《My Doomsday Farming Truck》


 Chapter 1 - Post Apocalyptic World

    Human Base city S.


    In the outer sector of the city, the place for all the trash humanity disposed of. With narrow streets without any light, leading into different corridors created by buildings with broken walls full of moss and blood spots and tents made up of worn-out cloth. The place seems to have gone through many harsh and bloody fights.


    This is the place where all those people who have no place in the warmth and protection of the inner city belong. Few corners of the outer sector have not seen the sun for a long time. While walking on the street you can see the lifeless eyes of the people walking as corpses. The air is filled with a pungent smell of sweat.. Most of the people here have skin disorders due to the harmful poison permeating the air. Long exposure to the air will result in those painful skin disorders. And sometimes respiratory diseases.


    Though the inner city has created an antidote for the poison it''s not like these people can afford it.


    Women are standing on some corners with exposed dirty skin and hopeless eyes they contain girls from ages 12 to women with few wrinkles on the skin. One can have them kneel for you for one packet of compressed biscuits.


    In a certain such corner, there is a tent made up of torn cloth. One can hear the moaning of a woman. There are 5-6 robust men with scrapped iron weapons and leather armor with obvious blood and scratch marks.


    They are surrounding a nude girl of the age of 21, she has white snow-like skin covered in dirt and various scratch and wound marks with crudely cut black hair and watery azure eyes with small lips. She is a prostitute who offers some of the harsh requests of the customers for higher pays.


    The men took turns on her for more than 5 hours after they left the girl with a bag of 500gm noodles and a shriveled packet of antipyretic medicine that has already expired.


    The girl had a faint smile on her face as she looked at the medicine. She put on her broken clothes and with wobbling legs went toward the tent.

 Chapter 2 - Arther POV

    Same time inside the tent.


    The tent is built on the bare ground with some dried leaves and dirty paper laid on the ground. It doesn''t contain anything except a disproportionate cooking vessel placed on the rocks with a place for the fire below.


    Light permeates through the torn-out cloth of the tent.


    On one side of the tent lays a boy at the age of 19, with blond hair, black pupils, and a thin body without any strength. His skin has formed blisters with greenish-black fluid inside. His name is Arther.


    (Arther POV)


    I can hear the things going outside the tent, the sunlight is shining but can''t provide me with any warmth. I can hear her getting molested by those fuc*kers but I can''t help it..


    It has been 3 years since the apocalypse. Humanity is no more the top of the food chain, we have fallen to point of surviving in the cracks as worms. The world no more has law and morality, everyone lives without any hope of tomorrow. The world now follows only one law Survival of the fittest, strong eat the weak and no one will help them, those who tried are already walking as undead in the once-prosperous cities.


    This world doesn''t allow you peace even after death, I still remember seeing people dead for decades walking out of the tombs and spreading the virus.


    It all started with an unstable solar wave due to the formation of the new star named by the scientists of the world as death star as it brought the took the death from the world.


    City X


    Morning 9:00


    It was the happy day of my life, our family was going on a vacation to the snow mountain but, the governments around the world announced a lockdown throughout. The common people were not notified about anything we stayed at home for 3 days. Then came the light that shrouded the whole world and we lost consciousness. My parents were in the backyard doing some work, and my sister was with me. After a few minutes when I gained my consciousness, the world was no more what it used to be. The TV was still playing the news that stated that due to unknown reasons there are undeadly sprouting out of the tombs. I saw the footage and the first thing that came to my mind was ''Zombies''


    Being a shut-in otaku it was not an unknown term for me, While I was still in shock I heard crashing sounds coming from the backdoor of the house, I went to check it out with a faint headache only to see my mother lying in a pool of blood and my father with one bloodied hand holding onto an old skeleton with sharp nails on fingers and long canines biting on his neck when he saw me there were tears in his blood-filled eyes, blood flowed out of his mouth as he used his last strength to topple over the skeleton using his body to provide me time to run. I wanted to help him but my legs gave up, tears filled my eyes as I saw my dad die in front of me.


    As I was still in the pain of losing my mom and dad the skeleton spotted me a chill ran down my spine as it pounced over me, I was able to smell the bloody smell from its mouth closing over me as I can feel death coming closer, I closed my eyes shut waiting for the pain to come it didn''t come instead I heard something crashing on my side. Then I felt a grip on my hand as someone pulled me out of there. I opened my eyes to see the skeleton standing up from a wooden chair crashing on it.


    "What are doing run!", the voice brought me back from shock,


    it was my elder sister Jessy she leads me through the front door as she locked it from outside to lock the skeleton inside.


    We ran from there losing the warmth of family, survived in the cracks until reaching the base city, my sister was a strong survivor, and using her strength she joined an exploration squad to earn food for both of us, in the base we met Daisy she was rescued by my sister and thus helped her look after me when she(Jessy) is out. It was all going well, I was also working in a bar in the outer city to earn something and Daisy was good at making leather armors from the beast skins.


    But one day the outer city received the news of a beast tide and all the able people were to participate in the war on the wall for the base city. Though it was ordered only for the common and weak people, the people with strong backing and inner-city people didn''t participate.


    On that day the entire city was surrounded by thousands of beasts, everyone fought bravely but due to fewer ammunitions and weak weapons, and no support from the officials the wall was breached, thousands of people died while the supporting troops were sent by the inner city withdrew even before fighting.


    On that day I lost my sister, what I had left with was Daisy as my only family we weren''t allowed into the inner city so all those surviving had to leave the city to make a breakthrough from the encirclement. We also survived and came here to City S after traveling for months on the zombie-infested land.


    But here common people didn''t get any beast material and I was injured in my leg hence Daisy was forced into prostitution for curing me but my health kept deteriorating.

 Chapter 3 - I Am Sorry...

    Two years have been passed after the apocalypse, humans have found new things about the apocalypse and are trying their best to survive.


    After coming to this city my injury wasn''t that serious as I was able to take care of myself. A proper cleaning and dressing and some pre-apocalypse drugs could have saved me. But in such an environment getting something to eat is already enough not to think about costly and rare medicines and even if we earn enough there are no medicines available in the outer city as they were taken from the exploration teams at the gates itself by the city guards. Though some people can manage to get some no one would care to give it to someone as useless as me.


    With increasing, harsh conditions of survival and shortage of food are resulting in harsher life for survivors at the bottom of the city structure. I have tried planting few grains to sell which we collected on our journey but the seeds seem to have mutated and don''t taste good but are enough for both of us to eat enough to not die. Though I know Daisy isn''t eating enough to help me survive.


    In the staring, my injury was a muscle deep injury that pained a lot and kept bleeding, but slowly it starting forming puss and black blood which resulted in the swollen leg and frequent high fever and fatigue. The poison then spread throughout my body and has already hollowed me out. I can feel myself dying but I don''t wanna accept it, for all those who died saving me and for Daisy I am trying to survive with my mere will, but today after hearing those sounds outside again and every day seeing the rough scarred wound on her skin I can''t keep my will strong..


    She is trying to act strongly to help me but I know if I die she might get broken, but she might also have a better chance of survival. We have seen many bases from city X to city S, many were strong but eventually fallen and I know one day we have to leave this one too and keep moving to avoid those zombie and beast tides. But I am being the drag bottle for Daisy. With her beauty, she can seduce a strong man to protect her. I don''t wanna lose her but this can be the best I can do for her, I might as well end both of our misery with my death.


    As I was thinking so I saw a dirty thin body wobbling inside, with a faint and kind smile she went to fetch some water for me and poured the powdered medicine in it and helped me drink it.


    "How are feeling now?", she asked with the same kind expression.


    "Why do you have to do all these for me it would be better if I die here than to make it difficult for you"


    "Fool, do you think as if I will be happy after I lose you?, you are the last person I have as my family, and I can''t think of losing you. And while dying I promised your sister to keep you safe at any cost. "


    "You have already tried your best, and I know this is my destiny, it can''t be changed. Even Jessy wouldn''t blame you for it."


    "I am not allowing you to lose hope, you are more than just a promise to me.", tears were welling up in her eyes as she avoided looking at me.


    We have been together for 2 years now at first when Daisy joined us she was just a teammate for me, but after spending so much time with her and facing many life and death battles together it can''t be denied that we had feelings for each other but we avoided this topic as it none of had the time to do so, I didn''t want her to know my feeling as that would make it difficult for her to face me and will create a barrier between us.


    (Daisy-POV)


    We are now together for more than two years, the first day I saw him as my younger brother and one of my family where I tried to find warmth in this apocalyptic world, but then one day we lost our support, Jessy. I still remember her last words,


    "Daisy, I am sorry for leaving you guys alone but this is as far we can walk together, but I don''t regret anything in my life. I know you will take care of Arther very well, promise me you will...."


    I wasn''t even able to reply to her before she died with hopeful eyes looking towards me, I didn''t have the courage to say it till the end. But when I was cowering from the world, he tried to provide me with courage, we ran from the base he helped me train and fight the zombies we together fought for our survival until he got injured by a beast saving me, that day I didn''t see him as a small boy who required his sister to survive, I saw a man whom I can trust my life, to save him I did all I can do but I also lost the courage to face him with coming days, every mark on my body reminds me why he will hate me. Today I saw something different in him, he felt very weak and lost to me. I know he too is gonna leave me behind and I will not be able to tell him my feeling.


    (Arther-POV)


    I can feel my life leaving my body, I used my last strength to tell her


    "Daisy, never lose hope, I am sorry to leave you alone but this is how far we can be together, but promise me you will survive for me..... "


    (Daisy-POV)


    This was the last thing I wanted to see but today I will not cower, I wanna speak to him, let him leave happily.


    "Arther..., I promise" I can feel his hand holding me losing strength. The last time I saw the determined and hopeful eyes of him losing luster in front of me.


    "Jessy, I am sorry."


    PS**********


    The tent went quiet with the sobbing sound of someone full of aggrievance.

 Chapter 4 - Am I Dead?...

    City F,


    The city is bustling with human activity, dust and smoke fill the air, roads are filled with traffic of people hurrying towards their daily jobs and vehicles similar to those on earth. It was a busy scene to behold of.


    In the suburban of the city lead by a dirt road, with houses made of wood and polished stones and a few made of cement and bricks, one can feel the fresh air with faint sounds of animals from the barns and chirping of birds. This is the outskirts of the city F, and also the granary of the city.


    In a certain house in the suburban, on the second floor, in a room containing nothing but a bed, study desk, and an old wardrobe. On the bed there lays a boy of age 16, with pale skin and a thin body with common-looking facial features. But in such a peaceful environment he doesn''t seem to be so peaceful.


    "Arther..., I promise", that was the last thing he heard..


    "Am I dead?",


    "Is this how it feels to be dead, it feels similar to my bed"


    "Wait why can I still think?", Arther slowly tried to open his eyes, bright sun rays entered his eyes it difficult to adjust to the brightness, after taking some to adjust to the brightness he slowly opened his eyes and observed the surrounding.


    "It sure looks similar to my room",


    "No! this is my room", he got up from his bed with an astounded look on his face, his brain was still trying to process everything.


    "Was it all a dream? no, it was too real.", he sat on the bed trying to figure out everything.


    "It''s so absurd,", he looked at the date and time on his citizen tab


    (In this world every citizen was given a citizen tab similar to mobile on Earth that is connected to your DNA and can only be accessed by the person with matching DNA. It is connected with the world net for information and is monitored by each countries government respectively.)


    He was shocked by seeing the date,


    1st of March 2000, 8:00 morning.


    (Authors note- Keeping the dates and time same as Earth for easy understanding.)


    "Isn''t it the date when my vacations started, and 10 days before the apocalypse?"


    Then an absurd idea came to his mind, "Reincarnation"


    Arther was a shut-in otaku with very little to no social interactions except his family, he was more interested in reading various comics and web novels, and playing games rather than being in a fake social circle. Being an otaku knowing about rebirth and all was common as he has read it in many novels.


    But experiencing it was a different feeling, but accepting such a fictional thing wasn''t much difficult as he has seen many fantasies and myths coming true in his past life, and surviving in the post-apocalyptic world has given him a strong psychological state.


    Just as he was thinking about those things a voice from downstairs startled him,


    "Arther, wake up breakfast is gonna be ready in a few minutes",


    It was his mother''s voice, his mother''s name was Abella and she was a housewife of age 39. She was a standard wife material with a kind personality, great cooking skills. She had brown long hair, fair tanned skin, with good body shape due to daily work in the fields.


    It has been years since I last heard her voice, last time I saw her I didn''t even have time to properly say goodbye to her, as a son didn''t even complete my last duty of cremating her with proper rituals. Tears welled up in my eyes as I remembered the scene of her lying in the pool of blood.


    I tried to control my emotions and went to the bathroom to take bath, it has been many years since the last time I took bath, in the post-apocalyptic world only those higher-ups staying in the inner city, officials with higher status, and leaders of strong forces had the privilege to take a bath every day.


    We had only one bathroom on the second floor which the entire family used. I went in with a set of clothes taken from the wardrobe. A few minutes later while I was taking the bath I heard a sweet voice that I wanted to hear for those years of hardship.


    "Arther, do it fast, I have been waiting for a long time if you don''t come out in a minute I am gonna beat the shit out of you", it was none other than my elder sister Jessy, as being an active girl with lots of admirers in the college, she is also the captain of the girls'' volleyball team in the college and good at socializing, a complete opposite if me hence she doesn''t like me. This is what I used to think.


    In childhood, she was always there to protect me and help me in everything but slowly she starting becoming famous and was loved among her peers but that was not the same, I had an introverted personality. She tried helping me out of it but I never liked being in people which resulted in a decline in our relation, I never understood that she was always worried about me and tried to help.


    "I will be done in a few minutes sis", I replied.


    After I was done putting on the clothes I went out only to find her standing out waiting for her turn, she had gained most of her features from mom, brown hairs, black sharp eyes, a well-defined body, and an active personality.


    "You sure took your time hun", she complained while going in.


    Arthur smiled faintly and went downstairs in the kitchen for breakfast, where his father was already sitting in the front chair watching the news on TV while having breakfast.


    "Good morning Arther", his mom smiled as he walked down.


    Arther sat on his seat and took the toasted bread applied some jam and ate it. Being in the apocalypse he had got the habit of eating in the shortest time possible, so he finished his breakfast in few moments, this surprised his mother but she thought he was hungry and forgot about it.


    After having breakfast he went into his room and thought about everything that happened to him. And decided to wait till tomorrow to confirm the news of the apocalypse.


    In his past life government didn''t announce anything but few events happened before the complete outbreak which no common people might notice but being a return he knows their consequences.


    "This time I will not be so weak"

 Chapter 5 - Hint.

    Morning 10:00


    Arther took some time to organize his thoughts, he then decided to wait till tomorrow for further planning as it was not confirmed if the events will repeat the same as they happened in his past life. He still was ready to prepare for the worst as he felt there might be changes due to his rebirth which may not be good for him.


    For today he decided to enjoy the tranquility he has not gained for many years as those who lose their vigilance in the apocalypse are the first to be dead or stepped upon. Since it was vacation he didn''t have anything to do for the whole day so he decided to take a look outside to know about the resources he might use for his and his family''s survival.


    Arther''s family had four members aa a common middle-class family, his father was first an army soldier, but got retired early due to some injuries, later he received 1 acre of agricultural land in the suburbs from the government for his meritorious deeds. They used the land to grow few vegetables for daily consumption and rice once a year for selling, with other crops around the year. This house was built by Arther''s grandparents, but since Arther''s father was in the military at that time they stayed in the city F where he bought an apartment near the city center. They also attended their primary school in Military School.


    However, after their father''s retirement, they weren''t able to get the government subsidies resulting in a harder life, so their father decided to shift here to stay with their grandparents and give the apartment for rent to earn some extra money. Six years after their shifting their grandfather died of old age. Two have passed after their grandmother''s death the same way..


    Their house is a two-story old stone constructed building with a small basement for storing grains and a backyard used by their mother for growing few spices and rearing few chickens for eggs and meat. So as of except for both the siblings'' tuition fees, there are no other expenses, and the life in suburbs is also a fulfilling one.


    Arther went downstairs to watch the news to see if there are any related news, his father was not there, he must have gone to spend time with his friends from the village. His mother was working in the backyard, while his sister must have gone out to hang out with her friends.


    After relaxing on the sofa he switched on the TV, in the apocalypse, all the electrical appliances were destroyed due to the EMP wave caused by the light, the reason was later discovered by the scientists. There were not many channels on the TV as they were required to pay extra for each channel which Arther''s father didn''t think was necessary. As he went on news channel there was not much thing but what caught his attention was the headlines on international news channel showing a piece of news,


    "It has been noticed by our information networks that many higher-level officials of most of the powerful countries including our prime minister and few well-known business persons and also few head butlers of the four clans with many military representatives are invited in the imperial capital for signing an important treaty related to world trade. After interviewing few government representatives they have not clarified anything and the government has also not announced officially anything about this meeting.", WNC(World News Corporation).


    This confused Arther very much as most there have been decades since the last signing of such a large treaty it was the peace treaty supported by 108 of 200 countries including various superpowers. And those four clans with a history of thousands of years and immense resources in hand having the power to change the political and economic flow in any country have sent representatives to attend the meeting, as everyone is clear that they don''t put such things in eyes at all. This surely has some hidden motive and the countries must have paid a huge amount or have a reason that might harm those giants for them to attend.


    This world is not much different compared to Earth in terms of humans as here also humans rule the world, it is named as Nova planet, it is 10 times huge then earth with humans having an unknown amount of history. There is only one main piece of land of which 70% is divided into 200 various countries and a huge 30% is known as burning forest, not that it is burning but is a huge desert without any living activity in deeper parts, only the border area of the desert is habitable. The other entire part of the world is covered by water, a huge unexplored ocean, with few small islands.


    The mainland is divided into five major regions, the central astral empire, and four regions in north, south, east, and west.


    The Imperial Capital is also the center of the Astral Empire, it is also the area of the Royal family which in history ruled most of the mainland but slowly lost its power against the four clans. Only Arther knows that in the future this will again become a very huge superpower on the mainland with a well-known invincible territory. The other four regions were ruled by the four clans and other political powers.


    After knocking his head for a long time, Arther didn''t find any hint through the news but he was sure that the meeting had some relation with the apocalypse, as those attending the meeting are among the powers that had their base build even before common knew, the common people were kept unknown by the government and only those officials, medical staffs, and scientists of great use were secretly transferred into the inner cities secured with huge wall impossible to be built in a short time even with the help of current human technology. The base city was an impenetrable steel giant for low-level undead and beasts. However due to the huge rebellion of common people resulting in wastage of warriors and ammunitions on the people and unrest among inner-city those riches decided to provide some resources and weapons to the common people who then built the outer cities around the base, those riches allowed for it since this can act as cannon fodders for them and continues supply of manpower.


    They were well prepared to face the apocalypse leaving the common people without any chance to fight for fending for themselves. This only shows that they knew about the cataclysm earlier.

 Chapter 6 - Warning.

    After thinking about it and with his past life experience Arther thought those base cities built by them had very deep waters. Even if he was able to guess about it, he knew he was not strong enough to speak against them, even the weakest of the forces wasn''t something he can contend with, and neither did he had any hero conscience of helping people losing his life. Staying in the apocalypse he has seen the true face of humanity. Fellow human survivors are also one of the most dangerous factors in the apocalypse. What he had to do was to make enough preparations for his family''s survival.


    He had decided to lay low and make preparation since if those power came to about him then they would do anything to pry open his brain to get every single knowledge he had. It might also endanger his family''s life.


    After not gaining any other related news from the TV he turned it off and went to check out the surrounding, after he ran away with his sister from the home in his past life they were never able to return here again.


    And he also had one thing to do today night.


    He went into the backyard through the backdoor where he saw his mother feed the chickens and collecting eggs. It was her daily routine.. They had nine hens and one cock, those chickens were reared by his grandmother and were now taken by his mother.


    "Arther can you help me get some things from aunt Mey, I have asked her to keep them ready yesterday, we might need them on our trip.", Abella asked Arther for help as she was busy doing some other work.


    Aunt Mey was their neighbor, she was 30 years old, her husband worked in a metal warehouse as a security guard in the city, she had a 14-year-old daughter Nanny. If it was that past life Arther he would have never agreed as he was very introverted and didn''t like speaking to people much. But today he was a completely different person, so he agreed readily.


    "Ok, mom",


    His reply surprised his mom greatly but she ignored it as it wasn''t a major event.


    After his mother told him about the things he went to aunt Mey,


    Aunt Mey''s house wasn''t a bigger one, it was a small single floor house with a small garden in the front of the kitchen door, aunt Mey liked to grow vegetables and spices in the garden and was also the one who thought his mother about them, Arther also came today to her house for this one reason. As food was the most important thing for them to survive. And with a shortage of food it was impossible to get the proper soil, seeds for planting in the apocalypse and even if one anyhow got those things not everyone had the knowledge about those things, hence Arther wanted to learn somethings about planting, types of seeds and if possible will try to get some of them.


    He went to the front door and knocked it twice,


    "Nanny can you open the door, look who has come", it was a middle-aged lady''s voice.


    "I am busy", a cute girl''s voice replied mischievously.


    "Nanny!", this voice contained obvious irritation and anger.


    "Fine.. fine...it always me who has to always works",


    Then there was silence I knew that lazy girl very well so knocked one more time,


    "What are you banging the door for.....wait a second I am coming", this time with the voices came the sound of footsteps.


    Arther had a wry smile on his face as he knew if he didn''t knock he would have to wait for a longer time.


    With the voice of the gate latch opening the door was open, standing there was a cute girl with shoulder-length hair, loose shirt, denim shorts, caucasian brown skin, round face, big watery brown eyes.


    "Mom it''s brother Arther", she shouted as she went over to the sofa for playing a video game.


    The living room was not much decorated, it had a simple sofa, two chairs and a table for serving in the middle, facing the sofa was a TV hanging on the wall, in front of the door was the door leading to the kitchen, on the right was one-bedroom, and further ahead of the sofa on left was another room for Nanny. It was a small house enough for three people to live in. Aunt Mey was in the kitchen cooking.


    "Hello little Arther, how are your vacations going?", Mey asked from the kitchen


    "I am fine aunt Mey, mom asked me to get those piping tools",


    "Yes, your uncle has brought them yesterday, wait a minute I will get them for you."


    After a few minutes, she handed him the toolbox and went inside again.


    Looking at how busy she was Arther thought it was better not to disturb her as he left from there.


    After return home he kept the toolbox in the living room and went to his room, he decided to first try to find the required things on the tab. Then consulting someone for those that he can''t find.


    Every citizen was connected to the world net and most of the information can be gathered free of cost.


    He searched for the information in many survival forums, websites. He didn''t gain much as in the past life he didn''t have any knowledge about the seeds, those they used to grow were some mutated that can''t be found in this world for now. He downloads the encyclopedias, and information related to various seeds found in the world, also about various animals as all the animals on the planet were mutated or evolved into beasts and new demons were also born, those were the nightmares for the survivors. But many beasts had few of their instincts and habits same as before mutation. Hence this information might be useful. He also gathered information about various poisons and wild plants and insects.


    It took him more than four hours to gather this information and sort it out.


    Except for having lunch, he was busy gathering this information.


    While Arther was having a peaceful day. It was not the same about the world.


    The meeting was being held in the Imperial capital which might soon influence the structure of the entire world. In the meeting hall on the highest floor of a majestic castle, this hall was once used as an imperial hall where the king used to have a meeting with clan elders, today however it was filled with people with great power and wealth all over the world, the hall had a structure depicting the royal hierarchy with one main seat on the front side of the hall with the highest height, it was the king''s seat but no one was sitting there. Then there was a stage in the center of the hall with various seats on the other side, they were lower than the king''s seat but higher than all others, it was guest, prince, concubines, and same level authorities seat. few people were sitting on them today, which contained the royal family members, few military generals, head butlers of the clans, and the seat below them contained the political lead figures of powerful countries. On both sides of the hall contains the lowest hierarchy people the remaining political leaders.


    On the stage was a huge screen being projected connected to the world''s biggest astronomical observation station. There were few old guys on the live screen with various technical personnel manipulating various machines. The center of the screen shows a huge blue planet, it is none other than Nova planet.


    Yesterday midnight the observatory has received some distorted signal send using unknown energy, and from an unknown language. After deciphering the signal instead of the message what made all these people gather was the source energy used to send this message and further theory of the scientists.


    The meeting begins with all members seated.


    "We have deciphered the message for more than a hundred times and have come to a conclusion that this signal came from a different universe, it also concludes that there are other intellectual races we haven''t come in contact of, though we haven''t been able to understand the message the system is trying to decipher it''s meaning. ", an old scientist with thin stature, wrinkled skin, and white hair and long unshaven beard spoke. He is the head in charge of the station and a well-known energy scientist.


    "We know you are doing your best Mr.Hoggs, and we are not here for these results, tell us about your other findings.", a middle-aged man in his 50s, in military camouflage clothes among the higher-ups spoke, he was the commanding general of the strongest country with biggest army power.


    Everyone present had the same thought as him.


    "Sure General Vilbert, we have found that the amount of energy in this message is enough to charge a super energy cannon that is in the building process to fire 10 rounds. This shows that the energy is in a very highly concentrated formed and since a huge amount of energy must be wasted during its travel in space it must have more than just this much energy." He paused for a while as he watched over everyone''s expression and continued.


    "If we can create this energy it might result in a new era of technology, we might have enough energy to start space colonization plan 10 years early. This energy also contains a high amount of stability so the destructive power it might create is not to be trifled with. Though I also want to tell you a very important thing. The signal we got seems to be incomplete and we think that soon we might get the other half of the message of it too. "


    What no one knew was this was a message warning them to be ready for what the other half will bring.

 Chapter 7 - Other Half Signal.

    After hearing the confirmation of the new energy and its possible uses from Dr. Hoggs1 everyone present had a bright light in their eyes as they knew the one who can control this energy will become the hegemon ruling over the entire humanity. All the superpower present have already notified their respective higher-ups about this matter, thus all the advanced laboratories and famous scientists under them were united to work on this project secretly. This was a race against time the one who is successful earlier will eat the meat leaving only the soup behind for others.


    The main competition was between those sitting on the highest level and the temporary union formed by those below them, countries in the lowest level of hierarchy very well knew their strength, hence they weren''t trying to enter this competition at all as even if they succeed they didn''t have the resources and power to protect this wealth, what they were trying to do was find a way for the survival of their countries and gaining some favor from those above to at least eat the soup.


    Dr. Hoggs sighed with a wry smile as he watched the commotion in the hall he knew very what those people were thinking about, and he knew even if he warned them about its destructive power these countries will first try to create weapon technologies for a greater sense of security and strength, this is human nature and it can''t be changed.


    What made him sad though was the new energy was more important to these than the message in the signal and the possibility of new intellectual life. These guys even ignored the art of the other half signal.


    While the old man was in his thinking about the possibilities of the new race, and admiring their power to create and use such energy there was a commotion in the observatory, he asked and the young man standing beside him to call the in-charge for knowing what is happening outside. The young man was his assistant and rare talent in material engineering whom he accepted as his apprentice.. When the young man was about to leave the glass door of the room was open by a scientist in a white lab coat and specs with messy hair, he seemed to have not slept for a long time due to the dark circles under his eyes. He was the chief in charge of the team appointed for communication with the Nova space observatory(NSO) in the space.


    "I am sorry for disturbing you sir but there is something NSO has sent", he tried to speak while faintly huffing for breath.


    Dr.Hogg was surprised by the behavior of the scientist as everyone in the observatory was notified about the meeting and was not allowed to enter without any emergency. Thus he knew it must be an emergency, NSO was jointly launched by various space agencies across the world for the observation of space, it contained enough life sustainability power for the survival of twenty well-trained astronomers for two years. He asked them to send the report and information on his office computer. As he received the message and read the information his face went pale and cold sweat dripped on this forehead.


    The people present in the meeting hall also noticed the changes in the observatory thus everyone had their attention on the screen waiting for the report from the observatory.


    "Present it on the screen", Dr.Hogg asked the young man and went to explain things to those people again.


    We have received footage from NSO of the space a few thousand kilometers away from the moon, the live footage sent from the NSO is being presented on the screen, everyone I think the other half of the signal is here but it is a bit different than the first signal. "


    Everyone watched the screen on which showed a screen of dark space,


    In the dark space, there was a faint line of distortion that can''t be observed without the resolution of the cameras, in the center of the distortion there is a small bright source of light.


    The entire scene went silent after seeing the screen as every present though not knowledgeable enough knew that something big has happened.


    After a silence of few minutes the observatory had a small power fluctuation resulting in few seconds of power off, this though very small was enough to startle everyone. One should know that the observatory had its nuclear power plant for power generation. It had one of the world''s best communication technologies and advanced instruments for protection from any damage.


    "The power disturbance was caused by another signal wave containing a higher amount of the same energy, but due to the high amount of energy there might be a space distortion whose results we don''t know for now, but if the distortion increase there is a chance of space tear resulting in a very dangerous situation for the Nova planet and mankind, the entry of signal in planet atmosphere has created an EMP effect which resulted in the previous power disturbance, due to it we have lost contact with the NSO, we are trying our best to establish our contact for gaining further information. It is estimated by our scientist team that the space distortion has produced an even larger energy wave which will soon collide with the planet resulting in a huge EMP effect and changes in the planet''s magnetic field resulting in semi to complete nullification of all the electrical components."


    The scientist rapidly calculated all the possible outcomes they can think of,


    "How much time will it take for the wave to hit the planet? is there any way to avoid it or save the electric components.", one of the head butlers of a clan asked the question which piqued everyone''s worries.


    "According to our calculations, it might take 3-4 days at most, with our current technology we can''t do anything about it in such a short time, the only way to save few components is through creating a faraday''s cage around it."


    After hearing the reply everyone present was in a huge predicament since all the human world works based on these electrical components, without them, there will be no long-distance communication and working of all industries will be stopped which will greatly affect their control over the area and huge economic loss with social unrest, the higher-ups immediately tried to find a solution after consulting their clans and organizations.


    After a long period of discussion, they came to a decision.


    "All the countries present are requested not to disclose this news to avoid social unrest, there will be an official lockdown throughout the world for immediate response after passing of the wave, all the important state industries and electrical facilities are to be saved at any cost, the four clan union will provide an immediate aid of 500 billion WC to the world rescue organization.", one of the head butlers represented the four clan union and presented this proposal which no had the power to reject and thus it decided.


    (In the last chapter I had used the Mr. annotation but thought it was not appropriate so changed it to Dr. )

 Chapter 8 - Change

    All the countries decided to announce the lockdown today at 4:00 noon provide the public with a buffer time till midnight after which there will be a curfew till the countries don''t have any solution about the EMP damage, till then every day each city will have to open their food granaries to provide food to the common people.


    All the countries also started to accumulate grains and other necessary amenities for emergencies.


    Thus the meeting came to a conclusion and the observatory was tasked with using its complete power to observe the space distortion. And also trying to establish contact with the NSO, for this they were allowed to collaborate with Astral countries military systems and all worlds satellites. Though later it was known that few satellites have also lost network, only those satellites that were on the opposite side of the globe were shielded. (The NSO was nearest to the space distortion hence was able to notice the anomaly earlier).


    What no one knew was that the NSO has already lost its orbit and all the astronauts were turned to ashes due to the energy wave, those on the planet didn''t feel its power due to the atmosphere, but it has surely brought a change that humans have not yet noticed.. And when they will notice it, it would be too late.


    Arther was done with gathering all the information he thought was required, of course, a single person couldn''t sort out everything. He checked the time it was 4:00.


    "It must be time," he thought as he went down for watching the news as in his previous life the governments across the world announced the lockdown at this time.


    If it does then it will be confirmed that he is reincarnated and there is o change in this world''s fate.


    After he turned on the TV he saw the news channels showing the same news, as he saw the news he was shocked as it was the same news if possible he never wanted to see. It would have been better if what he experienced was just a nightmare and all was fake but it looks like God has abandoned this world and its humans.


    "What happened Arther, I have never seen you watching the news before." his mother walked from the kitchen and asked with a concerned expression as she saw his lost look. She then watched the news and was shocked too, as the lockdown of the entire world was not a small matter. It has never happened before.


    She hurriedly went to her room, must be to inform his father and sister.


    This didn''t matter to Arther as he knew that news was all showing fake reasons created by those higher-ups, the reason they gave was the spreading of harmful disease. This might seem related to the undead virus but Arther knew it was not as that virus was spread only through wounds and contact from the undead, and now there were no undead and news showed that the disease spread through the air.


    What he was worried about was what he a secondary high school student can do even if he knew about everything. He can''t just tell about the apocalypse to his family as they won''t believe it and might send him to a psychiatrist.


    He decided to wait for the night first and then find a way to get the skeleton of his grandmother in the backyard. This will temporarily erase his worries and tomorrow he will try finding other survival methods and also convince his parents for hoarding grains and food products with the excuse of lockdown.


    "Arther looks like we have to cancel our vacation plans as in lockdown we can''t anywhere, but don''t be sad as I have asked your father to bring meat from the market he will be coming soon today we will have meat for dinner. ", his mother came from inside.


    "Mom if dad is going to the market ask him not to bring meat instead bring some canned foods, I think this lockdown will not be opened in a small-time it is better if we hoard some food for ourselves", Arther tried to convince his mother as he knew he can''t convince his father with any means.


    "Little Arther has grown up, knows to think about the family, but you don''t need to worry about these things your father and I can think out of it and news said it will at most for 5-6 days. And the government is providing the food we don''t need to worry about it."


    Arther sighed after hearing her, he knew they couldn''t spend their saving on food just because he said.


    "Looks like I need to find out a way myself" since he can''t find any solution he went to his room to play some games on his tab.


    The evening went uneventful after having dinner which contained his favorite food he had a very fulfilling dinner with the warmth of family after a long time. He didn''t want to lose this, this was what he had yearned for his past life.


    After dinner, he went to his room for playing games again. He decided to wait till everyone was asleep and then find a chance to get rid of the skeleton in the backyard. After a few hours after his family went to bed, he checked the time it was 2:00 at night. There will be no one outside as the lockdown has been imposed at midnight itself. He slowly opened his room door and checked the corridors for any sound. After confirming everyone was asleep he closed his room door and went to get the thing he had kept ready at noon itself, it contained rope, shovel, and few other things he has also decided what to do with the skeleton. He can just throw it away as it will be more dangerous after awakening and before being an undead it was his grandmother''s skeleton so head to respect the dead.


    He tied the rope to his bed''s leg and went out through the window. He did it since the main door and back door will be locked by his mother before sleeping. It was the same in every household in the suburbs since in winter there might be some wild animals in the fields at night or robbers since the security system was not so good in the suburbs.


    While Arther was doing this in the space distortion there was a faint fluctuation that went unnoticed from the observatory and after that fluctuation, a faint dot of light with a very high speed left that space and entered the planet after flickering around for a few times it slowed down as though it was losing its power and then it fell in the eastern part of the continent.


    While Arther has just landed on the ground he noticed a small spot of light from the corners of his eyes moving towards him at a very high speed, he was frightened to shits but he had time only to raise his hand to protect his head before the light collided with him, he waited for the pain to come but nothing happened but he was feeling very fatigued and was slowing losing strength. To avoid the needless problems, he climbed up the rope again and retracted it and closed the window, and fainted on the floor itself.


    Thus such a huge change went unnoticed by the entire world.

 Chapter 9 - Changes In The Space.

    At night after Arther went unconscious his body had gone under various changes. The whole night he had a painful expression on his face as though he was experiencing a nightmare.


    While Arther was undergoing a nightmare the world was also not so peaceful, in the space observatory in the main hall used for observation of the space distortion there is a huge screen that is now flickering due to unknown reasons, many scientists in the white lab coats, technicians in uniforms and military personnel in camouflage suits are working on the various instruments below while on the opposite side of the screen there is a pavilion with glass cover, inside is a very luxurious room with few computers and monitoring devices with luxurious white sofa seats facing the screen. This the room used by important figures in the observatory or other visitors for observing the details of any mission being performed. For most of the projects, there are not many important people attending so this room is not used often. Today however all the higher-ups of the observatory and few well-known personalities in the academics were present here. Dr.Hogg was sitting in the main seat with four old men on his right they had very messy looks but sharp eyes, on the left of him were seated few military major generals.


    The military personnel consisted of few from major countries representing their alliance, the observatory though under the world banner but was located in the Astral Empire, so the highest power present there was also from the royal family, the four major clans were present there as they surely had their space observation satellites and observatories, every country had these basic power for survival against the race among themselves but was not as strong and advanced as these superpowers and the most experienced and talents among various were also poached by these clans and stronger countries.


    This meeting consisted of many leading academicians of their field they were the type of crazy scientists who will not their home if nothing interesting to their fields happened, today however they have visited the laboratory uninvited due to the message they received from Dr.Hoggs, the military personnel were also present due to this message..


    The message read, "On 2nd March, 3:00 night, The space observation telescope has detected a change in the space distortion, there is a pulsating frequency of unknown energy with very high instability."


    For further observation, the alliance selected those military officers and the scientists were invited for any suggestions.


    "The frequency of pulsation has kept increasing and only stopped increasing after an hour at 4:00, though we doubt that the change has occurred even before we observed but we were not able to notice it due to very minute change." after everyone was seated Dr. Hoggs started explaining the matter in detail.


    "Does it means the change has stopped and Nova planet is now safe?", a middle-aged officer asked.


    "It has stopped, but can''t say it is completely safe as it has not yet healed if it remains the same way there might be another change in a few months or years and we might not be able to handle it." an old scientist expressed his thoughts.


    "What if we try to forcefully create a change there, if the space becomes unstable again will it start healing?", after hearing this suggestion from a military officer in his 40s the face of all the scientists present there had a pale expression.


    This person was the youngest major general of the Astral Empire and also a descendant of a branch of the royal family hence he was able to attain this post without much experience,


    "Even if this space distortion is stable for now but the energy inside had reached an astonishing amount which if released might create an effect similar to the detonation of 100 nuclear bombs detonated with a thousand-ton force, if its get unstable or detonates the moon will be gone for sure, it might get blasted into small debris and fall on Nova resulting in huge destruction or the moon might deviate from its orbit leaving the planet resulting in atmospheric changes or tsunami."


    Hearing this the officer had a pale face as he knew how foolish his suggestion was.


    "Do we have any solution for this?", an old-looking military officer asked.


    "No for now we can only pray that the energy will slowly dissipate and space will slowly heal, this will be the best outcome for us", Dr.Hoggs replied with a wry smile.


    "Then we can only notify the reports of observation to the higher-ups and wait for further orders."


    After the completion of the meeting, those military officers hurried went to create the reports for their higher-ups, since even though they were known to attend the meeting as representatives of the alliance but in the game of rulers there were no permanent friends only permanent benefits, hence they were also working for their countries which had fought for this place in the meeting with other countries by paying various resources.


    After the officers left there were only the scientists left they weren''t interested in this game of power what they were more interested in was the things on the screen. After a few minutes of silence, the an old with silver messy hairs was the one to break the quiet,


    "Old Hoggs what do you think might this be due to?"


    He seemed to know Dr.Hogg well as he wasn''t much formal, Dr.Hoggs smiled with a tired face and said


    "Jack I feel it has something to with the signal we received previously, though even after trying to decipher the message we were not successful"


    "I think I have some clue about the message, it has something common with the relics found in the ancient ruins in the snow mountain of east", a middle-aged man in his 50s with black hair and unshaven black beard, he was a well-known archaeologist and has deciphered many old texts around the world. His name was Oblian.


    Hearing what this scientist said everyone had a surprised expression

 Chapter 10 - 10

    2nd March 2000, Morning 9:00.


    Arther was lying on his room''s floor, his eyelids fluttered for a few seconds before slowly opening, after opening a small slit in the eyes he had to close them immediately due to the light shining from the window, after taking some time to adjust to the brightness he slowly opened his eyes, after observing the surrounding he was surprised. He was lying on the floor with dirty shoes and normal clothes, he slowly tried to stand up, there was a change in his expression as he felt a splitting headache and fatigue washed over him, he endured the pain and slowly supporting himself toward the bed. On the bed, he checked for his tab for the time.


    He was relieved after seeing the time, he was afraid that he would be unconscious for a long time as it might delay his plans as he was already falling short on the time, after organizing himself he looked at his surrounding, his shoes were dirty resulting in mud prints on the floor, those tools were thrown in a corner seeing it Arther had a wry smile on his face she knew if his mom was to see his room in such conditions he will be in grave danger.


    Being an otaku Arther was used to sleeping late at night and waking late. It was very common of his behavior, sometimes he might even skip his breakfast resulting in a weak pale body, he was not much interested in looking good or having a healthy body doing any hard exercises. After he adjusted his state he tried to stand up still feeling a bit of fatigue he still endured it and went to clean his room and went to get a bath.


    After changing his clothes he went into the kitchen to eat something to gain some energy. He went to check the upper shelf in the kitchen took a packet of instant noodles boiled some water and poured it into the packet, after smelling the fragrance of the noodle though they were the lowest quality noodles he still felt very hungry. He didn''t wait for the noodle to cool down and wobbled them up.. Even after has finished eating the entire packet of the instant noodles he still felt very hungry. He went to prepare another two packets, after eating three full packets of instant noodles he felt satisfied.


    Though he still felt a little weak it wasn''t as weak as he felt in the morning. After eating and feeling a bit better he went to his room.


    In his room, Arther was thinking about what had happened yesterday. As he had planned he went to cremate his grandmother''s skeleton but just as he left he was hit by a fast descending light. He hasn''t heard about such a thing even in his past life. After the light hit him he didn''t feel any pain and wasn''t even injured but felt very dizzy. Thus he hurriedly came back to his room and lost consciousness after that.


    After remembering everything he checked on his right hand which was hit by the light, but there was nothing different. Even though there was nothing uncommon he knew that light wasn''t ordinary and must have some meaning. After thinking for a long he didn''t have any clue so he gave up. What was more important for now was to find a way to earn some money for his further plans. After thinking about various ways he decided on few ways though he was not sure if he will be successful due to the lockdown. He decided to give it a try.


    Arther went to a site of a well-known firm about which he had heard from one of his friends in his past life. His friend had told him that he used to work as the firm''s branch manager in the city F when the lockdown was imposed due to the loss faced by the firm, their higher management had decided to announce a lottery, the branch with the highest tickets sold will get a reward. He said that many other companies and firms have used these methods to attract customers towards their products for online sales.


    This method was a very great way to earn as one has to know the highest price for the lottery was 5-9 million WC and more than a dozen million people were staying in a small city. If even a tenth of these people buy the ticket of 3 WC which will be the procurement of the prize money and the people from other cities will only result in profit for the company. And there will only be one winner among these million people.


    It means it had a 1:million winning ratio which makes it almost impossible for anyone to predict the winner, but it was easy for Arther who was a return to win most of these lotteries as he had read about most of the winners. In the apocalypse, there were no TV and other means of entertainment so Arther had got a habit of collecting any readable material like magazines, books while he went with material accumulation teams for reading at night or when he didn''t have any work. This was also a way he found to keep himself from thinking about the past.


    He signed up on the websites, even though he knew about many lotteries he still only selected four of the best sites to avoid suspicion as all these four companies were not much strong and had their business in different fields and were not related to each other in any way and the announcing of this lotteries and prize distribution will be online due to the lockdown hence he will not have to explain anything to his parents as he has decided to prepare secretly and will find some reasons to keep safe when the apocalypse is struck.


    After applying for the lotteries he selected the numbers that were going to be the winners, the amount he will earn with lotteries was totaled to 23 million WC. This will be enough for him to find a base and reinforce it and store enough food which if used in minimal quantity will be sufficient for 20 people for 2-3 years. He has decided to find a place near the inner city S as he knew most of its surroundings, though a bit far away will be the safest place for them since he knew even if he had the money he can''t enter the inner city.


    Firstly if were to request any official about it it might bring him danger as the news about the construction of the base cities was not disclosed to any common public. Secondly, the places inside the inner city were only for those who according to the higher-ups were useful for their survival and might become their chess pieces. They won''t tolerate any unstable piece to be placed inside and Arther didn''t want anyone else to control his destiny.


    Though city F was near it fell even before the base city was established due to the cemetery on its west, it was a huge cemetery with thousands of dead tombs. This resulted in a huge inflow of undead and the fall of government before they reacted.


    The nearest base was of city A but that also will fall and he didn''t want to live there since, in his past life he lost his sister on the walls of that base, he didn''t want to remember that scene and memories.


    He wanted to have a strong base at the start of the apocalypse and find ways to strengthen himself since in few years they will have to move from that base to keep moving and avoid the dangerous events.

 Chapter 11 - Apocalypse Strengths.

    After Arther completed his application for the lottery he had nothing to then to wait as the lottery winners will be announced on 6th and 7th March, he has decided to order all the fresh vegetables and grains from the farmers in the rural districts of the city S, as he knows that those farmers used to sell their farm products in the city and earn some money but due to lockdown there are no market demands for the farm products and those farmers will not be able to sell their harvested product so he can bargain with them and get the products in low cost that compared to most of the supermarkets and if he trie to buy such a huge amount of food from the supermarket it might result in suspicion. And if someone trie to trail him it will difficult to know about him through those farmers as he will not leave any of his information there.


    The way of his thinking might seem a bit heartless for the farmers but he knows that their grains will never be sold and most of the harvest will be spoiled few remaining might help them survive for few days but will also result in attracting the beasts and other survivors which will be a grave situation for them. One must know that there are many small animals in the vicinity of the rural areas which mostly survive on the leftover human foods or grains in farms and warehouses.


    There are also few carnivores and dogs and cats that steal the chickens and small reared animals for food, though this animal can be handled by two to three adult men''s in normal times after apocalypse these animals were the nature most favored as they gained increased strength and unique powers and they grew stronger very quickly, they were known as evolved beasts among the humans and in later years there was also some news of some heaven-defying beasts who had invisible strengths and had intelligence equal to adult humans they were capable of gathering huge amount of beast in their domain known as a beast kingdom where no humans tried to enter..


    There was some beast who used those gathered beasts to create small hordes to attack the nearest human base cities. Many such hordes have resulted in the fall of the base cities. City A in Arther''s past life was an example he has experienced himself, this was also the reason he had decided to depend on the base city for his base.


    Different from this beasts evolved from the animals of the planets there was another type of beasts known as demons by the survivors, they were borns from natural forces which in beginning levels weren''t much of a threat to the humans as they didn''t leave their birthplace, they were born only in places with strong natural treasures hence newborn demons were also sought after by many base cities, these demons had a natural talent in using natures forces and slowly gained proficiency in it.


    Slowly these demons will build their demon palaces and cities and forge a blood and flesh body for themselves using the blood and flesh of those living things they hunted. Their domains were a rare treasure house of elemental treasures for the strong humans.


    These various races weren''t the only ones who benefitted from the apocalypse humans also has stronger ones, in fact, in humans, there were many different types of people representing different fields. First and the most commonly found were warriors who had a strengths stat in one or all stats like speed, strength, eyes, etc. Secondly was the bloodline warrior who had a special bloodline awakened providing with a good starting point to them and immense strength increase with every level up, the bloodline also was of two type inheritance and normal bloodline.


    Inheritance bloodline means bloodline that was from some strong origin and was always dormant in a person while the apocalypse has just acted as a catalyst. The people with this type of bloodlines were mostly destined to be on top of the world as with every increase in the level they will receive few techniques, a fighting technique which help them make the most use of their bloodlines and the biggest benefits of them were the bloodline weapon that can be called in war and many warriors with same bloodlines can sacrifice their bloodline power to get different types of boost like calling a protection deity, strengthening themselves or creating a defense or powerful attack.


    The normal type of bloodlines were the types of bloodline without much potential but they were still better than the warrior.


    Then came the most dreaded elementals which were either natural or can gain the power to control the elements using some treasure.


    There were also those with beast genes who can gain luckily gain their powers from the evolved beasts but they had a chance of losing human side, there were many such people which later resulted in a new type of race: the orc race which slowly had to acquire the intelligence again and had beastly instinct they were also sometimes favored by the beasts and hence were more intimate with the beasts than humans.


    Along with this were the biggest and strongest rulers of the world the undead and the rulers of oceans which was a no man''s land in the apocalypse.


    What Arther had his eyes on was naturally one of these powers as he knows, slowly the common people without any strength will get eliminated. What made him ad though was he or his sister didn''t have any bloodline awakening which proved that their family didn''t have one as bloodline was related to the blood, his sister in his past life was a warrior with strength and speed increase. What he had his aim on was naturally the elemental power as he knew few places where there were strong elemental demons born if he can get three to four of them in their weak stage he and his family will have the strength for them to be respected even by the inner city higher-ups.


    He has decided to prepare everything in the city S where they will go but before going there he will try to Tatleast find one such treasure for his family then after increasing their strength they will move on to find other treasures, he had a dream where he swept all those treasure and had the demon emperor as his slaves and those beast kings as his mounts, though he knew it wasn''t possible.


    What he had with himself was the huge knowledge of apocalypse he has accumulated in his past life. And he had to make full use of it.

 Chapter 12 - Vehicle.

    Arther also wanted to find a way to get his hands on some hot weapons. Being a survivor he has used various types of weapons and had a basic understanding of many hot and cold weapons, at the starting stage of the apocalypse hot weapons might become a factor of survival when facing the low-level beasts and undead as not many people have the good physical strength or are trained in close combat during the peaceful times, it can also be a deterrent factor against other survivors as even though many people have gained superpowers with which humans got stronger, hot weapons still had a deterrence against them at the beginning stage as only at a higher level they are immune to the hot weapons. Only a few revolutionaries with defensive traits were not afraid of weak hot weapons.


    For the survivors in the outer city, it was a dream to have weapons with high destructive power as hot weapons were seen as a factor to measure one strength, even if one somehow find those weapons from somewhere it will only bring dooms to them as there were few strong factions in the outer cities which will secretly or sometimes openly kill them and snatch all the good things, this was apocalypse were weak didn''t have the right to own anything good. Hence Arther wanted to increase his strength sooner as he knew one day he will have to face those factions if he wanted to build his strong base.


    As there were wars for benefits and building a base required lots of them. Even if Arther was prepared to face those factions he didn''t want to confront head-on with them as while working in the city he had heard some rumors about them, it was said that few of the factions were owned by some strong figures in the inner city they were and most of the factions had some relations with those inner-city officials since they were able to build and protect their factions.


    Arther thought that this was a way for that inner-city people to collect the resources from the wasteland and also as their private forces.


    Hence he has decided to lay low till he was strong enough to even confront those inner-city officials.


    After having a plan to work on, he decided to wait till he got the money.. Arther passed the entire morning in sorting out his plan and marking all the things they will require to remember while on the way to city S along with all the location of the treasures he wanted to get on the downloaded map, he will get a few copies of the map printed since the tab will become useless in the apocalypse.


    At 2:00 noon he had lunch and went out, he had to find a suitable car that can be used for traveling as he knew normal cars can''t withstand the harsher environment of the apocalypse. So now he was going to a person he knew. His name was Robert, he was a car enthusiast who had his car modification shop in the periphery of the city, Arther wanted to see if he can ask for a car from Robert for a day on rent as he didn''t have to buy the car directly from him as that will be waste of money. After the apocalypse, no one will ask him about the car if he has the strength to protect it.


    If he can''t get any he will have to rent the car from somewhere else and ask Robert to modify it. He had experienced the roads of apocalypse himself so he has a basic idea of what type of car he required and what needs to be modified. He wanted a truck or a heavy tonnage vehicle.


    Compared to the suburbs the city seemed more lonely, the effect of lockdown can be seen in the city. Since there was no taxi available Arther had to walk to the shop. On the periphery of the city, in a small not so rich community with many 2-3 story buildings on a corner, there was a two-story building. The shop had a huge front area where in normal times many cars will be parked for repairing and modification, there was a huge iron shutter that was closed.


    Arther went around the shop on the other side where iron stairs were leading to the second floor, Robert lived alone, he has modified the ground floor to be a small garage and the second floor was used as a living area. Arther knocked on the old wooden safety door before a burly man with black oil on his hands opened the door, Robert had a very well build burly body with visible muscles and slightly dark skin, he had blonde hair and black eyes, there was an annoyed expression on his face,


    "Arther? why are you here?", Robert was also a type of otaku who didn''t like to have interaction with many people.


    "I have something to ask for.", Arther was not angry with Robert''s attitude towards him as he knew him well,


    "Come in.", asking him to enter Robert went to continue his work.


    Arther had a wry smile on his face as he entered the house which had no fancy furniture there were automobile parts and oil stains everywhere on the floor, there was a small TV and a sofa to sit, after closing the door Arther went downstairs to the garage where Robert was working.


    The garage was filled with many cars, Arther watched all the cars with interest hoping to find something he needed, after watching he spotted few vehicles he might use.


    "Arther can you pass me that toolbox.", Arther went to the toolbox and passed it to Robert who was working on something that piqued Arther''s interest, it was a raptor truck with a modified front collision column and a huge track in place of wheels.


    "Do you like it? It is my new baby I am working on, I have modified its engine with enough power to make those crawlers work, those tracks cost me a lot to get from a military firm, it was a broken track from an old tank which I had repaired ", seeing Arther''s amazed expression Robert explained with a proud expression.


    "I will also add an extra fuel tank as this guy has a huge appetite for fuel", Robert said with a wry smile.


    After hearing this Arther dismissed the idea of asking for this truck, as even though those tracks can produce huge forward momentum which will be enough to crush anything in any way and the collision column can be useful for clearing the road blockage. But the fuel was a commodity in huge demand in the apocalypse and most of it was reserved and stored by the inner city and strong factions.


    But it can''t be denied that Arther was infatuated with this car as automobiles were every man''s passion. If not that the shortcoming of this vehicle was a fatal point Arther might have asked for it.


    Arther touched the car body and tracks trying to sense the rough touch, it was then that change occurred.

 Chapter 13 - System.

    As Arther touched the car a blue transparent screen flashed in front of him causing him to hurriedly take away his hand. This was something Arther had never experienced before. Arther watched Robert who was smiling at him, looking at his expression he doesn''t seem to be able to see the screen.


    Arther tried to touch to screen but his hand didn''t anything. This made him even more confused, he thought he might have gone insane. He shook his head to remove the screen but it was of no use. The screen kept moving according to his eyes.


    After getting no result he gave up his petty actions, he concentrated on the screen to see what was written


    [A vessel is found to be in contact.]


    [Scanning the vessel


    Name:- N/A(+)


    Level:- -10


    Require to be added as system vessel for further scanning and increase in the level]


    Seeing this Arther''s heartbeat accelerated but he tries to calm down and went to the second floor to sit before clearing his doubts, he didn''t want Robert to find out about this or anyone else.


    "Robert, you continue your work I will wait on the second floor for you."


    Robert had a confused expression on his face as he knew Arther very well, Arther never felt comfortable staying in someone else''s home for a longer time and some time ago Arther seemed to want to talk about something very important to him and was in a hurry.


    "Are you OK? you seemed to be in a hurry earlier, I can do my work later, let me come upstairs too, I will continue my work later. Let''s talk about what you want."


    Hearing this Arther knew his behavior was a bit odd, so as not to add any more suspicion he decided to comply with Robert for now, anyways he will need some time to earn about that screen, he might as well do it after going home.


    As they went upstairs Arther was having a bit problem with walking as the screen was distracting him, "how do I close this thing?", As he thought about closing the screen was automatically closed. This surprised him further as he didn''t speak anything this shows that the screen can read his thoughts and can also understand them.


    After entering the second floor, Robert cleared a small part of the floor and placed an old iron folding chair for Arther, while he sat on the sofa chair, he took an opened beer can and took a sip. While looking at the somewhat lost looking Arther he had a grin and patted Arther waking him up from his thoughts,


    "Arther, you don''t have to be so shy, I know everyone is having a hard time in this lockdown. If you want to ask for money, I can''t help you much but I do have saved few thousand WC from my garage."


    Hearing what Robert said Arther felt warm inside as he knew Robert wasn''t doing anything good than him, he must even be having a more tight time, but still, he can offer to lend him money showed how good a person Robert was.


    But he also had a wry smile as he didn''t know how Robert came to this conclusion.


    "Robert I don''t need the money, I wanted to know if you can help me get any heavyweight vehicle for rent before 8th March and help me modify it as I want. And the modification might need few expensive parts. Of course, I will pay for it." These parts were also a reason why Arther wanted help from Robert as being a person in this field for a long time Robert had his channels to get his hands-on many good things that Arther can''t get with just spending more money. He also knew that Robert had some connection in the military workshops which were the only place from where Arther might get a hot weapon.


    Hearing what Arther wanted Robert had surprised as he knew Arther''s thought very well as he had met many such customers. Even in peaceful times those apocalypse and war machines and offroad enthusiasts would always try to get their vehicles modified with heavy-duty military parts and few also had the wish to have a slot for boarding heavy guns.


    What made him more surprised though was that such modification might cost a few million WC which was a huge amount for any common person and he knew Arther''s family conditions very well. He knew that Arther can''t afford to come up with such an amount even if they sold everything his family had.


    "Are you sure what you are saying, you know how much that might cost right?" he asked Arther with a doubtful expression.


    Hearing what Robert asked Arther wanted to tell him about the lottery but then thought that he might not believe it. "This is not for me, I have a friend I met online, he is a doomsday enthusiast and has thus enquired about it with everyone in our online friends'' circle, he has a budget of 10 million WC, and whoever finds him the deal will get 50,000 WC as a commission. He is a rich young generation.", to avoid further explanation and problems he created a lie.


    Hearing Arther''s reply Robert had an understanding expression. He thought for a while before showing a happy smile, he knew that if he gets this deal he will not have to worry about this lockdown and can have a good relationship with the rich guy. He also hoped that the young generation might advertise for his shop as he knew such a rich guy must have his friend circle of rich apocalypse enthusiasts.


    "I do have a few vehicles in my mind that I can help him get and also modify them according to his liking. But getting any military component might be difficult as recently it has become very difficult to contact any of those people from inside. But I can try searching those components in the black market which might cost a bit higher price", Robert said as he was worried this deal might get rejected due to him not being able to get any military parts.


    "Done, you will be paid 6 million for all the parts and other requirements will be stated later, and I also want to go to see the black market to see if I can get anything interesting there." Arther had no reason to deny the deal, he wanted to go to the Black market to meet a guy he knew about who can help him find those weapons he wants. But what he knew was it wasn''t easy to enter the black market as only those who have a full letter from any of the old members of the market and one person can only recommend one another person in the market. Thus he wanted to use Robert as a chance to enter there.


    Already had the thought to enter the Black market for a while, but he didn''t know-how.


    After weighing the pros and cons of this proposal of Arther, Robert knew i=that Arther was the key for this deal and a recommendation into the market was not a big deal, "Fine, tomorrow at midnight meet at the Loki''s Bar."


    Arther nodded and after talking for a few more minutes he left, he wanted to reach home soon and check on the screen thing and also complete yesterdays incomplete work at night.


    After Arther left Robert sat there in deep thought, he for few days had a feeling that something very big is gonna happen.

 Chapter 14 - System 2

    Arther was happy to have got the chance to enter the black market, now he can try to obtain few restricted things from there. After he left Robert''s place he hurried back to his home, While returning home he noted down a few shops he will try to clean up after the apocalypse before leaving the city, those can become their traveling rations. And anyways those shops containing many things to sell inside will never be opened again. Most of those owners will become undead and join other undead in this city forever, while few lucky ones might be able to escape from the city.


    City F was a middle-level city, it got most of its income from the farms in its suburbs. Though it was a part of one of the strong countries among world. It was not much developed due to none natural advantages. Hence the living standards of the people here are also average, hence the shops and markets didn''t have many high-cost products, on the supermarkets near the city center have relatively higher product qualities, luxuries, and cost.


    After noting down about most of the shops that might contain a high amount of food and other luxuries of the apocalypse. He went back home.


