Chapter: Chapter 84: Wish SuccessVanessa sat close beside Franklin, her expression carefully arranged into something fragile and grateful. He stared at the ceiling, lost in thought, saying little."You've been so good to me, Franklin. Every time you look out for me like this, I actually feel safe for once."She let her voice catch slightly, watching his reaction through lowered lashes."The results come through in the next couple of days. If the broader transfer plan falls through, I'll personally make sure you get a spot regardless."Franklin still carried real weight within the organization, and Vanessa's own water-based ability, unremarkable as it was among specialists, would hardly be a waste of a seat."You really do take care of me. I won't forget this."Vanessa kept her tone soft, grateful, letting just enough warmth show through to keep him exactly where she wanted him protective, invested, convinced he mattered to her specifically.Franklin, for his part, had kept himself fit well past middle age, and someth
Last Updated: 2026-10-20
Chapter: Chapter 83: The Wish Alternative"We have a new option on the table. I want the room's honest input on the three strongest candidates."Grant's announcement reignited the room, every eye fixed on her, waiting."We also have Starlight Sight. His full capability's been kept quiet deliberately it's powerful enough that we didn't want it common knowledge. In theory, he can wish for almost anything.""The catch is probability. The more ambitious the wish, the lower the odds of it landing. The earlier example eliminating Subject One outright sits at 0.03%. Essentially a non-starter.""He can only verify three potential wishes per day, and the actual casting only happens at midnight. Given how limited our trial-and-error window is, I want the room's best three candidates right now."The room reacted with visible surprise. Most of them had assumed Starlight Sight existed purely to keep the base stocked with the occasional supply windfall. Nobody had grasped the actual scope of it though the brutal math on eliminating Subject
Last Updated: 2026-10-20
Chapter: Chapter 82: The Unique Core"Hello your parents were involved in a serious car accident. Please come to Brooklyn General Hospital immediately. Hello? Hello?!"Chase hung up, expression gone flat, staring at the chaos around him with nothing left in the tank hollowed out completely."I can save your parents."A familiar voice, low and strange, cut through the silence.Chase's expression didn't shift at all."I can save them. All I need in return is your""Get out.""?!""You think I don't know this is an illusion?""WHAT?!"He'd played every beat of this scene with total sincerity, exactly as though it were real. And yet here he was, calling it out directly. When did he even clock it?The world around Chase began dissolving. Part of him had genuinely wanted to believe it was just a dream, but the sensations, the memories underneath it none of that had read as fabricated in the moment. Real enough that he'd wanted to stay inside it, doing everything in his power to undo a loss he already knew he couldn't touch.He
Last Updated: 2026-09-29
Chapter: Chapter 81: The Accident"Chase where are you going? I can't hold this whole crowd back on my own!"Chase had only said he had somewhere to be, expression suddenly serious, and left without further explanation. Miles let him go, though not without a pang of regret chances to see Scarlett Vance this close didn't come around often.Chase kept calling his parents, over and over. No answer.Dread built fast, thick enough to feel like actual suffocation.He drove straight home and tore through the study, hunting for any reference to the project they'd mentioned. If he could find it, maybe he could still stop whatever was coming.Nothing useful turned up on the desk.It hit him then, hard, how little attention he'd ever paid to his parents' actual work. He'd coasted through life carefree, and they'd carried every real burden quietly, running the same exhausting cycle of due diligence and risk analysis on his behalf, without him ever once asking how any of it worked.His eyes landed on the safe.His birthday, first
Last Updated: 2026-09-28
