2025-07-29 00:00:19The city buzzed around him as Jared waited for the bus back to the central district. He could’ve called a cab, but he didn’t. Not yet. Every naira counted now.
The auction had left him with nothing in his wallet, but in his mind? He had more power than any of them could imagine. Elena’s voice still echoed in his head — “Just don’t come back empty-handed.”
He hadn’t. She just wouldn’t see it yet.
The bus pulled up, brakes squealing, and Jared climbed on. No one paid him any attention. He liked it that way. That’s how all great rises began — in silence.
By the time he reached the Bai family residence, the sun had started its descent. Long shadows stretched across the marble floors as he walked in.
He’d barely shut the door behind him when he heard the voice.
“You’re late.”
It was Bai Cheng. Sitting in the lounge with a glass of wine, his expression tight with annoyance.
Jared didn’t slow his steps. “I said I’d check the warehouse. I did.”
“It’s not about the warehouse,” Bai Cheng snapped. “It’s about you disrespecting this family. My daughter gives you money — my money — and you can’t even be back on time? You think this is some kind of vacation?”
Jared didn’t answer. He dropped the plastic folder containing the supplier’s signed invoice on the table in front of him.
“There was a delay with their shipment. I handled it. They’ll deliver by tomorrow noon.”
Bai Cheng looked at the paper, then back at Jared, as if trying to figure out how a man like him had managed even that.
“Elena said you left this morning without saying anything. You didn’t answer her calls either.”
“I was busy handling your task,” Jared said coolly.
“And now what?” Bai Cheng leaned back. “You think doing one errand means you’ve earned something around here? This house isn’t yours. This family—”
“Never accepted me,” Jared said, his voice calm but firm. “I know.”
Bai Cheng stood up, jaw tight. “You think you’re clever now, huh?”
“I think I’m not as stupid as I used to be.”
The silence stretched. It wasn’t defiance in Jared’s tone. It was something worse. Confidence.
Bai Cheng didn’t like it.
From the hallway, another voice joined in — softer, cooler.
“Can I talk to him alone?”
Elena.
She walked into the room, dressed in a navy blouse and slacks, tablet in one hand. Her face was unreadable, as usual. Beautiful and distant, like a portrait that never changed expression.
Her father gave her a long look, then walked out without another word.
Jared stayed where he was.
Elena looked at him, arms crossed.
“Where did you go, really?”
He raised a brow. “You think I lied?”
“I think,” she said slowly, “that you disappeared for ten hours and came back with an attitude.”
Jared didn’t answer.
She stepped closer. “I don’t care if you’re trying to play some game, Jared. But if you’re going to stay in this house, you don’t get to make me look like a fool.”
“You’re worried what they’ll think of you?” he asked. “For marrying someone beneath you?”
“I didn’t marry you,” she said, her tone sharp. “I was told to.”
That stung more than he wanted to admit.
She took a breath, like she wanted to say more but changed her mind. “Dinner’s in an hour. Don’t be late again.”
She walked past him, but he caught her wrist gently. Just for a second.
She turned.
“You didn’t have to give me that money this morning,” he said. “Thank you.”
She blinked. Her lips parted slightly, as if surprised by the sincerity in his voice.
“I didn’t do it for you.”
“I know.”
She didn’t pull her hand away. Not right away.
Then she did.
Without a word, she disappeared up the stairs.
Jared stood there, staring after her, and for the first time in days, he let himself feel something. Not love. Not hate. Just… memory.
She’d once told him she regretted everything. Long after the fall. When it was too late.
Maybe it would be different this time.
Ding.
The system chimed again in his mind.
[New Mission Available.]
[Mission 002: Acquire one firearm (pistol or shotgun) within 48 hours. Reward: +1500 points. Unlock: Combat Tab.]
Jared exhaled slowly.
The storm was coming.
And now, he had a weapon to find.
