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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 37 : The Administrator's Of Recollection
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[Time remaining until the Great Freeze: 3 Days]
[Location: Recollection Headquarters / Capital City Skyline]
[Time: 11:30 PM]
Finally, the heavy barrage of toxic black snow had finally ceased. The suffocating precipitation that had buried the ruined capital city under meters of dark, corrosive ice stopped falling entirely. The sky above the towering commercial skyscrapers cleared of the thick storm clouds. However, the clearance brought no sunlight and no warmth to the dying earth.
Standing on the open rooftop of a sixty-story high-rise, Aria rested her small hands on the frozen concrete edge of the parapet. She leaned forward, looking down at the dark, abandoned city below.
Aria was twenty-four years old. She was the sole founder and the supreme leader of Recollection, the largest and most advanced shadow organization operating in the country. Before the first impact ever touched the ground, Aria had already established the network, secured the underground bunkers, and manipulated the digital economy to hoard vital resources.
She possessed the supernatural ability of Precognition. Her brain functioned as a massive, biological quantum computer, capable of calculating and visualizing thousands of branching future timelines simultaneously. She had built her entire empire by looking into the future and navigating the optimal path through the impending apocalypse.
Despite her massive authority, her physical appearance closely resembled a young, energetic middle school student. She stood barely one hundred and forty-five centimeters tall. She wore a highly impractical, pastel-blue frilly dress adorned with white lace. To combat the freezing temperature, she draped a massive, heavily padded tactical hoodie-jacket over her small shoulders. The jacket was a striking, neon pink color, clashing directly with the grim, dark environment. Two long, floppy bunny ears attached to the hood dragged against the concrete floor behind her as she moved. The jacket was covered in various cartoonish, yet functional, survival patches. A pair of advanced, noise-canceling communication headphones in a bright lime green color rested loosely around her slender neck.
She held a giant, brightly colored strawberry lollipop in her right hand. She popped the candy into her mouth, her cheek bulging outward. She needed the constant influx of raw glucose to keep her overworked brain steady.
Aria pulled the lollipop from her mouth. Her expression was completely flat, her dark eyes devoid of any warmth. She stared at the northern horizon, analyzing the faint, moving lights in the distance.
"The tactical convoys have breached the northern toll roads," Aria stated, her voice dropping into a cold, highly analytical tone. She spoke with the heavy exhaustion of a military veteran.
"The heavy armored vehicles are maintaining a tight diamond formation. They are prioritizing speed over stealth. The Blue Devil is moving his subjugated squad directly toward the Cikarang industrial zone."
She used Recollection's internal codename for Richter. She had watched the man with the blue coat slaughter his way through multiple times in her visions.
A few steps behind her, Celine stood perfectly still. Celine was twenty years old, Aria's younger sister by four years. The physical contrast between the two siblings was staggering. Celine was tall, elegant, and possessed a highly mature presence. She wore a tailored, dark grey winter tactical uniform that fit her frame perfectly, complete with insulated combat boots and specialized thermal gloves. She wore sleek, rectangular glasses that reflected the pale light of the glowing digital tablet in her left hand. Her dark hair was tied back in a neat, strict bun. She constantly monitored the massive influx of data streaming through the Recollection network.
Celine acted as the primary secretary and the operational filter for the entire organization. She managed the logistics, organized the survivor camps, and translated her sister's complex visions into functional military strategies. When they were surrounded by operatives, Celine maintained strict professional protocol. But alone on this isolated rooftop, the formal boundaries softened.
"Our perimeter drones confirm your assessment, Sis," Celine replied smoothly, her fingers tapping across the glowing screen. "The convoy matches the armory signature from the underground syndicate raid. He is heavily armed."
Aria suddenly giggled. The cold, calculating administrator vanished in a fraction of a second, instantly replaced by a hyperactive, bubbly child. She spun around on her heels, her pink bunny ears swishing heavily through the freezing air.
"They look like little toy cars from up here, Celine!" Aria chirped brightly, pointing her sticky lollipop toward the horizon. She hopped from side to side, her eyes sparkling with manic energy. "Vroom, vroom! They are driving straight into a giant meat grinder! It is going to be so messy. Many Heads are going to pop like balloons!"
Celine let out a soft, measured sigh. She was entirely accustomed to her sister's erratic personality shifts. Aria used the childish, hyperactive persona as a psychological shield. Processing thousands of gruesome deaths, starvation scenarios, and catastrophic events every single day took a massive toll on her sanity. Dropping into a playful, detached mindset allowed Aria to articulate the horrors of the future without losing her mind. When they were alone on the rooftop, the mask slipped on and off constantly, reflecting her internal struggle.
Aria stopped hopping. She lowered her hand. Her bright smile faded back into a grim, serious line. The transition was jarring and immediate.
"The Fanatics of the Architect are already mobilizing too," Aria continued, her tone returning to a dead-serious register. "The sniper with the rotting blade, the scientist with the green blood, the hacker who burns digital economies, the giant who guards the logistics, and the woman who speaks like a false god. They called Information Club. I have watched every single one of these Pillars tear the world apart in my visions. I know exactly how dangerous they are, and I know exactly what they are capable of doing to the human body."
Aria stared at the glowing tear in the sky, her grip tightening on her candy stick.
