Chapter 1 World's End is Only a Step Away

Hao Ren stood on the metal banks of the river, gazing at the endless expanse of greyish-white before him. The viscous, slowly writhing liquid – a substance that inevitably evoked images of Source Blood – exuded an unsettling aura of danger. All the mercenaries kept a fearful distance from the riverbank, save for himself, Ulanov, and Nolan, who stood at the forefront. Ulanov's hoarse voice crackled from within his helmet: "World's end is only a step away."

"This is the nanite swarm?" Hao Ren asked, pointing at the viscous liquid in the grey river. "Such a… scale."

"Everyone knows the grey river is composed of nanite swarms," Nolan said, glancing at Hao Ren. "When you escaped from the city-states of the naturalists into the uninhibited zone, you should have crossed one of these rivers. Didn't you notice?"

"One of them?" Hao Ren frowned, then changed the subject. "No, the situation was dire, and we got separated from the main force. I didn't have much opportunity to observe my surroundings. Speaking of which, how do you plan to cross this river? By boat?"

"Wait for it to congeal," Nolan said, turning and issuing orders in a loud voice. "Everyone, rest in place. We'll cross the river after dusk! Jin, Lorraine, ensure the armored vehicles are ready to start at any time. I also want all electromagnetic hibernation devices powered on twenty-four hours a day. If anyone's device malfunctions, report it immediately."

The mercenaries sprang into action, resting beside their armored vehicles and grabbing compressed rations to replenish their energy. Karl walked among the soldiers, loudly reminding them: "Do not touch the soil directly with your hands! Keep an eye on your water bottles; discard any that are damaged! Inject another dose of antitoxin in half an hour. If you experience a burning sensation in your breathing, inject twice the dose!"

Ulanov staggered toward the armored vehicle. "Ah, I don't need antitoxins to deal with the air here. My lungs rotted away long ago."

"He's actually a pretty optimistic guy," the uninhibited mercenary woman said, passing by. "But it's a bit unnerving when he jokes about his internal organs. Speaking of which, good sir – I heard you've emerged from the shadows? Don't you want to start a new romance in this environment?"

As she spoke, she leaned towards Hao Ren, who subtly stepped back. "Need me to throw you into the grey river to cool off?"

"Tch, no fun."

Once everyone else had moved away, Hao Ren turned and returned to the armored vehicle. He remembered that it was equipped with an always-online onboard computer and that the basic search functions were open to everyone. He had also seen Nolan operate the terminal in the cabin. After tinkering for a moment, he successfully connected to the network and began searching for information about the grey rivers and the Northern Ruins.

The situation in the Northern Ruins was well-known: it referred to the entire area destroyed sixty-five years ago after the nanite swarm went out of control. The area included three dissolved cities and the vast plains between them. Hundreds of thousands of square kilometers of land were transformed into a forbidden zone, and the group's destination – the Northern Ring Tower – was located in the south-central part of these ruins. As for the grey rivers… they were the remnants of the nanite swarm.

The grey river wasn't a single river – Hao Ren had previously misunderstood this. The real grey river referred to a large number of "rivers" that radiated out around the Northern Ruins like cracks in a spiderweb. Discounting the smaller tributaries, the total number of large-scale grey rivers reached hundreds, forming a layered network that blocked off the entire Northern Ruins. From the air, the Northern Ruins resembled a bloodshot eyeball, and the grey rivers were the blood vessels around the eye: to reach the Northern Ring Tower, one had to cross the grey river.

According to the rough maps found online, the main routes between the city-states of the naturalists and the uninhibited zone also required crossing a grey river basin – no wonder Nolan thought Hao Ren had seen the grey river before.

Although the nanite swarm had dissolved everything in the area, it had not completely covered the Northern Ruins. In fact, the remaining nanite swarm was concentrated in the countless "grey rivers," while the areas between the rivers were divided into countless "islands." These islands were filled with wreckage modified by nanomachines, and the soil was full of toxic substances created by the swarm's malfunctioning programs. Everywhere, in all directions, was that terrifying greyish-white "slime." Yet in the Northern Ruins, these islands were the only safe havens.

