A single turret blast costs more than Lu Jin's monthly food budget—but in the wasteland, ten yuan a bullet is the price of playing god.
The rain in the lower city always smelled like expired engine oil.
Splaaash.
A hover-cab screeched to a stop in a pothole, sending a perfectly aimed wave of filthy water all over Lu Jin.
The window rolled down a narrow slit. The driver's real eye wrinkled in disgust, his electronic one flickering red as it scanned Lu Jin's chest tag.
"D-rank?" he snorted, like he'd just identified medical waste dumped curbside. "System says giving you a ride tanks my credit score. Get lost before you die in my car."
The window slid up. Exhaust blew straight into Lu Jin's face as the cab shot away.
He didn't even bother cursing.
The "surgery" he'd just performed in the alley—thirty seconds of adrenaline-fueled, nerve-butchering combat—had left his body in open revolt. His lungs felt full of broken glass; every breath was a careful negotiation around invisible shards.
The thirty-odd thousand in cash pressed warm against his ribs, soaked in his own body heat.
Warm, heavy, and utterly useless for buying a ride home.
That was D-rank in a gene-worshipping city.
You could be rich, and still just be trash with money.
Lu Jin braced himself on the slick wall and started limping toward his crumbling apartment block. In the corner of his vision, deep inside his retina HUD, blood-red numbers ticked down without mercy:
[Time Until First Interest Settlement: 23:14:22][Current Debt: ¥19,998.00]
"Lovely," he muttered, lips twitching. "High-interest loans straight from the heavens."
Black crept in at the edges of his vision.
Just as he thought he might actually pass out face-first into a puddle, his phone started shrieking.
Beep! Beep! Beep!
Not debt.
Radar.
He forced his eyes open and fumbled the phone out. On the newly unlocked Blackstone Bunker radar screen, two green blips were pressed up against the front door.
Behind them, a huge red signal was bearing down like a freight train.
[Wasteland · A-11 Zone · Blackstone Bunker]
Outside, the world was an ice-blue hell, Crystal Storm screaming against steel.
Inside, the bunker held at a perfectly bland twenty-four degrees.
Li Xing wasn't enjoying any of it.
She was kneeling in front of the heavy alloy door, fingers twisted in the hem of her lab coat so hard her knuckles had gone white.
From the other side came dull, frantic pounding—and a thin, broken voice, almost swallowed by the storm.
"Big Sister Li Xing… open up… please…"
Little Rock.
The orphan who used to trail after her, licking the nutrition paste residue off her empty wrappers.
On the bunker's monitor, a scrawny boy staggered under the weight of an unconscious old man, both of them half-buried in blue-tinged snow. Crystal shards slashed into their skin like blades. Little Rock's face was a blur of blood and frost.
Each time he swung his fist against the door, it looked like the wind might just rip his arm off.
Li Xing's hand shook as she reached for the lock panel.
One press. That was all it would take.
They'd live.
Her fingertips hovered a centimeter above the button, then froze. Slowly, she looked back over her shoulder.
Soft white carpet.
Walls glowing with warm light.
The air smelled faintly of lavender, not rot. No blood. No acid rain. No corpse stink.
This was the Listener's kingdom. His god-gifted realm—absolutely pure, absolutely private.
If she let them in, soaked in filth and infection and wasteland disease…
Would God be angry?
Would He think she'd overstepped? That she was a stupid, presumptuous weapon that didn't know her place?
Would He… take it all back?
Fear clenched around her heart like an icy fist.
"Mm—" A choked sound tore out of her. She didn't dare open the door, but she couldn't walk away either.
She turned instead.
Facing the tiny red indicator of the ceiling camera, she dropped to her knees, pressed her forehead to the carpet, and bowed so low her shoulders shook.
"Listener…" Her voice cracked with panic and tears. "Little Rock… will die… please…"
The bunker wall shuddered.
THOOMP.
The whole room shook like something huge had slammed into it.
Li Xing jerked her head up, eyes snapping to the monitor.
Through the blizzard of glittering shards, a nightmare trudged into view—a three-meter beast, shoulders bristling with jagged blue crystal spines, eyes burning an ugly, feral red.
A Crystal-Back Behemoth.
It had smelled blood.
Little Rock's legs buckled. He collapsed to his knees in the snow, still trying to prop the old man up with frozen, shaking arms.
The bear's maw opened above them, teeth like ice-carved knives, thick drool dripping onto the old man's face.
