《System In The Apocalypse》 Disclaimer Disclaimer This story contains graphic depictions of body horror, identity loss, psychological distress, and eldritch transformations. Readers sensitive to grotesque alterations, loss of autonomy, and the blurring of human identity may find certain passages unsettling. Additionally, this story includes themes of animal and human sacrifice, cannibalism, extreme violence, and war-driven atrocities, including the killing of innocents and manipulation. It also contains explicit sexual content, sex-based manipulation, and depictions of racism, sexism, and various forms of brutality. The word count for this story will range between 1,000 and 3,000 words per chapter. Expect occasional humor regarding various issues as I explore my interpretation of human breakdown. The quality of the narrative is expected to improve with each chapter, comment, and review. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. This is not your typical apocalypse novel. There won¡¯t be a clich¨¦d protagonist who mindlessly discusses feminism while indiscriminately killing others (though he will kill, but for specific reasons). This story will include: The government does not simply collapse in the background; rather, it serves as the antagonist, reflecting my perspective on the breakdown of realism. The main character begins as aloof yet intelligent before he eventually breaks. While he will kill, that comes much later. This story does not solely focus on the main character; multiple perspectives will be explored, and seemingly separate narratives will gradually intertwine. If anything is unclear, feel free to comment, and I will clarify. I appreciate your patience, as my updates may be slow¡ªI take time to review my work. This is my first novel, and I¡¯m writing to improve, so I welcome feedback on any mistakes I make. System Analytics System Overview & Major Individuals In this post-apocalyptic world, 10,000,000 individuals across eight continents have received a strategic-based system granted by the Organizers via a roulette selection. This system allows them to: Zombies have the ability to infect and mutate animals, making them grow faster, become more toxic, and deadlier.

System Progression & Leveling

Users can level up by:
  1. Devouring the systems of other users.
  2. Fusing their fortresses with those of other system users.
The leveling system follows exponential growth, requiring double the resources at each stage: Zombies follow a similar progression sequence, but at lower values: To devour infrastructure faster, users must collapse buildings first. Otherwise, careful deconstruction takes 50x longer to avoid damaging external structures. When devouring a building, materials are separated into sub-particles, such as:
MC¡¯s System & Harem Mechanics The MC, a campus student, has a unique system that allows him to gain harem members, servants, and workers through copulation. This is because his system requires strategic thinking and the formation of subfactions.
Major Individuals with the System Among the 10,000,000 system users, some individuals hold significant influence: This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Potential Name for the Dragon Nation

  1. Longteng Federation (ÁúÌÚÁª°î, L¨®ngt¨¦ng Li¨¢nb¨¡ng) ¨C ¡°Soaring Dragon Federation¡±
  2. Tianlong Dominion (ÌìÁúÁì, Ti¨¡nl¨®ng L¨«ng) ¨C ¡°Heavenly Dragon Dominion¡±
  3. Huanyu Empire (å¾ÓîµÛ¹ú, Hu¨¢ny¨³ D¨¬gu¨®) ¨C ¡°Empire of the World¡±
  4. Ry¨±koku Union (ýˆ¹úßB°î, Ry¨±koku Renp¨­) ¨C ¡°Dragon Nation Union¡±
  5. Dongsheng Alliance (¶«Ê¥ÁªÃË, D¨­ngsh¨¨ng Li¨¢nm¨¦ng) ¨C ¡°Eastern Sacred Alliance¡±
Estimated Deaths in the First Week (Non-Zombie Causes) With a world population of 16+ billion, the number of deaths within one week from non-zombie-related causes is estimated as follows:

Direct Causes (Due to Lack of Medical Care & Societal Collapse)

Total Non-Zombie Deaths: ~43.69 million

Indirect Causes (Due to Collapse & Chaos)

Total Indirect Deaths: ~64 million

Grand Total (Non-Zombie + Indirect Causes):

~107.69 million deaths in the first week This does not include zombie infections, meaning the true death toll would be even higher. Let me know if you need further breakdowns or adjustments! Zombie Phases Ranks of Zombies

