CHAPTER 71: DARK SYSTEM ONLINE

The sky was still dark, and the air smelled like burned plastic as Theo rode his motorcycle back home.

He sped past an empty highway and his eyes scanned the surroundings out of habit, but there was nothing unusual, until the system suddenly pinged.

[Ding! Unregistered Hostile Activity Detected]

Location: Moore Warehouse Complex

Danger Level: Rising - Threat Assessment Incomplete

[Warning: Abnormal activity triggering system response]

Theo blinked. "What...?"

He slowed the motorbike, reading through the alert again. The warehouse it mentioned wasn’t even labeled as a red zone.

Curious, he turned the handlebars and followed the route leading into the industrial district.

Within minutes, he arrived at the edge of the Moore Warehouse Complex.

It was quiet. Too quiet. The whole place was surrounded by tall cement walls, at least two stories high, topped with barbed wire. The main gate was closed, locked and secured with an electronic padlock that still had power. There were no signs of recent intrusion, no damage on the walls, no gunfire. It looked untouched.

"Why would the system warn me about this place?" Theo muttered under his breath, parking the motorcycle a few meters away.

He stepped closer, eyeing the height of the walls and the sealed gate.

Then the interface on his wrist buzzed again.

[ERROR: Primary System Conflict]

Initializing fallback mode...

[Ding! DARK SYSTEM ONLINE - PROTOCOL OVERRIDE INITIATED]

PURGE MISSION AVAILABLE: "While the Iron’s Hot"

Objective: Eliminate all Meteorborn in the building before AMSO arrives

Main Reward: Ironblood Mutation Path - Phase 1: Unbreakable Form

Ability Gained: Iron Vein Protocol - Enhances defense and strike force temporarily

[Warning: This area is not yet under AMSO surveillance. High-kill potential zone detected.]

Theo’s brows furrowed. "Dark system...?"

His screen flickered. The usual blue hues were replaced by red lines and black shadows pulsing in the background. The voice that read the quest wasn’t the usual calm one. It was colder, deeper, almost emotionless.

"This place isn’t even tagged as dangerous. So why the purge mode?" he whispered, stepping back a little to look up at the wall.

He could feel something behind those cement barriers. Something wrong. Something moving. It was like the building itself was holding its breath.

[Accept PURGE QUEST? YES / NO]

Auto-decline in 15 seconds...

Theo hesitated. "Is this a glitch... or something?"

His hand hovered over the interface, his mind racing.

"...What exactly are you trying to make me do?" he muttered to the system.

But the silence gave no answers.

Only the countdown continued to blink.

10 seconds...

9...

8...

Theo narrowed his eyes at the glowing interface.

"No," he muttered, shaking his head. "I’m not just going to start a purge because some shadow version of my system says so."

The flickering red interface pulsed again.

[Dark System Online - Justification Protocol Active]

"Survival requires dominance. You must grow stronger if you wish to live. AMS’s path is slow. You need power - real power.

Theo clenched his jaw. "There’s strength, and then there’s slaughter. Don’t tell me it’s the same thing."

Then, for a brief second, a new system window flashed.

It was so quick he barely caught it, just a blink of text across his screen before it vanished.

[Main Quest: Eliminate Fellow Survivors]

The strong will thrive, and the weak will perish.

"What the hell-?" Theo jerked back, rubbing his eyes. "No, that... that didn’t just say what I think it did."

He stared at the interface, but it had returned to normal. No more red text. No more deep voice. Just silence.

His pulse was loud in his ears. He stepped back from the gate, suddenly unsure if it was the building that was dangerous or his own system.

"Was that a glitch?" he whispered.

Or worse... was that the real core of the Mutation Abyss?

The screen didn’t answer him. It simply returned to the standard HUD, the PURGE quest still blinking softly at the bottom.

[Accept PURGE QUEST: "While the Iron’s Hot" - YES / NO]

(Auto-decline in 3... 2... 1...)

The option faded.

Theo let out a shaky breath and looked up at the warehouse again. His gut twisted, not just from the danger inside but from what he just saw.

"...I need to know what the hell this system really is."

He turned away from the gate for now, retreating to a higher point to observe from a distance, heart still pounding.

Something was wrong. And it wasn’t just the warehouse. It was him.

Just as Theo turned to retreat and clear his thoughts, a sudden blast of gunfire ripped through the silence.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

His body snapped to attention. The sound came from inside the warehouse.

Another shot. Screams.

Without thinking, Theo’s hand flew up, pulling the interface back up. His thumb hovered, then slammed down.

[PURGE QUEST: "While the Iron’s Hot" - ACCEPTED]

Eliminate all threats within the warehouse. Gain enhanced power before the AMSO and Military units arrive to seal the place.

A wave of energy pulsed through his chest the moment the quest was accepted. His vision sharpened. His heartbeat steadied. His shadow lengthened unnaturally behind him.

Theo clenched his jaw. He couldn’t ignore it now. He had to move.

The gate was sealed tight, chained and locked, thick steel wrapped around reinforced bars.

[System Prompt Detected...]

[Reminder: You’ve obtained a Basic Loot Crate. Would you like to open it?]

[Chance of Utility Item: Lock Tool / Mini Bomb / Camouflage Gear / Potion]

[Open Basic Loot Crate Now? YES / NO]

Theo narrowed his eyes.

"...Yes."

The crate interface materialized in front of him, translucent and humming.

[You’ve obtained: Auto-Latch Breaker (x1) - One-time-use tool designed to override most mechanical locks.]

"Convenient," he muttered.

He approached the lock and pulled out the small device. It looked like a slim, metallic tongue with glowing blue lines. He slid it into the lock and the thing hissed to life, unfolding inward like clockwork fingers.

Click.

The chain slipped loose, heavy links crashing to the ground.

Theo pushed the gate open just enough to enter. Then, acting fast, he pulled the gate shut again behind him and twisted a shadow tendril around the inside handles, forming a temporary seal.

He didn’t want whatever was happening in there getting out.

[Quest Update: "While the Iron’s Hot" - Proceed With Purge Before AMSO and Military Intervention]

Theo glanced around. The warehouse was darker than it should’ve been. Crates lay broken, supplies strewn about. The sound of a shotgun echoed again. He heard something skittering fast.

A small, twisted grin tugged at the edge of his mouth.

Unaware, one of his eyes flickered, faintly glowing gold.

And then, in the quiet of his mind, a voice... his own, but not quite... calm, cold, almost regal:

"This isn’t survival."

"This is supremacy. This is sovereignty."