Chapter: Chapter 83: The Mastermind Behind the ScenesThe infected were pouring into the river like dumplings into boiling water.Jake finally let off the trigger of the heavy machine gun.It was a strange weapon, the kind people wrote off as useless. Too weak against the big monsters. Total overkill against ordinary infected. It sat in an awkward middle ground.But tonight had reminded him exactly why he'd hoarded it. When a swarm closed in at a critical moment, nothing else cleared the field so fast.The problem was ammo.Five hundred rounds sounded like a lot. Hold the trigger down, and it was gone in under a minute.Jake had spent ages saving up, and all he had to show for it was two heavy machine guns. After this last stretch of firing, he was down to less than two hundred rounds.From here on, every shot had to count.The infected jumping into the water weren't much of a threat to the vehicle anyway. Standard automatic rifles could handle them.The rocket launcher stock was running low too, after several rounds had gone out in the
Last Updated: 2026-10-12
Chapter: Chapter 82: Water RouteWithout the other two groups committing to the same move, Jake alone taking the water route would've left him badly exposed, operating completely solo.For now, the only option was to wait and see a little longer.If the land route broke open somehow, Jake wouldn't mind sticking with it.Everyone had stuck together this far ideally, they'd all make it back together too.The moment that stopped being possible, though, Jake wasn't going to hesitate for a second.The horde kept surging in like a rising tide. In the past, the standard approach against these things had always been kiting fight while retreating, keep distance.Standing ground, let alone charging straight into a mass like this, was always the worst possible call.Unfortunately, boxed in the way they currently were, all they could do was hold a loose defensive ring, each person covering one side. The moment any single side buckled, the whole group would get swallowed fast.BOOM.A rocket landed with precision, tearing a dozen
Last Updated: 2026-10-11
Chapter: Chapter 81: Zombie HordeStepping inside the new vehicle, Jake finally understood exactly what Hogg had meant no disappointment whatsoever.Honestly, thoroughly satisfied, didn't even cover it.Fusing with a yacht this size had bumped the doomsday chariot up another full size, and the interior space had grown right along with it.The whole interior now split across two levels. The first floor held a dedicated living room, kitchen, storage room, and bathroom.A handful of sofas, a fridge, a TV all of it clearly carried over from the yacht's original layout, folded seamlessly into the new vehicle post-fusion.The sofas leaned a little too luxurious for practical survival use, sure, but Jake couldn't bring himself to rip them out mostly because it would wreck the overall flow and style.Besides, on the rare exhausted day, having somewhere comfortable to collapse sounded appealing.After a moment's thought, Jake decided to leave them be for now. If space ever got tight, he'd clear them out then nowhere close to t
Last Updated: 2026-10-06
Chapter: Chapter 80: New Vehicle"They're not even the same type of Anomaly. What revenge are you even talking about?""Don't care if they're the same or not. These disgusting things all deserve to die, and the ones that look like that one deserve it even more.""Good luck with that plan. Where exactly isn't crawling with these things these days? And it's only getting worse, more of them, stronger every time."...Chatter aside, nobody's hands stayed idle, long guns and short alike came up, trained on the target.Hogg had floated the idea of just dropping an anti-tank mine early, call it a day, given the late hour.Flatly shot down by the group.An anti-tank mine hit too hard. Let Hogg use it, and he'd walk away with the lion's share of the credit, leaving everyone else grinding for scraps.Teaming up meant everyone got a fair bowl, not one guy hoarding the whole pot.The first shot a heavy anti-materiel round slammed into the creature's forehead, tearing a huge chunk of flesh loose, and everyone opened fire together
Last Updated: 2026-10-04
Chapter: Chapter 79: Three Chances"Mine's... an enhancement card."When it came to Jake's turn, he hesitated for a beat. Not that his plan had changed; he was just weighing the angle.Logically, hadn't this whole setup been building toward exactly this moment?Except in practice, someone who actually pulled a fusion card rarely announced it immediately unless they genuinely loved showing off.That hesitation alone tanked his credibility instantly. Suspicious looks turned his way, practically broadcasting we don't believe you.Truth was, Jake wasn't lying at that moment. He really had pulled an enhancement card, a small bump to Perception. He just couldn't stop people from reading into the pause.Watching the reaction, Jake thought, fine, no point explaining further. Whether they believed him or not wasn't his problem, and he had zero motivation to convince anyone otherwise. Let them stay suspicious.Besides, wasn't that exactly the outcome he wanted?The whole thing settled into ambiguous murkiness, which suited him f
Last Updated: 2026-10-03
Chapter: Chapter 78: Group Farming"Going anomaly hunting at a time like this? Has that guy lost his mind?""Are you going? Not me, that's for sure. The new vehicle's nice, but you gotta be alive to enjoy it. What if we come up empty and the flood catches us? We'd just be waiting to die out there.""Not necessarily. If it only costs us half a day, it might be worth the gamble.""The thing is, we don't even know how far off the flood crest actually is.""Doesn't that one guy in the Caravan have the Sky-Eye setup? Someone find him and check."...In the end, plenty of people were tempted they just needed some reassurance first.Nobody in this Caravan was stupid. Anyone paying even minimal attention had noticed how fast the climate had gone haywire since the collapse.For anyone with a vehicle, an extra function meant an extra edge on survival. Of course people were tempted.Watching the conversation drift toward him, Jake decided to help it along."Relax, everyone. The flood crest is still about two days out. Even if tod
Last Updated: 2026-09-29
Chapter: Chapter 56: Perfect Plan"Hold on, man, are you serious right now? We can't go after Rex yet his reach is too deep in this town. If we try something on him tonight, there's a real chance none of us walk out of this club." Marcus meant every word of it. Taking on Duke, he had some confidence. But Rex Dalton was an entirely different animal, and even saying the name out loud made something tighten in his chest.Still, when Marcus glanced over and saw how calm Jake looked, standing there like none of this weighed on him at all, it threw him off balance more than he wanted to admit. Jake slung an arm around Marcus's shoulders, easy and unbothered."Relax, big brother. Leave this one to your little brother. Anybody who's your enemy is my enemy too simple as that. Tonight I want to see if this Rex Dalton really does grow a second head when he's cornered."Grace, standing just off to the side, felt a warm little thrill climb up her spine listening to him talk like that. In her eyes, nothing ever seemed to faze Jake.
