The shelter no longer felt safe.
By dawn, the flickering emergency lights had dimmed to a soft, failing pulse. Yue Fei stood near the stairwell, listening to the wind howling faintly above—like the world itself was exhaling pain.
Lu Zhen ran a systems check on his HUD. No new pings. No signal from Base Tianlei.
Still 139.4 kilometers.
They wouldn't get there on foot. Not like this.
"I've been thinking," Yue Fei said, crouching over a wrinkled city map salvaged from a vending booth. "There's a depot half a day from here—used to be a scrapyard. If any place still has fuel or wheels, it's there."
"You want to find a working vehicle?" Lu asked.
"No," she said. "I want to find a dead one we can fix."
He blinked. "You know how to fix armored transports?"
"I know how to bolt steel over an engine and not die in it."
She tapped the map.
"If we can find a drivable shell, we move fast during the day. But only during the day."
Lu frowned. "Why not at night?"
Yue Fei didn't smile. "Because the real predators come out when the sky fractures. Some track sound. Others... heat. Vehicles glow like beacons to them. That's why survivors reinforce their rides—plated windows, turret slots, thermal dampeners."
He nodded slowly. "So these vehicles are like... mobile bunkers."
"Exactly. You drive by day. At night, you hide inside the shell and pray it's thick enough to hold."
For the first time since waking up, Lu Zhen felt a strange warmth. Not from the air—but from the realization that despite everything, humanity had adapted. Bent, but not broken.
"I heard rumors," he said quietly, "that some nations reinforced old military strongholds. Bunkers, dam fortresses... whole metro systems turned into civilian shelters."
Yue nodded. "We called them Bastions. Last-stand cities. Not all of them fell."
"Base Tianlei," he murmured, "might still be one of them."
She glanced at him. "Then we better get moving."
They packed quickly. Lu discarded excess scrap, keeping only vital components. His Vault ticked down, freeing just enough space. His weapon holster felt light—but at least the five bullets inside were real, forged by his own hands.
When they emerged from the shelter, the world was drenched in morning ash.
Skyscrapers slouched like dying beasts. Trees had fused with twisted metal. The air carried the scent of corrosion and old static.
Ahead, the cracked highway stretched toward the horizon like a broken spine.
"Any idea where this depot is exactly?" Lu asked.
"Near the elevated rail," Yue said. "We follow the overpass east, then cut through the logistics district. If we're lucky, the scrapyard's wall still stands."
They moved quickly, staying in the shadows. Lu kept his HUD active, scanning every pile of debris for usable metal. Once, they passed a burned-out caravan of vehicles—old survivor convoys, melted from the inside out.
Lu crouched beside one of the twisted steel husks. He touched its frame, fingers brushing a dented family photo half-melted into the seat.
It triggered something in his chest.
He remembered a different time. A quiet morning train ride to university. His tablet playing lectures. Warm bread in his bag. Headphones in his ears, the world still normal.
He blinked.
And now?
He was scavenging corpses for metal to build bullets.
"Keep moving," Yue called. "We're exposed here."
He stood and followed.
By midday, they reached the logistics zone. The buildings here were skeletal, many collapsed entirely. One warehouse still stood, its upper floors burned black, but its loading bay was intact.
They slipped inside.
Piles of scrap metal, wiring coils, even broken forklifts filled the space.
Yue grinned. "Welcome to the scrapyard."
Lu's HUD blinked.
Material Cluster Detected
Composition: Mixed Grade
Decomposition Available: Tier 0–1
Vault Efficiency Boost: +10% (Stable Ground Zone)
"We can build here," he said.
"For a while," Yue agreed. "But only until dusk."
"Because of the sky," he murmured.
"Because of what's in it."
They scavenged silently. Lu found a cache of wiring buried beneath collapsed beams. He pulled loose a battered panel—its underside coated in insulation.
"Could be useful for energy dispersal," he noted aloud.
Yue was dragging an old axle across the floor. "You thinking weapon, armor, or engine?"
Lu smirked. "All of the above."
She raised an eyebrow, then threw him a small item. It was a charred fuse case with an intact circuit core.
"Then you better get started."
Lu approached the rear section of the warehouse, where a shattered design board still hung on the wall. Among the burned blueprints, one remained mostly legible—encased in soot but protected under a cracked glass frame.
He brushed it clean with his sleeve.
A diagram lit up on his HUD:
[Blueprint Stored – Phoenix Rig Type-07 (Partial)]
Status: Survivor Vehicle – Modular Bunker Frame
Notes: Requires Assembly Bay | Missing: Engine Core, Suspension Array, Rear Panel
He exhaled.
This wasn't just a vehicle.
It was a home. A hope.
"This is it," he whispered. "This is how we survive long range."
"It's just a frame," Yue said.
Lu smiled faintly. "Not anymore."
As dusk approached, the light outside turned amber, then gray.
Without waiting for full nightfall, they retreated into the narrow storage room behind the workshop—thick concrete walls and only one entrance. Lu reinforced it with a forklift frame and a stack of supply crates.
There was no heat. No fire. Only silence.
"This'll do for now," Yue said, rolling out an old emergency mat.
Lu checked his HUD one last time. The signal from Tianlei remained lost.
Outside, the world fell quiet… and then came the first distant scream.
System Status – Lu Zhen
Decomposition Level: 1
EXP: 64 / 100
Crafting Level: 2
EXP: 43 / 300
→ 9mm Ammo Crafted: 4 / 10
→ Trait: Pattern Familiarity I (Ammo Craft Speed -2s)
Vault: 0.93 m³ / 1.00 m³
Weapon: Rusted Pistol
Integrity: 58%
Rounds Loaded: 5 / 6
Blueprints:
– Scout Drone Frame (Locked)
– Bullet Magazine v0.1
– 9mm Ammo
– Gunpowder Synth
– Scrap Blade (Unstable)
– Survival Barricade
– Rusted Frame Pistol
– Phoenix Rig Type-07 (Partial)
Loot:
– Damaged Battery Core
– Scrap Fiber Mesh
– Circuit Core
– Wiring Coil x2
– Scrap Insulation
Route: Base Tianlei – Distance: 139.4 km
Status: Signal Interrupted
There was still ash in the air.
But also sparks.
And maybe… blueprints for a future.