Chapter 3 : Taking the role of a caretaker

Belle started reading his memories and it was very hard especially having to go through the mental capacity of a long-living person like Nouke . It was like a larger-scale library compared to some of the scientists she looked into .

But this library was too vast and varied depending on where she walked around . The first section was mostly animated images , the next was a cave of drawings , then papers , motion picture , T.V. and holograms .

Then it became a wasteland as Belle slowly absorbed these memories along the way as she decided to pay close attention when she saw the wasteland . There were bodies that had text on top of them that depicted who they are .

There was white text characterizing an innocent , gold for righteous and red for evil ' Immortal walker huh ? ' while she was walking through the chronologically arranged memories she started seeing screens of different colors .

' This is strangely high tech but at the same time unnatural ' at this point , she had absorbed more than half of Nouke's memories and finally continued her walk to realize that these memories were longer .

' He doesn't have such a perfect memory ' but Belle does remember all his memories even the parts he doesn't remember ' Oh must be him ' Belle sees a figure running to her recognizing it as Nouke .

' Other than recreating some inventions and the formula for time reversal , he didn't learn anything important ' Belle dashed to his mental figure and sent him deeper into his mind knocking him unconscious and leaving him there to sleep .

" Now that that is over ... How about I take care of you " Belle entered his mind to see a figure ' huh '

Belle fought against Nouke and his emergency system by using his knowledge of such powerful things . After the seemingly long fight , Belle released her hand dropping Nouke and stared at him ' Good thing he wasn't like those scums '

She finally exited his mind and thought of using the knowledge to her advantage .

Belle left his two systems with him and started to make her own ' The process is more like creating a program . ' she looked in front of her and saw the screen ' At least finding mutants is much easier now '

She sent her luggage into the inventory and looked at the portable home ' Though the lab is an important part I'd rather not remove it from its location or the big guy is going to find out but I should do it so I don't have to worry about so much '

She went outside and found her motorcycle around some zombies and blended in with a variant virus and sat on her bicycle getting rid of the virus in her body and felt like she was seen as prey as she drove out with some zombies turning their gazes at her only to be met with a gunshot .

' That inventory and system function sure is convenient ' Belle kept shooting while remembering Nouke's memories ' He reversed time in this world just to save it from an apocalypse that is going to kill everyone '

Belle also figured out who the minds were born even though Nouke had done some changes . The concept would be an external place like a line Nouke managed to get to the very past and became the first life like he was before the regression .

' When the apocalypse came Nouke left his identity and ran around without an identity or any means for others to identify him through records . And the person I'm dealing with is what he called the first mind . '

' But why am I a bigger threat than his old opponent ? ' Belle stood on the shore and looked at the distant island ' Let's see I already obtained the first mind's desire and even if he takes a sample or kills me as long as I can take a living organism I'll still be able to revive myself but they will be a problem when I come back to life '

Belle look behind her to see some survivors fighting to get to her speedboat ' Well I am pretty sure they dump the virus to the sea so the planktons have probably mutated ' Belle went to the speedboat and started to drive away .

' While I'm at it may as well drive to the hidden lab ' She felt infected fish flying to her ' Right I did have these in my pockets ' She pulled out a small cartridge specially modified by the system .

' Has virus and a needle to inject ' Belle felt a strong mutant coming ' Great a starfish and a bunch of them ' Belle jump out of the speedboat storing it before a starfish pounced out of the waters .

' At least I can tell the bait was effective ' Belle sent the cartridge to her inventory and gripped on the rocky cliff to get up she turned and took out a rifle to shoot the starfish down . While grabbing one out alive and throwing it into the system .

' Time passes in there and it creates a condition so the things in there will continue living hopefully the program assumes its need for the virus as a living condition ' Belle walked into the forest looking for the small-scale lab hidden as she mentioned .

' I have never seen this lab in person but I think it got rouge or something since it disappeared from the main network ' Belle looked at her phone and read the coordinates ' This is right so I just need to find a hatch . '

Belle felt a little bothered to do it and decided to use the animals around by using the virus to control them ' Metal hatch or should it be a hut to kidnap subjects ? ' she doesn't know much since the data of the rogue lab was wiped out of the network connecting all the labs .

' But what kind of mission would that higher-up give to that soldier this is a rogue lab that didn't produce many results before the data was deleted are they suspecting this lab that much ? '

She walked in a direction and found the entrance which was a big pole that had too many repairs allowing an elevator to be disguised on the base of it ' Good choice for them and quite a lucky "coincidence" '

Belle enters the lab looking at the exit identification which was stained with blood ' Must've been a struggle for survival ... but where are the zombies ? ' she walks inside stepping over the corpse that was left behind to rot .

