[ENG] What? My "Information Club" is Actually an All-Knowing Secret Society?
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What? My "Information Club" is Actually an All-Knowing Secret Society?
Genre : Apocalypse, Fantasy, Superpower, Action
Tag : Misunderstanding, Secret Organization, World-Freezing, Super power
Chapter 33 : Meeting
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[Time remaining until the Great Freeze: 5 Days]
[Location: Multiple Encrypted Nodes - Secure Video Conference]
[Time: 09:00 PM]
FrostBite sat cross-legged on his worn ergonomic chair, chewing a dense high-protein energy bar with rapid, mechanical jaw movements. His underground basement was illuminated entirely by the harsh, icy blue light radiating from a dozen high-resolution monitors stacked haphazardly across his massive reinforced desk. Thousands of lines of complex, self-executing code flowed down the screens like a digital waterfall. The temperature inside the room remained perfectly stable, regulated by the low, continuous hum of liquid-cooled servers operating at maximum capacity in the far corner. The physical world outside his walls was freezing to death, but inside this room, FrostBite reigned as the absolute administrator of his own reality.
He typed a complex series of encryption commands on his mechanical keyboard. His fingers moved with speed, forcefully cracking through the remaining dead satellite frequencies hovering in the exosphere. He established a five-way video communication channel completely hidden from the outside world.
One by one, the main display in front of him divided into separate, perfectly synchronized video windows, connecting the core members of his organization across the ruined landscape of the country.
The first screen flickered to life, revealing Viper. The general sat inside the dimly lit cabin of a heavily armored tactical transport vehicle. The heavy diesel engine rumbled continuously in the background, shaking the mounted camera slightly. Viper's black combat uniform was completely soaked in dark, thick blood. Several drying crimson splatters stained his sharp cheekbones and his neck. He stared directly into the camera lens with a terrifyingly flat, emotionless expression. His dark eyes darted in micro-movements, constantly scanning his immediate surroundings out of pure predatory habit despite being inside a secure metal box. His breathing remained slow, rhythmic, and entirely controlled. He showed absolutely zero physical fatigue after massacring dozens of apex predators.
The second screen connected, showing Apothecary inside her brilliantly lit makeshift laboratory. The room was packed tightly with humming electron microscopes, chemical centrifuges, and raw, mutilated tissue samples suspended in glowing green preservative fluids. Dr. Elena Vance stood entirely too close to the camera, her emerald green eyes burning with a wild, almost manic scientific enthusiasm. Her dark chestnut hair was tied back carelessly, with several loose strands clinging to the sweat on her forehead. The sleeves of her white lab coat carried fresh, dark scorch marks from a recent explosive reaction. She tapped a heavy metal pen rapidly against her steel desk, vibrating with the restless energy of someone whose mind operated miles ahead of her own physical body.
The third window materialized to display Seraph. The visual contrast was so big. Seraph sat gracefully on a pristine white velvet chair inside her luxurious, untouched penthouse. Her white silk dress draped perfectly over her composed figure, and her golden-blonde hair cascaded beautifully over her shoulders without a single strand out of place. A delicate porcelain teacup released a thin, elegant wisp of steam on the polished mahogany table in front of her. Her golden eyes radiated a calm, absolute authority. She created the overwhelming illusion that she was presiding over a holy divine council rather than a survival meeting in the middle of a frozen, dying world.
The final screen stabilized, showing Tank. The massive man stood inside the freezing, pitch-black observation room of the Cikarang logistics warehouse. His heavy, exhausted breaths formed thick plumes of white fog in the freezing air, momentarily obscuring the camera lens. He wore a heavily padded winter coat reinforced with thick, welded steel plates across the chest and shoulders. The muffled, violent roar of the black snowstorm battering the outer corrugated metal walls of the warehouse echoed loudly through his microphone, providing a grim, isolating audio backdrop to their digital convergence.
"Ping is stable at exactly twelve milliseconds," FrostBite announced, leaning his back against the chair and offering a wide, chaotic grin. "Everyone has successfully joined the lobby. Our connection is absolutely secure. Zero packet loss and Zero intruders."
FrostBite swiped his hand across his keyboard, pulling up a massive digital map of the archipelago on a secondary monitor. The map was illuminated by hundreds of pulsing blue nodes.
"Over the past few days, I have expanded our high-level network straight across the ocean," FrostBite continued, his voice dripping with intense pride. "Our encrypted connection now successfully reaches the islands of Sumatra and Kalimantan. The entirety of Java is fully stable, interconnected, and untraceable. We are operating on a completely different plane of existence."
Viper reached over his seat, picked up a dirty, oil-stained rag from the passenger side, and began wiping his long tactical knife with slow, methodical strokes. The blade hissed faintly as the corrosive mutant blood reacted with the air.
"The main southern route leading to the Cikarang sector is clear," Viper reported, his voice dropping into a heavy, brutally efficient baritone. "My vanguard unit destroyed two major breeding hives at the highway intersection. We engaged the Gore-Maws and the Hive-Hounds. The threat level along this specific supply route currently stands at zero. You can all pass through the toll roads without any interference from the local mutant."
