2026-09-26 23:55:27Ethan lay face-up under a starless sky, the streetlight above him flickering, then holding steady. His mind was foggy. He couldn't move his body. It felt like he had been in a worse fight than he remembered. Then recent events came flooding in. The attack and Priya taken. He didn't know if she was still alive. She was probably dead. The ghoul might have taken her to their territory. There was no coming back alive from that. He also knew he wouldn't make it. He closed his eyes. He wondered what it felt like to be dead. Some said it was eternal darkness. He wondered if it was like the darkness behind his eyelids. He hoped so because it would be easier to transcend from one darkness to the other.
The darkness was interrupted by ethereal blue letters rearranging themselves into words. He thought it looked beautiful. Then he remembered. He had seen something like it before, earlier that evening. It had said something about meeting a condition. Activating a copy system. Wait, a copy system? Like his copy talent? That drew his curiosity. He opened his eyes. The words were still there, overlaying his vision like augmented reality. [Internal Trauma Detected.] [Stabilizing Fatal Injury.] [Overriding Locked Passive Skills.] [Regeneration Partially Activated] [Poison Resistance Activated] Something moved through him, like a hand pressing a wound shut from the inside. He could feel the broken edges of his bones glue back. The pain in his head started to fade. His memory started to clear. Then he felt something in his veins, moving outward through his right arm. He raised his hand to the streetlight. A black liquid was coming out of the spot the ghoul had bitten. It wasn't blood. He knew that. He wasn't bleeding anymore. It was viscous and cohesive, like mercury. His mind went to the text on his vision. The thing was healing him. The black liquid was the poison from the ghoul. If he still had it, he would have less than twelve hours before he turned. The thought of being a ghoul turned his stomach. When he couldn't feel the movement in his veins anymore, he brought his hands up again. The last of the black liquid was evaporating into the air. The words appeared in his vision again. Multiple texts, one after the other. [Fatal Injuries Stabilized] [Welcome To The Copy System (The Engine That Powers Your Copy Talent)] [Please Wait. Home Screen Loading…] Ethan stared at the words. Even though everything was explained, it was still strange. [Rank: Novice (Your Current Rank) Ghoul Kills: 1 / 10 (Number Of Ghouls Killed) Active Slots: 1 / 2 (Total Talent That Can Be Copied) Active Skills (For Combat) 1. Weapon Mastery 2. Empty] This was the only thing that made sense. Weapon Mastery belonged to Priya. He had copied it just before she was--. His chest twisted at the thought. [Passive Skills (For Productivity) Enhanced Senses: Locked (Improves sight, hearing, smell, and other senses.) Regeneration: Locked (Gradually Heals Injuries.) Poison Resistance: Locked (Neutralizes The Effects of Ghoul Toxins.) Survival Instinct: Locked (Improves Instinct For Finding Food, Water, Shelter, And Safe Routes.) Tracking: Locked (Improves Ability To Follow Traces.) Stealth Movement: Locked (Reduces The Sound And Visibility Of Your movements.) Situational Awareness: Locked (Improved Ability To Process Surroundings More Effectively.) Next Rank: Amateur (5 Ghoul kills required) Note: To Unlock Passive Skills You Must Locate Users With The Skills And Copy It.] Ethan closed his eyes. He couldn't make good of it then. What good could it do now? Why did the strange power activate now, when the world had already decided what he was worth? If he had had this from the beginning, things could have been different. But it wasn't too late to start correcting his past. He had let them decide. He had stood there and let it happen. He had told himself after, every time, that it didn't matter. That revenge wasn't the point. No more. The world wouldn't look down on him anymore. This system had given him a second chance. He got to his feet. The street tilted once, then steadied. He found that even healed, his external injuries were still there. The open wounds he had sustained were still present. The pain was mild in those spots. The bleeding had stopped. The only wound closed was the bite mark from the ghoul. His mind went back to what the System had said about stabilizing fatal injuries and partial regeneration. It had saved his life. It hadn't healed him completely. He tested the collarbone, the ribs and arms and everything was okay. At least. He was thirsty enough that his skull ached with it. Hungry in a way that had stopped being a feeling and started being a fact about his body he would have to deal with soon. None of the wounds were going to close the rest of the way without help he didn't have. He needed medical supplies and he needed food. He started walking, steadying himself with every step. That was when the bite on his forearm started to burn. Not the dull ache it had settled into. Something sharper. A heat radiating from the mark. He pressed his other hand against it without thinking. The heat didn't ease. If anything, it sharpened. He heard footsteps in the opposite direction. He turned, slow, without deciding to. Just down the street, half-swallowed by shadow between two buildings, something stood there. Watching.
