The hideout had taken on the hum of real life—clattering pots, low conversation, children's cautious laughter.Jaden, however, sat apart on a cracked maintenance bench, eyes fixed on the holo-blue glow of his personal interface.
The Inventory tab—enabled after the General-tier fight—still felt new. He hadn't opened it since the night it appeared. Now, he traced a fingertip across the projected icons, letting the system remind him where each prize had come from.
He tapped the first item.
The Steel-Tipped Combat Knife—a rare drop from the Reaver he'd taken down in the warehouse district—remained pristine. Its edge never dulled, perfect for Phase Trigger strikes. A reliable weapon that never failed him.
Next was the Reinforced Tactical Jacket, recovered from an Eclipse quartermaster's locker during the library rescue. Lightweight, but with ceramic plates sewn into the lining, offering a +2 bonus to defense. It fit him snugly, a subtle but constant shield against the chaos outside.
Then came the rarer materials.
The Reinforced Bone Plate, a hard, ivory fragment chiseled directly from the General zombie's exoskeleton. Raya had pried it loose while Jaden kept guard. It pulsed faintly now—reactive armor potential, if he ever found a crafter.
The Mutated Muscle Tissue Sample, also taken from the General, still twitched faintly in containment. Its fibers hummed with latent energy, like it wasn't entirely dead. Crafting material, maybe—though how or what it could be used for, he didn't yet know.
And then the most dangerous of the haul—the Corrupted Energy Core. A dark crimson sphere that pulsed in time with his heartbeat. It had been pulled directly from the General's chest. The system warned: Handle with extreme caution. Unknown interaction.Even now, it seemed to whisper as he stared.
He shifted to the Lock Fragment (Unstable), a jagged shard the Reaver had vomited out upon death. Data around it glitched and twitched. Jaden suspected it could be used to upgrade an existing Lock—but with a chance of backfiring explosively.
His fingers paused over the Map Fragment—Sector 9, Red Zone. He'd found it dislodged from a wrecked data kiosk in the collapsed library. It showed a tunnel network that none of his existing maps listed. A hidden path. Straight beneath Eclipse-controlled territory.
Then there were the supplies. Two Adrenal Boosters, standard drops from enhanced zombies, great for emergencies—momentary boosts to strength and agility. Four Energy Ration Packs, scavenged from multiple runs, enough to keep his people fed another few days.
Jaden lingered on the map again.
A tunnel under hostile territory. Risky. But if there was anything Eclipse wanted hidden, it'd be below ground.
He closed the map overlay and opened the Lock Fragment once more. Lines of corrupted code scrolled across his vision. The system wasn't ready—or maybe he wasn't ready. Not yet. Thirty-some survivors depended on him. It wasn't the time for reckless upgrades.
Marcus's footsteps echoed down the corridor, gravel crunching beneath his boots. He dropped a coil of wire with a grunt.
"Got the southern barricade reinforced," he said. His gaze flicked to the fading interface over Jaden's wrist. "That jacket still fits you?"
Jaden gave a small smile. "Fits fine."
Marcus raised a brow. "Hard to believe we keep turning up gear like that."
"Hard world," Jaden muttered. "Rewards the stubborn."
Marcus gave a sharp laugh and walked off toward the tool rack.
Alone again, Jaden stared at the empty space beside the loot. His hands curled into fists.
He had an arsenal.He had paths on the map.He had options.
For the first time since the Lock System had appeared, he felt ahead of the curve.
Tomorrow, he'd choose which door to kick in first.