' Strange this is infected yet it isn't moving ... There must be something I can learn from this ' she sat beside the corpse and took a sample of blood from the corpse and analyzed the DNA ' It has some difference to the normal undead animating virus '

She takes it out and thinks back ' That encounter with Nouke was pretty enlightening ... now it can't be as simple as killing all zombies ... but at least there is some time till the next end of the world . '

Belle entered the labs to investigate the one behind the accident .

...

Right after Belle left Nouke woke up and gets a headache " Argh to think she could read my memories even the forgotten ones " Nouke got up and opened the system ' Good thing she didn't take my things they took me years to make them '

Nouke sighed looking at the weapons he would need to kill the mind of the apocalypse ' But the mind I'm dealing with right now is just a crazy scientist ... but a very smart one to it ' he went to the shelter to see them counting casualties .

' But not only that there is a bigger problem compared to the last timeline all the minds are squeezed too closely since I revert time like a bus and they manage to grab on the rails ' he tried to look for the minds again but that one mind was hidden too well even under his surveillance .

' But if they try so hard to defend against my system I can attack them from below ' Nouke went to a secluded area and used a computer ' They may think they are safe from me since I have only left the problems of hacking to my groupmates but I have been studying for the past years '

He went to their security and started to enter it like Belle did ' This will take a while '

...

Belle look around her and panted due to the massive backlash of entering a long living organism like Nouke ' This isn't just a virus outbreak ... there are a lot of blood stains but sometimes no corpse ' she left the security cams and looked for the lab or at least the containment chambers .

' Is this hide and seek ? ' Belle sensed her surroundings to find the target but she coughed and felt heavy ' Agh my brain couldn't handle that information ' she decided it will take a while before she can use her virus abilities .

' But right now I at least have a fit body ... though I can't get any more than that ' Belle took a pistol out of the inventory and hide behind the corner . There were steps walking to her location ' Mutant or a normal zombie , since this place has already gone rogue I don't know what their results are '

Belle silenced her breathing by opening her larynx which could risk her coughing to expel the substances that shouldn't go to her lungs ' They're close , the sound is clearer , the pattern is not sloppy but consistent '

' Steps , sounds small , no other sounds other than that . ' Belle avoided swallowing her saliva and kept looking at the bloodstained wall to look at the reflection ' Humanoid sharp blades on the limb . '

Her eyes sharpened as she waits for the zombie to get to a certain distance close to her ' Now ' Belle turned to the corner and raised her gun but before she could pull the trigger she stopped .

" Hahaha you're so ugly " kids threw pebbles at a girl who covered her face to avoid getting her eyes hit " Keep covering your face you ugly monster " they kept laughing as she stumbled on the ground and kicked mud at her .

" Maybe you should wear some mud you will look better like that " she run so much the mud fell out " But I didn't do anything " she kept running ' I wanna cry ' her tears were held back because she didn't want anyone to find her .

' Why do you hate me so much ? ' she asked in desperation keeping her cries behind her mouth . she didn't utter a sound but just kept crying letting the tears flow through her eyes . Every complaint she threw it away not saying it but only cried as she remembers when she was bullied for her ugly face .

' Haha you can't get married to anyone because of your ugly face " " You're just as ugly like a monster " " No she's even uglier than a monster " " Why did you go out ? didn't I tell you , you are not allowed to even look out from the window ? "

Her mother slapped her as she covers the small gap in the window and locks the door " Will you really take her away ? and keep my record clean ? " " Of course ma'am we will even pay you as long you keep your mouth shut about this deal "

" I don't even want that child " the mother coldly sold her child to the lab which ended with her being experimented with turning into the mutant in front of Belle .

Belle looked at the girl who still has a human face while her limbs are mutated " Please don't hurt me " this was the first time the unnamed girl has spoken for the first time after being bullied . In her heart , she knew that Belle wanted to hurt her but after a while she lost the sense of the feeling .

Belle froze as she looked at her face and felt her sadness " How can you not hate them ? " despite all the hatred thrown at the ugly duckling she never had any grudges only cried as if she was just a victim .

