The trek through the ruins was a slow crawl through a nightmare. Lin Feng Yi led the group through the Dead Zones where the skyscrapers of the old world leaned against each other like tired giants. Every time a piece of rusted metal groaned in the wind the scavengers flinched. Mei stayed so close to him that she kept stepping on his heels. Her breath came in quick jagged hitches that reminded him how terrified she was.
We should not be here Xiao Lin Chen whispered. His voice was barely audible over the crunch of glass under their feet. This is the Sector of the Howling. No one comes back from here.
Lin Feng Yi did not look back. The Hesperians do not come here either. That makes it the safest place on Earth.
He was using his eyes to track the street but it was not just vision. It was like a map was being drawn directly onto the back of his brain. To the others they were walking through a graveyard. To him he was navigating a maze of urban planning. He remembered this district well. In his old life it had been the site of a high security emergency shelter designed for the 2025 floods.
They reached a collapsed parking garage that looked like a mouth full of broken teeth. Lin Feng Yi stopped and began clearing away piles of wet black moss from a concrete slab.
Help me move this he ordered.
The two young men Geng and Hao hesitated. There is nothing here but dirt kid Geng said crossing his arms.
Lin Feng Yi looked at him. He did not yell. He just stared with eyes that felt far too old for his face. Move the slab or go back to the tunnels and wait for the Hesperian reinforcements. Your choice.
The silence that followed was heavy with a new kind of tension. Geng was a head taller and much stronger but he looked away first. He and Hao gripped the edge of the slab and heaved. They moved the stone with a grunt of effort revealing a heavy steel hatch underneath. It was remarkably free of rust.
Lin Feng Yi knelt and pressed his hand against a small dull glass panel on the side. It was a biometric scanner. It should have been dead for centuries. But as his skin touched the glass a faint ghostly blue light flickered deep inside. A jolt of recognition shot through his nerves. His DNA was a match. It was not because of the boy body but because of the soul that had been archived and reinserted.
The hatch hissed. The sound was clean and sharp. It was the sound of vacuum sealed perfection.
What is this Mei asked her voice trembling. Is it magic?
It is a legacy Lin Feng Yi said pulling the hatch open. Get inside. Now.
The air that blew out of the hole was dry and smelled of ozone and recycled plastic. It was the smell of 2025. For a moment Lin Feng Yi felt a crushing wave of homesickness that made his knees weak. He wanted to go down there and find a world that made sense. But he knew what he would find instead were ghosts.
The group descended a long ladder into a room filled with humming machinery. Emergency lights dim and orange flickered to life. The scavengers huddled together terrified by the smooth walls and the glowing screens. To them this was a demon lair.
Stay in the center of the room Lin Feng Yi told them. Do not touch anything. I need to check the life support.
He walked over to a terminal. His fingers hovered over the keyboard. It was a standard 2025 interface. He began typing and the clacking of the keys sounded like gunfire in the silent bunker. He felt a strange joy in the movement. His mind finally had a tool that matched its speed.
The screen was a mess of red warnings. System integrity was at fourteen percent. Power cells were depleted. The biosphere was critical. The bunker was dying. It had been running on a low power loop for two millennia. But then he saw a blinking icon in the corner of the screen. A new message from January 12 2026.
His heart stopped. That was the day after he had been put into stasis.
He clicked the file. A video window popped up grainy and distorted. A woman appeared on the screen. She was wearing the same uniform he used to wear. Her hair was a mess and her eyes were red from crying.
Feng Yi she whispered. If you are reading this the Mandate protocol worked. I am sorry. I am so sorry we had to leave you behind. The sky it did not just rain Feng Yi. Something came down with the water. Something that eats the light. We have sealed the Middle Realm as best we can but the Hesperian ships are already turning. They have started the Grafting. They are changing themselves to survive the dark.
She leaned closer to the camera her face flickering.
Do not trust the System Feng Yi. It was never meant to save us. It was meant to change us. If you want to stay human you have to—
The screen cut to static. The power flickered and the room plunged into darkness for three long seconds before the orange lights struggled back on.