Chapter: Chapter 80: Replay"Dad, Chase has a fever, his forehead's burning up!"The familiar voice pulled Chase's eyes open slowly."...Mom?""His father get the car ready, we need to get him to the hospital now! He's burning up bad!""Mom, I'm fine..."Chase pulled her into a hug before she could argue further, and years of buried longing broke loose all at once, tears spilling freely though Susan, wrapped up in his arms, didn't seem to register anything unusual about it at all.Martin was already pulling his coat on by the door, hurrying back in to scoop Chase up and carry him to the car."Dad!"Chase turned and hugged him too, hard. It had been so long since he'd felt either of their arms around him."Chase, buddy?"Martin felt a flicker of quiet happiness his son hadn't hugged him like this in longer than he could remember.He registered the fever heat radiating off Chase and moved to lift him regardless.Chase stopped him easily. Martin blinked, thrown. When did my kid get this strong?"Dad, I'm fine. Real
Last Updated: 2026-09-27
Chapter: Chapter 79: I Don't Want to NegotiateZoe felt like crying and couldn't even manage that much.She'd had a bad feeling the second she got called into that meeting room, and Grant's briefing had only made it worse."You've survived multiple direct encounters with Subject One. You have the most communication experience with him out of anyone here, and your teleport ability makes you the obvious pick for the job. We need you to negotiate. This is time-sensitive go now."Zoe nearly laughed out of sheer disbelief. Nobody listened when I said don't provoke him. Now that provoking him blew up in everyone's face, suddenly peaceful coexistence sounds appealing?And none of the actual leadership is walking over there themselves. Just hand it to the expendable recon girl instead. Like she didn't already know exactly how dangerous this errand was.She left the meeting room taking each step slower than the last.She could already see the black column rising in the distance. The Auriga might well be a warzone by now. Walk in there, and
Last Updated: 2026-09-26
The Apocalypse Exchange: I Can Trade Anything
The world didn't end with a bang.
It ended with hunger.
When the apocalypse arrives, Ryan Cole does what millions of ordinary people do—he locks himself inside his apartment and waits for help.
But help never comes.
The government disappears.
The power begins failing.
The infected evolve.
And desperate survivors turn on one another.
After barely surviving an attempted home invasion, Ryan discovers something impossible on his phone:
The Exchange of All Things.
A mysterious system that rewards him simply for staying alive.
One Survival Point every day.
Those points can buy food, weapons, medicine, armor, vehicles—and eventually things far beyond anything humanity should possess.
But there is a catch.
The stronger Ryan becomes, the more terrifying the world becomes.
The infected are evolving.
Animals are mutating.
And somewhere beyond the collapsing cities, something appears to be guiding the apocalypse.
Ryan once dreamed of retiring with millions in the bank.
Now money is worthless.
His new goal is much simpler:
Survive. Get stronger. Find the truth.
And if the world wants to destroy him?
Ryan will simply exchange anything necessary to become the last man standing.
Read
Chapter: Chapter 45: Everyone Comes AlongRight on Ryan's projected schedule, Jake finished off the last of his stockpiled food on day twelve.Ryan's balance climbed to 780 in the process.He'd settled on 630 as his hard floor thirty points held in reserve, purely as an emergency cushion for triggering Overdrive if things went sideways.He placed the small blue pill carefully into Naomi's palm, watching her with unmistakable anticipation.He was genuinely curious what her version of this ability would look like.The whole group held their breath as Naomi swallowed it.A heartbeat later, she shot forward like a loosed arrow and vanished from sight entirely.Ryan blurred out right after her, gone in the same instant.The moment Naomi registered him keeping pace, something competitive lit up in her that had been sitting dormant for a while.Thanks to her primary ability's built-in bonus, she'd started off already at Intermediate speed tier.After one lap, Ryan couldn't come close to matching her pace on his own merits.Right as
Last Updated: 2026-09-29
Chapter: Chapter 44: Zombie Black Panthers, Round ThreeThe next morning, Ryan's mood lifted the second he checked his balance and saw it tick up to 900.He treated himself 2 points on a genuinely sleek pair of tactical goggles, then struck what he privately considered an extremely cool pose in the mirror."Heading out to scout. Want to see if there's another survivor camp or a hidden supply cache nearby."Jake looked him over and snorted."Ryan, my man, you're really committing to the look today."Ryan turned to Naomi."Zicen skills get rusty without regular practice, right?""Ryan, are you blind now on top of everything else? I train every single day.""What I mean is if solo drills aren't cutting it, you could always spar with Jake instead.""Don't worry about wearing down his reserves too much. Even if we can't beat him in a straight fight these days, we can still outrun him."Naomi's eyes lit up at that."Ryan... you're a genuinely cruel person, you know that?""Jake, do the honors run some sparring drills with Zicen. You've got the d