Previous Chapter
Latest Chapter
Chapter 105- She Doesn’t Know Me
POV: JaredJared forgot how to breathe.Emma was standing three steps away from him.Alive.Not a projection flickering across a broken monitor. Not a figure made of golden light. Not a fragment of consciousness trapped inside the system. Not someone he had to chase through another reality or reach through a wall of memories.Just Emma.She stood beside the old computer with one hand resting against the edge of the desk, her dark hair falling loosely around her face. The glasses were the same. The slight crease between her eyebrows was the same. Even the way she tilted her head when she was trying to understand something was painfully familiar.There were no glowing threads beneath her skin.No strange distortion around her body.No system interface hovering in the air.Nothing separated her from the world.She was flesh and blood.Jared’s chest tightened so suddenly that he almost doubled over.“Emma.”Her name came out broken.He took a step toward her.Then another.He wanted to la
Chapter 104- The First Jared
POV: JaredThe screens came back one by one.Jared stood in the middle of the server room, unable to move.Every monitor showed him.Not the same him.Different ones.A boy with a missing front tooth.A teenager sitting alone in a classroom.A young man wearing a military uniform.An older Jared with silver in his hair.One version had blood running down the side of his face.Another was lying motionless on a hospital bed.Another was standing beside a woman Jared didn’t recognize.Another was holding a child.Another was laughing.Another was screaming.Some were dead.Some were clearly alive.Some looked like they had lived completely different lives.Jared walked closer to the screens.He saw one version of himself standing in a kitchen, barefoot, cooking breakfast.Another was sitting behind a desk in a company office.Another was running through a burning city.Another was wearing the same clothes Jared had worn during one of the loops.He remembered that one.He remembered dying
Chapter 103- The Man Behind The Glass
POV: JaredThe man stood behind the glass wall.Jared didn’t move.Neither did he.For a few seconds, the only sound in the room was the low hum of the servers.The emergency lights washed the man’s face in a dull white glow.He looked ordinary.That was the first thing Jared noticed.No glowing eyes.No strange markings.No unnatural movement.No golden light surrounding his body.Just a man.Older than Jared remembered him.Maybe in his late fifties.His hair was mostly gray, neatly cut. He wore a dark shirt with the sleeves rolled to his elbows. His hands rested loosely at his sides.He looked like someone Jared could have passed on the street without noticing.And somehow, that was worse.Jared knew that face.Not from one memory.From hundreds.Fragments.A voice speaking through broken speakers.A silhouette standing inside white corridors.A man appearing whenever the system reached a point Jared wasn’t supposed to survive.A man who always seemed to know what Jared had done be
Chapter 102- Run 37
POV: JaredJared was out of bed before the figure could take another step.“Emma?”The woman stood at the end of the hallway.She didn’t answer.Jared’s heart slammed against his ribs.Every part of him wanted to believe it was her.The face was right.The hair was right.Even the slight tilt of her head was familiar.But the eyes were wrong.Emma’s eyes had always moved when she thought. She looked away when she was uncomfortable. She narrowed them when she was trying to understand something. She rolled them when Jared said something stupid.This woman simply stared.Jared stepped into the hallway.“Who are you?”Nothing.He took another step.The figure turned.Then she walked away.“Wait.”Jared followed.His bare feet hit the floor hard as he moved through the hallway.He reached the corner.Nothing.The hallway was empty.Jared stopped.He checked the stairs.The living room.The kitchen.The front door.Locked.The back door.Locked.Nobody.He searched every room in the house.
Chapter 101- The Life That Never Happened
POV: JaredJared went home the next morning.He almost expected the world to resist him.It didn’t.The drive from the hospital was painfully ordinary.Cars moved through familiar streets. People crossed roads with shopping bags in their hands. A bus stopped too close to a traffic light, and the driver leaned on the horn when the car behind him refused to move.Nothing was burning.Nothing was collapsing.There were no infected people wandering through the streets.No alarms.No strange lights in the sky.No invisible pressure pressing against Jared’s skull.The city simply existed.And somehow, that frightened him more than the apocalypse ever had.He stared through the passenger window as Elena drove.Three days ago, he had been standing beneath a tree in a world that should not have existed.Three days ago, he had watched Emma become something larger than one body.Three days ago, he had made the hardest decision of his life.Now there were traffic jams.Now there were advertisemen
Chapter 100- After She Let Go
POV: JaredJared woke to the sound of a machine beeping.Once.Twice.Again.It was annoyingly ordinary.For several seconds, he didn’t open his eyes.He waited.There was always something waiting for him when he woke.A voice.A warning.A command.A strange pressure behind his eyes.Sometimes there had been pain.Sometimes there had been light.Sometimes he had opened his eyes in places that should not have existed.He waited for the familiar sensation to arrive.Nothing did.Jared frowned.He opened his eyes.A white ceiling stared back at him.A fluorescent light buzzed above his head.There was a curtain beside the bed. Pale blue. Slightly wrinkled.An IV line ran into the back of his hand.He stared at it.Then at the monitor.Then at his other hand.Nothing.No golden light beneath his skin.No faint lines moving under his veins.No threads stretching beyond the room.He swallowed.The air felt different.Not cleaner.Not safer.Just…Empty.Jared slowly pushed himself upright.
You may also like
Thirty Days Before the Dead
Sonder 98 viewsThe Apocalypse Emperor
A.C299 viewsZombie System: Ruling The Apocalypse
apex1.4K viewsApocalypse System: The Disabled Doctor
Orion839 views100 Days Before the Apocalypse: My Survival System
MD KASHIF1.9K viewsThe Apocalypse Survivor Who Collects Dead Cities
Vallie78 viewsThe Apocalypse Reborn; No more Sacrifice
Martha336 viewsAPOCALYPSE LIVESTREAM: I GET RICH ON GLOBAL PANIC
Feline S440 views
Reader Comments
Going Good ...