Belle felt tears under her eyes looking at the bullied girl " No , I won't hurt you " Belle pats her head crying " It's okay "

She wiped her tears and smiled " I'm sorry " " You don't have to be sorry you didn't do anything wrong " she pulled her close ignoring the apocalypse tension as there was a child in need " Really ? "

" Yes , you didn't do anything wrong " " But they threw rocks at me , they're mad at me " the child's tears continued to flow down crying at her pain of rejection and hatred " But your kind and nice you didn't hate them at all "

" But they said I have an ugly face " Belle smiled and massaged her face " But you don't hate it do you " the girl tried to hold back her tears " Yes I don't hate it !!! I'm not mad at them "

She starts remembering a small sparrow that she fed with the grains of her meal during her experimentation " I loved the ugly duckling story but I don't want to be a beautiful swan " " What do you want to do then ? "

" Sniff , I want it to be with me " she cried more as she finally let out her emotions " But I couldn't find it anymore " " Then how about we find it ? " Belle smiled wiping the girl's tears away .

" Are you happy to meet your little friend ? " " I want to meet her already " she said at a low voice Belle smiles watching the girl still crying but instead the tears stuck to the girl's eyes sparkling from the reflected lights " Come on then "

Belle opened her palms for her " You're beautiful just the way you are " she started to cry but took Belle's hands and welled tears on the way . Belle provided a handkerchief and some tissues as she heard chirps .

' It sounds natural ' Belle walked to a glass window but there was no bird but a dense amount of discolored flesh and blood blurring the inside " Birdie " " Do you know where she is ? " the small girl pointed at the window .

' No malice at least but I need to do this quietly ' she saw a corpse that had a tattoo " I'm guessing he died from a " she felt a tug from the girl as the girl hugged her legs " must be an outsider , don't worry no one will hurt you "

Belle saw some tools on him and looked at the glass " Here " Belle handed the girl two noise-canceling earpieces " Put them in your ears it will erase the noise " the girl plugged her ears and Belle and the earpiece got to work .

The noise around was silenced and Belle got a window breaker tool and cracked the corners and smashed the center freeing the bird and earpiece was suddenly unplugged " Birdie " the girl opened her palm and the bird landed on it .

" Are you okay " the girl nods snuggling the bird on her cheek and Belle smiles at them " Little girl do you have a name " " No " the girl happily teared keeping the first friend she had close " Want to have one for others to call you ? "

" What's yours ? " " Belle it means beauty but you deserve better than that " " sniff ... really ? " " Really you don't hate or get angry at others no matter how hurt you are " Belle carried the girl to a clean abandoned room .

" How about Mena ? " " Then what about Birdie ? " " You can find out when you learn more things , how about it ? " Mena nods her head and smiles genuinely with relief and Belle widened her eyes looking at her .

' You're really beautiful no matter what you look at the surface ' " Mena I'll give you a treatment it won't hurt but it can be scary at first " Mena nodded and Belle took a small case and opened it revealing needles .

" Don't worry think of this like this " Belle took the wet handkerchief and showed the stitches on it " It's like a handkerchief so what I am going to do will not be bad or hurt " Mena clenched her eyes and Belle quickly got to work changing her face into something normal .

" There " Belle took a shard of a mirror and showed her face " I look a little different " " I know but at least no one will hurt you for it " Belle held the child's hand and walks deeper into the lab " Mena there are a lot of monsters above they look like sick humans but you shouldn't let them close to you . "

' Although she is mutated by the virus and has control over it and has a telepathic connection with a successful experiment she still is a child and I should tell her about everything about the apocalypse '

" Are they going to hurt me ? " " Yes which is why you need someone to protect you , maybe you two can protect each other " Mena didn't understand how she and the bird were gonna protect each other at all .

" Don't worry I can protect both of you for now " Mena hugged Belle with tears in her eyes " Thank you for helping me and Birdie " " Do you wanna say anything else " " I don't want to stay in the room it was so quiet it was so scary like I was alone " Mena cried a little and Belle comforst her .

Belle got down and lifted Mena to carry her " It's okay silence might be scary but it won't be if you are with someone " the bird flew to her head and cling to a branch that came out from her mutation .

' She looks adorable with a branch sticking out ' Mena snuggled closely as the branch moved like it was alive to support the bird from falling off ' I should get a blanket ' Belle took the clothes she can find and threw them to the system for dismantling and production to get a blanket and covered Mena .

She also took another noise canceling earpiece and this time she used some natural music and upgraded it so it would sound natural ' Sleep tight you two ' Belle also got a pillow and made sure it doesn't fall out of Mena's head .

Belle traveled in and used the system to see what life forms were inside and used a camera function to obtain visuals on things ' Maybe I can cheer her up by doing "magic" ' Belle smiles and cleans off some blood that drip on Mena's branch with a tissue she found on .