Lin Feng Yi stood frozen. His breath was shallow. Don't trust the system. Xiao Lin Mei's voice came from the dark. The walls are talking. I heard a lady voice.
It was just a recording Mei he said though his voice sounded hollow. Just a ghost.
He turned away from the terminal feeling a deep sense of disappointment. He had come here looking for a weapon or a miracle. Instead he found a warning from a dead woman and a dying bunker.
But he could not let the others see his fear. He looked at the scavengers. They were staring at him waiting for him to tell them they were safe. He realized then that he was trapped. He was trapped between the golden script in his eyes that was rewriting his soul and the people who needed him to be a god.
There is food here he said pointing to a storage locker. And clean water. We stay here for three days. I am going to fix the power and then I am going to show you how to use the machines.
We cannot stay here kid Geng said his voice loud with nervous energy. This place is wrong. It feels like a tomb.
Lin Feng Yi walked up to Geng. He was much shorter than the man but he did not back down. It is a tomb. It is the tomb of the old world. And we are going to rob it to build the new one. Now grab those crates and start moving them to the sleeping quarters.
The tension in the room was thick. Geng looked like he wanted to hit him to prove that he was still the strongest. But the humming of the bunker and the strange authority in Lin Feng Yi eyes made him move. He grumbled but he started moving the crates.
Lin Feng Yi sat on the floor his back against the cooling fans of the main processor. He felt the golden calligraphy pulsing in his eyes again but this time it felt heavier. Like a collar.
He closed his eyes. He thought about the woman in the video. Something that eats the light. He looked at his hands in the orange glow. They were still the boy hands thin scarred and dirty. He hated how much he missed the woman voice. He hated that he could not even remember her name only the way she looked at him through the screen.
The strategy had to change. It was not just about buildings and traditions anymore. It was about him. He had to keep the strategist mind but he could not lose the boy heart. If he became just a machine of logic he would be no better than the Hesperians.
Xiao Lin Mei sat down next to him. She handed him a small hard piece of dried fruit she had found in her pocket. You look sad. Are you still thinking about the lady?
Lin Feng Yi took the fruit. It was sour and dusty but it was the most human thing he had felt all day. No Mei. I am thinking about the future.
Is it going to be bright she asked.
He looked at the flickering orange lights and the rusted hatch above them. He thought about the monsters waiting in the dark.
It is going to be loud he said taking a bite of the fruit. And it is going to be a lot of work. But I promise you Mei you will not have to live in the dirt forever.
He watched her fall asleep against his shoulder. He stayed awake listening to the hum of the bunker. He had three hundred and ninety eight chapters left to go and the world was already trying to break him. But as he watched the digestion percentage tick up slowly in the corner of his eye he felt a spark of that old 2025 arrogance.
They wanted to eat the light? Fine. He would just have to build a bigger sun.
The next few hours were spent in a blur of activity. He forced himself up ignoring the exhaustion that threatened to pull him under. He had to stabilize the power grid before the life support failed completely. He opened the floor panels revealing a mess of cables and glowing tubes. This was the heart of the bunker.
He found the primary power cell. It was a massive block of jade infused crystal that pulsed with a faint dying light. It was an early prototype of the technology that would eventually lead to the Arcologies. It was beautiful and it was broken.
He began to reroute the energy flow using his knowledge of the grid. Every move he made was a gamble. If he crossed the wrong wires the whole bunker could go up in flames. But he did not hesitate. He could see the path. The golden lines in his eyes showed him the way like a glowing thread through a labyrinth.
By the time the power stabilized the orange lights had turned a steady warm yellow. The air in the bunker felt fresher cooler. The scavengers were all asleep now huddled together on the floor. Only Lin Feng Yi remained awake watching the screens.
He found a folder labeled Project Jade. He clicked on it and his eyes widened. It was the first blueprint for a self sustaining city. It was the key to everything. But it was encrypted. He needed more power more knowledge and a higher sequence to open it.
He leaned back and closed his eyes. He felt a sense of purpose he had not felt in centuries. He was not just surviving anymore. He was building. And he was going to start right here in this tomb.