CHAPTER-I
Two centuries ago, the first nuclear weapon was successfully tested. Shortly thereafter, the first nuclear attack successfully ended the war. Two decades later, the issue of nuclear war rapidly escalated, fueled by an endless conflict caused by the opposing desires of two rival parties on Earth. Two decades after that, Russia, as the nation possessing the largest number of nuclear weapons, declared war on the superpower, the United States.
Nuclear war broke out as predicted. Two decades ago, the corpses of war victims came 'alive' again. Not as living beings, they were controlled by a virus that had mutated so extremely it no longer needed a living host to survive. The remaining human race finally constructed a gigantic, one-kilometer-tall teleportation tower, which they named the "Tower of Babel." Along with Babel, humanity built a massive spaceship that remains suspended in orbit around the moon, away from Earth. Its name is Olympus, an ark capable of carrying a maximum of two hundred million people. They all rely on a massive machine led by a cunning leader supported by scientists.
On Earth.
The Radiate Virus, which triggered a zombie-like plague, continues to spread across all regions affected by nuclear radiation. These zombies are known as "Symbiotes," the corpses of living creatures used as hosts by the Radiate Virus, resulting in chaotic body shapes due to continuous infection and radiation.
Symbiotes can reproduce very quickly and can adapt to almost any kind of obstacle on Earth. Besides infecting corpses, the Radiate Virus can also enter living hosts through the air or Symbiote saliva. Their physical strength is terrifying, and they can evolve in a short period; if they find a place unsuitable for their bodies, they will begin to evolve to live comfortably.
To date, there are several types of Symbiotes, representing the art created by the Radiate Virus.
First, The Crawler, a result of Symbiote adaptation to arid deserts with minimal food sources, much like other Symbiotes. Yes, Symbiotes are cannibals when no live targets are visible. The Crawler has a pale body, its running style mimics a chimpanzee, with strong back legs for propulsion and long, arm-like front limbs. Its incredibly sharp sense of sight is its primary weapon for hunting. Its appearance is a blend of the 'Death Angel' from the film A Quiet Place and SCP-096, "the shy guy" from the SCP Foundation fiction writing forum.
Second, Terrorist, the result of Symbiote adaptation to cave dwelling. They possess the ability to self-detonate, splattering their blood in all directions, and if any living creature comes into contact with that blood, it will die and also turn into a Symbiote. Their appearance is terrifying: bodies two meters tall, without eyes, mouths, or hands, with four segmented legs. Their movements are minimal in sound, and they are extremely sensitive to noise.
Third, Sky Piercher, a Symbiote adaptation that lives in mountainous areas. Their bodies are equivalent to regular humans, sometimes still resembling their host creature, but they are winged, and their lower bodies taper sharply and long like a stinger. They live in colonies and can coordinate through sound waves.
Fourth, The Colony, is when the Radiate Virus infects trees, making them more alive. The Colony's roots fuse together, forming a clump of skin and flesh underground. Although unable to walk, they are extremely dangerous. They have the ability to spray spores into the air, allowing them to fly on the wind and create new Symbiote forests.
Fifth, The Sloth One, due to living in the most comfortable environment for a Symbiote, this creature's body is stocky, large, and heavy. As a result, they must crawl all day; their legs are weak, and their movement is predictable, but that does not mean they are a safe enemy.
Sixth, Tentacles, are Symbiotes originating from marine creatures. Sea Symbiotes adapt to high-pressure environments by softening the host's body and growing grotesque and abnormal octopus tentacles on random limbs. This type of Symbiote is quite dangerous because their size varies depending on the type of creature they infest.
Seventh, Cave Crawler, is a type of Symbiote that lives inside cave mouths, often crawling on walls or cave ceilings. They emit a hissing sound, with a body shape like their host creature, but with four additional legs, each capable of gripping tightly onto various uneven rocks, and possessing a tail that can inject the Radiate Virus through small stingers that grow along its length.
The Symbiotes are indeed horrifying, but for some reason, they do not prey on or even avoid rodents.
In the notes of Olympus biologists, it is recorded that all rodent species—from small rats in city ruins to capybaras roaming polluted riverbanks—possess a genetic anomaly never found in any other creature: the ancient gene THN-\gamma3, or dubbed by scientists as Thermoneuro Inhibitor gamma-3. This gene produces a unique protein that is stable against extreme heat and radiation but reacts violently to the presence of neuroactive viruses. When viral particles attempt to interact with a rodent's nervous tissue, the protein causes a bio-electric dissonance that scrambles the virus's control signals, making the parasitic nervous system feel as if it is burning from within. Consequently, all infection attempts against rodents always end in total failure, often accompanied by fatal damage to the parasitic organism.
However, the effect of this gene is not limited to their bodies. Because rodent metabolism generates a low electromagnetic resonance with high ion levels in the blood, their bodies emit a biofield wave that disrupts the Symbiotes' sensory system. In the perception of the infected creatures, rodents are not living beings—but rather "dangerous empty spaces" that shake their collective signal like radio interference. Thus, a primal instinct was born among the Symbiotes: to avoid, stay away from, and never prey upon these creatures. For a world that has lost its natural laws, they become a paradox—the only species untouched by the world's curse, living peacefully amidst the destruction, as if it were a small irony that the weakest are precisely the most sacred in the eyes of nature.
Even so, the Symbiotes' abilities cannot be underestimated; one of them is perfect coordination. Even though they are of different types, they are still capable of communicating and moving together in an orderly fashion if they share a visible live target. Equipped with wide-range echolocation, this makes them highly skilled predators in almost all natural conditions.
Symbiotes also constantly contaminate the environment they inhabit. It is not uncommon for the waste they leave behind to create natural disasters in the form of parasitic floods—floods of sewage water containing billions of viruses, some also carrying Radiate parasitic worms.
To this day, the remaining humans on Olympus are still searching for a way to restore and return the Earth to its original state.