The Lin household, a sprawling three-story mansion of glass and steel, had become a haven of fragile hope in the midst of a collapsing world. Lin Kai guided the fifty-odd survivors he had rescued into the grand foyer, their faces a mixture of awe and dawning greed.
They stared at the crystal chandeliers that dripped from the high ceilings like frozen tears, and their eyes lingered on the priceless art that adorned the walls. They were awed by the sheer size and grandeur, but the awe was quickly replaced by a silent, calculating hunger. Their hearts, in a moment of crisis, began to whisper of possessions and power. They were seeing a lifeline, not just a shelter.
But then their gazes would fall to the twin katanas resting silently at Lin Kai's back, and the greeds in their eyes get cooled, their hands clenching at their sides in tense, unspoken control. He was the one who had saved them, and he was the one who held power.
Han Zhe and Jing Lie, seasoned veterans of the corporate world, watched this silent exchange with knowing eyes. They remained quiet, understanding that in this new, unforgiving reality, internal conflict was a luxury they could not afford.
As the sun, a wounded orange smear on the horizon, began to sink below the skyscrapers, the tension in the mansion grew. Lin Kai and the couple discussed what to do next, their voices low and hushed as the reality of their situation sank in.
A thin man, his face pale with hunger, raised a timid hand. "Sir… we are hungry. We haven't had a proper meal since… since before this happened."
The murmur of agreement rippled through the survivors. Lin Kai frowned, his gaze sweeping over the crowd. He hadn't thought to bring any food. The mansion had some, of course, but not enough for fifty people for more than a day.
His voice, calm and firm, carried authority. "There is not much food here. What little there is, will have to be shared among all of us."
The murmurs became a chorus of protest. A woman near the back spoke up, her voice shrill with indignation. "We can't stay on an empty stomach! We have children! We need food!"
Another man, his face flushed with anger, demanded to know why they should suffer when they should have a rescuer. Lin Kai's expression did not change. He was a rock in the rising tide of their panic.
He raised his voice just enough to silence the crowd. "It will be dark soon. I do not know what other creatures lurk out there besides the Corrupted. I value my life more than anything, so I will not venture out into the night. If you have a problem with that, you are free to go and find food yourselves."
His words, delivered in a cold, matter-of-fact tone, were like a bucket of ice water over a fire. The people quieted down, their faces falling in on themselves.
Han Zhe, seeing their desperation, stepped forward. "Lin Kai, there is a large grocery store just two kilometers from here. We are strong in numbers. Perhaps we can go together and look for food?"
The idea sparked new hope in the crowd. The quiet dissatisfaction was replaced by loud discussion. A man, standing tall in an expensive black tuxedo, stepped out from the group. His voice was persuasive, smooth, and full of self-interest. He looked at Lin Kai and then to the crowd.
"Look at him! He is our strength! He is a beacon for our hope. He should take responsibility as a citizen and protect us!" He shrugged, a gesture of casual entitlement. "The strong have a duty to protect the weak in times of humanity's need."
The crowd began to look at Lin Kai with a new sense of entitlement, their fear momentarily forgotten. Han Zhe and Jing Lie looked at each other, and Lin Kai saw them get swayed, their expressions torn between their loyalty to him and the perceived needs of the crowd. Han Zhe spoke up again, his voice filled with a desperate plea. "Lin Kai, can you please go with us?"
Lin Kai inwardly sighed. He couldn't believe how quickly these people turned to him for help, and yet how quickly they demanded it. He looked outside. The sun had almost fully disappeared. He was running out of time. He closed his eyes for a moment, his mind working quickly. He had a plan.
He opened his eyes, and his gaze was steady. He turned to Han Zhe. "Where is the food mall?" Han Zhe gave him a street name and pointed the direction.
Lin Kai nodded. "Uncle Han, Aunt Jiang, you both are experienced and have kept calm. You will stay here and protect these people. I will go alone. I can move faster and more quietly."
The crowd broke out in cheers and relief, thanking him profusely. Han Zhe looked at him, his face filled with concern. "Will you be all right? It's too dangerous to go out alone." Lin Kai gave him a curt nod. "I will be fine. I'll be back soon."
With that, he slipped out of the house into the deep indigo of twilight.
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Meanwhile, in a university computer lab, Lin Ling, hunched over her laptop, had only a few moments of dread after the call with her brother cut out. Her fingers froze over the keyboard, the muffled, terrified scream from Lin Kai's phone still ringing in her ears. He had told her to be careful, but what did that mean?
Her gaze was drawn to the large panoramic window of the lab, where a thick, churning cloud of black and purple energy was swirling ominously in the sky, blotting out the last rays of sunlight. The strange, suffocating energy from the cloud had permeated every fiber of the room. It was wrong. It didn't follow any known scientific principle.
Then, a deep, resonating voice echoed not in the room, but in her very skull. It spoke of a "Primal Decree" and a "new order." Her mind, a finely tuned instrument of logic and code, reeled at the impossibility of it.
This is a signal. A frequency. It's impossible, her thoughts screamed.
She looked out the window and saw it. The students, the professors, the staff… they were all twisting, their bodies contorting as black, corrupted veins snaked across their skin. They were no longer human. They were monsters. And they were coming for the lab.
