Chapter 8: The Logic of the Ark
The silence that followed the System's warning was heavier and colder than the darkness of the night outside. Fire, they had understood. It was a passive enemy, a siege. It could be fought with isolation and patience. But a level-two flood with monsters... that was an invasion. An active attack.
Nami was the first to break the spell, her mind already racing. She turned to the makeshift map on the pizza box lid, her eyes tracing the floor's layout.
"Third floor," she said, her voice tense. "We're on the third floor. It sounds safe, but the warning mentioned 'structural failure.' This building, baked for eight hours and then cooled, might have micro-fissures everywhere. The water pressure... it might not hold."
"Roof access is locked," Shinobu said, anticipating Nami's next question. "Forcing that door would take time and make a lot of noise. Besides, being on the roof during a torrential rain with 'hostile creatures' would leave us completely exposed."
"So going up is risky, and staying is risky," Nami concluded, running a hand through her orange hair in frustration. "What kind of choice is that?"
While they debated, Joey fought against the cacophony in his head. Nami's sharp anxiety, Shinobu's lethal concentration, Sakura's focused concern, and Nezuko's protective warmth mixed with his own growing exhaustion and panic. It was like trying to hear a whispered conversation in the middle of a screaming crowd. He pressed his temples, breathing deeply, trying to isolate a single thought. The System. The Shop.
With effort, he focused on his phone. He navigated to the System Shop, hoping against all hope for a boat or a miracle. There were no boats. But something had changed. The list of basic items was still there, but a new tab had appeared: [Calamity Offers].
He tapped it. The list was short and specific to the impending crisis.
Portable Water Filter (Simple): Removes 99% of biological contaminants. [Cost: 30 SP]
Inflatable Door Barrier (Single Use): Seals one standard door against flooding for up to 12 hours. [Cost: 40 SP]
Chemical Light Stick (3-Pack): Underwater illumination for 8 hours. [Cost: 15 SP]
Low-Frequency Sound Lure: Attracts Abyssal Fauna to its location for 10 minutes. [Cost: 50 SP]
"There's... there's new stuff in the shop," Joey said, his voice cutting into their tactical debate. "Things for the flood. A water filter, door barriers..."
"How much do they cost?" Nami asked immediately, the gleam of an opportunity in her eyes.
Joey read the prices. Nami's face fell. "We have 5 SP. We can't even buy the useless light sticks. We need points, and we need them fast."
"How do we earn points?" Sakura asked, looking at Joey.
That was the question. He remembered the previous message: Earned 25 Survival Points for... surviving and neutralizing a threat. What if... what if there were other ways? He focused again, this time searching for something like a task list or missions. And there it was, in a subsection of the main menu he hadn't noticed before: [System Objectives].
[Active Objective: Ark Preparation]
Stockpile 100 liters of potable water. [Reward: 10 SP]
Secure an entire floor of the building (minimum 5 apartments). [Reward: 15 SP]
Acquire one item from 'Calamity Offers'. [Reward: 5 SP]
Nami looked at the list with a predatory smile. "It's a roadmap. The System is telling us exactly what to do. If we do all this, we'll have 30 SP. Enough for the water filter. And with the 5 we already have, we can grab the light sticks too."
The plan formed out of necessity. They needed water, which meant more containers. They needed to secure the floor, which meant investigating the Millers' and the noisy student's apartments. And to do all that, they needed tools and supplies.
"There's a small convenience store on the ground floor of the next building over," Joey said, the memory surfacing. "They sell water jugs, snacks, duct tape... everything we need."
"The ground floor is the danger zone," Shinobu said, her voice serious. "But the reward justifies the risk. We need to move now, before other survivors get the same idea."
The decision was made. They would make a fast and dangerous run. Shinobu took tactical command, assigning a movement formation. Sakura prepared a small medical kit with the supplies they had found. Nami grabbed an empty backpack, ready to maximize collection efficiency. Nezuko, as always, took point, her keen senses their best defense.
Going down the stairs was like descending into another world. The third floor was their territory, but the second already felt foreign and hostile. There was an open apartment door, revealing an empty room, the occupants having apparently fled during the heat wave. The ground floor was even worse. The glass of the front door was shattered, and the lobby was covered in papers and debris left by panicked people. The smell of ash and the silence of death was overwhelming.
They crossed the small courtyard separating the two buildings, moving from shadow to shadow. The convenience store was dark, its glass door broken. It was clear someone had already been through, but the looters seemed to have taken only the obvious: chips, alcohol, cigarettes. The shelves of practical necessities—bottled water, canned goods, duct tape, batteries—were largely untouched.
"Split up," Nami whispered. "Sakura, get all the first-aid kits and painkillers. Shinobu, Nezuko, grab the water jugs and canned goods. Joey, look for duct tape, heavy-duty trash bags, and any tools."
They worked in efficient silence, adrenaline sharpening their movements. Joey found a roll of electrical tape and several rolls of silver duct tape, stuffing them into the backpack. As he moved down the dark aisle, he felt a chill on the back of his neck. The feeling of being watched. He stopped, staring into the deep shadows at the end of an aisle of books and magazines. Nothing was there. He shook his head. It was probably just his new psychic sensitivity playing tricks on him.
He turned to go back to the others when a calm, feminine voice spoke from the shadows he had just been looking at.
"It's impressive how quickly you've organized yourselves."
Shinobu and Sakura spun around in an instant, dropping into combat stances. Nami dropped a can, which rolled noisily on the floor. Nezuko placed herself in front of Joey, a low growl vibrating in her chest.
From the shadows, a woman emerged. She was tall and elegant, with shoulder-length black hair and an unsettling calm in her blue eyes. She wore practical, dark clothing and held a book with a finger marking her page, as if they had just interrupted her reading. She didn't seem the least bit frightened or threatening, and that was the most terrifying part of all. Nico Robin.
"I've been watching you since you left your building," she continued, her tone level and analytical. She looked at each of them, and Joey felt as if her gaze could see right through him. "The smiling swordswoman with murderous intent. The calculating navigator obsessed with resources. The pink-haired medic with a broken heart and a newly-formed bond. The little demon, whose loyalty is as fierce as her strength." Her gaze finally landed on him. "And the faint-hearted Master, whose soul suddenly feels much heavier than it should."
Her knowledge was impossible. Intimate. She knew about Sakura's bond. About Joey's soul.
"Who are you?" Shinobu asked, her hand moving slowly toward her waist.
The woman smiled, a small, slightly sad smile. "My name is Robin. And, just like you, I'm just a survivor trying to read the next chapter of this terrible story. The difference," she said, taking a slow step to the side, revealing a small, carefully selected pile of supplies, "is that I was here from the beginning."
Before Shinobu could attack or Nami could ask a question, Robin held up a hand. "You're preparing for the flood. It's smart. But you're preparing for the wrong thing."
"What do you mean?" Joey asked, his voice sounding weak.
Robin's smile vanished, replaced by a grim seriousness. "You think the danger is the water. Or even the creatures in it. But it's not. The danger is what the water carries. What the System didn't tell you is the nature of the 'contamination.' It isn't dirt or bacteria."
She paused, letting her words hang in the tense air of the store.
"It's something that dissolves the will. A pacifying agent that makes people docile and compliant, ready to drown without a fight. I know because I saw it happen somewhere else, a long time ago. And perhaps," she looked directly at Joey, "in exchange for this information, you can help me get something I need from the library across the street. Something that might tell us how to stop not just the rain, but the System itself."
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