Chapter 36: Your Human Overlord Has Returned!

Behind the figure, the NIKKE vanguard stood united, shoulder to shoulder.

The sheer sight of them would have left anyone in awe.

Of course, standing atop the Rapture was none other than Mo Chen.

Having chosen to move independently, he ensured he wasn't putting himself at unnecessary risk. His vanguard unit was always responsible for his safety, keeping him secure no matter the situation.

Below him, the battle raged on, growing fiercer with each passing second.

"Rescued 300 individuals, awarded 300 points."

"Rescued 600 individuals, awarded 600 points."

"Rescued 800 individuals, awarded…"

The points kept rolling in.

Though slightly less than before, the rewards were still substantial.

This was due to the sheer number of Raptures in the area—densely packed and seemingly endless.

The closer Mo Chen got to the power station, the more Raptures he encountered.

From his vantage point, he saw a sea of glowing red eyes staring back at him, giving the impression of a massive hornet's nest he had just stirred up.

But no matter how many Raptures there were, they posed no real threat to Mo Chen.

Regular Raptures, in particular, were easily overtaken by the Punishing Virus.

Once infected, they would immediately turn on their comrades, launching vicious counterattacks.

It was as if they were shouting, "If you're my brother, come at me!"

Even Master-class Raptures struggled under the unrelenting onslaught of infected allies, worn down by the tide of their relentless strikes.

After all, this place had no shortage of Raptures.

The Punishing Virus seemed to have a special affinity for Raptures, proactively seeking out new targets to infect.

Mo Chen had also noticed something interesting: the Punishing Virus had a visible experience bar.

At the bottom of his system interface, there was a small line of text: "Punishing Virus Evolution Stage."

Currently, it was at Stage 1, with progress at 12.7%.

Mo Chen hypothesized that the growth of the virus was directly tied to the number of Raptures it infected.

Once the bar reached 100%, it would likely evolve into Stage 2.

At that point, the virus might be able to infect Lord-class Raptures—or even those at the Tyrant-class!

The thought of leading a swarm of high-class Raptures into battle was almost too wild to imagine.

"Grow up quickly, will you?" Mo Chen said, patting the Rapture beside him on the head.

It didn't take long for his forces to completely clear the Raptures from the power plant's perimeter.

The operation progressed surprisingly smoothly.

But when Mo Chen reached within five kilometers of the power station, he noticed something unusual.

The surrounding terrain was scorched earth.

Everywhere he looked—on the roads, in the factory ruins—lay the corpses of Raptures.

Their bodies were battered, broken, and still smoldering, emitting occasional crackles as smoke curled into the air.

It was evident that an intense battle had taken place in the area recently.

Mo Chen dismounted from the Rapture he had been riding and crouched to inspect one of the corpses.

Some Raptures were cleaved cleanly in half, as though sliced by an impossibly sharp blade, with cuts so smooth they reflected light like mirrors.

Others were riddled with holes, resembling metal beehives.

As Mo Chen ventured further into the ruins, the density of Rapture corpses increased significantly.

What started as scattered remains soon became piles stacked along the sides of the roads, resembling the foundation of a macabre highway.

By examining the distribution of the Rapture remnants, it was clear the attacker had carved a path of destruction, their approach marked by a trail of carnage.

It was like watching a calamity unfold, reminiscent of a grim reaper in the guise of a curious child.

Who was responsible for this?

Mo Chen felt a chill. Whoever it was, they were utterly ruthless.

The earlier explosion Shifty mentioned now seemed to align perfectly with the chaos here. It must have been an intense battle, enough to draw the Raptures en masse.

A surge of caution overcame him. He prayed this wasn't the work of a Heretic.

Luckily, the trail of the "unknown assailant" veered away about a kilometer from the power station, heading northeast.

Most of the Raptures seemed to have been drawn along that path, bypassing the power station entirely.

This discovery brought a sigh of relief to Mo Chen.

If this unknown powerhouse had entered the plant, it would likely have been reduced to rubble.

Finally, he reached the perimeter.

It stood like a fortress, surrounded by thick walls reinforced with concrete, barbed wire, barricades, machine-gun nests, turrets, and even laser particle weapons.

Clearly, it was a relic of human ingenuity, likely built shortly after the Rapture invasion began.

Now, however, it lay in ruins.

"Boom—!"

The eight-meter-thick steel gate flew off its hinges, blasted open in a deafening explosion.

Inside, Raptures scurried like ants from a disturbed nest, flung aside by the shockwave.

Mo Chen waved a commanding hand.

The infected Rapture horde surged forward.

"Your human overlord has returned!"

Like a tidal wave of unyielding proletarian might, the infected Raptures stormed the plant, decimating their uninfected kin.

Meanwhile, Mo Chen casually pulled out a meat bun.

He hadn't eaten breakfast yet, and watching this bloodless takeover unfold, he figured he had time for a bite.

To minimize collateral damage to the power plant's delicate systems and avoid accidental chain reactions, Mo Chen deployed his elite vanguard unit.

Though these Nikke had once fallen to the Black Smith's traps, their combat capabilities remained unmatched. Against the Raptures in the power station, their precision and efficiency were unstoppable.

Like a blade slicing through tofu, they cut down the remaining Raptures with ease.

The battle concluded far faster than anticipated.

So quickly, in fact, that Mo Chen hadn't even finished his meat bun.

Awkward though it was, speed clearly had its advantages.

Inside the plant's core generator workshop, the aftermath was clear.

The air was thick with smoke. The ground was littered with Rapture remains and the smoldering debris of machinery.

Mo Chen's heart ached.

"My money! No, wait… my generator!"

He lamented the destruction. Expecting Nikkes and Raptures to care for infrastructure was as absurd as expecting pigs to take care of pearls.

Still, he was relieved to see that his infected troops had obeyed orders to spare the plant's operational components.

Inside the generator workshop, the uninfected Raptures huddled together, trembling under the watchful gaze of their infected counterparts.

Unlike the fearless fighters outside, these Raptures cowered, their bodies shaking visibly.

Something was different here.

"Hm?"

Mo Chen approached the quivering Raptures.

Rather than attack, they knelt, folding their forelimbs as if pleading for mercy.

Some even kowtowed repeatedly, banging their heads on the floor.

"Incredible. They're so… humanlike?"

Mo Chen was genuinely taken aback.

Their actions—if not for their grotesque appearance—would be indistinguishable from human behavior.

Fear, weakness, pleading and desperation filled their every movement.

Mo Chen ignored the frantic bowing and turned his attention to the control panel of the generator.

Running a hand over the lever, he noticed it was free of dust. The adjacent buttons were heavily worn, their labels barely legible.

These were the signs of regular use.

But there were no humans here.

Which left only one possibility.

He turned back to the trembling Raptures.

It was them.

In the original game, Raptures at the power plant were shown operating machinery and following commands, their behavior eerily humanlike.

For most, such mimicry was unsettling, sparking fears of humans being replaced by Raptures. This often led to their immediate extermination.

But for Mo Chen…

He crouched in front of the quivering Raptures, offering them a benign, almost kind smile.

"Congratulations."

"You're now officially hired as employees of this plant."

Such invaluable, unpaid labor couldn't go to waste.

To kill them would be a crime against efficiency itself!

"In gratitude for my mercy in sparing your lives, work diligently with hearts full of appreciation," Mo Chen declared.

The Raptures froze.

Their simple processors couldn't comprehend the meaning of his words.

But that didn't matter.

Their kind and benevolent Commander would guide them.