The Zombie Infection Process

The zombification process follows a structured evolutionary cycle, adapting to environmental conditions and ensuring the infection spreads efficiently. The transformation follows two major paths:
  1. The Standard Infection Path ¡ú Zombies progress through four color-based stages before potentially becoming Spore-born entities.
  2. The Mutant Divergence Path ¡ú Instead of progressing to Phase Four, certain zombies mutate into Phase One or Phase Two Mutants, developing grotesque biological enhancements.
Infection Transmission Methods:

Zombie Phase ¨C Standard Infection Progression

Phase One Zombies (Green Palette) ¨C The Newly Infected
Phase Two Zombies (Yellow Palette) ¨C The Adapted Undead
Phase Three Zombies (Orange Palette) ¨C The Enhanced Undead
Phase Four Zombies (Red Palette) ¨C The Spore-Born Nightmare

Mutant Phases

Mutant Phase ¨C The Divergent Evolution of Zombies

Phase One Mutants (Soldier Green) ¨C The Monstrous Transformations
Phase Two Mutants (Black Palette) ¨C The Ultimate Bio-Horrors The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. Types of Zombies Types of Zombies 1. Nomads ¨C The Wandering Dead Unique Variants:
2. Sprinters ¨C The Hunters of the Dead Unique Variants:
3. Bulkers ¨C The Walking Juggernauts Unique Variants:
4. Brutes ¨C The Monstrous Titans Unique Variants: This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
5. Stalkers ¨C The Shadowborn Dead Unique Variants:
6. Swarmers ¨C The Endless Tide Unique Variants:
7. Necrotics ¨C The Evolving Threat (Optional new category) Unique Variants: Prologue In the blink of an eye, the world as we knew it vanished. It began with people transforming into zombies, which spiraled down into chaos as individuals started fighting one another; they exploited themselves; as brothers betrayed their siblings, wives killed their husbands, men butchered themselves, women offered theirs, and friends became enemies, as gangs became warlords. Soon, cannibalism became the norm as the government went silent and collapsed over time. But that was only the beginning, merely the start of the end. The zombies grew and multiplied, spreading like a plague and engulfing everything. Cities and towns crumbled as rural areas became flooded with people fleeing to safety. Everything began to change¡ªsome argued it was for the good of nature, while others believed it signaled the downfall of mankind. People were no longer the same, and our reality and society became fragmented. Despite all the advancements in science and technology, nothing could stop what was happening. After the catastrophe, it all became hell. Animals, plants, insects, and even the earth became infected as everything grew larger and larger and became deadlier and more toxic. But then, in this post-apocalyptic world, a strategic-based system granted by the organizers via a roulette selection was given to 10 million individuals across eight continents, of which no one knew. You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. This allowed users to establish fortresses and cities, enhancing their abilities and fortifications while synthesizing weapons through advanced crafting tools and armaments. Users were able to create kingdoms & fortresses as they became city rulers/commanders and established dominions by devouring the existing infrastructure of the world that more or else became redundant and empty over time with people running away and leaving. It gave the authority to devour materials by breaking down buildings into sub-particles for immediate use (e.g., metals, wood, cement). Despite this occurrence, individuals were able to develop the skills of their subordinates by having them bury zombie corpses in crypts designed by systems to award points and sol, which was both a logical and necessary action to prevent further contamination. However, unbeknownst to most users who could advance, commanders could consume the systems of other users to level up and also merge their fortresses with those of other system users, effectively enhancing the fortresses by half of their existence. This led to the siphoning as everything became deadlier and more dangerous... Beginning It has been three days since it began¡ªthe end of the world, Armageddon, the apocalypse, or in my case, the start of a ¡°paradise.