Lin Ling's hands trembled. Her mind was a fortress of rational thought, but nothing could prepare her for this. The door burst open, and a corrupted being—a fellow student she had just had a coffee with—limped inside, its face a mask of hunger.
Her heart hammered against her ribs, a frantic, terrified drumbeat. She was no fighter. Her entire life was spent behind a screen, her power derived from code and commands. She had nothing to fight with. She had nothing.
The corrupted being lunged, and Lin Ling scrambled backward, but it was too fast. It tackled her, and its maw, filled with black, rotted teeth, sank deep into her forearm. A cold, acrid fire shot through her veins, a chaotic aether that tasted of death and decay. She felt her body begin to seize, the poison trying to twist her into a monster just like it.
But in that moment, a different kind of command surged through her mind. All her life, she had given commands to machines—to computers, to programs, to networks. Her mind was hard-wired for control. And in this moment of pure terror, her mind saw not a monster's body, but a corrupted, broken system.
Stop, her mind screamed, with the same force she would use to execute a command prompt. Stop.
The corrupted being's muscles seized instantly. Its limbs froze. The fire in her veins vanished, replaced by a cold, tingling numbness. Her mind pulsed with a new, strange connection. The corrupted being was no longer a monster; it was her puppet.
A cold, clear voice hummed in her mind, a different voice from the Primal Decree.
"First Soul has been reclaimed. Rune of Necromancy Awakened."
Lin Ling's eyes widened, not in fear, but in dawning comprehension. The mental interface she had seen earlier filled with data she could now comprehend, as if she had just downloaded a new program.
Vitality: 180/180
Aether: 400/400
Order: Zero Order (Mid)
Rune: Necromancy
She looked at the lifeless body of the student, a puppet controlled by her will. She felt a wave of disgust, but her mind, ever analytical, saw the logic. It was not a human anymore. It was a corpse. A tool. A weapon. She had commanded it, and it had obeyed.
Her hand, where the corrupted one had bitten her, no longer hurt. The wound was sealed over, leaving behind a faint scar in the shape of a skeletal hand. The power flowing through her body was cold, logical, and absolute.
She looked at the other corrupted beings pressing against the window. She no longer felt fear. Her sisters were somewhere on campus. Lin Ming was in the design lab, and Lin Yu was in the chemical engineering building.
She didn't know if they had seen the same cloud, if they had felt the same change. But she was a protector. She was a survivor. She would find them. With a single thought, she raised the corrupted being's corpse and sent it to stand guard at the door. Her family was in danger, and for the first time in her life, she had the power to do something about it. She would not let them down.
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With that, Lin Kai slipped out of the house into the deep indigo of twilight. The world had become a darker, more terrifying place. He moved like a ghost, his aether-enhanced senses on high alert. He could hear the low, hungry growls of the Corrupted echoing from every direction.
He saw groups of them gathered in the streets, feasting on corpses that were once human. The sight made his stomach lurch, and his blood ran cold, but he didn't stop. He had a mission. He had to succeed.
He reached the mall, a fortress of steel and glass, only to find the entrance littered with the bodies of corrupted ones, a grotesque welcome mat.
He moved silently, his hands flashing as he severed the heads of five corrupted ones near the entrance, a grim toll to pay for entry. He slipped inside and made his way to the food section. He found a massive supply of non-perishable food. His face fell. He couldn't possibly carry all of this.
He sat down in a quiet corner, his mind racing. There had to be a way. His vast knowledge of Avalonia's cultivation arts was his greatest asset. He closed his eyes and started to search through the endless library of his mind. He needed a way to carry all this food, and in his old world, adventurers had had used a specific technique for this.
After some time, he found it. A low-grade spatial technique he had used in his previous life, quite famous among adventurers for its convenience and ease of learning. It was a simple technique, but it was perfect for his situation. He took a deep breath, and with a focused mind, he started to learn the technique.
The darkness outside had now become absolute, a suffocating blackness broken only by the eerie, red glow of the city's corrupt inhabitants. Lin Kai's eyes snapped open. He raised one hand, his aether swirling around his palm, and a small, invisible portal opened above it. He felt a sense of immense satisfaction. He could do this. He was ready.
He immediately began to move the supplies into the portal, the food and water vanishing into his new spatial pocket. He filled it to its limit and then, satisfied, left the mall, his path to home now illuminated by the faint glow of distant streetlights. He saw many more corrupted ones, but he was calm this time. He was no longer a victim; he was a hunter.
He moved silently through the streets, but he felt it. A chill, a feeling of pure dread that had nothing to do with the night or the corrupted. The air around him became suffocatingly heavy. He felt his heart tremble in his chest, and his primal instincts screamed at him to run.
There was a creature nearby, and its power level was far beyond his own. He couldn't see it, but he could feel its malevolent aura. It was a predator, and he was its prey.
Suddenly, a massive, grotesque figure emerged from the darkness. Its red eyes glowed with an ancient hunger, and a low, terrifying growl rumbled from its chest. It was a nightmare given form, a bigger version of the corrupted ones.
Lin Kai's mind screamed the terrifying truth: a First Order creature. His body began to tremble, his resolve wavering in the face of such overwhelming power. He gritted his teeth and forced himself to calm down.
There was no escape. Running was not an option. He drew his twin blades, a desperate prayer on his lips. His only choice was to fight to the death. He lunged forward, the blades flashing in the darkness.