah stood panting, his shoulders rising and falling. He looked down at the bodies, then up the hallway. A larger group waited farther ahead, maybe a dozen, maybe more.
And he grinned. “I never thought I’d say this… but I’m actually happy to see more zombies.”
With a wild shout, he dashed forward like a bull chasing red.
The fight was faster than he expected. He didn’t count, not until it was over and his axe dripped thick with gore.
Around him were scattered bodies, arms, legs, heads… at least forty in total. Some still twitched, some groaned softly before going still.
Jonah stood in the center, blood on his face, chest heaving. He wasn’t tired.
He was thriving. “What level am I now?” he asked out loud, half-joking.
The system’s voice rang in his head like a whisper made of metal.
System Analysis: Level upgraded. You have unlocked skill use – Level 1.
Jonah blinked. “I unlocked something already?” His voice trembled with excitement.
You can now use powers enhanced by the system. For beginners: ‘Shock Blast’ and ‘Weapon Cry’ are available.
“Shock Blast? Weapon Cry?” He smiled again. “This is like a game. Except…” He glanced at the torn bodies around him. “There’s no respawn if I die.”
Suddenly, the voice cried out again, louder now. “Please! Someone help us!”
Jonah spun toward the sound and followed it down the hall. It led him to a small janitor’s unit tucked in a corner.
He stepped up to the door and knocked. “Are you guys okay?”
A pause. Then a voice, cautious and firm, answered.
“Are you human? Or one of them that just… knows how to talk?”
Jonah blinked, unsure whether to laugh or feel insulted. “Pretty sure zombies don’t hold conversations.”
Another pause. Then the voice replied, “Okay. I’ll open the door. Don’t attack us when I do.”
“I promise,” Jonah said softly. “I’m not a zombie. Just a human... trying to help.”
The door handle wiggled. Slowly, the door creaked open.
Out stepped a woman.
Jonah stared for a moment. She had golden-blonde hair tied back in a messy ponytail, with soft freckles on her cheeks and worried eyes. In her arms, she held a small boy, no older than seven.
He looked frightened, burying his face in her shoulder.
“You’re... a person,” the woman said, sighing with relief. “I didn’t think I’d ever see another human again. Not after today.”
Jonah nodded. “I understand. No need to explain. You were protecting yourselves. I’d do the same.”
“I’m Lisa,” she said, her voice soft now. “And this little one is Kelvin.”
Jonah looked at the child. “He’s your son?”
Lisa shook her head. “No. I found him… holding on to his mother.”
Jonah frowned. “Where’s she now?”
Lisa looked down. Her voice trembled slightly. “She was hurt. I thought I could help her. But the wound was… it turned her.”
Jonah lowered his eyes. “She turned?”
Lisa nodded. “I didn’t even have time to react. She attacked us, and I had to…” She clutched Kelvin tighter. “I couldn’t let him get hurt.”
Jonah didn’t speak for a moment. He watched Lisa’s hands trembling. The boy hadn’t looked up.
“You’re brave,” Jonahh said finally. “You didn’t run. You stayed to protect someone else.”
“I just did what anyone with a heart would do,” she whispered.
“No. Not everyone would.”
Lisa looked at him closely now. “And you? What’s your name?”
“Jonah.”
She smiled faintly. “You’re strange, Jonah. But I don’t see anything scary in your eyes. I’ll follow you.”
He returned the smile. “Then let’s get out of here.”
But as they turned to leave, a sharp bang echoed from below, then another.
Footsteps. Fast. Heavy. And not human.
Jonah pushed Lisa and the boy behind him, his grip tightening on the axe once more. “Something’s coming,” he whispered.
And this time, it didn’t sound like a normal zombie.
