2025-07-28 23:55:43Jared woke early.
Not because he wanted to, but because he knew what was coming.
He dressed in silence. The system screen hovered quietly in his mind, waiting. It wasn’t intrusive — more like a presence at the edge of thought. The auction countdown ticked in the background, hours shrinking by the minute.
He checked the funds on his phone: ₦420,000. Almost everything he had. No savings, no backup. Just enough to survive, barely enough to complete the mission.
His new wife still lay curled on the far side of the bed, her back to him, breathing even. Not a word since last night. Not even a glance.
He didn’t blame her, not anymore. That had been the trap last time — caring too much about people who didn’t care at all.
He slipped on his jacket and left the room.
Downstairs, the Bai family was already gathered for breakfast in the hotel dining lounge. White tablecloths, fresh fruit, clinking cutlery — all for show. Jared stepped in quietly.
The moment he did, conversation stopped.
Bai Cheng, the patriarch, looked up from his cup of coffee. His expression was carved from stone — disappointment already sitting on his face like it lived there rent-free.
“Jared,” he said without smiling. “You actually showed up.”
“I live here,” Jared replied calmly. “For now.”
One of the cousins snorted into his juice.
Bai Cheng ignored the comment. “Since you’re here, let’s not waste time. I have something you can do for me.”
Here it comes.
“In the warehouse district, there’s a supplier we use. They’re late with a shipment. Go check it out. Take a cab — and don’t come back until it’s resolved. Understood?”
Jared met his gaze evenly. “Sure. Before I go, I’ll need an advance. Three thousand.”
The entire table went silent.
Bai Cheng set down his coffee slowly. “Three thousand? For what?”
Jared smiled faintly. “Transportation. Lunch. Maybe a down payment on my dignity.”
The silence cracked — a bark of laughter from one of the uncles. But Bai Cheng didn’t flinch.
“You want me to hand cash to the Bai family’s son-in-law for a simple errand? Are you out of your mind?”
“No,” Jared said. “Just done playing games.”
“You’ll get nothing from me,” Bai Cheng said coldly. “If you can’t afford a taxi, walk. Maybe it’ll teach you some respect.”
Jared stood without another word.
Before, he would’ve swallowed it. He would’ve smiled, nodded, begged to be accepted. Not this time.
“Thanks for the breakfast,” he said. “Even if I wasn’t invited.”
He turned to leave, but just as he reached the door, another voice cut through the room.
“Wait.”
Elena.
She stood at the entrance, hair wet from the shower, wrapped in a crisp blazer, perfectly put together. Her eyes met his, unreadable.
“I’ll give him the money,” she said, taking out her purse. “Consider it a wedding gift.”
Jared blinked. That hadn’t happened in the last life.
Bai Cheng looked annoyed. “You’d waste your allowance on him?”
“It’s not a waste if it gets him out of the house.”
She handed Jared the cash — ₦3000 exactly — without emotion. Like passing a receipt. Their fingers brushed. She didn’t look at him.
He took the money, pocketed it.
“Thanks,” he said.
“Don’t thank me,” she said. “Just don’t come back empty-handed.”
She didn’t mean the warehouse.
He knew that.
—
By noon, Jared stood outside a rusted office in the outer district. The sky hung low and gray. His shoes were soaked. Mud clung to the edges of his trousers.
But in his pocket was a receipt.
Purchased: 520 square meters of rural land on the outskirts of the city.
The seller hadn’t even asked questions. No one wanted land out there — too far, too empty, too useless.
Jared had smiled and handed over the money.
[Mission complete.]
[+1,000 system points earned.]
[Inventory tab unlocked.]
A jolt ran through him. Not physical — something deeper.
In his mind’s eye, a new screen flicked open.
[Inventory: 0 items stored]
[System Shop: Locked]
[Next Mission available in 6 hours.]
It was real. All of it.
He turned toward the plot he’d just bought — a flat stretch of grass and dry trees behind a crumbling factory. It looked like nothing.
But in three weeks, when the world fell apart, it would be everything.
He took a deep breath and whispered to himself, “Let them keep calling me trash.”
He glanced back toward the city skyline.
“When this world burns, I’ll be the only one with a map.”