¡± It might be a stretch, but it is what it is. Just days ago, I was your average part-time working college student, juggling both working and studying at the city campus, but on a pretty normal Wednesday near the semester''s end, that''s when it started. It wasn''t anything remotely supernatural or out of bounds; it wasn''t an alien invasion, a demonic invasion, or an AI takeover scenario¡ª¡®That was predicted by sceptics to happen¡¯¡ªor anything grandiose, but an event that was portrayed over and over in several forms of media, from books to movies to audiobooks to even AVR¡ªAugmented Virtual Reality games¡ªit was an apocalypse. It first started on that fateful afternoon. Lying face down on the college benches, I was taking a mid-lesson nap as the professor moved around the lecture hall. We were having an impromptu test, and even though the test had just begun, I had already finished it. Right before the CODE RED alarm sounded. As I raised my aching head, I noticed all my classmates gazing out of the hall windows, and at a corner, some were kneeling on the ground, their faces frozen with fear, while others had tears rolling down their cheeks and their bodies were visibly shivering. Intrigued, I walked over and climbed onto a desk to see what was happening, and below there it was a massacre. From the 5th floor of the main building, I could barely see things in detail, but what was happening was as seen: people were screaming and shouting with cars, trucks, and trains crashing and hitting each other; bodies were lying lifelessly on the floors and being bitten down by others. Smoke was rising in the atmosphere, with people running helter-skelter, and as I turned my attention to our campus grounds, my face was immediately filled with dread. The campus grounds were splattered and littered with the blood and bodies of several individuals, from the guards who patrolled the gates and their surroundings to the lecturers and students who had stepped outside, kneeling atop their bodies, where odd-looking figures were covered in blood. I wasn''t sure what I was seeing, but they had an unusually paler skin tone than normal, with some having parts of their bodies, like their hands and legs, either torn off or entirely bitten. They were moving across the campus with their mouths hanging open as they marched towards the doors. And before I could notice the mob from the following street, a series of screams could be heard from the receding floors. The hall¡¯s floor began to tremble, with several marches of running footsteps moving to the higher floor. My mind linked everything together before I thought of even moving. ''They''ve entered the building.'' It didn''t take a moment, as all the other students in the hall leapfrogged from the windows to the door exits. They rushed to carry their bags, phones, and laptops, and in less than a moment, the teachers, my classmates, and the rest of the campus erupted in panic. From the atrium¡ªa large open space designed with spiral stairs at the centre of the building, often extending through multiple floors, designed to bring light and air into the structure¡ªof the main stairs, the panic had become more physical, with people struggling and rioting for their survival. From where I stood, I could see crimson blood dripping across the white paint of the spiral. During this rush, some students and teachers had been pushed off the stairs, dying from the fall or getting devoured by what they were running from; some had tripped and, in the heat of the moment, stepped on and marched to death with their innards splattering and dripping down from the stampede. A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. I almost threw up at the scene, for they shouted, screamed, and agonised while being trampled and stepped on; those who kept running up the stairs kept on screaming, and I just watched from my POV with my classmates standing still and watching or even running to an upper floor. Students from other halls also stepped out of their halls, standing by the spiral railing as some began placing anything that could be carried into the entranceway to block anyone and anything from passing. In moments, all the school¡¯s floors from the ground floor to the 4th floor were barricaded with desks, cabinets, and tables as several growling sounds and thumps repeated over and over as they tried pushing it all away. But the barricades were already shaking. To our astonishment and unease, we soon found ourselves wedged together. Within less than an hour, people from the upper floors began to run down. Students, staff, and even the cleaners were tumbling down from the higher floors to the ground level as they got smashed and splattered from those heights. It was unclear whether it was a student or a teacher who had been bitten, but they had used the elevator to reach the 16th floor of the building, and now the infestation had begun restarting but from the top floor down. The barricades that had been used to obstruct the zombies from climbing had begun to backfire and soon... It''s been five hours, and several people have