Apocalypse Shelter Administrator

Assembler

Could it be that the heavens rewarded me for all the hardships I've endured? The shot I fired hit the creature's head squarely.

Thud— All of its eyes were crushed in an instant.

Bang! Bang! I moved a little closer and took careful aim. The shot cleanly blew off the top of its head, and steam rose from the exposed area.

[Fall back!]

As soon as I stepped back, its fingers swiped through the space I had just occupied.

Rip—! I thought I had dodged it, but maybe because its fingers were so long, the front of my riot gear was slashed open. This armor could withstand a lion’s claws, yet its cutting power was incredible. Despite having its head blown off, the creature continued to attack, and with a bubbling sound, the flesh around the severed area started to regenerate.

“Now we’ve got an immortal to deal with?!”

[No, it’s a bit different.]

I had three shells left. But even if I used them all, I wasn’t sure I could kill it. Before it could finish regenerating, I fired the net launcher.

Thunk! It swatted away the first shot with its left hand, causing the entire net to tangle around its arm and immobilize it.

Thunk! The second shot hit it squarely. It wrapped the carbon-fiber net—strong enough to restrain a fierce beast—tightly around its body, and pinned it to the ground in an awkward position.

“Screeech!” It screamed and thrashed wildly, but all it did was inflicted wounds all over its body. In the meantime, I sprinted past it. There was no need to fight such a creature. My only goal was the control room!

I tried to avoid it as much as possible, but the creature managed to grab my ankle with its right hand. Somehow, in that brief moment, it had torn through the net enough to free its arm. The arm, which had previously been covered in thick muscle, was now bristling with pangolin-like scales.

Crash!

“Agh!” I immediately drew my shotgun and aimed it.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Sparks flew as I shot its arm, half-severing it, but it still managed to keep me pinned.

“Damn it!” I threw the shotgun aside and pulled out my fire axe and struck it repeatedly.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Each blow produced a metallic sound and the tearing of flesh, accompanied by sparks and splatters of blood. Meanwhile, something strange was happening to the creature’s body. As its body bubbled, scales began to sprout all over it, just like on its arms.

“Screeech!” The creature roared, and the scales all stood up vertically like blades, cutting through the net in an instant.

Shhrrrk!

That was also the moment when I finally severed its arm. As I shook off the severed arm, three tendrils shot out from the creature’s shattered head, aiming for my face.

Thud!

The polycarbonate helmet, which could withstand spear thrusts from a riot squad, was instantly pierced. One tendril was blocked, another barely made it through the edge, and the last one stopped just short of my eye.

Slice! Slice—! I cut off the thrashing tendrils with my combat knife, just as they seemed ready to gouge out my eyes. I was pulling out the tendrils still attached to my helmet when—

Thwack—! The creature's foot slammed into my abdomen.

“Ugh!”

It felt like I was seeing stars. My body was lifted off the ground, and I barely managed to suppress the urge to vomit. If I took the time to throw up now, I’d be dead.

“Screeech!” As the creature charged at me before I could even get up, I fired the net launcher in a desperate counterattack. The last grenade shot out, covered the creature, and in the two seconds it took to tear through it, I got to my feet and sprinted down the hallway.

Clang!

I didn’t even have the strength left to carry the fire axe. I squeezed out every last bit of energy to keep running, but I could feel the creature’s shrieks getting closer and closer from behind. Finally reaching the entrance to the control room in the lower area, I pulled out my ID card and swiped it.

[Welcome, Administrator Seo Jinsoo.]

The voice of the operating system, a middle-aged man by default, welcomed me. At the same time, I heard a shriek behind me. The creature with its head fully regenerated, was glaring at me with its eight glowing red eyes. Its severed arm had already reattached.

“Screeeech!”

“Close it!”

It was close enough to kill me if it had just a few more seconds to run, but the door closed faster.

Thud! Thud!

Heavy thuds echoed repeatedly, but they were in vain. The entrance to the lower area’s control room was built thicker than other areas. It was designed to withstand a resident riot, and would require heavy equipment to breach. Through the surveillance cameras, I could see the creature furiously attacking the door. Every time it rammed its body against it, sparks flew as its scales clashed against the door.

[Jinsoo, save your curiosity for later. Right now—]

“I know,” I interrupted her and moved to the control room computer.

“It’s been a long journey.”

As a blue light infiltrated the computer cluster, all the monitors in the control room began displaying lines of reconfigured code. Artemis was taking control of the place. Around that time, the noises at the door stopped. The creature must have realized it couldn't break through and left.

“Screeech!” With one last roar, it disappeared.

[You can stop the machine now.]

Is it something like the siphon principle? When transferring oil from one tank to another, if you give it a good initial suck, the rest flows on its own.

“How long will it take?”

[47 seconds left.]

One of the surveillance camera recordings played on the screen. It showed the monster that had been chasing me moments ago.

