I Built a Safe Zone in the Dead World Chapter 62: Beginning Of Something Worse

The checkpoint remained trapped in heavy silence after the infected survivor stabilized instead of transforming. Soldiers kept their rifles aid toward the man while civilians huddled together fearfully behind barricades and dical stations. Nobody understood what they just witnessed. Normal infected did not stop transforming midway. Once symptoms accelerated, death followed quickly afterward. Everyone inside the tower already knew that truth. They had seen it too many tis before. People screaming while black veins spread beneath their skin. Bones twisting. Eyes turning pale. Humanity disappearing completely within minutes. That was how infection worked.

But this ti—The transformation stopped.

The infected survivor sat weakly against the wall while breathing heavily, sweat pouring down his face. His hands still trembled violently while the injured woman beside him cried quietly from relief and fear.

"Taro..." she whispered shakily while holding his arm tightly. "Are you okay?"

The man looked confused. Terrified. Exhausted. "I... I don’t know..."

Arata stared silently at him while the system interface continued flickering faintly across his vision.

[Mutation Resistance Present]

[Irregular Evolution Response Detected]

[Further Observation Recomnded]

Further observation.The system sounded almost curious now.That alone disturbed Arata deeply.

Nearby, civilians whispered nervously while watching the infected survivor from a distance.

"Why didn’t he change?" "Can infection stop now?" "What if he suddenly turns later?!"

"He should be killed before it happens!"

Fear spread quickly again.Airi imdiately stood up sharply after hearing the last statent. "No one is killing anyone."

One nervous civilian stepped backward slightly. "But he’s infected!"

"He’s alive," Airi answered firmly.The atmosphere tightened again.

Several soldiers looked conflicted while gripping their weapons uncertainly. Nobody wanted another outbreak. But shooting soone still human felt wrong too.

Especially after he survived the infection sohow.

Yuna leaned against the checkpoint railing while watching the situation quietly. "...Humans are scarier than zombies sotis."

Reina sighed softly beside her. "Fear changes people."

"No," Yuna answered calmly. "Fear reveals them."

anwhile Miyu crouched carefully several ters away from Taro while studying him through the system interface visible only to enhanced users. Her calm expression remained unchanged, but her eyes sharpened slightly behind her glasses.

"The infection isn’t gone," she said quietly.

Everyone imdiately looked toward her.

Taro’s frightened expression darkened instantly. "...W-What?"

Miyu adjusted her glasses calmly. "It’s still active inside your body." Her voice remained emotionless. "But sothing is suppressing the mutation process."

The checkpoint beca silent again.

Taro’s hands trembled harder now. "...So I’m still going to turn?"

Nobody answered imdiately, Because nobody knew.

Arata’s gaze remained fixed on Taro while countless thoughts moved through his mind rapidly. The mutation leader underground spoke about evolution. About becoming more. And now an infected human sohow resisted transformation itself.

The infected were changing, And maybe—Humans were changing too.

The system suddenly appeared again.

[Ergency Evolution Theory Updated]

[Human Mutation Compatibility Increasing]

[Future Threat Level Rising]

Arata’s eyes narrowed slightly.Threat level rising.

The system no longer spoke only about infected anymore.That realization quietly disturbed him more than anything else tonight.

Hours passed slowly afterward while the checkpoint remained under lockdown. Taro and the other new survivors were isolated inside a secured dical area under constant guard while Miyu and Airi monitored his condition carefully. Soldiers rotated defensive positions nervously while civilians whispered endlessly throughout the tower about the "man who survived infection."

Rumors spread faster than truth.So civilians believed Taro was immune.

Others believed he was secretly turning into a smarter infected.

Several people even whispered that the apocalypse itself was beginning to evolve.

Fear mixed with hope dangerously.

Arata stood alone near one upper observation hallway while watching rain fall endlessly across the ruined city outside. Fires still burned faintly between distant buildings while lightning occasionally illuminated collapsed streets filled with abandoned vehicles and wandering infected below.

The city looked dead, But now—It also looked like sothing else was waking up inside it.

"You’ve been staring outside for almost an hour."

Arata glanced sideways slightly.Airi stood beside him holding two cups of coffee. Her white dical coat looked stained and wrinkled after treating people nonstop since yesterday. Dark circles rested beneath her eyes now from exhaustion, yet sohow she still smiled softly while offering him one cup.

"I thought you might need this."

Arata accepted the coffee quietly. "...Thanks."

For several monts, both simply stood together watching rain hit the ruined city silently.Then Airi spoke again, "You’re worried." It wasn’t a question.Arata lowered his eyes slightly toward the coffee in his hand. "...Things are changing too fast."

Airi remained quiet.

"The infected underground." "The mutation leader." "Taro surviving infection."

Arata’s expression darkened slightly. "...None of this existed before."

Airi slowly held her cup tighter. "...Do you think humanity can survive this?"

That question lingered heavily between them.

Arata wanted to answer imdiately, Wanted to say yes.