died. Many were killed by the infestation, while others met their fate in unconventional ways¡ªsome by piercing, others by falling, and some in a stampede. Only a small percentage of us remain alive, with many blocking the hall doors, segregating and isolating from one another by staying at different points, just as we did. We could see the city turn over in minutes with traffic building up from people trying to escape and news channels and social media flooded with videos and images of people fighting for their lives. Many tried to reach the government, but... We tried calling the police centre and fire centre, and though they seemed to remain active, they all went: "911 Emergency Services. Due to high call volume, please remain on the line. Your call is important to us." And then it changed when we tried again. "All emergency responders are currently engaged. If this is a medical emergency, please seek shelter and wait for assistance." The network on our devices flickered on and off, like a dying heartbeat. Panic set in as the automated voice played again, distorted this time as if the system itself was breaking apart. "Due to an ongoing crisis... police response times... may be... delayed. Please remain... calm." But nothing was making us any calmer than this. Every attempt for help turned into dead air or glitching loops. When I tried calling my parents¡ªlike so many of us did¡ªit didn¡¯t even ring. Just the cold message: "This person is unavailable." And then, as if mocking us, the emergency line stuttered back to life one final time. But this time, the voice was warped... almost... defeated: "Martial law... has been... enacted... All citizens... shelter in place... May God... help." Then static. No more updates. No more help. Just silence. Many began clutching and jittering with tears and shivers, showing their emotion regardless of gender or age. All were scared. The room remained silent with time waning as the network went up and down and the city skyline dimmed in smoke and soot. The honking of vehicles, the growling, and the chaos all just seemed to drain out with us staring and trying to connect. Over and over we called, but it just repeated again and again¡­ I looked up to see the faces of other students in the hall with me, but none even looked up; their faces were sandwiched between their legs with them curled up as the brightness of their phones reflected on them; none seemed interested in starting up any conversation with me gouging back into contemplation on how to escape this death hall. In the depth of night It has been nine hours since everything fell apart. Nine hours since the alarms blared, since the screaming started, since we barricaded ourselves inside the lecture halls, hoping¡ªpraying¡ªthat someone would come. But no one did. The sun had long since set, and the city outside had become a graveyard of flickering lights. Street lamps buzzed weakly, their glow sputtering in and out¡ªas if they were solar-powered¡ªand no one had come to change them to direct supply. Shadows stretched across the roads, cast by abandoned cars and bodies no longer moved. The once-bustling cityscape had turned into something out of a nightmare¡ªeerily quiet, unsettlingly still. Inside, we sat in silence, backs pressed against cold walls, too afraid to move. Our phone batteries were dead, drained from our countless desperate calls for help. Supplies were dwindling¡ªhalf-empty water bottles, pocketed snacks¡ªbut the vending machines, stocked with food and drinks, stood just outside the lecture halls. None of us dared to retrieve them or had thought of leaving the lecture halls. Even with our phone batteries dead and charging ports nearby, no one got up. We were frozen. Glued to the spots where we sat as if any movement might call the hordes outside the halls and shatter the fragile illusion of safety. Worst of all, night had fallen, and with the street lights blinking on and off, unreliable and weak. We didn¡¯t dare turn on any lights of our own. We didn¡¯t know if they could see us¡ªbut none of us wanted to find out. I stretched and used the hem of my clothing to wipe my face, but I could still feel the blood on my skin. Thick. Sticky. Cooling against me. It wasn¡¯t mine. It belonged to a classmate¡ªa boy from my department. I barely knew his name, but I would never forget the way he died. Trampled. Crushed beneath the weight of stampeding feet, his body breaking under the force of our collective panic as he screamed for help and raised his arm for help. I had watched it happen. And I had done nothing. Or maybe I had. Maybe, somewhere in the chaos, I had been part of it. Maybe I had shoved someone when they shoved me. Maybe I had seen someone clawing at the barricade, begging for help, and I had turned away. Maybe I had chosen my survival over theirs. For the first time, I understood what it meant to kill someone and see them die. As I sat there in the dark, surrounded by trembling bodies and quiet sobs, I wasn¡¯t sure if I felt regret. *** Midnight came, and some of us had begun to have growling stomachs; hunger had begun to settle in, and I began to feel empty. Just empty. I could neither close my eyes, talk more, nor fall asleep, but...a snore broke the silence. ¡°*Snore**Snore**Snore*¡± I turned my head and stared at him in disbelief Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. ¡®Some could fall asleep at this moment.