Apothecary suddenly leaned much closer to her screen. She held up a small, heavy glass vial directly in front of the camera lens. The thick glass contained ten incredibly dense, deep-green pills.
"Speaking of output, you all need to look at this," Apothecary declared, her voice rising in pitch due to overwhelming scientific obsession. "This is SW. The absolute, perfected form of the Vitality Stew originally designed by The Architect. The previous versions I created weeks ago were heavily flawed. They only provided a temporary thermal shield. This new synthesis is entirely different."
Apothecary detailed the specifications with the terrifying pride of a mad scientist presenting her magnum opus.
"This pill completely rewrites the thermal limits of mammalian biology," she explained, tapping the glass vial with her fingernail. "One dose isolates your circulatory system from external thermal drain completely. You can stand perfectly still in a minus one hundred degree Celsius blizzard for Twenty-four hours, and your core temperature will not drop a single fraction of a degree. It generates a self-sustaining biological reactor inside your chest. It forces your cells to regenerate at an impossible rate without cannibalizing the body's fat reserves. You become biologically immortal against the cold."
Tank grunted softly from his dark screen, crossing his massive steel-plated arms over his broad chest. "We finally stop eating that rotting sludge. Good work, Doctor."
Apothecary placed the green vial down onto her steel desk and immediately snatched a second glass container from a secure, temperature-controlled drawer. This second vial held small, dark red pills. The crimson pills seemed to pulse faintly under the harsh laboratory lights, carrying an unsettling, organic rhythm. Elena's emerald eyes sparkled brightly with dangerous ambition.
"The perfected SW variant focuses evenly on all bodily aspects and thermal defense," Apothecary whispered, a wide, fanatical smile stretching across her face. "However ... I took the Architect's knowledge and pushed it further. This second variant discards that biological balance entirely."
She shook the red vial, the pills rattling sharply against the glass.
"This is SW-Variant Two," Apothecary announced. "I spliced the formula with the fast-twitch muscle fibers extracted from the DNA of the Felidae family. Specifically, mutant cheetah DNA. This pill focuses solely on absolute velocity. Upon ingestion, your muscle tissues will absorb oxygen three times faster than normally possible. Your nervous system will fire commands at terrifying speeds. You will move, sprint, and react far beyond the limits of human evolution. You will sacrifice the prolonged thermal defense for ten minutes of absolute, blinding speed."
Viper stopped wiping his blade. He stared at the red pills through the monitor, analyzing the tactical advantage immediately. "Bring the entire supply. I will distribute them to the frontline operators."
FrostBite whistled loudly, highly impressed by the biological modifications. He cleared his throat, reclaiming the center of attention on the main display. He spun his chair around and projected a new layer over the massive topographical map. Hundreds of glowing red and white data nodes appeared, representing active survivor encampments and digital relays belonging to a completely different network.
"Biological evolution is genuinely fascinating, Doc," FrostBite said. "But we also need to pay close attention to the other faction trying to claim this dying world. Recollection."
FrostBite highlighted a massive cluster of red nodes centralized around the capital ruins.
"They are a much larger organization than our Information Club right now in terms of sheer numbers, civilian control, and public reach, because they are not just operate fully in our country, they start to expand to neighbors country too." FrostBite explained, his tone turning highly analytical.
"They control the digital token economy. They moderate the survival streams. Millions of desperate people rely on their mesh network to stay sane. However ... the actual physical resources and the technical depth they possess simply cannot compare to the immense wealth of ours, the Pillars."
FrostBite grinned widely, tapping his fingers aggressively against the wooden edge of his desk.
"I have already discovered their blind spots and secured an independent transaction route for our logistics," FrostBite revealed. "I am using my own armada of hidden, high-altitude delivery drones. Our supply network remains completely untouched by their radar. We are moving weapons, food, and personnel right over their heads."
He leaned closer to his microphone, his eyes shining with chaotic, destructive intent.
"Even though they are not a direct threat to our operations right now, I am fully prepared to unleash large-scale destruction on several critical weak points in their system if necessary. I have written the malware. I have positioned the logic bombs inside their proxy servers. One single command from me, and their entire digital connection on whole Java island will collapse into dust. They will lose Java island in three seconds."
Seraph lowered her porcelain teacup with a slow, deliberate movement. The ceramic clinked softly against the saucer.
"Hold your finger, FrostBite," Seraph commanded softly.
Her voice flowed through the digital speakers with a hypnotic, incredibly smooth cadence, carrying a terrifying amount of charismatic weight. Her golden eyes locked directly onto the camera lens, silencing the hacker instantly.
"There is no need for mindless destruction at this current stage," Seraph explained calmly, folding her hands in her lap. "They seem to be walking on a very similar path to The Architect's ambition. They are attempting to organize the chaos. They are helping the ordinary people survive the cold through their own flawed methods. They are building a fragile structure in the dark."
Seraph smiled faintly, a terrifying expression of absolute superiority.
"Because of that effort, they can be handled using different approaches," Seraph continued. "Perhaps they can be negotiated with when the time is right. Perhaps their entire infrastructure can simply be absorbed under our protection to serve the New Order. Do not destroy a functioning system that can still be salvaged and repurposed for our Grand Architect ultimate design."