Last Updated: 2026-09-29
Chapter: Chapter 43: Ten Extra SecondsWord came in that someone was here with information.Jake led the man into the sales office."Jake what's going on?""Guy says he's got intel for us.""Intel?"Ryan checked the Awakener panel first, confirming no new names had populated, before addressing the man directly."Name. And what intel."The man took a steadying breath."Preston. I know about a possible strategic reserve site."Ryan's expression sharpened instantly."Strategic reserve? How would you know something like that?""What'd you do before all this?""Mayor's chief of staff." A flicker of pride crept into Preston's voice."Mayor's office? So you'd know where the city's official emergency depot is."Preston's smile turned bitter."I do. It got activated right at the start of the outbreak.""That's actually where we sheltered early on. It's how we've made it this far.""Understood. Tell me about this other reserve you mentioned.""Back when I worked in the mayor's office, I came across a document by accident referenced
Last Updated: 2026-09-27
Chapter: Chapter 42: Secondary Awakened AbilitiesOnce Jake stepped out, Naomi walked over to Ryan."What does it actually feel like? Killing someone?"Ryan gave a bitter half-smile."Honestly? Nothing much.""If it's not too much trouble, I'd like a copy of that speed ability too, when you're able.""Sure. Just let me run my tests first.""No rush on my end."Ryan nodded, settled off to the side, and pulled up Owen's stat panel for a closer look.Time was limited, so he skimmed it quickly.Owen's ability had been called Godspeed.Beyond raw movement speed, it also accelerated metabolism significantly, translating into rapid wound recovery.That detail alone had been reason enough for Ryan to end things without a second thought.The moment he'd seen the ability's name, his mind had gone straight to comic-book territory the Flash, specifically.If this thing ever scaled anywhere close to that level eventually, Ryan figured he'd have officially earned the right to feel smug about this decision.Even short of that ceiling, raw speed pai
Last Updated: 2026-09-26
Chapter: Chapter 41: SpeedJake's brutal efficiency, paired with the man's piercing scream, sent a visible shudder through the crowd.One word surfaced in everyone's mind simultaneously: ruthless.Jake flashed a full grin still convinced, somehow, that his teeth were impressively white the expression radiating a cold, casual cruelty."Introductions are in order. We're the North Wind Wolf Squad."The name landed exactly as intended every face in the crowd shifted to a look of grim understanding.Ryan strolled toward the man in glasses, crouched down beside him, and spoke low, each word deliberate."Owen. The speed Awakener."Owen's eyes went wide, disbelief plain on his face.This was their first meeting. There was no way Ryan should've known his name, let alone his ability.Something cold and unfamiliar twisted in Owen's chest.A heartbeat later, Ryan's blade opened his throat, blood spilling out across the pavement.The other three members of the North Wind Wolf Squad exchanged confused looks, waiting for an e
Last Updated: 2026-09-25
Chapter: Chapter 40: The Man in GlassesThe four of them traded knowing looks and smiled.Once outside the supermarket, Ryan brought the armored vehicle back around.The city stirred back to life around them.He drove them out toward the edge of the urban sprawl, scanning as he went.An hour later, the holo-map lit up hundreds of green dots clustered together in one spot.Ryan's face broke into a grin. Found it.The location was an unfinished residential development, judging by the surrounding desolation construction likely halted right as everything fell apart.Honestly, a solid pick for a survivor camp. Low population density to start, and with no finished perimeter walls, visibility ran clear in every direction easy to defend, easy to manage.Ryan parked about half a mile out."Survivor camp should be straight ahead."Jake spoke up again."Ryan seriously, what exactly is your ability? Feels like it does everything.""Manifesting stuff out of nowhere, sure, that's wild enough on its own but a full human GPS system too? Co
Last Updated: 2026-09-24