[Reality · At the base of Lu Jin's building]
Lu Jin leaned against a rusted stair rail, watching the monster fill his screen.
Save them, or don't?
Saving them meant revealing the bunker's position, burning more resources, feeding extra mouths—maybe even inviting more trouble inside if they weren't just harmless strays.
The rational play was simple: let the bear eat, wait for it to wander off, then strengthen defenses later.
On the monitor, Li Xing was still kneeling, forehead pressed into the carpet, whole body trembling.
His jaw clenched.
"I made you a god," Lu Jin growled under his breath, "not a professional door mat."
His fingers flew over the screen.
[High-Level Hostile Detected!][Your territory is under threat! If you do nothing, your property may gain a 'Haunted Bunker' debuff!]
The familiar scummy pop-up slapped across his vision, this time with a hint of gleeful urgency.
[Security Upgrade · Say Goodbye to Firepower Anxiety!]
Still using your face to tank hits? Remember: truth resides at the end of your firing range!
Recommended Item: "Rainstorm" Close-In Defense Turret (T1 Civilian Model)
· Twin-linked 12.7mm autocannons· Smart thermal targeting· One-button deployment—idiot-proof!
Launch Discount: ¥2,888.00 (mounting base included)Note: We gotta eat too. Ammo sold separately (¥10.00 / round).
"Ten yuan a bullet?!" Lu Jin nearly snapped his phone in half. "You firing gold bars out of that thing?!"
ROOOOAR—!
The bear's bellow blasted through the speakers. On the feed, its claw hovered over Little Rock's head, less than half a meter away.
No more time.
Lu Jin looked at his still-warm bundle of cash. His heart bled.
His finger did not hesitate.
"Buy it! And throw in a hundred rounds!"
[Payment Successful! ¥3,888.00 deducted. Remaining Balance: ¥17,359.00][Thank you for your purchase! May merciful flames cleanse all.]
[Wasteland]
Little Rock shut his eyes and waited for the end.
Clack—shff.
Above him, the edge of the black fortress roof flipped open. A heavy gun mount rose up, twin barrels gleaming a dull, lethal silver.
A red targeting laser snapped onto the behemoth's forehead.
Then the sky turned to fire.
BRRRRRRRT—!
The "Rainstorm" spat flame.
It didn't sound like gunfire. It sounded like someone running a shredder on stacks of money.
The bear's crystal armor—tough enough to shrug off collapsing masonry—melted under 12.7mm armor-piercing rounds like ice under a blowtorch. Crimson mist burst through the blue shards as metal tore through skull and brain.
The Crystal-Back Behemoth didn't even manage a proper scream.
Half its head simply vanished.
The massive body crashed down into the snow with a quake, sending up a plume of frost and pulverized crystal.
Little Rock lay sprawled in the red-stained snow, staring up at the dying muzzle flashes and drifting smoke.
In that moment, the god in his mind shifted.
No longer the gentle "Mother Earth" from old bedtime stories.
But a god of steel and thunder, dwelling within a black fortress that spat metal storms.
[Reality]
"Stop! Stop! It's dead! Don't waste it!"
Lu Jin all but shouted at his screen, eyes glued to the ammo counter in the corner.
[Remaining Ammunition: 42 / 100]
Three seconds.
Fifty-eight bullets.
Five hundred and eighty yuan.
This wasn't shooting. This was flinging money into orbit.
The guns spun down.
Lu Jin dragged in a breath, forced the pain in his chest down, and pulled up the command overlay.
His thumbs danced.
[Command Barrage]: Open the door. Foyer only.
Inside the bunker, Li Xing stared dumbly at the monitor.
The bear's body lay motionless in the snow, half a skull missing. The echo of thunder still rolled in her ears.
Divine punishment.
That had to be divine punishment.
A pale gold line of text unfurled in front of her eyes.
She flinched, then read it.
Her whole body shook. Tears burst out of her all at once.
She scrambled to her feet, not even wiping the red imprint on her forehead, and lunged for the door controls.
Shhhk—
The airtight door slid open a crack.
Cold wind and snow surged toward her—but the bunker's systems roared to life, blasting warm air back out and forcing the storm to bow at the threshold.
Little Rock was still curled on the ground, arms wrapped over his head. Warmth hit his frozen skin like a slap. He blinked up, dazed.
In the doorway, framed by soft yellow light, stood a girl in a torn lab coat, barefoot on a clean rug.
