Juan lay in the suffocating silence of the container home. Inside the dark room, the blue interface emitted by the Primary Core illuminated the rusted walls like a ghostly lantern. The strange sensation throbbing behind his eyelids—Analytical Vision—clamped his mind like a vise. He wasn't yet sure if this was a blessing or a radiation sickness contracted from the remnants of the Great Storm. With every breath, the data on that transparent screen in his mind continued to flow. Juan remained motionless for a while, deciding to test this new ability.
When he fixed his gaze on the ceiling of the container, the simple metal plate he had assumed was there for years suddenly deconstructed into layers. His eyes could perceive micro-fractures within the metal, the depth of the corrosion, and even the faint magnetic field emitted by a small data stick hidden there years ago. Juan sat up in surprise. Analytical Vision pointed toward an old water-sealed compartment hidden behind the insulation in the corner of the container. Reaching for it, he indeed found a small cache with a few silver credits tucked away—something he had never noticed before. This was only the beginning. Every corner of the room, every screw, was now a puzzle to be solved. But the fear within him wouldn't die; what if this was just the final trick his mind was playing on him?
When the heavy door of the container creaked open, Juan immediately shut down the interface. Sofia had returned from her early morning patrol. Her face was pale, and her shoulders slumped lower than usual. She placed two synthetic bars on the table and remained silent for a moment without looking at her brother.
"Juan, I have bad news" Sofia said, her voice raspy with exhaustion. "The high council has issued a new decree. All new unranked and E-tiers will be sent to the Waste Pits. The lists will be announced tomorrow morning." These words instantly froze the air in the room. The Waste Pits were one of the darkest, deadliest regions of New Madrid. All the city's radioactive and technological waste was dumped there, and those who failed their awakening were forced to work like slaves to sort through the refuse.
Juan reacted by clenching his teeth. "The Waste Pits? Half of those who go there don't even last a year, Sofia. I can't accept this." His voice held both rage and a profound sense of desperation.
Sofia reached out to take her brother's hands. "We have no other choice! If you don't get a placement, they'll exile you from the city entirely. At least there, you'll have a roof over your head. And I can send you extra rations from my guard salary." The fear in Sofia's eyes pierced Juan's heart like a knife. He knew she didn't see this as a way to boss him around, but as the only path to keep him alive. Still, the new power within him whispered for him not to surrender.
"I just... I need some time. Maybe there's another way. Maybe I can find work in a repair shop with my technical skills" Juan said, trying to keep his voice calm. Sofia shook her head with a bitter smile. "You've been branded as a 'None,' Juan. No one will let you into a workshop. Please be realistic, I don't want to lose you." This conversation sparked a tension between them they had never experienced before. Sofia, with her protective instincts, was trying to push Juan toward a safe but enslaved life, while Juan was trying to hold on to the secret he didn't quite understand yet.
When Sofia retreated to the corner to rest, Juan reactivated the Analytical Vision in his mind. He tilted his head back and began to track the city's main power lines running above the container. This wasn't just looking; he was reading data. The energy surges passing through the cables transformed into bright yellow graphs before his eyes. He began to see exactly when the city's power grid peaked, during which hours the voltage dropped, and the energy distribution schedule of Sector 7 down to the second. This was a calculation; he was seeing the system's weak points, the very pulse of the city. He was no longer just a scavenger; he was a data hunter.
Just then, a harsh and rhythmic pounding on the corrugated metal door shattered the silence. Thud! Thud! In an instant, the Analytical Vision in Juan's mind flared as if entering combat mode. As his field of vision turned red, three distinct heat signatures appeared behind the door. The magnetic fields they emitted made it clear they were armed. Juan's eyes locked onto the door's lock; his vision generated a technical schematic showing the worn-out pin inside the lock and the critical weak point on the door's hinges.
Sofia sprang awake and immediately reached for her weapon. Juan remained still. His eyes tracked the signatures behind the door. It didn't matter who they were; what mattered was that Juan could now calculate, in seconds, how to stop them or how to destroy them. Fear was being replaced by an icy resolve. Juan looked at Sofia and whispered: "Don't open the door. The upper left corner of the lock is weak; if they hit it there, the lock will shatter."
As the noise at the door increased, the slow pace of Juan's life had come to an end. He was no longer just watching; he was preparing to make a move.
The moment Juan finished his whisper, his mind began to overheat like a computer processor under the influence of the Analytical Vision. When the pounding on the door echoed once more, Juan instinctively pressed his hand against a rusted cable duct on the wall.
"Get out of here!" Juan shouted. In that instant, a wave of blue energy erupted from the Primary Core, surged rapidly through the cable duct, and reached the doorknob. A metallic crack and a cry of pain rose from outside. The men at the door were jolted by an unexpected electric arc.
Through the Analytical Vision, Juan saw the heat signatures outside retreating in panic. "There's a malfunction here! The circuits are frying, let's go!" one of the men said. As the footsteps quickly faded away, Juan's knees buckled.
His vision began to darken rapidly. The blue interface in his mind flashed one last time, displaying a red warning:
[CRITICAL ENERGY LEVEL - PARASITIC OPTIMIZER ACTIVE]
Juan heard Sofia's worried cry, but he no longer had the strength to answer. Feeling even the last scrap of energy in his body being sucked away by the core, he lost consciousness.
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'Copper Lick' — A metallic, battery-like taste that fills Juan's mouth when Analytical Vision is active, accompanied by a high-pitched ringing sound similar to a spinning hard drive.
'The Ten-Burn' — A ritual where Sector 7 residents burn small scraps of plastic or cloth to mask their scent from the city's biosensors, filling the air with a sharp, sickly-sweet smoke.
'Grid Ghost' — A phenomenon where the city's power barrier projects ghostly images of old silhouettes onto the fog clouds above the slums at night.