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Chapter 30: Rescue The Survivors
Barek jammed his pry bar into the lower latch of the first glass cylinder. He leaned on it until the seal popped with a wet hiss.Green fluid surged over the threshold, splashing across the concrete of Research Sub-level 2. Silas stepped forward and caught the first captive by the shoulders as her mask slipped off. Ira and Nomy moved to the other two vats.Ethan didn't help with the cylinders. He stayed crouched by the open iron cage, looking at the pile of gray ash between the dropped chains.Ethan reached out. His fingers hovered above the ashes. His passives read the dust, but neither ability could identify it. The ghoul had just burned out and collapsed into dead mineral with no energy left."The seals are broken on all three," Silas called out. He helped the second captive sit on a blanket. "Pulses are steady. They're breathing."Barek wiped green fluid off his forearms with a rag. He stepped up beside Ethan and glared at the empty cage. "The monster burned itself to the cinders
Chapter 29: The King
The four iron chains snapped taut against the concrete. Inside the cage, the ghoul held its head high.Blue arcs jumped from the floor manifold, running up the copper wires into the brass ring on its skull. Sparks hissed against its gray hide. The creature didn't flinch. Its pale eyes stayed locked on Ethan."You talk about a King," Ethan said. "What's his name?"The ghoul's lips pulled back. "We don't know his name. We haven't seen him either.""Then maybe you are lying." Ethan said. He put his boot on the lower iron bar. "Maybe you are trying to pull our legs. Drag us into a trap."The ghoul let out a sound that resembled a scoff. "I don't know what to tell you anymore."Silas took a half-step forward. "He's only asking for who's in charge."The ghoul glanced at Silas, then looked back at Ethan."Then you're asking about the First Gen.” the ghoul said. "Direct descendants sired by the king himself, they command the rabids and generations that come after them. Only they get to see th
Chapter 28: Rabid Ghoul That Can Speak.
Ethan held his breath by the observation hatch of Research Sub-level 2. His eye was pressed to the glass.“What’s inside?” Silas whispered.“Vats,” Ethan said. “And an iron cage.”Ethan put his palm flat on the steel door and pushed the latch up. The lock disengaged with a thud. The door swung open.They stepped into the vault.Blue lamps hung from the ceiling. On the west wall, three living survivors floated in glass cylinders filled with green fluid. Copper cables pulled pale blue threads from their chests into a brass manifold.Across the room was the cage.Inside the steel bars sat a ghoul. Four thick chains bound it to the floor. A brass ring was locked around its skull. Its dark hide was covered in bone plates.When they entered, the creature raised its head. Its pale eyes burned with a cold, sharp alertness as it evaluated them.Barek stepped forward. His grip tightened on his iron pry bar. “It’s a monster. We have to kill it before it breaks loose.”Barek raised the bar over h
Chapter 27: Captured, Not Killed
Ethan stepped onto the iron spiral staircase that wound up through the ceiling of the Sub-station.Silas stayed close, blade out. Below them, Captain Thorne and his scouts stayed by the fire. Behind Ethan, Ira and Barek helped Nomy up the metal steps. Nomy kept the wool blanket tight around her shoulders. Her shoes scraped softly on the iron treads.The stairs ended at a steel hatch in the ceiling.Ethan pushed it open and climbed into the upper vent level. Cold night air blew through the grates. Pine needles. Wet granite. Wood smoke from the ridge above.The corridor was empty. Thick copper lines ran along the walls, humming with the settlement's power. Caged yellow bulbs lit the walkway every thirty yards.Silas climbed up last. He pulled the hatch shut. The clatter echoed down the shaft. "We're right under the outer wall. Staging blocks are two hundred yards east. Research wing goes north into the mountain."Ethan walked to the middle of the corridor. His boots made no sound. In hi
Chapter 26: Price Of Helping
Nomy lay still on the dusty concrete floor of Sub-station 5. Her wrists were bound behind her back with coarse hemp rope.Ethan watched her through the gap in the iron door. The yellow firelight from the metal drum caught the bruise on her cheekbone. Ten feet away, three boundary scouts sat on wooden crates. Long iron-tipped spears leaned against the rusted switching banks.Beside Ethan, Silas pressed his back to the damp wall. Barek held his pry bar ready. Ira stood two paces back, hiding her oil lantern behind her so the glow wouldn’t spill through the crack.“Where’s Leon?” Barek whispered.Ethan focused Situational Awareness through the gap. No other captives by the fire. An arc torch casing lay near the northern exit ramp, its battery housing cracked open. Empty.“He ran, I guess,” Ethan said.Inside the chamber, the lead scout stood up. A broad man with a scarred jaw and a copper-edged brass badge on his collar. He picked up his spear and spat into the fire pit.“This girl’s use
Chapter 25: Someone Is Hunting Them
The strange person vanished into the dark ventilation shaft sixty feet above.Ethan stood near the central pillar. His eyes stayed on the empty girder. Beside him, Silas was scanning the shadows. Behind them, Barek and Ira stood on the rail bed. Their lanterns shook, casting shadowy beams over the four dead ghouls."It moved without a sound," Barek whispered. "That's no rabid. It could be an intelligent""Or an awakened hunter," Ethan said.He walked to the fourth ghoul near the exit arch. He crouched, weight on the balls of his feet, and looked at the fresh cut over the sternum. The blood hadn't congealed. It leaked in thin red streams onto the gray silt. The heart was taken minutes ago.Ethan focused Situational Awareness on the incision. The two-inch blade entered at a forty-five degree angle between the ribs. No fractured bone. Whoever held the blade knew exactly where the cartilage was thinnest."It didn't kill them to defend itself," Ethan said. He stood up. "It killed them to t
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