    After reaching home he found that everyone from his family was present there and was discussing something. Whatever they were discussing he was not much interested.. So he went to the stairs to go to his room, as he went inside his mom noticed him and called.


    "Arhter comes here I wanna tell you something."


    "Our neighbor Aunt Mey called yesterday, she said uncle Will had got in an accident yesterday on his duty, so she had to be there in the hospital to take his care until he gets well and is discharged from the hospital. Till then Nanny will be staying with us, she will be living in Jessy''s room, Mey has not told anything to Nanny so make sure you don''t create any problem.", Arther''s mom told him with a serious expression. Seeing everyone being so serious Arther felt something big must have happened but they are not sharing it with him.


    "And yes Arther you are not allowed to go in the city for a few days", his father stated with a stern voice.


    "What?! Why?", hearing what his father said Arther was shocked and confirmed that there must be something wrong. But he doesn''t something such happening in his previous life.


    "No questions Arther, go to your room.", this time his father had anger visible in his voice.


    Arther knew what will happen if he tried to argue with his father now, he had to find another way to eave at night.


    So he went to his room and decided to ask Robert if he knew anything. And today while returning he did feel a bit different in the city, it shouldn''t be so empty with anyone outside.


    After entering his room he freshened up and went to bed. While laying on bed he tried to recall the screen again the same way as it disappeared. The moment the thought went through his mind the screen reappeared again.


    This time though it was a bit different.


    [ Main Vessel Status


    Carrier Vessel Status ]


    Seeing the screen Arther had an idea of what this might be, being an otaku it was common knowledge that this must the system/Goldfinger that all reincarnates in those novels get.


    There were two options, seeing this, Arther was confused as he knew that when he first received that prompt it stated for a vessel but here there are two vessels does it mean it already has one vehicle?.


    After thinking about it Arther didn''t remember having touched any other vehicle. After not finding anything he tried to click the first option of the ''main vessel'' but his finger passed through the screen. Seeing this Arther was even more confused as he didn''t know how to select any option.


    Since he was the only one who can see this screen and the system was able to understand his thought maybe he can control them through his thoughts. So he tried to concentrate on the first option. As he did so the screen blinked and changed, it felt very real.


    [ Body Scanning initializing...


    Body scan complete. ]


    [ Main Vessel Status:-


    Name: N/A


    Body: Carbon-based organism


    Level: -100(Based on the previous vessel)


    Energy source: None


    ]


    [No carrier vessel found


    Main body not sufficient for the entire system to reboot.]


    [Energy level: 0.00001


    The system will remain dormant till a sufficient energy source is found


    Current energy source: Star energy](Solar)


    As the screen changed there were many prompts on the screen, a green light scanned Arther''s body, this must be what it said as body scan, after scanning the screen was filled with few data containing Arther full-body 3D scan which kept rotating in the upper right corner of the screen. As he tried to manipulate it Arther found that he can zoom in and out and manually rotate the body.


    After that, a few alert prompts were showing low energy, and then the screen disappeared. But seeing the last prompts Arther had an idea of this system.


    The main body is stated must be like a control center that passed all the decisions and orders and that must be his body, and his body doesn''t contain any energy source which the system can rely on to complete the reboot. The light source that collided with him on that day at night must be this system that integrated with him. The system showed that it was using the sun''s energy for accumulation. It must have been activated when Arther touched that car at Robert''s garage and thus notified Arther about it using the stored energy, but he has now resulted in it going dormant. So now Arther had to find an energy source sufficient for the system to work and a vessel. What made him confused was what does the system consider a vessel. If he can he would rather make an airship carrier his vessel. It must be cool to drive it in the apocalypse he might even be able to recruit more people there and create a small kingdom for him to rule.


    As he was in his dream of being a king with many beauties and delicacies in his hands there was a knock on his door bringing him back to reality.


    After clearing his thoughts Arther went to open the door,


    Nanny was standing there looking at him, "Brother Arther Aunty has called for you for dinner."


    Arther went downstairs with the nanny to have dinner, the atmosphere at the dining table was a bit silent than usual, Nanny was happily was eating while watching TV as she didn''t know about her father, everyone else thought were a bit silent. Seeing this made me more worried as a normal accident should not make everyone so tense. And in lockdown what accident might happen in a closed metal warehouse without anything precious inside.


    After dinner Arther went to his room, he had decided to go meet Robert first and try making a deal with the weapon smugglers in the black market, he knew a bit about someone their expert in those handlings. And also try finding out about the accident from someone inside there as he knew Robert being an otaku would rarely know about anything happening around him except about his cars.


    Then after returning at night he had to also cremate his lovely grandmother sleeping in their backyard before she wakes up to greet them. He also had to find anything that can be used as an energy source.


    Todays night was not gonna be peaceful for Arther.

 Chapter 15 - In The City At Night.

    At 11:00 night in Jessy''s room, Nanny was sleeping on the bed with Jessy. Jessy was sleeping soundly and there was faint moonlight passing into the room through the window glass. With the moonlight shining on her face Nanny''s eyelids fluttered for a second and she slowly woke up. She was not feeling comfortable sleeping here as she was missing her room. She also had a sad expression on her face, everyone thought her to be small and thus will not understand what adults are doing or thinking. But she was a smart and sensible girl from a young age she just tried to act silly and innocent.


    She was worried as she knew if not an emergency her mother will not leave her alone during such a time. And she had secretly heard Artyher''s parents talk about her father''s accident, though she didn''t know what had happened, she heard that the accident inflicted huge losses to the warehouse and surrounding area.


    As she thought about it she wasn''t able to sleep, so she went out of bed and went to the window.


    While at the same time in Arther''s room, Arther waited for everyone to sleep and then slowly changed into a hooded black shirt and black jeans as he didn''t want anyone to find him going out and also hide his identity in the black market.


    He left his room the same way he did last time through his window, being an apocalypse survivor in his past life such skills were common in most of the survivors as they needed to many times use such ways to escape from the undead.


    As he slowly descended using the rope, he stopped for a while as he felt someone watching him. He checked his surrounding after finding no one around Arther put on his hood and ran towards the city.


    What Arther didn''t know was there was certainly someone who had noticed him, Nanny was surprised and shocked to see Arhter leaving the house at this time in such clothes and such a way. She knew the way he went must be to the city, but this made her more confused as Arther''s father has warned him not to leave the house and most importantly go to the city.


    For how long Nanny knew Arther he was a shut-in otaku who didn''t like to leave his room, then why did he left at this time and where.


    After thinking about it she didn''t find any reason she can come up with so she decided to ask him in the morning, she didn''t tell anyone about this as she didn''t want to make everyone more worried as she believed Arther won''t be doing anything wrong.


    So she went to the bed.


    Arther was not aware of these things, currently, he was hiding in a small alley in the periphery of the city, what made him hide was a patrol police car patrolling the city. This made him even more sure that something had happened inside the city. After the car left he hurried towards the meeting point they had decided. The Bar Robert told him to wait at seemed to be closed and there was no one nearby, anyone might get confused by such a sight. But Arther knew this bar had an underground basement that is soundproof and many people with a bit of knowledge of the bar know about this, officials of course knew about it too but they kept one eye closed to such matters the same way as the black market as this places had strong backings and paid huge money to the officials. Arther came to know about this bar when he and his sister escaped from their home in his past life they joined a small group of survivors from the city, those people wanted to loot this bar after getting the information from a worker in the bar. They looted this bar which not only contained a single-floor basement it contained their underground floors of which the only one was legal, other two were illegally built and were used as a casino and storing all the money and weapons they had on the last floor. There was also a prostitution business in the bar.


    But Arther didn''t have any idea of going there now, he will try to loot the last floor for weapons if he had time after the apocalypse struck.


    Arther went on the backside of the bar where there was a small wooden door which was a camouflage. He waited a bit far from the door from where the door was visible. At 11:45 Robert came to the bar in a long black robe with a hood covering his face, no one might be able to recognize him if not familiar but Arther was able to recognize him due to his stature and voice. Arther went to him and then they walked to the other side of the street, in a small alley.


    "So where is this place we are going to?", Arther asked with a hint of curiosity as he had never been to a black market before the end.


    "Don''t talk and let''s hurry a bit faster, the winds in the city are not as calm as they seem.", Robert''s voice contained a bit of fear as he fastened his steps and said in a hushed voice.


    Hearing what Robert said Arther thought Robert must have known about something he didn''t know and might be related to Nanny''s father''s accident.


    Both of them hurried towards the West of the city led by Robert, as they got near the western zone of the city they spotted many patrolling cars. This created a tense atmosphere among them and Arther was also a bit worried as he remembered that the warehouse Nanny''s father worked at was also in the western part of the city which contained many small industries and warehouses. What made him worried wasn''t his it was that place that was the result of the fall of this city.


    They stopped near a huge building of a well-known firm in the city, they went inside the building from an opening in the fence, at the back of the building a man was sitting, he looked like the security guard but he had a bit odd feeling around him. He noticed both of them walking towards him, while they were near him Robert took something out from his pocket and gave it to the guy along with a letter. The person observed Robert and my face and took out a stamp to sign on the latter passing it to us.


    The person contained a machete on his waist, he must be a security guard of the black market and also the one to check on the newcomers. He led us inside the building and towards the basement through the elevator.

 Chapter 16 - Black Market.

    The elevator only showed -3 floors, which means the building had only three underground floors. One of them was used as a parking area, while the second floor contained the building''s water and electrical mainboards. This confused Arther as he had thought the black market might be a big area as it was a gathering of many big figures in the black world.


    The man led both of them to the third floor, what was surprising was the third floor was empty without any activity, this made Arther feel even more confused and a bit vigilant towards the guy leading them. Seeing Arther''s action Robert showed a grin but didn''t explain anything to Arther as it was with him when he visited these places for the first time.


    As they kept walking through the third underground floor they reached a small passage on the other end of the floor, the man stopped in front of the passage opened the fenced iron gate there, and gestured for Arther and Robert to go in. Arther looked inside the passage which was a bit dark he didn''t see anything inside which made him confused. Robert wasn''t new here so he knew about the way to go, he led Arther inside the passage which was so small that only two people can pass through at the same time. As they reached the other side of the passage there was a silver electronic door made of an unknown metal. On one side of the door, there was a scanner and camera where Robert showed his pass and the stamped letter. After a few seconds, the door slowly opened.


    What met them was an astonishing scene.. The place was huge, it seemed like an underground base with cement walls on all sides, a huge building was on the other side of the floor, the area of the floor was similar to the floors of the main building, there were many small shops on all sides of the walls, with vendors in black clothes selling various things, there were also many things displayed on the shops.


    Many people were bargaining with the vendors for many goods. As they went further Arther saw a variety of things like some antics not sure if they were real or fake. There were even shops for exchanging foreign currency, this was very useful for those thieves snd robbers.


    Shops with drugs, banned products, jewelry shops, automobile parts, second-hand vehicle shops, bars, brothels, cold weapons, etc. shops were common here.


    Robert led him towards a shop with many automobile parts exhibited, Arther didn''t know much about these things so he just followed Robert as he met with the shop owner who was a middle-aged man with an injured leg, he had a huge scar on his face which made him look ferocious. He led them inside the shop, looking at their behavior Robert must be his regular customer. The person led them inside the shop and walked to his counter to find a book.


    He placed it in front of them with a smiling face, "These are the good baby''s I have in hand and can satisfy your needs. They are a bit worn out hence can be sold at a lower price."


    Hearing this Robert had a smile on his face as he gestured Arther to take a look. Seeing Robert''s behavior the man understood that Arther was the true customer. So he shifted his attention towards Arther.


    "Robert, don''t you wanna introduce this little friend to me?" he asked Robert with a sly smile.


    "Ah, this is Arther, my friend, he will be the one to make this deal. Arther this is Jack. Jack is a retired soldier and also my mist trusted supplier."


    Arther exchanged courtesies with Jack. He concentrated on the book, the book contained some photos of old trucks, pickup trucks, bulldozers, cranes, soil compactors, excavators, dumpers, Tipper lorries, Trailers, and some old discarded military vehicles of the older versions without any instruments.


    There were those mining hauler monsters. Arther wanted such a guy as the weight itself might make it unstoppable, but he didn''t have enough money to buy even its worn-out older version.


    After seeing all the photos and going through their information Arther picked up a few of them to physically inspect and try to see if they can be accepted as a carrier vessel, then make some modifications inside them.


    He pointed out those photos to Jack, "Can I see this vehicle personally to select one."


    Hearing this Jack had a conflicted expression as in black market no one can see the goods before payment as the place to store goods was not here and every big business here had their secret warehouses to store their goods. So he can''t accept Arhters condition, but the price of each of those selected ones was a big deal for his business so he had to think of it as if he rejects the condition he might lose this deal.


    Seeing Jack''s expression Arther knew he had made an impolite condition but it was necessary for him. "You can trust me if the condition of the vehicles is as written here then I will buy one after inspection, and I will also require few expensive parts to modify the vehicle which we can have a deal of. "


    Hearing this Jack thought that Arther was sincere enough and he didn''t have anything to lose. He just needed to make a few arrangements in the warehouse before taking Arther there. So he asked to meet them in the shop after an hour and a half. Seeing Arther agree to it made him happy and gifted them with an invitation letter to the auction held every day in the market. It contained many good things from many big businesses. Arther accepted the invitation letter as he expected to meet that guy there. Since the invitation was sent only to few people with connection inside and big business and backings.


    Arther didn''t have any money on him for now so he was not going to participate in the auction.


    After they left Jack''s shop Robert didn''t follow Arther for the auction as they only had one letter and was given to Arther by Jack. They parted from here and decided to meet at Jack''s shop at the decided time.


    Arther knew from Jack that the auction was held in that huge building. That building was also the core of the Black market, many rich businesses had their shops inside and only people with a certain amount of money can enter there. It was highly secured so no one can sneak in. The shops contained only premium products fantasized by riches. The building was connected to a four-story small building outside. It was also a VIP passage for those riches. The auction is half on the 1st underground floor.

 Chapter 17 - Roberts Secret.

    While Arther went to the auction, Robert went back into Jack''s shop. There Jack was talking with someone for arranging the things Arther asked for. Seeing Robert coming Jack sighed and asked the man to leave while he went to his seat to sit. Robert went to the counter in front of Jack and sat on the seat, both of them had serious expression which was contradictory to what they showed in front of Arther. Robert placed his hands on the desk and leaned a bit forward to ask, "Do you have any news of it?".


    Jack knew what Robert was talking about, being someone with many connections inside the army it is not difficult for him to get some information concealed by the government, and with his experience, he already smelled that there was something fishy the moment worldwide lockdown was announced as those higher figures didn''t like seeing losses and this decision must have inflicted huge losses. And the military battalion stationed in the city as war emergencies was also moved.


    What he felt was this lockdown was just a way for those people to camouflage their actions from others. There is something huge brewing inside. But he didn''t get much news from inside as his connection were all either from the military logistics department or low-level soldiers from other places who didn''t have much authority.


    But yesterday he received a message from his network stating that there is a shifting of the war resources stored by the city along with the military official of higher level to a certain part in the west, and the government is also trying to make some deal with the higher-ups of this black market. This made him surprised as one should know the number of supplies stored as war supplies is a huge figure, they are stored according to the number of citizens and army, it contained most of the necessary things like food, water, cold clothing, mattress, utensils, various, ammunitions, heavy guns, war vehicles, tanks, fighter aircraft, personnel carriers, laboratory equipment, medicines, medical machines, and facilities, etc.. to shift them to a certain place the time, money and power consumed is a huge figure.


    This showed only one clue that either a huge calamity enough to harm the entire city is coming or there is an upcoming war. But city F is not a big city and doesn''t have any strategic significance for anyone to attack even in a war so war might not be the reason. This further confused Jack and also made him feel uneasy.


    As Jack explained these things to Robert he went into deep thought. According to everyone, he knew Robert was a shut-in otaku and car enthusiast, but he had a different identity which he didn''t like so he didn''t tell anyone about it. Robert was the grandson of one of the three generals of the Alp country. His clan was one of the eighteen general''s families of Astral kingdom, though not as strong as in history their clan still had huge power in the country. His grandfather had six wives and he was from the third wife''s branch, his father had one younger brother who was a big businessman in the country. Robert had a younger sister she was also the most loved by his grandfather in their generation due to her talents in the military, She was already a captain at the age of 20. Robert, on the other hand, was not so well known to the clan due to his introverted personality and he was also always under huge pressure due to his sister''s outstanding performance.


    Though there was a tough competition inside the clan for benefits Robert was not much inflicted as his parents and sister always helped him. But his way of thinking and performance has brought many difficulties to his father, so as not to hold his sister back and create more problems he decided to leave the home and find a peaceful place to stay before his family has enough strength to stand against other family branches and he has enough achievements to show his worth to the family. His family knew didn''t stop him as his father knew this can be an experience for Robert and also provide him a peaceful environment for Robert to grow.


    But he received a letter from his father yesterday asking him to come back immediately, his father has always been a calm person but the letter showed how anxious he was that he even asked his bodyguard to pick Robert up.


    The letter didn''t state anything else. First, he thought this had something to do with the other opposition branches of the family but the atmosphere in the city and the movements made by the city government made him think otherwise.


    Robert had made his network of people here and Jack was one of them for outsider Robert was their customer, but for these people Robert was the backing for them to keep this shops, they were his trusted personnel. He had thought of taking them with him while his uncle will take care of the business here. He wanted to wait till a chance arrive for him to enter the battlefield of his clan and his father also wanted to use him as a trump card for a higher position in the clan, but this event has disrupted their plan as they had to leave earlier. He has decided to complete his deal with Arther and then leave.


    Arther didn''t know about this, if he knew he would have gone insane as he knew something more important about Robert and his family no one else knew, not even them.


    In the post-apocalypse, city X is the nearest city to a huge forest known as Elven forest with the kingdom of elve demons. This forest was a restricted area for humans, the borders of this forest though were relatively safer and were controlled by the Golden Ape clan also the ruler of city X base city. It was a huge force in the apocalypse, their clan contained the bloodline of golden ape, and the patriarch of the family contained the inheritance bloodline at a higher level from the start of the apocalypse gaining a boost in the start. This bloodline provided them with an indestructible defense of evolved metal elements (Gold) and huge strength. They also had some fighting techniques passed from their ancestors. They also had an increased affinity towards the metal elements.


    This made them an indestructible force in the eastern part of the continent, the city was also very prosperous due to the resources from the elven forest.

 Chapter 18 - Auction.

    (Writers note: Was not able to publish new chapters for the last two days, there will be extra 2 new chapters published tomorrow.)


    *********************************************************


    Arther went to the auction building. The building had a huge wooden door with various carvings. There were two women with manly builds standing guard at the door.


    Those women were well trained, this can be known by seeing their alertness and stillness. They didn''t move even a bit after standing for a long time. As Arther moved inside the building, he was surprised by the grandness of the building''s interior and its decorations. There was a red carpet laid from the door on the floor. The wall contained luxury lamps and in the center of the ceiling, there was a chandelier made of glass hanging.


    There was a young servicewoman standing on one side, seeing Arther enter she came to greet him, "Hello sir, how may I help you.".


    Arther was very interested in the products being sold here as they were luxuries he had not seen in his life, but he didn''t have time to waste here. So he gave the invitation letter to the servant, the servant looked at the letter and after checking its authenticity she returned it to Arther, she smiled at Arther and led him towards the -1 floor.


    Arther observed the products on the floor as he was led, On the auction floor there were many seats arranged with a stage used for auction. Arther sat on a seat in the backside corner. He didn''t want to attract any attention.


    Slowly as time went by the seats started to fill.


    On the first row of the seats were few people who looked different than others, they were surely riches and people with higher authority.


    After a few moments, a beautiful lady in red revealing clothes with brown hair walked on the stage. There was an uproar among those sitting in the backward seats, they were those who were lucky enough to gain this chance to visit here without much money. They just wanted to experience these things or wanted to try their luck here.


    "Welcome everyone present here in rose company''s auction. As everyone knows the things auctioned here are the rarest commodities and today also we have many such things. So I hope everyone follows the rules of the auction. I would also like to make all of you aware that only after payment will we hand over the things. And the identity of the bidder will be kept a secret."


    "Let''s begin.", there was a female voice full of authority from behind the stage. This voice made Arther interested.


    A middle-aged man came on the stage holding a red wooden box, he placed the box on the table on the stage. The lady then removed the item from the box, it was a vase.


    "Our first item for auction is this vase from ancient times, it is said to have been used by an old alchemist in ancient times as we have found traces of few unknown alchemist materials on it. It can also be one of the members of some medicine garden. The vase has been in such environment for a long time hence it has many useful specimen samples if able to recognize."


    "The starting price is 5000WC and it can be increased in any amount.",


    As soon as the lady finished speaking,


    "5500WC",


    "6000WC",


    "9000WC",


    "10,000WC", there was an uproar as everyone with little to no knowledge of these things were surprised for a vase to have such an amount of price.


    The one to bid was an old man sitting in a corner in the middle rows of a seat, he had an introverted look on his face as if trying to minimize his presence.


    Later products in the auction were of no interest to Arther what he was interested in were few of those people who had the strength to bid thousands of WC''s for things with little to no meaning to common people.


    But Arther knew that few of these things were good things like the vase, and a heavy sword which no one in today''s time can use due to its weight, it was sharp and shiny with a faint aura even after being unused for such a long period of time. The auctioneer stated that this was a sword used by a strong person in the Astral kingdom when it was founded, after that person left the kingdom due to unknown reason this sword was placed in the palace but with time it became of no use to the king so he gifted it to a well-known business for huge benefits, this swords now has been obtained by the rose company.


    For today''s time it can only be used as decoration, but what Arther didn''t know was that this sword was bought by a scientist, this sword was made using a special type of metal alloy. The scientist will soon make a great breakthrough in this subject using this sword and will be a part of the team which created the most well-known light beam cannons mounted on the walls of most of the base cities. These cannons were one of the factors for the survival of humans against that higher-level undead and beasts.

 Chapter 19 - Energy Source.

    "Now the item we are going to present doesn''t have any identity or mentions in the history of the planet.", with the lady''s introduction the man brought a small finger-sized red gem with a circular shape. It looked the same as any other ordinary gem.


    This confused everyone present, the lady grinned as she watched everyone''s confused expression she was not much sure to sell this stone for a higher price but by increasing their interest she can fool them to bid a higher price.


    "Let me explain the origin of this stone which will explain its rarity. This stone is a treasure from the ancient relics of the burning forest.. Everyone knows that burning forest has been known as an ancient battlefield. We have found ancient full body armor, the structure and its marksmanship show that it should be of someone special compared to all the other equipment excavated from there till now. And on that Armour we have found this stone, it was placed in an engraved groove, the armor was bought by the government and this stone was given to the rose company. We have experimented in all possible ways for few years but we were not able to find anything different from this stone hence we have decided to auction this gem."


    "The base price for this stone is kept as 0WC and bidding has no limitation."


    This shocked everyone, but Arther was surprised due to another thing. When the stone was brought on the stage,


    [System emergency


    Disabling hibernation


    The portable energy source is detected


    The host is requested to merge with the source immediately.


    Source energy fluctuations are not enough to get other information.


    Source information can only be obtained after merging.]


    After the system had spoken last time then due to low energy it has been in hibernation, energy source was an important matter for his survival in this apocalypse and was also his biggest problem. But this gem was a light of hope for him. What he had to do now was just be a bit nearer to the gem and the system will do the merging thing. He received this information from the system now. But he didn''t know how he was going to get near the gem. As he had a feeling that this bidding was not ordinary.


    And the security of this auction house was very high. This made it impossible for Arther to steal it from here. He had to wait for someone to bid and then try to steal it from the person who buys it. He didn''t have yet received the lottery money hence he can''t bid.


    While Arther was in his thoughts the bidding has already begun. In the beginning, everyone was bidding but slowly only a few sitting in the front rows were bidding as the price has reached a high level.


    Slowly many withdrew from the competition for bidding leaving only three people. One was a young man with blue hair, he had two bodyguards sitting on either side. The second was a middle-aged man but he didn''t seem to be the main figure as there was some sitting beside him wearing a black robe to hide his identity. The third one was that guy who bought the sword.


    As the bid started to increase the young man started getting agitated, he stood up


    "Excuse me, everyone. I am very much interested in this item as I want to gift it to someone, I hope everyone would give me some face."


    Seeing his behavior Arther knew he must be having a strong background to make everyone present give him some face.


    There was a silence of a few seconds before the middle-aged man bid again, this surprised everyone and angered the young man. His father was a huge businessman and he was given face everywhere he went, not many people dare to oppose him, but this person has slapped his face in front of everyone. He wanted to use this gem to create a jewelry necklace to impress someone he had been pursuing for a long time.


    But this unknown guy has ignored him. He wanted to beat the shit out of this guy but he knew that these people to oppose him must also not be ordinary. So he had a plan against them.


    "Since you don''t want to give me face then I will quit, hope you can return safely from here."


    His words contained open threat but the middle-aged man ignored him as he was not even enough for him to put in eyes. This made the young man even sourer.


    Seeing this the old man also quit the bidding as he didn''t want to go against his superpowers.


    Hence the final bidder of the gem was that middle-aged man. The amount was a huge 100,000WC.


    Arther didn''t know why someone would bid such a high amount of money for this stone as according to him only he knew about the true use of this stone. But he was not much interested in thinking about these issues, what he wanted to do now was naturally find a chance to steal it.


    After auctioning few more items the auction came to an end. There was nothing of much interest for Arther. He slowly left the auction building and hid in a corner near the building waiting for the middle-aged man to come and try his luck. What he was worried about was that those people will leave the VIP passage but he didn''t have the authority to go there.


    He waited there patiently, he had this patience since many times in forest hunting required this skill. While Arther was waiting here, many eyes were also waiting for those guys to come. These people were naturally sent by that young man to hunt them. At the same time near the exit of the VIP passage, there were many people hiding in wait for the middle-aged guy and the black-robed person to come. It seemed that they were surrounded without any way to escape.


    Inside the auction building in a room behind the stage. The room contained a luxurious vibe. The middle-aged man was standing behind a seat where the black-robed person sat. In front of them sat a lady in her 30s, but her curves and beauty had a mature vibe that can make any man fall in love with. Red hairs and sharp red eyes with an authoritative aura around her. She was the branch manager of the rose company in city F.

 Chapter 20 - Jaya

    The name of this beauty is Nora. She was smiling at those sitting opposite to her. She took a sip of the tea served by the servant, "You have invited difficulties for yourself along with that stone."


    Hearing her there was no reaction from the person sitting opposite to her. This made the smile on her face grow wider. "There is no one here that you need to hide from, you can be comfortable as I am sure those waiting for you outside can wait for some time."


    After a few minutes of silence, the person took the robe off, the face behind the robe was of a beautiful girl, long black hair, black watery eyes, small red lips, snow-white skin with an oval face. She had an arrogant expression on her face as if she didn''t put anything in her eyes.. Her name is Jaya.


    "By the way, I don''t know why the young miss of one of the country''s well-known clans had to visit my small branch and buy a stone by going against an arrogant guy taking such a huge risk."


    Hearing her question Jaya smiled in return while sipping her tea.


    "Lady Nora, I would like to make you assured that I was here for gaining experience, there was no other reason. And I found the gem good to make a gift for my mother. She likes to collect various types of rare gems and diamonds."


    "Young miss sorry to interfere but now we need to leave, we are already late. If we waste more time it will be difficult to go out of here.", the middle-aged person standing behind Jaya spoke at this moment.


    Jaya nodded to him and stood up, "Sorry Lady Nora but I will have to leave now."


    Nora smiled and nodded at her, "I am happy that young miss visited me. I wish you a safe journey, but I want to warn you not to go through the VIP passage as there are many people waiting for you. It will be easier for you to go through the normal way."


    Jaya nodded and left along with the guy.


    As they left the building many eyes followed them one of which was of Arther.


    ****************


    Arther was standing in front of a stall that sold tabs and other electronic accessories. He had been visiting all the stores around the auction building to avoid any suspicion and keep an eye on the entrance.


    After waiting for some time he has found many people doing the same as him. This made it more difficult for him to carry out his plan. Still he didn''t have any other choice rather than to try it out. As he was doubting whether those people went away from the VIP passage he found them coming out of the building. They seemed to not know about the situation they were in as they strolled around the street while visiting the nearby stores. But what made Arther interested was the person beside the middle aged man who never spoke or touched anything.


    As they went farther away from the building towards the exist of the black market there were less crowd and many trails for them. Arhter knew he had to wait for others to act and fin dout about this guys strength and plans. As observing their action he has found some clue that they are leading everyone outside and are well aware about those trails. Arther is well experienced on spying someone without getting noticed as he has learned many such skills for survival.


    (This chapter is small as there will be new story elements being added in next chapter which will not be enough to add in this chapter. Hope you can wait till tomorrow.)

 Chapter 21 - Rescue

    They were about to reach the exit still yet no one has made any move. This made Arther worried as if he exited from here he will not be able to re-enter. So he decided to ask Robert to bring Jack to meet him outside the market as he knew that the warehouse used by Jack to keep all the materials must also be outside the black market.


    He messaged Robert hurriedly to meet on the opposite side of the building to avoid being tracked by someone. After that, he switched off the tab and continued following. After some time they reached the end of the black market near the Steel door.


    At the same time outside the passage on the third underground, there were few people standing alert waiting for someone to leave the passage. They seemed to already know when to be ready. They were sent by the young man to capture Jaya and the middle-aged man. Of course, the young man was not a fool to pay such a huge price just for catching some unknown people for a small stone.


    After leaving the auction his father has asked him to use any reason and way to catch these people as they have huge value..


    Hence he has paid a price to buy this person along with some time from the police and black market security.


    As soon as Jaya and her bodyguard left the passage they were met with this scene and soon after them many other people also left the passage trapping them in between. Arther didn''t leave the passage as he knew it was not yet the time to act. He wanted to see what these people are capable of doing to protect themselves.


    And just as he thought the middle-aged person made his move."Looks like we have attracted many eyes for a small stone, how about we return the stone to one of you. But to whom?"


    "Hahaha, you don''t have to waste time using these small tricks as we are here for that stone, we have a better proposal for you. Both of you surrender and we will keep you alive or else you know very well what will happen with you. So please don''t make it difficult for us." a man with a bald head, black skin, bulging muscles. Grinned at him while talking.


    All others surrounding them also laughed at them as if the situation was already in their hands.


    Two of the guys from behind moved forward to catch Jaya and her bodyguard, just as they were about to reach out for her Jaya made her move, four small throwing knives flew out of her robes and injured those two people along with two standing behind them. This reduced the number of people standing behind them, before anyone could react the middle-aged man made his move too, with a swift move he defeated two standing in the front, making a small opening in the encirclement, they moved out of the encirclement and ran towards the exit. The remaining attackers also followed behind them. Arther waited for a while before following closely.


    They ran till they reached an alley away from the building, the alley was closed from one side. After entering the alley Jaya stopped running and faced the attackers. The atmosphere between them was in stalemate. But the middle-aged man was a bit worried now as he had found that the number of those followers and attackers has increased this showed that there were more people waiting for them and the city was not safe for them.


    What he was most worried about was Jaya, if anyone knew about her identity then many strong people will move their attention here, and according to what situation their clan is now being ready to face he can''t let anyone know about their motive for coming here and have to take Jaya from here as soon as possible.


    Slowly the alley entrance got filled with many people with rods and machetes and other weapons used in street fights. These people were surely not well trained and were common gangsters but this type of people had high experience in such fights. And Jaya and he didn''t know about this city and place to hide very well.


    At the same time when Jaya was in a dire situation, Arther was standing on the terrace of one of the buildings at the end of the alley. Seeing them enter the alley and the crowd at the entrance he knew that the alley had one end closed and he can''t enter through the same entrance, so he came here from where he can keep eyes on everything and everyone and can also save those two guys, but they will have to pay the price of this rescue with the stone. He will try to negotiate with them if not possible he will wait for them to lose to these people before stealing the stone. He has heard the attackers talk before and knew they were definitely not interested in the stone.


    "Now where are you going to run?, hahaha, I have already warned you not to make it difficult for us but now wasting our time we will surely enjoy a bit before taking you with us.", the same bald guy talked. He seemed to be the leader of all these people.


    "Keep the robed one safe and you can break some bones from that middle-aged guy.", he ordered his people before running towards the middle-aged man.


    Jaya was worried hearing and seeing the situation they never knew they will fall into this situation, but know there was no other way to escape.


    Just as she was going to fight along with her bodyguard something fell on her from above, she looked up to find a young boy''s shadow reflected by the moon behind him, standing on the terrace of the building, the thing that fell on her was a rope.


    "If you want to you can accept my help but it comes with a price.", an immature voice reverberated into the alley. Though immature it contained an authoritative atmosphere that can make anyone surrender. With a mature tone.


    "What do you want??", this was the first time Jaya spoke from the time Arther has seen her. The sweet female voice surprised her but he soon stabilized.


    "That stone."


    Hearing this reply Jaya didn''t have a surprised expression but a satisfied smile as if she has found something she was searching for for a long time.


    "Of course you can", she grinned as she called the middle-aged man to come back and climbed the rope.


    The gangsters didn''t have time to react a few seconds before the middle-aged man fought with them and defeated many of them and then a boy came and rescued those whom they wanted to kidnap. This made them angry, since the lockdown they have been very happy as doing many crimes has become very easy for them now.


    For now, these people will not be of much threat to the government hence they are not caught since all strong people are busy somewhere else but after the apocalypse this type of people will become the most dreaded type of survivors.

 Chapter 22 - Rescue 1

    The middle-aged man followed Jaya closely as he watched Arther with vigilance, Arther felt as if he was seen through by this guy.


    Jaya climbed up as Arther gave her a hand to pull her up, but he was not able to help much as he had forgotten that he was not the same as in past life. Jaya smiled seeing him helps and held his hand to climb up.


    After both of them climbed up the gangsters were also following but Arther threw the rope down resulting in grave injuries to those following closely behind them.


    "Follow me.", Arther asked them to follow as he leaped on the nearby building. Jaya and the middle-aged man exchanged looks before Jaya followed Arther, the middle-aged sighed as he followed too. Seeing this Arther felt more and more confused as these guys were not as he had thought anyone in this condition would be. They had a very careless attitude and didn''t question him once. He increased his vigilance against them, he knew that this time if anything were to go wrong he will be in danger. Thinking about everything happening he felt he was a bit overexcited, he should have waited for this middle-aged man to fall and then save only one of them which can help a lot. But now he didn''t have any other choice, he will first try to take these people near to the place he had asked Robert to meet so that he can ask for help if necessary..


    They kept running from one roof to another till they reached a small shop building, this was a single-story building with a balcony, it looked like a general store. Arther lept into the balcony and from there climbed down through the sewage pipe. Seeing Arther''s action Jaya was a bit surprised as it was not easy for everyone to do this kind of thing after running for a long time. And Arther was already huffing a while ago showing that he was at his end of the rope but still he can have the will to carry out such actions showed that he had strong willpower.


    The middle-aged man also had an acknowledging look as he saw Arther, after thinking something he looked at Jaya who was also looking at Arther. His face had a conflicted look.


    Arther looked at them and then entered an alley on the opposite side of the building. He waited for Jaya to come. After waiting for few seconds the middle-aged man spoke,


    "What are your orders miss? gonna follow him, we are safe now so if you want to I can call the car here and we can leave, as you have got what we were here for."


    Jaya didn''t look at him, she was thinking about something, after a few moments of silence she smiled with a sigh, "You are right uncle I have found what I was here for, but it is not this stone."


    After speaking she didn''t look at him, she ran towards the alley. The middle-aged man had a confused expression but had to follow Jaya.


    In the alley, Arther didn''t have to wait for a long time as he saw both of them walked inside. Seeing them Arther was relieved as he had given them this time to make sure they will not make any move when paying.


    "I don''t know who you guys are and I am not interested in knowing, just give me what we negotiated about and we will leave our own ways"


    "Hahaha, I surely will give you what we negotiated, but not here, you will have to help us hide for some time and then leave the city, after that I will give you this." Jaya took the gem out as she spoke.


    Seeing the gem Arther had a light in his eyes as she was in the range of merging but he didn''t do it as if he did his secrets will be exposed and he might even get caught. But what this lady in robe spoke also confused him.


    After weighing the pros and cons Arther nodded, "I have something to do nearby if you want you can follow me. But you are not allowed to know anything or questioning anything. And if asked you will be introduced as my assistant and you uncle no need to talk.",


    Hearing what Arther said the middle-aged had a few bulges on his forehead but he was able to control himself as he knew this boy was of some use to Jaya.


    "OK",


    Seeing Jaya agree Arther led them to the place he had agreed with Robert to meet at.


    Robert was waiting along with Jack in front of the gate of the cities warehouse area. This was a place used by many businesses to store their goods, these warehouses can be rented by anyone on a contract basis.


    "Why do you think Arther asked us to wait here instead of meeting in the shop?", Jack asked Robert with a worried expression.


    "I don''t know, but you can rest assured I know Arther for some time and he will not create any problems."


    "Hope so.", Jack spoke as he observed his surrounding. A dozen people were hiding nearby. These were Robert''s people, they were called to protect the warehouse and Robert if needed as Jack had received the news of what had happened after the auction. He was worried that Arther has participated in something he shouldn''t.


    As they were conversing with each other Arther walked towards them along with two more people from the other side of the street.


    "Hello, Mr.Jack, I am sorry for the inconvenience but I had to leave the market for some reason and hence had to call you here", Arther greeted Robert and Jack.


    Robert exchanged the greeting but Jack was looking behind Arther, he felt he had seen the middle-aged man following Arther somewhere. And he has not seen them following Arther when they met first.


    He wanted to ask for their identity but it will seem a bit impolite so he kept quiet.


    Seeing Jack''s expression Arther knew what he wanted to ask, so he spoke first.


    "Let me introduce these friends of mine, they are sent by the young master here to help me in my work. I hope you are comfortable with it, of course, they will not enter with us but will only help me chack the final product."


    "Sorry for the inconvenience Mr.Arther then"


    After exchanging greetings and introductions All of them entered the warehouse area, there were many huge warehouses alongside the path, they looked like huge steel and cement containers, without many fancy constructions. Every warehouse had only one main gate which had a small gate on it. The small gate is used for people to enter and is manual, while the main gate is huge and is used for loading well it is hydraulically operated.


    On entering the area the Jack led them to the 15th numbered warehouse which he used to store some goods. He had rented all the nearby 10 warehouses from number 5 to 15 used by Robert to store his assets but this warehouse was a bit empty so he asked his workers to move selected vehicles here in order to have some secrecy about the goods in other warehouses.

 Chapter 23 - Vehicle Selection.

    At the gate of the 15th number warehouse, Arther asked Jaya and her bodyguard to wait outside and he followed Jack inside.


    Arther was very excited as his today''s decision will decide his and his family''s survival in the future. Before he was only worried about keeping his loved ones safe, but after getting the system he had changed his plans and ambitions. He wanted to see the whole world and have enough power to rule his own destiny.


    The warehouse had a rusted smell in the air from all the stored waste automobile parts and other metals. The ground near the gate was damped with tire marks, they seemed to have been left no long ago. The warehouse was lit with light tubes. There were many compartments created by shelves filled with metal and old parts. In the center of the warehouse in front of the gate, there was a huge open space which should have been used for loading and unloading of goods. But now there were nine things wrapped in clothes kept there.


    These were the vehicles Arther has selected..


    "Mr. Arther I have checked the vehicles and my men have just now shifted them here, come let me show you.", Jack explained to Arther about the conditions of the vehicles as he asked two men working in the warehouse to remove the cloth covering them.


    The first from left was a 35tons Mining Tipper truck, it had a cabin for three people and a high weight carrying capacity along with a heavy-duty 6cylinder engine and hydraulic system for dumping. It had 8 mining tires of 12*20 on either side. The mining tires were in good condition and the capacity of the truck was also big enough for Arther to store the necessary things he will need. But in terms of security, this truck was not well and he will have to do any modifications to it. Hence, he rejected this one.


    The second one looked like a sleeping yellow giant. It was a Large dozer of 40ton, 1900rpm engine, 600L fuel tank, a 4m long blade in front used for dozing with a sharp edge, and pointed forward-pointing ends. There were huge crawler tracks instead of tires. The personnel capacity of 4-5 people. Arther wanted to select this guy as in front of a huge undead mob this giant with its weight and blade and huge tracks will be a killing machine. It can be used as a steel shield, but the biggest problem was its capacity hence Arther had to reject it.


    The third one was a small pickup truck, with high speed and offroad mobility with low weight and a capacity of 4 personnel in the cabin and 6in the back side.


    The fourth was an SUV, with a semi-electric operating system and an emergency electric engine. It had a radio control system for using a drone or for radar.


    The fifth and sixth were common cars of some famous companies with advanced features.


    The seventh was a Lamborgini luxury car.


    Arther has selected these vehicles not to select one from but to examine the options system gives for modifying them. Arther had thought when he touched the modified truck in Robert''s garage that all the vehicles will not have the same modification using the system. He has thus selected many vehicles with different specialties and sizes to observe the changes in options. And his guess was correct, as he touched each one of these vehicles he found that the system didn''t tell about the final modification options but it showed that every vehicle had some specialties like a heavyweight, armor, operating systems, engine, etc. which can be modified accordingly. So he had an option to either strengthen what the vehicle was good at or he can also modify or add something else.


    This made Arther''s heart race as he can''t imagine what will happen to a vehicle if only one of its options is continuously modified. If It was normal times he would have tried it but now he was not in such conditions, he had to think carefully before every step as after seeing the power of the system he was afraid that the butterfly effect he will bring upon will be huge. He had a feeling that there was a huge storm coming towards this planet soon, more dangerous than his past.


    After confirming his guess he went to the last two vehicles of which he will select one.


    Eight number in the line, it was a cargo carrier truck of 16ton. It had 6 personal cabin capacity, 10 tires, 6 cylinders 5000cc engine, 600L fuel tank with 2km/L.


    While the ninth one was what Arther was most fascinated with, a double-decker bus, 26tons weight, with a length of 13.89 meters and a height of four meters, 503 HP (370 kW), 82 seats, Fuel tank: about 850 liters, fuel consumption: about 30l/100 km.


    He was confused between these two as one had high load carrying capacity with low mileage while the other had high mileage.


    After thinking for some time he decided to buy the bus as he can use the area in the bus more properly than the truck. And there were more suitable modification options for the bus in the system.


    The two vehicles had two very different modification paths, the truck can be modified into either an armored vehicle for carrying goods with interdimensional space.


    While the bus can be modified into an armed personnel carrier or MCV. Arther has decided to convert it into a spacious MCV for enough space for farming and happy life.


    "Mr.Jack, thank you for your help, I have decided to select this Bus as it will be more suitable I hope you will give me a proper price, but you will have to wait for the payment till the 5th, will it be ok?"


    "Sure Mr.Arther, you can rest assured I will keep this vehicle reserved for you. You can contact me through Robert your item with paperwork will be kept ready.", Jack smiled as he was happy for selling one of these items, as he has got this bus using some connection, it was a model in use for public transport in the airport. It started having problems due to long time use. And hence was discarded from service. It was kept in the warehouse for a long time now, he was thinking of selling in the scrap market. Luckily Arther has selected this one in order to lock this deal he will try his best.


    With happy face all of them left the warehouse, were Jaya and others were waiting.

 Chapter 24 - 24

    "Uncle Jake, what do you think are they dealing with inside. I think it will not be something normal as that person who saved us doesn''t look ordinary at all.", Jaya strolled near the warehouse gate as she talked to the middle-aged man walking behind her.


    He was more alert than her she has found traces of people hiding in the surrounding.


    "Young miss, I can''t understand why you have asked that person to lead us outside the city. As we not in any danger anymore, but did you see that person among them, he seems to be familiar."


    "You are right uncle Jake he is not just familiar he is general Agnar''s grandson, Robert. For some years he has left his clan area, there was some news that he was removed from the clan, but looks like we need to reevaluate this person, he is far smarter than anyone thought. His sister is a scholar in the military, and he seems to have built his power here."


    "Do you think he is the one we are searching for?", Jake asked Jaya in a hushed voice that no one other than them can hear. Their motive for coming here is a secret which not even many people in the clan know..


    "No uncle, he is just a coincidence, I have already found whom we are searching for now I just need to keep a watch on him for some time, but we need to do everything as soon as possible."


    While they were discussing these matters Arther and others exited the warehouse.


    After discussing the time to finalize the deal and payment and place, Arther left with Jaya and Jake.


    They ran for few minutes before reaching the borders of the city and suburbs.


    "From here start the suburbs, you are safe from her. Now give me the stone I am already in hurry.", Arther stopped on the soil path and talked with a bit of impatience. He always felt something wrong from the eyes of the middle-aged man on the way here. If not for the need of the energy stone he would have left them a long time ago. He also didn''t want these people to know about his home and family as they might have some ulterior motives after seeing his interest in the stone.


    "Sure, you will get what I promised but don''t you think it''s rude to not even introduce yourself first. Let me introduce myself first.", Jaya spoke to break the silence between them. She wanted to find a chance to know about this person due to what she knew.


    After speaking she removed her hood and exposed her face, her face had a touch of brightness in the moonlight like a fairy. "Hello, myself Jaya and this is my uncle Jake.", she smiled at Arther as she introduced herself. She didn''t expose her complete identity as she didn''t like to.


    Seeing the beautiful face Arther was dazed for a moment, after hearing her name he felt something familiar but he didn''t remember anything so he didn''t think much about it and shook hands with her he introduced himself, "Hello, I am Arther".


    After introducing each other Jaya didn''t waste much of his time and gave him the stone and left to the opposite way Arther went. Arther went around the suburban area for some time to see if anyone is following him. After confirming he went home happily, what Arther didn''t know was a certain someone was closely following him as he went home.


    At home, Arther climbed up from the window of his room. After an unsteady night, Arther was not in the condition to think about anything, he decided to take a look at the stone tomorrow, so he went to bed after getting fresh. It was early morning till he reached home, a few hours after he slept his mother woke up for doing her daily work. She had the habit of waking up early.


    Slowly the suburbs started getting busy with people''s activity, but the city was not silent at this time. The things that happened yesterday night in the black market and on the streets have reached the ears of the higher-ups and the young man and his father too.


    In a villa in a colony of riches near the city center, it was a huge three-story villa with many rooms, an open swimming pool. This colony is the place for residence if many important and famous riches in the city. This villa belonged to the richest person in the city, the owner of BB business company.


    Inside one of the rooms in the villa''s second floor, it was a study room with luxurious decorations, it had a red carpet laid on the floor, with a huge curved study wooden study table opposite to the door. On the other side of the table was a leather dark red office chair, at this moment there was a middle-aged man in his 50''s with white hair, authority aura, sharp eyes, with a clean shaved face was sitting on it. He is the father of the young man in the auction, the young man was standing in front of him, with his head bowed down. However arrogant he acted outside he didn''t dare to speak a word in front of his father.


    No one knew his father better than him, for the business and profit his father can do anything. Even kill his son. For all rich family''s like them killing someone was not new. But today he was very afraid as he has failed to complete the work his father has asked him to do and has even got many of their men injured and paid a huge loss to keep the police and black market quiet. But received nothing in return. More than that his father is not in a good mood for the last few days since the meeting of higher-ups and lockdown, he also felt something huge has happened and his father is hiding something from him but he didn''t dare to ask.


    Behind his father stood a young girl with a tight office shirt and skirt which well defined her curves, she was his father''s assistant. But not of the ordinary type, she is a well-trained killer, assassin, and can do anything his father asks her to do.

 Chapter 25 - Merging The Energy Source

    The middle-aged man was sitting on the chair reading something with an angry expression, after some time he looked up from the papers.


    Yesterday he has received a piece of news that the young miss Jaya of a famous clan had come to city F without much protection. He was not strong enough to go against such a strong clan but he had received a contract from someone to kidnap her for which he was offered a huge sum of money, he didn''t have any reason to accept this offer but the other party has given him a piece of internal news. This piece of news has changed his entire way of thinking.


    He wanted to use this opportunity to get as many resources as possible. After getting the news he didn''t feel anything good was gonna happen, this is also the reason for him to hire few gangsters to work for him.


    The winds in the higher circle were not so calm for some time. Many strong clans and governments of many countries have also started take action.


    According to the news the scientists were working on something very huge, once it was completed the winds will become even more dangerous. For his safety, he is doing all these preparations. But in such times his foolish son has done such a huge mistake.. Not only has he lost the people and money but he will also have to face those people who offered him, and if the clan backing Jaya were to know that he was behind this attack then he will not have any pace to hide in this country.


    Hence he has decided to leave the city F and shift to city X, it was the nearest city, and can also be easy to shift his entire wealth. He conveyed his orders and punished his son to remain in his room for the next few days.


    What he didn''t know was that this decision has will change his future along with the change in city X. Of course this is the butterfly effect due to Arther.


    ***************


    Morning 8:00, Arther room. He woke up with a tired expression, yesterday night was not much peaceful for him but he was happy for his gains.


    He slowly got up from the bed and went to get fresh and changed clothes, nothing much has changed in his home everyone was doing their daily work, he was relieved to see that no one knew about what he did yesterday.


    After having breakfast Arther returned to his room, today he had very important work to do.


    He went to first lock the door and close the window to avoid any accident. Then he took out the energy source. He closely observed it to find anything he can use to recognize any other source. He observed in every possible way for any hint but he gained nothing. Only one thing was that the gem has a bright shine on the surface and it was a little warm, it cannot be felt if not observed properly.


    After not finding anything new he didn''t dwell much on it. He has now found that the system can sense if an energy source is nearby, hence he didn''t need to worry.


    [Energy Source detected


    The host is requested to merge.


    Yes/No.]


    As soon as he selected yes there was a small suction force over the gem which shone with bright light for few seconds which soon dimmed, dimming the gem lost its shining texture, and broke into loose sandlike particles, Arther was surprised seeing such a magical scene.


    [Energy source merged


    Energy charged


    Energy level: 0.00010]


    [System leaving dormancy state


    Increasing energy absorption rate from the surrounding


    Current Energy source: Star energy(Solar)]


    As soon as the energy was absorbed many notifications popped out in from of him, Arther was happy to know that the system was no more dormant but he was still not able to make full use of the system, he had to wait till he got the carrier vehicle which can get the complete system reboot and he becomes the sole controller.


    But today''s gains were also not small, he has received some pieces of information from the system though not much were still useful enough, and most important he had got the option to store any information he read, observed, or can directly ask the system to do so into the system. This will every useful for him as he no longer needs to store all the information he required into the tab and worry about it''s working, he can just connect the system to the world net through a tab and store all the information around the world without doing anything though it will take a day or two to store such a huge amount of data.


    The system can also hack any website or forum and copy all the data stored inside, of course, if properly investigated Arther can get tracked hence he didn''t pry into the government secrets or other important websites.


    He mostly hacked the government websites with city maps marked with many important places and apocalypse forums for various ideas. He had already decided the major way to modify his vehicle, but he needed to collect more related information, the atmosphere in the apocalypse was not so good enough to drive such a vehicle he needs to modify it from many places, he also needed to increase the defense of the bus along with some ways to attack.


    For this, he first visited many websites and forums and sorted out the required information, he then took a notebook to write down everything the bus had and what it needed, the materials list can only be made after meeting Robert along with the budget so he decided to wait for a day to receive the payment and then start working in full swings he wanted to finish this work at least a day before the end day and test everything.


    If he used the system the work will be done in a minute but the system in its initial state was not good for specified modification and it requires a huge amount of material including some he can''t afford, hence he has decided to first add the elements required from outside and then scan then vehicle as carrier vehicle since the system will consider those elements as a part of the vehicle and many new options can also be opened, in the apocalypse he can then collect all the materials required for further modifications.

 Chapter 26 - Nanny

    The next two days were not so eventful for Arther, he didn''t have any other choice but to wait for the lottery result. Before he had planned to use this time to contact the property dealers in the city S and start working on his base planning but now he had the system, and a mobile base would be much more safe and suitable for his plans than any place in this world.


    And the system was also working on collecting and storing all the information that can be collected from the World net. Hence he was resting at home, for these days he has visited the nearby barns to know about the meat animals and poultry, he knew few animals that will remain docile after evolution these animals were reared in the inner base cities for meat, most of the dairy and poultry products were collected from this animals.


    But Arther was not so lucky to taste even well-cooked food after the apocalypse, getting some food to eat for one time a day was already luck.


    While Arther was having a relaxed life for the world was not so calm.


    After the last meeting due to the changes in the space distortion, many things have happened. The energy in the space distortion has been increasing every day at a certain time, now that amount is enough to create a blast wave to change the Nova planets orbit. This was more than enough to make the planet leave the solar system and the destruction of the atmosphere.


    The scientist has visited the snow mountain relics which were one of the world''s ancient relics and were able to decipher few words from the message signal they received from the space.. According to them, it was either an SOS message or a warning message, and whatever is happening now shows that it might be a warning signal. There were two words deciphered and translated from the entire message, they were end and danger.


    But due to low knowledge and research work and time spent on these relics, it became difficult for the message to be deciphered completely, and the scientists and researchers predicted that the signal is also incomplete.


    But whatever was found is already enough to make anyone feel insecure, this was also the reason that the governments have decided to be prepared for the calamity, there are new orders for building the bunkers and base, the main motive of this countries was to first save most of the valuable talents and resources and then if possible try saving the common people.


    There were some countries who didn''t think so but to keep this news secrets they had to face pressure from the other countries. There were also those rich clans who had their own place in human history and present they also received this news and were building their own bases for the family.


    Along with these great powers, there were some rich businessmen and small companies, this was notified about the plans for funding and private wealth in return for a reserved number of pace in the base. After the apocalypse, the chain created by these bases will be broken with the loss of communication and they will have to fend for themselves, the charges will either be replaced or will become the sole rulers to decide the life and death of millions of people around them. And these small riches and businesses will either get dissolved by the bigger powers or will be eliminated in the conflict for power.


    The bases built by the government were similar to each other and were connected with each other through telecommunication towers and telephone cables, every base had its own base in charge or mayor, a certain number of workers and a military was based in it, the military had its own working process irrespective of the mayor and government officials in the base. They received orders from the captains allotted for them. The main body of the entire country bases was situated in the capital.


    This structure was also responsible for the hierarchical order formed after the end times, the common people will become refugees, few will become low-class workers, cannon fodder, and many more. Those now allotted power will be the highest in the hierarchy. Only a few bases near the capitals will be able to maintain the law at a certain level.


    ****************************


    4th March,


    Arther went to find a place nearby hidden enough where he can park the bus, he had to find a proper timing and reason to explain everything to his family, and the system modification process can be the best way to make them accept everything. He has decided to show them some of the system features as they will be living together with him in the vehicle, so they will surely find the difference whenever he will make any change so it can also be a suitable reason.


    After jogging for an hour around the entire village he found a plain place near a small lake in the mountains behind the village. In the normal day''s the mountains often had tourist but now due to lockdown no came here, so he can hide it here for some days.


    After confirming the way and place he returned home. It was noon when he returned home, he had his lunch after getting fresh and went to his room to check on the system progress and play some games while relaxing.


    He was also a bit worried about something, when he went to the black market he was not able to complete the work he went there to do, he wanted to contact the weapons dealer but then he found the energy source and hence had to leave. But even if he were to find the person he will not be able to buy anything as he didn''t have any money hence he had no other choice than to wait.


    As he was laying on his bed playing with the tab there was a light knock on his door, at this time there was no one in the house as everyone had their own work so he was a bit confused, as he opened the door the person standing outside was Nanny.


    "Hello brother Arther, if you are free I want to talk about something important with you.", she talked in a very low voice with her head bowed down. This was not her normal way of talking, from the day her mother has left she is, in the same way, all the time. This also made them worried.


    Arther was also confused why she came here at this time but he didn''t have anything to do so he accepted. He sat on the chair near the table while Nanny sat on the bed, her head still bowed down.


    "Umm, Nanny you had something to do with me? you can say it no need to feel restricted."


    "Yes brother Arther, I wanted to ask you something.", she bit her lip as she paused for some time before taking a deep breath to continue.


    "I saw you that night going out through the window."


    Arther started sweating hearing this, that day his senses were true someone truly was watching him. He tried to calm himself before asking,


    "Did you tell about this to anyone?"


    "No!"


    He was released after hearing this, "You have to keep this a secret, ok?".


    "But I need your help about something, please."

 Chapter 27 - Plans

    4th March


    In Arther''s room, at this time the atmosphere was not so good. Arther was already sweating after knowing that he has been caught. If his father were to know about this he will surely have to worry about his future. But now what made him more worried was Nanny''s request.


    "I hope you can help me with this. I know you all are trying to hide something from me, hence I want you to take me to meet my parents"


    "Umm, Nanny you know this is not possible, right? I do have went there, but the place where your parents are is under high surveillance. It will not be easy to enter and if we get caught we will be in a huge problem.", Arther didn''t want to meddle in this issue as he had his own problems already. And he knew there was nothing good waiting for him there. So he tried to convince Nanny.


    Just as he said so there were already tears welling up in Nanny''s eyes.. This was the first time Arther has seen this happy girl in this condition. In his past life, her story was a bit different. She also went along with her mother and then there was no news from them. At that time he thought they died during the undead horde but now he felt something bigger is going on. If possible he would try to avoid Nanny from going there.


    "I think there is nothing to worry about. Even then if you are not convinced I will contact a friend of mine to know about the conditions there. If possible I will try to find a way to take you there but not now, you will have to wait for some time. I have some work to complete tomorrow so I will be going to the city. At that time I will inquire about everything and on 8th March we will find a time to go there. How about this?"


    Hearing this Nanny was a bit convinced. She replied with a nod and went away. Seeing her back leaving away Arther breathed a sigh of relief. He didn''t know why he accepted to take such a huge risk. But a girl''s tears were always a man''s weakness which no one can escape from, and when he first went to the city he had this idea, and now he felt a bit curious about all this thing. This can also be used as an opportunity to test the system-modified bus.


    (Calling it BUS all the time is not suitable as there will be many modifications in the future which might not feel like a bus hence from now on it will be called MCV.)


    He has decided to go to the black market again tomorrow night to finalize the deal and also meet with the weapon dealer, he will also have to discuss the modifications with Robert. He has decided to mostly use a complete system of things as an element like solar setup with solar panel, battery, and outlet pin. This will be easier to install and not much time will be required. He will then try to buy some important necessities fr use and metals for the next modification. This will take a day and night, he can then bring his MCV at home and explain everything to his family and if everything goes as planned he wants to use this time of the next two remaining days to convince his parents to sell all their assets and use the money to buys more resources and then he will take everyone to hide in the mountains behind the village a bit deeper and visit Nanny''s parents as this move of his will surely be very noisy and he also wanted to use this time to rob few more shops for clothes and food and other daily necessities as it will be impossible for them to return in this city again. He will then move deeper into the mountains for some time, once the apocalypse comes he didn''t need to worry about anything. At that time he will plan for his next plan most probably he will try to visit someplace helpful to increase his strengths. He was also not worried about police catching him before as they were already busy building the base.


    He can use this time as a chance to store enough resources for them to hide in the mountains and to have a fulfilling life for the first few months in the end times. After the apocalypse, most of such products will either become rarities or go extinct and hence can be used as a currency for trading any useful things.


    This plan was very good according to Arther but there were many loopholes such as Robert and others finding out about him through the MCV, and the person always spying around him unknown to him. So no one can determine what will happen in the future, but one thing is sure to happen, this move of Arther will create a huge butterfly effect and he will attract the attention of many eyes he can''t hold against at this time. Everything else depends on his luck.


    For now, Arther was happy with his plans and dreamed of his bright future. At the same time, Nanny was also happy to hear the confirmation from Arther, from the day she saw her mother leaving hurriedly she always felt uneasy. But talking with Arther she felt like seeing a shine of hope.


    Arther also wanted to find her parent due to a reason, her mother was good at indoor farming which he can make use of. And her father was a tough guy he can be useful too. And their family were close to his family for a long time so he will feel a little more secure with them handling his works rather than some stranger.


