I think this is the remnants of a useless war. One where they became so focused on destroying each other they sabotaged their own survival. If it is an attack, it's foolishly implemented without immediately being followed up when people were displaying symptoms over the network, and everything seems to have adapted to it but us.

[He's a civilized Nietzschean. He believes in conflict, but conflict you can grow from. He's also an individualist that fears being alone, that fears that finality. So he gets the sadness of people passing through.

But it's an unfortunate commonality.]

It smells terrible though. [He rubs his nose.]