IllyasArt

This novel is finished, and you can wait for daily chapter uploads, or purchase the novel physical or digital on Amazon here. And you can also purchase it digital through various online retailers here. Or, you can donate $10 to my Patreon to get access to all of my content, here.

Chapter 1: The end was Almost Destined.

(Marinkia’s POV)

In the year 2085, the world was going great. Well, if you count every country falling to pieces as great… With America being the only one left standing. Falling to pieces might be the wrong way to explain it, as it was more that America became the defacto worldwide Empire that ruled it all.

China held up well, but they couldn’t keep up any longer, and they eventually gave up and let America take them over. The reason was very simple. Meat, or rather, even plants, they all died. Not due to anything with the natural world, just that technology evolved past the need to cultivate such things.

America was no longer a democracy, as one man ruled it all. How did he come into power? Simple. His company invented the technology that solved world hunger. He became the ruler because he prevented anyone outside of America from using his tech.

Soon, without realizing it, America fell for his trap. With his tech, no one bothered to farm anything, and in just twenty years, no one even remembered how. Even worse, he bought up all the rights for any content that revolved around farming, and locked up it where no one besides him could find it.

Once America was completely reliant on his tech, he issued a warning that unless he becomes America’s supreme ruler, he will shut down his machines that we relied on for food and water. Ah, did I mention that it also dealt with water? They did.

Long story short, that was how the self-titled, God King Grant took over the world. Grant had no oversight whatsoever, and frankly, no one really cared. Life after he completely took over in 2048 was amazing. His tech didn’t just exist for food and water, but for practically every industry you could think of.

Universal basic income was something that you received at birth, and you kept it for your entire life. Before the fall, I think that I saw a study done that 80% of people didn’t have any kind of job whatsoever. And why would they?

Our UBI didn’t increase prices at all. In fact, prices for damn near everything actually lowered. The common person was able to live life like the most wealthiest people in the early 2040s did. An almost complete paradise…

But when you give someone ultimate power, the good times won’t last forever. Grant long since found a cure for aging, and basically no one really aged past whatever age they liked the best. Grant, probably because of conceit or overconfidence, only used the first discovered treatment for aging.

Most didn’t, as the newer treatments were marketed to be better. It was probably a lie, but people bought into it, regardless. Luckily, I was one of those people. As for the first treatment, counting Grant himself, there were only a thousand people in the entire world that only got the first treatment and not the newer ones.

The problem with the first treatment was very simple, the body’s aging stopped, but the brain’s aging didn’t. By the time they realized this, it was far too late. The God King, Grant, was already into his nineties when it was discovered.

Grant was beyond senile, as his decisions showed as such. Grant, who never planned on retiring, refused to do so even with his bad health, which resulted in the end of the world. I am sure that you can think of countless ways that a man like that could destroy the world, right?

Stupidly, the fucker ended the world in the funniest possible way… Well, it is funny in hindsight. Actually, it’s not like the world ended already. It is still in the process of ending. How its ending is kinda funny, though…

Enough beating around the bush. Grant thought that an invisible group wanted to take over his world, so he had an interesting weapon made. Using his infinite wealth and power, he fucking made a zombie virus. One thing led to the next, and said virus escaped and flooded the world in death.

Literally no one could stop Grant, as he uploaded his almost destroyed mind into AI. Even in a computer, he was still senile. The virus he made was fully alive, and knew how to change itself to not be cured. Grant was content to watch his empire burn, as long as that invisible group was taken out in the process…

Frankly, no one really cared about the AI Grant. Rather or not he will end up dying, no one really cared. As you would expect from a person with a major god complex, all weapons were banned as well. With no cure and no weapons, the end of the world was basically guaranteed.

Luckily for me, I am what would be called a crazy person. It was damn near impossible to control the entire world, so there were areas where you could easily live off the grid. I am a bit of a techie, so I figured out how to hack Grant’s machines. The second the virus broke up, I started to manufacture firearms and ammo.

Is what I hoped that I would have been able to do… Most people tended to stay inside these days, but I liked to go hiking and exploring, so I was considered somewhat weird. Animals barely existed, so there wasn’t any need to learn self-defense. Even still, it was a skill that I learned about.

With no hope really, I kept huddled up in my apartment like most people. Inside this apartment was at least twenty thousand people. It was a high-rise apartment, so it could house a lot of people. The outbreak started in a completely different area, but it was only a matter of time before my area was hit. With hesitation, I opened up my PC, and checked out the news.

New’s Anchor: “I repeat! The undead have broken through the blockade! As the last unaffected city, and with no cure, this is likely to be the last broadcast in history. Please, do anything you can to survive to live another day.” She said with a serious tone before ending the broadcast.

Marinkia: “…”

Each city had walls that could rise, which were for floods, fires, or any disaster really. The hope was that the walls would stop the undead, but it didn’t work. The zombies would just pile up to get over the walls. With no weapons to stop them from doing so, it was only a matter of time until every city fell.

Grant had access to weapons pretty much everywhere, but he didn’t care to use them at all. Grant was his own military, so it’s not like there are people that happened to have weapons of some kind. Of course, we could still have kitchen knives, so I at least had a knife as a weapon.

As I look down from my apartment, I can see fires and chaos already erupting with seemingly no end. Food and water won’t be a problem, as each apartment is capable of making any drink or meal. But what if a zombie breaks down my door? This is one of the times where I truly hate myself…

Why the hell did I choose to live in a classical apartment!? The doors had a lock and were strung up with old-school hinges. If I had a modern door, it would be damn near impossible to break them down… Well, at the very least, I will have some time to figure out how to survive this mess…