True Apocalypse Game

In the center of Mexico City stood a colossal, dark-brown tower, a kilometer tall, soaring straight into the clouds!

From a distance, it was impossible to tell what material this giant tower was made of. It was built crookedly, as if it were a haphazard stack of a child’s building blocks, or perhaps an installation piece by a postmodernist artist in the vein of Dalí.

It was of inconsistent thickness, its surface either smooth or covered in wrinkles. Strange shapes resembling limbs and organs occasionally protruded from it, bringing to mind the biomechanical, fertility-cult-inspired spaceships from the Alien movies, or the fertility sculptures of indigenous tribes.

According to the story in the Western Bible, humans on earth originally spoke the same language and sought to build a tower straight to Heaven to see the abode of God. But when the tower was half-finished, God became displeased and confounded their languages. Unable to communicate, the builders went their separate ways, and the result was a chaotic, disjointed tower of mismatched architectural styles. Thus, their grand undertaking to reach Heaven ended in failure.

Babel, in essence, means chaos.

The feeling this tower gave off was one of insane chaos—unnamable, indescribable!

The instant he laid eyes on the tower, Shen Feng felt a wave of vertigo.

He had felt this sensation before, back when the Master of the Void had nearly descended, and also when he had first dissected a zombie’s brain and delved deep into its inner consciousness.

It was a sense of endless nothingness, of being as small and insignificant as a speck of dust.

It was as if his very existence had no meaning, that he was nothing more than a trivial joke.

This time, however, the feeling was considerably stronger than when he had dissected the zombie’s brain, yet far weaker than when the Master of the Void had nearly arrived.

’Needless to say, this tower must be connected to the Master of the Void.’

Shen Feng took a deep breath, temporarily ceded control of his body to his Silicon-Based Brain, and pulled a pair of binoculars from his backpack to get a better look at the tower.

Through the binoculars, the tower’s surface came into sharp focus. Shen Feng could now see that it seemed to be faintly writhing, as if it were a living creature.

He could also make out the shapes of human body parts on its surface—an arm, half a face, an eye. Some exposed hearts were still slowly beating.

Near the top of the tower was a gigantic, ring-like eye, dozens of meters in diameter. It was formed from tens of thousands of human eyeballs fused together, resembling the compound eye of some dragonfly from Hell.

The eye currently seemed to be dormant, showing no reaction.

Clearly, this tower, much like the zombie tide he had encountered in the Tokyo Epidemic Zone, was formed from the fusion of countless zombies.

The zombie tide back then had also been immense, but since Shen Feng had been controlling the massive Gray Tide at the time, he hadn’t had the same visceral sense of its scale.

Now, gazing at it from the rooftop of this distant building, the tower seemed to pierce the very heavens, exuding an incredibly powerful and oppressive aura.

Just then, his Silicon-Based Brain picked up a burst of chaotic electronic signals. Judging by the direction, it had to be coming from the tower.

Shen Feng took another long look at the tower, drew a deep breath, and raised his arm to record a message on his wristband:

"Log Entry:

A giant tower has appeared in Mexico City. Visually estimated dimensions are a base diameter of approximately one hundred meters and a height of approximately thirteen hundred meters.

The tower is a composite structure formed by the fusion of a zombie horde. Its exterior features a large number of fused limbs and organs. It possesses a large observation platform made of human eyeballs. Highly disturbing for individuals with trypophobia.

Internal structure is currently unknown. Suspect a large number of zombie brains are fused within, forming a central information-processing hub.

The tower is emitting a mysterious electromagnetic signal. The signal is chaotic and appears to have no practical meaning. It may be the result of random neural firings...

The tower’s purpose is unknown at this time. I suspect it is related to the advent of the Master of the Void."

The moment he finished speaking, the twisted tower gave a slight shudder. Then, to his astonishment, all of those eyeballs swiveled in unison and looked directly in his direction!

Shen Feng instantly dropped into a crouch, hiding behind the rooftop parapet.

He waited until the eyes swiveled away before cautiously rising to his feet.

’That was probably just a meaningless spasm from the tower...’

At this moment, he felt like he had truly become an investigator in this Doomsday World, tasked with unraveling its mysteries and analyzing them in depth.

’Come to think of it, this is a lot more relaxing than my previous mission of saving the world.’

With this thought, Shen Feng pulled a piece of paper and a pen from his backpack and began to quickly sketch the distant tower.

Since he couldn’t bring any electronic devices on the mission, he had no choice but to draw it by hand.

Although his Silicon-Based Brain could also memorize the scene, a drawing was more direct and intuitive.

After seeing the sketches made by the Spiritual Children of the Purification Society, Shen Feng had developed a slight interest in drawing himself.

Soon, the tower formed from the zombie tide took shape on the paper. The sketch was remarkably lifelike, so much so that its evil aura seemed to emanate from the page.

Placing the sketch in his backpack, Shen Feng walked to the other side of the roof and looked down.

In the world he came from, that spot was supposed to be where the ruins of the Aztec Civilization’s Spider Nest City had been discovered. But looking down now, he saw only flat ground; the Spider Nest City was nowhere to be seen.

’Apparently, in this Doomsday World, the Spider Nest City hasn’t been excavated yet.’

If the Spider Nest City in this world also had a connection to the Purification Society, Shen Feng was interested in checking it out.

’After all, I have to return to my own world eventually...’

After observing from the rooftop for a while, Shen Feng confirmed that there were still plenty of zombies in Mexico City. Although many had been absorbed into the giant tower, this had once been a metropolis of twenty million people. The remaining zombies were as numerous as cockroaches.

He was currently on the western edge of the city. To complete the investigation mission assigned by the True Apocalypse Game, he would have no choice but to make a trip to the giant tower in the city center and see what was inside.

’But before that, there’s one more thing I need to do...’

At this thought, Shen Feng quickly scanned the surrounding buildings and soon spotted a well-equipped private hospital.

Eric Private Hospital. It was considered one of the best in all of Mexico and had its own independent virology lab.

This was all information he had researched before coming to this Doomsday World for his mission.

Right now, he urgently needed to use the hospital’s equipment to culture the Stone Statue Virus he’d brought with him.

The infectivity and pathogenicity of the Stone Statue Virus were no weaker than those of the Evil Spirit Virus.

Both of these viruses could act directly on the human body.

In a way, the consequences of the Stone Statue Virus were even more terrifying than those of the Evil Spirit Virus.

’And what would happen if a zombie were infected with the Stone Statue Virus?’

’The thought alone was something to look forward to...’