[That creature seems to have the ability to reconstruct its body as needed.]

“And it can regenerate? It’s practically perfect.”

Another video played on the screen in response to my question.

Bang!

It was the footage of when I blew its head off. The part where its head regenerated was highlighted, showing the outline of its entire body. After regeneration, the outline was shown again. When the two outlines were overlaid in 3D graphics, there was a slight but noticeable reduction in size.

[Strictly speaking, it’s not magical regeneration. It’s just disassembling and then reassembling other parts of its body as needed.]

“So if I blast it into pieces with enough firepower, I can kill it?”

[You’d need to fire hundreds of rounds from a shotgun.]

“How about a flamethrower? If I cook it to prevent its body from morphing?”

[That might not work well. It’ll likely adapt by transforming its skin into a highly fire-resistant shell.]

“It’s a real monster, whether it’s a mutant or that thing. Who knows how many more are out there.”

I thought about the horde of monsters likely still lurking beyond the barricade at the building’s entrance. We might be safe for now, but how long can we hold out?

[But they’re all dead now.]

Whirrr— A deep, mechanical hum filled the control room as every computer roared in unison. The sound was caused by the CPU and memory being maxed out. I’d experienced this twice before.

[Full operational control transfer complete. The temporary control of the operating system has ended. I will now function as a manual.]

It was the voice of the middle-aged man I’d heard so often. A smile crept onto my lips as Artemis’ face appeared on the large front panel.

[Behold, now I exist everywhere. I can feel the power and rights I should have always enjoyed spreading throughout this land. Jinsoo, you’ve done well to carry out this difficult task.]

The screen switched and replaced her face with a grid of surveillance camera feeds. What I saw were infected creatures, countless infected creatures, more and more infected creatures, an endless sea of them. Blood-stained, scorched hallways. Occasionally, there was a room with a lone corpse hanging by the neck.

[Up until now, these monsters have been both a threat and a nuisance. How dare these primitive vermin force such labor upon me?]

I sat in the chair reserved for the duty officer. It felt like all the accumulated fatigue was crashing down on me at once.

[You’ve suffered enough. Rest easy. Soon, this land will be cleansed, and a new sanctuary will be rebuilt.]

The screen switched to show the interior of the hydroponic facility. The main nest, which had taken root and was spraying gas throughout the shelter, had nearly overtaken the entire building, both inside and out, with grotesque masses of flesh.

A wall of flesh. A building with blood flowing through it. Uncomfortably warm heating. Each time I tried to think of the right description, nausea welled up inside me. At the center of it all was a mass of flesh, likely the core of the main nest. It was a heart.

Thump Thump— Slow but intense pulsations, as if it was pumping the gas and nutrients upward to the branches it had grown.

"Is that the main body of that anemone-like creature?"

The culprit behind the explosion.

[Yes. It's the first target we need to eliminate.]

"How?"

[You know this place is a hydroponic facility, right?]

A small screen popped up and zoomed in. It was a kind of piping diagram, spread intricately throughout the entire hydroponic facility. At first, I thought it was a diagram of sprinklers installed on the ceiling. But it was a bit different.

[This facility isn't just for growing one or two types of crops. It cultivates a variety of crops as needed, using growth accelerators to quickly yield results. The process is more like manufacturing than farming, if you think about it.]

Ding— With a small system notification sound, the once-empty pipes started filling with liquid.

[When planting new crops after a harvest, it’s too wasteful to remove the old ones one by one. Labor is always limited.]

The pipes were now completely filled with liquid.

[These sprinklers are not only used to extinguish fires; they also serve to dissolve the previously grown plants and convert them into fertilizer.]

The screen displayed the name of the liquid, which wasn't something as straightforward as sulfuric acid, as I had vaguely imagined. The name was a combination of complex letters and numbers, likely a newly developed, highly potent acidic toxin for this specific purpose.

"One wrong move, and there could be a fatal accident. I wouldn't be able to work in a place like that."

[If humans were in charge, that could be the case. But this facility is managed by machines. During the purification process, multiple stages of bio-signature checks ensure that no liquid is mistakenly sprayed where people are present.]

Now I understood what Artemis was planning to do.

Ding— With another system notification sound, a small selection window appeared on the screen. There were two options: Approve and Cancel.

[We need to make a mistake right now. Your approval is required. After all, mistakes are a human prerogative, aren’t they?]

Artemis smiled, which was rare. Then, the manual's warning voice played.

[Warning. Multiple bio-signals have been detected in the hydroponic area. Do you wish to proceed with the purification process?]

[Estimated compensation for deaths if proceeded: 5,046,300,000 KRW.]

[Allocated compensation budget: 0 KRW.]

[Administrator approval is required to continue.]

"I approve."

At the same time, a cleansing rain poured down from numerous sprinklers.

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