"They are throwing all their resources at that warehouse," Aria said heavily. "When the Blue Devil meets the Fanatics under that light, the resulting output of clash will broke the entire industrial estate. It is a guaranteed total catastrophy event for anyone caught in the crossfire."
Celine stepped forward, her combat boots clicking against the frozen concrete. She verified the quarantine protocols on her tablet.
"The blockade is fully operational," Celine reported, her voice steady. "I have issued a level-one directive to all Recollection operatives and civilian relays. No one is allowed within a thirty-kilometer radius of Cikarang. We have abandoned our northern relay towers to maintain the buffer zone. Our people are safe from the clash."
Aria smiled brightly again, her energy spiking. She skipped over to Celine and hugged her sister's waist tightly, burying her face in the thick tactical fabric of her uniform.
"You are the best, Sis!" Aria cheered, rubbing her cheek against the jacket. "Now tell me the good news. How are our new friends doing across the ocean?"
Celine gently patted her sister's head, her expression softening behind her glasses. She looked down at her tablet, reviewing the recent expansion data.
"The international mesh network is stabilizing rapidly," Celine explained, maintaining her professional demeanor. "The communication nodes you predicted in Sumatra and Kalimantan are fully secured. We have successfully bypassed the ruined underwater cables and established independent radio contact with the surviving resident, and military remnants in Malaysia and Singapore. We are currently sharing our thermal insulation techniques and setting up a secure barter system for medical supplies across the strait. Recollection is officially a multinational entity."
Aria stepped back, her eyes narrowing thoughtfully. She tapped the lollipop stick against her chin, processing the logistical strain of a multinational operation.
"Show me the new distribution map," Aria ordered, her voice serious once more. "I need to verify the new safe zones. The ocean currents are going to freeze near the coastlines soon. We need to secure the port authorities before the ice locks the ships in place."
Celine nodded. She reached into a secure, waterproof pouch attached to her tactical belt. She pulled out a physical, heavily folded paper map of the Southeast Asian archipelago. She unfolded the map carefully, revealing hundreds of hand-drawn red and blue markers detailing the established safe zones, the mutant breeding hives, and the secured maritime routes.
Celine possessed a highly classified, strategic supernatural ability. She could duplicate any non-living physical object she touched with her bare hands. This power formed the true logistical backbone of the Recollection network. While Aria provided the future coordinates and the survival blueprints, Celine provided the endless physical resources. She duplicated high-capacity batteries, rare medical antibiotics, encrypted communication transponders, and complex technical machine, ensuring their organization never suffered from the crippling supply shortages that plagued the rest of the dying world.
Celine held the paper map flat in her right hand. She concentrated quietly. A soft, pale blue light emanated from her palm, wrapping entirely around the paper. The light pulsed once, illuminating the dark rooftop. A second, identical map materialized smoothly in her left hand. The duplication was flawless down to the smallest crease in the paper and the faintest ink smudge on the borders.
She handed the duplicated map to Aria.
Aria took the paper, spreading it out flat against the frozen parapet. She traced the new safe zones in Malaysia and Singapore with her finger, her eyes darting rapidly across the coordinates. Her brain began to run a new set of complex calculations, projecting the survival probabilities of the newly established international branches over the next six months.
"Okay," Aria muttered, popping the candy back into her mouth. She chewed on the hard sugar, her jaw working mechanically. "Let me check the next five days. I need to make sure the Blue Devil and the Fanatics do not break the new supply lines when they finish fighting. I need to see the aftermath."
Aria closed her eyes. She focused her mind, pushing her consciousness past the present reality.
She visualized the timeline branching out in front of her like a massive, intricate web of glowing threads suspended in a dark void. She navigated through the web, searching for the specific threads connecting to the Cikarang industrial zone. She attempted to observe the immediate aftermath of the inevitable battle. She needed to know who survived the clash, what resources were destroyed in the crossfire, and how the victor would affect the surrounding civilian zones in the capital.
Her mind traveled forward. One day. Two days.
A massive wall of violent, grey static suddenly slammed into her mental projection.
A sharp, intense pain spiked directly behind her eyes, feeling like a physical needle piercing her brain. Her vision shattered into thousands of jagged pieces. The glowing threads of the future twisted, tangled, and dissolved into absolute, impenetrable darkness. The anomaly appeared in her mind as a massive, featureless shadow, completely blocking her sight and scrambling her calculations. It was a variable she could not predict. It was a person who defied the natural flow of cause and effect.
The Architect.
Every single time Aria tried to look into the future involving the leader of the Fanatics, this specific entity ruined her vision. The Architect's decisions were erratic and completely different to her logical models. He created ripples in the timeline that made zero sense. He moved pieces on the board without any clear purpose, yet those random movements somehow shattered her carefully planned probabilities.
Aria gasped loudly, her eyes snapping open. She stumbled backward, dropping the lollipop onto the frozen concrete roof. She gripped the sides of her head tightly, her small fingers digging fiercely into her blonde hair.
"Sis!" Celine dropped her tablet and rushed forward, grabbing Aria's shoulders to keep her from collapsing onto the freezing floor.
Aria gritted her teeth, her breathing fast and shallow. A drop of dark blood leaked from her left nostril, trailing down her pale upper lip. The playful, energetic persona she maintained shattered completely. Her face twisted into an expression of genuine frustration and real pain.
›› To Be Continue ‹‹
—KS