NIKKE: The Apocalypse Arrives, But the System is 100 Years Late

The surroundings felt as if he had stepped into another world—one drenched in an overwhelming crimson hue. A dense, mist-like vapor clung to the air, thick and heavy, veiling everything in a gloomy red fog.

This red wasn't bright or vibrant—instead, it carried a dark, oppressive weight, filling the air with an unsettling dread.

Alteisen MK.VI continued its relentless charge, racing across the scarlet wasteland, showing no signs of stopping—as if plunging headfirst into the underworld itself.

The landscape was deathly still, the air thick with decay, giving the eerie sensation of marching straight into hell.

What kind of hell is this? And where is it?!

Mo Chen was shocked.

There was no such location in the game's original lore.

It was as if he had been transported to another planet.

Beneath the thick layer of crimson moss-like substance, piles of skeletal remains were stacked in layers—

Rapture corpses, their hollow eye sockets frozen in silent screams.

Mixed within them were human bones, animal skeletons, all forming a thick, endless layer of death.

It felt like he was standing in the center of a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood.

Then—

A sudden transmission crackled through his comms.

It was Shifty's voice—frantic, urgent.

"…Finally… got through… Commander, your location… Alva particles… virus… surging… get… out—now…!"

Her signal was badly distorted, filled with static and interference, cutting out into meaningless white noise before abruptly going dead.

Mo Chen's expression darkened.

This place… is dangerous.

These crimson growths—they were the same virus that had infected Snow White and Alice.

But he never expected that, in just a few months, the infection had already spread this far—and had evolved to such a terrifying degree.

Suddenly—

His system chimed in.

"Punishing Virus Growth +1.2%"

"Punishing Virus Growth +11.21%"

"Punishing Virus Growth +11.22%"

"Punishing Virus Growth +11.23%"

…?

The unexpected system notification left Mo Chen stunned.

He hadn't done anything. He hadn't activated any abilities. He hadn't redeemed anything with points.

Mo Chen's gaze swept across the crimson mist, and a wild idea formed in his mind—

Are these viruses… connected to the Punishing Virus?

Back when he "treated" Snow White and Alice, he had also received system notifications about the virus' growth.

But at the time, he was too distracted—thanks to Ludmilla.

Now that he thought about it—it all lined up.

As Mo Chen processed this realization, Alteisen MK.VI kept speeding forward, accelerating faster and faster.

The crumbling buildings, ruins, and skeletal remains on either side blurred into streaks as the train tore through the landscape.

Even the raging wind carried dense scarlet particles, so thick they had nearly solidified into physical matter.

CLANG!

A violent impact sent Alteisen MK.VI lurching to the side, jarring Mo Chen from his thoughts.

He looked up—

And what he saw left him speechless.

What lay before him was a sea of corpses—not a metaphor, but a horrifying reality.

As they raced forward, Mo Chen looked around and saw that the landscape on both sides had turned into a vast expanse of skeletal remains, stacked layer upon layer.

If before, the scattered bones had been sporadic…

Now, the entire ground was covered in them, so thick that he couldn't even see the soil beneath. It was as if the dead had been piled into a hill, forming a grotesque monument to the fallen.

And more importantly: these bones… were human.

Unlike before, where the remains had mostly belonged to Raptures, made up of mechanical parts and twisted circuitry, now, the overwhelming majority were human skeletons.

Countless white bones, piled haphazardly, interwoven in a chaotic mess, resembling the mass graves of war victims, where the dead had been dumped without dignity, without ceremony.

The atmosphere was suffocatingly bleak.

There was no life here, no signs of anything living.

The only occasional sounds that drifted through the crimson mist—

Were faint, unrecognizable whispers…

Or the sickly, wet squelching of something unseen, crawling within the darkness.

The kind of sounds that should not exist.

This place was hell.

Suddenly—

BOOM—!

Without warning, the ground ahead collapsed!

An enormous pit opened up, swallowing countless skeletons into its depths—

Like the maw of hell itself splitting open to consume the dead.

Yet Alteisen did not stop—

The train barreled forward at full speed, plunging headfirst into the abyss.

Mo Chen immediately jumped off, vaulting high into the air—

But as he looked down, his expression darkened.

From beneath the bones, a red liquid began to seep out—

A thick, crimson flood rising from the depths, spreading like a tide.

Within ten seconds, the entire pit was submerged beneath a sea of blood.

Meanwhile, elsewhere…

Atop the ancient, crumbling castle, the once-mighty stone walls had long since fractured, leaving behind gaping voids where entire sections had collapsed into nothingness.

The wind howled through the ruins, producing a haunting wail, as if the dead themselves were whispering.

Two figures stood above it all.

One was Indivilia.

The other—Chatterbox.

They watched from a distance, gazing at the crimson wasteland that had become a death zone.

"Hah… What an arrogant little human."

Indivilia's crimson eyes glowed faintly in the dim light.

Her lips curled into a smirk, exuding mockery and disdain. Like a predator watching a foolish prey walk straight into the jaws of death.

"So, do you think he's dead?" Chatterbox's voice was gruff, low, filled with cautious suspicion.

His eyes remained locked on the scene below, sharp and vigilant.

Unlike Indivilia, he did not relax.

"Don't be so quick to assume," he warned. "Not until we see the body."

Indivilia merely laughed.

"Oh, please. Even we wouldn't dare set foot in that place."

Her fingers idly traced her freshly painted nails, her tone bored, disinterested, as if this entire matter was already settled.

"A mere human? Made of nothing but fragile flesh and bone? How could he possibly survive in a virus tide that even Raptures and Heretics cannot withstand?"

The "Red Tide" was far deadlier than just a virus.

It was a force of absolute corruption.

All Raptures that fell into it would be devoured.

Even Heretics would lose themselves, their minds consumed, their sanity shattered, until they became nothing more than deranged killing machines.

And a fate worse than death awaited anyone who succumbed to it.

"Even if it doesn't kill him," Indivilia continued, "it'll take away his mind. He'll turn into a mindless beast—just another puppet for the virus."

She flipped her long, silk-like hair, a glint of malicious amusement in her eyes.

"That kind of suffering…? It's worse than death."

Chatterbox, however, remained unimpressed.

His voice was cold, emotionless.

"Hmph. Don't compare me to a shallow human."

His gaze never wavered, his stance unshaken.

"True beauty is not just surface appearance—it is the strength within."

Then, his tone lowered, turning sharp with accusation.

"And you… You speak of humans as pathetic creatures."

"Yet, you toss aside your own kind as disposable pawns."

"Tell me, Indivilia—"

His golden eyes gleamed in the darkness.

"How are you any different from those 'despicable' humans you claim to hate?"