Reborn in the Apocalypse :The son In-law's revenge

Chapter 3: The Golden Finger

The high school was a fortress.

Someone had already organized the survivors. Cars were pushed into a barricade at the front gate. Teachers and students patrolled the perimeter with baseball bats and fire extinguishers. It wasn't much, but it was something.

Leo walked through the front gate, his torn shirt hanging off his shoulders, the pistol tucked into his waistband. A dozen eyes followed him. He could hear the whispers.

"Is that a survivor?"

"Look at all that blood. He must have fought his way here."

"Where did he get a gun?"

A middle-aged man with a clipboard stepped forward. He wore a security guard uniform, but the name tag said Principal Chen. His hands were shaking. "You... you're not bitten, are you? We can't let anyone in if they're infected."

Leo shook his head. "I'm clean."

Principal Chen hesitated, then nodded. "Alright. We have a makeshift infirmary in the gymnasium. Get yourself checked out. And... welcome to Northside Safe Zone."

Leo walked past him without another word.

The gymnasium was chaos. Injured survivors lay on yoga mats and bleachers. The smell of blood and antiseptic hung in the air. And in the center of it all, a young woman in a nurse's uniform was moving from patient to patient, her hands steady despite the exhaustion in her eyes.

[System Alert: NPC detected – Lily Chen. Class: Healer (C-Rank). Loyalty: 0%.]

Leo watched her for a moment. She was young—early twenties, maybe. Dark hair pulled back in a messy ponytail. Her uniform was stained with blood, but she didn't flinch as she stitched a gash on a student's arm.

She was useful.

He approached her. "You're a healer?"

Lily looked up, startled. Her eyes widened when she saw the blood on his clothes. "Are you injured? Sit down. I need to—"

"I'm fine," Leo said. "The blood isn't mine."

Lily blinked. "Then... what do you want?"

Leo pulled the pistol from his waistband and set it on the table next to her. "I want to know if you can use this."

Lily stared at the gun like it was a snake. "I... I'm a nurse. I heal people. I don't shoot them."

"Then you're going to die," Leo said flatly. "This isn't the old world anymore. The system gave you a class. Healer. That means you're valuable. And valuable people get taken by force. You need to protect yourself."

Lily's hands trembled. "How do you know about my class?"

Leo held up his hand. A blue holographic screen flickered to life above his palm.

[Name: Leo Vance]

[Class: Apex Plunder (SSS-Rank)]

[Level: 3]

[Strength: 9 | Agility: 7 | Vitality: 5 | Intelligence: 4]

[Skills: Basic Beast Tracking, Golden Tongue, Devour, Plunder, Synthesize]

[System Points: 0]

Lily's jaw dropped. "SSS-Rank? That's... that's impossible. The system said SSS-Rank classes are one in a billion."

"I'm special," Leo said dryly. "And I'm building a team. You're the first person I've met with a support class. That makes you important. Join me, and I'll keep you alive. You'll level up. You'll get stronger. You'll never have to be afraid again."

Lily looked at the gun. Then at the system screen. Then at the dozens of injured people behind her.

"What about them?" she whispered. "I can't just leave them."

"You don't have to," Leo said. "But the safe zone won't last. The monsters are getting stronger. In a few days, this place will be overrun. When that happens, you'll need to be ready. I can help you get ready."

Lily was silent for a long moment. Then she slowly reached out and picked up the pistol.

[Lily Chen's Loyalty has increased: 0% → 15%.]

"Okay," she said quietly. "I'm in."

---

Leo spent the next hour testing his system.

He found a quiet corner of the gymnasium and opened his status screen. The Apex Plunder System was unlike anything the other survivors had described. Most people had simple systems: kill monsters, gain XP, level up, choose a skill from a list.

Leo's system was different.

[SYSTEM ANALYSIS COMPLETE.]

[Core Mechanics:]

[1. Devour: Absorb monster essence to gain permanent stats and random skills.]

[2. Plunder: Defeat a human enemy to steal their most valuable talent. Target must be significantly weaker than you. Cooldown: 24 hours.]

[3. Synthesize: Combine 3 items of the same tier to create 1 item of the next tier. Success rate: 100%.]

Leo's eyes widened. Synthesize had a 100% success rate. That was insane. In every game he had ever played, crafting always had a chance to fail. But his system guaranteed it.

He pulled out the three items he had looted from the Flesh-Hound and the bodyguard: a rusty pocket knife, a cracked phone, and a cheap metal lighter. All three were Tier 1 junk.

[Synthesize: 3x Tier 1 Items → 1x Tier 2 Item?]

[Confirm? Y/N]

Leo pressed Y.

The three items glowed, dissolved into particles of light, and reformed into a single object. It was a sleek, black combat knife with a serrated edge and a faint blue glow along the blade.

[Synthesize Successful!]

[Obtained: Tier 2 Weapon – Hunter's Edge. Effect: +5 Strength when equipped. 10% chance to cause bleeding.]

Leo picked up the knife and tested its weight. It was perfectly balanced. He slid it into his belt.

Then he pulled out the keycard from the Flesh-Hound's collar. It was still glowing faintly. He held it up to the system.

[Item Analysis: Unknown Access Card. Tier 4. Origin: ???. Effect: Unlocks a high-security facility. Location data corrupted. Requires further investigation.]

Tier 4. That was three tiers above his current gear. Whatever this keycard unlocked, it was important. He tucked it back into his pocket.

A notification appeared in the corner of his vision.

[New Objective: Reach Level 10 within 7 days. Reward: System Shop Unlock.]

Seven days. The system was giving him a deadline. That meant something big was coming.

Leo stood up and walked back to Lily. She was bandaging a child's leg, her hands still trembling slightly.

"We need to talk," Leo said. "I have a plan. But first, I need to know what we're dealing with."

Lily looked up. "What do you mean?"

Leo gestured to the window. Outside, the red sky pulsed like a heartbeat. In the distance, a building collapsed in a plume of smoke and dust.

"The system said this is a global apocalypse," Leo said. "But that's not the whole story. The monsters are organized. The Flesh-Hound I killed had a collar with a Tier 4 keycard. That means someone—or something—is running this. We're not just fighting monsters. We're fighting an enemy with a plan."

Lily paled. "You think someone caused this?"

"I think someone is testing us," Leo said. "And I intend to pass."