Last Updated: 2026-10-12
Chapter: Chapter 55: You're Courting DeathJake and Grace climbed into the sports car, trailed by a small convoy of vans, and the whole group rolled up to the club in style. The place was called Prince's Row, and even from outside, Jake could tell business was booming. The lot was packed, the bass already thumping through the walls. One of the private rooms upstairs, though, was carrying a much heavier mood than the rest of the club.Inside that room sat a dark, heavyset man with a permanently sour expression Duke Sanders flanked by several waitresses kneeling on the floor, clearly terrified. Duke had recently tried running a batch of ecstasy through the club, and these girls had botched the handoff badly."Mr. Sanders, we didn't mean for it to happen. Who could've guessed Marcus would show up last night? The second he found out we were moving pills for you, he confiscated the whole batch and dumped it straight in the trash. Please, give us one more chance." The kneeling waitresses were shaking, genuinely terrified.Marcus had
Last Updated: 2026-10-11
Chapter: Chapter 54: Recycling Stockings"Believe whatever you want, honestly. And for the record I've already got a gorgeous woman in my life who'd be more than happy to keep me company. Why would I need your stockings for that?" Jake's response left Grace completely without a comeback.She opened her mouth to fire something back, but Jake had already jogged off. What she hadn't noticed was that the stockings in his hand had already vanished, recycled and gone.[Successfully recycled: one pair of stockings, 2,000 points. Confirm purchase of Military Combat Form? Purchase confirmed 1,500 points deducted.]A cascade of system prompts flooded Jake's mind, and his pulse spiked with excitement. Standing alone in the room, fighting sequences and technique after technique started flashing through his consciousness unbidden. Jake threw a few experimental combinations into the air, immediately feeling the shift in his own body faster, tighter, more deliberate. Within minutes, the entire style had settled fully into muscle memory.Fi
Last Updated: 2026-10-09
Chapter: Chapter 53: A Huge MisunderstandingHonestly, if it weren't for Jake's system, this entire shipment would have been worthless, not even sellable as scrap. For both Jake and Marcus, this was shaping up to be a serious payday. Jake allowed himself a satisfied smile before turning to Marcus with a more focused look."We're doing the handoff tonight. Take me to meet this Duke Sanders character first. I want to see exactly what kind of legend has you this rattled. Let's see how he holds up."Jake meant every word of it. He hadn't known Marcus long, but he'd never seen the guy this worked up before which told him plenty about how much of a headache Duke actually was.Marcus burst out laughing at the offer. "Man, if you're serious about this, I can rally the crew right now and surround every club we run tonight. That'll make Duke think twice before trying anything else. What do you say?"Jake didn't have strong feelings either way on the specifics, but he did have one piece of advice to offer."Don't bring too many guys, thoug
Last Updated: 2026-10-06
Chapter: Chapter 52: Absurd People"Come on, man, get up here and see this for yourself. Moment of truth time. Curious what kind of money this stuff's actually going to pull in." At Jake's words, Marcus burst out laughing.He threw an arm around Jake's shoulders, grinning ear to ear. "Not gonna lie, little brother Hank's appliances were genuinely garbage. Lucky for us, Danny's old contact wait, no, I mean, Duke's got a couple fresh buyers lined up. Get this batch finished today, and we can move the whole thing tonight."Jake caught the confident tone in Marcus's voice, but a knot of unease tightened in his gut anyway."Hold on, you just said these are new contacts. No track record, nothing solid? And you're planning to deliver tonight? We should bring more muscle along for this."Marcus sighed. "Jake, I won't sugarcoat it. The buyer tonight goes by Hawk. Used to run a trafficking operation, women, kids, the whole ugly business. Cleaned himself up some in recent years, or so the story goes, but he's still got blood on h
Last Updated: 2026-10-04
Chapter: Chapter 51: The Girl's Proposal"Last chance, do you still want to go through with this boyfriend thing? Back out now, and I'll let it go." Jake took a steadying breath, forcing his thoughts back onto solid ground.To his surprise, Grace didn't budge. "No way! You saw everything, so why shouldn't you have to deal with the consequences? Who else is going to want to date me after this? You're my boyfriend now, officially but don't think that means you get to force anything. That part has to actually mean something. Nobody wants a twisted melon."Something about her blunt, unshaken confidence sent an unwelcome spark of heat through Jake's chest. He reached over and grabbed a nearby cleaver off a table which made Grace flinch hard, genuinely afraid for a second that he meant to silence her for good. Instead, Jake gripped it with both hands and twisted the blade clean out of shape, bending solid steel like it was aluminum foil."See that? You want this boyfriend thing to actually happen, strip. Otherwise, that's what hap
Last Updated: 2026-10-03
