2026-08-28 21:27:44
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Chapter 35: Bailey, the Blood Demon
Ryan barely had time to glance at the holo-map before he registered the scale of what was happening to Derek.His body was shriveling fast, like a dying tree every drop of moisture wringing out of him, leaving behind something closer to a mummy.That wasn't the end of it, though.His muscles kept twisting and reforming under his skin, reorganizing into something unrecognizable.By the time it settled, Derek's frame had gone gaunt as dead bamboo, muscle fibers pulled taut like steel wire.A hardened, shell-like plating spread across both arms thick, chitinous, almost beetle-like.Marcus, standing closest, reached toward Derek's back in horror, fingers hovering just short of the wound.A gunshot cracked through the room.Jake had already opened fire on Derek without hesitation.The rounds hit Derek's forearms and just... stopped. Deflected clean off, ringing out with a dull metallic clang.Naomi didn't waste time talking she drove the spear forward in a single fluid strike.Except by no
Chapter 34: Mutant Insects
Late that night, while everyone slept, a small beetle glowing faintly green slipped in through the darkness of the ventilation duct.It crawled along the wall's edge, making its way toward where Derek lay sleeping.Its sharp mandibles pierced his skin easily.A thin white channel along its abdomen pulsed, and something green seeped into the fresh wound.Derek groaned softly, brow furrowing, some distant part of him registering discomfort.He didn't wake, though just shifted position and settled back into sleep.Faint as it was, that groan was enough to stir Mia from her own rest.Her telekinetic senses flared instinctively, and something registered as wrong almost immediately.She crept over and nudged Ryan awake."Mia? What's up?""Ryan, something feels off. Like something's gotten in."Ryan pulled up the holo-map instantly.Sure enough a small red marker blinked steadily on the display.Resonance analysis kicked off automatically.While it ran, the beetle repeated the process on Mar
Chapter 33: The North Wind Wolf Squad
Life in lockdown blurred into a single monochrome smear of days.Time crept by, quiet and unremarkable.Before anyone quite noticed, a full week had passed.Ryan's balance finally crossed 310 points.The moment the Exchange tier unlocked, he spent 1 point immediately to pull up the full description of Jake's Glutton ability.Glutton: A specialized ability centered on converting consumption into stored energy.Power scales directly with stored reserves the more banked, the stronger the body becomes, like a dormant volcano building toward eruption.However, as reserves deplete, physical capability degrades in tandem.Once reserves are fully overdrawn, the Glutton enters a five-minute frenzy state, unable to distinguish ally from enemy.Failure to refuel during this window results in death.Once he'd absorbed all of that, Ryan gathered everyone together.He looked around the room and cleared his throat."Alright, everyone. I want to have a real conversation.""Ryan, I already know you've
Chapter 32: Survival Points
Jake went quiet the moment he saw Ryan walk back in."Ryan everything went okay out there? No trouble?""Fine..."Ryan's gaze dropped to the sea of empty steak wrappers littering the floor, and a vein visibly pulsed in his temple."You ate through all the beef?""Not just beef. Hit some lamb too.""Ryan, total count fifty steaks, twenty-three lamb chops.""Hunger's mostly gone. Still don't feel full, though."Ryan checked his balance.He'd started at 86. Spent 10 on two combat suits. Another 6 on three sets of night-vision gear. And 20 more on Naomi's new weapon.By his math, that should've left him around 50.Instead, his current balance read 65.Which meant Jake's calorie-fueled binge had quietly generated 15 points on its own."Jake lay off the meat for now. Go heavier on pure calories instead.""From here on, help yourself to anything in the pantry candy, chocolate, whatever. No limits.""Ryan, that's a one-way ticket to diabetes.""You literally Awakened. Why are you still worrie
Chapter 31: The Wendigo Armor
Once the three Lickers were dealt with, the group made their way carefully to the server room.This was Ryan's moment to shine a software engineer finally getting to flex some actual hardware knowledge.Within minutes, the generator kicked back on, and the entire research base flooded with light.Naomi turned her attention to the spear in her hands.The Thunder Tungsten weapon had a deep gray-black finish, faint etched lines running along its surface, giving it an almost mystical presence.She triggered her lightning ability, and arcs of blue-white current began crawling across the metal.By this point, she was thoroughly smitten with the weapon."Ryan. Thank you for this.""You're welcome. Wait hold on, what exactly does that tone mean? You planning on keeping it without paying up?"Naomi said nothing, just stared back at him with wide, innocent eyes.Meanwhile, Mia's hand had quietly slipped into Ryan's jacket pocket."Mia. What are you doing?""Ryan seriously, where do you keep pul
Chapter 30: Licker
Ryan, Naomi, and Mia headed out, leaving the four newcomers behind on cleanup duty.The four of them kept trading nervous, confused glances, none of them brave enough to actually voice anything out loud.They watched Jake demolish plate after plate.Fear, envy, jealousy, and gnawing hunger all tangled together into something none of them could quite name.Bailey finally cracked and crept closer to Jake."Um big brother? Could we get something to eat too?""Get lost. If I give you mine, what am I supposed to eat?"She pressed on, undeterred. "Just a little. Even one bite. Look, we're almost done cleaning up."Jake glanced over and realized the mess they were scrubbing up was, in fact, entirely his own handiwork from earlier.His mood soured instantly."Are you insane? I'm eating fine over here, why would I look at that?"If Jake had just kept eating in silence, none of them would've dared push further.But now that he'd actually engaged, some of the fear started to thin out."Sorry, so
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