' No visuals on mutants or zombies but there are capsules ' Belle followed a map the system wrote for her and walked to the location and saw capsules of torn corpses and embryos through a glass window ' So they tried to give birth to a born zombie thinking it might be effective and kidnapped parents to hold them but they ended up killed and abandoned since it failed '

Belle looked at a chair and made sure that Mena was comfortable and the bird still sat on her nest ' I don't see anything alive ' " Hello ? " ' Nothing no sounds or movements ' she looked at the hologram displayed only to her .

She found some small noises like liquid dripping , glass shards falling but nothing man-made ' Safe huh I can take her outside ' Belle found Mena still at the same place and pushed her hair away from her head to make sure it doesn't disturb her .

' I'll take you up and you can see the sun maybe you can see the sunset later ' she smiles and walks up the stairs and the bright sunlight woke Mena up " Mena it's the sun " Mena had problems trying to blur the brightness of the sun and the branch help her out .

" It looks so beautiful " the bird started to fly around as the nest made off branches retraced back inside " Yes the sun always there whether day as you can see it clearly and night where it has a companion called a moon " " Can I name Birdie Sunnie ? " " Of course you can "

The bird tweeted happily as if understanding Mena's words ' Mutation intelligent too but I don't think that's the only thing the bird seems to have a symbiotic relation with Mena ' the bird went back to the branch on Mena's head and a nest appeared and leaves sprouted and some fruits came out .

" Mena come here " Belle placed a leg down beside the pond Mena looked down and saw the branch growing " It's like a tree " the bird was plucking out ripe small seedless fruits " Follow me we need to get you something to eat "

Belle walked and Mena took her hand as the branch shifted to a much more convenient position , they walked to a road and one side was empty while the other was a deserted ghost town " Mena what do you want to eat ? "

Mena looked around seeing signs of food still standing while some stumbled " That one ? " " Oh meat soup bomb , Let's go I might find some " Belle looked at opened refrigerator and the freezer was still working as she took the food .

" Mena want to see magic ? " she nods and Belle sends the food to the system in front of her " Where did the food go ? " " Don't worry I can bring it back " Belle took a pack of xiaolongbao " I can do others too . "

Belle used a system function that was multifunctional and got some bottled water and gave it to the system " Here watch " Belle tears the pack and makes the system visible to Mena as a steam cooker " Wow "

Belle poured the contents out and Mena watches the dim sum arranged by the system and then saw steam raise cooking everything very quickly " Here careful it's hot " Mena blows the dim sum and felt it was cool enough .

She put the entire spoon to her and slipped out the dim sum tearing the cover and the soup spilled and sprouted her taste buds " So yummy " " I have something for Sunnie " Belle found some sunflower seeds and made the system process it so she can get rid of the shells .

" Wanna feed Sunnie ? " Mena nods slightly and Belle opens Mena's palm out and pours out the sunflower seeds from the system giving Mena surprise . Sunnie flew down to Mena's hand and started eating the small seeds .

" Mena eat some too " Belle pick another dim sum and fed Mena " Hurry up we need to move " ' I need to return to that island and retrieve everything it will be good if I completed the system for a moving home '

Belle walks around and the two friends followed her " Mena we're going to an island there aren't people but it will be bumpy " Mena nods and Belle got a sight of an available boat and walks to it bringing out a silent gun .

" Mena I want you to hide behind me cover your ears and close your eyes " Belle walked to the boat and saw it shake as she approached it and saw a starfish and shot it " Okay you can open your eyes now "

Mena peeks at the boat but because of her height she couldn't see the struggling starfish " Wait here Mena I'll clean the boat first " Belle walks to the boat and pokes the starfish as the system took it inside the space .

" Okay come here now " Mena walked to the boat and took a seat " Here you should wear this and " Belle rubbed off a smudge of soup from Mena's lips " Now your clean make sure to always wash your hands after eating that way it will be easier to hold things "

Mena nods " Okay and put this on " Mena put the lifejacket on " But what about you " " I can swim but you can't so you need to wear one so why not enjoy the ride it will be fun . "

Mena nods and looks excited at the direction Belle set . Belle started the boat and speeded off to the island " Mena I want to tell you about the world ... but it's scary "

Mena was silent and sat down " Mmhmm " " It's not that people will hurt you because you look ugly your not ugly anymore ... but they will hurt you for something else " Mena hugged Belle and Belle patted her back .

