Chapter 2: The System Is Expired? And Expired by a Century!

Ordinary Raptures in the game were just fodder, something anyone could trample on.

But seeing them in person sent chills down one's spine.

The smallest Rapture was the size of a young calf, while the largest towered like a mountain, stretching out densely as far as the eye could see, like a surging tide.

The sheer, terrifying pressure alone was enough to make one feel suffocated with despair.

However, the Raptures that had almost wiped out humanity were utterly defenseless against Rose.

Rose's movements were as swift as lightning, with a flash of crimson light piercing the sky.

A sharp, ghostly slash swept across, causing the Raptures to burst like blooming red spider lilies.

Explosions rang out continuously, creating a symphony of destruction.

In a short time, over twenty Raptures had been eliminated by her.

Gracefully descending, Rose sheathed her blade and returned lightly to Mo Chen's side.

Impressive.

Mo Chen stared in shock.

No wonder she was known as the strongest production model comparable to a legend.

"Hello."

Mo Chen extended his hand, cautiously greeting Rose.

Rose remained motionless.

Her eyes were devoid of life, completely expressionless.

Despite her gentle and delicate features, she radiated an unapproachable aura.

Like a robot.

No, even more lifeless than a robot—like an eerie humanoid doll.

Mo Chen stepped closer and waved his hand in front of her.

Rose: "…"

After examining her for a while, Mo Chen realized she seemed to lack thoughts, awareness, emotions, or interaction.

In other words, just a shell.

He pulled up the system interface and checked the display.

As expected, the name "Rose" was followed by the words "Backup Body."

So, just an emotionless killing machine?

Mo Chen felt a wave of disappointment.

No interaction—wasn't she basically like an inflatable doll?

Worse, even inflatable dolls could make a sound!

Fortunately, this "inflatable doll" obeyed his commands and fulfilled the role of a "tool."

If only he could obtain the real body…

Looking at the beautiful, ethereal Nikke before him, Mo Chen couldn't help but think that.

"Successfully rescued twenty-four people, earning 24 points."

The system notification appeared abruptly, interrupting Mo Chen's thoughts.

Mo Chen was puzzled.

He hadn't rescued anyone, right?

If he had done anything, it was taking down over twenty Raptures.

Which Rose did.

Wait.

Mo Chen walked through the ruined battlefield, stepping over scattered parts and counting the shattered Rapture remains.

Exactly twenty-four.

Was this a coincidence?

Bending down to inspect the remains more closely, Mo Chen noticed a bright red crystal embedded at the center of the Raptures.

A core?

He hadn't paid attention to these details when playing the game, but vaguely remembered that early Raptures used human beings as their power source.

Could it be that this thing inside the Raptures was human tissue?

Mo Chen asked the system, but there was no response.

Still, based on the human corpses he'd encountered before, he was 80% sure.

But could rescuing the dead count as a rescue?

That was hellish.

Mo Chen's mouth twitched, and he scratched his head helplessly. His gaze drifted to the watch on his wrist, sparking a peculiar thought.

Wait.

Mo Chen opened the system interface and compared the system's time with the watch's.

The times were roughly the same, except for the year.

There was a full hundred-year difference between the two.

Was the watch broken?

The watch's surface was perfectly intact, without a single scratch or dent.

Mo Chen tapped on the watch's face.

Everything was normal.

After a careful inspection, it displayed a connected status.

When connected, the watch had an automatic time synchronization feature, meaning it was unlikely to be wrong.

Mo Chen recalled what he'd seen earlier.

Sure enough.

Mo Chen let out a long sigh.

He finally understood what was going on: It wasn't the watch that was wrong.

The first Rapture invasion happened a hundred years ago.

Humanity's near extinction also took place a hundred years ago.

From the system's perspective, the human bodies that had been killed and turned into power sources by the Raptures were still considered living beings in that era.

In other words—this system was a full century late!

Well, that's something.

He'd only ever heard of food expiring.

But a system having an expiration date?

A car crashes, you know to turn; snot runs into your mouth, you know to wipe it; stocks rise, you know to buy; your favourite idol gets married, you know to move on—too late!

Mo Chen didn't know what expression to make.

But soon, he noticed something unusual.

Whether due to a system bug or not, tasks that were supposed to reward points for saving people now rewarded points for simply coming into contact with or being near human remains or bodies.

A thought flashed in Mo Chen's mind.

If that was the case, wouldn't he earn points just by taking a stroll?

Excited, Mo Chen eagerly wanted to test it.

With Rose guarding him, he wasn't too worried.

After all, she was on the same power level as Scarlet, and ordinary Raptures were no match for her.

So, Mo Chen hurried toward the ruined buildings.

Everywhere, collapsed structures stood like tombs made of reinforced concrete, with debris and rubble littering the ground and grass growing over a meter tall.

On the road, wrecked cars were piled up from apparent chain collisions, their scattered parts everywhere.

The drivers inside had long since become mummified corpses.

"Rescued three people, earning 3 points."

"Rescued fifteen people, earning 15 points."

"Rescued nine people, earning 9 points."

The system notifications kept popping up.

Even with mental preparation, Mo Chen felt a thrill at seeing the numbers.

In just a few minutes, he had earned dozens of points.

And he had only walked a short distance along the road.

Mo Chen almost wanted to pick up the corpses and give them a kiss.

He had guessed right.

But then he thought, if he could earn this many just by walking, did that mean the world was filled with corpses?

It had to be—before the Rapture invasion, humanity had a population in the tens of billions!

Now, gathering even a hundred million survivors would be a blessing.

In the past, Mo Chen might have felt nervous—walking on a path covered with human remains wasn't much different from strolling in a graveyard.

Now, Mo Chen searched himself thoroughly and found nothing valuable, not even food or water.

In a place crawling with Raptures, if he didn't earn points to trade for supplies, he'd be like a dung beetle climbing the rim of a latrine—not far from death.