I felt different from the inside out, as if things had changed fundamentally for me. And it wasn’t far from the truth. After all, I achieved what those gym bois spent months and years working for in a matter of days.

’What a day to be alive!’

When the stone went cold and crumbled into dust in my palm, I checked the monitor again.

[Strength: 47 | Speed: 41 | Endurance: 54 | Reflex: 43]

[Overall Combat Rating: E (Peak)]

"Almost there," Zero said, peering over my shoulder. "Some practice and you’ll cross into D properly. Your body needs to settle the new mass before the rank tips."

"D-rank." I rolled the word in my mouth. "I’m going to be a D-rank."

"My baby is graduating," she cooed.

"Don’t."

"Such a big, strong sugar boy."

"Don’t."

She laughed and patted my cheek and stole the last bite of my third sandwich, which I had been saving for myself.

Whatever. Her laugh also made me happy, so it was worth it.

...

We talked through the rest of the plan over the dishes.

The shelter... we needed a bigger one, eventually, but not yet. For now, more people meant more risk than reward. The right move was to start small — pick our first additions carefully, build trust, build infrastructure — and grow from there.

Quality before quantity. Zero was firm about that, and I wholeheartedly agreed with her. A large shelter without proper strength would just invite trouble.

The food was our wedge, of course. The Earth tech was our long game, and my rank was our short-term project.

And our first scouting trip, she said, should be District 16.

"There’s a settlement there," she explained, drying her hands on a rag. "Not much, but more than nothing. About five thousand people, more or less. Five gangs run it together in a kind of uneasy treaty. They control different sectors and pretend to cooperate when outsiders are watching. Call it a town if you’re being generous."

"Does it have a name?" I asked.

She leaned against me and said, "Yup, they call it Halfmark. Don’t ask why, because I don’t think anyone remembers."

"Charming." 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

"Trade happens there, and the exchange of information also happens there. Information is what we need right now more than goods. We go in, we look quietly, we don’t show our hand, we get a feel for what’s moving. If we like what we see, we trade a little something to make a contact. Small. No fresh food yet."

"Why not?" I could guess, but she looked so beautiful explaining everything that I couldn’t help myself from asking.

Zero must have known this, but she still went ahead and explained.

"Because the moment one wrong person in Halfmark realizes you can produce real bread, the entire equation changes, and we won’t be ready for what it changes into. We test the water with something boring first. A brick of preserved coffee. A small bottle of decent oil. Boring miracles. Save the holy ones for later."

I nodded slowly. ’Yup, patient and strategic. Note to self: do not, under any circumstances, walk into a five-gang city waving a steak.’

"Halfmark it is," I announced.

...

The walk took the better part of an hour. The afternoon sun was thin and watery through the haze, throwing long, pale shadows behind the broken skyline.

Zero led the way since she knew things better here, and I simply followed. We both stayed off the wide streets and moved through alleys and the back lines of collapsed plazas.

Halfmark sat in what used to be a commercial sub-district, ringed by a wall of welded shipping containers and salvaged rebar that someone had clearly invested years into. It was worthy of being called an apocalypse shelter, to be honest.

’Maybe I can add it to my novel.’

As an author, I felt like writing everything I experienced into my novels. After all, I was the only one on the whole Earth who had experienced a true apocalypse world.

We didn’t go in immediately.

We watched, from the lip of a half-collapsed parking deck, as the gates opened and closed and figures moved in and out.

They had carts, hand-pushed wagons, and even a rare working motorbike. A little human economy doing its best to remember being human.

"Looks alive," I murmured.

She nodded in agreement. "It is. Keep watching, maybe we’ll get something before entering the town."

We were watching when the convoy came through.

Three armored vehicles. They were old military hardware, the boxy ones with the angled hulls, painted matte black with no markings. They came in fast from the north access, kicking up a wake of pale dust, and the front gate opened for them without question. The guards stepped aside and even bowed respectfully.

The lead vehicle didn’t even slow.

The convoy slid through Halfmark like a knife through butter and headed for the tall buildings at the center of the district, the only intact high-rises in sight, and disappeared into a fortified courtyard at their base.

Zero’s eyes narrowed.

"They have someone inside," she said quietly.

I looked over at her. "Kidnapped?"

"Probably. Three vehicles for one passenger. Front-and-back coverage, no markings, fast in. What do you think?"

Normally, I would have assumed it was some VIP, but my instincts said otherwise. Same for Zero. She probably observed more things than me; that was why she came to this conclusion.

I watched the courtyard a while longer. The gates closed behind the vehicles with a heavy clang that I could hear from where we stood.

’Three trucks for one person. Whoever is inside is worth that much hardware. Kidnapped by main gang muscle, brought into the heart of their territory, in the middle of the day. They are either very important or very dangerous or, knowing my luck, both.’

A slow grin started to creep across my face, the same grin I got when a Chapter clicked into place.

"Zero," I whispered, rubbing my hands together.

She hummed, smiling at me.

"How do you feel about checking those out?"

She turned her head to look at me, and the corner of her mouth curled up again.

"Sugar boy," she said, "I thought you’d never ask."