" They will hurt you for food and if they really hungry they might eat you " Mena was scared and hugged Belle closer " Don't worry Mena there is still a lot of food but it doesn't mean there won't be any people "

" I'm scared " " Any child will be but it's okay you Sunnie can protect you and your body can do the same " Belle patted her head " And you can have a home that is always with you " " Like a turtle ? "

" Yes just like that but our turtle shell might grow bigger " Belle smiles pushing Mena lightly off her to show it " But don't worry you can still sleep under the stars at the turtle shell " Mena nodded and snuggled closer to Belle .

" Okay , you can sit with me but don't put your feet on my space since you might turn to the left or right " " Okay " Mena tilted her head on Belle and Sunnie flew to her palm on her lap and snuggled to a much softer resting place , I didn't mean that the sparrow was dead .

' How should I take care of the apocalypse if this kind of terrifying opponent is on this planet then what other disasters did Nouke encountered ? ' Belle sighed and tried to bring the memories she caught from Nouke .

First the simple and popular opinion of apocalypse a zombie virus , then there are people who did research but failed like bad students writing a research paper and didn't test the solutions thoroughly .

So like a hydra cutting off one head and growing another except even more extreme since people cut off more heads but not enough for the hydra to die so they made more problems to deal with and the virus evolved .

And so did the solutions they made artificial intelligence started killing off humanity they sent people into the past to destroy humanity's hope and the vaccines mutated and back to the zombie-like apocalypse but much harder to survive .

But if that doesn't get worse humanity started backstabbing , monopolizing the market of supplies , weapons , territory . It doesn't seem to end until the last apocalypse Nouke went through which was to perfectly destroy the whole world and it ended with him back alive as if he never dead .

Then you know the rest Nouke reverse time but sacrificed a lot of his mental strength and is still recovering from it .

' Still , he is great and former psychic if only he didn't use up all his mental strength for the systems and time reversal ' some wave hit them but didn't topple the boat but did get them wet " You can catch a cold hopefully there are some clothes at the island "

Belle took off her jacket and wrapped Mena with it while watching the boat " It's okay " " It's warm " Belle saw Sunnie and got a towel for both of them " use this to dry out " Belle saw that Mena's branch extension was bearing fruit .

' What kind of experiments did she go through to get this much genetic material ? ' Belle was enraged and wanted to kill the girl's family for selling her and the scientist but that deed has been done and she can't be bothered with a family who is probably already struggling before the apocalypse .

" We're here " Belle carried Mena out and left her standing on the ground while she docked the boat " Now Mena that place will be the turtle shell " " Hmm ? " " You know a moving home " Mena nodded and Sunnie at the branch started to fly around .

Mena turned to Belle and she shoos her gently " You can have fun but you can't go to that building over there okay ? " Mena looked at the lab and then at the top floor of the underground shelter " Is that the turtle shell ? "

" Yes it is and you can go there after I clean everything up " Mena nodded and the bird flew to her branch and pointed in a certain direction " Okay " " Be careful " Belle went to the lab and pressed her fingerprint sending the system into the lab network .

' I should be able to turn the lab into a factory for robots and I need self sufficient energy ' Belle sighs and analyzed the system space ' Let's see it's like space but has gravity and whatever is sent inside space of the same volume and shape is made so nothing in the atmosphere is lost but the shelters filtration system is able to circulate and purify the air so it's like a mini planet but more like flat earth '

Belle thinks of what will happen when she does take off the entire shelter " Or I can just take the whole island and the water since it's been warming up the globe I can just cut it off plus this island is beside a tectonic plate I can probably disguise it was the island collapsing but I need the network to be alive can do that if I use a movaeble point "

Belle sighs and used the system to properly arrange the false alarm of a tectonic plate creating a volcano ' It is the apocalypse so I doubt people will have the time and leisure to care about a volcano that appeared or the movement of the tectonic plate . '

Belle walked outside and saw Mena with a smile for having a little carefree joy in her new life " Mena I am going to do something but you can wait still play but you have to come inside since when I call you " Mena nodded and Belle went inside and started to do her work .

' I'd like to make natural light come out so using the technology of artificial sunlight might help and I can use that to create a day night cycle for the plants outside or I can use a "glass" to bring only light but I might leave a shadow so I have to make a different kind of glass . '

Belle slowly added some technologies to the system ' This whole place is powered by a nuclear reactor but it broke and the energy inside isn't going to be enough I got to put the nuclear energy technology in the system to produce energy . '

Belle put more modifications before completing the program ' Great I got it and it is working like a miracle '

She felt satisfied with the results and functions of the pocket space " Mena come in " Mena runs to Belle and she closes the door to the warehouse as she sent them to the system space .