    What made him most nervous was how to convince his family of all this, he can''t just explain the truth to them about everything as this will bring more dangers on them than benefits.

 Chapter 28 - Lottery Results.

    5th March


    Today was a very important day for Arther as all of his plans will depend on today''s events. Today was the day for the result of lotteries he has participated in. After apocalypse this money will have no use, being in the end times he has known the value of the money he himself has used this paper money for a bonfire or as tissue paper. So he was not much greedy for the huge sum of money he was gonna receive, but for now, this useless paper was all he needs.


    He woke up early morning to get fresh and opened the site of the companies holding the lottery, the results will be announced here, though he knew he will be the winner he still felt a bit nervous as this was his first time applying for such a big lottery. It was 7:00 morning now, and the time for the announcement showed 9:00. He had two hours, so he decided to take a jog. He jogged for half an hour after he returned home, at this time everyone in his home already woke up from the bed and his mother was making breakfast. It had a home-sweet-home feeling at the dining table. Arther never had the habit of waking up early so he always had his breakfast latest that time everyone has already left for their work.


    Seeing Arther coming at this time everyone present was shocked.


    "Umm, why are you all looking at me like this, I just woke up early today so I thought of going for a jog."


    "Nothing, Arther it''s just rare for you to wake up early", his sister seemed to be the most surprised as she teased him, but Arther was used to this hence he ignored her and went to the table for breakfast.


    After having breakfast he took a bath and went to his room, it was 8:30 half-hour remaining for the announcement. There were comments in the forum discussing the lottery, they were either the people hired by the companies hired for advertising or participants. This was not a big event for the riches as they can spend this much money in a day, so Arther didn''t need to worry about being found. And the price will be distributed directly online into his bank account with only his account id name with which he participated will be disclosed. And he has not given any other information about him to keep everything secret.


    The companies holding this event were also not much interested in knowing about the winners as they have already earned a lot of money which they can use, but these companies were the poorest ones as they will never be able to use this money. And due to their low private assets and connections, they never knew about the internal news.


    The next half hour felt like life for Arther, at 9:00 the site went down for few minutes which increased his tension even more as if he didn''t get this money he will be in great difficulties. At 9:10 the site reopened and the company also clarified that it was crashed due to high audience and bugs. When the site reopened the result was also reposted and as he had thought Arther won on both the companies'' lottery. The winning amount totaled around 24 million WC but with the tax, he will receive 23 million WC which was enough for the time being.


    At 9:15 he received the message from the bank about the money he received. The number of zeroes in his bank balance made his heart race, now he can also be considered a millionaire, though not for long. He still enjoyed the feeling very much.


    After rejoicing for some time he calmed down and started to work on his plans, he first contacted Robert to notify him that he will do the full payment today night and asked him to meet him at Jack''s shop.


    Now he can truly start preparing for his future in the end time. This time he will live a secure and happy life for sure.


    ********************************


    The world was not affected at all by this event, what was more important for the higher figures was their safety. Most of these people had a huge amount of money which they can''t use in their entire life hence they feared death the most. This was also the reason for them to use huge sums of money to build the bases. There were three main types of apocalypse bases designed by the engineers, first is the most common; nuclear underground base with the highest amount of security. The second was a natural island in the sea, and the third was a fort with a moat or a castle with huge walls.


    These types of bunkers were the basic foundations of the city bases built and a small city surrounded by walls and other defensive facilities were built around them.


    After the message was deciphered, there were many different meanings that can be concluded from it, such as the alien race has declared a war against them; or there is a huge danger that they wanted the human to warn about; and many more. But whatever it was the danger was sure to be huge. And the huge space distortion was also like a time bomb that can detonate at any time for the Nova planet. The danger factor was increasing day by day. And with this the feeling of insecurity for the governments and rich people. With the bases being built there is already small conflict between countries for the resources. This has divided the regions into smaller parts with the base as their center. These bases will soon become the hope for human survival.


    Hence the scientists, engineers, architects, and many more experts from other fields were working together to find ways to cope up with this situation. Soon though all the human knowledge will become useless against nature. Many new things will appear which will defy the laws of science.


    A new age is gonna start with the end of human rule over the planet.

 Chapter 29 - MCV Modification 1

    5th March, midnight


    In the city, the atmosphere felt more lonely than the last time Arther came. He didn''t dwell around the city as he wanted to complete his work as soon as possible today and leave early. He was very excited to get the modification of his MCV completed.


    In the black market at Jack''s shop, Robert was sitting in the main seat and Jack was sitting beside him, they seemed to be in some heated discussion.


    "What do you think about this?", Robert spoke to Jack.


    Jack was lost in deep thoughts. Today morning Robert has received a letter from his father asking him to return to their clan mansion, their family had a long history and they had a mansion built many years in the past this mansion can be considered more like a fort than a mansion, it had the capacity of accommodating up to three thousand people. It contained huge walls made with special construction techniques for war purposes, now they have fortified the mansion and an underground bunker has also been built which has enough facilities and resources for the survival of hundreds of people, Robert''s father wanted him to return there for his safety. But if he agreed he will have to leave most of his wealth and trustworthy people he has collected here. And considering the conditions, it will be very risky..


    And his clan mansion was not his area, it has been mostly developed by the clan elders and the branch of his grandfather''s first wife. This was also a great competitor of his father''s branch. If they were to leave everything from here he will noose a huge strength that can be useful for supporting his father and sister.


    Robert was also troubled by this issue. While they were in this discussion Arther has already entered the black market. As soon as he came Robert also received the news. They arranged everything properly and waited for him, if Robert decides to leave this might be his last deal and he will try to complete it a bit earlier and leave. Though he didn''t want to leave he had no other option.


    Arther entered Jack''s shop, he felt the change in the atmosphere but he didn''t dwell about it much. "Hello, Mr.Jack, nice to meet you. Today we can finalize our deal and you can receive your full payment, and I also have few more things to install on the bus."


    "Sure Mr.Arther I have all the papers ready you just need to go through them and we can complete the process. Your selected vehicle has been kept securely and we can go to see it at any time."


    After they exchanged greetings Jack handed over the papers to him, the papers were about the transfer of ownership of the vehicle, its security check and conditions as well as other required documents. After going through these papers Arther didn''t find anything wrong and hence he signed the document and transferred the money to the bank account used by Jack. With this Arther became the sole owner of this vehicle till there is law, these papers will soon lose their importance as only strong rules the world on the end times, and with strength, only Arther can keep it.


    After the process was over they went to the same warehouse they first visited there Arther checked on the MCV and its conditions for confirmation.


    "Mr.Jack, we can now talk about the other systems I need to install over some of this might not be available with you so I hope you can recommend me somewhere or you can directly make the deal and I will be responsible for only payment."


    "I am ok with it Mr.Arther but I think Robert can be more suitable for this."


    "Yes, I also think so as he will be the one to install them so Robert you can suggest me some ideas.",


    "The one for whom I making this deal has given me a specific layout of how he wants the vehicle to be modified, he wants it to have a complete set of a system which will form a small ecosystem cycle in the upper deck, the lower deck should be completely fortified with metal, the wheels need to be changed with some good ones useful in offroad, and the upper deck needs to have only a few small openings. Else the entire MCV should be like a moving fortress with all living necessities inside."


    Hearing the demands both Robert and Jack had a surprised expression as the amount of money required for all the equipment required for this will not be small and they also felt this person behind Arther was not someone ordinary as he had made this order as if he was preparing for the same thing they were preparing for but his approach was a bit different. But this also showed that he had a good internal connection to get any information related to this. So they didn''t need to worry about the payment and this deal can also be helpful for them to use their stored materials.


    After noting down everything Arther has asked for Robert had a basic blueprint in his mind and started to prepare the list of things to need after which he will make a 3d model in the computer of the modified MCV in which Arther can make his required changes. This was the most commonly used way.


    Arther didn''t want to rush in this planning as this will decide his future path, hence he wanted Robert to use as much time needed. So he greeted them and left to see the other shops and also try to see if he can meet the weapon dealer and buy anything useful.


    At the beginning of the end time, there were not many dangers, common weapons and guns can be useful. At this time the lack of knowledge of the people was the most fatal thing. He was not worried about this.

 Chapter 30 - MCV Modification 2

    Arther knew that the MCV will be his most important tool for survival and future development. So it needed to have all the required equipment and facilities which can be enough for the survival of him and his family. He also has to consider the environment of the apocalypse which the MCV will have to face and modify accordingly.


    The bus he has bought was previously used for tourism hence it had a very high quality of comfort and safety systems. It had an aerodynamic dark blue colored body, two front wheels, and eight back wheels, there were passengers. It had two decks, with two automated sliding doors in front and back for entrance and exit on the first deck. The first deck contained the driver''s cabin and passengers compartment, the height of the first deck was also very huge. The second deck contained seats and a table for dining and washroom. The bus has a water storage tank with a piping system and air conditioning and fragrance systems.


    But there were many drawbacks in its design considering the end time which Arther wanted to change as much as possible, one of his main motive for selecting this vehicle was its spacious interior and the double decks which allows the use of all the space properly. If he were to select a truck or a cargo carrier with the same or more space he would have to build all the interior structures which might disturb the aerodynamic of the vehicle. So he had no other choice than to select this bus..


    The price of a new model of this bus is 31million but since he has bought an old model with many problems and with Robert''s help he has bought it for 15million along with all the other things required for modifications cost him 17million.


    The biggest drawback of the bus was that it had glass windows for an all-around view but this has reduced the defensive qualities of the MCV. And the height of the ground clearance was also low. The upper deck was also covered mostly by the glass. These were the things that needed to be completely changed.


    Roberts garage was not big enough to accommodate the MCV and all the required equipment hence they decided to use the same warehouse, to make all the preparations and buy everything need Jack needed some time so they decided to start the work tomorrow, and if everything goes as planned on 7th Arther can take the modified MCV with him. After confirming everything once again he went away.


    The crowd in the black market never seemed to slow down even at this time of night, it can even be considered a busy time for these people. At this time Arther went around the black market to find any clue of the weapon dealer. On a corner on the street, there was a small shop that sold some cold weapons. The condition of the shop didn''t look much good, but it seemed to be running well. In the entire black market, this was the only shop Arther has found which sold any type of weapons even though cold weapons. He had no other choice than to try inquiring there and also find if they can build a customized weapon for him, in the country Arther lived buying and selling hot weapons is banned and is considered illegal. One can find many cold weapons in the common market or online but they are not for use but for decoration purpose hence the thugs and gangsters mostly either use homemade weapons or they buy the weapon from shops in the black markets.


    In the later years of the end time, the weapons used by most of the people were cold weapons, the best weapons to be used for anyone were naturally the bloodline weapons obtained after inheritance or weapons produced using the materials obtained from the beasts or evolved animals, and the weapons stolen from demons.


    Arther wanted to find a suitable weapon for himself which he can use to practice in the beginning until he collects enough high-level material to forge a high-level weapon.


    When he entered the shop there was an old man sitting behind the counter the shop had wooden shelves on the wall with, there were not many things kept on the shelves. There were some cold weapons hanged behind the counter, this was the basic samples.


    "What do you want?", the old man didn''t even take a look at Arther, he asked nonchalantly.


    Arther didn''t mind his behavior. He went to the counter and observed the weapon samples displayed. after not finding anything of his choice he went to the old man,


    "Excuse me, do you also make customized weapons? I want to order one ."


    The old man slowly lifted his head from whatever he was doing and observed Arther for few seconds, his eyes seemed to see through Arther.


    "Yes we do, but it will take time and money."


    "There is no need to worry about money, but I need it in two days."


    "Sure, but you will have to pay for it. You can write down here which type of weapon you want and any other customization if any.", he passed on a register to Arther and a pen.


    After filling in everything Arther waited for some time, he observed for anyone else and then asked about his main purpose that is the hot guns. He was not much hope of finding it here, he still tried once.


    After the old man heard his question he didn''t have any reaction he waited for some time before leading Arther inside the shop when Arther observed he thought it must be the place where the cold weapons were forged but now he knew this was a secret way. The things outside were just a camouflage main business was inside.


    The inner room had more space than the outer shop, it also had few people working but there was not much notice from here which showed how experienced they were in work. There were people sorting the guns, boxes of TNT, gunpowder, grenades. All the weapons in this place were enough to equip at least fifty to a hundred people, the destruction they can bring is not small. Hot weapons can make any man''s blood boil so did Arther, he was very excited to lay his hands on the weapon but he didn''t dare to make any moves that can create suspicions as even though he was lead here without any question and the security seemed to lose it was not so, everyone present here is well trained in fighting and Arther even with his experience in the apocalypse can''t face so many people at a time.

 Chapter 31 - Buying Weapons

    The old man led Arther to a room, this room was not so big it only had a small table and some chairs. On the chair in the front seat was a fat guy with a fluffy face. On his, both sides stood two men equipped with an Ak-47 assault rifle each. These men looked well trained as the moment Arther entered the room he was locked on by them, any wrong move and he will be dead in seconds.


    The old man gestured for Arther to stand at a small distance while he went to the fat guy, he whispered something in the fat guy''s ears before leaving. After the old man left the fat guy observed Arther from top to bottom before gesturing him to take a seat.


    The fat guy had a typical businessman smile on his face, he was very experienced in this business, so he knew what to ask and what to not. In this type, of business, no one exposes their true identity.. He didn''t make bug deals hence he never need to know about the buyer''s identity, whatever deal they have will be completed at the same time so as to avoid any further risks. Arther looked like an ordinary boy, he never thought Arther can have much money to buy a huge amount of goods, and looking at Arther''s behavior he seemed to be doing it for the first time.


    Even then he didn''t express his thoughts and took Arther to see all the products, They came out of the room and came to a table on the right side, where there was a table with many types of rifles, shotguns, pistols, guns, bullets, magazines, hand grenades, etc. were placed. Everything was placed in an orderely manner.


    In the first few years of the apocalypse, almost every survivor has either seen a real hot weapon or used one, without the help of these weapons it is almost impossible for anyone to survive the end times. Arther has also come in contact with many types of guns, he has personally used many. His sister worked in the resource gathering teams, and for such teams having proper weapons was a most basic rule. She has trained him in using most of the commonly used guns. And the bar in which Arther used to work at also had an inflow of many such people. Hence he has seen and used many types of guns.


    So as soon as he saw the guns on the table he started his inspection of a few of his favorite weapons, he first skillfully dismantled them and then reassembled them, he then loaded the guns with the magazine and tried few shooting postures to examine the balance of the gun. After not finding any problem with the guns he looked at the fat guy.


    The fat guy at this time was a bit surprised as the way Arther worked skillfully showed how well trained he was in using a gun. But he didn''t dwell much about it as he has seen many such skilled people and some even more skillful than this.


    They returned to the room again for further discussion, the total amount of money Arther has decided to spend here is 3 million only as this and he will mostly buy bullets for the magazine. After some bargaining, they finalized the deal. What Arther wanted was a heavy machine gun to place on the MCV but he didn''t have that much budget and this weapon dealer may not have such weapons of huge destruction.


    He spent a total of 3.1 million WC to buy three auto-loading M16 rifles, six double-barrel shotguns, three submachine guns, and two revolvers. With a huge amount of magazines for the same.


    The rifles will not be of much use in front of the beasts and evolved animals, Arther has brought these guns to train his family member in using guns and when they have basic knowledge he will equip them with other guns. The shotguns were the most useful in front of the animals and undead with higher levels and defense, the revolvers can be used as a deterrence for other survivors and the submachine guns will be the main weapon for war.


    With the finalization of the deal, he now had to worry about hiding this weapon, if he is caught with them he will be done for and until the work of MCV is not completed he can''t keep them there. So he needed to find some other place. After completing all his work in the black market he notified Robert and left for home, he has decided to hide the weapons at the same pace he has decided to hide the MCV. He can hide them in the ground for the time being and will dig them out when he takes the MCV there. After confirming everything he returned home.


    **************


    While Arther has done all his work and went home Robert and Jack were busy collecting all the materials required for the modification, they have decided to discuss all the modification plans online.


    While at the same time in a huge palace-like mansion in a prosperous city. There was a big room with everything properly decorated in a girlish style. On the balcony along with the room, there was a tea table with chairs there sat a girl with a tea cup in her hand and eyes looking at the distant scenery. She was none other than Jaya, behind her stood the middle-aged man, they have returned to their clan mansion. Few minutes before they received the message from a spy she has left to keep an eye on Arther, she knew about all his movements and activities along with the lottery he won, the MCV he bought, and the weapons he has bought. Every action from him made her more and more suspicious.


    If not for the danger impeding towards the world she would have already asked her people to bring Arther to meet her. But if she did ant such a thing now she will have to face many problems, she has been the most talented person among the young generation and hence had many competitors and enemies, she was also the most loved one of her father''s grandmother the clan head. This made her attracts many eyes toward every action of her. And now she has received a very important message from the clan head which lead to her going to city F. And she seems to have completed her motive there now.

 Chapter 32 - Jayas Motive

    1st March,


    The time when Arther came in the past.


    In Jaya''s clan mansion, in a huge room on the highest floor of the mansion. The room had an ancient touch in its decoration. A long corridor led towards the room with hanging glass chandeliers and lamps, there was a red carpet laid on the floor leading towards the room, there were some portraits hanged on both sides of the corridor this were the portraits of the previous clan heads from the founding of this clan.


    The room was also very huge, it had an open balcony, with door to ceiling windows, luxurious old style carpet, couch, chairs, tables, and other furniture. it contained a bedroom, washroom, bathroom, a pool, drawing room, office, etc.


    This was the room used by all the clan heads of the family, and only the clan head can live in this room. At this time, in a room that was used by the clan head for martial arts practice and meditation, there was an old woman who seemed to be in deep meditation, she is the current clan head of the Cerulean clan. The Cerulean family in the ancient time was known for their astrology, and horoscopes, they had the talents and skills of prediction. But slowly there was decreased in their popularity with the fall of the empire, even though there was no popularity in the world their future predicting capability is still good though not as good as in ancient times, there is also the problem of finding the talents in this field. The current clan head Blaire is the only one talented in these skills among the two generations and now she has seen some hope in Jaya though Jaya has not shown any sign of having the talent Blaire can see thing''s others can''t..


    For the past few day''s she was not feeling very well, she is very sensitive to impending danger. Due to the warning signs from her instincts, she has decided to make a prediction today. It was easy for her to make predictions about someone or something individual, but today she was gonna try to do something bigger which might result in a huge backlash hence she has been preparing for this for some time. She has isolated herself from the outside for some time to avoid any disturbance.


    Most of the important people in the clan have already been notified about this.


    As she started her prediction, in the beginning, everything was fine but slowly she saw a huge black cloud covering the world, with the black covering the world fell into a dark atmosphere. There was then a string of red color in between the blackness for an unknown period of time, at this time Blaire was already sweating profusely as she had to use a huge amount of willpower to see all this.


    As the red color was increasing a was about to engulf the world there was a huge sound and then there was chaos with different types of colors opposing the red. When the colors collided they formed new colors while when they collided with the red they either got destroyed or engulfed the black but everything happening greatly affected the world.


    Wherever the red and black colors passed there was nothing left and when the other passed from somewhere there were different shapes and shadows formed. The war between these colors slowly tensed and the energy generated by them disturbed even space around the world.


    This resulted in the world falling apart. Seeing all this has already drained Blaire of all her energy and she started losing her consciousness, when she was at the end of her rope she saw a very small unnoticeable light dot, whichever color touched this dot was absorbed into it, seeing this she used her last bit of strength to observe the dot more closely when she was a small distance away from the dot it shined brightly and Blaire lost her consciousness.


    After an unknown period of time, Blaire regained her consciousness with a splitting headache. Her entire body had lost the strength to make any movements. She sat in the meditating posture after a lot of difficulties and calmed herself, after meditating for some time she gained some strength, so she took her cane and walked out of the room, this was the first time in her entire life when she had felt so weak after making the prediction, this showed how risky her move was. But she has found something very big with this move. This was also her first time predicting the entire world and she didn''t have any prior knowledge about those colors and the dot.


    But whatever it represented was surely not good hence she had to find more about all this as soon as possible. She called for a maid and asked her to bring some books from the clan library. Every big clan had its own collection of books from ancient times till now. These libraries contained many books written or obtained from their ancestors, it contained knowledge about everything like war, martial arts, and many more.


    The most important for the clans was their ancestral books like some martial arts techniques, medicine books, etc. The ancestral books of the Cerulean clan were based on astrology and predictions. Though they have not been studied for a long time as everyone felt them to only contain myths this was also the only thing that might have something she needed. The information about the color and the things she saw.


    She also called Jaya to help her in this because she didn''t want many people to know about this and in this way she might awaken Jaya''s hidden talent. If she finds any clues about anything she saw she will tell Jaya about it, if not she will keep it a secret for the time being.


    At this time Jaya was in the clan ground practicing her sword techniques, it was compulsory for every clan member to learn some self-defense techniques, and she was also very interested in the sword techniques. The one teaching her was the same middle-aged man who always followed her, he is a fighter trained by the clan from childhood to work as a personnel assistant and a bodyguard for Jaya, he has been with Jaya from when she was a child hence they had a father-daughter bond. His family has served Jaya''s clan for many years, he was the sixth generation working for the clan. Hence the clan also trusted him very much and he was allowed to follow Jaya everywhere and know everything about her.


    As they were sparing a maid came there and notified Jaya about Blaire''s orders.

 Chapter 33 - Jayas Motive 2

    Being the most loved one of the clan head had its own privilege, Jaya can say to be the only one who can meet the clan head at any time, though to maintain the discipline in the clan she also had to follow all the formalities when meeting the clan head, in private she didn''t have to be much formal.


    Today was also a common day for her, meeting the clan head can be a golden opportunity for many family members as she was inclosed cultivation for most of her time, but Jaya didn''t feel so. After walking for a few minutes she reached the clan heads room.


    Seeing her a maid went inside to notify Blaire about her arrival, the maid then returned and allowed Jaya to enter. As she entered the living room she saw Blaire sitting in a pile of books with a serious look on her face, Jaya has always been fond of reading hence she has been in the clan library much time and can identify those books. But what confused her was that this book has not been used for a long time as they were filled with nothing more than myths. Many scholars have tried to research these books but they didn''t find anything useful from them hence the clan slowly forgot about them.


    She was also a bit interested to know why this old woman who never liked reading was wasting her time on this books.


    As she walked closer she could see the book covers, they were many related to predictions, horoscopes, astrology, and some about auspicious signs and symbols.


    Seeing Jaya, Baire looked up from the book.. Seeing her face scared Jaya as her face was very pale with dark circles under her eyes, the wrinkles on her face seemed to have increased her eyes didn''t have the usual brightness when she met Jaya, and her forehead had precipitated sweat. Her hands holding the book were slightly shaking.


    Seeing her in such conditions Jaya knew something very bad had happened as Blaire is ruling the clan for many years and has never lost her calm in many worst situations.


    "What happened grandma, you don''t look well, let me call a doctor for you. You should have some rest.", Jaya took the books from her and placed them aside as she asked Blaire to rest with a worried expression. In the entire clan, Blaire was the only person she loved after her parents. Hence she was so worried about Blaire seeing her conditions.


    "No, I have many important things to do, but before that, I have an important task for you. Whatever I am going to tell you now should be kept between the two of us.",


    Baire has found few clues from the ancient books, and she has connected the chains leading to a very bad conclusion which she knew she alone can''t handle, but there was no other way than to face the impending danger.


    "Yesterday I tried to make a prediction which has drained most of my strength hence I am giving you the most important responsibility. In the prediction, I saw..."


    The world she saw represented the Nova planet. The black cloud engulfing it means a type of dark energy trying to consume the life and will of the planet to gain more strength. The black energy slowly engulfing the world means it has almost affected the entire world without anyone knowing and after it has enough strength it will start absorbing the life from the planet. This will be like harming the planet directly. When the planet is harmed above a certain level it will start a countermeasure which is to activate the other elements which ensure life on the planet. These elements were the different colors, they have the power of the world and can together fight against the black energy. But there was a huge chance of the planet getting irreversible harm due to this instability in the energies, this might convert the Nova planet into a barren planet.


    Hearing all this explanation from Blaire, Jaya''s face kept getting paler. She didn''t want to believe such things but if it has even 1% truth this might be their end along with the entire world. And according to what Blaire has found the black energy has already started its actions and now they don''t have any way to prevent this.


    "You mean the world is gonna come to an end? isn''t there any way to prevent all this?", Jaya looked at Blaire with a worried look as she also started losing her calm after knowing everything.


    "I have read almost all the related books in our library but I didn''t find any. But while in the prediction I have found something about which there are no mentions, it had the power to fight against everything, it can be our only way out. And I want you to personally go and find about it. I remember the place I observed but didn''t have an exact location, you will have to find it yourself. I don''t know what it is, it can be a thing, a place, or a person. But make sure you return before 7th March, no matter if you can find it or not."


    After Blaire passed on the task to Jaya she asked her to leave in secret without anyone even from the family knowing about it, she asked her to take only her bodyguard with her for safety but not to share anything with him too. After that, she passed much continuous order among the clan elders, the entire clan started working as machinery with everyone having their own task, no one knew about anything except about their tasks. It was the same with the elder too, but they knew more than all others. The main order was to enforce the mansion walls by increasing their height and with and a new bigger wall''s construction was started a distance away from the mansion wall. Inside this wall were their clan businesses and the residential of the clan''s lower level members. Along with this, the underground bunker below the mansion was also reconstructed with increased security, area, and survivability. The mansion was also reinforced and all the clan members were ordered to return to the clan area urgently. Many clan businesses outside were slowly reduced or closed and all the money and resources were concentrated here. This move was big enough to attract the attention of the world, many questions were raised but there was no response from the clan.


    Soon this question lost hype and the new problem of space distortion attracted the attention of the bigger powers. Though there were some suspicions as to the Cerulean clan''s actions and the space distortion had a huge coincidence, but everyone was already having a shortage of hands to gather their wealth. No one had the extra time and strength to think about the Cerulean clan.


    The bright dot Blaire has seen naturally represented the system and Arther.


    She knew that the light dot was somewhere around the city F. Hence, finding Arther was Jaya''s motive.

 Chapter 34 - Changes.

    6th March,


    Today Arther didn''t have anything to do, the MCV modification is ongoing, the weapons have been hidden properly, he now only had to wait for the MCV to be completed and then load it with all the prepared resources and the after he convinces his family they can leave this place. His plans might seem a bit risky as when they leave there is a chance of getting caught by the police, but only Arther knew that the city F is like a time bomb that will detonate as soon as the apocalypse strikes. And at that time it will become more difficult for them to leave by crossing the city. The way he has decided to leave is by crossing the city and moving towards the mountains and forest on the opposite side. This way also needs them to pass by the cemetery.


    At this time he was studying all the routes and places he needs to visit and stored the marked maps into the system. The system has completed 80% of the information collection, it will be completed till today night. Then he will not need to use the Worldnet for some information, of course, he has informed the system to remain connected with the Worldnet till it is completely lost to receive every single information that might get updated. In the end-time, he will be the only person with this information among the entire humanity.


    While Arther was enjoying his free time, there were some storms in the world.


    *******.


    On 6th March, noon


    In the space observation station, there was a huge electromagnetic wave from space which resulted in most of the satellites losing connections and leaving their orbits or becoming space garbage.


    Scientists have been keenly observing space for the last few days and nothing can escape unnoticed from them, but now with the loss of the satellites, it has become very difficult for them to observe the space distortion continuously.


    Because only the satellites on the side of Nova exposed to the space distortion have been affected. There are many satellites in space used as the eyes of humans and they together create a network that covers the entire planet and hence one can observe any part of the planet at any time.


    But now there is a small hole in this net that can''t be filled, now there will be a blind time when the space distortion can''t be observed. To overcome this problem various space agencies have tried to move a few of the satellites to cover some blind regions but they can''t hamper much with the orbit of the satellite to avoid any other problems.


    This was just the beginning for the humans to lose their hold over the planet, this can be considered as a last warning for the humans to prepare for the coming apocalypse.


    The failed satellites have converted into space debris and have entered the planet''s atmosphere. Their path and area of fall can be predicted but it cannot be changed. Hence the governments have no other choice than to announce some fake reasons for this. If not announced there might be huge casualties and the governments will have to face public anger.


    Soon many city officials were notified about this and they started taking action, the fire brigade, ambulance, and police were alerted about this so that they can act immediately. People from those areas were evacuated. The media also received the news sometime later and everywhere this news was circulated.


    After the lockdown, this can be considered a piece of major news, it immediately attracted the attention of everyone.


    Four hours after the news was released the leaders of many countries invited their press conferences and explained the reasons they have already decided. All the countries and space agencies have given the same reasons hence no one found it suspicious.


    But Arther knew this was not the case as this was just the start and soon there will be many more things that these people can''t find any fake reasons to hide.


    While the whole world was concentrated on this situation, there were some changes in the space distortion. The space distortion was slowly reducing in size as a small black hole has been formed in its center, this black has formed a long time ago, but it was small enough to go unnoticed. From the beginning, it has been absorbing the energy, there was a huge amount of energy flowing from the other side of the space distortion continuously, the black hole absorbed the energy till it got saturated and the remaining energy was stored in the space distortion. This stored energy was the only energy observed by the scientist, due to the electromagnetic field around the black hole the energy absorbed went unnoticed.


    But today it has broken its boundaries and increased in size due to the absorbed energy. This has also resulted in an increase in the absorption of energy. the stored energy is also absorbed along with the space distortion itself, thereby reducing its size.


    But the amount of energy concentrated at the center of the space distortion is very huge resulting in its own gravity.


    *************


    At this time many of the governments have started shifting everything into the bases being built. The construction of the bases has almost been completed. Unknown to the common people a huge danger is approaching them and the governments they rely on have silently left them behind.


    The government forces have entered the bases, the wars have been ceased at the borders of many countries, the higher official of the police forces are invited into the bases, the main security of these bases will be ensured by the military and police forces were left outside to maintain the law and order. If the police forces were to disappear there will be social unrest.


    Slowly the inner base cities Arther has seen in the Apocalypse started taking shape. In the depth of the oceans, there were also some changes. The water pressure has increased, the small fishes are either dead or moved to other areas. The oceans will slowly become the land of huge beasts. A no man''s land.


    The oceans contain the fossils of many ancients beasts and fishes which will be raised again as undead.

 Chapter 35 - Modified MCV.

    Due to the urgency of the matters from the clan, Robert has hurriedly completed Arther''s project. He has already shifted most of his trusted people and resources in the family area to be under his sister''s care. After completing and handing over the finished to Arther he will also immediately leave. He has sent Jack with his people to help his sister. He has sent them in such a hurry as the fight in the family for the higher positions has intensified. Now with the gathering of all the powers his father is finding it difficult to hold on to his side. If not for this deal to have such a huge payment and his friendship with Arther he would have already canceled the deal and left.


    To complete the work before the time he has hired some more technical personnel for the different systems to be installed. Now the bus has been completely changed, from outside there are not many changes, but the inside is completely changed.


    It has changed from a tourist bus into a reinforced moving fort. The outside is completely layered with few millimeter thick stainless steel plates, this has also resulted in increased weight. The engine is not changed much, there is an extra electric engine attached to the front wheels for an emergency. There is a 500V battery setup used for all the equipment in the MCV and the engine.. It is connected to an external charging port and solar panel set on the MCV roof. The lower deck glass is changed into sliding windows and metal shutters.


    All the seats in the lower deck are removed and few partitions are added to create a living area with TV, one double bed bedroom, and a four bunk bed bedroom. The driver''s cabin has two seats and the cabin is partitioned from the inside with a wall and door. The previous sliding door in the front is changed into a smaller manually opening door. The door height has also been increased. The lower deck also contains a kitchen with its separate fresh water tank for drinking and cooking, a bathroom with an attached toilet. And a single room in the rear. This room is specially designed by Arther for himself, the rear glass is changed into a bulletproof privacy glass. It is only transparent from the inside. A high platform is created and used as a double bed leveled with glass. A storage compartment is made inside the platform where he can store all the weapons and other resources. It also has a small study table with a chair with some charging ports where he can attach anything when needed.


    The door in the back is kept as it was. It is connected to the corridor in between the rooms leading from the driver''s cabin to Arther''s room. At the front of the corridor, stairs are attached to the cabin partition wall leading to the second deck. The second deck can be considered the most important part of the modification which is installed with all the systems requested by Arther. While buying the MCV itself Arther had a basic idea for the second deck.


    On 7th March evening 7:00, the work was completed with a final touch of painting and cleaning. If more time was provided many more changes were possible but now it was not possible. As both, buyer and seller were in hurry. After a final examination and test drive and checking all the working Robert send the message to Arther. They have decided to meet today night but since Robert had to leave early he decided to ask Arther to come now.


    At this time he was watching a movie at home with his family. The message from Robert surely created a problem for Arther as with his family at home he can''t leave now, but he also can''t make Robert wait for much time, as he was thinking of a way out he had an idea.


    A few minutes later in Arther''s room, Arther was changing his clothes in a hurry while Nanny was standing at the door.


    A few minutes ago, Arther acted as not feeling well and went to his room to rest. At the same time, he asked Nanny to come up while no one noticed. When she came to his room he told her that he has found some way to go to the place where her parents are and he urgently needs to go and confirm the information. While he is away Nanny had to make sure that no one knows about anything.


    After he changed the clothed he knocked on the door and went off from the window. Hearing the knock Nanny knew he has left and gone down to keep an eye on others. Everyone was enjoying the movie unknown about anything. When Nanny came no one noticed her, her heartbeats have increased a bit as if they get caught her only hope offending about her parents will be gone. And both of them might get punished. Her face had a tensed expression no matter how much she tried to act normal. And this didn''t go unnoticed by one person, Arther''s sister. But she didn''t dwell much about it.


    At the same time, Arther slowly descended and ran towards the city. It was 7:30 when he left and the sun has set with the sky darkened. The police patrol was also relaxed as they were patrolling for the entire day and were tired, soon there will be a change in the shifts which will be his way to take the MCV out. Of course, he didn''t need to do all this if he was to drive a normal car as the patrols will only check the car and some car documents and he can leave. But the biggest problem for him was that he didn''t have a license and the modifications of the MCV were also not normal. At this time he doesn''t want to attract any attention from the police.


    After an hour he reached the warehouse where the MCV is placed. At the gates of the warehouse, Robert was already waiting for him, at this time he looked a bit haggard as if not slept for a whole night.


    "Hello Arther, sorry for the problems caused due to this request of mine. But I have an urgent matter to handle for which I had to leave the city.", Robert spoke with a tired tone.


    "No it''s fine, I am happy that you completed it before the fixed time. I can do the final payment after inspecting the MCV if you don''t mind."


    "Sure, come." with this Robert led Arther inside the warehouse, inside the warehouse many old automobile parts, some tools, machines, wires, and metal parts were scattered on the ground. But the warehouse shelves looked a bit empty with only the things with high rust kept.


    In between the warehouse stood a steel giant with a black shining body.

 Chapter 36 - Modified MCV 2

    Robert has modified the MCV according to Arther''s ideas, but the external design and color were not fixed, so he designed it to look a bit fancy as he has thought this MCV was modified for fun by the person behind Arther.


    The body of the MCV had a shining special red on black color. It had a metallic shine on the body which made it look more futuristic and attractive. All the windows and windshield and rear window were covered with black tint.


    They entered the MCV through the back door, Arther was already fascinated with all the equipment and features installed into the MCV. Robert kept explaining to him all the functions and operations. After finishing the explanation of the first deck, they didn''t go into the driver''s cabin but instead went to the second deck as Arther was more excited about it than any other feature. .


    According to his design, the upper deck was partitioned into two main categories, a bunker, and an indoor farm.


    These will be the main places they will rely on for their survival.


    As they went to the upper deck via stairs the first thing they saw was an open corridor enough for one person to walk at a time, according to what Robert explained. The defense of the upper deck was twice as strong as the lower deck.


    The floor of the upper deck was first laid with an alloy layer, then a heat-insulating material layer, and the floor heater and piping, then a wooden floor. This has reduced the height of the upper deck but it was still enough for an average person to walk. There was a bigger indoor farm room in the center of the deck covering almost 3/4th of the entire area. It was surrounded by a corridor covering the remaining area.


    The floor of the farm was a small artificial ecological system. It has an Aquaponics system along with someplace to rear some hens and quails. It has a fish pond in the bottom with fishes that produce a high amount of nitrogenous waste, above the pond is a place for plants to grow such that their roots are in contact with the water, the roots absorb the nitrogen from the water as nutrients and the fish eat the leaves falling from the plants, the water is also connected to an irrigation system laid above a small patch of fertile soil, this will be used to grow some veggies, while some plants will be grown with the soilless technique above the pond. Above this was a big iron cage for chickens and other things Arther wanna rear. When the plants below grow to a certain height their leaves will become a type of fodder for these birds, Arther is also gonna rear some earthworms into the small soil patch to maintain the fertility of the soil and as fodder. The waste from the birds will fall directly into the pond water or on the plants and will be used as nutrients by the plants and fish. This will create a small ecological balanced system. Noe Arther only needs to maintain it well and keep checking the dirt level in the pond and water irrigation into the soil patch. If used well their family of four can easily survive with the food produced.


    On the walls of the farm were shelves welded to the wall, they can be used to store the seeds, farm tools, and also the products grown. The temperature in the farm can be maintained as it had a separate heating and cooling system with small pipelines for moisture content. It was illuminated with LEDs used in the greenhouse.


    The farm room was surrounded by a corridor, the corridor wall was also the external wall of the MCV, it was covered with thick alloy metal sheets. And there were small patches into the wall for observation. These small windows were Arther''s idea as they can also be used as shooting points when necessary. They provided a view angle of 270 degrees. This was also the angle of shooting. the windows can be used as support for guns as shooting from a moving vehicle was not easy. But this was not explained to Robert, these windows also had shutters to close them, And an emergency door was also built in both front and rear.


    In the rear the area of the corridor was bigger than the sides, it had a rooftop opening glass window, this can be used as a shooting point or bunker with a 360-degree shooting angle. At a time only one person can stand here. While above the driver''s cabin, also there was a bunker build but this had a protective metal in the front, it had an area enough for two people to stand and was also connected to the driver''s cabin with an iron stair on the wall. This can also be used as an entrance to the upper deck.


    After seeing all this they went to the driver''s cabin. The MCV already had an advanced driving system with semi-automatic and automatic driving modes, The driver''s cabin can be considered as the heart of the MCV as it contained the control panel of all the equipment of the MCV. It had a touch screen panel with various options like FM, radio, it can also be connected with a wired source, some charging ports, it also had an option to control the air level of the tires. Electric motor controller, battery status, fuel tank status, and other things important for driving a huge vehicle. The ground clearance of the MCV can also be increased when driving offroad.


    There was also an extra fuel tank installed along with a diesel generator.


    Arther was satisfied with the modifications, but he can''t keep the fancy look of the MCV as it will attract unnecessary attraction which might be harmful to him in the end time, he has decided to make some minor changes in the exterior design to make it look more ordinary. After they completed the tour around the MCV they took a test drive. After that Arther did the final payment but requested Robert to rent the warehouse for some time for which he paid a very small amount of money as Robert was not much interested in this empty warehouse, and he didn''t know when he can return here again or whether he can. Arther also bought some metal nets and bars from Robert from the remaining materials they had.


    After completing all this Robert left with his people and the warehouse was left in silence again. Arther didn''t mind about this, he went to complete his work. He first welded the metal bars and net on the rear glass and the windshield. And the remaining bars and metal sheets were stored in the storage compartment for future use.


    Now he can accept the MCV as his carrier vehicle, thinking about it his palms were already sweating and his breathing also increased.

 Chapter 37 - Returning Home

    Arther has decided to first take the MCV to the place he has decided on, where he can hide it. He can immediately accept the MCV as a carrier vehicle. From the information, he has got from the system he knew that the vehicle will be optimized automatically by the system for the first time to make it stable enough for the system to be installed, and also the vehicle will be connected with the main body, which is Arther himself.


    He didn''t know what type of reaction this process will create but it will not be ordinary hence he can''t take the risk. If the reaction attracts any attention he will not be able to escape from here.


    And he can also use this way to convince his family about everything, after all, tomorrow night he will have to make his move and take them to the mountains.


    After checking on everything he loaded the tools from the warehouse which he had bought from Robert and some metal parts in good conditions. This will be useful when modifying or upgrading the MCV.


    After finishing with all this, he went out to check on the patrols and the road he will be used to take the MCV out. He is going to use the road leading oppositely from the suburbs since if anyhow the patrols try to follow him they will not be able to track his home. He will first leave the city and then travel along the border through the hills to the suburbs.. The way he is going is mostly used by trekkers, and tourist adventurers to go into the mountains hence the patrols will mistake him as a crazy youngster going on a holiday. And they might not waste much of their time on him.


    After confirming the situation he drove the MCV out of the warehouse and locked the warehouse and took the key with him, he knew that this warehouse will never be opened again so while leaving he wrote something on a pillar inside the warehouse as a memorial.


    He has learned driving in his past life and also had the experience of driving a vehicle from an undead mob. Every survivor needed to have these basic skills for survival.


    After that he drove the MCV on the road, the MCV had a special light system with which he can control the intensity of the headlights and the area illuminated by them, for now, he has reduced the area and intensity of the light and turned off all the other lights so that no one will notice him. Behind him left a trail of tire tracks on mud ground in front of warehouse gates.


    On a pillar inside the warehouse, there was written, "Arther was the last person to come here, 7th March 2000."


    Arther has already left the warehouse area far behind. As he kept moving the scenery also kept changing with the height of the buildings increasing which indicated that he was moving nearer to the city center. As he was moving closer to the city center he can hear the patrol car''s sirens, The security in the west from the city center was very tight since the base was being built in the mountains to the west and all the important resources were placed in the major building in the city center till they were shifted into the base.


    Arther hence was going to go there, the took a turn to the right, after driving for an hour he was nearing the city border and space vegetation can be seen with some two-three storied buildings on both sides. The MCV was driven smoothly out of the city without any problem. This was a good thing for Arther but he was a bit worried as he couldn''t take such a big vehicle from the city still when he was so near to the city center. He felt something odd about this but what he can''t understand. He stopped and checked the surrounding for anything wrong, but he didn''t find anything.


    He wanted to return and check out but he didn''t have the time to do so, he didn''t know for how long Nanny can hold on for him. So he returned to the MCV and drove to the suburbs.


    After Arther left a person came out from behind a nearby tree. he was the spy sent by Jaya and he was also the person who helped Arther escape from the city according to Jaya''s order. He has hacked the police headquarters website of the city and the patrol work schedule was changed by him according to how Arther moved.


    Unknown about all this Arther has already reached the periphery of the suburbs, without stopping he drove the MCV to his hiding spot. After locking the MCV properly he left with the keys. The MCV had a fingerprint lock along with keys so no one other than Arther can unlock it unless Arther permits.


    He wanted to load the weapons in the MCV too but he was in a hurry to return home. He didn''t know if Nanny has done her job properly, if his parents were to find that he is not in his room he will surely have a good beating of his life after returning. Hence he decided to do all those things tomorrow as the most important part of his plan needs to be executed tomorrow.


    He ran towards his home as fast as he could while hiding from some villagers spending time outside the houses, it was 9:30 in the evening, at this time the villagers have already had dinner and enjoy some time with neighbors and friends. In normal time everyone is tired after working in the fields for the whole day and hence use this time to relieve the stress. These people mostly contained the old people from the village who were not much interested in TV and mobiles.


    After few minutes he came home, but the atmosphere at his home didn''t seem so calm. His parents were standing at the door.

 Chapter 38 - Getting Caught.

    When Arther reached his home he found his family members already waiting for him at the door. His father was standing at the door with his ready-to-blast at anytime expression, his face was already red with anger. His mother was standing along with his father with a worried expression. Behind them stood Nanny with her head bowed down, and his sister was sitting on a chair on the lawn ready to enjoy the drama that was soon going to happen here.


    ********************


    Back to few hours, when Arther left the house. Nanny returned to the living room. She was feeling very nervous as if what Arther has told her is true she can know about her parent''s conditions. And if everything goes as Arther has planned she can even meet her parents soon. While she was lost in her thoughts, Jessy was observing Nanny and she noticed the faint changes in Nanny''s expression. When Arther acted of not feeling well at that time itself she felt something was not right. And now Nanny''s behavior has made her doubts clear. She wanted to know what was going on between these two guys..


    So she stealthily left from there without anyone knowing and went to Arther''s room. She tried to open the door but it was locked from inside which made her feel more suspicious as according to Arther''s conditions he will not lock the door. She tried to listen for anything from the room but there was nothing. After not finding anything she left, anyways she had many ways to make Arther speak once he gets well or his acting is over. She had a devilish smile on her face as she went down.


    Till she returned to her place no one noticed her actions, not even Nanny. Slowly time went by. When it was 8:00 it was time for dinner, since Arther was not feeling well his mother Abella decided to take the food to his room and also check on his condition. She wanted to call the doctor but at this time it was not possible to find a doctor in the village. And going to the city was not possible.


    When she was about to take the food up, "Aunty, umm, is this for brother Arther?"


    "Yes, he is not feeling well so I am taking this for him you wait at the dining table I will come in a minute.", Abella smiled.


    "I can''t let her go to brother Arther''s room or else she will know everything.", she needed to think about a way to stop her from going up.


    "Aunty wait, how about I take the food to brother Arther, till then you can serve for everyone.", without waiting for Abella to speak Nanny took the plate and ran upstairs. Abella was first surprised to see her acting like this but then didn''t think about it much and went down.


    After seeing Abela leave Nanny heaved a sigh of relief as she took the plates and went to Arther''s room, first she knocked on the door and called for Arther then hid the food plate somewhere.


    When she was done hiding the food and was gonna leave she was caught by Jessy doing all this. After some threats from Jessy, Nanny told her the truth about Arther not being in his room. Jessy went to the backyard to check on his window and there she found the rope from where Arther went out and she told everything to her parents. She didn''t show it to anyone but she was the angriest and worried about Arther. But she didn''t tell their parents about Nanny knowing about this.


    ********************


    Seeing this Arther was already sweating profusely and he wanted to escape from there as soon as possible, he can return when the atmosphere calms down. He slowly turned around and was about to escape when he heard a voice which sounded like a devil.


    "Hey, Arther don''t you think you should stop hiding and come out now.", it was none other than his sister she must have already seen him coming.


    As soon as she spoke his parents also noticed him and his mother was the first to come to him, she pulled him into the house with his ears. Along the way, he had no other choice than to remain silent as if he tried to make any scene outside the house the villagers will soon gather to see the drama. And then he might lose all his chance to escape from beatings.


    After everyone entered the house the doors were closed and the surrounding was again left with silence. But the same was not true inside, Arther was pulled by his mother into the living room, and his father was ready to attack at any time. His sister was happily standing in a corner watching the show. Nanny was already having tears welling up in her eyes while she looked at Arther with apologizing eyes.


    "You better have a valid reason ready to explain everything or else you know what is gonna happen with you.", his father was the first to break the silence as he spoke while pointing at Arther''s buttocks.


    Arther knew very well what his father was pointing about. And he was not interested in having red roses on his butt. When he was about to explain everything to them, Nanny spoke.


    "Uncle Aunty, Arther went there on my request. He went there to get some news about my parents.", she had her head bowed even lower to avoid looking at them while speaking. Seeing this Arther felt a bit touched but of a headache as this will make it difficult for him to explain everything to them.


    "You little girl, you don''t need to try protecting him we know him very well. He is lazy enough not to do his work so doing something for others is not a question at all.", the devil standing in the corner spoke again as she grinned at Arther while hugging Nanny as she whispered something into her ears. Looking at her she seemed determined to see getting Arther beaten.


    After hearing what Jessy whispered Nanny looked at Arther while she bit her lower lips. Jessy told her only one line, "Enjoy the scene". She knew Jessy wanted her to keep quiet. But to her surprise, Arther also signed her to keep quiet.

 Chapter 39 - Convincing Family

    7th March, 10:00 night.


    Arther was lying on the sofa in the living room clutching his butt. He has not yet explained to anyone about the truth as if he now tried to do so they won''t believe him. So had no other option than to surrender. He has decided to wait till late midnight before taking them to see the MCV, he could have taken them now but this will surely attract the attention of the villagers.


    He was lucky enough that his father didn''t go violent considering Nanny being there. At this time everyone was sitting at the dining table, the atmosphere was a bit silent.


    Arther has asked them to wait for some time till he is ready, and then he will lead them to see something which will explain everything to them. In the beginning, no one was ready to listen to him, and he got the beating until he showed his account balance of 2.5 million did his parent accepted to listen to him. But instead of being happy seeing the money, they were already having many ideas in their mind about how he received this money. His father even went up to selling drugs and asked Arther if he was involved in something such..


    Arther just ignored their queries as if he tried to explain everything no one will believe him so he just told them he has won a lottery.


    After two hours, the sound of villagers outside also went off, the surroundings were completely silent as everyone must have already slept. This was the time Arther was waiting for. He slowly stood up and went to the door to observe, after checking the surroundings he went to the kitchen,


    "OK, every one it''s time. Let''s go."


    "I hope you are not into something wrong, and why do we need to wait till now.", his sister was the one to question.


    "I can''t explain you anything now until you see some things."


    He tried to convince everyone but no one was believing him. But they also had no other choice.


    After few minutes Arther led them into the forest through the village, on the way to his hiding place. The forest was quiet with slow winds blowing with the sound of crickets and rustling of trees. Arther has come from this path many times so he was not having much difficulty leading.


    After walking for few minutes they were able to hear the sound of the waterfall, and the air was also a bit humid.


    "Wow, Arther were you making a hiding place? if yes it sure is a good location.",


    Arther ignored Jessy''s bickering while he observed for any changes in the place, after not finding anything he came in front of a bush of vines, he cleared the vines revealing the MCV, in the moonlight, it was shining with a black luster like a sleeping beast. After that, he gestured everyone to come. Everyone was already shocked to see such a thing hidden here, most importantly Arther''s father.


    "Woah man, you surely are my son."


    His father ran to the MCV and touched every part of it, he seemed to have fallen in love with the feeling.


    "Umm dad this is not the only thing I wanna show.", Arther took out the keys and unlocked the door. Under everyone''s surprised eyes he led them inside.


    At the same time, on a tree near them stood the person Jaya has sent, he wanted to observe the inside of the vehicle too but the security of the vehicle was very high and he was not able to enter.


    Inside the MCV, Arther''s parents were more and more surprised by every single thing in the MCV. Seeing this Arther had a proud feeling in his heart as this will be their future home and he was worried about them disliking something. While everyone was sightseeing Nanny was standing beside Arther with her head bowed down.


    "You don''t need to apologize to me, as this was also what I had planned anyway I had to tell them the truth. So thank you for helping me.", Arther smiled at Nanny and went to the driver''s cabin to call everyone in the living room in the MCV, he has installed a camera, microphone, and speaker in all the important places in the MCV so he can connect anywhere inside through them.


    Hearing the announcement everyone suppressed their excitement and gathered in the living room. After some time Arther also came there from the cabin. Before he could speak anything a big hand fell on his shoulder,


    "My little Arther, I am so happy that you gifted such a vehicle to your father.", Arther rolled his seeing his father shamelessly acting.


    "This is not for you alone dad. It will be our home in the future.", Arther said while looking at everyone. Everyone was silent for some time before they started laughing.


    "Arther looks like you have lost your mind, hahaha.", his sister was already lying on the floor laughing.


    "Umm, I am serious, and trust me you guys won''t wanna stay here after knowing the truth."


    Seeing his serious expression everyone tried to control their laughter, "So you are saying something is ganna happen which will make us leave our home and only you know about this and not even the city government and police??", his mother was the one to speak this time with a mocking tone.


    Seeing their reaction Arther knew it was not working this way so he had to change the way of convincing them, he ignored their mocking and went to his room to get a shovel from the storage compartment, he returned to the living room with a survival kit shovel.


    "I know how to make you guys, believe me, come with me."


    After saying this he left with the shovel, Nanny watched his back and at Arther''s parents then she bit her lips and followed him. Seeing them leaving others also followed.


    Arther led them to a big tree near the MCV, it had a small marking which Arther has left behind last time. After reaching there he started digging at the tree roots. Everyone gathered around him to watch him. Slowly a black bag was revealed from the soil. After digging for few seconds Arther was already out of breath, his whole body was wet with sweat, after failing to take it out he asked his father for help.


    His father sighed at his son but still went down to help. As soon as he touched the bag he had cold sweat flowing on his forehead. He slowly looked at Arther who was busy pulling the bag.


    "Arther, you better tell me this is not what I am thinking. Or else we are in grave danger.", seeing Arther ignoring him he had the impulse to beat the shit out of rather but he controlled it and they together pulled the bag out. But his father didn''t let anyone touch the bag as he took it in an open space in front of the MCV.


    "Umm, dad you don''t need to be so cautious, and let''s go inside the MCV. Here it''s not safe."

 Chapter 40 - Selecting The MCV As Carrier Vehicle.

    "HAH!, you brat has already given me enough headache and you still have the guts to talk.", his father was not in the mood to listen to him.


    Seeing this Arther snatched the bag from his father and ran inside the MCV. Seeing this his father was already scolding him while following him. Others present didn''t know what was in the bag to make Arther''s father act like that. So sighed and followed them. Inside the MCV, Arther places the bag on the table in the living room. He waited for a few seconds for everyone to gather, after everyone was inside and the door was closed he opened the bag. It was filled with all the weapons he had bought in the black market.


    He removed each one of the weapons from the bag and arranged them on the table. Seeing this his father was surprised as the way Arther handled the weapons showed that he had used them much time, being an ex-military man he can observe such things easily. So he was thinking about how and when Arther came in contact with these weapons. But others were not thinking the same way as him.. Nanny was already shaking with fear as she saw those big guns, his sister Jessy was also having sweaty palms seeing this many guns and ammunitions but not due to fear, her eyes contained a questioning look at Arther and a bit of excitement. Abella was not faring much better than Nanny but being an ex-military man''s wife she has seen a gun, but it was very small and harmless in comparison to what she was seeing now.


    "So everyone, I hope now you can consider whatever I am gonna tell a little seriously, I will try to explain as much as I can and I hope to listen carefully.", with this Arther started explaining to them everything from the start he didn''t tell them about his rebirth but lied it as a dream. He told them that he saw the dream about the future and everything is going as he saw, he also won the lottery worth rupees 23 million, and about the government bases, so on. It took him an hour to tell the entire thing and half an hour for everyone to digest the information.


    "If whatever you said is true then why don''t you go to the government and tell them the truth, maybe they will accept us all into the base?", his sister asked with some uncertainty.


    "Do you think I haven''t thought of this, but this idea has many loopholes, firstly how did I know all this. Secondly, will our safety be guaranteed inside there or will we be used and throw away, and even if we manage to get a place inside the base in city F, we will not be able to survive for a long time as the entire city F will be rased by an undead horde. No one will believe me even if I warn them now, so it''s best we think about our own survival."


    After Arther his own view and consideration he waited for them to digest all the information he has told them and also accept the way he has chosen.


    After waiting for few minutes his father spoke, "Even if we choose this path, when can we survive alone without the military support? if those things you are talking about can rase a whole city then how are we gonna face them, this MCV of yours can''t hold for long without the fuel."


    "You don''t need to worry about that I have my own considerations to do this, you guys go take some rest in the room of your choice and try getting familiar with the MCV, in the future this will be our home. I know you all must be having many questions, for now, wait for some time and you will get all the answers to your questions."


    Arther watched as his family members left the living room, they went to their rooms. No one was excited as before, they were left thinking about what Arther has told, it was difficult to accept all this, and even more difficult it was to accept Arther''s pans.


    His parents have selected the double bedroom, inside the room, "What do you think about all this?", Abella looked at her husband who was lying on the bed lost in thoughts. She was not much convinced by Arther but she had no other choice than to wait for Arther to prove himself.


    "I don''t know, our son seems to have hidden many things from us.", Jack, Arther''s father shook his head as he sighed a long sigh. He knew better than anyone what those guns and ammunitions means, and the power of the government in the city. If even that can''t fight against those things then how was he going to keep his family safe and for how long. He also wanted all this to be fake. But from inside his mind was having the suspicion about everything happening around the world.


    Arther''s sister shared a room with Nanny they were left with the bunker bedroom, Nanny selects one of the lower beds while Jessy selected the upper bed. They were lying on their bed while chatting, "Hey Nanny did you know about all this from the beginning? why?", Jessy poked her head out of the bed to look down at Nanny. She had a wide grin on her face, and her sharp eyes observed Nanny. Feeling this Nanny didn''t look at her,


    "Sister Jessy, umm, I didn''t know anything about this, big brother Arther has hidden everything very well.", after speaking with a silent voice she spoke out about everything, how she saw Arther going out and why she kept it secret for him.


    Hearing this Jessy stared at Nanny for few seconds before lying back in her bed, she was lost in her own thoughts about what might happen in the future according to Arther. She was a little worried and also excited about everything, if everything happens as Arther has told then they will surely have an adventurous life.


    Nanny was also ost in her own thoughts, she was even more worried about her parents after knowing this from Arther, she was also having a feeling of being played on by Arther as he didn''t mention anything about her parents till now. She was also having a conflicted feeling about why Arther had such a big secret of his with her, she was no more than a neighbour for them.


    The topic of everyone''s discussion was now sitting in the driver''s cabin acting like a crazy person, he touched every single thing in the cabin from the dashboard to the steering wheel. He seemed to enjoy the feeling of touch, he had a madman smile on his face, whenever he touched the MCV, the section option popped out showing that he can select the MCV as his carrier vehicle at any time.

 Chapter 41 - Carrier Vehicle

    After confirming that he can select the MCV as his carrier vehicle he was already drowned with ecstasy. He tried to calm down and put on the seat belt, he wanted to drive the MCV a bit deeper inside the mountains, as soon as the vehicle was started everyone inside felt the jerk of moving forward and they ran to the window to see the scenery changing as they moved faster. They were surprised by the speed of the MCV and Arther''s driving skills.


    "When did Arther learn to drive?", Abella looked at the passing trees and how closely they missed the MCV, even in such a terrain the speed of the MCV didn''t slow down.


    "This brat has hidden many surprises for us.", Jack sighed as he went back to the bed.


    After driving for few minutes they reached into a deeper part of the forest, the trees were big and created a canopy to cover the sky, there was complete silence in the surrounding. Arther has selected this place to complete the process of selection, just thinking about it made him excited.


    With a wide grin, he pressed the button for the mic and announced for everyone to stay calm and seated with seat belts on, something big is gonna happen soon. With that, he turned off the mic and speaker in the driver''s cabin along with all the outgoing signals, and the radio was also completed turned off. He didn''t want to take any risk regarding this..


    These measures from Arther were surely useful as the radio transmitter in the MCV was hacked by the spy when they went to dig the weapons out, though he was not able to hack the camera he was able to enter the mic and speaker system thus able to hear everything. With the radio and other signals being cut he was also disconnected from the MCV. Now he had no other choice than to hide and see what was going to happen.


    Inside the MCV, everyone was looking forward to what Arther was going to do.


    Arther slowly placed his hands on the dashboard, soon the system panel came in front of him,


    [A vessel is found to be in contact.


    Scanning the vessel


    Name:- N/A


    Level: -10


    Required to be added as a system vessel for further scanning and information.


    New options will be unlocked when added as carrier vessel.]


    [Select the vessel


    Yes/No.]


    Arther has seen this screen many times and knew what he had to do, he used his mind to select Yes on the screen. With this, the screen blinked a few times before disappearing.


    [Permission received.


    Process initiating.


    Initiating the connection between the Main body and carrier vehicle.


    System transfer is initiated.