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Episode 12: Storm Roads
The rain started two hours after they left the bunker. It wasn’t gentle or forgiving—it came down in sheets, pounding against the broken asphalt of the highway like the sky itself was trying to scrub the world clean.Jared gripped the handlebars of the old military bike they’d found in an abandoned checkpoint shed. It roared down the cracked road, tires skimming puddles, engine groaning from years of disuse. Mei sat behind him, arms wrapped tightly around his waist, face pressed to his back to shield against the cold wind.They hadn’t said much since escaping the bunker. There was nothing to say. Every second counted now.“We’ll need fuel in the next twenty miles,” Jared shouted over the storm.Mei nodded, wiping water from her eyes. “How do you even know this bike will make it?”“I don’t,” he replied flatly. “But it’s faster than walking.”The sky above them flashed—lightning streaked jagged through the clouds, illuminating the skeletal remains of a once-bustling town. The buildings
Episode 11: Beneath the Surface
The entrance to the uplink bunker was buried beneath layers of moss, rotting leaves, and a collapsed thicket of tree limbs. No one would have known it was there unless they were looking. And even then, it took Jared nearly twenty minutes to uncover the old steel hatch hidden beneath a camouflaged tarp coated in decades of forest debris.Mei knelt beside him, shivering from the cold sweat that came with fear. She held the rifle tightly, even though she hadn’t fired it once yet. Her hands trembled, but her stance didn’t break.“This is it?” she asked quietly.Jared gave a slight nod. “Used to be a failsafe command post. Remote systems control. It was taken offline before the Collapse.”“Why would they hide it way out here?”“Because it wasn’t meant to be found. Not by the public.”The badge Finn gave him still felt warm in his hand. Like it carried the weight of all the ghosts it had passed through before reaching him. He slid it into the scanner beside the hatch. There was a long silen
Episode 10: The Ones Who Wait in the Fog
The fog hadn’t lifted by sunrise. If anything, it had grown thicker—so dense Jared could barely see past the tree line without straining. Nature didn’t move like this unless something unnatural had disturbed it.He was already dressed in full tactical gear, rifle strapped tight across his chest, boots laced up to the shin. His breath was slow, even, but everything about his body was alert. Primed.Mei stood on the porch in his old hoodie and jeans that didn’t quite fit, trying to shake the cold out of her limbs. She looked at the treeline and then at him.“You’re going out there, aren’t you?”Jared nodded once. “North Ridge sector. Something pinged the motion sensors.”“Could it be an animal?”He strapped on his knife. “Not unless it knew how to disable the backup camera first.”Her mouth parted slightly. “Someone’s watching us.”“They’ve probably been watching for days.”She took a breath, trying not to panic. “Let me come with you.”“No.”“I’m not staying behind while you walk into
Episode 9: Shadows in Echo Ridge
They reached Echo Ridge just before sunset. The cabin sat at the top of a narrow gravel road, shrouded by thick pine trees and jagged cliffs on either side. To Mei, it looked like something out of a forgotten survival manual—modest, solid, a little crooked with age, but hidden well.Jared cut the engine and sat still for a second. His eyes swept the treeline like they always had before he approached any shelter—measured, alert. You didn’t survive as long as he had by assuming any place was truly empty.Mei leaned forward. “This is yours?”He nodded. “I built it after I left the service. Never brought anyone here.”“Why not?”“Because this was the only place in the world that was mine.”The wind picked up. It carried the faint scent of pine needles and distant smoke. Mei wrapped her arms around herself as they stepped out of the SUV. The air felt colder here—sharper.Jared led the way to the front door, keys already in hand. He paused as he reached for the knob.The door was slightly a
Episode 8: Fire on the Horizon
Jared didn’t waste time watching Mei pack. He knew the moment she walked back into that house, she’d feel the pull of comfort again. The luxury. The lie. If he gave her too long, she might stay.He loaded the SUV with what little gear he had—his old rucksack, a folded camp stove, a water filter he hadn’t touched in months. There was a sidearm buried in a lockbox under the driver’s seat. He checked it now, loading each bullet with mechanical precision.[Time Remaining: 66 hrs 03 mins][Objective: Evacuate Safe Zone]The system’s calm tone was beginning to unnerve him. Like a god whispering in a burning temple—offering guidance just moments before everything crumbled.Mei came back out fifteen minutes later, wearing a dark hoodie and jeans, a duffel bag slung over her shoulder. She looked different. Smaller. Like the world had finally reached her skin.“I didn’t bring much,” she murmured.“Good,” Jared said. “We’ll need room for supplies.”She climbed into the passenger seat without ano
Episode 7: The Tipping Point
The SUV’s engine rumbled low and steady like a warning growl. Jared stood beside it for a moment, listening, testing—every gear, every turn, every tremor in the machine. It wasn’t perfect. It wouldn’t outrun an explosion. But it would move, and in the days ahead, that was enough.He wiped his hands clean, though the grease clung to his fingers like guilt. The garage lights flickered. Another surge. The city’s power grid was failing in waves now, and no one was fixing it.[Time Remaining: 68 hrs 42 mins][Objective Update: Gather Med Supplies – In Progress]The system had gone quiet after that, no new prompts. No help. Just a countdown.He turned back toward the house.A sharp voice echoed through the halls upstairs—Mrs. Bai, again, her shrill tone cutting through silence like shattered glass.“You’re saying we can’t get through to the warehouse? What do you mean gone dark? Are you telling me the entire eastern district shut down and no one knows why?”Jared climbed the steps slowly, e
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