Panic was a cold fire in Kael's veins, but the image of his sister's face was the fuel. Lily. He had to move.
His hand was on the doorknob, but his eyes were glued to the floating text box.
// Bool: Locked=True
He pulled. The handle didn't turn. It was a simple, mundane fact of life that had suddenly become a life-or-death obstacle. He had no tools, and kicking down a solid-core door was the stuff of movies, not something a man whose primary exercise was typing could do.
His mind raced. Code Perception. The skill didn't just let him see the world's code; it felt... connected to it. He could feel the 'True' value of the lock like an itch in his brain.
If it's code, can it be edited?
He closed his eyes, focusing on the single line of text. He ignored the screams from outside, the pounding of his own heart. He imagined the line of code in a text editor. He pictured a blinking cursor right after the word 'True'. He visualized deleting it, letter by letter, and typing 'False' in its place.
It felt ridiculous. It felt impossible. But it was all he had.
// Bool: Locked=Tr|
The text flickered. A sharp pain lanced through his temples, like his brain was trying to push a signal through a wire that didn't exist. He gritted his teeth, pouring all his focus into that single, simple command. Change. Just change.
// Bool: Locked=False
Click.
The sound was soft, almost inaudible against the chaos outside, but to Kael, it was a thunderclap. His eyes shot open. He slowly, tentatively, turned the knob. It gave way. The door swung open.
He stumbled into the dimly lit hallway, his breath coming in ragged gasps. The pain in his head subsided, replaced by a dizzying sense of awe. He had done it. He had hacked a lock with his mind.
The euphoria lasted less than a second.
Down the hall, near the stairwell door, was one of them. The creature from the roars. It was short, barely four feet tall, with sickly green skin stretched tight over a gaunt frame. Dressed in ragged leather scraps, it clutched a rusty, notched blade in one hand, its beady black eyes scanning the hallway with a malevolent intelligence.
His [Code Perception] activated instinctively.
// Entity: Goblin Scavenger // Int: Level=1 // Int: Health_Points=50/50 // String: Intent=Search_and_Destroy_Non-System_Entities
The last line sent a chill down his spine. Non-System Entities. That was him. He was a target.
The Goblin's head snapped in his direction. It let out a piercing shriek and began to charge, its short legs carrying it across the worn carpet with terrifying speed.
There was no time to think. Kael scrambled backward, his body screaming at him to run, to shut the door, to hide. But there was nowhere to go.
His eyes darted around the hallway, his perception skill feeding him a stream of data. A stained patch of carpet (// Status: Filthy), a discarded flyer (// Object: Pizza_Ad_Expired), the flickering light fixture on the ceiling directly between him and the goblin.
// Object: Fluorescent_Light_Fixture // Float: Condition=0.15 // Bool: Power_State=True (Flickering)
Condition: 0.15. That meant it was at 15% of its functional capacity. It was already broken. What would happen if he pushed it further?
The Goblin was halfway to him, its rusty blade raised.
Kael didn't have time for a complex edit. He focused on the single value: 0.15. He didn't try to change it to something specific. He just shoved all his mental force into it, imagining the number dropping, plummeting into the negative. Break!
The pain in his head was sharper this time, but he pushed through it.
CRACK-KABOOM!
The light fixture exploded in a shower of sparks and shattered glass. The Goblin, caught directly underneath, shrieked as the ballast overloaded, creating a blinding flash of white light and a deafening bang. It dropped its blade, clawing at its eyes, completely stunned and disoriented.
Kael didn't wait to see what would happen next. He bolted.
He sprinted past the stunned creature, yanked open the heavy door to the stairwell, and slammed it shut behind him. He could hear the Goblin screeching in fury on the other side.
He leaned against the cool concrete wall of the stairwell, chest heaving, his body trembling with adrenaline. He had survived. He had faced a monster and survived. Not with strength, but with a glitch.
After a moment, he crept to the dirt-caked window on the landing. He peered down at the street seven floors below, and the true scope of the nightmare hit him. It wasn't just one Goblin. The street was teeming with them, and worse. Hulking, dog-like creatures with matted fur dragged people from their cars. Winged reptiles circled in the sky. The world had become a bestiary.
It was a warzone. And Lily was on the other side of it.
The fear returned, colder and deeper than before. But now, it was mixed with something else. A flicker of savage determination. He had a weapon. A strange, unpredictable weapon, but a weapon nonetheless.
He took one last look at the chaos below, his jaw tightening. Then he turned and began his descent down the stairs.