    Time remaining to complete the process, 23:59:20]


    Many notifications popped out in a series as soon as Arther selected Yes. Slowly the place his left hand was in contact with the MCV started getting hot. H had the sensation of being burned but there was no change in that MCV, in the beginning, the pain was under his tolerance limits, but soon the sensation kept increasing and the pain became intolerable. He lost his ability to think properly with the increasing pain, he tried to pull his hand back but an unknown force kept it stuck there, and with the seat belt he was not able to do much. Slowly he lost consciousness and slumped on the seat.


    After some time he regained his consciousness, when he woke up he had a feeling of being lighter and stronger, the mind was free of thoughts and felt very refreshing. He observed his surroundings and was shocked by what he was seeing. His vision was not like anything he had, he was able to see everything inside the MCV from a small circuit wire to the people staying inside. He didn''t have to open any door and can easily enter, he can hear every single sound produced inside the MCV, but when he tried to see out of the window he only saw darkness and nothing else. This puzzled him but he didn''t dwell much on it.


    He tried to focus on his parent''s room and he entered it,


    "What do you think Arther is taking so long for, why can''t he just speak everything out at once.", his father was sitting on the bed talking to his mother, his voice contained the feeling of worry and anger.


    "You surely are a fool, when he was telling us everything you scolded him, even though they don''t know I know how much you care for them.", his mother sat beside his father and hugged his hand as they both were mesmerized into the feeling of each other.


    Unknown to them a certain someone was observing them,


    Arther didn''t want to disturb them so he left from there, he then went to his sister''s room. He first didn''t want to secretly spy on the girls but then he remembered what his sister had done at home. He wanted revenge, with this thought he had a wide grin on his face as he entered the room.


    Inside the room, Nanny was covering her ears with a pillow while Jessy was sitting on her shouting about something with her usual mischievous face. Though Nanny was also of the same nature with all the incidents she was facing her happy girl feeling has lost a bit.


    "Ah, how long are you gonna hide, come on tell me the truth.", Jessy was shouting like crazy when being ignored by Nanny.


    "I am giving you last chance if you don''t tell me the truth I will ask mom and dad to stop Arther from helping you, and I have many ways to make that brat stay obedient, so you better speak it out.", with that she observed Nanny who remained motionless, but her hands over the pillow shook a bit.


    Seeing this Jessy had a wider grin as she jumped out of the bed and moved towards the door, "Your time is up Nanny."


    When she was about to open the door, Nanny jumped up like a cat whose tail was stepped upon. She looked at Jessy with teary eyes, "Wait! I will tell you, but promise me you will keep it a secret.",


    "I knew you can''t hold on for long, hahaha, now you know who is the boss here. I have the secrets of many people kept safely so you don''t have to worry about yours.", Jessy jumped up with her fists in the air, she ran to the bed again and sat there to hear whatever Nanny was going to tell.


    Arther was observing all of this, seeing Nanny he felt very sorry for her to share a room with such a devil. He sighed and was about to leave since he was not interested to hear anyone''s secrets. But was jolted back by the words his sister spoke.


    "I heard you speaking about Arther in your sleep. So don''t try to fool me, anyways I will come to know about the truth sooner or later and at that time you will regret it."


    Hearing that the secret had something to do with him he was a bit interested anyways no one will know about it.


    Nanny wanted to lie about something else but was also frightened by Jessy, she has already experienced it "When my mother left a few days ago she was having a worried expression. The way she looked at me while leaving was not something she has ever looked at me, her eyes were filled with tears, few days before dad''s accident I heard her talking to dad on mobile, they were quarreling over something, this was the first time I saw her quarreling in such a way with dad. I didn''t give much thought to all these things until she left, and I had no time to ask her about it. When she left I had the feeling that I will never meet them again.", when she spoke of this her tears started flowing and she was not able to control her emotion anymore, seeing Jessy was also moved and she hugged Nanny until she stopped crying.


    After few minutes Nanny calmed down, "You surely have gone through much, you don''t have to worry about those things, you will always be a part of our family." Jessy tried to comfort her for few minutes. When Nanny calmed down, Jessy looked at her then she smiled a bit and whispered in her ears, "What about the secret?",


    A shiver ran down Nanny''s spine, she looked at Jessy with tears welling up in her eyes, she didn''t know whether she should cry about her parents or for sharing a room with this devil.


    Arther shook his head with a sigh, he knew very well how bad Jessy is in comforting others.

 Chapter 42 - Nannys Secret

    Nanny wanted to run away from there but she knew she can''t escape from Jessy until she told her the truth.


    "You don''t need to be shy, you can share everything with me.", Jessy tried to give the last push.


    A few minutes ago she was not able to sleep as she was not used to sleeping on this bed, so she went down to have a walk when she went down and was about to leave the room, she heard Nanny sleep talking something. She went a bit near and heard her saying something about Arther, in the beginning, Nanny was sweating profusely with her eyebrows knitted tightly, he whole body was shivering with fear, seeing this Jessy tried to wake her up, but to her surprise Nanny calmed down and her face showed a long lost smile, she whispered ''Arther'' before sleeping soundly.


    All this piqued Jessy''s interest and anyways she was not feeling sleepy so she woke Nanny up, and tried to find about it from Nanny in various ways, she asked her about the dream, her worries. But Nanny denied everything, seeing Jessy started questioning her direct leading Nanny to hide from her. And later to the scene from before.


    At present time, Nanny was sitting on her bed hugging a pillow as she looked at Jessy with a pitiful expression, she hoped Jessy let her leave. But this was all her wishes as Jessy was not gonna let her escape so easily. Jessy was drinking water while she waited for Nanny to speak..


    Seeing that Jessy was not moved at all, she rested her chin on the pillow as she took a deep breath, "I..."


    Stuttered while speaking, "I...I like brother Arther.", she, at last, spoke out as she closed her eyes tightly shut. Hearing this Jessy choked on the water as she sprayed the water all over the bed, she sneezed and coughed for a while.


    After calming for a while Jessy looked at Nanny with wide eyes.


    Nanny slowly opened her eyes as she looked at the surprised Jessy, she was feeling so shy that she wanted to dig a hole in the ground and hide inside, she took the blanket and hid inside.


    "You promised me to keep it a secret.", she reminded Jessy and then acted of sleeping.


    She didn''t want to any more questions or else she will never be able to escape from her.


    Jessy remained stunned for a few seconds to understand what she heard when she regained her calm she looked at Nanny who was acting of sleeping, "You, tell me the complete truth, stop acting Nanny I know you are awake. I will tell this to Arther if you don''t tell me everything.", she threatened Nanny while pulling her blanket but this time Nanny didn''t respond at all.


    After trying to no avail Jessy gave up, "Let''s see for how long you can hide from me", that she went to her bed and slept.


    Arther was not so calm though, this was the first time he knew of someone having a crush on him and that too a small girl and his neighbor. Though Nanny was a nice girl, she was still very small to think about all this, but Arther didn''t have the courage to speak about this to Nanny, and he also can''t tell them about him peeking into their room. Or else his sister will surely kill him.


    So he decided to act like he didn''t know anything, he had much more important things to take care of, he also had to check the other changes into the MCV.


    After returning to the driver''s cabin he was able to see his own body lying on the driver''s seat, the left hand was still connected to the MCV, he needed to find a way to enter his body as this feeling of being outside the body was not so good. He tried to feel the body but to no avail. Except for the left hand touching the MCV, he was not able to feel any other part of the body. He tried to move near the left hand but a certain force was keeping him away.


    After trying to find it anyway, he failed. Then he had an idea and thought of leaving this state and sure enough, he felt a sucking force from the left hand, he lost consciousness for a few seconds and when he regained it he was already inside his own body.


    He has also found out from this that he doesn''t need to use any control panel and can directly command the system from this mind.


    He looked at the small timer blinking in the corner of his eye, it showed 22:03:10. Which showed the time left until the MCV was completely converted into his carrier vehicle, at this time along with the timer many minute changes were happening into the MCV. No one noticed this as they were very minute and everyone was sleeping soundly. But Arther was able to observe these changes easily.


    Firstly, all the wires in the circuits inside the MCV, started to change they melted down slowly and the circuits were also placed in some orders, and the worse was reduced to optimum condition, these arrangements considered the heating and cooling of circuits, the safety and also reduced the complexity produced by the wires. With this change, Arther also received information about all these circuits and their use.


    Secondly, all the parts and places in the MCV that are welded together were melted and looked like a single body, in the entire MCV there was not a single welded surface. The exterior of the MCV was also smoothened out. With this change, a small number of materials were stored in the storage.


    Everything in the MCV was optimized, the pipes were also converted into a single long pipe with bends and turns, the wheels were filled with air, all the dust and oil was excreted from the MCV, even the wheels looked anew. All the scratch marks were removed, the engines were modified a bit and the materials extracted before were used.


    With time many changes were taking place in the MCV. Arther was also looking forward to the final completed product. After checking on everything he went to his room to have some rest as from tomorrow he will not have time to rest properly.


    Under the moonlight, between the dark forest filled with complete silence, stood a BUS, which was shaking with a very low vibration all over the surface which can''t be observed by naked eyes. Slowly some dust and paint were being removed from the surface along with oil and tar. It felt like a beast was coming to life with each passing second.

 Chapter 43 - Training

    8th March, morning 7:00.


    Due to her biological clock Abella woke up, every day she had the habit of waking up early in the morning to start doing her house chores, but today she was not feeling, as usual, she opened her half sleepy eyes to see at the clock hung on the wall but to her surprise, it was not there, she rubbed her eyes and observed again to find that the entire wall changes, she found the surrounding a bit different than her bedroom. She immediately lost her sleepiness, she looked at her surroundings again, her movements also awakened Jack, he was confused by her actions as he calmed her down. After calming down she remembered everything that happened yesterday.


    In Arther''s room, on the double bed above the storage, Arther was cuddling with a pillow his eyebrows knitted tightly as if he was having some nightmares, his whole body was wet with sweat. He suddenly woke up with eyes widely opened, his pupils contracted to the extreme due to fear. He tried to take deep breaths to calm down his heartbeats, after calming down he went down to the washroom, he was still a bit sleepy as he took a bath and went to the kitchen for breakfast. Everything was very natural for him as if he was living here for a long time, this was due to his connection with the MCV.


    In the kitchen, his mother was trying to figure out everything as the equipment was a bit advanced than what she used at home. Seeing this Arther went to help her. He can be said to be a living user guide of the MCV, his mother was a bit surprised by this as much as she knew of Arther he has never been in the kitchen so knowing anything about cooking was already a big thing for him than to know about all this advanced kitchen equipment. She had many questions but she remained silent and started cooking breakfast as soon everyone will be waking up, she can ask her question to Arther at any time..


    Arther waited for her to complete her works while he was thinking about the dreams he saw today, he was not able to remember the dream properly, everything he remembered was blurred as if an erased from his mind. He didn''t have time to keep thinking about it for a long time as his father also came to the kitchen and soon later Jessy and Nanny also came.


    When Jessy came she looked at Arther for a few seconds before looking at Nanny, while Nanny was silent all the time not daring to have a look at Jessy. But she stole a few peeks at Arther from the corners of her eyes. Arther had noticed all of this but he decided to ignore it, he was not ready to face all these things at least for now. For him, Nanny was a very small girl, even though he was currently 16+, according to his previous life he can be already considered as 21.


    Soon the breakfast was ready, it was an ordinary bread omelet. Everyone took their plates and went to the living room. To provide as much a place for the kitchen and separate food storage, there was no dining table as it was not a necessary thing. They soon had their breakfast, after putting the plates back in the kitchen everyone gathered in the living room again, Arther was sitting on a sofa chair while everyone surrounded him.


    Everyone was waiting for him to speak but Arther remained silent as he ignored them, after some time Jack was the first to lose his patience, "Brat, are you gonna tell us anything or do you need some red roses.", his father was like a tiger ready to pounce at any time.


    Seeing this Arther smiled at them as he jumped up from the chair. "Everyone, I did had few plans for today, but due to some reasons, we will have to wait for tomorrow, believe me, I can''t explain to you the reasons so today whole day I will explain to you all the equipment and their use of the MCV, since this will become our base, in the end, we need to be completely familiar with it, I know you guys still don''t believe in me so you can think of this as camping of our family. Also, I will soon allocate everyone with some tasks that I want you guys to practice well to perform in any conditions. Hope you take this seriously."


    Arther even though being connected to the MCV can''t always divert his attention in all the tasks inside the MCV when in some situations like war. He needed a system of people whom he can trust and they can work together properly. And his family was the best suited for this. If in the end times, it could have been easy for him to allocate the tasks according to their abilities or bloodlines, but now he had to temporarily allocate some tasks, he can change it later. He can''t explain all these things to them for now as they will take him as a fool.


    Soon the training began. The first thing was to take a tour around the entire MCV, the greenhouse was always locked and can only be opened by Arther''s iris and fingerprint. I had a good quality of security, so yesterday no one was able to visit here, so Arther first took them here as this will be the most important part of the MCV and everyone needs to know about it. Their tasks, for now, will also be allocated around this. Seeing the security and the inside of the greenhouse everyone looked at Arther like a fool. They thought he might be hiding something good inside instead of a water pool, hens cages, and a soil patch.


    "Food will become the most important thing in the future, it will replace the gold and currency so you can consider this place as a private gold mine of our family. And I want everyone to note down everything I talk about it. All equipment and tools here are very costly and of high quality. The entire greenhouse is also the most advanced technological part of the MCV."


    Among everyone present, only Abella was interested in this greenhouse, everyone else was a bit disappointed. If Nanny''s mother was here she could have known the real value of this place as she has known many ways of indoor farming and knew its importance and difficulties very well.


    Seeing everyone''s expression Arther had a wry smile on his face as in just 3-4 days these people will know the true value of this place, till then let them have some fun.


    "The greenhouse has everything ready but it needs to be filled with all the products, I want mom and Nanny to visit the nearby farms and poultries to buy some hens, quails, and some fish I have listed already. You can find those fish from the uncle in our village owning the pond and try buying both males and females as we will need them in the future. I have also listed down some more things like fertilizers, fish food, fertile soil bags, and a variety of seeds. I have transferred the money to Mom''s account you can pay directly and place everything in our home. No one should know about this place."


    After sending his mom and Nanny away, he led others to explain other things, the other jobs were the defense arrangements and co-driver.


    His sister though a great adventurer and fighter in the past life she still require training for now so he asked his father to teach her how to use the guns, in the end times she can practice shooting till then he also thought both his father and sister about some basic operation of driving the MCV and the two bunkers in the upper deck and the gun grooves. They had to know the exact range of each gun and its ammunition counts, and many other technical things which even Arther didn''t know, his father was a well-trained soldier so he taught them all of this. Before using guns was Arther''s instinct now he can improve his skills a bit more.

 Chapter 44 - A Long Wait

    8th March, 10:00 morning


    After allocating everyone with their tasks Arther decided to rest for some time in his room, so he handed over the remaining task to his father and went to his room. His room had a dark brown wood flooring, with ceiling LED lights bordering the ceiling, the storage compartment wall had a wardrobe as a camouflage, inside the wardrobe on the left side is the door for the storage compartment, where Arther had previously kept most of the things like some tools and metal parts. As soon as he entered the storage compartment he was shocked as it was bright without any light source. Arther has installed a LED bulb inside but now it was not lit. All the tool and metal parts he had placed inside were half molten, only half of whatever metals and tools he had stored was left inside, and that too in the form of a solid metal lump of an unknown metal.


    This was the place from where the MCV had been absorbing the metals for optimization and was storing the removed materials, after checking on the storage room he went out and closed the door, for now, no one can be allowed inside. After that, he sat on his chair and released a long breath with all the pent-up stress, after remaining silent for few seconds he checked on the timer of the system, it showed 12:30:40, half a day remaining to complete the optimization. Along with every second passed, Arther was receiving various information from the system, he knew that the reason for this delay was due to the absence of energy sources, and some advanced facilities.. He can get these advanced facilities in the MCV when the upgrade conditions are met. Arther was also looking forward to that time, at that time he might be the person on earth with the most advanced technology.


    While he had a great potential to grow for now he needed to sort out some things, he has decided to use his home as a loading point for the MCV, he can''t directly ask anyone to load the goods in the MCV so he had decided to drop all the goods he is gonna purchase at home and from there they can load everything in the MCV. He also had to consult with his parents about this. They can also ask a few villagers for help if required.


    He also took out the maps he had prepared previously marked with some important places in the city, most of the shops and supermarkets in the city are closed for these few days, and Arther can make use of this opportunity to loot these stores. As on few days after the apocalypse, many people will try to leave their hiding places and find some food, at that time these places will become the prime attraction of everyone.


    From the information he has received from the system he can modify the MCV in any possible way he can think of, he can even directly ask the system to modify the MCV into a StarWars spaceship, but everything will require the same amount and quality of raw materials. So he also had to collect some basic raw materials like metals, rubber, glass, etc. he first wanted to increase the storage capacity of the MCV so that he can store all the looted goods. He was making a basic model of how he should upgrade the MCV in his mind.


    While he was lost in his thoughts, there was a knock on his door, "brother Arther, we are back, aunty had called you.", it was Nanny, they seemed to have returned from the shopping.


    He checked on the time, it was 12:00 noon already. Seeing this he was surprised for how long he was lost in his thoughts. But he didn''t find anything odd and soon forgot about it. He went out to find everyone gathered in the living room.


    His mother was sitting on the sofa waiting for him, seeing Arther coming everyone had their attention on him. He went to the chair and sat down,


    His mom took out some bills from her purse and handed them to Arther, "I have bought everything you have asked for but I don''t know why you are doing all this, even if according to what you say, the government is preparing for it we can still go and meet them, for how long do you think you can keep everyone here safe?", his mother looked towards him and asked with the most comforting tone, she didn''t want her son to feel bad about them not trusting him, but she also can''t depend on a small boy for the survival if required of the entire family.


    Everyone present also looked at Arther with the same thoughts, seeing Arther sighed with a wry smile, "You guys don''t know their true face yet, hence you believe so much in them. I can''t do anything about it for now but I have away. Wait till 10:00 night, and you will know what to do.", after saying this he left them alone as giving any explanation now will of no use.


    His parents exchanged looks with each other and also eft for their room. They have decided to wait and see what trump card Arther had.


    Time went by slowly, everyone was waiting for Arther to come out of his room, while Arther was having his attention on the system timer for the whole time. He was not much worried about his family, what he was waiting for was the completed version of the system based on which he can start improving his plans, he had to be precise about every action he was going to take. He has already attached their future with the system if now anything goes wrong he will be done for it.


    At 9:30 his mother called everyone for dinner. The atmosphere around the living room while dining was very silent. Everyone was having their attention to Arther to see if he will say anything. While Arther was paying his attention to the blinking spot in the corner of his eye.


    After everyone finished their dinner, his mother and Nanny were busy washing the dishes and Jessy was cleaning the living room, while his father was polishing a hand pistol he has picked up from the weapons Arther bought.


    Arther was resting on the sofa closing his eyes when the clock ticked at 10:00 he stood up hurriedly with a wide smile on his face.

 Chapter 45 - Authors Request.

    Hello everyone,


    I hope everyone is enjoying the story. This is my first Novel so please do support me, I know there are many mistakes in the writing which I am trying to correct. Along with your support, I can improve.


    I just request you to give your reviews on the Novel however you think about it. This will help me with further development. I would appreciate your responses either good or bad..


    Thank you.

 Chapter 46 - Process Completion

    [Establishing connection between Main body and Carrier Vessel completed.


    System transfer completed.


    System reboot started.]


    [Scanning the carrier vessel


    Scan completed]


    Soon a new screen appeared in front of Arther, it had the entire information of the MCV with a 3D picture in the right corner. Arther can rotate the views of the picture and can zoom in zoom out, or can select a certain part of the MCV to be displayed with a single command in his mind. The screen showed every minute detail of the MCV, from the air pressure in the tires, damage rates of all the parts, temperature, air purity, water level, water purity, fuel level, battery level, etc. He can now know everything about the MCV from anywhere.


    [System reboot completed


    Energy core connected to the carrier vessel..


    Energy Source charging.


    Current Energy level: 0.00005


    Charging: 0.000001/hr.


    Current Charging source: Solar energy, hydrocarbon fuel.]


    As soon as these notifications popped out, Arther felt a warm feeling in his chest on the left side. This was the place where the energy source was placed. He didn''t know how, he just received the information along with all the other information.


    Soon however the warm feeling changed into a painful burning sensation, in the beginning, he was able to tolerate it but soon it went out of tolerance level, he hurriedly took his shirt off, to observe what was wrong.


    While all this happened in a matter of seconds, his family also gathered around him, first, they were surprised when Arther jumped off the chair, and then he stood there with an expression like he was enjoying something and now he was crying in pain holding his chest. When his father was going thinking of taking him to the hospital, "Dad wait, look at this.", everyone looked at where Jessy was pointing out, on the left side of Arther''s chest a tattoo was being formed automatically, it was first burning red, then it slowly changes into red, blue, green, yellow, and at the end into a metallic grey as if made of metal. The tattoo looked like a top view of a tornado or a black hole. It took a few minutes for the entire tattoo to turn metallic. As soon as the tattoo was completed Arther was relieved of the pain. He slowly stood up with the help of his father, he checked on his chest to see the tattoo. While he was thinking about it some notifications rang out from the system.


    [Dimensional Mark established.


    The host can store the carrier vessel inside the Main body via this mark at any time from a certain distance.


    Anything except a living thing can be stored inside for now.


    With the increase in the carrier vehicle level, the new options will be unlocked.


    Command of both the vessels handed over to the host.]


    Seeing all this Arther knew that now he has truly obtained the system, he wanted to check on all the new things added to the system as soon as possible but before that, he had to explain these things to his family, he tried to calm himself down before speaking, "No need to be worried about me, this was the thing I have been waiting for till now, I had dreamed about many things and superpowers and abilities were one of them, in my dream I had seen many people with such things, previously I didn''t tell you as I knew you will not believe me, but now I have one myself which is enough as a proof. And this is also the thing we can rely on for our survival."


    "Do you mean that tattoo thing on your chest is what you call abilities?", Jessy looked at him with a suspicious look. She didn''t believe all this nonsense.


    "I know you don''t believe me so I wanna show you something.", he went to the kitchen and took a steel fork from the cabinet.


    In the living room, he placed the fork on the table and asked everyone to check it out, after everyone was done examining the fork he placed the fork near the wall, and under everyone''s attention the fork slowly melted into the wall, this time everyone had their eyes wide open, the place went pin-drop silent. Arther enjoyed these looks from his family, especially his sister.


    Seeing that no one is in the condition to speak, "Ok, no need to think much as in the future you will see many such things get used to it, I need some time to sort out my abilities, goodnight."


    Arther left for the driver''s cabin after leaving this statement behind. After Arther left his father stood up and pulled Abella with him into their room. No one knew what he was thinking, only Jessy and Nanny were left in the living room. Jessy also slowly stood up and went to touch the place where Arther has melted the fork, it was no different than other places on the wall. "How can he do that?", she tried to think of a valid reason behind this but after not finding any she turned to Nanny,


    "Nanny, what do you think?", she looked at Nanny with a confused expression.


    "I don''t know sister Jessy.", she hurriedly shook her head.


    "Yeah how would you know, lets go, I will have to teach that brat a lesson tomorrow.", she left the living room with her signature devil''s smile. Nanny also followed her, "Brother Arther is awesome.", she murmured while walking.


    "I heard it, I will first have to teach you a lesson I guess.", Jessy smiled even wider when she heard Nanny. Hearing her cold voice a shiver went down Nanny''s spine. From the day Jessy knew about her secret she had to listen to everything Jessy asked her to do. Now she regrets telling her the truth. But there is no medicine for regret.


    At this time Arther was sitting in the driver''s seat. He had a wide smile hung on his face all the time as he was over-excited about this. He closed his eyes and called for the system interface.

 Chapter 47 - Complete System.

    A blue light screen appeared in front of him,


    [Main vessel.


    Carrier vessel.]


    The Main vessel means his own body, while the carrier vessel was the MCV. He didn''t think there will be any big changes inside his body except the tattoo, so he directly selected the carrier vessel option. As soon as he selected the option the screen blink twice before changing,


    [Status.


    Modification.]


    There were two visible options of which status means all the information of the MCV, while Modification had many sub-options like repair, cleaning, and level upgrades.


    He first opened the Status menu.. On the right side of the screen was a 3D picture of the MCV with a wire and frame model, the screen this time was filled with lots of complicated data, like the height, the weight of the MCV, the air pressure inside and outside the MCV, and in the tires, all the data of air, water in the MCV, the temperature of each room, No. of population staying inside, fuel level, battery level, etc.


    Below this information is a separate dialogue box that noted the energy status and damage received by the MCV.


    This information can also be divided into separate screens according to the information for details. Such as he can select the fuels status window and the separated window has all the information about the fuel left, used, and the total capacity of the tank. It also showed the fuel tank status with a 3D picture.


    The most important thing displayed on the screen was the level. The current level of the MCV was -5. Which were 5 levels lower than the system''s standard level. Seeing this Arther didn''t know whether to laugh or cry.


    Even though the information displayed was very vast Arther can easily read and understand all those things.


    After understanding all the uses of the status panel he exited the status and selected Modification.


    [Sytem modifications.


    Manual modifications.]


    The Modification menu contained these two options, the system modifications continued a specified set of modifications and new equipment installation which the system can do if raw materials were provided, it had designed this according to the current MCV''s advantages and disadvantages, it can also add more options if some special material were found.


    While the manual modification was an option for Arther to just imagine a structure and the system will mathematically modify and create it.


    Both these options were very important but for now, Arther can''t use the first one as it had very high material requirements which he can''t fulfill for now.


    And the last function added with the system was that he can store the entire MCV inside the tattoo on his chest, this was the best thing till now.


    After checking on all the functions of the system and changes in the MCV, he went to his room to have some rest. He also had to draw some ideas of how to modify the MCV.


    Early next morning, Arther was woken up by his sister calling him for breakfast. He looked at the time and it was 9:00, he hurriedly got out of bed, took a quick bath, and went to the living room for his breakfast. Compared to yesterday the atmosphere at the table was good, everyone was enjoying their breakfast and seemed to have forgotten about all other things Arther told them. He was also happy looking at them. After the breakfast was finished, everyone was gathered in the living room as no one had anything to do. "When are we going to return home? or do you have any other plans?", Jack asked Arther sitting beside him, it was a normal conversation between father and son,


    "I have received the message from the sellers we have ordered goods from, they will be delivering the goods till 11:00 today, I have talked to them, we will be paying them some advance money only. As they will not have the time to ask for the full payment. We can use that money somewhere else.", Arther smiled as he explained his plans. He had ordered a huge amount of packaged and canned food and water directly from the processing plants in the name of opening a new shop, the total amount it will cost was around 5million WC since it is a long term contract he will have to pay the advance for goods now and he can pay the remaining money after the goods are sold in a certain time limit. In short, he has taken the products on credits, the plant has accepted this because he has shown them enough proof of his bank balance. But they will be pitted by Arther soon.


    The remaining money was spent on buying the raw materials required by the MCV.


    After discussion everyone decided to return home and enjoy staying there for one last time before leaving, Arther also wanted to cremate his grandmother but his parents didn''t accept it, so he decided to do it later without them noticing. He didn''t want his grandmother to wake up from her long time of sleep.


    After checking everything his family returned home with some camping bags and utensils so that no one doubts their reason, Arther remained behind as he had to find a safe place to store the MCV before leaving, he drove the MCV between few tall trees and covered it with vines. When it was completely hidden he left the place, soon after he left the spy came to the place to check on the MCV, he has been watching Arther 24/7, his every action was noted down and sent to Jaya. What he didn''t know was that Arther has already found some of his traces hence he has been taking precautions. After not finding anything useful he left the pace to follow Arther, as soon as he left a small wind passed by the place and the vines covering the MCV caved in as if losing support.


    Soon after Arther reached home, he found heaps of boxes placed inside. These boxes contained freshly produced cans of meat, beef, etc. packages of sausages, dried meat, jerky, etc. Along with dried vegetables, pickles, beans, tuna, etc. He has tried to buy a variety of them to keep his taste. He also has bought some spices, a few kg of salt, and some common types of flour. Along with 50-60kg of rice and wheat and some daily necessities like toilet papers, soap, etc. With the tattoo function, he didn''t have to worry about loading all this, he just had to think about storing them in and it will be done. IN front of this family he swiped his hand and all the boxes slowly disappeared. With this, the storage in his room and kitchen in the MCV was mostly filled up.


    Now the remaining goods that will be delivered were the animals and fish from the poultry and the seeds. These things will be placed in the greenhouse so there was no need to worry, for now when the raw materials are delivered he can direct upgradethe storage. He has decided to first upgrade the storage in the kitchen to store more food products than the storage room in his room.

 Chapter 48 - Storage Modification.

    8th March, Noon.


    After a long discussion, they came to the conclusion that they will not sell the house, it will be kept as a memorial by them. Arther wanted to sell the house and buy some more things from the money but since his parents insisted on not doing so, he had no other choice than to accept it. Anyways he had stored enough food and water for them to last for a month or two, and he can also try looting some materials too.


    Even though they didn''t sell the house they searched and collected for all the food products and other useful things stored in the house and stored them in the MCV. It contained some vegetables and fruits which they will have to finish as soon as possible, some canned food, cup noodles, some snacks, etc. These few can last them for two-three days at most. Along with that they also went to Nanny''s house to collect some plants grown by her mother, this was requested by Nanny herself as she was emotionally connected with them, as they didn''t know when they will be able to come back again once they left. They also stored some family photos and few small things. All the other things along with most of the furniture were shifted into Arther''s room, the room for completely filled with well-arranged boxes and furniture, the windows were completely sealed and the door was locked too. This was his mother''s doing as she didn''t want anyone to harm these things. While everyone worked hard to finish this work, Arther was standing in a corner mocking them as he knew very well what audacity the survivors had, even if they sealed the room with concrete it will not be safe. Soon someone will come and either take all this away or destroy most of it, but he didn''t tell them about all this.. Leaving the home was already a very sad thing for them and he didn''t want to make them feel sadder.


    The raw materials he ordered for the MCV were also delivered by now, due to the system he didn''t have to worry about the oil and rusting of the MCV. So all the things he brought were some commonly used types of metals and either material which contained iron, stainless steel, copper, bronze, aluminum, etc. All these metals were easily available for Arther as he needed a very small amount and all these things were ordered from a tool workshop in the village which mostly repaired and sold agricultural tools. But due to lockdown, they were closed down, Arther made use of this opportunity to buy the materials they have stored at a low cost.


    All the materials were placed in the living room which was now completely empty. There was no more space inside the MCV to store all this so he decided to keep them here itself, he will have to make some space in the MCV for these things to be stored, or else will not be able to use them for modification. After a long time of listing down all the materials stored he shifted and refitted everything while removing many things for some time, it took him a whole three hours to do all that, with this, he also used the chance to store everything properly which was placed in a messy way before. To do all this he just had to think about this in his mind and he can move anything inside the MCV. This was a great feature as this didn''t consider the size and weight of the object.


    After making enough space he stored all the raw materials inside, that he closed his eyes and called on for the modification menu, selected the kitchen storage, soon many different ways of modifications and refitting were displayed on the screen, the first was a normal box, then a cupboard, as he scrolled down there were many awesome things like dimensional storage. But the materials they required were nothing he has ever heard of like star iron, deepsea bluestone, meteorite gold, etc. so he scrolled up again and after searching for a long time he found few suitable ideas.


    First, it was a highly compact folding storage compartments which can utilize all the space inside the storage in an organized manner, it will increase the storage capacity by 10%.


    Second, it was a kitchen cabinet with a temperature controls system and a refrigerator.


    And the last one was a level 1, kitchen storage. It had most of the features from above.


    Arther selected the last one as it can increase the storage capacity by 15% and it also had the temperature and moisture controller for the longer shelf life of food. It also had a small freezer to store meat. The only drawback was that it consumed all the stored raw material and he also had to use some furniture in the house for steel and wood. As soon as he selected this option all the materials he had stored disappeared and the storage in the kitchen changed a bit, the walls of the storage were previously a little thick for safety, but now they were thinned out but they seemed stronger, there some new swithers and dials on its door for temperature. Once the storage was done he placed all the things he removed before inside, it was a bit time-consuming to place everything due to the compact compartments.


    After arranging all this he went to his family who was playing cards in his parent''s bedroom. Seeing Arther they ended the game as they knew it was time to leave as Arther has notified them earlier itself.


    With everything, ready Arther could have directly taken them to the mountains to the place he wants to visit first in the apocalypse but he had an important thing to do before that. He wanted to check on the city condition one last time to see if can have any good thing from there and he also had to find out the whereabouts of Nanny''s parents and take them with him if possible.


    But all this he had to do alone, he didn''t want to risk his family there. So he has decided to first leave them near the mountains and find a place for them to hide and then carry out his further plans. This will be the first time he will test out his MCV so he was very excited.

 Chapter 49 - Space Changes.

    While everything was going on well with Arther, things were different in the world view. The reduction in trade and transport due to lockdown has created s burden on the economy of the countries. And now with everyone holing inside the survival bases things have taken a wrong turn, many bigger terrorist cults and organizations have started appearing in many important cities, since the army has been displaced inside the bases the border security of the countries has been reduced to a certain extent.


    On 7th March, evening 5:00, all the major countries and clans received news from the space observation stations that they observed some major changes in the space distortion. This news was like a stone dropped in the silent water and all the governments gathered again for a meeting, this time though the meeting was held online. The main motive of this motive was to know of the changes and their effect on the planet and humanity. And its countermeasures.


    At 8:00 evening many higher-level officials of the countries attended the meeting held by the space observatory. This time many different space observatories have also participated in the observation and research. Many new things have been discovered with this.


    Soon the meeting started, the host and speaker of the meeting was a middle-aged man in formal attire, he was the temporary chief supervisor of the joint committee of space observatories. He was elected by all the countries together..


    "Hello everyone, you all must have received the basic information about today''s meeting. We have also mailed you a copy of the information for reference, without further delay I will begin the meeting."'' soon the screens of everyone changed and now it showed the video of outer space, in the center of the screen was the space distortion but contrary to before it was now smaller and circular.


    "So as you can see, few days before we have observed some changes in the distortion which resulting in its shortening. Our researchers speculated it to be the self-healing capacity of space. For the last few days, it has been continuously reducing. But today our observers have found something different. The energy content inside the distortion has not changed and has even increased a bit, before we were not able to observe it due to the failure of most of our satellites and the electromagnetic field around the distortion, today for a small period of time this field was distorted which allowed us to take the readings. The amount of energy now stored inside has crossed the safety factors of the entire solar system. And we still don''t know the reason for the disturbance earlier."


    Everyone was silent for some time before one of the representatives spoke, "How is the stability of this energy?"


    "To be true we don''t know."


    "So we have one option of escaping the solar system for survival?", another representative spoke. Hearing this the middle-aged person laughed with a wry smile.


    "Humanity doesn''t have any such technology to do space travel, for now, even if all the countries work together it will take next 10 years to create a basic model for space model. And even if we had any way to do so now it is too late. As the gravity of the space distortion is so huge that as soon as anything leaves the Nova planet it will be sucked and the energy inside it has the power to destroy anything."


    Hearing this everyone was silent for a long time as no one had any solution for this situation. After a long discussion, the meeting came to an end with no prior plan for coming dangers. The governments had decided to reinforce the bases and bunkers and dig deeper below the surface. Being underground was much safer than on the surface. Thus meeting didn''t bring any good results as before, the atmosphere among the higher circle deteriorated which resulted in them taking even more rapid measures for the impending dangers, and the resource for these measures were collected from the resources stored.


    Arther was unaware of all these details. Currently, he was having dinner with his family, in the evening the poultry and fish along with seeds and other agricultural products were also delivered. Everything else was stored except the hens, quails, and fish as for now he can''t store living things inside even the plants were not stored. His father has asked for a pickup truck from one of his friend which they will use to take all this and drive in the mountains.


    Soon after finishing the meal, they gathered in the living room for a final family meeting where they discussed the plans, until now everyone has started to believe in Arther after seeing him being able to make the things appear and disappear. When Arther told everyone about him going to find Nanny''s parents everyone was against it for some time, later his father wanted to follow him but Arther made him stay with the family for their safety, in the end, Nanny insisted on following him and he also agreed with it as he might need her help convincing her parents if required.


    The pickup truck was parked in the front of the house, it was a very old model. His father''s friend used this truck for transporting stones, bricks into the village, and the goods from the village to the market. Hence the truck was not so clean it was filled with some residues of bricks, stones, vegetables, etc. but Arther and others had no other option than to make do with it. Arther with the help of his father loaded everything into the truck and they drove it out.


    Slowly they drove it out of the village through the mud path, in short, few minutes of driving they entered the city. This time Arther has decided to take a shortcut directly on the other side of the city into the mountain, he could have taken the route from where he returned last time but it was very time-consuming. On the way, they had to stop many times due to the patrlo cars since the truck engine made a very high noise when turned on they had to be extra careful. After driving for three and a half hour they reached the outer border of the city from where the mountains and shrubs can be seen, here Arther and Nanny parted with his family and turned into the city again.

 Chapter 50 - Finding Nannys Parents

    Both of them ran along with the buildings, they had worn black clothes for better camouflaging their actions. They didn''t need any luggage as Arther had everything stored inside the MCV.


    Soon they reached the western region of the city, here the buildings were a bit more luxurious with better decoration. They didn''t stop there and kept running for few more minutes. After a long and tiring run, they reached the hospital where according to Nanny''s mother her dad was. Both of them stopped a little farther away from the hospital on the other side of the road as the security there was very strict.


    After observing the situation for some time Arther turned to Nanny, she was already sitting on the ground huffing greedily for air. Though Arther was also feeling short of breath he didn''t feel it so intense, this surprised him but he didn''t have time to dwell upon it for now. He waited for Nanny to turn back to normal, "Are you ok?"


    "Hmm, I am fine brother Arther.", she looked at him with a determined expression.


    "OK, so this is our plan...., hope you understood.", after explaining to her the plan both of them sneaked past the road and went to the nearby shop.


    It was a small three-story grocery store, Arther easily climbed up. On the roof of the store, Arther took out a rope and threw it down for Nanny to climb up. All these actions were very swift and didn''t take much time. Seeing all this Nanny was already sweating profusely, she had the fear of heights, but she didn''t want to make Arther look down upon her hence she took the rope and tried to climb up slowly, due to her weak hands and legs it took her a long time to climb up until Arther had to pull her up for the last few meters. When she reached the roof her face was beet red with shame, her legs had gone soft and she was not able to even stand up. Arther didn''t seem to notice all this, he has observed the surroundings to make sure they were not caught.


    In the beginning, he wanted to take Nanny with him but now he had to change the plans since she was becoming a burden for now. He has decided to hide her here till he completes his work inside. He was also gonna leave a walkie-talkie if mobiles didn''t work. She can also keep a watch from outside and notify him of any anomalies.


    With this, he explained everything to her and climbed down the rope. Nanny looked at his back as he went further away, she was feeling unwilling to stay there but she knew how very well that she was of no use for him for now. Instead of being a drag bottle, it was better to hide here well and wait for him. She took out the binoculars left behind by Arther to keep an eye on the patrolling guards and any other movements in the surrounding.


    At a certain area of the wall a bit farther away from the gates, a patrol guard in dark blue security uniform walked past with a cigarette lit in his hands. Soon after he walked past, behind him a rope with an anchor hook tied at one end flew past the wall on the other side from a roadside tree. The guard looked behind and continued with his patrolling after not finding anything. On a tree branch, Arther was waiting for him to leave, he didn''t even dare to breathe in the fear of getting caught.


    After the guard left and Nanny confirmed that there was no one nearby he jumped off the tree and used the rope to climb up the wall, compared to before it was a bit more tiring to climb a straight wall. After passing by the wall there was a parking area with a green path along the road leading to the main entrance of the hospital and the main gate. He hid in the green patch as he slowly sneaked past few security guards to the backside of the building.


    He looked up at the building while sneaking past, this was the biggest hospital in the city F, it had all the advanced medical equipment required, and many skilled doctors at work. But what made him confused was why does this hospital has so tight security, and according to what he knew the base being built by the government was also a bit farther away from here in the mountains.


    Though it was intriguing to find out about this he didn''t have the free time to do so, he had to find Nanny''s parents in such a big hospital. It had one main building and twenty departmental buildings for various types of patients and diseases creating a huge building complex. As he went a bit deeper into the complex the security was more strict, compared to the outside the patrol here were more disciplined and well trained.


    "Hey Nanny, do you have any idea of where your parents might be, I can''t just check out every department."


    "Umm...... I don''t exactly know about it, but I had heard mom talking on mobile about dad getting a fractured bone in his leg."


    "Hmm, ok, so I will go check out the orthopedic department, they must be there."


    Arther sneaked into the building with the orthopedic board, it was a 7-floor building with the lower two floors being reception, waiting area, and operating room.


    The reception was empty, so was the waiting area. The lift of the building was also not working. This increased his suspicions even more. The second floor was also empty, seeing this Arther was already on high alert. He turned to the staircase for the third floor, the lights on the staircase were turned off and the staircase was completely dark. While there were some noises coming from the third floor.


    Arther didn''t continue climbing further up. He exited the building and went to the backside, the floors above the third floor had rooms for patients, so he had to check on these rooms to find Nanny''s parents.


    Behind the building, every room had a window, it was a small sliding door window. But it will be very risky and difficult to climb up the building. He observed the building for some time before finding a ventilation duct and some water pipes from where he can climb up. The top two floors were mostly used for VIP patients so he only had to check on three floors.

 Chapter 51 - Secret.

    Arther climbed up to the third floor with difficulty, he was able to see everything inside the room through the window. He observed the inside keenly to find anything but he didn''t find anything. The room had two patient beds with a curtain partition, both the beds had two elder patients sleeping in deep sleep. One had a hand fracture and the other had one leg fracture.


    After confirming about the inside he entered the room through the window. Sneaking through the room he went to the door, from the door he peeked outside. The corridor was completely empty and silent contrary to what Arther had thought.


    From here he can''t get any help from Nanny. So he had to be extra careful with everything. He slowly opened the door making the least noise possible. He checked every room on the floor but didn''t find Nanny''s parents, so he moved to the upper floor. For the next two floors to it was the same. Arther had to risk being caught much time to check on all the rooms on these floors..


    The staircase leading till this floor came to an end. The way for the upper floor was from the other side of the building. Going there will be risky as, since in the ordinary rooms, Nanny''s parents were not there and the security here was also not much tight, then it only means one thing there was something wrong on the VIP side.


    While Arther was in a difficult situation of making this decision whether to go in the VIP rooms or not, on the highest floor of the building, the entrance to the floor was being guarded by two well-equipped armed men in combat suits holding automated rifles. This floor was completely different compared to what Arther has seen below, it was not divided into small rooms, instead, there was a long corridor leading to the main room. On both sides of the corridor were transparent glass walls, on the other side of these walls was a huge laboratory with many workers in lab suits working on various technical instruments and types of equipment.


    This laboratory was a facility constructed by an organization active in this country, it was an organization created by many intelligent people from various fields of science and technology. The main motive of this organization was to maintain human progress in science and technology. It had no involvement in the political or military field of any country but had a huge power of academics not to be trifled with.


    They have many such laboratories in various different places with many people working on different projects and research on their own basis without any interference, and they are financed by many private businesses and companies in return for research of their products. But recently with the news of space distortion, this organization is being slowly pressurized by the government. Due to the availability of the most intelligent young generations, and experienced scientists in hand working in their facilities. They were the organization''s biggest assets now being engulfed by the government. For creating a safe base city for the official inlaid with the greatest defensive and offensive equipment and all survivability tools.


    Most of these people were working with the organization due to its independent environment, they had the freedom to select the place they had to work at, the field and project to participate in, and to either reveal or hide their identity. But now with the infiltration of government agents into the organization''s main committee things have taken a bigger turn. All these people were given two choices, to either voluntarily work for the government in return for a place in the base city and a job inside the base city or their academic license will be canceled and they will be arrested. Most importantly their family information was also in the government''s hands so they also had to worry about the family.


    Since the laboratories in the base city were currently being constructed most of the people from the organization were kept in their old facilities to work on the projects given by the government.


    Nanny''s mother was a botanist with many great publications and works in her field. She had a great connection with plants from childhood and had good learning and comprehending capabilities, in short, she can be considered as a super genius. But her genius brain had brought many problems in her life, many companies and firms have tried to use various means to make her work for them.


    Many years back she published some of her research works on the combination of plant and animal genes which became censor news among the field of science, but this news was soon oppressed by these firms and companies. After few days she was arrested by the city police she used to live in and all her research was sealed and collected. The laboratory she used to work at also didn''t take any action against this, she was taken to a certain place and was forced to continue her research. She worked there for three years before she found a chance to escape from the facility, while escaping she got some glimpse of what they were making, and from then she decided to hide her identity along with the research. The organization that kidnapped her was working on human research and making biological weapons.


    After escaping from there she left the country, she had to run from them for many months until she was taken under by this organization she currently worked for with the help of one of her mentors. This organization helped her with creating a new identity of a housewife in the village, and continue her research. She was also protected from those firms and companies.


    She was having a great life and she had also made major breakthroughs in her research, she had kept this a secret from everyone since this might bring problems to her family. Her husband didn''t know about all this and she never tried to reveal it either.


    Her life was going very smoothly until the organization was hijacked by government forces, her research was taken interest in by the government and she was invited to work for them when she rejected the proposal they held her husband as a hostage and she had no other choice. She had left Nanny with her neighbors in the hope that she will be soon taken care of by the organization once everything goes well.

 Chapter 52 - Escape.

    Today was a very important day for the laboratory since a very important project was going to enter its final stage today. Hence many higher-ups of the organization were going to visit the facility along with few government agents. Due to this, the security in the laboratory has been increased.


    Except for the scientists and researchers working on this project all others were allowed to leave earlier, Mey was also one of them.


    The sixth floor was converted into a dormitory for them to eat and sleep. They were not allowed to exit these two floors while no one else was allowed to enter. Due to the security here she was not even allowed to carry her tab and mobile along. She has tried much time to find a way to escape here but she was not able to find any way to escape along with her husband. Due to their failed attempts to escape her husband was locked into the dormitory and she was only allowed to meet him there.


    She was getting more and more worried about this caged environment. While thinking about all this she went to her dormitory which was in the innermost section of the floor. This might have been a problem for anyone to escape, but it had a very good thing for Arther.. After reaching her dormitory room she opened the door, the room inside was an ordinary room with moderate decorations. Bright moonlight passed into the room from a floor to ceiling window, in front of the window a sofa chair was placed in which sat her husband.


    For the last few days, John is living in this room, always worrying about his daughter. Mey went to sit along with him as they both were lost in some thoughts cuddling with each other.


    At the same time, Arther was trying to find out any way to go to the upper floors. He had gone to the staircase leading upstairs but it was locked, and there were some noises coming from above. This confirmed his suspicion. After failing to find any other way up he went to the room he entered the building. From there he tied a rope down and went out of the window. While hanging along the wall he observed the above floor and found a way up. He saw a window from where light passed through. He slowly climbed up the water pipe. As he climbed up he was able to see the room''s ceiling and from the look of it, someone was staying there. He hurriedly climbed up the pipe.


    Mey was sitting with her husband looking at the moon and sky outside the window which reminded her of her daughter. While they were lost in their sadness a head poked out from below their window. John was the first to see this he rubbed his eyes to confirm what he was seeing, after seeing the same thing his eyes went wide and he straightened up. Mey felt the change in her husband, he had a surprised expression on his face while pointing a finger at the window. She turned her attention toward what he was pointing and was also surprised by what she saw, both of them remained stumped until Arther knocked on the window, Arther was happy to find both of them at the same time, he did have many questions for them and was also surprised but no one can risk getting shocked while hanging from the sixth floor of a building.


    After some time, inside the dormitory room of Mey, Arther was sitting on their bed in the bedroom, while John sat in front of him on a chair and Mey stood beside him. Both of them were staring at Arther, they had many questions to ask him, both of them had thought of many people who might come to rescue them. But Arther was the last they can''t think of. After a moment of silence, John spoke, "So you are saying you came here to find us? alone?", he looked at Arther with a complicated expression.


    Arther knew he didn''t have much time to waste here if he can''t take Nanny''s parents from here as soon as possible, Nanny waiting outside might get caught.


    "I don''t have much time to explain anything. We need to leave here first, I will explain everything later."


    Both Mey and John lost their excitement of seeing Arther after thinking about escaping here."We have tried of escaping from here many times, but the security here is very strict. And today there will be many important people visiting so the security will be increased much time. Escaping at this is foolishness."


    Hearing this Arther was left in deep thoughts if it was someone else he might have thought of leaving but he has promised Nanny to help her meet her parents and now after knowing about Mey he didn''t want to lose such a good chance to add her in his team. Her research will be very useful for them in the future.


    Now he had to think of a way to take all of them out of there safely. After thinking for some time he had a plan. After explaining the plan to Mey and John he went back to the window and tied a rope from there to climb down. Once they left the building then everything will be fine. He asked both of them to one by a climb down the building. Though difficult they had no other choice, after climbing down Arther led them to the parking lot. There they hid at the entrance for some time, while Arther went inside and took out the MCV, he drove it to the entrance.


    Seeing the MCV both Mey and John were surprised since they have never seen anything such. It had a very futuristic look. They hurriedly boarded the MCV, until now the guards responsible for keeping watch on the worker have already found out about their escape. The entire building was locked down, while the security guards at the wall were notified about this Arther drove the MCV outside crashing into the main gate. The entire steel gate was deformed and broken from the hinge itself blasting a distance away from the wall. The front of the MCV was modified into a collision column attached to the body frame. The damage to the MCV was flashing in front of Arther, the body frame in the front, bonnet, and the collision column had received some amount of damage.


    Arther ignored all this as he tried to connect with Nanny and asked her to leave all the things there and escape. He told her to meet at a certain place on the other side of the city. While he also found a blind spot to stop the MCV and asked Mey and John to escape the same way to the same place. He drove the MCV in the opposite direction for some time making a huge noise to attract everyone''s attention and then stored the MCV and ran the same way.

 Chapter 53 - Looting The Supermarket.

    The entire city was like a sleeping giant woken up from deep slumber, all the police patrolling in the city were alerted about Arther, everywhere there were patrol cars in the city doing a carpet search. What the government was worried about where the two scientists who escaped the lab. If the news of this was let out things might get worse.


    While all this was happening Arther had already left the area, he went to the place decided upon by them to meet. The place he has selected to meet was a well-known supermarket in the western part of the city. Located near the wealthy district of the city it had all the necessities for sale. Arther wanted to loot this place before leaving as there will be a huge amount of food and other goods Arther needed, he has asked others to meet at this place too since hiding here was easier and this place was far away from the hospital. So it will take some time for the patrol to reach there.


    After checking on the surrounding he went inside the underground parking. The supermarket was closed for few days since the lockdown, hence there were no cars in the parking.


    Few minutes before Arther came to the supermarket, Mey and John reached here. Both of them were feeling everything like a dream, they have tried to escape many times but today they were able to escape so easily.. Mey always felt something odd about this but for now, she was more worried about Arther, while she was trying to think of a way to help Arther both of them reached the supermarket. They waited outside for Arther to return, after some time they saw a shadow running in their direction. It took some time for the person to reach them, seeing the person both Mey and John were surprised and happy. It was none other than Nanny, it took her some time to climb down the shop and run here without Arther''s help.


    When Nanny reached she was already out of breath, she waited for some time to breathe and then went forward, for the entire time she has been thinking about her parents and Arther. When she was a small distance away from them she was able to clearly see her parents. Seeing them she was dumbstruck as tears started flowing down her cheeks, she ran into her parents hugging Mey tightly as she cried out all the stress she has been holding up inside her for a long time. Mey and John also didn''t try to calm her down, after Nanny calmed down on her own she was led inside the supermarket by her parents. They sat in a corner waiting for Arther, Mey had John wanted to ask many questions about everything happening to Nanny but seeing her condition they didn''t find it suitable.


    In a few minutes Arther also came there, seeing their happy family together he also felt happy. He didn''t want to disturb their happy moments but they also didn''t have much time, hence he went to meet them and explain to them his further plans.


    "Uncle, Aunt, I have asked you to meet here for a reason. I don''t have much time to explain everything, I just want you to know that we are here to loot this supermarket. I know this seems a bit odd to hear for you, hence I am leaving Nanny with you she will explain everything to you.",


    All of them looked at Arther as a fool, even Nanny didn''t know what Arther was up to.


    "I want you to collect a few things, I have made the list of those materials, we will need them later.", saying this he handed them a list and went to open the door of the supermarket, this thing was an easy job for him, in a few seconds, he unlocked the lock and opened the shutter.


    Seeing all this Mey and John were more and more surprised but before they could ask about anything Arther ran inside. Nanny also followed him after signaling her parents to follow. Until now she has learned to trust Arther.


    Mey and John exchanged looks before following Nanny. The inside of the supermarket was filled with a pungent smell of air due to remaining closed for a long time, most of the racks were empty. Arther went directly to the third floor of the supermarket where the tools section was located. These tools were mostly made up of stainless steel and other metals which was good material for modification. After storing most of the tools inside the MCV he went to the clothes and other sections, he collected many different clothes for his family and others, after storing all that he went down again to check on Nanny and her parents.


    Arther had sent them to collect the food products, spices, and meat products. They have collected all the products listed on the list, it took them some time to check on the expiry date of the products and gather them together. They didn''t know how Arther was going to take all of these out of here without getting noticed but due to Nanny''s persuasion, they had to do all this.


    Soon after they were done doing all this Arther also came down, seeing the huge amount of food products Arther''s mood was delighted, without much hesitation, he stored all the things in the MCV in front of them. He didn''t hide this from Mey and John to gain their trust. Both of them also understood this after seeing such a miraculous thing. Nanny was not new to this scene so she didn''t find it odd, she always felt fascinated about this.


    After all, this was done they went to the storeroom of the market where most of the products were stored and collected everything they needed until the storage and most of the place in the MCV was filled up.


    With this all the tasks Arther had come here for were completed, now he can leave the city and start his journey to become a superpower in the world.

 Chapter 54 - Apocalypse Beginning.

    Arther led Nanny and her parents outside the city without getting anyone''s notice. To avoid being caught they walked all the way into the mountains instead of driving the MCV. After crossing the suburbs of the city in the western part they reached the foot of the mountains, from there Arther led them deeper through a mud path. When they left the city it was already 5:00 in the morning of 10 March. Arther was now in a hurry to meet with his family and leave here as soon as possible since they had to cross the crematory in the woods before going deeper.


    He has not allowed his family to pass through due to his fears, he knew very well what was hidden below that place and hence he didn''t want his family to pass there alone.


    With the sunrise faint light was spread in the sky, but the forest was still darker but there was the sound of birds and insects which indicated life in the forest. For nature lovers and trekkers this site might have been an enjoyable site but for Nanny and her parents, it was not feeling good. They have been running for a whole night and were physically very tired.


    After walking for a few more minutes Nanny was no more able to keep up with them, she sat down on a tree root, "I can''t walk anymore."


    Everyone stopped seeing this, Arther looked at Nanny and her parent''s faces which were haggard, due to unknown reasons he didn''t feel any tiredness but he still took their health under consideration and decided to take a rest for some time..


    He took out a bottle of water from the storage and passed it to them, along with something to eat. After resting for few minutes they continued on the journey.


    Soon they reached an open area between the forest with a broken house, the house was a two-story small house that had most of its wooden construction decayed and broken. This was a place, Arther used to hide along with his friends when they were in military school. In short, it was his secret hideout. He has not been here for a long time since they shifted to the village due to the long distance.


    To avoid getting tracked Arther has led them through the small mud path he knew of, from there they reached the backside of the house while a wider soil road was in the front of the house leading to the village and city, from this road itself his family drove here. When they moved to the front of the house they found the pickup truck his family has driven here, inside the truck his father was sitting in the driver''s seat waiting for Arther to return while his mother and sister were inside the house.


    Arther went to the truck and called out to his dad, "Dad, where are mom and sis."


    "They are inside I have asked them to sleep inside.", his father greeted Mey and John and led Arther inside the house, Nanny and her parents followed them inside too. The wooden door of the house was also decayed and broken, to prevent wind from entering they have covered it with a tent cloth, inside there were two sleeping bags on the floor with Arther''s Mother and sister sleeping soundly, beside them in a corner were an outdoor stove and some cups and spoons which seemed to have been recently used, After confirming everyone''s safety Arther was relieved and happy. He went outside and took out the MCV, they then woke up his mother and sister and asked everyone to rest in the MCV for some time, while Arther also went to his room to rest, his dad shared the bedroom with Nanny father while their mom''s slept with the girls in the bunk beds. Arther didn''t allow anyone inside his room for his comfort.


    After everyone was settled in the room he went to his room and closed all the doors and windows of the MCV. In Arther''s room, he was lying on the bed thinking about everything that happened till now, from the day he was reborn to now everything felt like a dream, he also remembered his past life how he struggled to survive and how different his life was going to be now. His only wish in this life was to keep his family safe and to live a happy life. While lost in his thoughts he slowly went to sleep without his notice.


    While Arther was having a good sleep here the city was no so silent, the number of patrols and police was increased, the government was trying their best to find out about Arther and the scientist who escaped. All the facilities and labs where other scientists and researchers were kept were shifted inside the base city and all the workers were forcefully shifted there too.


    Making use of this opportunity many more people of the organization were successful in escaping and they went to hide in other cities. These people who were meant to be dead in Arther''s past life were the biggest benefactors of these events, they were also the butterfly effect Arther produced.


    While this was happening, in the space distortion there were also a few changes that were the indicators of the coming apocalypse, the size of the space distortion was compressed to its limit while the energy at the center was increasing at a rapid rate. With this increase in energy, the gravity nearby was also affected and many small gas particles were being attracted along with the solar waves.


    This change also had an effect on the Nova planet nearby, there was a huge change in the planet''s atmosphere. The trees in the deeper parts of the forest, deep inside the oceans, and either such place where the pollution was least were the places where this changed appeared first. The trees grew bigger and denser while the insects went into hibernation before the time period, the same can be observed for some animals.


    While Arther was asleep the planet had undergone a great change about which the humans were unaware.

 Chapter 55 - Preparation.

    At 9:00 in the morning, Arther woke up. After having a good sleep his mind was feeling more refreshed. He checked the time and went to take a bath. After doing all this he opened the windows of the MCV for the light to pass by, this also woke everyone up. Slowly everyone got out of bed and the MCV became noisy due to everyone doing their daily chores. Arther and Nanny''s mothers were the first to get ready and they went to the kitchen to prepare breakfast. With the help of Mey, Abella was able to prepare breakfast faster.


    Abella was not used to waking up so late hence she was not feeling refreshed, yesterday everyone was so tired that they didn''t know about the time when they slept. Until the breakfast was ready their fathers also got ready and went to the living room. Mey and John were directly brought here by Arther without any luggage hence they didn''t have any clothes to wear. Thanks to Arther he had thought about this and stored few clothes of their size when looting the supermarket. He had placed the clothes in the wardrobes in the rooms according to their sizes.


    After his father and John came the ladies plated the breakfast for everyone.. While they were having breakfast the atmosphere was a bit awkward as Mey and John had many questions they needed answers to, and Arther''s parents also had some questions for them. But no one knew how to start, Arther knew their thoughts but decided to ignore them for the time being since he had to plan their further journey. From the time he has woken up his instincts was urging him about something.


    "I know all of you have some questions but we will discuss that later, for now, I want your help in planning the future plans. I have decided to visit a few important places but before we start our journey I want mom and dad to help uncle and aunt get familiar with the MCV. They will be staying with us here. After you a done getting familiar I will explain to you your tasks. Here everyone is given a task so will be for you. I hope you are ok with it.", he looked at everyone while eating his breakfast.


    After listening to him his parent nodded without any question while Mey and John had a look of hesitation on their face. Arther waited patiently for them to ask their doubts.