¡¯ He was a senior student¡ªno, a middle-aged man¡ªand slumped against the wall, his breathing deep and steady. He was asleep. But I guess the stress had caught up to him. Time went by slowly as the cold of autumn began settling in. Time dragged on as I turned my head and looked toward the windows behind me again, and thoughts of how to escape started settling in. ¡°Do you have a plan?¡± A voice behind me spoke quietly as I felt an armrest on my shoulder. ¡°For what?¡± I asked as I turned to look at them. ¡°To escape, of course.¡± This person was... ''Uhmmm'' ¡®Right¡¯ He was the student that always sat behind, the one I barely acknowledged before today. His name danced on the edge of my memory, something familiar that I couldn''t remember. ¡°You think there¡¯s a way out?¡± I whispered back. ¡°There¡¯s always a way,¡± he murmured. ¡°We just need to figure out the safest one.¡± I stared at him, trying to gauge if he was just talking or if he truly believed that. His face was gaunt, eyes sunken with exhaustion, but there was a weird happiness to his gaze, something calculating and weird at the moment. ¡°You sound confident,¡± I muttered. He smirked faintly. ¡°Not confident¡­ Just desperate.¡± A rustle from the other side of the hall made both of us tense. One of the girls¡ªSarah, I think¡ªshifted uncomfortably in her sleep, whimpering as if caught in a nightmare. None of us could afford to dream anymore, but she did. Maybe it was better than reality. ¡°Do you think they¡¯re still out there?¡± I asked, voice barely above a whisper. His expression darkened. ¡°They never left.¡± A chill ran down my spine. I already knew that, but hearing it said out loud made it real. For hours, we had heard them¡ªtheir distant groans, the occasional scuffle of movement outside, the sound of something dragging against pavement. They were still out there. Waiting. ¡°Maybe in the morning,¡± he continued, ¡°when there¡¯s light, we¡¯ll have a better chance to see a way out.¡± I nodded slowly, though I wasn¡¯t sure if I believed it. Morning didn¡¯t mean safety. But doing nothing wasn¡¯t an option either. ¡°Get some rest,¡± he added, leaning his head back against the wall. ¡°We¡¯ll need it.¡± I let out a breath, pressing my back harder against the cold wall. Sleep felt impossible, but exhaustion was pulling at me like an undertow. Maybe, just maybe, I¡¯d close my eyes¡ªjust for a moment. And I hope that when I opened them again, this nightmare hadn¡¯t gotten worse. A screaming cut through the silence. My breath hitched, my heart slamming against my ribs. It wasn¡¯t from inside the hall¡ªit came from outside. Close. I snapped upright, eyes darting toward the windows. Several shadows moved. More than one. They were out there, shifting in the dim glow of the streetlights. A figure of two people was ahead, running and trying to flee from the campus grounds, running as fast as they could with nothing but their bare feet and clothes. The others stirred, eyes widening in fear. Whispers spread as they rushed towards the window¡¯s pane to look at what was happening. From varying corners, we all noticed several students running from the campus grounds, all barefooted and in different directions, and in the depths of night behind them were several zombies chasing after them. In the darkness and with the waving brightness of the street light, the zombies, we could finally make a good image of them. The zombies were all rippening apart, but unlike in the movies, they weren''t rotten, and they could run as fast as the student escaping them, but something that made it worse was they all just were screaming; each and every zombie just screamed, attracting others in the area and even those in the campus building. ¡°Someone¡¯s still out there.¡± ¡°They won¡¯t make it.¡± I clenched my fist. We could do nothing. The scream stopped abruptly, replaced by a wet, gurgling sound. Then, silence. I squeezed my eyes shut, swallowing the bile that rose in my throat. Morning wouldn¡¯t save us. Nothing would.