The wind outside shrieked, dragging cold ash through broken streets. The moans of the dead echoed from the distance, yet inside the shop, it was still.
Kaito sat on the shop floor with a stained city map spread before him. Each mark on it was a guess. None of it was certain. He wasn't a prophet—just a desperate man trying to be one step ahead.
Ayame leaned against the wall nearby, arms crossed. "So what's this now?" she asked. "You're trying to predict where the next breach is gonna open?"
He didn't look up. "I'm not predicting. I'm preparing. There's a pattern in the madness."
Her brow furrowed. "Kaito... are you guessing?"
He glanced at her. "Yeah."
She snorted. "Well, I guess that's better than nothing."
He pointed at a dense cluster of buildings in the residential zone. "If I had to bet, I'd say here. Too many people packed together. Fear spreads fast. I've noticed strange winds near there—like the air's thinner."
She studied the map, then him. "That's real vague."
Kaito didn't answer. He was thinking—processing. He didn't know where portals would open. But the shop's system had flagged anomalies recently. Nothing conclusive. Just subtle spikes in pressure and electromagnetic interference.
[System Analysis: Urban Cluster 4B – 13% Probability of Rift Breach]
Not a guarantee.
But close enough to worry.
"Meri," he whispered under his breath. "Are we really expecting another portal?"
[Meri: Kaito, all data suggests an escalating rift pattern. The last breach destabilized the local leyfield. It's likely. But not confirmed.]
"So nothing solid."
[Meri: It's a guess. An educated one. Yours.]
He sighed.
Ayame knelt beside the map. "You want me to go out there again?"
He hesitated.
Ayame wasn't a soldier. She wasn't trained for war. But she was brave—unreasonably so. Still, Kaito knew sending her out without backup was nearly suicidal.
"You don't have to," he said finally. "We wait. I was wrong to suggest otherwise. Too soon."
Ayame gave him a look. "You're learning."
He nodded. "Slowly."
She smirked. "You should stick to managing your cursed shop."
The shop lights flickered. The building moaned. A tremor rolled under the floor.
Kaito froze. "Did you feel that?"
Ayame stood up straight. "Yeah. What was it?"
[Meri: Rift breach detected. Location—unknown. Radius—limited. Warning level—Yellow.]
[Meri: Preparing system shop defense parameters.]
Kaito stood and locked the storefront. "Something's happening. It's close."
Outside, the sky shifted. Thin rips appeared like lightning bolts frozen mid-flash. Light leaked through, then darkness. The tear widened. A sound—low, grinding, like the earth groaning—rippled through the district.
They watched from the second-floor window.
Across the street, a billboard split in two. Beneath it, the air shimmered and peeled open. A rift—not large, but pulsing like a heart. The breach widened. Then from its maw, something tumbled.
A creature. All bone and sinew. Not undead—something else. Not from Earth.
Ayame whispered, "That's not a zombie."
"No," Kaito said. "That's from the other side."
Another shape dropped from the portal—a smaller one, hunched, limbs twitching. The portal began to collapse behind them, folding inward.
Then it was gone.
The street fell silent. The monsters didn't.
Kaito rushed back down and slammed the main lockdown switch. Metal blinds dropped over the shop's windows. Inside, only emergency lights flickered.
[Meri: Kaito. Your shop is within 0.2 km of a minor rift event. Two entities detected. Movement confirmed. Threat level: Moderate.]
"Do I have weapons in stock?"
[Meri: No. You can't wield them.]
"Right. Of course."
He gritted his teeth.
Ayame grabbed the flare launcher from the emergency rack. "I've got this," she said, loading it. "You stay here. Don't die."
"I can't die," he said. "But that doesn't mean it doesn't hurt."
She smiled grimly and slipped out through the back door.
Kaito paced behind the counter, heart pounding. He hated being helpless. But it was his role—the one thing the system cursed him with. He couldn't fight. Couldn't strike. Couldn't kill.
Only trade. Only build.
He stared at the system interface.
[Incoming Quest Update]
[Event Trigger: Rift Response Detected]
[Meri: Kaito. Temporary trade window enabled. Suggest deploying a decoy crate. Bait and study their behavior.]
He nodded. "Give me the crate."
A shimmer. The wooden chest materialized in the corner, stocked with glowing junk—items with just enough magical residue to attract scavenger creatures.
He dragged it outside, wheeled it into the middle of the street, then ducked behind the doorframe.
Minutes passed.
Then claws scraped pavement.
The first creature—a long-limbed crawler with no face, just a vertical slit where its eyes should be—sniffed at the crate. The second hovered near the wall, twitching.
Then the first opened the lid.
BOOM.
The flare rig inside detonated, releasing a burst of chemical light. The crawler shrieked and stumbled back. The second charged.
A crack rang out.
Ayame stood on a nearby rooftop, smoke curling from the barrel of a makeshift rifle.
The second beast dropped.
The first fled into the ruins.
Back inside, Ayame returned thirty minutes later. Her sleeve torn, blood on her cheek—but standing.
Kaito handed her water. "You okay?"
She drank deeply, then collapsed into a chair. "You owe me a raise."
"You're not on payroll."
"Then start one."
Kaito smiled. "Fine."
She looked out the window. "So what now? More monsters?"
Kaito stared at the street, silent.
"No. Now, we plan for customers."
"After that mess?"
"They'll come," he said. "They always come. Chaos breeds commerce."
Ayame looked doubtful.
He didn't blame her. But he knew better. Humanity wasn't just fighting to survive. It was adapting. And adaptation always began with the first trade.
He turned back to the system interface.
[New Quest: Beacon of the Ruins]
Objective: Attract First Customer Post-Rift]
Reward: 200 Coins | Unlock: Zone Reputation
Kaito smiled.
The world was ending.
But business was just beginning.