    "Umm, Arther why don''t we return home instead.", it was John who asked, Mey also looked at Arther hoping to find an answer to her question from this.


    Hearing this Arther smiled with a mocking expression as he looked at Uncle John, "Uncle, do you think we will be safe there, after what happened yesterday. Our houses might have already been sealed by the police and we will be getting searched for in the entire city and its premises. They might soon reach here too. So according to me, we might not have much time left to stay here. It is better to keep moving."


    "But for how long are we going to keep hiding, and that too from the government, sooner or later we will be caught."


    "No. We just need to hide for today. Tomorrow no one will have the time and power to remember about us.", Arther spoke with a meaningful expression. After this he didn''t wait for any other questions, he went directly to the driver''s cabin.


    "Dad after you are done with the work I have given bring uncle to the driver''s cabin. I have some important work for you guys."


    While this small discussion came to an end, in the dorm room, Nanny and Jessy were having a happy sleep. No one tried to wake them up too since they had no work to do. Arther also didn''t wake them up since they will be having some work at night.


    Both of them were having a nice sleep unknown about the disaster Arther was planning for them.


    Soon Arther''s parents were done explaining all thing to Nanny''s parents. And as Arther has thought Mey had a good opinion about his greenhouse and many ideas. After knowing her real identity he had already decided to take her in charge of the greenhouse while his mother will become in charge of the kitchen and all the food stored in the MCV. With the upgrade of the kitchen storage and increase in the number of members in the MCV, they are required to properly manage the food usage. In the future, this will become more and more important for them.


    After planning and speaking about this with everyone he handed over the tasks. The first he did was to add his mother''s fingerprints and iris in the kitchen storage so that she can access them anytime. The same was done for Mey with the greenhouse. She was very happy with the greenhouse given under her care and looking at the plant pots they had collected from her house. These were grown by her with great care and meant a lot to her. Arther also promised to make a lab available for her research in the future according to her design. And she was also asked to make few designs for the greenhouse. These designs will be used by Arther in further upgrades.


    After the ladies were allocated their tasks he led his father and uncle to a nearby well. This was an old well that may be constructed by those living in the house. Due to not being maintained for a long time the walls of the well were mostly destroyed and the water level has also dropped a lot, so it was very difficult to take the water from here. But Arther didn''t find any other place where they can find clean water nearby. Before entering the deeper forest and passing the graveyard he wanted to fill the water tanks inside the MCV for both cooking and other purposes.


    There was an automated pumping system and a long water pipe in the backside of the MCV, connected to the tanks. With this, they can easily take the water from the well, but it required someone to hold the pipe along the well hence he allotted this work to his father and Uncle.


    After this was done he went to the cabin to turn on the water pump, with this the tank started getting filled slowly. With the water being stored, his mother also sorted out all the food products. While Mey checked on the crops and poultry in the greenhouse.


    After checking on everyone Arther closed his eyes and called for the system panel to decide on further upgrades. He had some ideas about what needed to be modified before starting the journey.

 Chapter 56 - Modification.

    A bright system panel was hovering in front of Arther when he called for it. There were many loading bars showing the data such as the water level of the tank, electricity being used and charged, fuel being used, etc. Arther checked on these things and moved to the modification panel. From the supermarket, he had stored some metal tools which can be converted into raw materials and used, but this might not be enough.


    Collecting things manually every time was not possible hence Arther was trying to find a way. He also wanted to increase the defense of the MCV before entering the deeper parts of the forest along with its attacking power.


    But the automatic collector was his first priority. When this came to his mind the modification list started changing and most of the things disappeared from it, after shuffling for some time few things appeared on the list. All these things were what Arther was in need of. The first was a robotic arm that can be controlled with thoughts or a joystick to pick up heavy things outside the MCV directly from inside and store them in the storage. But it had many restrictions such as the size and weight of the materials that can be stored.


    The second option was a conveyer belt that can be folded and retracted inside the MCV, it had the option of sorting and storing things, this option also modified the storage.. But the things needed to be placed on the conveyer for it to work. A secondary upgrade will give this conveyer a mechanical arm that can do this work automatically and further upgrade also added options such as crushing of metals. But for now, this was not a suitable option.


    So Arther scrolled down, further down were many fancy options that required a lot of high-quality materials, such as an automatic storage beam that can be connected to dimensional storage.


    As he kept scrolling many options were displayed and Arther took a liking to many of this, if not for the restriction of materials he might have selected a few of them. But for now, he had to find something more practically useful, after searching for a long time he came across something he needed. This option was a fluid extractor. As suggested it can extract fluids, it can only be used to collect metals, this extractor can convert the metals in a certain area around the MCV into liquid form and absorb it inside the MCV body, Arther has selected this option on the basis of the further upgrade. On the further level, it had many luxuries uses such as separate storage to store the liquid metal, he can use this stored metal at any time such as increasing the thickness of the MCB body walls for better protection, it also had the option of mixing and creating new metals with different properties.


    Along with this he also selected the robotic arm to collect any non-metallic things or some other uses. As soon as he selected these options the tools and metals inside the storage started to melt into the MCV. The modification of the MCV was a bit magical as it took no time and there were no changes from outside. Even the robotic arm was hidden inside and will be displayed only when being used.


    After this was done Arther didn''t hurry using them, he thought of the defense of the MCV. A new window appeared in front of him, on the screen displayed the defense level of the MCV, currently, it was -7, this time he didn''t select an option from the list instead just selected the upgrade level option. As soon as he selected the upgrade level option many materials from the storage disappeared, he didn''t stop until most of the materials in the storage were used up and the level reached -4. With this, he felt a bit more secure.


    Now he had to think of the weapon. The forests were not as safe as they seemed, though in the beginning there might not be any beast and evolved animals there were some undead animals waking up from fossils. To fight against them Arther had stored the guns and ammunition but along with this the MCV also needed an attack method. But now he didn''t have much material remaining. Firstly he repaired the front collision column that was broken yesterday night, and added some sharp edges and pointed thorns on it. This combined with the MCV weight and inertia can be used as a weapon. After that, he opened the information panel which contained the information Arther has stored in the system from the WorldNet, where he searched for some ideas and then created a blueprint of a weapon.


    This weapon was mounted above the MCV, it can be manually operated from the bunker. It was a ballista. It was similar to a crossbow, just bigger and more destructive. It can be used against a bigger target and the materials used were also modified steel and other metals. From the supermarket one of the best things Arther had looted was the jewelry, it was of gold, silver, and platinum. Platinum was of the least quantity not even enough to make an arrowhead. But now these metals were mixed along with some other metals and were used in the ballista strings and the spearheads used.


    Arther wanted to create two of this ballista but due to the shortage of materials, he was able to make only one. After the design was prepared with the help of the information from the system he selected to create it.


    When he did this, there was a small noise that attracted everyone''s attention. Under his parent''s and Nanny''s parents '' surprised eyes many different parts of the ballista were created out of the walls of the MCV on the roof, and they automatically assembled together slowly forming the ballista. When the ballista was formed it was already loaded with a pointed Javelin. Under the sunlight, the metallic body of the ballista gave an oppressive feeling while the sharp pointed edges of the javelin with golden color.


    Arther''s father was the first to react as he had a wide grin on his face, he knew this was Arther''s doing and felt relieved and happy about his son''s abilities. His hands were already itching to use that monster on the roof. Due to the noise made while creating the weapon Nanny and Jessy was also woken up. When they came out of the room Arther was also done with all his preparation, at the same time the water tank was also filled up and their father''s also stored the pump and pipe and came inside. Seeing his father''s excited expression Arther knew what he was thinking.

 Chapter 57 - Arthers Plans.

    Arther also wanted to try the power of his new weapon. He also had to teach everyone how to operate it. He waited for everyone to gather then led them to the bunker on the roof. After everyone was on the roof they were surprised by the true size of the ballista and the javelin loaded on it. One shot from this thing can burst a human into pieces.


    Arther went to the ballista he touched its surface with shining eyes. Weapons were a man''s fantasy, so does Arhter. After a few seconds, he looked carefully at the construction of the ballista, as he thought about it a system panel appeared in front of him,


    [Weapon system.


    Level: -8


    Weapons: 1) Javelin Ballista.]


    Seeing the level Arther had a wry smile on his face, he was looking forward to upgrading the system..


    He selected the Ballista option and a new screen appeared in front of him.


    [Javelin Ballista.


    Level: 1


    Range: 400m


    Single target weapon.


    (Upgrade option) ]


    The level of the ballista was surprisingly 1, after thinking about it Arther had an idea about this, it may be that a certain thing created by Arther out of the system will be level from 1 while those present from the beginning were calculated according to a certain base value of the system.


    Along with this information, Arther also received information about the use of the ballista.


    In the excited and surprised eyes of everyone, Arther held the handle behind the ballista and aimed at a tree 300m away from them with the help of the scope above the ballista. After confirming the aim he pulled the trigger, with the sound of javelin breaking the air it was launched. The strength of the strings was so high that the javelin reached the tree in a blink of an eye and poked through its trunk without any obstruction. After passing through the tree it didn''t stop till half of the javelin was dug into the ground.


    Seeing this scene all of them breathe in cold air. The destructive power of the javelin was beyond Arther''s imagination. After this Arhter reached them how to reload the javelins, after this was done he led everyone down again. For this ballista, he already had a plan. After everyone gathered in the living room it felt a bit crowded due to the increase in the number of people, everyone got adjusted anyway. After everyone was settled down Arther started speaking out his further plans.


    "I guess everyone has now got accustomed to the environment and living in the MCV, from now this will be our home. Now let me explain our future plans, first I have planned out the route and our destinations.", when Arther spoke of this he turned on the TV in the living room, on it he displayed the map he had marked with all the information, it consisted of the many dots of blue, green, black, and red colors. This map contains the location of the places with the beast and animal kingdoms and the treasures too. Arther was showing this to everyone now because it was time for them to know about a few of these things, according to Arther''s past life experience tomorrow morning at 9:00 the apocalypse will strike the world. At that time he wanted his family to know about all the important things to avoid panic.


    He needed their support to fight all those things in the future hence sharing information was a way of him showing his trust in them.


    He took a deep breath, "Before I speak about our plans I want to share some important information with you guys. From the beginning, all of you must be having many questions which I have been avoiding. But today I am going to answer all of your questions. I just hope you believe me, many of the things I will say about might feel odd but I assure you that every single I tell you about is true.",


    With this he observed everyone, he waited for them to be more alert and understand all the things he tells them. After a few seconds of silence, he started speaking, he told them about everything from the undead, beasts, bloodlines, abilities, warriors, evolutions, treasures, and the base cities built by the governments for hiding. As he kept speaking the expressions of everyone kept changing, Arther observed all this but didn''t stop speaking, he knew they might not believe him but he still patiently explained every single thing to them, he also told them about the outer cities and lives of people there. About the inhuman activities of survivors, what is the difference between a human and a survivor. He told them about all this to make them understand the importance of what they have got and the seriousness of the problem they were going to face.


    As they heard about all this everyone was having a storm brewing in their minds, after a certain time they have forgotten to think about all these things, they were lost in the imagination of the world Arther spoke about, they were worried, angry, feared to face it. All their world views changed in a few minutes. Few things were more difficult to believe in such as cannibalism, etc.


    After Arther was done speaking he waited patiently for everyone to calm down. he knew very well how difficult it will be for them to accept all this, but they must be considered lucky enough to have this chance since all the humans had no such chance, those who accepted it easily become stronger, and those who had any difficulty accepting this reality were eliminated.


    After a few more minutes everyone slowly calmed down to a certain extent. Seeing this Arther nodded and started explaining about his plans, "Since now everyone knows about the truth, no one needs to fear I have enough strength and knowledge to help all of us get stronger. The future might be dark but we need to work together to fight against it. And our journey towards getting stronger will start today, now on the map, I have marked few places I know about. The first is the green dots which represent the base cities I have talked about, then comes the blue color which represents the treasures, the red represents the areas ruled by many strong entities, while the biggest black area represents the area ruled by the undead."


    "According to what I know the governments must have already done with building the base cities, while the treasures have a certain time period of appearance. For the first 3-4 days there will not be any red and black area. But we have to be careful since this area is formed when either a string entity appears or a huge number of certain entities appears. In anyways we need to be careful in these places from the beginning. These places marked by me are not the end, there might be many things I don''t know about."


    "According to what I know I have prepared a plan, in 7 day from now there will be a treasure appearing in the deeper forest where we will be heading, most of the animals and insects will be in hibernation for the first few days of the apocalypse so our journey will be safer while going there we will pass through a place in the mountains about which most people didn''t know, this is a war warehouse of our country and contains a huge amount of rare metals and other goods and weapon. I expect to find some good heavy weapons to mount on the MCV. With this, our journey will be more secure."


    After he explained his plans everyone was lost in thoughts, after a small silence Nanny was the first to speak, "Brother Arther, according to the route you said do we have to pass through that black area, and why is the entire city F marked as black."

 Chapter 58 - Jessy And Nannys Task.

    Everyone''s attention was shifted to the pace on the map where Nanny has pointed. Seeing a huge black area covering the entire city F, and the surrounding mountains. What shocked them was that the place they were at right now was the nearest to the center of the black area.


    Seeing this everyone was having cold sweat thinking that they have spent an entire night here. Without knowing anything. Seeing their expressions Arther had a mocking smile, he has not told about all this till now due to this, the fear inside them will affect their actions.


    "Yes, I was going to explain about this. As you can see on the map the entire area around the city F is a black zone, due to the old church and graveyard in the mountains. Every one of us knows how old this church is, but no one knows how many bodies are buried below it. All those will be converted into the undead in the beginning of the apocalypse and move to the surrounding area where there is no living thing." when Arther spoke about this his mood was also a bit sad since he has seen this happening with his own eyes. It was a nightmare for anyone who experiences it..


    Seeing Arther being quiet everyone''s heartfelt heavy since till now Arther has not shown any such reaction even when talking about the stronger entities.


    After calming down his emotions Arther started speaking again with a heavy tone, "This pace will soon become a tragedy of the humanity, due to lack of information, time and preparation the city base F fell in two to three hours since the population was highest in the city most of the undead moved there. It was a horde of tens of thousands of undead, nothing was left intact in their path, all the villages in the surrounding of the city were also attacked and the villagers became their food. When an undead is woken up it is the most hungry for the first day, in this time they are a few times crazier. With the fall of the villages, the city was surrounded and then all the humans inside were massacred. From there many zombies have risen, they are formed when a certain living being is infected by the undead. They are stronger than the undead. With this a huge area fell under the control of the undead and a zombie king was evolved from this population. He had huge power, and intelligence equal to adult humans."


    Hearing this everyone was shaking with fear, while their mother was already on the verge of crying with tears welling up in their eyes, such a reaction was expected since they have lived in this place for most of their life and had many memories attached, but now they knew that this place was going to be destroyed. Along with the people they knew and their home.


    Seeing this Arther released a deep sad sigh and turned off the TV. Everyone needed some time to digest the information. "Sister and Nanny you both come with me, everyone else goes get some rest we will start our journey into hours, at that time I want everyone in their positions."


    After leaving these orders he went to the upper deck. Nanny and Jessy exchanged looked with each other and followed behind Arhter, Arther didn''t let them rest since he had allowed them to seep for a longer time. He had planned an important task for them earlier, "I know you guys also need some time to digest the information but we don''t have that much time, I have a very important task for you. Being the younger generation I think it is our duty to help and protect our family, hence you will have to learn to survive in these conditions as soon as possible.", hearing what Arther said both of them following him looked at him with wide eyes but then nodded with a low hum.


    They reached the upper deck while talking, Arther led them to the bunker directly. "The surveillance of the surrounding is a very important thing in this dangerous environment. I am giving you these tasks. Both of you will take turns to keep watch for the entire time. Even when the MCV is moving or at night. This is the most difficult task on the entire MCV, so I will send uncle to work with you. Also, learn to operate the ballista and practice your aiming a bit since you might need it in an emergency. There are ten javelins of good quality, I will give you 50 wooden javelins for practice. Uncle John will help you with this. Good luck.", with Arther left both of them on the roof. Both of them remained dumbfounded for few seconds hearing the task Arther allocated them. When they came back to thoughts Arther had already left, seeing this both of them were angry to the limits. Jessy was already scolding Arther, "I knew it, Ahhh.... you brat. He fooled us in this task."


    Nanny stood quietly without making much noise since she knew if she did anything wrong she will have to face all her anger. Her reason for being angry at Arther was not this task, she was happy since Arther trusted them with such an important task, what she was sad about was she had to work with Jessy.


    "Umm, sister Jessy, we don''t have any other option now, and brother Arther has trusted us with such an important task. We must be happy about this.", Nanny tried to calm Jessy, when she spoke this Jessy was looking at her with the eyes of a predator looking at a prey. Seeing her expression Nanny''s heart skipped a beat as he was sweating profusely, "A-And didn''t you want to use the ballista.",


    Jessy stared at her for some time before turning towards the ballista, "Huh, I should have expected this from you little love bird. Since you are so happy with this task I have an idea, you will take the day shift. Do you have any problem.", hearing this Nanny was already crying inside but she had no other option than to accept. On the day they will be moving, whoever takes this shift will have to face the dust on the road, wind, sun, heat, and many other problems. While in the night they will be mostly camping so it will be easy to keep watch. Thinking in this way Jessy had a wide grin on her face, she was already thinking of enjoying the daytime. What she didn''t know was that most of the danger appeared in the night, Arther also didn''t tell them about this since he knew Jessy will select the easier one.


    In the driver''s cabin, Arther was having a wide grin on his face as he observed their conversation.

 Chapter 59 - 59

    Arther rested for two hours in the driver''s cabin itself, since the seats had a very high comfort level, along with good security. While resting he checked on all the stats of the MCV, while checking he found out that in yesterday''s collision the front side of the body frame was also damaged a bit. He immediately repaired it, this repairing didn''t cost many materials.


    Later he went to the pickup truck his family has used and parked it beside the MCV. After this he went inside the MCV, this moves from him also attracted the attention of his sister and Nanny who were practicing with the ballista, they poked their head out from the roof of the MCV.


    Arther sat in the driver''s seat and turned ON the fluid absorption option. As soon as he turned it ON a faint blue light passed through the area around the MCV, this was to scan for the objects, soon after this was done under the surprised eyes of Nanny and Jessy the pickup truck body started to melt without any reason, even the temperature in the surrounding was same and the liquid metal also didn''t seem hot. The most amazing thing was that except for the metal no other part of the truck was affected, soon a large amount of metal was melted down and started flowing towards the MCV as if it was alive, the metal then melted into the MCV surface and disappeared.. The MCV was like a sponge absorbing water, the metal kept coming and it was absorbed by the MCV without any delay.


    On the ground where the truck was parked now remained nothing but a number of other parts like tires, steering, seats, etc. along with this was burned oil from the engine, fuel, and rust. Seeing this Arther was impressed by the system, unknowingly he had got one more use for this option which is to purify the metals. In the storage a huge cubic block of silver-colored metal was placed, the color of the truck was also removed in this process.


    Seeing the entire process Jessy and Nanny were having goosebumps over the body. When they thought it was over, Arther turned ON the robotic arm, under their surprised eyes the backside roof of the MCV was opened and a metallic arm came out of it, it had four fingers and more than two joints, it had a futuristic look with a shining silver body.


    As this option was turned ON, the dashboard in front of the front passenger seat was next to the driver opened up, and a touch screen tab-sized panel along with a joystick appeared. The joystick was used to control the arm while the live video from the arm was displayed on the panel. It might require some training and practice for anyone the operate it but for Arther, it was an easy task. He closed his eyes and thought about the arm, soon his vision was changed to a 3D perspective of the arm, he felt the arm to be connected with him, such a feeling was a bit different for him, as he tried to move the arm it moved easily according to his instructions. As he got accustomed to this feeling he was able to use the robotic arm as his own body part, then he tried to pick up the biggest parts of the truck, and then one by one tried picking up the smaller parts. He didn''t collect the bigger parts since they had no place inside, instead, he collected the smaller parts and most importantly the rubber ones as he was planning of upgrading the MCV tires into something more sturdy.


    After collecting the things he wanted to, he was not done playing with this new toy. So he searched in the surrounding for anything he can use his arm on.


    While Arther was doing all this Nanny and Jessy on the roof were already having cold sweats, first, the pickup truck was eaten by the MCV and now an arm has grown out of nowhere, "Hey Nanny do you think the MCV is a monster?", both of them were lying on the roof watching the arm doing its work.


    "Sister Jessy, please don''t say such things, the MCV might get angry.", Nanny''s tone was already shaking due to fear.


    "Hah, who is afraid of this thing. I have to spank that brat a bit to speak out all the secrets he has.", Jessy spoke as she raised her fist, while she was acting tough her legs had already given up.


    After observing the surroundings and not finding anything Arther was about to give up when he overheard their whispering. Seeing them Arther had an idea in his mind as he had a wide grin.


    He operated the arm to move towards them and under the horrified gaze of both of them he picked up Nanny, seeing this both of them were already screaming to the extent, without further ado Arther placed Nanny in the upper deck and called back the arm. As soon as he was done, their parents also came running out of the MCV, on the roof Jessy was crying with tears spilling down her cheeks, seeing this Arther''s father went to the roof to check on her, at the same time a dumbfounded Nanny also walked out of the MCV, when she was about to call for Jessy a hand grabbed her shoulder and pulled her inside the MCV. When she was about to scream a hand was placed on her mouth, she opened her tightly shut big eyes with tears already welling up in them, in front of her Arther was gesturing her to be quiet. "Be quiet, let''s have some fun with sis." after he spoke he released her and went to the driver''s cabin pulling her inside by her arm.


    Unknown to Arther, the whole face of Nanny was already red, when he held her both their face was a bit closer, enough for her to feel his breath, and now him holding her hands felt a bit more intimidating for Nanny.


    In the driver''s cabin, he called on for a screen that displayed the rooftop, to Nanny''s surprise this video didn''t seem from a camera as it had a god''s eye view and even the audio was very clear.


    On the roof, Jessy was in a very sorry state, with her whole body covered in sweat, while her hands and legs shaking due to fear, soon Jack reached the roof and held her in his arms as he took her down in the living room, she was placed on the sofa, all of them worried about her conditions as she was crying and muttering something. After a while, she calmed down from the shock and fear, Abella gave her some water to drink after she was done drinking the water, Mey was not able to hold on and asked her with a worried expression, "Jessy, what happened and why were you calling for Nanny. What happened to Nanny."


    Hearing this tears started welling up in Jessy''s eyes as she thought of it, "Aunt Mey, Nanny.... was eaten by the MCV.",


    As soon as she spoke this, Arther came to the living room with Nanny following him, hearing Jessy''s answer everyone was about to react when they saw Arther walking in with Nanny. Seeing this Jessy was the most shocked, after thinking about it she understood that all this was Arther''s doing. As soon as she thought about how she was crying in front of everyone her blood was boiling due to anger, seeing Arther knew he was done for so without waiting for anyone to talk he ran to the driver''s cabin.


    "Ahhhhh...you stinky brat. I said stop there, today I am going to make you regret your actions. How dare you...", Jessy was like a tigress stepped upon her tail, she jumped up from the sofa and ran behind Arther, but she was a bit late in her actions as Arther had already closed the cabin door. She tried to open the door but he locked it from inside.


    After failing to open the door and being ignored by Arther her anger reached a higher limit, seeing everyone observing her she tried to calm down when her eyes fell upon a certain someone. Nanny was trying her best to reduce her presence in the living room, she knew what will happen if she fell in Jessy''s hand now, as she was relieved when Jessy followed Arther she heard something which sent chills down her body, "Nanny, let''s go we have to practice our task.", when she slowly raised her head Jessy was already beside her and without giving her any chance to reject she was pulled to the roof.


    For the whole time, the elders were having a confused expression on their faces, but this event helped them relieve from the things Arther told in the morning, seeing how active their children were they also felt happy and went to their allocated tasks.

 Chapter 60 - The Journey Begins.

    After having lunch it was time for them to leave, After being briefed their plans once again and their rolls, he allocated his father to be in the seat beside the driver''s seat for an emergency with a shotgun and few bullets, one submachine gun with 10 magazines was placed below Arther''s seat. While Jessy, Nanny, and Uncle John were allocated to the watch duty Arther has asked all of them to be there for practice purposes, since in the beginning there will not be any danger they just need to get used to the watch duty in a moving MCV. And this was the best time for it. Both Jessy and Nanny were provided with a revolver and 14 rounds with 7 loaded at a time, and Uncle John was given a shotgun. These guns were just for an emergency, and for others to get used to the touch of it.


    Abella was helping Mey with her work in the greenhouse, the greenhouse was well maintained by Mey, there were sprouts grown out of the soil patch, a few leafy veggies were also grown in the hydroponics, the fish and poultry also looked healthy.


    In the driver''s seat, Arther turned on the engine and started the MCV. With this their journey also beginner in which they will experience the wonders and miracles, meet new people. Some will stay while some might leave. A journey to becoming the strongest, a person who will rule the world in the future, begins at this moment.


    A few minutes later they were traveling through the soil road leading in the mountains, both sides of the road were enclosed by tree canopies. On the roof Nanny and Jessy were not in any good mood, the heat from the sun was directly falling on them, they had to keep cold water strips on the head to avoid sunstroke.. Arther wanted them to get used to these conditions as soon as possible hence he didn''t allow them to return to the MCV.


    As they kept moving they came across few broken houses, these houses were the properties built by the city government a long time ago for the trekkers and tourists, but slowly this went out of business due to some unknown reasons, with no more money to maintain the houses they were abandoned. Due to their location no one bought them.


    As they moved deeper the houses and clear lands started being covered by forest, they were beginning to enter the forest area. The road started to get narrow, but the speed of the MCV didn''t slow down, Arther''s driving skills surprised everyone. His father sitting next to him knew better than anyone else how difficult it is to drive the MCV. Being an ex-military man he has seen many military drivers with the best driving skills, but they also needed training and practice to learn those skills.


    "What do you think, how can Arther drive so well. As much as I know him he didn''t know how to drive.", Jessy spoke to Nanny while applying cold water to her face and head.


    "I don''t know, but brother Arther is amazing.", Nanny was better than Jessy, she was observing the passing scenery and enjoying the journey.


    "Ah, who am I even talking to.",


    with passing time the sunlight also reduced, they were now already driving for three hours, they were now in the westernmost area of the city, from here Arther had decided to enter the deeper parts of the forest. As they entered the forest Arther was feeling a bit nervous since from here the graveyard was just a few minutes away, soon they will be reaching there. The road here was a bit well built compared to the previous road since many vehicles carrying dead bodies were needed to pass through here. But there were no houses or residents nearby due to this.


    Before entering that place Arther stopped the MCV for few minutes and asked everyone to take some rest. From morning itself he was not having a good feeling. Hence he took extra precautions so as to avoid any danger. According to his past life, there should not be any problems till tomorrow morning but he also can''t ignore his instincts.


    His father also felt Arther''s nervousness and understood that there was something that disturbed Arther. But he didn''t try to ask anything. After everyone had some rest and after eating and drinking were done they returned on their journey again.


    This time Arther closed the shutters of the windows in the lower deck. Soon they reached the gate of the church. It was a big stone gate with many carvings, the church was a huge construction of the medieval period made out of stone, there were many carvings on the walls and huge statues around it for decoration. In ancient times when the king sends a huge army to conquer this region of the world, there was a great war between the king''s army and the joint armies of the rulers who ruled here, after a long and bloody battle the king won this battle. But the battle resulted in huge casualties. This church was built by the army general of the king in ancient times to give a proper funeral to the dead soldier. There were many stories and rumors about this church.


    The amount of dead in this graveyard has kept increasing from then on for many years, now the count of the dead which can be risen was unknown. But it will surely be a huge number.


    There was a rumor that the general''s dead body was also later buried here at his request. And according to the rumors when the dead rose this general was the one who led the undead. But no one was able to confirm this. Arther was not interested in this, he wanted to pass through here as soon as possible without any difficulties.


    What Arther didn''t know was that this journey would never be as he wished it to be.

 Chapter 61 - The Graveyard.

    Arther drove the MCV inside the main gate, the road led directly to the church, while on both sides of the road were graves till the eyes can see. This was one of the biggest graveyards in the country, the vast area of this graveyard was also the reason why Arther had to pass through it instead of traveling from the outside.


    When Arther and others drove inside, inside the church. There were food wrappers and alcohol bottles littered on the floor, while few men were lying on the chairs, they seemed to have got drunk and slept here. The sun rays passed through the small gaps built on the roof of the church for light illuminating the entire main hall.


    As soon as Arther''s MCV passed from nearby a man from the team inside the church noticed them, he was sitting on a higher floor of the church from where he was able to observe a long distance. Hence he was able to see the MCV from a distance away. Immediately he went to the main hall to wake up the others.


    "Hey guys, wake up. There is someone coming this way.", after calling them he ran to another room inside the church. These rooms were built for the father and other church members to live.. He went to a bigger room on the upper floor, this room was well decorated with a double bed, chairs, and tables with a big window. This must be the room for an important person in the church. At this time the person staying here was the leader of these people. They are a small gang of people indulged in doing bad things for money.


    The man ran to the door of the room and knocked on the big wooden door of the room. After few seconds there was a voice from the room calling him inside, following this the man entered the room. He lowered his head as he entered the room, from the corner of his eyes he saw the well-decorated luxurious room which made him feel a bit Jealous. Soon he reached in front of a bigger chair made out of stone and cushions, this chair gave the feeling of oppression to anyone in the room. On the seat sat a young man in his 30s. With huge built, black wavy hair tied in a pony behind, black tanned skin, his big well-built muscles displayed his strength.


    He was holding a silver wine glass taking sips. Though he tried acting elegant his actions were a bit rusty. Beside the chairs on the table was placed a revolver, this was his assurance of remaining in this position as a leader. Along with this, there was also a battle-ax which had been rusted in many parts of the handle and blade, the ax even though rusted and old was a lot heavier than any weapon he had used, the leader named Joseph wanted to take this ax to the back market and try repairing it. He had found this axe in a locked old box hidden in this room. It was kept there along with a broken battle suit. But he was not interested in that suit. So he had decided to sell it.


    As the man walked in from of Joseph, his eyes were also fixed on the ax and the revolver. Being the weakest among all of them he didn''t have any hope of being a leader, but he wished to have that chance.


    "Boss, there is a bus driving this way, I was not able to see clearly inside it. But there must be many people considering its size.", the man spoke in a flattering tone while lowering his head.


    "NO, we are hiding here for the last 4 days but no one has come here, these people coming here at this time might not be a coincidence.", Joseph thought about it before speaking.


    Being a small gang in the city they were suppressed by many stronger gangs. Due to the absence of strong backing, they were also not able to do anything big in the city. But from the time when the lockdown was announced Joseph smelled something different in the government''s moves, he and his men''s observed the city officials movements and found out many odd things, but the most important thing was that the control of the police over the city has loosened a bit, before any other gang can find this out Joseph along with his men''s looted many small jewelry shops on the city borders, from the money they brought some weapons and his revolver from the black market. With the help of this things they were able to level up their work by looting the bigger shops inside the city. But slowly other gangs also joined in and things got messy as the police patrols were increased.


    This church was the place they have been using as a hideout for the gang, and to hide all the things they looted. With this, the number of members of the gang also increased and the gang from the previous 12 members now had 30 people. All these guys included underground gangsters, thugs, pickpockets, etc. except for Joseph''s brother.


    Hearing what Joseph said the man was shocked, there were many people that can come here for them the police, other gang members, or their enemy gangs.


    "Boss, what do we do now?", the man asked worriedly.


    "No need to worry, for the time being, stay hidden. And let the boys be alert.", after speaking Joseph gestured the man to leave while he enjoyed the wine.


    While drinking he was lost in thoughts, from the time he has observed the government officials he had found a secret no one else knows about the government. He had come to know about the base city being built, the bunker, and the coming danger. This was also a reason why he chose this place as it was a strong fortified structure, easy to hide, and away from the city. And also looted a large quantity of food and other things. Along with the jewelry and money.


    He has not disclosed this thing to anyone as this was his trump card. And he was selfish.


    He wanted to hide here for the time being till the danger government was preparing for didn''t pass, but the visit of Arther and others picked his interest, as he didn''t mind looting few more people. While thinking about this a grin appeared on Joseph''s face as he took a sip of the wine.


    What he didn''t know about was this meeting of him with Arther was his biggest bad luck as after this his wife was going to divert from the past life. In Arther''s past life these guys were the most unlucky ones as they were staying between an army of undead, and were eaten without bones. Not even giving any chance to turn into undead.


    But this time something bad was going to happen to them.

 Chapter 62 - First Fight.

    Arther drove the MCV through the graveyard while his father in the passenger seat was observing the surrounding with worry and feared. Arther has asked his sister and Nanny to return inside the MCV letting Uncle John keep the watch. As they drove beside those graves everyone was having pale expression as they now understood the things Arther told them, just this much amount of undead from the graves were enough to drown a small town.


    While driving Arther noticed something, seeing it he had a mocking smile on his face. He stopped the MCV in front of the church, his father looked at him with confusion.


    "Arther, why did the MCV stopped?", Jessy''s voice was heard from the other side of the cabin door.


    Hearing this Arther shook his head with a wry smile, as even though she sounded tough her voice contained a trail of fear. "Everyone remain inside the MCV, we have stopped due to some reasons which you will know soon.", Arther made an announcement in the MCV through the mic. After this he took out the gun opened the insurance, seeing this his father was also alerted,


    "Dad, you go to the upper deck and ask Uncle John to be alert. You also stay there and don''t show up until my signal.."


    Jack nodded and took the shotgun and few rounds and went to the upper deck, according to Arther''s instruction everyone was on alert while his father and Uncle John were on the upper deck observing the church.


    In a few seconds of time, the MCV was completely silent and everyone was in position.


    After confirming the surroundings Arther opened the cabin door and went outside, he didn''t carry the submachine gun along with him.


    Inside the church, "Boss, they have stopped in front of the church and a small boy came out of it. No one else has come out other than him.",


    Hearing this, Joseph was surprised for a few seconds before he started laughing loudly, "What, a small boy. Since he has delivered himself to us we should be kind to him, watch his movements for some time. If there are not many people inside we will loot them, anyways the bus will be more useful to us.", after talking he stood up from the chair, took the revolver, and placed it behind his back in the pant belt, and took the ax and left the room. The informer man followed behind him, when he came to the stairs he saw the gang members below with a proud expression.


    In the main hall of the church, there were 20 men, most of the were holding ordinary weapons in their hands such as steel pipes and machetes, few members of the gang were led by Josephs brother Kevin to keep an eye on the police in the city, and on the activity of other gangs. Compared to Joseph who wanted to use the money to expand their gang, his brother Kevin was a bit different. Kevin is a well-known underground fighter and boxer, he had raised his reputation in the underground world through this fighting ring, from here he also got a few trustworthy men, these people were their biggest support in the past. And at that time Kevin was the gang leader, but Joseph got lucky after knowing the government thing and used the looted money to strengthen himself and announced himself as the new leader, his brother didn''t oppose this as he knew it was of no use and from then on Joseph had always kept his brother away from the gang to avoid any problem.


    There were two men standing alert behind the closed door of the church ready to attack at any time, while others were standing in the hall alert. Joseph walked past all of them and sat on a chair, the man following him stood behind him. Being the weakest he was not including in the fights he was responsible for keeping watch, cooking, and other small tasks.


    Arther walked to the door of the church and stopped a small distance away from it. He waited for some time, "Is anyone inside, can you please open the door?", after not getting any response from inside the smile on Arther''s face grew wider, he turned back and went to the MCV.


    The atmosphere on both sides was a bit odd as no one knew what Arther wanted to do, Arther went to the driver''s seat and closed the door, "Everyone, be ready I have found something interesting. All to the upper deck now."


    After making an announcement he went to his room and took out all the weapons and went to the upper deck. On the upper deck, everyone was already gathered, Arther ignored their confused faces and put the weapons bag in front of them, "The first thing you guys will need to learn is to use the weapons.", while speaking he took out the guns from the bag and laid them on the floor,


    "Sister, explain the basics to them. Dad, you come with me I have something to discuss.", Jessy wanted to ask him something but Arther didn''t wait for it and directly went to the other side of the deck, his dad nodded to Jessy and followed Arther.


    When his father was about to ask him Arther spoke out, "There are a few gangsters hiding inside." while speaking he took a peek outside through the opening in the wall.


    Hearing this his father was even more confused as they had nothing to do with these gangsters. "I want them to learn a few survival rules, and the first of them is to learn to kill humans too."


    When Arther said this his father knew what Arhter wanted to do, but being a soldier he can''t accept this. "NO, don''t you dare to ask them to do any such thing, I won''t allow this.",


    Arther released a long sigh as he knew his dad will not accept this, but he knew well that other the surviving in the apocalypse they will have to one day kill humans and Arther wanted today to be that day, he also didn''t want to do this but the gangsters were not a good people and hiding here they were sooner or later going to die. "Dad, you will have to understand this, I know what I am asking you guys to do now might seem wrong but this is a very important thing for everyone. If they don''t get free from the limitations of modern society they will not be able to survive in the future."


    "When the time comes we will face it, but now I won''t allow this to happen.", even after Arther''s persuasion, his father didn''t listen, finding no way Arther had to give up. With a sigh, he went to the driver''s cabin in an angry mood.

 Chapter 63 - First Fight 2

    Inside the church, Joseph and other gang members were confused and dumbfounded, they thought Arther might try to open the door or call for help but after calling once he left.


    "Boss looks like that guy was here just to pray.", the man behind Joseph spoke in a low voice.


    "Hmm, I also think so, but since this is the case they might not be many people. Two of you guys go out and check on them, and try to act a bit modest.", Joseph didn''t seem to be in any mood to let Arther and others leave so easily.


    Arther was in an angry mood as he went to the driver''s seat, being an apocalypse survivor for him human life was nothing.. But he also can''t force them to do so. Since they were not going to do anything here he decided to leave, when he was starting the MCV, the main door of the church opened and two men walked out, one of them walked to the front of the MCV while the second stopped at the driver door and knocked on it. Seeing their actions Arther knew very well what they were up to, but he didn''t show any opposition and acted along.


    The man outside was already impatient as he knocked on the door again a bit harder, Arther opened the window and looked at the man without any expression. The man was a bit surprised seeing the inside of the MCV.


    When Arther opened the window Joseph who was standing in his window was also able to have a glance of the inside of the driver''s cabin, seeing the advanced-looking dashboard a hint of greed flashed through his eyes. Without further ado, he ordered a few of his men to block the road ahead a bit farther away from where Arther can''t see. After getting a confirmation of the task from his men''s Joseph sent a gang member to try out Arther.


    While Arther was talking with the man, he observed the other man who was standing in front of the MCV who seemed to be holding their path forward. Seeing this Arther felt like a joke but he didn''t act against this, when he was getting bored and impatient and was about to ask these men to leave another man ran out of the church, he first whispered something in the mam''s ears who was speaking to Arther and then looked inside the MCV, he ignored Arther and didn''t even try to hide the greed in his eyes. Seeing this Arther''s expression didn''t change much,


    "Hey, can I know what are you here for? and is there any dead in the vehicle, if so we can help you digging the grave and other work.",


    hearing this, Arther stared at the men for a few seconds before speaking, "No, I was just passing by, hope I didn''t disturb you guys.", Arther didn''t let them know about the others in the MCV. He showed as if he was alone,


    Hearing what Arther said a smile appeared on their face, the man hurriedly gestured the other men to leave while he looked at Arther one last time before leaving, before leaving he left a sentence, "Since you don''t any work for us, leave, have a happy journey." when the man turned towards the church the grin on his face grew wider as he ran to the church.


    Arther watched his back when the man went far away Arther closed the window and started the MCV. He was confused a bit about these people''s behavior since when he acted as being alone he thought these guys might make some moves against him but instead they left so easily. After thinking about it for some time he shook his head with disappointment and drove the MCV forward.


    When the MCV started moving his father also entered the cabin again, this time the atmosphere in the cabin was a bit odd. After a silence of few seconds, his father looked at Arther, "It''s better we didn''t harm those people, look they didn''t hurt us anyways.", Arther saw coming a long time ago when his father came in with a proud expression. Even though he wanted to talk back he didn''t have any reason to do so. Hence he remained silent, they drove for a few minutes, for the whole time Arther had to listen to his father''s bickering, he was already getting out of patience.


    There was a turn ahead of the road, until now everyone in the MCV was also relaxed. As soon as Arther took the turn, ahead of them there were many wooden benches thrown on the road, behind the benches and chairs were two vans blocking the road, these vans were used for carrying the dead bodies. As soon as Arther saw this his bored expressionless face lightened up, a wide smile grew on his face. Without any delay, he put the breaks, the MCV came to a sudden halt making his father fall off his seat, "What the...., what are you doing.", his father tried to sit back in the seat and scold at Arhter when his attention was attracted by the road ahead.


    On the road on both sides, there were many men with ferocious expression holding handmade weapons standing behind the bloakage, as soon as the MCV stopped they ran to surround the MCV while a car drove from the roadside to black their escape. Everything happened in a matter of seconds that Jack didn''t have any time to react. But Arther was experienced in such situations and immediately took out the gun and opened the insurance but didn''t show it to anyone, he also gestured to his father to remain quiet.


    His father understood it immediately and slowly stood up and went out of the cabin, he directly went to the inside of MCV and after calming down everyone he took Uncle John with him to the upper deck, while going up he changed his gun with an M-16 rifle, he went to the backside of the deck while left John in the front. Both of them were ready to act anytime.


    Outside the MCV, the gangsters had already surrounded the MCV, after a few seconds Joseph walked out of one of the vans in the front while the previous man followed. When he came to the front of the MCV Arther also noticed him and knew that this guy was the leader, Joseph walked to the bench and then slowly took out the revolver from his back. He did not have a good aim hence he walked this closer, and he also didn''t want to use the revolver since every time he takes the gun out the other party accepts defeat. The fear of muzzle is not what anyone can win over. He aimed the revolver at the driver''s seat side of the windshield, "Boy, I know you are alone, so you better come out and hand over the keys of the vehicle to me, I will let you live.",


    Hearing this Arther didn''t show any reaction, "Dad, did you hear that? even now do you want to keep these guys alive.", this time Arther made an open announcement in the MCV letting everyone inside hear.

 Chapter 64 - First Fight 3

    John looked at Jack with a confused look, Jack also didn''t know what to say, before he had anyhow reasoned with Arther for not killing these people but now there was a slim chance of Arther doing it. And this time he also didn''t have any reason to talk.


    Jack looked at John with a wry smile and gestured him to stay there and not make any move yet. John nodded without further questioning as he knew very well what was happening outside.


    The announcement made by Arther was also heard by others, everyone was first confused but slowly understood what might have happened and why Arther had asked them to take the guns earlier. Mey went to the living room and from the window, she tried to see the outside, when she saw a few men surrounding them holding weapons her legs gave up, while she was under shock Nanny appeared in the living room following Mey, she came there and was surprised seeing her mother conditions, she hurriedly went to hold her mother and helped her into the room where all the ladies were.


    Both Abella and Jessy were shocked seeing Mey conditions and Jessy ran hurriedly to help her sit on a chair and passed her a glass of water, after drinking some water Mey also calmed down, .


    Seeing her mom calming down Nanny was no more able to hold on to her questions "Mom, what happened to you. Are you ok?", Mey looked at her daughter''s worried expression and had a wry smile on her face, due to her life experiences she has always been psychologically weak, any small thing might scare wits out of her. She didn''t tell about this to anyone, her reaction now was also due to this.


    "No need to worry about me, I am fine. I was just a bit scared.",


    "Aunt Mey, what did you see outside that scared you so much?", Jessy looked at Mey with worried eyes as she has not been feeling well from the time Arther asked them to take out the guns, and now the MCV is being stopped for no reason and their father''s serious expressions must have a reason. She felt very jealous knowing that her small brother Arther was slowly taking the lead over them and had become their leader, and now they were not even told about what was happening outside. Thinking about this she pulled Nanny to a corner, "Hey Nanny! don''t you think that brat is ordering all of us?",


    Hearing this Nanny knew Jessy was up to something so she decided to avoid her this time, "No, sister Jessy instead I think brother Arther is trying to protect us."


    "Oh, is that so? and from what.",


    "I think we need to know about the dangers outside too, we can''t always hide here.",


    "But, dad has asked us to be with mom and aunty", Nanny tried to reason with Jessy but to no avail. Without waiting for her to agree Jessy held her arm and went to the upper deck directly, she gestured to Nanny to try distracting Uncle John for some time, knowing what she wanted to do Nanny sternly rejected her.


    "You better follow my orders or you know what will happen.", Jessy looked at Nanny with an evil smile which sent chills down her spine. After trying to ignore the look for some time Nanny gave up and went to her father. There she acted as her mother was not feeling well and hurriedly led him down, John didn''t even have the time to notify Jack about this, before Jack could know about this Jessy made use of the time and directly entered the bunker in the front.


    At the same time, Joseph was also done speaking and the gangsters slowly started to close in, Arther smiled at their foolishness and opened the driver window, "Hey guys, I am really sorry but I don''t have any work for you, oh yes you can help me removing the roadblocks, I will pay for it."


    Arther wanted to make them angrier to lose the logical sense, this will lead them to attack first, and then he can let his family practice hands on them, he was now also interested in looting the things these guys might have hidden in the church.


    While Arther was doing this Jessy was shocked seeing the surrounding, both the front and back of the MCV were tightly blocked making it impossible for them to move, while more than 20 men''s with weapons were surrounding them ready to attack at the time, while she was observing everything John returned to the upper deck seeing this she climbed on the roof to hide from him.


    As soon as Jessy went outside the bunker Joseph and the other thugs spotted her, a flash of greed passed through their eyes and Joseph also lost his patience, without any further ado he gestured his men to slowly get closer to the MCV while he positioned himself in a way from where he can shoot at Arther, Seeing this Jessy knew she was spotted by them but didn''t understand why these people acted in such a way until she felt their greedy and lustful eyes on her body she knew what they were up to.


    She was sweating profusely as she hurriedly went down the bunker and under the surprised eyes of Jack and John she ran to the room where her mother and either ladies were. All of them were surprised and the most shocked one was Nanny as she has never seen Jessy in such conditions before. Feeling their questioning eyes she left the room and went to her room and locked it from inside.


    Arther knew about all this from the beginning, he didn''t hold Jessy back from doing that since in the future being a girl she will have to face such things more frequently.


    At this time, Joseph didn''t wait anymore and directly fired at Arther, but due to his bad aim, the bullet passed a small distance away from Arther and went directly to the passenger window. This was not the first time Arther has been in this situation so he instinctively closed the window and the shutters of the MCV, on the upper deck Jack''s face went pale as he heard the gunshot and he hurriedly gestured John to go to the driver cabin to check on Arther while he hurriedly went to the front bunker and opened the insurance of the gun.


    With a single gunshot, the entire area went silent, Joseph''s hand was shaking a bit due to the recoil while all the gangsters were looking at him with a fearful expression, this was the first time they have seen Joseph use the gun. Seeing no movement from the MCV, Joseph let his men check on it, while he slowly walked to the driver''s door while aiming at the window, Arther had already asked his father to not fire until he asks to, he also asked John to return after confirming his well-being, when the Joseph was a small distance away from the door, Arther immediately opened the door and before anyone can react pointed the submachine gun at his temple. Feeling the cold metal touch of the muzzle Joseph''s legs and hand was shaking with fear while his forehead was filled with fear.


    Arther walked out of the MCV and led Joseph to the open area on the roadside, as he left the gangsters also followed him carefully ready to attack him anytime, while all the gangsters were led by Arther the previous informer guy didn''t follow them, he thought that since Arther went away he can capture the girl and car and leave here. So he secretly tried to open the door when a gunshot sounded and the soil at his feet was blasted out. Seeing this he knew they have hit an iron plate and didn''t try to make any move anymore. It was Jack who fired to warn the gangster of his presence.

 Chapter 65 - First Kill.

    Arther led all the gangsters in the open area and forced them to throw away the weapons and surrender, in the beginning, all of them hesitated but as soon as he opened the gun''s insurance they obeyed. After controlling the gangsters he gestured his father to come over. Soon his father arrived at the place holding the remaining gangster who tried to open the door.


    His father aimed the gin at the gangsters while Arther ran to the MCV and drove it there. Then he collected all their weapons which were mostly iron pipes and stored them, this time he didn''t use the MCV''s automatic method to keep it a secret from those gangsters. He also confiscated the revolver and found 10 bullets for the revolver in Josephs''s pocket.


    After he was done with this he took a glance at his father who also looked at him, his father wanted to say something but except for hesitation, he didn''t have anything. Arther ignored his father and went to the MCV.


    Inside the MCV everyone was waiting for the news, since Arther had closed the shutters it was impossible to see the outside through the windows. Everyone was worried from the time they heard the gunshots, being a citizen of modern society it was normal for them to take a gunshot so seriously. Jessy was the most worried one as she knew the first gunshot was of the gangster and she felt she was the reason for this situation..


    After a few minutes, Arther came to the room where all the females were along with Uncle John who was holding the weapon bag in one hand and a shotgun in the other, Arther seemed to have told him something as he didn''t make direct eye contact with Mey which made her have a bad feeling, she knew he did this whenever he had done something wrong. Arther didn''t notice these small things he gestured to John to put down the bag and took out the guns and handed them to each one of them, all of them looked at the guns and then at Arther with a confused expression, seeing this Arther didn''t explain much and left the room after nodding at John.


    John took a deep breath and asked them to follow him outside, Nanny was happy for being given a gun hence she happily followed behind John, seeing Mey also hurriedly went behind her. Abella didn''t know what was happening but she believed in her son hence she also followed them.


    At the same time, Arther came in front of Jessy''s room, "Hey sis, open the door. I have something important to talk about.", Arther knocked on the door and waited for a few seconds, after not getting any response he smiled and with a single thought the door was opened automatically.


    Inside the room was sitting in her bunk bed with tears flowing through her eyes, when she heard the knock and Arther''s voice she was pulled out of her thoughts but she didn''t open the door to avoid Arther, she didn''t want anyone to see her in this condition. After a few seconds of silence when she thought that Arther had left she heard the door opening automatically, she hurriedly wiped her tears and took over the blanket and acted as if in deep sleep,


    "Hey sis, you know I have a bigger secret I have hidden from you guys", Arther stepped inside the room and went to the bunk above which Jessy was.


    "I can see and know about everything happening inside this MCV, take for example a girl being blackmailed by you for some reason.", as soon as Arther said this Jessy was feeling a bit guilty and surprised since except for her and Nanny no one else knew about this. And how much she knew Nanny, she will not complain about this to anyone.


    Thinking about this she thought about what Arther has said and something clarified in her mind and she stood up from the bed due to shock, she hurriedly looked down where Arther was sitting while looking up at her with a mocking smile. Seeing this she felt, even more, angrier and jumped down the bed and held Arther''s collar, "Brat, what else did you see? if you dare to see anything wrong I will beat you to death.",


    "Hahaha, Big sis what are you talking about, am I that kind of person. But I did see few interesting things, such as how you and Nanny fooled uncle John and went to the roof, and things after that. And a cry baby holing in her room.", with every word of Arther, Jessy''s grip over him loosened, and when he finished talking she was already sweating. Being the elder sister she has always tried her best to show her superiority to Arther and now to Nanny, but this was the first time she knew how bad she has fallen, if what Arther said is true then he must know about everything she did on the MCV. And might know everything in the future too.


    "Who else knows about this?", she tried to calm herself down as she asked Arther with a little gentler tone.


    "Umm, no one for now.", hearing this she was relieved a bit.


    "Brat, you better keep your mouth shut." hearing this Arther started laughing,


    "Why should I? Nanny will be happy to know about this, think how much fun it will be if everyone in the MCV knows about this.", seeing how Arther was not at all affected by her threats she gave up and pleaded with him to not do so.


    "Ok, but you will have to obey my orders without question. For now, take the gun and follow me.", Arther handed her the revolver and went out. Jessy looked at his departing back and then at the gun with a bit of hesitation, "Are you coming or not?", as soon as she heard the voice the last bit of hesitation was lost and she hurriedly followed Arther.


    Outside the MCV, in the open area, Jack was keeping watch on the gangster, being retired for a long time he has lost much of his military discipline and qualities hence thinking the gangsters to be without any chance to fight back loosened his alertness. After checking on them he went to a nearby stone grave and sat on it, Joseph and all the other gangsters were kneeling, while most of the gangsters was thinking of a way to plead to these people and escape Joseph knew from the beginning that they will not leave anyone of them alive since they have seen more than they should. Hence he had already given up on all his men''s and the materials in the church, he was waiting for a chance when Jack loses his sight and makes use of it to escape.


    And as Joseph was waiting for as soon as Jack sat and was a bit relaxed he gestured his men to make move, two of the men nearest to Jack waited for the right timing and pounced on him, before Jack could react one of them hit the gun away from his hands while the other pushed him to the ground, when this happened was the time when John also led others out of the MCV,


    "Ahhhh!", seeing the two men attack Abella screamed with shock, John tried to aim at them and warn them to surrender but the gangster was far more ferocious than these modern society people when those people acted first and their other members were a bit confused was the best time for John to open fire but his morals held him down, and when he made up his mind to do so it was too late.


    Making use of this confusion Joseph got the gun thrown away and without thinking much he shot Jack in his left leg, due to the wound and blood Jack lost his strength and was subdued by the gangsters, seeing this Joseph got more confident and walked towards the others after seeing Johns way of handling situation he knew they won''t be able to shoot at him, except for John all the other females were already on the ground shaking in fear seeing Jack getting shot.


    "Haha, I have an offer for you people, give me the weapons and the bus along with the females and you can leave.", he looked at John as he slowly reduced the distance between them, John was also scared from this situation and was not able to think properly, he was only aiming the gun at Joseph to scare him and protect his family. While Joseph was more than clear about the situation he knew he can aim properly hence he was trying to shorten the distance while distracting John.


    When he was a few meters away from John, "You stay away or else I will have to shoot you.",


    "Hahaha, it''s late buddy goodbye," Joseph aimed at John, seeing this Mey lost consciousness due to fear while Nanny and Abella closed their eyes shut, in a matter of milliseconds they heard a gunshot sound and followed by the sound of something falling on the ground.

 Chapter 66 - First Kill 2.

    There was a long silence, after a few minutes Arther came to the scene with a revolver with smoke coming from its muzzle, behind him Jessy was sitting on the ground looking at him with shock.


    "Hmm, you can open your eyes now.", he went to Nanny and others and spoke in a laughing tone. Hearing the familiar voice Nanny stood up shakingly and hugged Arther tightly, Arther wanted to move her away but after hearing her sobbing he remained silent and let her calm down, after Nanny calmed down she hurriedly parted away from Arther and didn''t dare to look at him, thanks to the previous shock no one noticed all this except Jessy.


    After everyone calmed down John looked at his feet and cold sweat started to flow down his forehead, Mey and Abella were also equally shocked seeing this, at John''s feet laid the dead body of Joseph with a bloody hole on his forehead with blood squirting out and flowing out of it, the blood has flowed and wetted John''s shoes, on Josephs face remained his last expressions of ferociousness when he was about to shoot John. If not for Arther''s timely entry things might have gone wrong.


    What made Arther so much angry to directly kill him was his dad''s wound. While the other gangsters were in complete shock and confusion Arther shot two more of them in the legs, they were the ones who were holding his father down, as soon as they fell down they lost the grip over his father and he fell to the ground too, till now due to the blood loss his father was already unconscious. Seeing Jack''s worse conditions Abella ran to help him, till now all the other gangsters knew to stay obedient after one last life and two lost their legs. They obediently kneeled down in the same place without looking up.


    John and Mey also ran in a few seconds and took Jack into the MCV, Arther asked Jessy to go and help them as well while he asked Nanny to bring few ropes from the MCV and tied the gangsters to avoid the same situation again. After confirming this he went inside the MCV to check his dad''s condition. When he entered the MCV in the living room sat Abella along with Nanny and Jessy. The atmosphere there was filled with sadness, seeing Arther his mother looked at him and tears started to flows down her eyes, he went to her and patted her shoulders and went to the room where his father was kept.


    In his parent''s bedroom, on the bed Jack was laid down, his pants were torn to display the wounds, on the table on bedside was a vessel filled with warm water, a few white clothes, and some kitchen knives. The white bed cover turned red due to blood, Mey was trying her best to remove the bullet from the wound and avoid bleeding but due to low facilities she was not able to do so properly and the use of the knife to remove the bullet kept widening the wound. After trying a few more times Mey gave up, while the process Jack was woken up from consciousness twice due to pain and also lost consciousness immediately afterward. To avoid Jack from making any movements John has to hold him down all the time. But he was also seeing such things for the first time and hence was also shaking with fear.


    Arther entered the room and this scene was presented in front of him, seeing his father''s condition he felt very sad. Mey and John also noticed him but they remained silent as from the time they saw him shooting people like pigs they felt he was way different than the Arther they knew. Arther ignored them and went to see his father''s conditions, due to the wounds his father was already having a high fever and the wound near the bullet was also showing signs of poisoning. After thinking about it a few times Arther sighed and went out, before leaving he closed his eyes and imagined about a few tools such as scalpel, blade, etc used for operation. In a few seconds, the wall near the table moved a bit, and liquid metal poured out of it as if being alive it slowly took the shape of those tools, seeing this both Mey and John were surprised. Mey immediately took those tools and easily and carefully took out the bullet and after applying some antibiotic stitched the wound and bandaged it,


    "Even though the wound is closed and the bullet is removed, there is a chance of poisoning. We will need a few medicines.", After completing the work Arther waved his hand, and the tools melted in the wall again and went out of the room. Mey and John also followed him. Seeing them leave the room Abella went to check on his father, Jessy also followed her. After a few minutes, Jack also returned to consciousness. After remembering everything that happened he felt guilty about his behavior and understood his mistakes well.


    When his father got conscious it was already getting dark, things were not going according to him. Arther didn''t want to stay in this place in the night at any cost and when they were having a wounded.


    So he led John and Nanny to the church led by one of the gangsters, with the help of that gangster they were able to easily collect all the things hidden by them, what made Arther delighted the most were the battle armor and the ax, he had heard about this thing in his past life. After placing them in the box carefully and loading the things in the MCV with the help of few gangsters they left the church. To Arther and other''s surprise the things they collected were mostly food, and their biggest harvest this time was the medicines and few drugs which according to Mey can be useful in emergency times.


    After everything was done Arther used the fluid collection method to clean out the vans, and a few metals in the surrounding comprising of the cross on the graves, and many more. This time Arther didn''t hide it from anyone, and user the shocked gaze of everyone present the metal in the surroundings melted down and got absorbed by the MCV. The storage of the MCV was completely filled up so Arther used the excess metal to strengthen the body frame and collision column by purifying the metal. This didn''t make much change except increasing the strength a little bit, it is similar to an increase in HP.


    After all, this was done Arther gathered everyone in the open place near the MCV where all the gangsters were kept. Except for Jack, no one knew his purpose but this time Jack also didn''t stop him. Arther released three of the gangsters who readily volunteered to help them and shut them in the church with some amount of food and water. Now it was their luck if they stay or leave.


    After that, he walked to John and took his shotgun, and handed him the revolver, "The shotgun will be too bloody, use this instead. Select any one of them you want to.", hearing everyone understood what they were gathered here for, the gangster was dreaded to the extent and started struggling, contrary to what a killer be like Arther''s family members seemed even more scared, Jessy and Jack were a bit better since Jessy has seen Arhter killing someone before while Jack has seen many such deaths in his life, Mey was trying her best to remain sobber, but Abella and Nanny were already on the ground due to their legs giving up, same for John his hand holding the gun was shaking due to fear.