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Chapter 249. The Reborn Serra
The first signs appeared at the edge of New Crest’s main plaza. Jonah was walking along the light-threaded boulevard, cane tapping against stone that glimmered faintly with the breath of the city. The hybrids moved in synchronized streams around him, their skin flashing muted amber and violet bands. He paused at the intersection of the luminous avenues when the crowd parted, not with force, not with awareness, but as if they recognized something beyond perception.A figure stood there, framed by the rising sun reflecting off the crystalline spires. She was serene, hands clasped lightly at her waist. The crowd immediately slowed, their steps measured. Jonah’s cane struck the ground once, twice, and he waited. Something about the figure’s stance, the subtle tilt of her head, felt familiar.She stepped forward. Her movement was precise, calculated, yet effortless. Every hybrid nearby pulsed in gentle alignment, a chorus of warmth and light. Machines ceased minor processes mid-task. D
Chapter 248. Dreamers of Light
The first report came in just before midnight. A perimeter drone over the southern fields adjusted its angle and slowed its sweep. Its sensors flagged movement where there should have been none. The land beyond New Crest had been empty for months. No roads. No settlements. Only soil, stone, and old growth.The drone recorded a lone figure walking barefoot through the grass. The person did not carry light. The ground beneath their feet glowed faintly with each step. The drone zoomed closer. The glow did not burn. It spread slowly, like frost forming in reverse.The figure stopped. They knelt. The drone feed cut for three seconds. When it returned, the soil beneath the figure had changed. Crystalline veins ran through the dirt. They pulsed once, then went still. The figure remained kneeling. Their head tilted back. Their eyes glowed faint gold.In New Crest, the alert passed through systems without urgency. No alarms sounded. No emergency protocols engaged. The Comfort smoothed the
Chapter 247. Kevin’s Confession
The door to the upper archive closed with a soft seal. No lock engaged. No guard waited outside.Jonah stood near the window, his back to the room. The city stretched below him in layered light. The Comfort drifted through the air like a low pressure change. It did not hum. It did not pulse. It simply existed, smooth and even.Footsteps crossed the floor behind him. They stopped three paces back. Kevin did not speak. Jonah waited.The silence lengthened. The city lights below shifted in slow waves, matching one another without lag. A flock of delivery drones altered course at the same instant, as if sharing a single thought.Jonah kept his hands on the stone ledge. His fingers pressed until the skin paled. Kevin cleared his throat once. He did not try again. Jonah said nothing.Kevin moved to the table at the center of the room. He set something down. Metal tapped stone. The sound echoed too sharply.Jonah turned. Kevin stood with his shoulders slumped forward. Dark rings marked the
Chapter 246. Council of Unease
The council chamber was silent before it even began. The domed ceiling reflected muted light from the hybrid resonators along the walls. Jonah stepped through the entryway, the stone floor cold beneath his boots. The hum of the city outside seemed distant here, absorbed into the polished surfaces and the quiet hum of the machines stationed in corners.At the front, representatives had already gathered. Humans sat stiffly on benches carved from bio-luminescent stone, their hands clasped or resting on knees. Breath-Born interfaces hovered in stilled patterns above their nodes, awaiting input. Hybrids, standing on raised platforms, pulsed faint streams of light across their skin, synchronizing in patterns that conveyed collective attention. Jonah felt the subtle pressure behind his eyes as he entered, the shared presence of a network that had grown far beyond what he had ever imagined.He counted faces. Some humans were familiar, leaders from distant settlements and emissaries from c
Chapter 245. The Eden Frequency
Jonah sat alone in the monitoring room, the glow of the city beneath him muted by the late-night haze. Screens lined the walls, each one alive with feeds from across New Crest, and beyond. He ran his fingers over the control panel, checking signal strength, adjusting filters, running analyses he had long since memorized. Then the first anomaly appeared.A soft spike on the neural-sensor array. Not sound. Not vibration. A pressure felt behind the eyes, like the hollow of a hand pressing lightly against a skull. Jonah paused. The graph jumped again, slight, precise, almost imperceptible to anyone not looking for it.He toggled the filter. The spike synchronized with another feed, halfway across the hemisphere. Hospitals. Trauma wards. Emergency response centers. Jonah watched footage from one ward: a child convulsed, a nurse leaning over, panic in every motion, and then it stopped. Mid-motion, the child froze, limbs still. The nurse blinked. Her hands lifted, trembling, and then lo
Chapter 244. Jonah’s Dream of Silence
Jonah woke before the sun, gasping. The bed beneath him had not moved, yet the air felt heavy, as though it carried a memory he could not place. His hands gripped the edge of the mattress, knuckles whitening. Outside, the towers loomed like sentinels, their usual hum fractured. He could hear it immediately: the pulse was off, skipping beats, a stutter in the rhythm that had guided the city for decades.He swung his legs over the side, boots hitting the cold floor with deliberate weight. The wind through the open window cut across his face, sharp, stirring papers that lay stacked on the workbench. Instruments blinked in a half-sleeping rhythm, lights cycling slower, colors blurred, gauges rising and falling without pattern. The hum from the hybrid grids outside was erratic, and even the low-frequency vibrations that ran through the stone foundations of New Crest shivered with uncertainty.Jonah stepped to the window, hands pressed against the cool glass. Below, the city seemed wron
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