But after everything he witnessed recently—

He couldn’t, And Airi understood that silence instantly. Still—She smiled faintly anyway.

"...Then we survive one day at a ti."

Arata looked toward her quietly.Airi leaned against the hallway wall while looking toward the city again. "Nobody inside this tower believes the future will magically beco peaceful again." Her tired voice remained calm. "But people are still fighting to survive tomorrow." She looked toward him softly. "That matters too."

For one brief mont—The pressure inside Arata’s chest eased slightly.

Then suddenly—Yuna’s voice echoed loudly through the hallway.

"OHO?!" She pointed dramatically toward them while grinning like an idiot. "Late-night coffee date during the apocalypse?!"

Airi instantly beca embarrassed. "Y-Yuna!"

Reina walked behind her while sighing heavily. "...Why are you always ruining emotional monts?"

"Because emotional monts are funny." yuna replied.

Kaede quietly looked between Arata and Airi before speaking calmly. "...The atmosphere did feel romantic."

Airi’s face turned completely red imdiately. "K-KAEDE?!"

Even Arata looked slightly uncomfortable now. Yuna laughed loudly while grabbing snacks from her pocket sohow. "Amazing. Humanity’s collapsing and romance still survives."

Before anyone could respond further, one soldier suddenly sprinted into the hallway while breathing heavily.

"Commander Reina!"Everyone’s expressions sharpened imdiately.

"What happened?" Reina asked.The soldier swallowed nervously. "...Scouts returned."

The atmosphere shifted instantly.Scouts, That ant outside information.And usually—Bad news.

The group moved quickly toward the command floor where several exhausted scouts already waited beside large city maps spread across tables. Their clothes looked dirty and damaged while dried blood covered parts of their gear.

One scout imdiately spoke after seeing Reina and Arata arrive.

"We confird multiple large infected movents across western districts."

Reina’s expression darkened. "...Hordes?"

"Worse."

The scout pointed toward several marked locations on the map.

"They’re moving in patterns."

Silence filled the room.Miyu adjusted her glasses slightly. "...Coordinated movent?"

The scout nodded grimly. "Entire hordes changing direction simultaneously." His voice lowered slightly. "Like sothing’s controlling them."

The room beca completely silent.

Because everyone imdiately rembered the mutation leader underground. Another scout stepped forward afterward.

"There’s more."

Nobody liked those words anymore.

"We found destroyed survivor shelters outside district thirteen."

He placed several blood-covered photographs onto the table.

The images imdiately made several soldiers uncomfortable, Entire buildings torn apart, Walls covered in blood.

Corpses ripped apart violently, But what disturbed everyone most—The infected bodies scattered across the scenes too.Dead infected, Hundreds of them.

Reina frowned deeply. "...Humans did this?"

"No."

The scout’s voice beca quieter.

"We found claw marks larger than normal variants." He swallowed hard. "...And bite patterns unlike anything we’ve seen before."

The room suddenly felt colder.

Arata’s eyes moved toward one photograph showing massive claw marks carved directly through reinforced concrete walls.

Sothing powerful attacked those shelters.

Sothing beyond normal infected.Then the scout finally revealed the worst part.

"There were no survivors."

Silence followed instantly, Nobody spoke.Because the implication was obvious.

If sothing strong enough to wipe out entire survivor shelters existed outside the city—

Then the tower was no longer safe either.The system appeared again before Arata.

[Regional Threat Level Rising]

[Evolution Events Increasing Across City]

[Warning: Major Mutation Presence Approaching]

Approaching, Arata’s expression sharpened imdiately.

Then suddenly—The lights inside the command room flickered violently.

Everyone froze.One second later—The entire tower alarm system activated.

Red ergency lights illuminated the floors instantly while warning sirens echoed across every hallway.

Panic erupted outside the command room imdiately.

"What now?!" "Another outbreak?!" "Are the gates breached?!"

Soldiers grabbed weapons while civilians scread throughout the tower again.A communication officer rushed toward Reina frantically.

"Massive infected movent detected outside!"

"How many?"

The officer looked pale. "...Thousands." he replied. The room went silent, One scout whispered quietly.

"...Impossible..."

Then security cara feeds appeared across the command monitors, And everyone froze.Endless infected filled the streets surrounding the tower.

Not dozens,Not hundreds, Thousands.

An ocean of moving bodies stretched across roads, intersections, rooftops, and collapsed buildings beneath the storm outside. Their distorted screams echoed faintly even through reinforced walls while endless pale figures moved together through the rain.

And worst of all—They weren’t wandering randomly.They were gathering Around the tower.

Yuna stared toward the monitors silently before muttering one sentence.

"...Well," she sighed. "...That’s definitely bad."

But then—Sothing even worse happened.

The infected suddenly stopped moving simultaneously.Every single one.The endless horde beca completely still beneath the rain.

Nobody inside the command room understood what they were seeing.Then slowly—The infected began turning their heads upward together.

Toward the tower, Toward them.And sowhere deep within the endless sea of monsters below—A massive shape moved through the darkness.