    "I know it will be difficult for you guys for the first time, but trust me this is what you will thank for in the future. I want all of you to kill one of them, I won''t make it difficult for you so others will be taken care of by me and dad.", hearing they were even more scared. And the guns in their hands also fell down. Seeing this Arther sighed and looked at his dad who first tried to not look back but after being stared at by Arther for a few seconds he gave up and opened the insurance of his shotgun and without giving anyone a chance to react shot at a gangster nearby, the bullet directly hit his chest and blasted the body few meters away, the aftermath of getting shot by a shotgun in such a short distance was displayed, the entire chest of the man became a cavity while his heart was torn to pieces, blood splattered everywhere. Few pieces of it also flew in front of John and others, before they can react about all this Arther went to Jessy and handed her the rifle,


    "I will give you some time to decide what to do, until you kill one of them you guys are not allowed in the MCV. But remember where we are, I am going to leave before dark. Trust me you will not want to spend the night here in open with a dead body.", Arther left after speaking. He knew that he can''t do anything about their fears, they had to overcome them themselves.


    After entering the MCV he went to take a bath, and then ate some noodles and meat, and went to his room to watch an anime. He had stored a huge collection of anime in the system which he can use anytime.


    After an unknown period of time, he heard the first gunshot, followed by the other four. Hearing this he had a smile on his face.

 Chapter 67 - A New Day.

    Arther went out to check on them after hearing the gunshots, when he came to the living room all of them came inside, all of their clothes had blood stains and their faces were pale, Mey and John supported Nanny and took her to the bunk bedroom to sleep, Jessy and Abella also came in following Jack and went to their bedroom. After sending both of them in the room Jack returned to the living room and handed over the weapons to Arther, without much questioning Arther took the guns and kept them in the storage after Arther closed the storage door the bloodstains on the guns and the bag automatically disappeared.


    After that Arther took the submachine gun and went outside and closed the MCV door and windows to avoid the sound, in the open place 5 dead bodies lied with blood splattering everywhere while the remaining gangster was already psychologically broken down, their hands were bleeding from the place where the rope was tied due to their struggle, while few had wet pants. When Arther came to them the last bit of hope of surviving in their eyes was also lost and they gave up the struggle. After few minutes Arther came back in the MCV, washed his hands, and went to the driver''s seat. To his surprise Jack was sitting in the drivers seat smoking,


    "Take some rest, I will drive for the night.", Arther looked at his father for a few seconds and then nodded and went to the passenger''s seat. He knew it was necessary for him to be in good condition all the time ready to face any danger, and today''s night will not be that dangerous and after today''s activities he was also a bit tired. So without further speaking, he silently closed his eyes and slept.


    The MCV slowly started and drove off in the direction of dense forest. The road, in the beginning, is a bit more well built so it was not a problem to drive at normal speed, the shutters and windows of the MCV were completely closed so were the door, Jack also turned off all the lights inside the MCV, except for the moonlight passing through the fence and glass of the windshield there was no other light inside the MCV..


    After an unknown period of time, Arther was woken up by a warm sensation on his face, when he tried to open his eyes the strong sunlight passed directly through the windshield and fell on his eyes, due to the black covering on the glass the brightness of the light was a bit reduced but it still was enough to make Arther''s eyes hurt, he slowly adjusted himself on the seat and opened the window to observe the surrounding. There were trees everywhere he can see, and a mud path that seemed to have not been used for a long time as weed and grass were growing on it. The atmosphere was very refreshing, the cold air passed through the window blowing Arhter''s hairs,


    "Good morning.", his father looked a bit tired as he was driving for the entire night.


    "Looks like we are now far away from that place, let''s take some rest and check on everyone.", after checking the time Arther asked his father to stop for some time, in the forest they didn''t need to follow all those rules so they directly stopped in the middle of the road for easy escape in the emergency.


    It was 6 in the morning, according to Arther''s experience three hours to go for the apocalypse. This was also the reason he had decided to stop here.


    Both of them went to the living room, in the kitchen Mey was making breakfast. But she seemed to be in a low mood, Arther and Jack noticed this but they didn''t try to help her out of it, this fear everyone needs to fight themselves. Arther directly went to take a bath while Jack went to his bedroom to check on Abella and Jessy, yesterday''s events were a bit difficult for all of them, but to Arther''s happiness, they dared to face it. Now they will be okay with passing time, half an hour later after Arther was done taking his bath he went to his room and changed clothes and then took the weapon''s bag and came out. When he came out, John was taking bath while Abella was helping Mey in the kitchen, Jack was sleeping in his bedroom and Nanny and Jessy were sitting in the living room. The entire atmosphere in the MCV suddenly felt sad and lonely, Arther looked at everyone then took a deep breath and went out of his room holding the bag.


    When Arther came coincidently John was also done bathing, he was a bit shocked seeing Arther, everyone else also noticed Arhter, and when they saw the bag in his hands they were even more shocked and scared. Yesterday''s event has left a strong mark on all of them, for the whole night they kept getting nightmares, Mey was a bit better since she has seen many such bloody scenes in her experiments. But other''s were not the same, under their eyes, Arther came to the living room and placed the bag on the table, Nanny and Jessy lost their sleepiness in a matter of seconds seeing the bag,


    "Uncle John, you are done bathing? then I will go, oh today it is very hot I am sweating too much.", Jessy hurriedly stood up and was ready to run away, while speaking she didn''t dare to look at Arther, beside her Nanny was feeling the same way and was trying to find a reason too, when Jessy was a took a few steps,


    "Hey sis, wait for a few seconds. I hope you will listen.", hearing the blackmailing tone of Arther, a chill ran down Jessy''s spine. She remembered the scene where Arther shot down Joseph and the gangsters, thinking about that she reminded her steps and quietly sat in her place without looking at Arther.


    "Good, everyone please gather here for a few minutes discussion. And also bring the breakfast.", after a few seconds everyone was sitting in the living room except Jack, in the front of them stood Arther, all of them had their plates of breakfast which consisted of salad and sandwich.


    After eating breakfast, "Ok, so now we can speak. As I have told you before today is the day, so I want everyone to be in their position. From now on I expect all of us to work as a team.", hearing this everyone got serious as they what Arther was talking about.


    "After yesterday''s event, I hope you have understood what will be the result of any one of our failures in doing their task.",


    "But yesterday we killed someone, we are murderers.", Nanny spoke with tears welling up in her eyes.


    "No, not murderers, from now on there is only one word to describe humans ''Survivors'', and they have nothing else in their mind than to live. So learn to be the same, I know it will be difficult for all of you to accept what happened yesterday, you might also get nightmares for a few days, but the sooner you accept it the better for all of us. Now I want you guys to take the guns you choose for yourself from the bag, and remember to always keep them with you in any environment at any cost don''t lose your weapon. I am giving you this so that you can get acquainted with them.", after speaking he opened the bag and waited for them, after hesitating for a few seconds all of them took their guns, Jessy, and Nanny took the revolvers same for Abella. To Arther''s surprise, Mey chose a shotgun while John chose an M-16 rifle. Arther handed them half of the bullets accordingly and stored the rest of the guns.


    After this was over when everyone was ready to leave Arther spoke again, "Mom, aunt Mey from today for the next 7 days there should be only meat in the food all the three-time for everyone. I hope you understood.", hearing this all of them were having cold sweats on their forehead. Especially Mey and Abella, in today''s breakfast they didn''t dare to use meat as whenever they saw the meat they remembered the bloody scenes from yesterday and felt like vomiting. Same for the others.


    Before anyone could speak anything Arhter stood up and went to the driver''s cabin. He knew about all this but he didn''t allow them to go on like that since in the future there might be some conditions when they will have to eat anything they get to survive in worse conditions. This will be their training.


    After Arther left in a few seconds, Nanny ran to the toilet followed by the sound of vomiting, after she came out Jessy followed her. While Mey and Abella were sweating profusely just thinking about cooking meat, John looking at their conditions and then shook his head, sighed, and went inside to take some rest, in these few days he has learned to use the time they get for rest and always be ready.

 Chapter 68 - The Medical Room.

    After making himself comfortable in the driver''s seat Arther went into deep thoughts, according to his plan he had many modification plans for the MCV. When they reach the government''s emergency warehouse he will have enough materials to make a major upgrade of the MCV. But for now, he had a few options that they need urgently. And the biggest priority he gave to was a medical room.


    Yesterday when he saw his father''s conditions and the wounds reminded him of his past life, if not the injured eg he might have survived a bit longer, and the difficulty it brought was also not small. Hence to avoid any such thing happening with them he had decided to first create an ordinary medical room with few basic tools and medicines they have stored. With the system upgrades, he might be able to get something extraordinary from it. After deciding this he checked on everyone in the MCV.


    After confirming everyone was ok he closed his eyes and started to think about the structure of the medical room and its location. The place he has decided was next to his room, a small part of his room was used in this modification along with a small part from his parent''s bedroom. Seeing the reduced area of his room he decided to increase the size of MCV in the next upgrade.


    Everyone in the MCV also noticed the change, but this time they were not much surprised as they knew this was done by Arther. After the completion of the modification, Arther went to check it out personally.


    in the corridor next to his parent''s bedroom door was a new door, it was made of thick wood and metal. The room inside was half the size of his parent''s bedroom. It contained an operation table for the patient to lay down on, with an LED light above it and a tool tray on both sides. There were many tools needed for operation in the tray.


    Besides this, behind the table was a small window for proper air ventilation. and on the walls on both sides and above the window were storage space to store all the medicines and other things. After the room was done Arther brought out all the medicines they had in the storage and handed them to Mey, from this time onwards the medical room was also handed over to Mey. Arther also took a few pieces of advice for necessary modifications and required things in there. The most important one was a refrigerator to store the medicines.


    After this was done it was also time for them to leave, after urging everyone to get get back at their tasks and after Mey changed Jack''s dressing and applied for some medicines. Arther started the MCV. Their journey began once again.


    ****************


    few hours after Arther and others left the church.


    A few shadows came from the direction of the city in the church. They were none other than Kevin and his small team. All of them had sharp eyes, well-built muscles, among them the person in the center was a well-built young man. Along with Kevin, they had seven men and two women in total. Kevin was in the front running in the direction of the church a full speed followed by the other teammates. The one behind him was also a young boy in his 20s with two tanto knives on his belt, he was a bit short in height and a bit skinny but every muscle of his body showed the energy-filled inside him. Beside him was a middle-aged man who had a machete tied to his waist, on both sides of Kevin were the two women, both of them had strange weapons. One had a leather whip with three small blades at the edge, and the other one had a long folding sword tied to her waist. Along with these people, the most eye-catching were the last two guys, with the biggest body of everyone present they seemed to be wrestlers.


    Other people in this team also had their special weapons and looked well trained. Such a team can be considered strong even in the apocalypse not to mention in this modern society. If not for Kevin''s lack of interest in the gang matters and being more biased towards his fighting training they can be considered one of the strongest underground gangs in the city.


    As they neared the church Kevin and others found something odd in the atmosphere, there were large tire tracks on the soil which didn''t belong to any of the vehicles their gang used. Their doubts were confirmed when they reached the church door. The door was closed from outside, when they came to the door, Kevin gestured to one of the big guys who came forward expressionlessly and with a slight push easily broke the lock and opened the gate. Inside the main hall, there was no one, when they hurriedly went to check on Joseph''s room they found few gang members enjoying their time inside. They were the ones released by Arther. Seeing Kevin, they forgot the happy mood and immediately hurried to explain everything.


    All the teammates looked at Kevin after hearing the entire story. The appearance of such an odd group at this time here also confused Kevin but he didn''t think much about it, according to those people he came to the open place and the scene there shocked everyone present. There were dead bodies lying in the entire open space. The ground was dyed red due to blood. After watching the scene for some time Kevin gestured the guys in the church to bury the bodies and led his team in church.


    Kevin had come here today to take over the gang so he was already ready to confront his brother but his work was done by someone else so he didn''t mind it. What made him frustrated though was that all their goods were also looted. But he didn''t have the thought of going behind Arther and others to ask it back. He asked everyone to sleep for tonight while he went to the main room to think about their further plans.


    What all of them were unaware of was the great calamity had already impeded upon them, when the guys tasked with burying the bodies were done with it and were returning to the church few hands sprouted out of the ground beneath them and held them down, before they knew what was happening the bodies of their gang members they had buried just now slowly crept out of the ground and user their horrified eyes attacked them, under the moonlight which was seemed to have dulled a bit a faint red fog almost invisible to the naked eyes was spread in the atmosphere. And the entire grave seemed livelier as many undead walked out of the ground.

 Chapter 69 - The Apocaypse Is Here.

    On a small dirt road flowing between a dense forest, an MCV drove while pulling up the dirt on the road a few meters high, when seen from a distance it looked like a cloud of dust. The atmosphere in the MCV was tranquil, songs were being played on the radio while Arhter was driving the MCV at moderate speed, there were occasionally a few branches of trees colliding with the MCV making some noise, inside the MCV, Jack was sleeping soundly in his bedroom, Abella was in the greenhouse having a happy time with the plants and animals there, on the roof John was sitting in the front bunker while an arrow was loaded in the ballista, behind him in the rear bunker sat Jessy while Nanny was sitting on the upper deck floor just below her, Nanny was relaxing while supporting her head on her knees looking at the scenery passing from the window in the front. Jessy and John were a bit more alert and were carefully observing the passing scenery.


    Mey was doing some laundry work, and sorting out the things in the Medical room. Everyone seemed to more or less have overcome yesterday''s incident and had accepted the new life. They were already on the journey for four hours. As he kept driving forward Arhter noticed the change he was trying to find out for a long time.. When they first entered the forset there was small noise of insects and birds, logically speaking as they got deeper they should have encountered few animal or birds but since last one hours even the noises had stopped. The forest seemed eerily silent, in the beginning, Arther didn''t notice this but as time went by he was able to notice this small change.


    After thinking about it he speeded up, he wanted to find an open space where they can wait, according to his estimation the bright light from his past life must have already come which resulted in them being unconscious and also an indicator of the apocalypse but till now there was no sign of it.


    This made him feel even more uneasy as the fear of the unknown was the biggest, if such a big happened at the beginning of the apocalypse itself he can''t imagine what will happen in the future. After forcefully calming down these thoughts he increased the speed and drove till finding a small open space in the woods surrounded by trees and shrubs.


    As soon as the MCV stopped Arther closed the windows on the lower deck and the shutters too, after that he went out to check out on the surroundings while he gestured at John and Jessy to remain alert. After observing the plants and trees in the surrounding he didn''t find anything unusual, Mey also came out to check out the things, being a botanist she was the most interested in the first and its plants. Seeing her being in the periphery of the MCV Arhtet didn''t mind, after confirming that the surrounding was safe he went to the MCV and decided to take some rest here, from yesterday when they left the graveyard he was having the feeling of urgency. He knew very well this was his instincts to the danger which can''t be wrong after being trained in the apocalypse in his past life. He took out the gun and checked on the ammunition and kept it safely.


    "Hey Arther why did we stop here?", Jessy on the roof poked her head out and asked Arther in a serious tone.


    "I don''t know, but I am having a feeling that something bad had happened which we are unaware of.", after speaking Arther went to the kitchen in the MCV and took a cold drink from the storage. After finishing the drink he waved his hand and the can was absorbed by the wall. While he was doubting his instincts he heard Mey''s voice from outside.


    "Hey Arther, I think you should have a look here. Something bad has surely happened.", Mey hurriedly ran to the MCV door calling for Arhter, seeing her agitated expression Arther ran out to see what she was speaking about.


    She led him near a bush, when they got near it Arther also observed the anomaly, from the space between the trees near the bush he was able to see in a small distance forward, there the trees were different than the tree here, those tree''s trunk had a different color compared to the other trees. Seeing these trees Arther immediately identified them, the color of the tree was similar to the color of bones when observed carefully one can see small pointed thorns growing on them,


    "Hey Arther, what are those trees, in my entire life I have not seen anything such.", Mey noticed the change in Arther''s facial expression and understood that he knew those trees.


    Arther ignored her and hurriedly went to the MCV and with his thoughts a sharp knife was formed, after taking the knife and a cloth he went past the trees carefully to the nearest mutated tree and with the help of a knife cut out a large chunk of the trunk, a few branches, and leaves and collected all these things in the coth. When he observed the surrounding of the tree he found that a vast area had these trees, after searching for some time he found a root of these trees protruding out of the ground and with great efforts cut a portion of it. After he was done collecting these materials he went back in a hurry, and without waiting for a second pulled Mey inside the MCV and turned it on and they were on the road again.


    "Hey, Arther, what happened to you to act in such a way. And why are you sweating is everything alright?", Arther was brought out of his shock by Mey he wiped the sweat on his forehead and looked at the things wrapped in the cloth, and took a deep sigh. He then carefully handed it to Mey, when he saw her confused and questioning expression he had a smile on his face,


    "The apocalypse is here."

 Chapter 70 - City F Base

    After driving for half an hour at the highest speed possible, and confirming that they were far enough from that part of the forest Arther was a bit relaxed and also reduced the MCV speed.


    After taking a few deep breaths he looked at the passenger seat where Mey was sitting with a nervous expression holding the specimens he had collected . This can be considered as the most thrilling ride she ever had, looking at her appearance Arhter had a smile on his face,


    "Aunt Mey, you seem to enjoy the ride?",


    "No! not at all. By the Arther what are those trees and why did you react in such a way earlier."


    "Oh that, those trees are named as bone trees, they can be of any species. According to my knowledge, they are a type of mutation due to the apocalypse, this type of mutation can be found only in places where a huge amount of dead are buried underground. When this dead become undead they gain huge strength boost in the start to come out of the ground and search for food, but in few places, they might not be able to exit the underground due to certain circumstances such as mountains above them, stones, etc. when this happens they start losing the strength due to lack of energy and start infecting the surrounding area. When the root system of the trees in the surrounding absorbs this there happen the mutation.".


    Hearing what Arther said Mey slowly understood the condition and the seriousness of the issue. "You mean an undead without strength gets absorbed by the tree and they turn into something like this?", as she spoke she looked at the things in her hands curiously.


    "It''s not as simple as you think, the basic requirement for this is that the undead should be trapped there for a long time after converting into undead, second for a tree to completely turn into a nine tree it requires a huge amount of undeads.", Arther patiently explained as he drove the MCV.


    "If it is as you say then for such a big patch of forest to mutate how much undead must have required, and if there are undead then does this mean the apocalypse has kicked in already.", as Mey spoke out her doubts she got the answers herself after thinking about what Arther said, thinking that it has not been enough time since they left the graveyard now she understood what they might have escaped due to Arther''s decision.


    She hurriedly wrapped the cloth around the specimens carefully and then went inside the MCV, to notify everyone else about this. Arther watched her moves but didn''t stop her from doing so since he has shared this information with her for this purpose. Knowing that the apocalypse has already stated he didn''t dare to show any carelessness, he now had only one goal to hurriedly reach the warehouse in the forest and give an all-around upgrade to the MCV. Even now after system optimization, the MCV had many obvious faults which were aroused due to its structure. The biggest being its low ground clearance height and small tires which made it unsuitable for offroad driving. Arther already had a few ideas about this but he will require a large amount of material.


    With the news spread in the MCV through Mey everyone''s mood was tensed, when Jessy and Nanny tried to use their tabs to look for the news they found that there was no network. This showed that the human''s rule over the planet had already fallen, now for a long period of time, they will have to survive like the rats on the roadside.


    With this Arther drove the MCV.


    **************************


    In city F, the government built a bunker base.


    In a room deep underground, the room was a conference room containing most of the higher-ups responsible for this base. The atmosphere in the room was completely silent as all the higher-up exchanges looked but were disappointed after not finding their desired look from anyone. They have shifted here the moment the main structure of the base was completed. The base was designed by the most talented architects and engineers of the country and was enough to face most of the disasters. But the disaster they were facing now was not something anyone in this world would have thought of.


    The base had 7 underground levels, and 16 above the ground levels, the entire base was made of the highest grade materials and was surrounded by many military facilities.


    Yesterday night without any warning a large population of unknown creatures attacked the base, being unprepared the outer military facilities were completely destroyed and now the building was also surrounded by an unknown amount of such things. After careful observation, they came to know that this creature was none other than the most famous skeleton in the games and novels. They were completely made of bones while few had some patches of dried flesh hanging.


    In the meeting room, "So, does anyone have any solution for this?", the middle-aged man sitting at the main seat spoke. Hearing this everyone bowed their head showing that they had no solution.


    "We have tried to contact the other bases nearby for help,....but they are facing the same problem as us. Just that the number of those things outside is very less compared to here.", another middle-aged man in charge of the IT department spoke.


    "You mean we are not the only ones facing this attack, gentlemen what do you think about this issue?", the middle-aged man observed everyone after speaking.


    "Could this be a way of any country attacking us?"


    "No, according to the information we have received from the other bases, many bases of our country and other countries are also attacked. After observing and sorting the information our experts have come to the conclusion that....", the IT head was interrupted in between by the mayor in the main seat.


    "A global disaster. Hahaha, what a silly joke is this, so for the last few days the disaster we were preparing for was this. We have lost the outside electricity, water, and the military help too. Other bases can''t come here to help us. Does this mean for the last few days, we worked so hard to dig a luxurious grave for ourselves?", the mayor slowly lost his manners and logic as he thought about everything.


    Hearing what the mayor said the atmosphere inside the room was also depressing. After few minutes everyone left the room sending few medical personnel and a guard to take care of the mayor and avoid the new from getting disclosed.

 Chapter 71 - Fall Of Humanity.

    Along with the city F base, many other such bases built near the cities were facing the same problem.


    In the cities with a big population, the conditions were even worse, the police and other security bodies being reduced by the governments the common people had no other choice than to rely on themselves. As the undead started rising the situation got worse, being unaware of the disaster the people selected to hide in their houses and wait for the rescue. No one will have the courage to face their fears after seeing the undead''s strengths and the way they ate those unlucky ones alive.


    The cities which underwent chaos due to the appearance of the undead started to get silent again. But till now hundreds of thousands of people were already dead and those hiding didn''t have much hope for survival.


    ************


    F city base.


    After the psychological breakdown of the mayor, the main control panel of the base has lost the planning direction. The base was surely built according to the government''s instruction but the higher-ups in charge of the base have made a few modifications according to their convenience, all the security and armed forces were divided by them with absolute control over them. The mayor''s authority was the biggest not only because he was appointed to that position by the government but also due to the backing of a strong force..


    Mayor''s main force comprise of the army stationed in the base being lead by a lieutenant colonel. This was the best force currently stationed in the base with advanced equipment and twenty-two tanks. and other cavalries. With the help of these weapons and authority mayor and the colonel had suppressed all the other higher-ups.


    But now this huge force has lost its spine with the mayor. And due to the surprise attack of the undead half of the army personnel were killed. While the lieutenant Colonel was busy along with most of his force to ensure the safety of the base.


    When the higher-ups of the base got this information and the estimated time for which the base can be defended they were already preparing their escape plan. This was very simple thinking of the leaders of the modern society who have never faced such bloody battles. What they treasured most, for now, was the private money and resources they have hidden in the base.


    After the plans were ready all the security forces under their association were given the instruction about the plan. The first thing was to clean the warehouse of base as much as possible along with the mayor''s personal warehouse, Second was to load everything in the military vehicles without getting noticed by the army. And then take over the weapons and cavalry of the army and forge a blood path out of here.


    This move was a very vicious move as except for the combat personal and few important people under these forces no one else in the base will be saved, and once the food and other resources along with the weapons were looted they will not even have a way to survive here.


    This can be considered as treason against the country, but at this time seeing the condition of the other bases it was already difficult to think if there will be any country so these people didn''t think twice before implementing the plan. With this betrayal, a fight began inside the base too. The army protecting the base was silently killed whenever required resulting in the fall of the base defense. While at the same time more and more undead were gathering around the base from the forest, new undead was also joining from the city.


    At 3:00 in the morning, the number of the undead has reached a huge quantity, and even before the perpetrators can escape the reinforced walls of the base were broken down by the crowd and with this instigated the fall of city f and humanity.


    The same scene can be seen in many places. The number of undead was not the biggest disaster for humanity with the steel wall of bullets they can be dealt off, but due to unknown reasons, all the advanced technological instruments were broken down. Most of the circuits were burned down, and the weapon systems failed down even before anyone knew about it. Without the support of huge weapons like intercontinental missiles, and the advanced computing system and aiming system for the missile launcher it was not possible to use them. This forced the human into passive defense.


    All the major cities were converted into hell on the earth, with uncontrolled fires in few places, black smoke rising high in the sky. In just one night more than 60% of the human population fell, most of these people died without knowing the reason. All the government bodies lost their control over the areas, while the area under human rule kept shrinking the rule under undead kept increasing.


    Till 6:00 in the morning when the first rays of the sun shined on the land most of the undead which looked very weak when risen had gained enough energy from the food. In few places of the city centers with the highest human population, there were no abnormalities, few undead and zombies showed different characteristics than the others without following the regular trends.


    While all the places with the human population were slowly turned into hell, things were completely different in the deeper parts of the forests. There were no animals to been seen anywhere as if they disappeared out of the air. Same for insects and birds.


    At the same time, trees were showing some abnormalities, few grew taller as high as double their maximum growth cycle, few grew huge with wider canopies. A new form of life was ushered in the forests, with the sun rays falling on them the plants and trees mutated and evolved even more rapidly.


    From the air, in the atmosphere to the small grass shoots on the ground, everything seemed to have a change in this apocalypse. But every change was like an end to the human hegemony over the planet. The science and knowledge humanity has relied on till now fell short to explain all this.

 Chapter 72 - Changes In The Forest.

    Arther and his team were completely isolated from the outside world the moment they lost the network. Hence they also didn''t know about the changes happening outside this dense forest. Ony Arther had an idea of those things.


    As they kept moving forward the forest kept getting denser and denser, while the road conditions have deteriorated to a certain extent. It has been two hours since they passed through the area of bone trees, and from that moment Arther was on complete alert and has also ordered others to be ready with the weapons. According to Arther''s previous planning, they should have been able to reach the warehouse by 3:00 in the afternoon.


    But now it seemed that it might take longer than that. According to the information Arther had received from the internet this road was built in order to facilitate reaching the warehouse by the government. And was also built considering the wartime conditions and easy transportation. According to the information the system has hacked, an area of a 200km radius around the warehouse was completely isolated and there was no specified road, only the personnel allocated there knew of the way to reach the warehouse through the forest. This way was also identified by Arther with the help of the system.


    But now he was facing a major issue with this, according to the information, the way led through the forest was cleared out by the military stationed near the warehouse, it was regularly cleared out by them. But now he has observed an abnormal change in the forest. Everyone else in the MCV thought that they were moving deeper in the forest hence it was getting denser, if it was anyone else they will also have the same thought.


    The structure of every forest and tree is such that it acts as a natural maze. The topography, low lighting, and other phenomena can create a natural illusion that can lead the person out of the path. The military has built the warehouse here considering these things. It is very difficult to notice any change in the forest easily. This was also the issue for Arther and others for now.


    It took Arther a long time and the wake-up call from bone trees to notice this change. After observing the surrounding for some time Arther confirmed his guess, the forest was changing, plants and trees were growing rapidly. In the time of a night and half-day most of the topography Arther knew about this forest must have changed. This was also shown from the decreasing road condition. In few places, the plants have broken the borders of the road and have started growing on the soil path.


    If the conditions here are so difficult Arther was worrying thinking about what might happen when the road ends. Though he had a general idea of the direction they needed to go if for some reason the military personnel stationed in the warehouse are not able to clean up the trees and the path is blocked they will have to waste a lot of time here.


    As he kept thinking about this many conjectures were thought by Arther. But he can''t get to any conclusion unless and until they reach there.


    As he kept driving he was forced to reduce the speed of the MCV to a large extent, what made him serious though was not this but the rapidly flashing damage value of the MCV.


    When the MCV is scratched by ordinary branches and leaves it didn''t have any signs even on its body color. But now as the trees and plants have evolved it was enough to show the apocalypse''s severity.


    Most of the things in the apocalypse due to unknown reasons had the tendency to evolve and mutate to increase their combat power and survival rate.


    The small grass shoots on the roadside had grown to half-human height while the edges were shining with a glimmer of sharpness just like a sharp knife. The trees had their roots grow deeper, trunks got thicker, taller, and stronger. The leaves gained sharpness in the edges, few grew long pointed thorns. The flowers grew wider and more beautiful as if attracting everyone''s attention, but this beauty hid the poisons inside. The air in certain areas of the forest was contaminated by these poisonous gases become a no-mans zone, on the ground the thick roots of the trees can be seen spreading in various directions. Everything that was observed carefully showed obvious signs of mutation and evolution. As this change kept progressing the sunlight didn''t have any place to penetrate the forest resulting in darkness, fall in temperature, etc.


    Seeing these gradual changes even Arther who has experienced the apocalypse once was shocked. Such a thing shows the miracles that can happen in the apocalypse. This huge forest which once was a place for human enjoyment had become a completely no man''s land. If not for the system and the MCV even Arther didn''t have the confidence of entering and leaving this forest casually.


    Now Arhter knew why even after the increase in the human powerhouse and technological weapons human''s still failed to defeat the beast kingdoms. This forest can be considered as a natural barrier defending the beast kingdoms and also a vast source of resources for their steady progress. Even with IQ an EQ lower than human the beast was a major force ruling on the planet in the apocalypse.


    Knowing and seeing all this Arther was not scared but was even more motivated to fulfill his ambitions, one day he might conquer this forest and then he can enjoy the benefits hidden inside this forest. With this positive mindset, he kept driving carefully to keep the damage on the MCV as minimum as possible. Until now the lower part of the MCV and the tires showed the most damage of 4% and 6% respectively. Even though he had tried his best to modify the tires they were still far from the standard reinforced ones, currently, he can only reduce the air pressure in the tires a little bit and decrease the driving speed.

 Chapter 73 - Warehouse Maintenance Team.

    After driving for more than 9 hours Ather was saw something other than this growing forest. From here the soil road has come to an end. Seeing this Arther was delighted to know that they were nearby the warehouse.


    After reaching the end of the road he stopped the MCV and carefully observed the surrounding for any movement. After confirming that there was no danger he asked everyone on the watch to be alert while took his gun and went out.


    As he carefully observed the surrounding he found some small traces which seemed to be hidden due to the sudden growth of the trees. Except for the left direction all the other sides had thick and strong growing trees which even with the stimulated growth can''t be able to grow in a short time, this showed that those trees were there from the beginning.


    After checking all the other directions Arther came to the only suspicious direction, left. Here there was grass and small bushes and shrubs completely blocking the left side, the height of the grass was as high as Arther''s neck. Entering such an environment when he didn''t know how far they were from the exact location of the warehouse and what might be inside these shrubs and grass was a high-level risk.


    Even though Arther knew there might not be any animals or insects in this place, but considering this place being military property and the strategic materials in the warehouse there must be enough security measures..


    After confirming that this can be the only way to the warehouse Arther went to the MCV and sat in the driver''s cabin lost in his thoughts. According to his estimation, there must have been a small checkpoint nearby, if not for this dense forest he might have been able to find it out easily. And from there he can try to contact the military personnel based in the warehouse.


    About the military personnel, Arther received this top-secret information when the system hacked the military sites of the country. According to the information he has there was a team of 10 people stationed here with a shift of 3months. The team consists of a captain, a vice-captain, five soldiers for security, two forest department guards, and one technical person responsible for the warehouse maintenance. All of them are well trained for forest war, to defend the warehouse. They are also well equipped and a humvee for their use. While the warehouse is fully loaded with a huge quantity of arms and ammunition they can make use of in emergency times.


    Knowing this information Arther more or less had an idea of their strengths, for such a well-trained team if they engage in a fight only Arther and his father can stand against them. But even then they are destined to be defeated. Hence Arther wanted to instead try using other means, once he is allowed to take refuge there for some time he has enough confidence in stealing a few of the things in the warehouse and then escape before they notice it. This was Arther''s previous plan, though this plan had many loopholes it didn''t matter.


    But now losing the only way to contact the team inside he had to rethink his plan. After thinking their condition out he was suddenly lightened by thought and immediately let of his previous worries. Turning off the engine and closing down the window and door he went inside the MCV.


    When he checked the time it was already past 6:00 in the evening, soon the sky will start darkening and the forest will be covered in deep darkness. After stretching his body which was paining due to the continuous driving for such a long time he went to the living room.


    He also called back Jack, Jessy, and Nanny who were on alert on the roof. After assuring everyone to relax and not worry about outside he went to his room to have some rest. At this time his father was already awake and his injury has also stopped bleeding. This relieved everyone''s worries, Mey and Abella were cooking the dinner for everyone, and according to Arther''s orders, there were mostly meat dishes with a small number of veggies. From the time they entered the graveyard and after facing the gangsters and all, everyone''s nerves were tight.


    But now this short period of the tranquil atmosphere has relieved most of their stress. Even for Arther this time was a rare delicacy. Even though he has survived the harsh conditions of the apocalypse and having the habit was getting least to none rest time his mind and soul might be slightly stronger than others but his body was that of a shut-in otaku. And being responsible for the life of his entire family is a great stress for him to behold of.


    After washing and getting fresh he went to take a small power nap, as soon as he laid down on the soft and warm bed he was slumped into a deep sleep.


    After an unknown amount of time Arther was woken up from his sleep by the constant knocking sound at the door, after lazily waking up he went to the door and found that it was Nanny standing at the door, she came to call him for dinner.


    After nodding to her he went into the room to check the time, he was surprised to find that it was already 10:00 at night. After a few minutes, he went to the living room where everyone was already waiting for the dinner to be served, when he came he had a bit of difficulty finding a place to sit. All the places were occupied by Jack, Jessy, Nanny, and his father John. While his mother and Mey were having dinner in the kitchen itself. Feeling the suddenly cramped condition in the MCV he included this issue in his note to consider during the next upgrade.


    His plates were served and kept on the table, he directly took the food and went to his room to eat. While eating he was thinking about his plans and was checking the upgrade conditions of the MCV and the materials required.


    While checking he found out something very important, except for the materials the system uses the stored energy for every update. This was not known by him before because the previous upgrades didn''t use much energy. But for the complete upgrade of the MCV or other bigger upgrades and levels ups, a huge amount of energy must be required. With this a new task was added to his list of tasks, to find ways to earn more energy.

 Chapter 74 - A Female At Door.

    While everyone was enjoying the dinner and the atmosphere in the living room was also a bit cheerful. Suddenly there was a knock on the main door of the MCV. In the beginning, no one noticed it, but when the intensity and noise of the knock increased for the second time everyone was able to clearly hear it.


    In a moment of seconds, the living room was pin-drop silent, everyone was on full alert. John slowly placed his dinner aside and went to take his shotgun, they knew well how deep inside the forest they were that even on normal days it is difficult to find anyone here. But now in the apocalypse, there was someone knocking at their door that too at this time. When John was about to go to the bunker to check on the situation Arther hurriedly came out of his room with a delighted expression. He gestured everyone to be quiet and took away their weapons under their confused eyes and hid them in the storage of his room and lock them well. He even used the system fluid metal technique to seal the storage.


    After confirming everything he slowly went to the door and opened acted to open a small slit to watch the outside. As soon as he opened the door before he could react a black muzzle was inserted straight inside the door and with a twist the door was completely opened. These actions were well-coordinated and fluid showing how well trained the person performing them was..


    As soon as the door was opened the light from inside illuminated a small part of the area in front. Seeing the person outside Arther was completely shocked. The person standing in front of him was a female, in standard camouflage uniform of their country with a complete set of equipment along with night vision goggles, a voice transmitter, and many more things. What made Arther shocked was though not this equipment but her torn clothes near the stomach and right thighs exposing the snow-white soft skin inside and few crudely bandaged wounds. Even though her posture was filled with arrogance and she was aiming her gun at Arther her face was pale, dry lips, eyes with dark circles under them, and her arms were a bit shaking after maintaining the posture for some time.


    Seeing this Arther understood that his plans needs to be changed completely after hearing this female out. After confirming that there were no other teammates of her in the vicinity Arther directly took action. Taking a step forward he hurriedly held her gun and aimed it above the moment she pulled the trigger and then without giving her any time to react he pulled the gun out of her grip threw it away and without any mercy punched her into the stomach direct on the wounds.


    Considering her conditions he didn''t use much strength but still, this one punch was enough to defeat the female who was already physically weak and was fighting with sheer will. And the intense pain from the wounds broke that will easily making her lose consciousness. Seeing her falling to the ground Arther hurriedly called John out and both of them carried her into the medical room.


    After gesturing for John to leave he closed the room door under the awkward eyes of John and his family. He didn''t have much time to waste. First of all, he was very impressed by her equipment so he took everything he can. The radio transmitter with an earphone and mic, the night vision goggles, an M9 pistol with one extra magazine, an M18 pistol with one loaded and one extra magazine, a SIG MPX loaded with 30 rounds magazine, and an HK416 loaded with a 20 round magazine.


    Seeing all this equipment Arther was already drooling but when he thought of her backpack which fell outside he was even more excited, after cross-checking her body once again to his surprise he found something on her leg. Though he knew about it he was caught in a dilemma whether to do it himself, after some time of conflict in his mind he still gave up and opened the door to call Mey and Abella in, when both of them came inside, his mother eyes were already a bit odd toward him but he ignored her directly. When both of them saw that the female''s clothes were fine they heaved a sigh of relief. Seeing their reactions Arther was feeling his anger boiling up but he tried his best to suppress it.


    "Aunt can you take out the knife she has hidden here, I will wait outside.", after printing out the location Arther directly went out to his room and after searching for some time he found a pair of ropes in the storage. Along with that he also took out the weapons he hid before. Before he hid them to gain sympathy from the military team and try entering the warehouse but now looking at this girl''s conditions he felt a sudden sense of crisis, the military team might have faced something unprecedented which even their well-equipped weapons can''t face. So to avoid panic he handed everyone their weapons which can provide them with a sense of security.


    After distributing the weapons he went to the medical room, when he entered the room Mey had used a knife to cut the pant of her right leg to reveal her entire leg. Below her knee was tied a standard military bayonet after opening the straps and Mey handed over the knife to Arther, after taking it he put the knife along with other equipment and then took the rope and tightly tied her down with the medical table and them asked them to properly bandage her wounds. While he collected all the equipment and took them in his room placing them on the bed he hurriedly went to pick up the backpack outside and then after once more observing the surrounding he closed the door.


    Inside Arther''s room, the light was on while various military equipment was spread out on the bed. Arhter sat in the middle of this equipment with a wide grin on his face. This girl was surely an express delivery to the door. What made him even more excited was that if just this girl has so many things then the warehouse can be considered as a treasure chest lying for him to loot.


    From the backpack, he received a military-grade binocular with a 7x range and measurement scale, a 100 round magazine of HK416, two more magazines for M18 pistol, 30 packets of MRE food with one half-eaten, a 2L water bottle with a built-in purifier and filter. After checking all this things Arther knew was looking forward to the warehouse.

 Chapter 75 - New Novel From The Author.

    Hello readers,


    I hope you are enjoying the novel story. Soon new features and characters will be added to make it even more enjoyable to read.


    This reminder is to notify all the readers that a new Novel will be released soon, it will be a game elements-based novel. I am writing it just for fun so there will be no deep storyline but I can assure you that it will be fun. So please give it a try..


    And this novel''s updates will not be affected, there will be constant updates of one chapter a day for both novels.


    Name of the novel: Star Space survival.


    Tomorrow its first chapter will be released.


    Thank you.

 Chapter 76 - News About The Warehouse.

    After sorting all the things and storing them carefully in the storage Arther happily went to bed. Even when sleeping he had a wide smile on his face.


    Early next morning at 5:00, the forest was still as dark as at night, the air in the forest due to low exposure to sunlight had already started to retain moisture due to which there is a large amount of fog in the morning making it difficult to observe the surrounding properly. At this time Arther and others were already awake and fresh after yesterday''s break. Currently, Arther was standing on the roof using the military binocular to try seeing in the distance but his vision was blurred by the fog.


    After watching for some time Arther shook his head and went down when he came to the living room his hair and clothes were already slightly wet due to the dewdrops. The atmosphere outside has made it difficult to keep a watch on the surrounding hence he asked John and other to wait until sunrays clear this fog. This problem also made Arther realize the biggest issue with the MCV, it didn''t have a proper surveillance system! Thinking about this Arther was having a headache as he added this too in his upgrade notes.


    After he was done with the work the breakfast was also prepared and served, with Arther''s instructions the breakfast was heavier than lunch and dinner to provide enough energy for the day, and it will be helpful if due to any reason they had to skip the food in between. The breakfast contained grilled mutton, beef slices, a can of fruit juice for each, and few fried vegetables. After eating the breakfast Arther brought Mey to check on the condition of the girl..


    For Arther, it was very important to enter the warehouse and the danger there. When they reached the medical room Arther heard a faint noise coming from inside, he gestured at Mey to be quiet and listened carefully.


    **********


    Few minutes before Arther''s arrival.


    Inside the medical room, Rose slowly opened her eyes as she woke up from her unconsciousness. Due to the long time of strain she had put on the body and the injuries with a lot of blood loss has used up all her energy. So now her body was so weak that it was difficult for her to even open the eyelids. After a few seconds of effort, she opened her eyes and tried to observe the surrounding.


    After observing her surroundings it took her brain some time to process everything that happened till she was beaten up by a child and then she lost consciousness. Thinking about this she tried to move her body but intense pain struck all over her body and she lost control over her body. Her limbs were feeling unusually heavy and she was not even able to lift her head to look at her body, she lied down and took deep breathes to regain some energy, after a few seconds of rest her body was able to make some movement.


    When she felt her hands and legs she was surprised to find herself tied with the table below. When she looked around she found that her equipment was missing and even her clothes were changes. When she looked inside her clothes her heartbeats increased as her inners were missing and there was a white bandage over her wounds.


    Thinking of what might have happened with her she forcefully bit her lower lips till it bled to ignore the pain in her body and struggled to get herself free. Being a soldier she has been trained how to act under such conditions.


    **************


    When Arther and Mey arrived here was the time when she was struggling and hence made some noise. Thinking about her conditions and still her struggle Arther was impressed by this girl''s willpower. If possible he might try adding her to their team. Anyways he has already decided to help her leave the forest after they loot the warehouse, as for will she tell him what he wants? Arther has enough techniques to make her speak.


    After watching her struggle for few minutes and her pale face Arther didn''t wait any longer, if he waited for some more time this stubborn girl might get herself unconscious again. Hence without wasting any more time he led Mey to the Medical room door. The moment he twisted the doorknob the girl inside heard the voice and immediately gave up struggling and acted as if being unconscious. She knew once she show any sign of waking up she will be interrogated. Though she didn''t understand why she was captured and for what information she didn''t want to gamble on this.


    Arther entered the room and when he saw her acting his face showed a wide grin as he led Mey inside, after coming beside the medical table they waited for some time to see if she gives up her acting. After a few minutes seeing that she had no intentions of giving up Arther gestured to Mey and then spoke, "Hey, I know you are awake I will give you three seconds to stop acting, or else you will be responsible for whatever happens next."


    The moment he spoke this there was a slight movement in her eyelids, seeing Arther knew she was scared by his warning but even after this she didn''t give up. Seeing her stubbornness Arther had no other choice than to use the harsher way.


    "Since you don''t know your condition let me make you realize it.", after speaking he gestured at Mey to start taking off her clothes, seeing it Mey had wide eyes and a questionable look, but under Arther''s persuasion, she wore the gloves and followed his orders. From the beginning they entered the room Mey has not made any sound hence Rose didn''t know about her presence, according to her there was only Arther in this room, and this was what Arther wanted her to think. To keep her thinking the same way he asked Mey to use the gloves.


    Under Arther''s instructions, Mey first caressed the girl''s body and then slipped her hands inside the clothes, and when Mey was going to remove her clothes the girl was not able to keep her calm anymore and she opened her eyes and tried to struggle. Seeing this Arther had a grin on his face as he asked Mey to stop.

 Chapter 77 - News About The Warehouse 2.

    Feeling the movements of the hand touching her stop, Rose was relieved as she slowly opened her tightly shut eyes. The moment she made the struggle she knew her fate very well, but when she opened her eyes she was shocked to find out that the one touching her was a female while standing beside her was the kid who she saw yesterday.


    Seeing these eyes were wide open due to shock, Arther ignored her shocked expression and gestured at Mey and when she nodded he went to untie the girl''s hands tied to the table below, after he untied her hands he tightened the rope to tie her hands together behind her back to avoid any problem, then Mey held Rose and despite her struggle, she made her sit up on the bed. After doing this Mey checked on her wound and then changes the bandage while Arther turned around. After completing her task she patted Arthers back and then took the old bandage and left.


    After Mey left Arther closed the door and locked it and then turned his attention to the girl inside. When Arther turned his attention towards her Rose was already sweating a bit, to avoid showing her fear to Arther she hurriedly tried to calm herself down by taking deep breathes but this worsened the situation as her wounds on the stomach gave immense pain when breathing hard.


    Seeing her scared look Arther was impressed as this will help him a lot, he went to the medical table and took a bar stool kept in the corner, and sat beside the table. To avoid any more fear he sat there quietly to allow her to calm down.


    After a few minutes of breathing Rose was able to calm down as she stared at the kid sitting beside her, even though fro her Arther was a kid she didn''t know why but she felt a sense of oppression from him, even when he was sitting there quietly her instincts were warning her that he was dangerous. And when she remembered how Mey obeyed his orders without questioning she thought he might have a high position among these people.


    After her conditions were a bit better her brain started to process the information around her rapidly as she tried to find a way to escape without alerting Arther, in a few seconds she spotted the operation knife and other instruments kept in the toolbox attached to the medical table, seeing them she quietly took a peek at Arther who coincidently wasn''t looking at her and was looking outside the window finding this opportunity she moved a bit and with her hands tied at the back took out the operation knife as carefully as possible without making any noise then returned to her previous position. The moment she returned to her position Arther also turned his attention towards her and stared at her for a few seconds, when she was doubting whether she was caught she saw a smile appear on Arther''s face as he moved the stool a bit closer.


    "Hello, I am Arther, and what is your name?", Arther tried to remain as polite as possible since he was thinking of poaching this girl into his team.


    Even though Arther was being polite to her Rose was still a bit vigilant, after finding no danger from Arther she replied with no so cooperative tone,


    "Rose",


    Hearing her way of answering the smile on Arther''s face grew wider as he knew it was not going to be easy breaking this arrogant girl''s attitude. But he still had to try.


    After talking about few ordinary things like what she likes to eat and all, Arther took his leave. This surprised Rose even more as she didn''t think things to go this way, according to what she was trained for the enemy after capturing will either directly kill you or will try to interrogate you to gain some important information. But Arther was different he instead of asking her anything has even disclosed some information about himself. According to what he said they were common people from the city F and were here due to some uncertain circumstances, and what shocked her the most was that the people she thought might be her teammates were actually his family.


    This confused her, but from the information, he disclosed she gained some very important points such as the problem due to which they had to leave the city and instead of going to any other city they came to this forest.


    While Rose was lost in her thoughts there was a knock on the door and then Abella came inside carrying some food plates she had prepared before, following her was Nanny. After placing the food on the table Abella left leaving Nanny inside.


    Looking at Nanny who seemed even younger than Arther, Rose was starting to believe what Arther had said, after all, if they were here to fight against them they won''t be bringing children instead of trained fighters. When she looked at Nanny she felt there was something wrong with Nanny''s look. She felt like being stared at by a woman whose husband was stolen by her. She was clearly able to notice the hint of jealousy and anger hidden under this loli''s eyes. This made her confused since she didn''t remember meeting this girl before and more so doing anything to receive such a look.


    After staring at her for a few seconds Nanny went to the medical bed and untied the rope tied to her legs, then she went to the hands and under the surprised eyes of Rose she took the knife from her hands and placed it in the instrument box and then untied the rope, finding no reaction from Nanny after finding out the knife confused her.


    Seeing her confused expression Nanny spoke out, "Humph, to think that you can deceive brother Arther so easily. He has already told me about the knife you took from there. There is no need to make any wrong move as sooner or later when you know the truth you will find yourself lucky to be able to meet us."


    After untying her hands Nanny took the rope and went out,


    "Make sure you have the dinner before it goes cold." after leaving her last message Nanny closed the room door.


    The moment the room door was closed Rose waited for a few seconds and then hurriedly went to the door to check if it''s locked and to her surprise, it was not locked at all. Seeing that they were not trying to harm her she went to take the food and sat on the medical table. While eating the food she was thinking about what Nanny has told.


    "What truth was she talking about? is it related to those things in the warehouse?!"

 Chapter 78 - News About The Warehouse 3

    The night went without any issue. After seeing Rose conditions when she came to their door Arther knew this forest was filled with hidden dangers so to avoid any problem in the night he asked John and Jessy to keep watch for the night, he also provided them with the military binoculars and night-vision goggles and the SIG MPX for better security.


    For the night except for those keeping watch all others had a good night''s sleep.


    ***************


    In the medical room,


    After having her dinner Rose had a feeling of fullness which she was longing for the last two days. Though her military ration was able to provide her with enough energy it was still different from the cooked food.


    After relaxing for some time thinking about her previous communication with those people and the information she can deduce from that she thought about many things. After thinking about these things without any result she gave up for the time being, for now, she had to find a way to get back her equipment and then think about her further plans.


    She had to find a way to contact the military and ask for reinforcement to rescue those stuck inside the warehouse..


    What she didn''t know was that there will not be any military coming to help them even if she ask for it. And even less to rescue few soldiers.


    She checked out around the room for any surveillance instruments, after confirming that there was none she slowly went to the door, when she tried to open the door to her surprise it was locked and that too from inside. She didn''t remember locking the door, not thinking too much about this she tried to unlock the door but it seemed to be stuck, seeing this she was already sweating as she hurriedly went to the instrument box, but to her surprise, all the tools kept in the instrument were absent as if they disappeared out of thin air.


    This confused her as she didn''t find anyone taking the tools out when they came before. With this shock, she didn''t dare to sleep for the entire night.


    ***********


    Early next morning,


    At around 9:00 the forest started to regain life as sun rays reached the ground. John and Jessy keeping watch for the entire night were called down for breakfast and some rest. While the whole was gathered for breakfast again Rose was leaning against the medical table sleeping soundly after remaining awake for a long time.


    At 9:30, after everyone was done with their breakfast, Arther led Mey to check on Rose''s conditions. When they came to the medical room with Arther''s thought the door was unlocked automatically and they entered the room.


    Hearing the unlocking sound of the door Rose was also woken up, seeing Arther coming she increased her alert against him. From yesterday''s event, she understood that these ordinary-looking people were not so ordinary.


    Arther went to the stool and sat there while Mey place the plate of breakfast on the table beside the medical table and then went on to check on Rose''s wounds, seeing her actions Rose had the urge to struggle and oppose but she tried to calm herself down as she was a bit afraid of Arther sitting beside her.


    While Mey was busy checking the wounds Arther spoke out, "Hello Rose, may I know what happened to your yesterday''s conditions."


    Seeing the questions coming to the point Rose was a bit tensed but she still answered while trying to hide as much as she can and only revealing a few not-so-important things.


    Arther understood her attitude easily, "I think you don''t exactly know in what situation we all are in, or rather I should say the whole world is in."


    Hearing this Rose showed a frown on her face as she thought Arther was trying to make some stories to break her psychological barrier but the changes in the forest also made her a bit nervous.


    Seeing her falling into the deep thoughts a smile appeared on Arther''s face as he started to explain to her few things such as apocalypse and undead. It took him a full half-hour to explain everything. Of course, he missed out on the part about the MCV, his rebirth, and them killing people in the church.


    "Hahaha, you mean the end of the world has come, and the government and military have fallen?", after a silence of a few seconds Rose started to laugh loudly.


    Seeing this Arther didn''t speak anything and just stared at her foolishness with a faint smile, he knew she was just trying to deny the truth.


    Seeing the confident expression of Arther, Rose stopped laughing slowly, "I know you have hidden many things from me, don''t worry I will not force you to tell them to me but think about the changes in the forest, being stationed there for more than a month you should know the area well didn''t you find the changes here? think about it."


    Seeing her stop laughing Arther put forth his final reasoning and then quieted down, waiting patiently for her to digest the information he has provided. He was confident that if she is smart enough he will get the information from her and even if he didn''t gain anything he will enter the path forcefully going head-on with any danger there. He didn''t have much time to waste since he didn''t know how much time it will require for the upgrade.


    Time passed by slowly, and with every pacing second, there was cold sweat flowing down Rose''s forehead, this single news from Arther was like a thunder striking her entire world, if what he said was true then she didn''t know about her family life and death, her only hope of survival the reinforcement might also not come, they were stuck in a forest full of danger isolated from the outside world. Slowly the world she lived in seemed to be collapsing in front of her as her body was completely drenched with sweat.

 Chapter 79 - Moving To The Warehouse.

    After taking a long time to calm herself Rose looked at Arther trying to find any hint of him lying, but this wish of her can never be granted as Arther showed a confident smile confirming the truth.


    "Looks like you will need some time to digest the information, you can have that but after telling me some things."


    "Hmm", this time Rose didn''t show her previous stubbornness to hide the truth,


    Seeing that she had completely surrendered Arther was relieved and started to ask about everything he might need such as the hidden way to the warehouse, the security measures there, any other survivors inside, so on.


    After an hour of the questioning session, Arther had received everything that might be important for them, he then gestured her to have breakfast and tried his best to assure her that he can take her out of here. Though she didn''t seem to be believing him, and when he talked about going to the warehouse she had a mocking smile on her face.


    Arther ignored her and went out, with a thought from him the door was locked from inside again, he needed to make some preparations before starting their plan. From the information, he received there might be a huge danger waiting for them at the gates of the warehouse.


    After gathering everyone together in the living room he distributed out the tasks, Jack and Nanny were allocated for the watch since John and Jessy were a bit tired due to full night shift while Jack seems to have recovered a bit, John was given the co passenger seat to be the driver in emergency, while Jessy and Mey were asked to be ready with their weapons in the upper deck for support if required and Abella was asked to move a few containers of MCV fuels and oil in the upper deck. After everything was ready Arther turned on the MCV rechecked all the systems and then turned toward the left direction..


    With the help of Rose he was able to draw the perfect path towards the warehouse. With the humming sound of the engine the MCV started to slowly enter the grass, while driving what gave Arther an headache was the grass shoots with height enough to even cover the windshield and the increasing damage of the tyres.


    After a slow driving of about 45 minutes the MCV exited this field of grass, when entering the MCV looked like a shining black beast but when it exited it was like a badly beaten guy, there were scratch marks all over the body while the lower body paint has almost completely disappeared showing the silver metal inside, two rear tyres were completely deflated showing that they have completed their mission before puncture.


    After exiting the field of grass what came in front of them was a small check post, Arther hurriedly stopped the MCV and gestured at John to exchange places while he went outside, holding the gun in an alert tposture he came to the checkpost, there was nothing much inside, it was completely open from the front without any door or window, while the remaining lower wall was made of sandbags. The only thing Arther was interested in was the radio transmitter which was laying in the corner quietly. He went to the transmitter and turned on the switch and tried to turn the dials on it, but there was no voice, it was usual since there was no power in the checkpost. So he carefully unplugged all the pins and collected all the wires and took the transmitter device to the MCV, he directly put it at the door and gestured at Mey and Jessy to keep it inside while he went to the copassenger seat.


    From the checkpost a new road led in the front, this road contrary to the previous soil road was wide enough for two MCV''s to drive alongside, the road was constructed from tar and cement similar to highway''s but it had some other materials too for making it strong enough to contain the stress from the tank tracks. From here it took them only 10 minutes to reach nearby the warehouse.


    According to the information Arther got from internet and from Rose, this warehouse comprised of 3 floor above the ground and 3 floor below the ground. The ground floor contained all the facilities for soldiers stationed here comprising of gym, basket ball court, dining hall, canteen, kitchen, etc. While the second floor were the living quarters. The third floor was connected directly to the underground floors for easy material transport and can be considered as the porter room connecting the terrace, the terrace was used for landing and take off of helicopter and other cargo planes.


    The fourth floor was a parking floor where backup war vehicles are parked with, and it was also used for loading and unloading of materials in war times. The fifth floor had the storage rooms for military rations, equipment and weapons with ammunitions.


    And the most important Sixth floor whose content even surprised Arther as this floor was so well hidden that even the system was not able to know about it from the internet, this floor can only be opened with the fingerprint of higher authorities if opened forcefully the entire warehouse will start the self destruction procedure in 15 minutes, but Arther was not worried about this. This floor was filled with highly flammable substances of military grade used for manufacturing of the bullets and other weapons, few blueprints and the biggest treasure here are the artilleries, there is one 82mm mortar with 20 high explosive rounds, 6 illumination round. And three anit aircraft artillery rockets, with an old out of service field artillery.


    All this heavy weapon if loaded on the MCV Arther can walk sideways in the apocalypse without any worries until higher level creatures appears. Now he only had to solve the danger around the warehouse. According to Rose''s explanation of that thing he had a basic idea of what he was going to face so he was well prepared.

 Chapter 80 - The DANGER.

    From a distance, Arther was able to make out the structure of the building, it was vast in the area but from all sides was camouflaged with high trees, even the road and checkpost were similarly camouflaged. According to Rose, these trees were planted by the military itself for avoiding the satellites, but now these things have grown to such an extent that almost the entire building of the warehouse is covered in green. If not for its special reinforced structure the damage from these vines and roots would have worn out the building.


    Arther gestured John to slowly drive forward, as they got nearer Arther was able to clearly see many details. What caught his attention was the vast greenery of vines covering the entire building forming a net-like structure. On the vines, there are beautiful blooming purple flowers creating fascinating scenery.


    But seeing this scenery Arther was not happy instead he was more tensed, in the apocalypse there is a rule among the explorers that is the more something is beautiful the more dangerous it will be.


    And same does for these vines, Rose and her team were attacked by this same thing. This is a type of vine monster that uses its flowers to attract prey and then uses the hidden thorny vines to attack. If they want to enter the warehouse they will have to find some way to get rid of this thing.


    According to Rose, the maintenance team was attacked by this thing in the night time indicating that it might be nocturnal, and it didn''t harm anything or anyone inside the warehouse building.. Arther didn''t quite understand the reason behind this.


    Rose and her team were attacked when returning from their patrol, their team was comprised of one forest guard, three army men, and the vice-captain(Rose), they uses the humvee with a heavy machinegun on top for patrol. From this, he knew one thing that it was very strong to be able to defeat a team of six fully equipped people.


    After he was able to observe the details properly he asked John to drive a bit further away from the building and then he went to the medical room to ask few things, Rose.


    In the Medical room, when Arther entered Rose was sitting on the stool with her legs on the medical table barefooted, looking at the scenery outside the small window, from her complicated looks anyone can discern that she had some shadow of this place where she used to work before, might be a bit scared, pitying herself for not having any other choice and also mocking Arther and his team for their suicidal behavior of coming here even after her waring.


    Arther didn''t seem to notice this as he went in front of her, seeing him she turned her attention towards him with a mocking smile on her face,


    "Why are you here? I have told you everything I knew about.", Rose spoke and then moved her attention away again.


    "You surely underestimate your knowledge, looking at you I can tell you are very scared of those vines."


    "I''m, so what? Try fighting them yourself and you will have the nightmares too."


    "I am not a fool to do so. I have a way to defeat that thing but I will need your help."


    Hearing this piqued her interest, even though scared she would definitely not give up the chance to avenge her fallen teammates. And if they really can defeat this thing then those insides can also be rescued.


    "What do you want me to do?", she looked at Arther with a bit of caution and hope.


    Seeing that she agreed he gestured her to follow,


    From the day she was caught by Arther, this was the first time for her to exit the medical room, and she was truly surprised seeing how luxurious this bus was. Arther led her directly to the driver''s cabin and gestured her to sit in the co-passenger seat under the puzzled eyes of John.


    Then under her shocked eyes, he took out his gun from beneath the passenger seat and opened the insurance, and hung it over the shoulder. Ignoring the inquiring and shocked gaze of Rose he started talking, "For how long have you been stationed here?"