She was filthy. Thin. Scarred.
She had never looked more like an angel.
"Come… inside," Li Xing said. Her voice still trembled, but her hand was steady as she reached for him.
Little Rock clawed his way upright, half-dragging, half-hauling the unconscious old man with him. Together they stumbled into the glowing entrance, collapsing onto the foyer mat as the door sealed behind them.
The moment the heavy door slammed shut, the storm's roar cut off.
Silence.
Little Rock rolled over, panting. His wide eyes drank in the inside of the bunker.
Soft, warm light.
Spotless walls.
A little cleaning bot—round and white—whirring determinedly around his boots, trying to suck up the melting bloodied snow he'd tracked in.
"Is this…" His voice shook. "…heaven?"
He turned toward Li Xing, who was frantically wiping crystal dust and frozen blood from the old man's face with a towel. Something in his gaze shifted.
He wasn't looking at a fellow lab rat anymore.
He was looking at an envoy of the god inside these walls.
Thump.
Little Rock dropped to his knees.
He bowed his head to the floor—toward Li Xing, and toward this impossible room—and knocked his forehead against the mat.
"Thank you… thank you, goddess big sister… thank you…"
[Reality · At the base of the building]
Whumm—
The phone in Lu Jin's hand flared again.
Golden light poured out—but this time, threads of pure silver flickered through it, finer and cleaner than anything he'd felt before.
[Detected: Intense Gratitude + Nascent Reverence.][Hidden Achievement Unlocked: First Cry of the Shelter][Holy Resonance Feedback Calculating…]
Reward Gained: Mercy's Afterglow
· Lung Fibrosis Repair Progress: +2.5%· Current Mental Resistance: E+ (slightly improved)
A cool, mint-like breeze flowed up his arm from where his fingers gripped the phone, sliding into his chest and expanding through every nerve.
The burning-glass sensation in his lungs eased, as if someone had wrapped them in gentle hands. The leaden weight in his legs lifted; his knees stopped threatening to buckle every other step.
Lu Jin leaned back against the wall and let out a long, staggering breath.
No blood in his mouth.
For the first time in a long while.
"Ha…"
He rolled his shoulder experimentally. Pain, yes—but not the kind that screamed terminal.
He felt… almost alive.
"Three thousand eight hundred eighty-eight…" he muttered, eyes drifting back to the bunker feed, "…plus food and water later…"
His gaze settled on the two figures shivering in the foyer.
"This had better be a profitable long-term investment."
His eyes narrowed.
The system's high-res camera zoomed automatically as his attention snagged on a detail.
The "unconscious" old scavenger's eyelids trembled.
The hand hidden under his patched coat shifted, fingers creeping toward his chest.
Lu Jin double-tapped and dragged, zooming in.
Under the ragged cloth, a sliver of black metal glinted. On its side, barely visible, was a tiny symbol:
A stylized ark, wrapped with twin strands of a double helix.
[War-Era Symbol Fragment Detected. Initiating Data Retrieval…][Match Found.]
Target Organization Code Name: "Ark"
Type: Illegal Ruin-Recovery Collective (Highly Clandestine)
Primary Activities:· War-era ruin exploration· Unauthorized gene sample trafficking· Black-market distribution of high-risk tech
Composite Danger Rating: B (Recommendation: Avoid… or Exploit.)
Note: Members often carry considerable undisclosed intel in neural storage. Certain factions have placed bounties on their capture—preferably alive.
"Ark, huh…" Lu Jin echoed softly, thumb resting on the line about high-risk tech.
He'd heard the rumors in the lower city—whispers about lunatics digging up "god bones" in the ruins—but this was the first time he'd seen a codename and dossier spelled out in front of him.
The pained twist on his face smoothed out.
If this old man really was Ark—outer circle, or better yet, inner—then the information in his skull might be worth more than ten bunkers stacked together.
Lu Jin's smile sharpened into something predatory.
"Interesting."
He pushed his glasses up, turned away from the rain, and started up the dark stairwell.
"Looks like I didn't just buy two extra mouths," he murmured. "I bought myself a walking treasure vault."
He lifted the phone again, flicking back to the bunker interface.
"Deep Space Echo, keep a hard lock on that old man's vitals," he said, voice echoing faintly off the concrete. "If he so much as twitches the wrong way—"
Lu Jin's lips curled.
"—the next ten-yuan bullet is for him."