Seraph stood up gracefully from her velvet chair and walked toward the camera. She held up a thick, heavy leather-bound book. The pages inside were filled with the meticulously annotated printouts of the original ARG (Alternates Reality Game) written by Arlen. She opened the book with her slender fingers, bypassing the early chapters and stopping at a specific page marked with a thick, crimson red ribbon.
"There is a much more urgent matter at hand," Seraph stated, reading the text aloud. Her voice echoed with the absolute certainty of a high priestess delivering a divine revelation. "Page five, paragraph three. It is written clearly for those who possess the eyes to see. The Iron Gate in the North shall open, and the sky will tear apart to reveal a light that swallows the long night."
Tank wiped his face with a trembling, thick hand. The sound of his heavy breathing spiked through the microphone. His eyes projected a heavy tension that instantly caught the attention of the other four Pillars.
"Seraph ... you are completely right," Tank's voice grated through the microphone, shattering the elegant, philosophical silence. "The prophecy is happening right now. The sky above this warehouse is beginning to tear open."
Tank did not wait for their questions. He grabbed his portable camera, ripping it roughly from its mount on the steel desk. He walked rapidly toward the massive, steel-reinforced observation window looking out over the Cikarang industrial estate. He grabbed the heavy manual locking wheel with both hands, strained his thick shoulder muscles, and threw the heavy blast shield open. The freezing wind immediately howled into the room. He pointed the camera lens directly upward into the freezing, storm-filled night.
The black sky above Cikarang was no longer intact.
A colossal, jagged fracture stretched for dozens of kilometers across the absolute darkness of the stratosphere. It looked exactly as if a giant, invisible blade had violently slashed open the fabric of reality itself. Pouring out from within that massive, cosmic tear was a blinding, absolute, pure white light. The illumination did not resemble sunlight, nor did it carry the familiar warmth of sun. It felt physically heavy, and loaded with raw, unfiltered energy bleeding in from a completely different dimension.
The freezing black snow falling continuously from the clouds instantly vaporized the exact second it touched the radiant aura. The rapid, violent evaporation created a massive, swirling storm of thick white steam that completely blanketed the ruined factories and the frozen roads of the industrial estate below.
"The air here feels entirely different," Tank explained heavily, his voice struggling against the roaring wind outside. "The gravity around this warehouse feels physically heavier. It is pressing down on my shoulders. It is hard to breathe. The massive mutant swarms down in the yard stopped attacking entirely. The Gore-Maws and the feral packs are just standing completely still in the snow, staring up at that light like statues."
Inside her bright laboratory, Apothecary clamped both hands tightly over her mouth. The blinding white light pouring from her monitor illuminated her pale face. Her brilliant mind raced past the boundaries of known science, desperately trying to categorize the anomaly. She realized instantly that the energy radiating from that tear was pure, unfiltered cosmic radiation. It was the absolute source of every single biological mutation on their dying planet.
Viper stood up violently inside his tactical vehicle. Every single muscle in his hardened body tensed to the point of extreme pain. His apex predator instincts screamed at him to run away from the planetary threat, but his fanatical loyalty completely overrode his primal fear. He felt an absolute, burning need to secure that location for his master.
Seraph collapsed onto her knees inside her luxurious penthouse. She clasped her hands tightly against her chest, entirely overcome by the cosmic display. Tears of pure, unblemished joy streamed down her beautiful face, ruining her perfect composure. She stared into the glowing tear on the monitor with absolute, terrifying worship.
"The Architect's vision is absolute," Seraph whispered, her voice trembling with overwhelming religious ecstasy. "He has opened the gates of blessing for us. He wants us all to be present there to witness the birth of the new world. Prepare yourselves immediately."
Seraph rose to her feet. The elegant, calm priestess vanished, instantly replaced by a ruthless, commanding warlord preparing to welcome her destiny. She glared directly into the camera, issuing her absolute commands to the remaining Pillars.
"Viper, redirect the entirety of the armored convoy to the Cikarang sector immediately. Annihilate anything that stands in your way. Apothecary, pack every single SW pill. FrostBite, secure our travel routes and blind anyone else trying to look at that sky. Tank ... hold your position at all costs. We are all coming to you."
"Acknowledged," Viper stated, slamming his fist against his chest.
"I am packing the arsenal now," Apothecary shouted, already throwing glass vials into a metal briefcase.
"The routes are secured," FrostBite grinned, his fingers flying across the keys.
The video feed terminated instantly, plunging the screens back into darkness. The five most lethal pillars on the earth were mobilizing their massive resources across the longest night, rushing forward to meet the holy cosmic miracle orchestrated by their deity.
And far away, sitting perfectly still inside a dark, freezing apartment on the fourth floor of a ruined building, The Architect—Arlen—continued to stare blankly at his empty plastic soup bowl. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, entirely focused on the lingering taste of the canned meat. He remained completely unaware that his pathetic, desperate lies had just triggered a continent-wide military mobilization toward a terrifying cosmic space anomaly.
›› To Be Continue ‹‹
—KS