Nolan seemed to know an optimal route, a series of connected landmasses that required crossing only a few grey rivers to reach the Ring Tower ruins.

"Don't you find this a bit strange?" the data terminal's voice echoed in Hao Ren's mind. "All the information mentions the nanite swarm going out of control, but none of it mentions how they were stopped… These things could have destroyed the entire world, so why did they stop in the grey rivers?"

"Can't find it online. Maybe it was erased," Hao Ren said, shutting down the computer and leaving the cabin. "I'm going to talk to Nolan. By the way, how does it feel staying in the portable dimension?"

"Not bad. This unit found the gravity generator you put in there, built a 1.0g standard surface, and is practicing marching," the data terminal said cheerfully. "This unit feels that this body is just so-so. The way it walks is still like it has cerebral thrombosis. Further training is ineffective. There is probably a compatibility bottleneck."

"… Okay, whatever makes you happy. Just don't mess with my armory."

Hao Ren found Nolan, who was standing alone on the riverbank, silhouetted against the darkening sky. The grey-haired girl looked unusually frail in the dim light. He approached her from behind, noticing her ears twitch slightly when he was still a dozen meters away: what an alarmingly vigilant mercenary leader.

When she turned around, Hao Ren waved. "Why aren't you with everyone else?"

"The grey river is about to congeal," Nolan said, indicating the river surface with her chin. The viscous liquid was flowing more and more slowly and was showing signs of solidifying. "After dusk, the nanite swarm will temporarily cease activity, becoming a flat surface like a block of alloy, strong enough to support the armored vehicles. Of course, that's only if the electromagnetic hibernation devices don't stop working. Otherwise, these things will wake up in an instant. That's how I lost a batch of men."

Nolan seemed to be in a good mood, or perhaps slightly excited. She wasn't as cold and distant as before, and she patiently explained Hao Ren's questions. He thought this was a good time to ask questions. "Speaking of which, how did humanity stop these out-of-control nanite swarms sixty-five years ago?"

"Stop?" Nolan shook her head faintly. "No one stopped them. The swarm stopped spreading on its own. At the time, many people thought the world was about to end. All countermeasures and safety devices were ineffective. People here were waiting to die, then the nanite swarm suddenly stopped, sparing humanity. See these riverbanks?"

Nolan stomped her foot, forcefully treading on the metallic ground. These "riverbanks" resembled natural rock formations, but they were made of metal.

"These things that look like barriers aren't man-made. The nanite swarm made them itself. They delineated their own range of activity, so humanity could barely survive, continuing to fight outside the swarm's territory. Originally, the nanite swarm should have covered the entire world, constantly multiplying and devouring, until it turned the planet into a puddle of mud… But they created a complex container for themselves, containing themselves within it."

Hao Ren stared wide-eyed. "Why would they do that?"

"Who knows? Scientists can't figure it out," Nolan said, the corner of her mouth curling up slightly. "You should ask Ulanov; he's an expert in this field, but I don't think he'd like to talk about it."

"Ah, now that I'm here, I don't mind discussing this with you," Ulanov's voice suddenly came from the side. He walked up to Hao Ren, quietly watching the increasingly calm grey river. "Some speculate that the 'Overmind' computer successfully sent one last control signal before crashing, causing the swarm to stop multiplying. Others suspect that the 'Overmind' computer is still running, buried deep underground, powered by a nuclear reactor. In theory, it could indeed run to this day – especially if it controlled the nanite swarm to maintain itself underground. It might run forever."

Ulanov paused, then continued in a mocking tone, "There are even more insane theories. Mutants calling themselves Rangers believe that the nanite swarm has evolved intelligence and made the decision to preserve the world based on some transhuman wisdom and logic, solely to observe the evolution of humanity. The Rangers regard the nanite swarm as the new master of this world, and they demonstrate their evolutionary superiority by indiscriminately attacking other humans, believing that this will secure them a place in the new world when 'Judgment Day' arrives. Such theories… are countless."