    Seeing that Arther was not going to explain to her the origin of these weapons she was a bit tensed but still decided to answer, "For more than a month."


    "So you must know the details about the surrounding forest right?"


    "Yes."


    "Then is there any source of water nearby?"


    Hearing this Rose thought for a few seconds before answering, "There is a small river in the west from where the warehouse gets its water supply, but it is at a considerably long distance."


    "Other than that? anything that can be considered a water source such as a lake, pond, accumulated rainwater?"


    "There is a swamp at around 500m on the opposite side of the warehouse, the surface of this swamp is filled with stagnant water around the year, and it is filled with alligators"


    Hearing this a faint glint passed through Arther''s eyes, "Have you found anything unusual in the swamp in the past few days?"


    "Usually we don''t patrol in that direction since it is a natural barrier, the last time it was inspected by the previous maintenance team 3month ago."


    Hearing this Arther went into deep thoughts when he opened his eyes he was determined, "Lead us there and drive around. Try avoiding those vines as much as possible"


    After being given his orders he hurriedly went to the upper deck where his mother has moved out three barrels of fuel. When he arrived his mother just came out of the greenhouse.


    "Hey Arther, what happened is everything ok?"


    "Yes, everything seems to be ok. I think we will need more fuel. How much extra fuel do we have in storage?"


    "There are 4 more barrels of diesel."


    "OK, can you help me take them out of the storage? Take out all the fuel and place it in the kitchen, ask Aunt Mey and Sis for help."


    Without waiting for his mother to ask further questions he hurried towards the bunker. When they reach the swamp there might be a battle. He doesn''t know what are the current conditions of the swamp, but he has some basic idea of it. If not for those vines he would have never tried to come to this type of place.


    On the roof, he first asked his father and Nanny to be on alert for any danger and then went to check on the ballista.

 Chapter 81 - Where Is The Swamp?

    He first unloaded and then reloaded the ballista with a new Javelin. He then handed over the control to his father.


    Going down the barrels of fuel were already placed in the kitchen by the ladies. When the MCV was handed over to Arther he has requested these ten barrels of fuel from Robert, buying soo much fuel at a time is not possible at any place but with the help of Jack from the black market, they were able to acquire it. In their previous journey, they had used up three barrels for the MCV with six more remainings.


    Arther checked the barrels and then went to the driver''s cabin, at this time the MCV was driving through the forest around the warehouse, there was an obvious growth of tree and plants. According to the distance Rose has told them they must have been able to reach there till now, but due to taking a detour and the bad road condition, it was taking more time.


    After 10 minutes of driving they exited the forest and in front of them was a vast open area. The scenery in front of them shocked all of them since this must be the place where the swamp was located but now there was obvious land in front of them, with tall grass growing over the area. There were even a few tree-like things growing in between the grass.


    "Where is the swamp?", Arther looked at the shocked look of Rose and asked her with a heavy tone..


    Hearing his voice she looked at him with pitiful eyes full of disbelief, she was the most confused one as according to the previous records they have received this swap was so big and dangerous that it has can be used as a natural barrier against the modern soldiers, along with this it was also treasured by those animal enthusiasts since this swamp treasured many rare species of alligators. Such a vast swap has vanished out of thin air, this can only be considered a joke if told to anyone. Rose didn''t know what to say.


    Before she could speak anything there was a knock on the cabin door, Arther gave a stare to Rose before opening the door, outside the door Nanny was standing with a pretty serious face.


    "Nanny? Why are you here?", seeing her here Arther was confused.


    "Brother Arther, uncle send me here. From above we have seen something you might need to know.", seeing that Arther seemed to be in an angry mood Nanny bowed her head down and spoke hurriedly.


    "Hmm, what is it?", Arther impatiently asked her to speak.


    "The land in front of us is not real."


    "What does this mean??", hearing Arther was shocked and confused. It was real? but we can see it clearly, it seems to be real.


    "You better come and have a look yourself."


    Arther hurriedly ran to the roof where his father was observing something through the binoculars, seeing Arther hurrying up he passed the binoculars to him. Even without the binoculars, Arther was able to find out the shocking truth, the grass field which obscured their way stretches out for a few meters, inside this field the surface is covered by intervened vines and when observed carefully from the binoculars Arther was surprised to find that theses vines were growing on the surface of the swamp while the grass field has actually grown above this vines as camouflage, the vines are intervened on the surface like a green carpet for a distance when he observed the distance he found that in the distance there was a huge purplish-white flower growing above the vines, the petals are opened widely and laid around as if a carpet welcoming the guests.


    Even Arther was a bit tempted by the beauty of this flower, but he hurriedly removed this thought from his mind.


    After coming out of his stupor he was surprised by the fact of how well this thing has camouflaged itself. After confirming the condition below he went to the driver''s room and asked John to drive a little bit nearer the grass patch, know that he knew what his enemy was as he wasn''t much worried.


    After their struggle at the beginning of the apocalypse, humans have learned to survive and had found out ways to defeat this type of monster. There are many types of vine monsters such as blood-sucking vines, thorny vines, elemental vines, soul devourers, etc. discovered by humans in the apocalypse. Compared to those monstrous things the one in front of them can be considered as an infant, this vine has mutated and evolved so early must be due to the resources from the swamp.


    Until the vines feel their presence they are completely safe so they will have only one chance to attack the main body that is the huge flower before they will be discovered. To kill this thing Arther is going to use the most common and crude way of burning it, flames are the natural enemies of plants. He didn''t worry about starting a forest fire since below these vines is water which will reduce the effect of fire after burning the vines and even if the surrounding trees do get on fire he isn''t much affected.


    Soon a plan was ready in his mind. Just a few small changes were needed to be done.


    He came to the outside of the MCV and came to the fuel cap and with a thought from his the metal cap covering the fuel tank was melted and with the addition of new metal from the storage, a metal pie was extended both inside the tank and outside after the pipe was extended enough he removed the water pump attached to the water tank and attached it to the outer end of the pipe.


    He then went to the inside of the MCV and directly opened an opening in the fuel tank from inside wide enough to pour the fuel from the barrels, this might seem crude but was definitely useful. Then he gestured towards the ladies sitting in the living to come and get on work, whenever the fuel in the tank is reduced they had to fill it from the barrels. Of course, the weapons were left in the living room. He then took out the rubber pipe used for pumping water and passed it to Nanny on the roof, while holding on end the other end was attached to the pump.


    After securing every joint with a little bit of metal he prepare an ordinary metal pressure booster. After connecting it with the end of the pipe on the roof everything was ready. With a countdown of three, the pump was turned on, and in a few seconds with the help of the pressure booster the fuel was pushed forward out of the pipe at a long distance, the fuel fell from the sky on the vines like rain, not feeling and life activity from this rain the vines remained stationary which helped Arther a lot. After a full half, an hour of raining the fuel on the vines and emptying all the barrels leaving only a small amount of fuel for the MCV in the tank the land in front was completely layered with the fuel, the fuel has successfully reached the white flower too and Arther has even dumped almost half-barrel there.


    After finishing this he changed everything to normal, of course, the water pump and pipe needed to be changed to new ones but for now, it was not needed. Arther has dared to use up all this fuel because Rose told him there was an ample amount of fuel in the warehouse.


    Then the MCV slowly retreated to a safe range. On the roof, Arther was holding the HK416 aiming at the flower swaying in the distance after getting wet by the fuel rain.


    Bam!


    Bam!


    Bam!


    Three single shots from the assault rifle, the first shot punched a hole in the flower body in the upper part and passed through. While the second one hit the root of the flower and also successfully ignited the fuel on the ground, and the third shot followed the second one grazing past the stalk of the flower tearing half of it.


    Immediately the ire spread on the entire area wet by fuel vigorously burning down the vines.

 Chapter 82 - Defeating The Vine Monster

    (Author''s note: In the previous chapter I have written that the MC uses ordinary bullets to ignite the fuel which I guess is wrong, I am not going to make any changes now I hope the readers don''t mind such small mistakes.


    Thank you and keep enjoying.)


    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    As soon as the fuel caught fire everything in front was burning in a few seconds, the fire was so strong that few trees near the swamp were also showing burn marks and might get on fire.


    Arther put down the gun and looked at the blazing fire in front with a proud look, this was his firework. Behind him Jack was observing his son with shock and doubt, being an ex-military man he knew many things, and when he saw Arther''s posture while firing and his aim at such a long distance he was amazing. Though the way of handling the gun was a bit crude his aim and posture were perfect as if trained for a long time.


    Unlike Jack, there were another pair of eyes behind him looking at Arther. But this one was completely filled with admiration and fascination, it was obviously Nanny. When she saw how Arther shot the flower in the far distance without fear she felt he looked more handsome and manly..


    After a few seconds of burning when Arther and others thought they had defeated the vines there was a loud rumbling from the surrounding ground, feeling the vibration Arther had a bad premonition as he hurriedly shouted to reverse the MCV and drive away from this area. But his reaction and John''s response were a bit late as the moment John put the MCV on reverse gear many thorny vines blasted out of the ground around the MCV.


    "Holy sh*t!, quick inside the MCV.", without thinking much he held his father''s collar and pulled him inside while pushing the stunned Nanny inside. The moment they entered the MCV the vines from the surrounding coiled around the MCV, there was the scratching sound from the thorns on the surface of the MCV.


    Arther directly took over the control of the MCV through his system connection and hurriedly closed all the shutters and windows of the MCV leaving only the windshield.


    Asking Nanny and Jack to go into the living room he hurriedly ran towards the driver''s cabin. When he came there the situation was worse than he had anticipated. The green damage icon of many modules was already showing yellow color meaning it had taken more than 30% damage. And it was still increasing.


    The windshield was made of special glass and was even covered with meta net, so he thought it might hold on for some time, but things were not as he thought. Just as entered the cabin the vines crawling on the windshield like snakes had left scratch marks on the glass while the outer net was missing its middle section.


    When he was relieved thinking that the glass didn''t break down directly, they felt a huge jerk, and then the MCV left the ground.


    When Arther stabilized himself and understood what had happened he was drenched in a cold sweat. These fu*king vines which were not ever as thick as an adult''s wrist have picked up the MCV for an unknown reason. While he still thinking of any way to escape the vines covering the windshield crawled away as if making way for something.


    This helped them see what was happening outside, but the site soon left goosebumps all around their body, John even lost his calm and started shouting out of fear while pressing the accelerator to the extent. But this didn''t help them in any way except for making it noisy in the cabin and the rumbling sound of wheels. Then there was a crackling sound and the shaft of the rear wheels broke down directly under the force of acceleration and vines.


    Arther got this news from the system but he was distracted by something more dangerous than this. When the vines parted a gap on the windshield they saw a huge flower with vast brown petals spread on the ground, between these petals was around a jagged mouth with sharp jagged layers of teeth like a meat grinder. And the gap in between was dark black, the vines brought the MCV above the mouth which seemed to be the main body of the vine monster which was hiding inside the swamp for all this time.


    Then under the horrified eyes of Arther, Rose, and John a different kind of vine came out of the mouth, it was a bit thicker than other vines, reddish-black in color it had a completely smooth surface with only one long knife life pointed edge. Without giving them any reaction time it blasted out of the mouth with breathtaking speed and in the blink of an eye a thud was heard followed by the cracking sound of glass.


    The pointed edge of the vine plunged into the windshield, with this the special quality glass secure enough to take a few bullets from a small-caliber pistol was defeated.


    The sharp point was stuck in the glass almost penetrating 3/4th length deep inside. While it was struggling to get free Arther calmed down and found a chance, he aimed the gun in his hands towards the hole it has made.


    While he was aiming at the hole he also used his mind to aim the ballista above towards the mouth. There seemed to be a silence of few seconds until the spike succeded in freeing itself and started retreating for another attack. But Arther didn''t give it any chance, from the hole he fired towards its vine body directly using the automatic firing mode of the rifle loaded with the 100 round.


    With the sound, the bullets rained down on the vines while a few struck on the glass shattering it into pieces and a few struck inside the mouth below. And as Arther had thought this vine though sharp and powerful had a weak fleshy body like a tongue, the bullet made holes and passed through it shredding it into pieces directly, the main also seemed to feel the pain as the vines holding the MCV weakened for a moment which was what Arther wanted as he hurriedly aimed the ballista at the mouth and fired, the Javelin with golden tip pierced through the vines trying to block it and plunged deep inside the flower.

 Chapter 83 - Defeating The Vine Monster 2

    The moment the Javelin pierced the flower''s body there was a shriek as if metal scratching and the vines holding the MCV tightened up with a horrifying strength. In an instant the whole MCV was making cracking sound, Arther observed as all the modules had taken huge damage, all the tires were dead for sure, the shaft and axle joining the wheels were bent in different angles, the main defense of the MCV has dropped to red, and there were obvious cracks in the body frame inside.


    Seeing this Arther was dreaded, if this went on in a few more minutes all of them will be crushed into a paste by this thing. Before he could think anything the MCV was swung in the air by the vines, they flew for a few meters after landing in the forest with a huge thud.


    While Arther was confused about what had happened they saw the vines dancing in the air falling to the ground as if they have lost their strength, as all the vines fell to the ground Arther hurriedly looked at the flower and saw that the petals were losing their texture at a rapid pace, in a few seconds the flower lost its vitality confirming its death.


    "Hahaha, we won! we won!", Arther jumped up in the cabin with a happy face. This time the situation was even out of his control but luckily they were saved.


    After calming down he checked on others, John was already unconscious in the driver''s seat may be due to fear. While Rose was a bit better, though she seemed to have received a great shock and was shaking with fear she will be fine after some time.


    Checking that both of them didn''t receive any injury he hurried inside the MCV to check on others, when he opened the cabin door what met his eyes was a complete mess.. All the lights in the MCV were broken, the wires were protruding out of the walls, and there was complete darkness inside with a small amount of light passing through the broken walls.


    The situation inside made him a bit worried, so he hurried into the living room but there was no one, the sofa and chairs were broken into pieces. While he was carefully checking in the living room there was a door banging sound from inside. He hurriedly ran to the room while avoiding the obstacles, when he arrived at the room the door frame was completely deformed making it impossible to open the door. He had no other choice but to try using the fluid metal property to make a hole in the door,


    With a thought, there was a small hole in the door, but Arther found that it had become difficult to use this property due to the damage. And hence only a small hole half his height was formed.


    He didn''t his though as it was enough for him to enter.


    This was the bunk bedroom, inside the room all the other members were present relieving Arther. Though they had received small injuries it was not very dangerous for the time being. Only his father''s leg wound seemed to have opened up and there was a little bleeding when he observed others he didn''t find any other problem except that they were very scared and were shivering the only one able to stand through a bit wobbling was Jessy. Nanny, Mey, and his mother have had lost the strength in their legs due to fear.


    Fortunately, they chose this room since while building it Arther made the entire body of the beds with metal pipes and they were directly welded tightly with the walls it didn''t fall apart. Though there were slightly deformed it was fine.


    He left them in the room since after calming down the fear for some time they will be able to come out themselves. Currently, he had a very important thing to do, he had to confirm that the fu*king vine thing was dead, this thing was not something present at this level of the time, how deeply it hid the main body and its camouflage showed that it had developed a little bit of intelligence.


    What would it be evolved into in the future send shivers down his spines, experiencing this condition he also felt a little insecure about this forest. Even in his past life humans weren''t able to explore the forests, only a few important areas were explored. No one knew what the forests behold, looks like he might have to change the previous route. Now he didn''t think he was strong enough to travel through the forest.


    He went to the driver''s cabin and gestured at Rose who has already calmed a bit to follow him, she looked at him in surprise but he didn''t wait for her.


    When they went outside they were truly able to see how damaged the MCV was, all the windows were shattered, all the tires were missing and the axles and shafts were completely deformed, all over the body were deformation and dents, the ballista didn''t look like one from any angle, the bunkers at the roof were compressed and might have been inserted inside.


    Seeing the broken MCV, Arther didn''t know whether to laugh or cry. If not for the materials they will get from the warehouse they were done for. He shook his head with a deep sigh and asked the shocked Rose to follow him, he led her to the border of the swamp.


    Rose looked at him with confused eyes, seeing her expression Arther had a grin as he handed over a pistol to her, it was the one he had looted from the gangster in the graveyard.


    Seeing the gun she was first confused but then accepted it. In this type of environment, it was always good to have a little sense of security.


    After handing over the pistol he picked up a long broken branch from the ground and poked at the ground in front of him. After poking it a few times he confirmed the ground was solid and then started walking forward.


    First Rose observed him confusedly but when she understood what he was up to she had wide eyes and a disbelieving expression. "ARE YOU MAD?!"


    "You can quit if you are afraid to follow me. But remember I don''t like useless people to be with me.", Arther didn''t look at her and spoke in a straightforward way. Seeing him giving her an open threat Rose wanted to refute him but remained silent.


    Arther turned towards her and when he saw her hesitating look he was quite satisfied as he knew he has been semi-successful in his plan.


    "Follow me and you will be safe. There might even be an unknown surprise for us."


    Hearing this Rose took a breath and made a hard decision. She knew now she had no way back. The moment she led him here she was tied to his boat.


    Seeing Rose picking up another branch and copying his actions while following him Arther nodded with a satisfied smile. ''Looks like she wasn''t able to reject my charms, hehehe.''

 Chapter 84 - My Conscience Wont Allow Me........

    Soon Arther and Rose reached near the dead body of the vine monster. Arhter bent down to watch the flower carefully while Rose stood behind him aiming the gun towards the flower.


    When taking a closer look they were able to find the minutes characteristics of the flower, the widely spread petals still had a high amount of moisture and were plump, when he felt their surface instead of the soft leaf-like touch they had fine hairs on the surface.


    After confirming that the monster was truly dead he stepped on the petals and walked inside the wide-open mouth.


    When he peeped inside he saw the reason for the defeat of this thing. Inside the mouth, a long metal Javelin had pierced the body vertically directly cutting off the main stalk of the flower, and was inserted deep inside the mud below.


    This made him happy since the ballista had such a great power while also relieved for the luck, fortunately, this single shot pierced the stalk otherwise this might be their end. From here he also found many things such as the entire swamp''s water was absorbed by this monster to grow rapidly.


    He then picked up a vine and confirming that the vines still retained a little bit of their strength and flexibility after death he started the work..


    Using the military-grade knife he had confiscated from Rose he first cut off all the vines, after wounding them together he handed them to Rose, the total weight of these vines were not to be trifled with, even Rose had to let more than half the length of the vines to remain on the ground, she pulled all the vines in few batches to the solid ground.


    While at the same time Arther started dissecting the petals of the flower, these things were more almost some meter long and they had many uses, there were a total of 20 petals, 14 big and 6 small ones. Then came the mouth the first thing he took was the tongue, ''this can be converted into a good weapon'', then removed the Javelin. When he saw the inserted half of the Javelin he was shocked, as the tip of the Javelin made of gold has turned dark in color while the metal behind showed signs of melting.


    Finding this he hurriedly and carefully used the Javelin to dig out the mud around the flower revealing the entire body and the broken stalk. Without much thinking he directly held the stalk and picked it up along with the entire flower mouth and took it to the solid ground.


    When he brought the flower body out he found that everyone else had already exited the MCV and were warily observing the body parts of the vine monster which Rose and Arther had piled on the ground. The most curious one was naturally Mey. Being a botanist these things can be considered as a treasure for her.


    Seeing Arther bringing the huge main body of the flower Mey ran to his side and helped him carefully put it down and then looked at him with pitiful eyes. "OK! aunt, you can study these things but you have to make sure you don''t use up all the parts we might need them in the future.", seeing Arther agree Mey cheered with fists in the air and nodded towards him to assure him of the use of parts.


    "Oh! I would suggest you wait for few days as I am thinking of preparing a laboratory for you. You should start drawing the designs instead." Arther spoke to her seeing her running toward the flower.


    "WHAT! are you saying the truth?", when she heard what Arther said she jumped up to turn her attention towards Arther. Nanny standing with Jessy was shocked seeing such a side of her mother while also was happy that her mother was happy. A small smile bloomed on her scared face.


    "Hehehe, why would I lie to you. With the materials from the warehouse, we are going to make an overall upgrade to the MCV. I am also thinking of making separate rooms for all of you, I will provide you a certain area in the MCV and you can customize them yourself.", hearing this announcement everyone had a happy smile, especially Nanny. She was already swinging her fists in the air and dancing around. ''Yey!, finally I will get freedom from that devil.''


    Jessy who was also happily cheering felt as if she had lost something good, but then the happiness of finally having her own room swept that feeling.


    Arther was also happily observing them, while Rose standing behind him didn''t know what she was feeling, sad? since they were going to loot the warehouse and she will responsible for that, or......Jealous?!


    She had her own happy family, but after knowing what the outside world might have changed into, she didn''t dare to think about what might have happened with her parents. She didn''t believe the law and order will protect them. In such a condition where even the military easily left them to fend for themselves and also gave up on the warehouse, she wasn''t a fool to how for her family who was just some ordinary people to be saved by them.


    Arther watched his family for a few minutes before turning towards Rose, he smiled at her seeing her lost expression.


    "Jealous?"


    His question shocked her and before she could reject he spoke again,


    "Hehe, if you want you can join my team. Anyways the military and government have already fallen."


    Rose hesitated for a few seconds to make the decision and then took a deep breath and handed him the pistol.


    "Sorry Arther, my conscience won''t allow me to betray the country.", hearing Arther was a bit surprised and also felt like a joke.


    "Even though I can''t join you we still have the deal, you will save my comrades and take us out of this forest to the nearest city and you can take everything from the warehouse.", thinking that Arther might get a wrong meaning of her rejection she hurriedly explained.


    "Hmm, if you say so. I hope your conscience will still remain strong after seeing the outside world.", after leaving this sentence Arther turned and walked towards the MCV, but when Rose heard this sentence there was a peng in her heart and fear crept over her chest. She didn''t know what but there was a hidden meaning behind this sentence.

 Chapter 85 - The Remaining Commrades.

    Going to the MCV, from the storage in his room Arther took out their camping tents for his family to rest temporarily. He didn''t know why but when he tried to used the fluid metal property of the MCV to repair there was no response, when he checked on the metal inside the storage it was still there. It might be due to the high level of damage or there might be some other reasons. Arther didn''t dwell upon it for a long time as he had a new problem to face.


    Since the vine monster was dead the danger looming around the warehouse is also over. The maintenance team members will soon come to know about it too and then they won''t allow Arther to take away everything there. He also didn''t completely believe in Rose as she was their comrade in arms first, so he wanted to be the first to take initiative.


    Handing over the tent and some food and water to his father he gestured towards others, leaving Nanny and his mother to help his father in setting the tents he gathered everyone else. Rose hesitated for a few seconds on whether to join the discussion since she has rejected Arther''s offer earlier but she also knew what this was for.


    After some hesitation she bit her lower lips and joined in, she peeked a few glances at Arther standing in the main position, but to her surprise, he didn''t seem to mind her presence.


    This relieved her a little bit.. But she also felt a bit of guilt as her moves were similar to open betrayal with Arther.


    While Rose was struck in this predicament Arther didn''t mind her presence because he didn''t think she can do anything against them while he was there and even if she tried to do so.... his bullets are faster than her.


    "The main danger has been nullified and now this place can be considered safe for the time being. Everyone knows the target we are here for, there is no plan. Rose will help us enter the warehouse and then I will communicate with her captain and we will sign the deal. They get a safe ride to the nearest safe city out of here and we get the warehouse resources."


    Hearing this everyone''s mouths showed a small smile while Rose''s mouth twitched, ''Doesn''t he seems as if you are robbing us legally?'', even though she thought so in her mind she didn''t dare to speak out anything.


    "And yes, no bargaining."


    With this sentence, he moved towards Rose and after giving her a warning glare he moved towards the warehouse. The team consisted of John, Jessy, Mey, Rose, and Arther. Except for Rose everyone else was well equipped with guns and ammunition for any emergency.


    Seeing the team marching towards the warehouse Arther''s parents and Nanny who had finished setting up the tents and were cooking the food had a little worried expression but they also can''t stop them from doing this since they had no other choice. Especially Nanny had a little sad look this was the first team mission outside the MCV led by Arther and she was not allowed to follow, but she knew Arther had left her here to protect his parents and their other things so she didn''t felt bad.


    After walking for more than 20minutes in the forest they reached the warehouse, except for the slightly yellowish wilting vines there were not many changes in the surrounding.


    This was a good thing for Arther and his team. After walking to the main door of the warehouse they came to a stop, it was a 20cm thick automatic alloy door that can only be opened through the biometric system.


    John moved forward and tried to pull open the door but there was not a slight movement. Seeing this Arther turned towards Rose standing behind them. Currently, she was having swings inside her mind thinking about what she was doing and what she should do. But receiving the stare from Arther she hurriedly spoke, "This is a thick alloy door which can not be opened even with explosives, only with the biometric and password one can open it."


    Hearing this Arther didn''t know whether to laugh or cry, if he was able to bring the MCV near the door just the fluid absorption technique of the MCV can clear out this door along with the frame.


    After explaining Rose moved forward and pressed her thumb on the scanner, after scanning she entered a 10 digit code, and then with a mechanical sound of shifting gears, the door opened upwards.


    The door''s system was connected with emergency supplies and hence can be operated after the power cut. But the same was not true for the inside, there was complete darkness making it impossible to identify things. Arther took out a flashlight and asked Rose to lead the way.


    According to their last conversation the others were possibly stuck inside the captain''s room where they had gathered for a small meeting during the attack.


    Walking through the corridors of the living quarters on the second floor, soon they reached the end of the corridor where a single door was located with the captain''s tag on it. What made them shocked though was there were obviously traces of dried blood on the floor and walls around the door as if someone was pulled inside while bleeding. Arther gestured everyone to be alert while he asked John to move out of the warehouse and wait at the main door for any emergencies.


    He then turned towards Rose and asked her to followed him, Rose was a bit confused in the beginning but as they moved forwards she found something she was able to notice before. There were very fines vines growing on the roof walls and all of them were moving towards the captain''s room.


    When they reached the staircase leading to the third floor their doubts were cleared as the entire staircase had obviously signed of a fight with bullet marks and was almost completely filled with thorny vines blocking the way to the third floor.


    After checking on the basic conditions Arther and Rose returned back near the captain''s room, gesturing at everyone to be alert he knocked at the door, but there was no response from inside even after a long time. Seeing this Arther frowned a bit and gestured towards Rose to try, at this time her heart was already beating profusely and she was praying for their well-being.


    Seeing Arther''s gesture she hurried towards the door and banged it a few times while calling for her teammates and captain. But there was still no response.

 Chapter 86 - The Remaining Comrades 2

    Even after such a loud banging and noise from Rose, there was still no response which made everyone frown. Arther pulled her away from the door and fired his gun at the door lock breaking it completely.


    With a cracking sound the door was opened. Rose was the first to enter the room to avoid friendly fire, followed by Arther and then Mey.


    The room was dark with no source of light as the windows were closed. There was also a bit of pungent smell inside due to being locked for a long time without any airflow. With a frown Mey hurriedly opened the window letting the fresh air flow through.


    When the sunlight from outside illuminated they were able to have a clear look at what the room looked like.


    And then.......they were shocked.


    "Ahhh.......", there was a scream from the door, which obviously belonged to Jessy who was asked by Arther to stay alert at the door but her curiosity got the better half of her and she took a peek.


    The conditions in the room were not what they have thought to be, the room was not much big, it was completely white with white walls and floor. There was a steel desk and an office chair with fours chairs in the front. This must be the work desk of the captain, behind the desk were three shelves attached to the wall filled with papers and files.


    What was shocking in the room was, there was a middle-aged man in his 30s sitting on the main chair leaning on the desk but when observed carefully they found that his hands and feet were tied to the desk and shelf behind.


    And on the right side of the room (The window was on the left wall.), there was a young man leaning on the wall unknown were dead or alive, then just a small distance away in front of him was a dead body which cannot be identified of what. On the wall in front of the dead body was a female in a camouflage uniform sleeping in a corner.


    But the scene here was a bit bloody, there was black blood flowing below the desk may be belonging to the one tied there. The young man on the right wall was holding a pistol in his hands, then the dead body was the most grotesque thing, from the shape it seemed to belong to a human but it was completely naked, with odd spike-shaped things growing on its spine, the face was distorted as if splashed with acid with a bloody bullet hole between the forehead, the body was dark purplish-black in color and even the blood flowing out of it was black. And the female on the side also didn''t seem in good condition as her clothes were torn from places revealing many things.


    Arther didn''t know what has happened here but for now, he was relieved that he won''t have to fight with these guys for the materials in the warehouse. He hurriedly gestured at Mey and Rose to check on everyone carefully and see if anyone was alive.


    At this time there were already tears flowing through Rose''s eyes, these were the people she had relied on in this forest. They were like a family, but now she didn''t know if they were dead or alive.


    But even so without wasting time she followed Mey who started checking on them, they first check on those who looked fine, and fortunately, two of them were alive.


    Then they slowly went towards the main desk to check on the person who seemed to be the captain, when Rose was closer to him she was able to hear the small breathing sound of him and was happy and hurriedly went to help him up, but as soon as she touched him there was a huge jerk from the arm and then he started struggling as if a wild beast woken up from slubmer.


    "AHH!"


    "WTF!"


    Rose was so scared that she lost her balance due to the jerk and fell to the ground, Arther standing a distance away noticed this and hurriedly pulled her to the side, and then without further ado shot a bullet inside this thing''s head to end the story.


    With a bang, the body fell to one side hanging halfway through due to hands and feet tied to the shelf. After confirming that there were no more movements from the dead body he gave an angry glare to Rose and moved out of the room.


    He told Jessy to go inside and keep Mey safe. As for Rose? it depended on her own actions. He didn''t want to cover her foolish actions every time. And anyways there was nothing dangerous in that room anymore.


    While leaving Mey has told him the general conditions of the two survivors, the young man had a swelling in his cerebellum, which seemed to be due to a strong impact, and hence he has lost consciousness. He needed to be operated which was not possible for the time being. And the female soldier had just lost consciousness due to dehydration.


    She will be fine after a little treatment. Arther asked to move both of them out of the room to another room with the help of Rose and Jessy and then to take a few samples from the dead bodies. After this was done he went to the main door of the warehouse where John was passing time leisurely and asked him to go to the captain''s room take out the dead bodies carefully and burn them.


    He didn''t want anyone else to be infected by anything these bodies contained so he needed to take care of bodies as soon as possible. Though in their country the dead were to be buried after an apocalypse this trend was broken and it was compulsory to burn the bodies even if they belonged to your loved ones since if buried they will have risen into undead again after a certain amount of time.

 Chapter 87 - Happy Lunch.

    After explaining the task to John and the precautions Arther hurriedly exited the warehouse. After following the same path they came here from he reached the place where his family was staying in no more than 15 minutes.


    In this short run, he also found some abnormalities in his body. After running for such a long time he didn''t feel that tired and even his breathing had not increased. When he thought about it he found that he truly was feeling more and more healthy for the last few days. ''Is this some kind of ability awakening?''


    With this thought, Arther happily went to meet his family who was currently doing some things. His mother was cooking the lunch while Nanny was sitting near the broken MCV in an alert position to be ready from any incoming danger. While his father was sitting leisurely on a rock, though his body seemed to be relaxing he was constantly observing the surrounding with sharp eyes.


    Seeing this Arther nodded with acknowledgment and went forward to reveal himself. When Nanny saw Arther returning alone, she was shocked at first and then hurriedly ran towards him with a worried expression.


    Seeing this his parents also noticed him and his mother walked towards his father while Arther also walked towards them.


    "Arther? what happened? why did you returned alone where are others?"


    "Brother Arther, is everything alright?"


    "Brat, you didn''t create a new problem right?"


    Hearing this there was a smile on his face,


    "Everyone, congrats the warehouse and resources belongs to us! We have already secured the warehouse and the maintenance team. There are no more dangers. I have come here to take you to the warehouse, we will be staying there for some time. So pack up everything quickly."


    After hearing what Arther said there was a relieved and cheerful smile on their face, all of them knew that whatever resources this warehouse had been very important for their survival. With a cheerful face, all of them went on the work. His mother and father took out the small temporary tent they had laid down for cooking food. Then wrapped the vessels with cooked food were handed over to Arther who placed it inside the MCV along with the other materials. Then they carefully put all the parts of the vine monster inside the MCV too.


    After cleaning up everything they went on the road towards the warehouse while Arther took a last look at the swamp and then stored the MCV in the tattoo and led them. The thing that he can store the entire MCV somewhere shocked all of them but they didn''t speak much. Even though they were a family few secrets were necessary.


    This time it took them more than 30minutes to reach the warehouse since his father''s wound was not completely healed and was even opened up but after the last battle. So they had to take small rests in between for few times.


    When they reached the main road of the warehouse from afar they were able to see two fire spots covered with dry grass and branches raising high black smoke in the air. Seeing this the atmosphere was a bit heavy among them but Arther didn''t wait there for much time and led them towards the warehouse.


    Entering the warehouse Arther briefly explained the structure to them and then headed to check on the others.


    When he came to the room where two unconscious people were stored he was able to hear a subtle sound of people talking, ''Looks like someone is awake.'', with a grin he hurried inside the room.


    When he looked inside he found that it was the female soldier who was awake. Currently, she was having a rice porridge while Rose sat in front of her on the bed with Jessy, they were having some conversation. Then he looked towards the other side and saw that Mey was giving some small treatment to the young guy while doing his all-around checkup.


    When Arther entered the room the female soldier was the first to notice him. First, she was shocked seeing him but then immediately a small smile appeared on her face. She was not as beautiful as Rose with an ordinary-looking face and a tired look.


    "You must be tired, so take some rest. We will talk later.", Arther replied her with a kind smile and then gestured towards Rose to follow him. Seeing the kind expression of Arther Rose was a bit shocked but then she hurriedly followed after exchanging a glance with her friend Lia.


    Seeing the arrival of Arther, Jessy who was also having some conversation with Lia hurriedly stood up, "Wait a minute, I will bring someone to introduce to you.", she ran to the outside and after checking for some time she found Nanny in one of the room and without explaining her much just pulled her along to the room.


    While at the same time Arther led Rose to the lower floor, "How can we get to the lower floors?"


    Hearing this Rose didn''t hesitate much since she knew she can''t keep these things safely anyways.


    "If in normal time, we used the lift. But it is not working now due to power failure. But there is another way from the third floor."


    "OK", with this he came to the staircase of the third floor with Rose and John all of them holding military knives. There were vines protruding from the third floor which shows how densely they were packed inside. If they want to use the way on the third floor they need to clear out all those vines.


    Without wasting much time they started the work, they directly cut the vines till where their hands can reach and then pull ten out, with the three of them working non-stop the entrance to the third floor was cleared.


    "Let''s take a break for now and have lunch, we will continue later.", Arther declared while huffing for air. The condition of the other two was also not much better.


    Arther came to the canteen and took out the cooked food from the MCV storage, and let his mother and Rose heat it while he led John to call others for lunch. Soon hot steaming lunch was plated with a large amount of lamb meat and boiled vegetable soup.


    The atmosphere in the canteen was cheerful as they had a great meal. Rose was also feeling much better as she had at least saved one of her good friends.. Arther was also eating happily since soon the MCV will have a huge upgrade.

 Chapter 88 - Resources.

    After a fulfilling lunch, everyone joined the cleaning work on the third floor. With the joint effort of few more people, it became easy and in a few more hours they successfully cleared out the third floor and even the vines on the terrace and outside the building.


    When the work was completed the sun was already setting, seeing Arther sent the family''s women to cook the food and take some rest. While he was led to the third floor by Rose.


    The third floor was actually an empty warehouse used to temporarily store the goods. On the innermost side of the third floor, Rose led Arther in front of a huge stainless steel wooden door. This was a manually opened sliding door with a key lock.


    As for the key, Rose has taken it somewhere from the captain''s room. This passage is in use only when there is a helicopter for emergency supplies. Though it has not been used for a long period of time it was still clean. This was the work of the maintenance team to keep everything here functional for emergencies.


    Being the vice-captain of the team Rose knew about everything inside the building. So she became a guide for Arther around all the resources.


    When they came to the fourth floor or the -1 underground floor. Here there were many light combat vehicles parked, all of them looked like ferocious beasts in deep slumber. The thick armor platings, rough offroad tires, and camouflaging paints gave them a type of beauty.


    Arther moved forward with fascinated expression as he touched the vehicles feeling the smooth surfaces when he counted carefully he found that there were 6 trucks, 5 LUV, 4 LSV, 2 eight-wheeler LAV, and an ESV with mine clearance plug. Looking at these vehicles there was a wide smile on Arther''s face, with these vehicles the combat ability of the MCV can be taken to a new peak.


    While Arther was celebrating inwardly Rose led him to an inconspicuous room on the fourth floor.


    "This is our combat engineering station. This is where the engineers from the maintenance team work most of the time and there are also a few small good things here stored here.", with a smile Rose led Arther inside the room. Seeing the shocked and surprised expressions of Arther gave her a bit of satisfaction.


    She felt that from the time she had met Arther he has been the one always shocking her and made her almost lose her confidence but now that they were on her turf she didn''t want to lose this chance.


    Arther didn''t mind her mocking smile as he was attracted by something even more amazing inside the room. This room was actually just a small rectangular partition with two walls and a door with a window, on one side of the room was the elevated railing used for repairing vehicles along with some automated tools such as a drill, a small crane, etc.


    Seeing these tools Arther had already decided to take them down, but this was not what attracted him.


    On the other side of the room, there were a few automobile parts, and grease spoiled around the floor. It seemed that someone has left here in a hurry, and in between these things sat a small half a meter high car, it had a tank-like track instead of wheels. And there were few systems above the body, the entire body basically rectangular in shape covered in camouflaged armor.


    Arther hurriedly ram towards the thing without considering the grease over the floor, he carefully checked the car and then an even more wide smile appeared on his face.


    "Is this what I am thinking?", he spoke to Rose without looking away from the car.


    "Oh, uh that is an RCV. It is a semi-robotic vehicle and can be loaded with various types of weapons. It also has high stability and was made for the newly designed anti-tank guns.", hearing the things Rose explained Arther was jumping with his fists in the air.


    "JACKPOT!JACKPOT!"


    No one knows what he was having in his mind.


    Rose also didn''t know about it as being in the military she has seen and even operated much more advanced type of RCVs, she has even seen the fully robotic vehicle that can complete the missions from a long distance, so for her, this was not a big thing.


    What she didn''t know was that Arther had a system that can create a monster from all these things.


    After calming down for a few seconds Arhter checked the room more carefully and found many good things such as the design drawing of the RCV and its user manual, he also found a small reconnaissance drone, and much other information and drawing. All this was easily recorded by the system.


    Rose looked at Arther with an odd expression all the time when he flipped through those dense papers and designs. Even she was not able to understand a word in those things after being there for more than a month but Arther just took a glance at the materials.


    After they were finished here Rose led him to the lower floor.


    The lower floor was divided into small sections for storing different materials. All the goods in these sections were packed in tight wooden boxes, Arther casually opened a few boxes to look at the content inside and was satisfied, there were a huge amount of various bullets, magazines, rifles, automatic guns, grenade launchers, standard pistols, submachine guns, carbines, machine guns, shotguns, sniper rifles, anti-tank weapons, anti-aircraft missiles, etc.


    Looking at the sheer variety of arms made Arther happy, with this amount of Arms he can be assured to enter some gathering places or even base cities. Most of these things were not of much use for Arther since he knew the monsters will soon get stronger and these weapons will lose their use. But these weapons have another use for him,... to trade.


    Yes, to trade. He can trade these weapons for some other materials in gathering places and base cities. There will always be a huge market for these things even in the future since even tough monsters and beasts are immune to guns same can''t be said for humans.


    In the next few sections, there are also not many fragrant things, one was completely filled with the bulletproof vest and many personnel equipments, while the other had the military rations, some canned meat with long shelf lives, and a large number of energy bars.


    For all this loot Arhter already has some plans.


    And then they came to the last section which was currently the most important one for Arther. When they entered there was a strong metallic smell inside and the warehouse section was filled with various cardboard boxes on shelf extended till the roof, Arther greedily went to open a box and saw the content inside, it was filled with shining ingots of armor steel, he then hurriedly opened few boxes on other shelves and the content inside satisfied Arther. There was iron, refined steel, silver, copper, aluminum, there was even a large quantity of gold, and other costly metals such as beryllium and molybdenum. What made him happy most was the last shelf in the innermost part filled with wooden boxes, when he opened them they were filled with blocks of Titanium and Lead.


    With this, the defense of the MCV can be guaranteed.


    They didn''t go to the sixth floor as Arther didn''t want to blow their temporary home for now. Once the MCV is done with the upgrade he will do it. Until then let the treasure inside have a little rest.


    Rose was relieved seeing that Arther didn''t insist on going there. After the tour was over they went up to have some rest and also for dinner.


    Arther has decided to start working on the MCV today at night itself. Because he doesn''t know how much time it will take to complete the upgrade.. And without the MCV he was not feeling much secure and comfortable.

 Chapter 89 - MCV Upgrade.

    After dinner, Arther took a small rest in one of the rooms on the second floor.


    During the dinner, he also asked everyone for any of their ideas about the modifications and he got many good ideas. Thinking about this Arther didn''t know when he went to sleep.


    When he woke up it was already late at night. After taking a small nap he was feeling refreshed, with a happy face he went to the fourth floor to start the work.


    With a thought, he took out the broken MCV. It was placed in front of the huge alloy door which seems to be used for driving the vehicles out.


    Seeing the conditions of the MCV Arther didn''t know whether to laugh or cry. It didn''t look anything like the previous black costly bus. And placed along with the other vehicles it looked like a piece of garbage.


    But Arther didn''t mind it, when the upgrade is finished this will become an even more ferocious beast.


    With this, he went to the driver''s seat and used the system to clear out the storage in his room. He wanted to make room for all the materials required for the repair.


    After it was done he opened the system panel,


    "Scan"


    [Ding


    Scan initialized.


    Processing...10%...30%....99%


    Ding,


    Scan complete.]


    The panel in front of him changed into a different one.


    [Warning,


    The current damage is more than 80%


    Immediate repairing is required.]


    On the top of the panel, there was a red alert, when Arther clicked open the alert he found that there was detailed damage prompts of various modules of the MCV.


    [Weapon Module: Damaged 100%]


    [Planting Module: Damaged 90%]


    [Living Area: Damaged 85%]


    [Energy Module: Damaged 60%]


    [Driving Module: Damaged 40%]


    [Storage: Damaged 30%]


    The weapon module comprised of the ballista, the planting module comprised of the greenhouse on the second deck, the energy module comprised of the engines, batteries, and the fuel tank.


    The storage was the least damaged due to its special structure followed by the driving module comprising of the driver''s cabin, while building the MCV itself Robert had strengthened the driver''s cabin hence it retained the damage.


    After getting the required information Arther came out of the MCV. Before starting the upgrade he needed to repair these damages. This was the rule of the system, that MCV can be upgraded only when the damage of all the modules is less than 10%.


    And for this repair, he will need the metals from the lower floor.


    He first stored the MCV inside the tattoo and then moved to the lower floor, coming to the metal section of the warehouse he started collecting all the metals required. After completely filling up the storage and the space in the MCV he stopped.


    He then went to the fourth floor again, he wanted to do the repairing work here itself but the area here was not enough to fit the MCV.


    After coming to the fourth floor again, he took out the MCV and opened the system panel.


    [Total Damage: 83%](Repair)


    With the required materials provided, there was a new repair option available. When he clicked on the repair option there was a new prompt on the panel,


    [For this repair it will require 3 energy points.


    Current Energy: 20.]


    (Author''s note: I have changes the energy counts a bit since the previous ones were a bit difficult to remember. Consider the basic energy of the system in the beginning to be 10. )


    Seeing this Arther was a bit surprised, as he had thought that the energy is required only for modification and upgrades, but now things were different.


    But he also didn''t have any other option, so he ordered to proceed.


    With permission from Arther, the MCV seemed to vibrate a bit and then quieted down again. The metal blocks in the boxes slowly started to disappear from the MCV. Arther didn''t feel anything different with this repair except for the reducing damage count from the system panel.


    But there was a different scene seen from the outside when Arther started the repairing. The twisted axle and shafts slowly moved and straightened themselves, then the dents on the body disappeared. This was a magical scene to behold, as it seemed the MCV has come to life.


    Arther opened the system panel to see the repairing progress and found that there was a timer of one hour, which meant that the repairing will take one hour. Until then Arther decided to take a walk around.


    He walked through the staircase and came to the third floor, when he was about to go to the lower floor he heard some voices from the terrace. Hearing the sound he changed his direction and went to the terrace instead.


    The terrace of the warehouse was completely flat with a small bunker made from sandbags above the main gate. Except for this, there was nothing on the terrace, in the center was the landing symbol for the helicopter.


    When Arther came to the terrace, there was a faint gust of winds blowing with moonlight shining around making the atmosphere a bit relaxing. Besides the small bunker, there were two figures sitting at the edge of the terrace with their legs swinging in the air.


    Of course, they were John and Jack. After the dinner, Arther asked John to keep a watch at night but his dad insisted to join. Without any other choice in front of his father Arther had to give up.


    When Arther went near them he was able to vaguely hear their laughs and was able to see the smoke from the cigarettes. Whenever the smoke was released the winds took it away.


    Both of them seemed to feel him coming and turned towards the back. Seeing that it was Arther, they smiled,


    "Hey Arther, come join us.", John invited him cheerfully.


    "Hahaha, it''s such nice scenery here. Come have some relaxing time..",his father pointed at the forest in the distance while speaking.

 Chapter 90 - MCV Upgrade 2

    Seeing the happy expressions of his father and Uncle, Arther was also a bit affected and joined them. His father passed him a cigarette.


    While smoking cigarettes and enjoying the cool breeze Arther felt a little relaxed. When he looked at the distant woods and that they had to pass this forest he was left in deep thinking.


    From the time he was reborn he was not in much stress and always felt that with the help of the system he was more than enough to lay a solid foundation in this apocalyptic world using the past life knowledge. This was also his capital for entering this forest. But after the battle with the vine monster and the rapidly growing forest he was slapped in the face.


    ''I have underestimated the apocalypse a bit too much. Even though I have the system and the MCV it is still in its development period. I need to take one step at a time.''


    Jack sitting beside Arther noticed the stressed look on his son''s face and patted his shoulders.


    "Brat, don''t think you have the powers and can order me. I am still the head of the family."


    Hearing this, Arther looked at his father and saw the worry in his eyes. "I know that old man, and I don''t want that place of yours.", he knew that even though his father didn''t show it on his face he has always been worried about the family.


    "Hahahaha," hearing this all of them started laughing.


    After enjoying with them for some time Arther took his leave. He still had important work to be done.


    When he came to the fourth floor again, the repair of the MCV was already finished. In the parking area, a brand new black MCV was parked quietly.


    Seeing the MCV back to its full health level Arther felt a little relieved and then got to the further work. Firstly he stored the MCV and started transporting all the metals from the lower floor to the parking area.


    He has already made up his mind to make use of most of these metals in the upgrade.


    After completing the porter work he took out the MCV and sat in the driver''s seat. Sitting in the driver''s seat he opened the system panel. The panel this time was different than the previous one.


    [Carrier Vehicle: MCV


    Level: 1


    Current Modules:


    1)Energy Module.


    2)Driving Module.


    3)Weapon Module.


    4)Storage Module.


    5)Planting Module.


    Living Area.


    Energy: 17


    (Modify)]


    [Main Vessel


    Name: Arther


    Carbon-Based organism


    Level:-99


    Energy Source: None.]


    Seeing the two status panel''s Arther was a bit surprised. His level has increased from -100 to -99 due to certain reasons.


    He didn''t think much about the reasons behind it and thought it might be due to the start of the apocalypse.


    With this thought, he opened the modify option for the MCV. When he clicked on it two options were presented manual and systematic.


    Looking at the list of high-end modification such as nuclear engines, and spacecraft Arther didn''t even dare to keep watching since the material requirements for these modifications was not what he can gather currently.


    With a thought, the manual section was opened. It was nothing but an empty space with the 3D representation of the MCV in the middle.


    Here Arther can make any changes to the MCV by providing the materials and energy.


    He started with the chassis, this was the most damaged part of the MCV in the earlier battle. He directly increased the width from 3 meters to a full 7meters, the length was increased from 13.89 meters to 20meter. The materials used were high-strength steels, titanium alloy, and aluminum alloys. The number of tires was also increased from six to eight with doubles thickness. Increasing the total width to 10m.


    After that, the main body was to be designed. The main body was made in a special way, he used a mixture of high strength and shock bearing materials to create a body frame such as lead, then used aluminum alloys to build three protective layers around the mainframe in the form of the honeycomb structures.


    The main structure was then sandwiched between the outer armors and the inners wall and flooring. The outer armor design was left to the system by Arther, and the inner wall and flooring were made from metal, cardboard, and cotton padding layers.


    He also increased the height of the body from four meters to six meters. The driver''s cabin was moved to the highest floor on the right side with the driver''s seat on the left side of the cabin. The area of the driver''s cabin was increased automatically by the system and two seats were added behind the previous two seats.


    Another new cabin was added right beside the driver''s cabin.


    After a little thought, Arther changed the energy module too. The main engine at the back was attached to the four tires in the front and the electric engine was moved to the rear.


    This was done by Arther since he knew it will be difficult to get fuel in the future and considering the tonnage of the MCV, it will be a lot of fuel. So he has decided to take the path towards the electric vehicle.


    After the basic layout of the MCV was completed. Arther clicked to fix the design, this was the convenient property of the system''s manual modifications.


    After this was done now was the time for upgrading the modules and adding the other facilities.


    This time he used the system modification options.


    Opening the modification options he started scrolling down. After searching for some time he found some useful ones,


    [Shockproof hydraulic Chassis:


    Increase the height of the chassis a bit, attached to the main body with a strong hydraulic system. There is an inbuilt cooling system for heat dispersion. Also increases the stability by 20%.]


    [Bulletproof Heavy-duty tires:


    The life of the tire can be increased by 60%, it can easily handle a load of more than 300tons. Reduce the fuel consumption by 30%. Suitable for all terrains.]


    [Electric Battery(Level 3)


    Increase the power charging to the consumption ratio, optimize the use of electricity according to the requirement. Automated safety system. Can store enough electricity to provide power to a small town for one month.]


    [Reinforced Camouflaging Solar Lamination


    Laminating the whole body of the MCV will provide it with one chance of camouflaging. The solar lamination has self-healing properties. Increase the solar energy absorption by 40%. It also has a certain function in retain the temperature of the vehicle.]


    [Electric Nitro-engine


    Increase the efficiency by 10%. Provided with a nitro booster, the nitro booster can be turned on for a small time limit of 3minutes using three times the normal electricity. It has a cooling time of 12hours.]


    [Four stroke diesel engine cum generator


    Can provide 2000 hp. It is a dual property module and can produce 2000kW of electricity per hour. Consumes 3litre per hour.]


    [Dimensional Fuel Tank


    Area: 5cubic meters


    Can hold 5000litres of fuel. The fuel inside will not have any effect due to change in the surrounding. Has 100% temperature insulation.. Completely bullet proof.]

 Chapter 91 - MCV Upgrade 3

    With this upgrade, the energy Module of the MCV was upgraded to a monstrous level. Now came the Living area. For this Arther didn''t want to waste many resources but just increase the area and defensive measures.


    Inside the MCV, the diesel engine and the fuel tank were placed just below the two cabins, the number of floors was also increased from two to three for convenience. The lowest and the highest floors were of the same heights while the height of the middle floor was a bid increased.


    The living area was as always on the lowest floor, with two single bedrooms, two couple bedrooms, a master bedroom, and two six-bed living quarters. The two quarters were made by Arther for emergency purposes.


    While the other rooms were designed according to the demands of everyone. The bedroom for Mey was of modern design and was reduced in size a little bit and a small laboratory was added inside. It was not with many facilities but it was still her private lab. His parent''s bedroom was a complete bedroom with a double bed and ordinary decorations. The other two single rooms were with a single bed, and the wall colors and all were customized with the help of the system.


    The emergency quarters had their separate washrooms and bathroom. With gray-white walls and six bunk beds. One for males and the other for females.


    Then a partition was placed in the rear of the floor creating a room of the same area as the double bedrooms, this was the medical room along with cold storage for medicines. Then a joint washroom and a bathroom were also included.


    The master bedroom was a huge one, with its separate luxury washroom and bath. This was obviously for Arther. It also had a path directly to the third floor.


    After the basic layout was completed and the design was saved the system automatically designed the electric and water system.


    Then he opened the system options to find anything cheap,


    [Water Pipe:


    It can increase the efficiency of the water system by 10% and reduced water consumption by 20%.]


    [Wireless Electric system:


    The electric system will be directly inlaid inside the wall and flooring using wires. Until the entire MCV is not destructed the electric system will not fail. Reduce electricity consumption by 10%]


    [AI medical table:


    It does not require any advanced knowledge to use. The inlaid AI can perform various medical processes. Comes with the inlaid advanced medical operating tool. Increase the electricity by 30%]


    [Basic Laboratory:


    A basic laboratory for the R&D, it has all the basic required pieces of equipment. And an AI assistance system.]


    With this modification, their living conditions can be considered to be the best in the apocalypse. Arther selected the laboratory due to the full set of equipment and tools coming with it and also for future aspects. To develop in the future he will need his own R&D department and this laboratory will be the foundation of it.


    The second floor was dedicated to the planting module completely. For this, he didn''t want to be frugal and directly chose from the system options.


    [Indoor Farm


    Level: 1


    Area: 3acre


    Properties:


    Automated Soil fertilizing system


    Automated irrigation system


    Automated Temperature management system


    Automated Moisture retainer


    Automated Ploughing machine


    Designated 10tons grain storage


    Poultry: 10animals


    30,000 gallons water tank for farming.]


    This was enough for their food consumption for the time being. And he also added another 15,000 gallons of water tank with an inlaid water purifier. This was for their daily consumption and was connected to the water system in the MCV.


    The third floor was converted into a war barrack by Arther, the bunkers on the roof were removed and were replaced by automated bunkers. These bunkers were made of reinforced bulletproof glass and had a firing range of 360 degrees, it also with a aiming function for using heavy weapons. While the third floor also had two shooting platforms on both sides, these platforms when turned on can slide out of the MCV body.


    This floor was also directly connected to the two cabins. It came with main dimensional storage for arms and ammunitions connected to the auxiliary storages on the platforms, bunkers, and cabins.


    Then came the most important and exciting module for Arther, the weapon module. After obtaining the heavy weapons in the warehouse Arther has officially retired the Ballista.


    For this, he also took down all the weapons on the vehicles in the parking.


    After counting all the weapons he started laying down, it felt like completing a puzzle by adding in the pieces.


    He started with the shooting platforms. From inside it looked like a glass cubicle with a fixed rotating chair in the center. He placed a heavy machine in front, then hung a submachine gun on one side and a light machine gun on the other side. He also placed other small arms such as carbine and pistol for an emergency.


    The front bunker was fitted with a turret platform and an autocannon with 600round per minute. While the rear bunker was fitted with an anti-tank and anti-aircraft gun, and a fixed grenade launcher.


    All these systems were almost manual and only a little assistance is required from the AI.


    He then placed a rotary gun on either side of the MCV inlaid in the armor, they were connected to the completely automated system which was placed in the second cabin. There was also an 83mm mortar in the roof armor and an autocannon in the rear.


    All these heavy weapons were meant to attack only when necessary as their ammunitions were not much. And they will always be hidden inside the body armor, only when used will they protrude out. The weapons were fully automated and were attached to the AI weapon system in the second cabin. Making the second cabin more like a weapon control room.


    After the laying of the weapon module was finished Arther looked at his final showdown baby. The RCV.


    He also took down all the tools from the parking garage and created a small space on the third floor to place the RCV and installed all those tools too. When he was thinking about what to do with the RCV the system notified him that it can be attached with the MCV.


    When he clicked to accept it a new screen appeared in the combat room, this will show the footage from the cameras on the RCV and other systems on it. After thinking for a small time he installed the mine clearance plug taken from the ESV. Considering the current defense of the MCV it won''t be harmed by a land mine but the RCV can be used as an auxiliary support vehicle for road clearance and remote fire support. He also fitted two light machine guns and an anti-tank gun on it.


    Looking at the completed design of the MCV in the manual mode Arther didn''t think much and presses the confirm option. With a slight buzz all the metals in the MCV storage were consumed at a visible rate and so were the things outside. Even the huge metal door of the parking was slowly eaten up.


    Seeing this consumption Arther had a wry smile and then got out of the MCV. There was a small timer on the system pane showing 30hours. This means they will have to wait till the day after tomorrow to leave.


    Until then Arther decided to rest and also try to find any other good things in the vicinity.. With this thoughts, he went to his room to sleep.

 Chapter 92 - Forest Tour: Collecting Specimens.

    Early next morning Arther was woken up by a knock on his door. Getting out of the bed with sleepy eyes he opened the door to find Nanny standing at his door.


    "Brother Arther the breakfast is ready. Aunt has asked me to call you.", after speaking she looked at the funny appearance of Arther with a sweet smile.


    "Oh, uh, umm. Tell mom I will be there in a few seconds.", the moment he heard that it was his mother calling the sleep in his eyes vanished and he hurriedly closed the door to get fresh and change clothes.


    Seeing this Nanny giggled and ran to the canteen area.


    After a few minutes Arther walked into the canteen on the ground floor. Since there was a huge surplus of food stored in the canteen for the maintenance team along with same gas cylinder for stove. Arther let his family prepare the food here. Since the food here didn''t have high shelf life and even of they take it with them most of this will be spoiled. Instead it is better to use as much of it as possible.


    As soon as Arther came his plate was already placed on the table while everyone else were eating happily. The dish contained braised pork, beef, milk, boiled eggs. Such a heavy breakfast if not for the heavy work done by everyone Arther would have to worry about them being fat.


    But when the apocalypse struck there was a change in the metabolisn of all the humans even those of the weak ordinary ones. So digesting was not at all a problem in the apocalypse what is an issue is whether one can get enough food.


    Arther joined his family to have the breakfast.


    "How is the work going.", his father asked while enjoying the food.


    "Everything is going fine. We can start our journey tomorrow morning at latest. For the time being stay away from the lower floors.", Arther explained everyone.


    "Arther, since we are going to stay here for some time can I go in the vicinity to collect some sample of the forest.", hearing what Arther said Mey asked with excitment.


    Hearing this the expression of John sitting besides her changed a bit, he has seen the power of vine monster, and they didn''t know how dangerous this forest is. Even if she talked about going in the vicinity it is still dangerous. Just when he was about to refute her Arther spoke.


    "Yes, this is what I was going to speak. Since we are going to stay here for today we should know about the surrounding a little bit, I don''t want to face any unknown danger at night.", hearing this Mey was even more excited and happy. For her this forest was like a treasure box waiting to be opened.


    If she can get some samples from these evolved plants her research might gain a breakthrough. When Arther rescued them from the lab facility in the city all her research and specimens were also left behind which was a great regret for her.


    "Is it necessary to go in the forest? Anyways we are going to leave here tomorrow.", John couldn''t keep calm seeig that Arther also agreed Mey. So he hurriedly tried to reason out from this.


    Hearing this Arther shook his head while explaining, "Even though we are going to leave soon, we still have to spend a whole day and night here. And according to my calculations in this two days will be the awakening time of the beasts. Before dark we need to checkout for any danger in the surrounding, it is better to face the danger at this time than get attacked at night.",


    Hearing this the atmosphere at the table was a bit heavy but then Arther cheered them up,


    "OK, there is no need to be so worried. This are just my speculations."


    "Aunt Mey, Rose, Nanny and Me. We four will check out the forest for any danger along with collecting any sampler for Aunt Mey. While the rest need to rest and remain in optimum state for any emergency while protecting our temporary house.",


    After finishing speaking he put the plates in the wash basin and went to get the equipment for all of them. The least thing they were making now were the military grade individual equipment and ammunition.


    After all of them put on the gloves, combat shoes, and bullet proof vest and taking some ammunition and rations they were ready to leave.


    After leaving Arther led them directly to the checkpost through the asphalt road. When they came here for the first time the condition of the road were pretty good but now it looked like it had been abandoned for a long time with small cracks around the surface and grass shoots poking their heads out from the cracks. The width of the road was also cutout a large portion by the rapidly growing green. The most shocking was the checkpost, except for a little layout no one can recognize it. Two huge twisted trees were growing around the checkpost while vines grew around completely covering it.


    Arther and others were really surprised by the power of nature.


    "Why does this forest grow so rapidly?", Rose pursed her lips while asking in astonishment.


    "Hehehe, ofcourse because we killed the overlord here.", Arther walking in the front spoke with a mocking tone. Being in the apocalypse he has a lot of knowledge about this things.


    "What do you mean?"


    "It''s simple, the only rule of the apocalypse is survival of the fittest. Earlier, the vine monster was the overlord here so all the nutrients and water in the vicinity belonged to it. This made it difficult for the comparatively ordinary plants to grow. But now since the overlord is dead the territory is unowned. So all these plants are competing for the resources here that is the soil nutrients. After some time there might be a new plant that can mutate or evolve and become the overlord here."


    Arther explained patiently while carefully chopping off few plants and grass in their way.


    "Will it be the same for other living things on the forest.", this time it was Mey who spoke. Being a professional in the field of biology she understood a deeper meaning from this not so important talk from Arther.


    "Yes, and it will be even more bloody and cruel.",Arhter spoke with a deep sigh.


    ''Isn''t all this going on for the resources.'', Thinking about this Arther smile while shaking his head.


    Hearing what Arther said all the three of them behind him were a bit confused.

 Chapter 93 - Conditions Of The Forest.

    After taking a tour around the warehouse Arther led them back to the warehouse through the same path. It took them almost an entire day to complete this small patrol due to the growing plants obstructing the way.


    When they moved out Arther has cleared a path for returning but he underestimated the growth of those plants and before they returned the same path was already engulfed by plants. If not for the general direction and the military compass they might have even lost in the forest.


    This showed them one more danger of the forest.


    When they came back it was already 5:00 in the evening. When they entered the warehouse building all four of them felt a little relaxed. Arther went directly to the bathroom on the second floor to take a bath and then went to eat something. Due to this patrolling, they have missed lunch and he was already very hungry.


    When Arther came to the canteen there was no one in there. Just when he was going to call someone Mey and the other two came to the canteen.


    "Arther have a seat, I will cook something for all of us.", Mey gestured him to sit while she led the other two girls in the canteen kitchen.


    "OK, thank you, Aunt Mey."


    Since the electricity in the warehouse was lost a long time ago they can''t store cooked food for a long time without the refrigerator. Hence his mother didn''t store their lunch.


    Soon the lunch was placed on the table and everyone took a seat.


    "Aunt Mey, what do you think of today''s patrol?"


    "I have found many good samples for my research, If you can provide me with a good research lab I can continue with my research."


    "Umm. You don''t have to worry about the lab, I have already made arrangements.", Arther said with a confident smile.


    Hearing this everyone was a bit puzzled. But Mey was happier than puzzled.


    "It is good that we didn''t encounter any beast around the vicinity. Maybe they have not yet awakened.", Rose spoke with a sigh of relief.


    "We can''t to any conclusion so soon. Before I also thought the same way but seeing the rapidly growing forest I have some doubts.", Arther spoke out hearing her.


    "Doubts? What do you mean?", everyone looked at Arther.


    "Since the plants are growing so fast they are eager to get something in this area. And there must be something here that can provide continuous energy for the growth of these plants.",


    Hearing this everyone nodded in agreement.


    "If those plants rely on the nutrients from the soil to grown so fast the soil will soon lose its fertility.", Mey expressed her thinking.


    "Brother Arther, does it means there is something near the warehouse that is providing the energy for these plants? How strong that thing is to provide such a huge amount of energy?", Nanny looked at Arther with a horrified look when she thought about this.


    "Yes, if there is such a thing it is a treasure to be fought for but can also be a dead end. Even though I am a bit tempted by this we currently don''t have the power to get this thing. So it''s better to hasten our step and leave this place as soon as possible."


    When everyone was done eating Mey and Nanny went to clean the plates while Arther was going to leave the canteen when Rose called him, "Arther, wait a minute."


    Arther halted his steps and turned to look at her, when he looked at her eyes there was a small guilty conscience in them.


    Seeing this Arther frowned and asked. "What is it?"


    Even though Rose has not accepted to join their team she can be considered a temporary part of the team now.


    Rose looked at him growing and hurriedly spoke for the fear of creating dissatisfaction with Arther.


    "Actually, I want to ask a favor from you. It is About Andrius.",


    When he heard the name he was a bit confused,


    Seeing the confused look of Arther, Rose explained.


    "He is the engineer of our team, the one who is in a coma."


    "Oh, you mean that guy with bleeding in his head.", Arther remembered the person.


    "Yes, it''s him. Actually, according to Mrs. Mey, he is in a dangerous condition and needs to be operated on sooner.", Rose explained to him anxiously.


    "Oh, but why are you telling me this? I am not a doctor. And without any equipment I help you in this.", Arther looked at with a confused look.


    "No, you surely have a way!", Rose was almost out of temper hearing this.


    Arther raised one eyebrow and looked at her, "You mean?"


    "Sorry, I am didn''t you say that you can provide a lab to Mrs.Mey before. So you can have a way to find some relevant types of equipment too right?"


    Hearing this Arther was a bit surprised and impresses by Rose''s thinking ability, ''No wonder she can become a vice-captain of such an important team at this age''


    "If you say so, I do have a way.",


    Just when Rose thought she has seen some hope for her teammate she was smashed by Arther, "But why should I help you."


    "What? How can you let a human die when you have the way to save him.", even though she was a trained soldier she has absolutely not experienced the cruelty of humanity and hence didn''t know how Arther made out such a sentence.


    "Look lady, this world is no longer what it used to be. If you want to ask for something from me you have to offer the price I ask for.", Arther leaned a little further and spoke in a serious tone and then turned to leave.


    Even though he said so to Rose he has already thought of saving the guy and also test the new upgraded medical room. But he wanted to see how far Rose can go for saving her teammate. This was a test he has set for her.


    "Wait, offer your price.", Rose was struck in thinking for a few seconds but then she seemed to have made a decision and spoke to Arther.


    "Oh, good. So are you ready to pay anything I ask for?", Arther looked at her with a mocking look.


    "You...., you give me a price.", Rose didn''t like the mocking look of Arther. In her life of 22years, no one has ever been able to look at her with this gaze.


    "I want.....nothing", after speaking Arther didn''t look at her surprised look and turned and left.


    He didn''t want to tease her anymore. But the decision of her today surely made his thought of adding her to the team firmer.


    Rose was a bit confused and surprised about what happened just now, "Hehehe, sister Rose. You are so innocent, brother Arther was playing with you. He must have already thought of a way to heal your teammate.", A voice drifted beside her ears and then Nanny walked past her while giggling.


    Hearing this Rose was shocked and instantly understood that she has been played with by Arther all the time. She shook her head with a wry smile.. And then went to the upper floor to take some rest.

 Chapter 94 - Upgrade Complete.

    The day passed by without any suspense.


    The next day at 7:00 Arther received the system notification that the MCV upgrade was completed. Hearing this he hurried over to see the new look of the MCV. Considering the changes he had made to the MCV was looking forward to the new capabilities of the MCV.


    At this time almost everyone was awake and were in the canteen or on the watch at the terrace. When Nanny was going to the second floor for some work she felt a fast wind flowing past her, looking behind she saw it was Arther running to the ower floor like a crazy man.


    Arther didn''t mind looking at the surprised expression of everyone now, he came to the parking place where the MCV was parked.


    Nanny and others also followed Arther to the lower floor to what made the home act in such a way.


    When they came to the parking place the scene in front of them almost scared them. The entire floor was empty and all the parked vehicles have disappeared, what replaced them was a huge vehicle with tires almost reaching human height.


    "OH MY GOD!", Jessy looked at the vehicle in front of them and was as confused and surprised as others.


    All of them were having the same questions in their mind, ''How and from where this thing came here.''


    The most surprised of all was Rose, others didn''t know but she knew there were many combat vehicles placed here, then where did they go?


    And then all their attention was moved from the vehicle to the person standing in front of it and doing an odd dance.


    Seeing the sheer size and the momentum it will bring when moving, thinking about this Arther was so excited that he can''t control himself and started dancing. ''Hahaha, what vine monster, what undead, what beasts, everyone will be crushed under the MCV''s tires.''


    After the initial excitement, he calmed down and noticed the people standing behind and their odd looks. Seeing this felt a bit awkward,


    "Hello everyone, let''s go check our upgraded home.", he directly avoided their gazes and walked near the MCV.


    The height of the chassis was customized in such a way that it can be driven in any rough terrain without any damage.


    Hearing Arther''s call everyone excitedly went near the MCV. All of them knew that Arther was upgrading the MCV but didn''t know it will change so much. But instead of asking about how he did it, they were more excited about living in this MCV.


    The stronger the MCV was the safer they will be in this apocalypse world.


    Without making them wait any more he ordered the door to open. This was a new function after the upgrade, without Arther''s authority no one can open the door from inside or outside.


    With the order''s received an inlaid curved door with a thickness of around 150mm, this was the first line of defense of the MCV so Arther made it accordingly. It was made by using the alloy doors of the parking place. The huge reinforced doors were melted into liquid metal and then the system compressed it to the extreme creating a more compact alloy door that can''t be damaged even using the explosives.


    The door opened from the upper edge and fell to the front, the inner side of the door was made into steps for boarding.


    As the door opened in front of them Arther led everyone inside the MCV. About the interior of the MCV, he was not unknown as he was the one to design it, but others were completely shocked.


    As everyone entered the MCV, the door was automatically closed followed by complete darkness. Then in a few seconds, a blue light was lit and they were able to see the surrounding clearly, they were standing in a small room with metal walls on both sides, and the most shocking thing was that the walls were composed of tiny openings. This was a sanitation room to avoid the virus from entering the MCV.


    After waiting for few seconds a door was opened on the other side of the room and a bright light came from inside.


    Arther led them inside, this was the main living area. They entered a huge living room with a semi-open kitchen on the right side. On the left side of the living room were few small glass panels, these were the glass windows for observing the outside. It was made of reinforced glass and can only be seen from inside. For the outside, it was covered with camouflaging lamination making it look not different than the other body.


    On the front wall was a huge home theatre system with a full ceiling-to-floor monitor and three speakers on both sides of the ceiling. Seeing this everyone standing behind Arther was almost shocked crazy.


    "Hahaha, this is what I have always dreamed of so I made one for me.", Arther spoke to them with an embarrassed expression. Being a shut-in otaku he was fond of movies and games, this was his dream to own such a huge monitor.


    "Huh, brat I thought you were getting mature.", hearing what Arther said, Jack sighed and spoke while shaking his head. Even though he said so was having a happy dance inside his mind, since.......this was his teenage dream too.


    To avoid getting scolded Arther hurriedly led the others to other places. On the right side of the living room was a corridor leading further inside.


    First came the open kitchen with its small dimensional storage and advanced modern kitchen. His mother and Mey were convinced seeing the kitchen, being housewife they also wanted to cook in such a kitchen.


    "Mom, from now on this kitchen will be under your authority. I have already imported your fingerprints for storage. And yes, don''t store too much food here, there is another storage above."


    "Ok."


    After seeing the kitchen he opened the door in front of the kitchen, this was a couple of bedrooms with an inlaid washroom and bath.


    "Mom, Dad this will be your room I have added everything according to your needs. Go and see if you like it while I take others to their rooms."


    Hearing this parents happily entered the room, having a private space was what everyone want. Seeing the eager looks of others Arther smiled and led others to their rooms.


    There were two rooms besides the kitchen and his parent''s room. These were his sister''s and Nanny''s rooms. Without waiting for Arther''s explanation the girls hurried into their rooms.


    With a wry smile, Arther led Mey and John to the room beside Nanny''s room on the right side. This room was also a couple of bedrooms. But on the left side of the room was another door. While John was having a happy look at their room Arther led the excited Mey into the inner room.


    When the door was opened what came in front of them was a single room with shelves on one side while a laboratory table on the other side. On the wall in the front was a small LCD monitor, while Mey was looking at the ordinary equipment and empty shelves with a bit of disappointed look Arther smiled at her, "Aunt Mey, have a look at this."


    With this he turned on a switch on the monitor.

 Chapter 95 - [Bonus ]

    Following this, there was a flicker on the monitor and a face of an old man in his 50s appeared on it. While Mey was still a bit confused the girl on the screen spoke,


    "Hello host, welcome to the laboratory facility. I am your AI lab assistant."


    Hearing this Mey was shocked, seeing her expression Arther was satisfied.


    "From now on he will be your assistant, It has many advanced functions. It was made according to an advanced researcher and he has a vast amount of knowledge inlaid in her memory. I have transferred the authority of the Laboratory and the small storage inside to you along with the AI. You can make changes to it as you want. And yes there are a few advanced pieces of equipment which need to be ordered to the AI for use."


    "You take a look at it while I lead the other."


    "Um", Mey was so immersed that she ignored Arther.


    Coming out of the room Arther looked at the two girls standing at the door. They were Rose and Lia. This was also their first time seeing such an advanced MCV or rather a miracle.


    Even though they were very surprised and shocked they didn''t dare to run around, seeing Arther coming out of the room both of them looked at him with a worried expression.


    They were worried since their life was now completely in Arther''s hands, he has already emptied the materials in the warehouse, and now if he disagrees to take them along with him they didn''t have the confidence to fight against him.


    And now one of their team members was also in a critical condition for whom Arther is the only last chance.


    Arther looked at both of them and Arther nodded, he has deliberately allowed them to follow in, he wanted to see if after seeing the MCV does they have any move. This was a test for both of them if their greed makes them do something wrong he was ready to put a bullet in their head at any time, even though they are well trained he didn''t want an ambitious subordinate.


    But their behavior has satisfied his mind so he decided to take them in, he was not worried that they will leave the team after getting in contact with the military. Since the military will be inside the base cities, it was difficult to tell whether they can contact the inside, and even if they succeed to do so after seeing the conditions outside they won''t dare to trust that inside anymore.


    "Rose, I am convinced with both of your sincerity and have decided to help you out of here."


    Hearing this there was a happy smile on their faces, "Arther, what about Andrius."


    Rose nervously looked at Arther, if she wants to she can happily leave this hell-like forest along with Arther and didn''t need to think about her teammate but her conscience didn''t allow her to do so.


    "Hmm, I have a way to treat him, go and bring him in the front of the warehouse, I will drive the MCV out first."


    After a hurried nod both the girls ran out. After they left the door he closed it.


    Till then everyone had also finished with the inspection of the rooms and came out with a satisfied look.


    Arther also felt happy seeing his family, isn''t it this for what he has been striving for. He wanted his family to have a comfortable, safe and happy life. Now he had a little confidence in exciting the forest without any problems.


    "Everyone I hope you like your room, about the other facilities in the MCV I will explain it later. Since the MCV is ready I think we should leave this forest as soon as possible first."


    Everyone nodded hearing this, now the forest had many unknown factors and it was best to leave here as soon as possible. "In two hours we will leave, so get to work and collect anything useful from the warehouse we might need. Especially the food, uncle John and Nanny go to the lower floor and take all the batteries and the emergency generator."


    "Meet at the door of the warehouse, I will drive the MCV there till then."


    After Arther passed out the orders, everyone went out of the MCV. Mey and Abella went to the canteen to collect all the food and grains, while Jack and Jessy collected all the useful things from the rooms.


    Getting out of the MCV, Arther chose to store it inside the tattoo, the moment it entered the tattoo there was a small tingling on his skin which last for not more than a second, Arther didn''t even notice this. But there was a change in his body, it looked carefully one can find his skin more white and smooth while the small hairs on his body had a shiny metallic luster.


    He walked to the fuel tank in the parking, this was a huge fuel tank built underground with a motorized pump knob in a corner used for filling the vehicles.


    Ather turned on the knob, with the knob turned on a steady stream of fuel started to flow out of the tank but instead of falling on the ground it magically disappeared halfway in the air. This was because Arther was using the MCV to collect the fuel.


    After more than an hour, the fuel tank was completely emptied. With this, he had enough fuel to generate electricity for the MCV for 24 hours a month. He also filled many barrels of fuel, the total amount of fuel was around 26,000 gallons considering the fuel tank, the storage in the dual engine, and the storage barrels.


    After this was done he went to the front of the warehouse where till now a lot of materials were piled up, he directly stored all the things inside. He asked everyone to rest till he completes the work inside. Soon Rose and Lia also came with Andrius wrapped in a bedsheet.


    After they put him on the ground Arther gestured at Rose to follow him.


    He directly led her to the lowermost floor, then under the shocked expression of Rose he put a hand on the large alloy door in front of them, then with thought, there was a small hole in the door which slowly widened up.


    "How much time?", Arther asked her while entering.


    Hearing this Rose was woken up from the shock and she hurriedly replied.


    "Since you have not damaged the lock system of the door it will provide us with a short time of around 10minutes. After the air pressure in the room reduces below a certain level the defense system will scan the warehouse, to avoid this scan a special ID is required but since we don''t have one the self-destruction will be initiated."


    "So you mean we have 25 minutes in total right?"


    "Cool, let''s get to work.", with a swing of his hands Arther started collecting all the boxes and materials placed in the room. He didn''t have much time to observe the details, so anything that can be moved was stored. When he was almost done with the work there was a harsh alarm around the entire warehouse which can be heard till a long distance.


    This also shocked everyone waiting at the door, Lia standing beside Andrius was shaking due to fear and in a few seconds, she was drenched with sweat. Seeing her this way everyone knew that Arther must have done something he should have.


    While Jack and John were thinking whether to go inside to check Arther and Rose ran outside hurriedly.


    Without any more nonsense, Arther took out the MCV and asked everyone to board. until the last person was boarded the self-destruction countdown was already 15 minutes past.


    As soon as the door was closed Arther used the system control to drive the MCV at full speed in one direction.


    The MCV was like an angry bull, it started both the engines for maximum inertia and a huge collision column was erected in the front with a thorny shining spike which directly rammed into the trees in the front directly breaking them in half, the speed of the MCV didn''t reduce much as two super engines worked at full capacity and the huge tires crushed everything in the past and moved further.

 Chapter 96 - Destruction.

    The moment the MCV drove away, Arther ran to the driver''s cabin. The huge inertia of the MCV also affected those in the living room.


    After the initial shock everyone stabilized. Seeing Arther moving to the higher floors John and Jack also followed him. Being men in the family they had to certainly take some responsibility and can''t just let a small kid do everything. This was against their male ego.


    Coming to the third floor Arther hurried to the driver''s cabin, sitting in the driver''s seat he took over the driving wheel. Even though with the system help he can easily drive the MCV but having the steering wheel in his hands helps to reduce the anxiety in the heart a little bit.


    As soon as he sat the seat belts were automatically put on, then he turned on the surveillance camera around the MCV for better driving. This was the first time he was driving such a huge vehicle hence he was a bit excited. But excitement aside the danger was not yet relieved.


    In a few more minutes John and Jack also came to the cabin. This was the first time they had visited the upper floors of the MCV and hence were a bit shocked on the way slowing them down a bit.


    Seeing his father and John entering the cabin Arther didn''t have much attention towards them and gestured John to take a seat beside him while his father took the one behind him.


    After they fastened the seat belts Arther pushed the surveillance screen towards John. There were not many words between them and both of them started observing the pictures transmitted by the cameras.


    They were shocked to see the destruction caused by the MCV on the way. An almost clear path was left behind. But in a few minutes, it was covered by new plants engulfing the dead ones.


    This scene was creepy enough to scene and sent chills down their spine.


    After rushing in the forest for some time there was a huge blast behind them, following the blast was a shock wave that swept away the surroundings. The rear cameras of the MCV were also disturbed for some time before stabilizing again. After driving for a little further away Arther stopped the MCV and turned to look at the screen.


    "How is it?", he looked at the two men watching the screen attentively.


    "Brat, you almost got us here. This seemed to be an explosion from a small guided missile. Fortunately, we are out of its effective range."


    "Hmm, is there any movement in the forest?",


    "No."


    Hearing this Arther frowned a bit, according to the sound and destruction brought by the explosion just now there must have been some movements from the things beast hiding nearby. Even though he was sure if there were any beasts but the current time was when the beasts in the previous life woke up.


    After pondering for some time Arther stood up from the driver''s seat and handed it over to John while he asked his father to keep observing for any movement.


    "Once there is any change don''t wait for my confirmation to drive out in the same direction directly."


    Hearing this both of them nodded and then concentrated on the screen, while Arther came to the second cabin. This was the weapon control room and also the reconnaissance room. With a thought in his mind an ordinary reconnaissance drone came in his hands this was collected from the warehouse earlier.


    [Ding


    New equipment found.


    Whether to attach with the Carrier''s body?


    Yes/No]


    Without thinking much Arther clicked the Yes option. And a new module was added to the system panel.


    Opening the module there were many upgrade options


    [Beehive: Provided with 20 ordinary drones with an internally connected network system.


    Microdrone: A small drone with high speed, provided with advanced voice damping equipment.


    Seagull: Large drone with huge battery life and high flying altitude. Attached with a camouflaging lamination for charging and short-time invisibility.


    Eagle: Small scale unmanned vehicle, can fly for long-distance and can be installed with a light machine gun or low-weight air to air missiles. With an intermediate weapon system.


    Spider: Ground reconnaissance equipment. Due to the advanced stability and aiming system, it can easily complete the reconnaissance mission in difficult terrains.


    ........]


    Seeing so many options Arther was a bit overwhelmed, as he scrolled down the list he even found some outer space fighter jets with complete invisibility options. Such things can only be his fantasies for now as he didn''t have the materials or the energy required.


    The only useful one, for now, was the beehive. Since it can optimize the drone a little bit and can increase the number of drones. With a thought the production was complete.


    This module was a completely hidden one similar to the RCV. With a thought, there was a small opening in the MCV roof and a drone flew out of the hole with a buzzing sound.


    The speed of the drone was average but it reached bear the warehouse in a few minutes.


    When it came near the warehouse all the cameras and other surveillance devices were turned on and at the same time the huge TV in the living room, a small box on the screen in the driving room and a screen in the control room showed the live footage of the drone.


    This was arranged by Arther to allow everyone to know about the conditions outside.


    Everyone sitting in the living room was shocked to see the huge display on the wall turning one automatically.


    But soon the footage on the screen shocked them even more.


    The drone hovered in the air over the warehouse, currently, the ground was covered with a faint smoke while the trees and plants in the surrounding have caught fire which was surprisingly not spreading out to other trees.


    After observing the scene for a few minutes patiently Arther ordered the drone to lower the height to get a clear picture.


    As soon as the drone flew down they were able to see the scene under the smoke. Currently, there was a huge crater at the place where there was a warehouse once, in the depth of the warehouse there was a solid metal foundation which was also blown apart by this blast showing the soil below.


    While the surrounding was even more horrible, there were all types of building garbage that flew to the surrounding from the warehouse and caused another wave of destruction in the surrounding.


    When they were observing the destruction there was a small movement in the soil below the crater.

 Chapter 97 - Ants

    While the drone flew around the area and was intending to leave Arther saw something on the ground.


    He hurriedly controlled the drone above the location where there was the warehouse once, now replaced by a huge pit.


    As he focused the camera at a certain location in the pit and zoomed in he saw what it was.


    At the center of the deep pit, there was a small mound of soil rising up.


    Everyone was focused on the screen as the soil mound kept moving for few seconds, then a small black head poked out of it with two long antennae and two dreadful mandibles in the front clapping together to make odd sounds.


    The antennae swung in the air for a few seconds and then the head completely emerged from the soil following by a shining long body covered with a black exoskeleton.


    Following this one, many other heads poked out of the surrounding, hundreds, thousands.


    This scene of huge ants popping out of the ground sent shivers down everyone''s spines.


    Following these worker ants, few bigger and stronger fighter ants followed suit from a huge hole at the center of the pit.


    Seeing this situation Arther ordered the drone to fly back. He was curious about the ants and wanted to watch for more time but he had known a very important issue they need to consider.


    After a few minutes, the drone came back and entered the MCV from the same opening on the roof.


    Once the drone was back Arther went to the driver''s cabin,


    In there John and Jack were sitting with horrified looks on their face.


    "Uncle John, we don''t have much time to stay here. I have uploaded the route map to the system. You drive out of here along the route marked.", John nodded and excitedly turned on the driving assistant and started the MCV. In normal times Arther has asked him to turn only the electric engine.


    "Dad, you come with me.", his dad had a serious expression on his face. As he filled Arther.


    Soon they came to the living room where everyone was waiting for an explanation with a worried expression.


    Seeing the ladies scared looks and questioning stares Arther cleared his throat to speak, "Hmm, I know everyone must be having many questions about the situation."


    He was thinking of telling the truth but seeing their scared looks and the shaking bodies of Nanny and Jessy made him drop the idea.


    After thinking about it for some time, he turned to the window and waved his hands to make the windows transparent. Soon the moving scenery outside was completely visible.


    Seeing that they were moving away from the warehouse at a fast speed everyone was relieved a bit.


    Seeing this Arther nodded, "There is no need to be afraid, we are safe now. I have asked Uncle John to drive out of the forest. Have some rest until I finish an important task."


    With this, he gestured towards Rose and Lia to follow. While passing by he also gestured towards Mey who was trying to calm down from the previous shock.


    She noticed the look of Arther and was a bit confused but she had no other things to do so she followed along. Anyways it will help her feel better when in the work.


    His father didn''t follow them as he went to his room with Abella for some private time.


    Turning towards Rose and Lia who were following him nervously he spoke, "I have promised Rose to treat your friend. So go and bring him along. There are few stretchers in the upper racks in the dorms."


    After explaining Arther gestured for them to work fast.


    Hearing what Arther said there was a surprised look on both the girls face, but it was soon changed into happy looks and they ran towards the boys dorm to pick up Andrius.


    After waiting for a few minutes Rose and Lia were back with Andrius wrapped on a stretcher.


    After nodding at them Arther led them past all the room to the medical room. This was the first time they have came here so all of them were a bit curious.


    Without letting them any time to observe the surrounding he opened the door, the room they entered looked huge due to the emptiness.


    Walking inside all of them were surprised to find that the room was actually filled with medicine boxes and other materials collected from the warehouse.


    Arther led them at the centre of the room where there was a glass tube like thing. It looked like a medical bed with a big glass covering it. It was big enough to easily fit a fat man inside.


    Then under the confused looks of the ladies Arther pressed a few switches on the screen besides the bed.

 Chapter 98 - The Magical Medical Table.

    The medical table moved under Arther''s operations, the glass cover above opened while the table was positioned at a certain angle to ease the work of Rose and Lia.


    As Arther looked at them both of them exchanged a confused and worried look. It was common for them to show those looks since this was the first time for even Mey to get exposed to such equipment. Far less for Rose and Lia.


    But under the confident gaze of Arther both of them had no other choice but to put Andrius on the bed.


    After placing Andrius on the bed both of them moved away.


    What was amazing was that even though the bed was at an obvious angle, the body of Andrius didn''t move at all as if a certain suction force was holding him with the bed.


    After the patient was laid the medical bed was automatically retrieved in its original position. And the glass cover was closed..


    After the glass cover was completely closed a small amount of gas was injected inside the capsule.


    This was the first time for Arther to see the medical bed working so even he didn''t know what was happening. Seeing the confused look on Arther''s face there was a little bit of worry in the heart of Rose.


    When others were looking at the working of the medical table, Mey moved nose a bit as if sniffing something in the air.


    "This.....", there was a surprised yelp from her mouth.


    Arther standing beside her looked over with a confused look.


    "Arther, where did you got this device from?", Mey asked Arhter with obvious excitement in her voice.


    This reaction from Mey confused Arther even more, but he didn''t feel anything wrong. Since Mey was an experienced veteran in the field of biology she must have found out something from the medical table.


    But he can''t tell her that he had a system, and this medical table was built using the system.


    It would be a bit complicated to deal with her if she starts behaving with him as her research subject.


    Thinking of this a chill ran down his spine while he looked at the excited and curious look in her eyes.


    With a long sigh, he looked at her, "I am sorry aunt Mey, but this question of yours I can''t answer."


    Seeing the deep and serious look of Arther, Mey understood that she have crossed her line under the excitement.


    "I''m sorry.", she apologized with a disappointed tone.


    Seeing this Arther smiled as he felt happy that she didn''t insist on getting more information.


    "There is no need to be so disappointed. Until we find a professional doctor to join our team I am thinking of handing over the authority of this medical room to you. At that time, except for harming any equipment, you can study them.", Arther spoke with a straightforward expression and an authoritative tone.


    Hearing what Arther said, there was a sudden brightness on Mey''s face, she knew this was a great opportunity for her, "Thank you, little Arther."


    Then with a happy expression both of them turned their attention towards the medical bed again.


    At this time the AI in the medical table had scanned Andrius and found many small issues and the blood coagulation issue in the hindbrain.


    A systematic screen was displayed on the glass cover with all the medical problems and required solutions. Few can be cured by medicines but in the first number on the screen was the injury to the head blinking with red light.


    "Patient is found to have received an internal injury to the brain.


    Due to excess blood coagulation, the brain tissues are harmed. In 48hours the brain will receive irreversible damage.


    Requires operation: Asking for Permission to proceed."


    There was also a 3d image of Andrius showing all the problems in the body.


    Seeing the prompts all of them were surprised.


    Rose and Lia looked at Arther with nervous and expectant looks, they knew that with his permission there was no way to save Andrius. And after knowing how small time they had they knew Arther was the only way for Andrius.


    Arther looked at the prompts and granted the permission without any delay.


    The moment he did so an even more astonishing scene happened. The bed tuned the body to make it lay on the stomach. Then a different type of gas was injected into the capsule again.


    Followed by few robotic arms popped out of the bed with different tools.


    The first tool removed the hair on the head around a very small area. Then another tool cut open the flesh with precision.


    All the robotic arms were working with great precision and were being guided by a small laser pointer for accuracy.


    It took no more than half an hour before the operation was completed.


    Everything was so astonishing that all of them didn''t know when the time went by. They were woken up from the surprise with the alarm sound made by the medical table indicating that the operation was successfully completed.


    Arther pressed a few more switches and the glass cover slid open.


    When Rose and Lia were about to move to take Andrius out from there there was a movement.


    "Ughh..."


    A slight groan from Andrius shocked both of them when they were confused about what was going on.


    His eyelids moved and then opened a small slit.


    Following the bright lights in from the medical room he was woken up from the stupor and sat up hurriedly.


    "Fu*k...Lia RUN!", with a shout he tried to hit something in front of him. When at the same time his hands moved on his body searching for his weapons.


    Finding that there were weapons on him he seemed to be shocked,


    "ANDRIUS! wake up. I am safe, we are safe.", Lia hurriedly held him down to stop him from making any straining movement on his operated wound, while trying to calm him down.

 Chapter 99 - Determination

    With the help of Rose and Lia, Andrius was able to wake up from his stupor.


    When he woke up he didn''t look like someone who has undergone a severe operation but instead more like someone waking up from a nightmare.


    Mey did a final full-body check of Andrius to see if he had any other issues. While all the time Andrius observed the surrounding like a fool. For one time Arther had a feeling that whether the medical bed had failed in the operation and cut off this guy''s brain fuse.


    But looking at his bright eyes and curious looks Arther was relieved.


    After checking him out and not finding any anomaly, with Arther''s permission, they took him to the boy''s dorm for rest and having some food.


    After it was done Arther added Mey into the list of authorities in the medical room system under her eager looks.


    After this was done he came out of there.. While Mey wanted to stay there for some more time to study the medical bed with which Arther didn''t have any problem. Due to the previous events, he didn''t have much time and was hence not able to take a look at his luxurious room.


    Among all the rooms designed Arhter''s room was the best one with all the necessary equipment and facilities. It was not any less in quality than a five-star hotel room.


    The security of the room was also top-notch. The door was made of the alloy collected from the warehouse doors. And the walls were also reinforced.


    The stress from the ants was huge for anyone to handle. Now that they were at a safe distance away from that place Arther asked everyone to take some rest while visited the driver''s cabin once to see if John required anything.


    After confirming that everything was going well and they were on the right route he went to his room.


    It would be a lie if he said he was not excited about the room.


    In his previous life, he lived in a worn-out tent for most of his time in the apocalypse. The best they stayed in was a fallen wooden house in the outer city rented by his sister and her teammates.


    But it was confiscated after their death. And Arther and Daisy were forced to live in the slums.


    When he thought about it many sad memories surfaced in his mind. There was regret, pain, sadness, and anger in his eyes.


    He clenched his fists and took a deep breath to calm himself.


    ''I have many accounts to be cleared with many people. Hope all of them are alive.''


    Thinking about this he shook his head with a wry smile, ''Step by step''


    Those people he had grudges with were not someone he can directly go against for now. It will need more than just strength.


    Then there was also that one person he had to find as soon as possible, ''....Daisy.''


    He didn''t know much about her past in the previous life. He can only find her in the same city they met in his previous life. But he was determined to find her and give her a happy and secure life which an honest girl like her deserves.


    Then he sighed and went to his room, even though he had the system he can''t hurry any of these things. What he needed and lacked the most now was time.


    ........


    Coming in front of a wooded door Arther opened it. The outside was just camouflage and decoration of wood. From inside it was a complete alloy door.


    Opening the door what was presented in front of him was a modern-style huge bedroom. The floors and walls were complete while giving it a refreshing feeling.


    In front was a huge double bed with white soft mattresses and pillows arranged neatly. On both sides of the bed was a wooden table with drawers and a table lamp placed in each of them.


    On the left side of the room was another door leading to the attached bathroom and washroom.


    Inside the bathroom was a full-size bathtub and shower. The washroom had small shelves on the top for storing few items, with a washbasin and toilet below.


    On the right side of the room was a study desk with a comfortable chair behind it. On the right side wall beside the chair and behind it were two floor-to-ceiling bookshelves. Currently, they were empty but Arther was thinking of filling them up with some important book.


    In his previous life, the books were nothing more than a product to be used as firewood. Only the most luxurious people had the wealth and leisure to read blood.


    Now that Arther had the opportunity he didn''t mind having his own collection of books.


    He was also thinking of placing a computer on the desk. He might need it in the future, or at least he can use it to read novels and watch movies. He also wanted to create an AI which will be the main control for the entire MCV and its sub-AI''s.


    Whenever a new thought came to his mind he noted it down in the system. He didn''t know what the future will bring but he was sure to be ready to face it.


    With all those dreamy thoughts Arther laid down on the soft bed and was slowly sucked into the dream world.


    In the sleep, he dreamed of having all his loved ones safe and happy including daisy he was in a huge villa on a hill with flower beds around. There were no signs of the apocalypse.


    This is what not just Arther but every survivor dreamed of. But unfortunately, it was only a dream for them. For Arther, it might one day be a truth.......who knows?


    ----------------------------


    Thank you, everyone, for your support.


    Happy Vijayadashami to all my Indian compatriots.


    Have a nice day. And sorry for the chapter delays in the last week.

 Chapter 100 - [Bonus ]

    In an endless forest bordering many mountain ranges in the far distance, there was a big white vehicle trotting its way among the forest by crushing the plants and trees in its way.


    What was not ordinary among this were the fallen trees and crushed grass and plants in its path. After the vehicle passed by those plants and trees were restored in their shapes. The scene was a bit creepy.


    The white vehicle was none other than the MCV.


    In the driver''s cabin, John and Jack were observing the forest with vigilance while driving. Even though Arther had asked everyone to take some rest Jack was so excited about the new MCV that he secretly ran to the driver''s cabin after Abella went to sleep.


    Of course, it can''t be hidden from Arhter if not that he was sleeping soundly in his new bedroom. Being neighbors both Jack and John have been good friends and now being together in the difficult time of life and death they have increased their bonding.


    In the beginning, both of them were surprised by the vitality of those trees behind them but slowly they got used to it and now even the excited Jack seemed a bit bored..


    "Ah! It has been such a long time since we left the area of the anthill but we still didn''t find anything interesting.", Jack spoke with a disappointed tone while he slowly caressed the MCV body.


    "I wanted to see this girl in action.",


    When he was retired from the military it was because he was forced to do so. There were two main reasons for that. First was naturally his injuries and second, was because he was difficult to handle for his higher officers.


    Hence when they found this reason they hurriedly made him get retired. The reason for this was that he was a fighting maniac. His injury was also received due to him entering the enemy quarters recklessly. Though he successfully killed all the enemies he had to get retire.


    After retirement, he had to control his battle thirst. Which later got weaker.


    He was like a rusted sword. But now the apocalypse has successfully awakened his battle thirst again.


    Seeing the maniac-like expression of Jack, John sitting beside him was a bit flinched. His friend looked like a madman now. Of course, he was scared.


    He was just an ordinary warehouse guard. He has always been a timid person.


    But a few days ago his life has taken many huge turns.


    First, he was kidnapped by some guys in black and came to know about his wife''s secret identity.


    Then the small nerdy son of his good neighbor friend started acting like a protagonist.


    When he was trying to come out of those shocks he was given yet another shock that the world is going to start an apocalypse. He even killed fellow humans though they were the ones who attacked forst.


    And now he was here, driving a fu*king fantasy vehicle in between a creepy forest.


    So it was normal for him to see little odd changes in his friend. Or his thought so.


    *******


    In Arther''s bedroom,


    He has just woken up from his short nap. After washing his face he went outside to check out the condition.


    When he came out his mother was also out. And she looked a little bit angry,


    "Mom? what happened?", he went forward and asked.


    When he walked towards her she was muttering something under her angry breaths. She was woken up from her thoughts by his voice.


    She hurriedly turned towards Arther while hiding her previous expressions.


    When he went near her he found something odd. His mother had a bit tired expression and was holding the door handle of her room as support.


    "Mom! what happened, are you ok? Why do you look so tired?"


    Seeing his mother''s conditions he was shocked and worried and ran forward to help her.


    "NO!....No Arther I''m fine. I was just trying to find your father. If you see him tell him I was looking for him."


    "Uh...sure. Are you sure you are ok? Or else let''s ask aunt Mey to make a quick check-up?"


    "No. I''m fine...oh I just remembered something I have to do."


    Without waiting for Arther to react his mother ran into the room and closed the door in a hurry.


    This confused Arther, he tilted his head in confusion while walking towards the living room.


    Just now when he talked about doing a check-up he noticed some changes in his mothers'' expression and caught a slight fluctuation of emotions in her eyes.


    Did she seem to be.......ashamed?


    He didn''t know what had happened, but from her previous angry look he knew his father needed to meet her soon or else he might be in danger.


    And as his son Arther had the responsibility to convey the message to his father to save him.


    With these thoughts, he forgot about his mother''s anomaly and ran towards the driver''s cabin. Since he has checked on through the system and found his father dosing off there with Uncle John.


    When he observed his father he saw his expression and look with which he was looking at the MCV and suddenly Arhter felt a bit odd.


    One must know the MCV was connected with Arther so in one sense this was a part of his body and his father was caressing the MCV with a perverted expression. Just the thought of this sent a shiver all over his body.


    ''Sigh...old man, I was just thinking about saving you. But you dare to covet my MCV. Hehehe.....''


    In an instant, Arhter changed his mind and turned his footsteps towards the living room.


    He went to sit on the sofa in front of the TV and turned it on to watch some movies.


    *****


    In the drivers cabin,


    Jack didn''t know that he was just pitted by his son.

 Chapter 101 - Bloodline Awakening

    "Ahh~~"


    Arther stood up from the sofa and stretched his lazy body, he has watched two movies in a row before turning off the TV.


    "Watching the movies on the big screen is surely more enjoyable. Now I know why people like to watch the movies in theatres."


    Being a shut-in otaku Arther never liked to go to crowded places like movie theatres and instead always watched movies on the tab or TV at their home.


    After releasing his pent-up stress Arther was feeling much more relaxed. While humming the songs from the movies he watched he walked into the kitchen.


    It was not yet time for lunch hence there was no one in the kitchen, but Arther was feeling hungry so he took a cup of noodles and boiled some water, after cooking the noodles he went to the driver''s cabin to have a look.


    In the driver''s cabin, John was focused on driving the MCV. Due to the huge size of the MCV and the odd changes in the forest driving through was a bit difficult.. While he also had to maintain a certain speed as specified by Arther, this was required to leave the forest in the shortest time possible.


    Arther was in a hurry to leave the forest for two reasons, first, the beasts were starting to wake up from their hibernation which can be confirmed by the few distant beasts roaring from the depth of the forests.


    And the second was that he was worried that there might be some strong zombies spawned in the cities before they leave the forest. And he didn''t want to let go of his upper hand in the strength.


    This was like all the creatures were racing against time to become stronger than the others, and after a certain time, the world will usher in another great change. The territories will be divided among the stronger ones and war for resources will begin.


    Arther wanted to leave here before all this and grab as many resources as he can using his previous life knowledge. Once he has enough resources and strength he can easily form his own faction and he also wanted to level up and upgrade the MCV further.


    Coming to the driver''s cabin the first thing he saw was the focused look of John. Even though John was a bit timid in some situations he was good and sincere in doing his work.


    Seeing him Arther nodded then his eyes turned towards the seat behind John where his father was sleeping soundly.


    When he saw his father''s smiling and relaxed face Arther felt emotional inexplicably, in his previous life his father died saving both the siblings. This has always been a burden in his mind which now seemed to be diluted.


    Arther moved towards him to wake him up and let him go to the room to sleep. But when he came near his father there was a frown on his face.


    He felt something different. His father''s skin seemed to be a bit red, with a careful frown Arther touched his father''s hand but immediately jerked back.


    John also noticed the movements behind him and looked back, but he was shocked by Jacks condition.


    "WTF!"


    "Hey John wake up! Are you ok?", he tried to call Jack a few time but didn''t receive any response hence he stopped the MCV and tried to shake him up but he also took back his hands immediately after touching Jack.


    "OH NO! Arther go and call Mey. Your father is having a very high fever.", John spoke in a worried tone. While speaking he turned towards Arther and found that he was frowning while lost in some thoughts.


    "Hey Arther!", he shook Arther to wake him up from the thoughts.


    Seeing the behaviour of Arther he thought Arhter might be scared by his father''s conditions and hence himself ran downstairs instead to call Mey.


    Arther was woken up from his thoughts and saw John running downstairs in a hurry and shook his head with a wry smile.


    ''Uncle John....this is surely gonna create a scene.'', with a sigh he moved near his father to check his condition.


    After carefully observing his father Arther already knew what was happening to his father. He was awakening his bloodline.


    Previosly Arther was not scared as John thought but was instead shocked by his father, according to the researches in his previous life there was a percentage of chance that the bloodline can be passed on to the children if one or both parent were bloodline awakeners.


    But in his previous life neither him nor Jessy had awakened any bloodline.


    But he was only slightly shocked about this as such cases were not rare. He didn''t have any other choice than to lament on his luck in the previous life.


    Leaving behind this messy thoughts Arther patiently waited for his father to complete the awakening.


    While Arther was waiting patiently there was a bit commotion in the staircase followed by his mothers voice and others,


    "JACK! what happened to you? wake up.", his mother was the first to run into the cabin followed by other. While the perpetrator of all this, John was standing at the end of the crowd with an embarrassed expression while Mey stood beside him with an angry look.


    Maybe she was also angry at his impatient act of speaking out the truth in front of everyone. And he must have gotten his share of scolding while there might be some spare remaining too.


    "Move away, don''t crowd let him breath freely. Everyone wait in the living room. Let me check out first.", Mey pushed everyone outside except for Arther and Abella.


    When Abella touched Jack she was also shocked by his body temperature and was still in a daze, seeing their worried expressions Arther sighed and spoke,


    "Mom, Aunt Mey you don''t need to worry about dad, he is fine."


    "What do you mean? His surely isn''t fine."


    "Sigh....actually he is in a special phenomena, he is having bloodline awakening. And this is a good thing for him."


    "WHAT?! Is this the same about what you said previously about the human strengths?", Mey was shocked hearing this. In the beginning when Arther told them about the end of the world he deliberately spoke about all these things for them to gain some hope and confidence.


    "Arther, will he surely be fine?", his mother also now had a relieved look. All of them would now inexplicably believe in Arthers words without questioning. This was due to his strengths and his knowledge about this new world.


    "Yes, not only is he fine, when he wakes up he will be stronger.", Arther spoke with confidence.


    After soothing both of them for some time he let them leave and wait until Jack completes the awakening before sending him down. Until then Arther decided to remain here since he was also watching the awakening for the first time, in his previous life he has only heard about it from others.


    In the staircase, Abella and Mey were leaving to the lower floor. Abella was in some thoughts when she unknowingly spoke out, "So this is why he was doing such things recently..."


    "Uh?~~"


    "Abella did you say something?", Mey walking beside her only heard some faint sound so she asked out.


    Hearing this Abella knew she had spoke out something and hurriedly shook her head with red hue walking up her cheeks.


    Mey didn''t find it since she was thinking about what will happen if she can get some blood to of Jack to research on. ''I need to talk with Arther and Jack about this.''

 Chapter 102 - [Bonus ]

    Early next morning,


    Jack slowly opened his eyes, what presented him in front was the metallic ceiling of the driver''s cabin.


    "Ughh..."


    Seeing the familiar environment yet many unfamiliar feelings Jack tried to move and was thus tortured with an unprecedented headache.


    The pain was so intense that even he who was not affected by the bullet wounds had cold sweat on his forehead. After relaxing for the time the pain started to subside, feeling that the pain was no more as intense as before, Jack tried to move his body successfully.


    Sitting up from the adjusted chair his gaze moved around and he found John sitting in the driver''s seat while the scenes in the windows kept changing.


    Seeing this Jack was even more confused, as far as he remembered he was sitting in the chair and then slowly went to sleep, he didn''t know what happened or how long he slept for his body to be in so much pain.


    "Hey, John!"


    John was doing his leisurely driving when he heard a hoarse voice coming from behind him. When he heard it there was a smile on his face with flowing excitement.


    "Hahaha, good morning Jack!"


    While greeting Jack he turned on the mic and sent an announcement


    "Everyone, Jack has woken up."


    Hearing the happy expression of John and the way he announced sent chills under his brain.


    "J-John.....why are so enthusiastic about me waking up??"


    "Of course I am. And I guess others will be even happier to see you wake up.", John turned his attention towards driving again while speaking.


    Hearing this there was a frown on Jack''s face, was it really so great to sleep and wake up? No!


    ''There seems to be something wrong with this...''


    "Hey John, what is wrong with me?"


    Jack sat straight in his seat while he checked his body carefully.


    Hearing this from behind him John smiled and spoke,


    "Hehe, Man after falling asleep for more than a day with steaming hot fever you now ask what is wrong with you?"


    Hearing this there was cold sweat on Jacks''s face, "W-What?! I slept for that long?"


    After knowing this Jack was silent, he seemed to be under some thoughts. While Jack was lost in his thoughts everyone else in the MCV was scrambling towards the driver''s cabin after they heard John''s announcement.


    In a room decorated with a pink shade, there was a girl lying on the bed munching the potato chips in her hands while her attention was fixed on the k-drama played on her tab. In the drama when the hero was going to kiss the heroine she was disturbed by a loud announcement.


    "Haaaahhh.......", after giving a lazy sigh Jessy got up from the bed.


    Contrary to her lame attitude, in the lab of the MCV when Mey heard the announcement there was a wide grin on her face which when added with the dim and cold lab lights made her look like a sci-fi movie villain, without further ado she hurried towards the cabinet and took an entire packet of the syringe in hurry and ran towards the driver''s cabin.


    When Mey walked towards the staircase she saw Abella running ahead of her towards the cabin.


    In the driver''s cabin, Arther was standing in front of his father with discerning eyes watching everyone part of Jack''s body to find any changes. He came to the cabin even before the announcement since he was paying attention to his father from the beginning.


    "H-Hey brat, what is that with those eyes of yours. You better not think anything wrong about me or else I will spank your ass.", now Jack had an ugly expression as he had found that there was something wrong with him since the announcement.


    When Arther heard what his father said he hurriedly covered his ass and turned his attention to another side, previously he was trying to find any mutation in his father''s body as most of the bloodline has some obvious mutations such as wings growing out from the back, dense hair on the body, sharp claws, etc.


    Such types of mutations are known as primary blood awakening since there were many cases in which a person after gaining a certain level of strength in the bloodline can get rid of these changes and return to normal human form or also known as perfect form. There were also cases of awakening in perfect form from the beginning. The second case is considered more perfect and stronger than the first.


    And the current condition of his father shows that he comes in the latter category. Which made Arhter feel happy for his father.


    While Arther was thinking all this all others also arrived at the cabin, the first to come was Abella, followed by Mey and then Jessy and Nanny.


    In a short period of time, the driver''s cabin became crowded. The ugliest situation at this time was of Jack before he had time to stand up and escape he was pushed into the chair again by Abella as she plunged into his arms with faint sobs.


    When Jack was about to comfort her she moved abruptly, the only thing Jack saw was a fist coming towards his face, it got enlarged in his eyes and then.....boom.


    After giving him a heartful beating Abella stood up and walked out without looking back, the driver''s cabin was abruptly put into a deadly silence as everyone present looked at her back.


    After a few seconds, when her back was no more visible everyone''s attention was again moved towards Jack who was currently lying in the chair with a few broken buttons of his shirt, a torn shirt sleeve with three claw marks, a blue-black left eye and swollen and bloody face.


    "Hissss..."


    When everyone saw the situation, they took in a breath of cold air.


    John tried his best not to look back towards his friend''s condition since he knew what the situation will be, it was nothing new for him or even he has also experienced such a situation as every husband in this world does. He was only praying for the well-being of his friend.


    Jessy and Nanny turned back from the door itself and went to their respective room while giggling.


    The remaining Arther and Mey exchanged looks with each other and then helped Jack walk out of the cabin with a wry smile.

 Chapter 103 - Samples.

    After some time, in the room, Abella was standing at the bedside with hands folded around her chest, while Jack was sitting on the bed burying his head into the plates eating the food prepared by her. In the entire silent room, there were only the slurping sounds of eating noodles made by Jack. While Arther was leaning to the room''s door watching his father and mother with an awkward smile on his face.


    Even after the soup was finished Jack didn''t dare to look up, he slowly placed the bowl down and sat there obediently like a child after being caught doing something wrong. After what happened in the driver''s cabin he didn''t have the courage to look up at Abella.


    Since he has woken up from the coma he kept feeling a burning sensation inside his stomach with sharp hunger pangs. Due to this Abella had to hurriedly cook food for Jack. But what was shocking was that it has been an hour since he was eating but still there doesn''t seem to be any signs of fulfilling his hunger. For the last full hour, Abella was completely tired out by the cooking.


    They tried everything possible from heavy meats products to soothing green vegetables, even a large amount of chocolate and Icecream also failed to relieve Jack from hunger.


    The burning sensation in his stomach seemed to be a raging fire that swallowed anything put inside. Now even Arther was starting to get a bit surprised and worried. He was not much surprised by the appetite of his father since in his previous life he heard of many such bloodline awakeners.


    There was even a certain someone he heard about in his previous life who needed ten whole adult mutated calves for each meal. One should know that any mutated animal''s body has ten times more energy than its normal form, and the mutated cow belonged to the huge body type animals with body size double the normal times.


    Of course, the more consumption there is the higher the output. That person had the titan bloodline and was the lord of a famous faction and base. His strength was among the top hundred strong people of the northern region.


    What surprised Arther was that this amount of consumption was only observed in the later stages of a few abilities. It is also observed after the awakening of a few bloodline awakeners which results in permanent changes in the body such as the titan bloodline which increases the body mass, the angel bloodline which grows wings, etc.. this metamorphosis requires a high amount of energy for the first time to complete these mutations.


    But Arther didn''t find any such changes in his father''s body. This confused him a little bit.


    After another half an hour of gorging on the food, all the current cooked food was also finished but Jack still didn''t seem to be satisfied. So he looked at Abella standing in front of him with a pitiful gaze.


    Seeing this Abella had a dark line on her face, even she was also starting to feel anxious.


    "sigh, you old man still not full?"


    "I don''t know why my stomach seems to be an endless pit. How much ever I eat I still feel empty.", Jack also seemed to be annoyed now by his hunger and also felt worried. He knows very well the value of food in this end times and if he will this much amount of food every day all of them will sooner or later run out of food.


    But Abella didn''t seem to understand this, she turned around and was ready to bring more food.


    "Hold on or some more time, I will bring more food. However big your appetite is it won''t be endless."


    "Sigh.....or else let it be, I don''t think I will be full even if I eat double the food I have till now."


    Seeing his father''s self-blaming expression Arther was also a bit distressed. But he didn''t have an answer to this situation too. Suddenly the room became silent.


    Suddenly there was a knock on the door before anyone could answer the door is was pushed open.


    Mey came in hurriedly carrying some of her instruments and tubes from the laboratory, she was so excited that she didn''t even feel the odd atmosphere in the room.


    **********


    Some time ago,


    Mey and Arther escorted Jack to his room. For the entire time, Mey was holding back her excitement. But when they came to the room and Jack sat on the bed she put forward her motive,


    "Hey Jack, you know I have been working on gene mutation among living things for most of my life, for the past many years the entire biology field has struck at a bottleneck." while speaking she tried to sound as pitiful and sad as possible as she knew Jack was a kind guy and can be taken advantage of in this way.


    On the side, Arther saw through her acting from the beginning but didn''t try to intervene since he knew she was not a mad scientist who will harm Jack for the research.


    And more importantly, he had already thought of developing in science and technology, and Mey was his first investment. So providing some research materials is not a loss at all.


    But Jack didn''t seem to feel anything wrong with what Mey said, he was distracted by the burning hunger,


    Seeing that Jack didn''t speak Mey continued, "I think your bloodline awakening can be of some help for me. So....can I collect some samples from you........ Don''t worry it will not be harmful, I will just collect some pieces of your hair, dead cells, and some blood."


    After speaking she looked at Jack nervously as she knew if he denied she can''t get the samples in any way.


    "Yeah I don''t mind.", knowing that it will not be harmful Jack didn''t mind with it too. He also expected Mey to make a breakthrough that can strengthen all of them making their survival more secure.


    **********************


    Back to the present,


    "Hahaha, Jack looks like you have finished eating, good good. I came at the right time.", she hurriedly put the instrument box aside on the bed while skillfully taking out a scalpel and knife.


    "Come here, let me take some samples for my research."

 Chapter 104 - Something Happened

    When Mey was about to start taking the samples there was an announcement from the speakers sounding John''s voice.


    "Arther, I think you should come up and have a look. There seems to be some problem in front ahead."


    The voice was loud and was heard in the entire MCV at the same time. Hearing the voice everyone was shocked and alerted.


    After a pause of a few seconds, Arther was the first to react and hurried towards the driver''s cabin followed by Abella. Even though he can use the cameras to easily get the picture anywhere from the MCV but he still wanted to be in the driver''s cabin.


    Because the team was not yet accustomed to the ways of handling dangers and their combat experience was also very low.


    Hearing the announcement Mey was annoyed and a bit angry but she had no other choice than to follow. With a frustrated look, she hurriedly put all the instruments back inside the box and turned around to leave the room, before leaving she glanced at Jack who was also a bit shocked by the announcement,


    "Sorry, Jack... looks like I will have to disturb you again some other time."


    Hearing this Jack had a wry smile on his face. Since the time he has woken up, he had the feeling that the eyes of Mey on him were similar to that of a hunter''s on its prey.


    "All the women are dangerous....", with a sigh Jack also left the room and hurried to the driver''s cabin.


    At this time Arther and Abella were already standing behind John. John was sitting in the driver''s seat but the situation seemed a bit odd as the MCV was not moving.


    Due to the modification and upgrades of the system when the MCV is moving or a sudden break situation doesn''t cause any problem inside. There is not even a small vibration when starting the engine.


    This makes it impossible for the people inside to know the condition outside without actually watching out.


    In the driver''s cabin, Arther was in some contemplation.


    Outside the wide windshield, the MCV was surrounded by dense forest on all four sides. The path on which they have come was also slowly filled with new plants and vines.


    The height of trees has increased to an astonishing degree that even the normal form of the MCV cannot be visible from a distance of a few dozen meters.


    A few hundred meters ahead in the forest there was a dense black smoke billowing high into the clouds from the ground.


    This smoke indicated the presence of disaster that is- forest fire. And the amount of it didn''t seem to be small for such an amount of smoke to be formed.


    For a fire to occur in the forest, there can only be two possibilities, firstly it can be due to the falling of thunder and lightning on the trees in the storm or due to some natural phenomena. And secondly, man-made.


    If it was just a natural forest fire Arther won''t even need to care since the current MCV was more than enough to pass through it easily.


    But what made him worried is that there had not been any storms or other climate changes that might cause a forest fire. Hence only one option remains, it was a man-made thing.


    If his guess is correct then those people who can appear in such dense forest at this time are either fools lost in the forest or some difficult personalities.


    But for any of this Arther didn''t want to let anyone outside know about the MCV yet. Even though the MCV has very strong combat capabilities currently but it is not strong enough to face the human forces.


    In the end, Arther decided to first find out about the situation, since it was in his path he had no other choice than to pass through.


    ''I hope whoever you are you don''t cross me.''


    "Let the drone pass by."


    With the issue of his order, the AI in the cabin automatically deployed the drone, after a few minutes of flying the drone came near the border of the burning zone.


    Due to dense black smoke and the high temperature of fire the drone was not able to get any more closer.


    It moved along the borders of the burning area while at the same time the footage was also sent to the MCV.


    The area under the fire was not much bigger in size, it was a circle of diameter of a few meters only. But the huge trees in the area acted as firewood to wind the fire.


    What shocked everyone in the MCV where the lush green vines growing at the border of the circle.


    It looked like dense crawling snakes, whenever a vine was burned another new vine took its place in a moment of time, this helped in suppressing the fire in this small area.


    The lush green vines contained a large amount of moisture which reduced the fire in the area but also resulted in high black smoke.


    "The fire doesn''t seem to be burning for a long time."


    When everyone was watching the footage, Mey came forward and spoke while keenly observing the trees and vines.


    "Look at the barks of those burning trees, even though the leaves are burnt and branches are scorched but the bark still seems to contain the moisture."


    According to her explanation, everyone observed the barks and sure enough under the carbon black surface, there was the light brown wood without any signs of burning.


    After observing the area under fire and the surrounding area for some they didn''t find any other clues of human activities. Hence Arther called back the drone since even if they increased the area of observation the result will be the same.


    "Ok, everyone we will keep moving, according to our previous calculations if we followed the same route we can leave this forest till tomorrow morning, but I have some doubts that the area ahead being closer to the forest border might have certain human activities."


    Hearing this everyone was a bit excited a bit, from the last time they left the military warehouse they are moving into this dead forest without anything. All-day long-only tree and leaves.


    Human is a social animal, hence even though everyone knows that there are dangers from the other survivors there are still human bases formed with people leaving in.


    This is natural and cannot be changed.


    Arther was also a bit bored from this forest and was more than eager to leave here and find more opportunities to upgrade the MCV.


    "Even though following the same path looks safe and beneficial, I think it is best not to come in contact with any survivors in this forest. Hence we will deviate a little bit from our route to the right. According to my knowledge, we will exit the forest till tomorrow evening at most."


    After saying his idea Arther looked at everyone to find if there is any problem with anyone. After seeing that no one objected he nodded and then commanded the driving AI.


    "Deviate the route by 15 degrees to the east."


    Following Arther''s command, the route on the screen was changed with a new one. After that John continued his driving.. While everyone else returned to their respective works.