"That’s good... but it’s not enough," the merchant said after examining the piece of slime in Tansy’s pouch.

His tone remained calm, but there was a clear expectation behind his words. The small fragment Tansy had collected might have been rare, but it clearly didn’t meet whatever requirement the system had set for this exchange.

Tyler frowned slightly.

"For something this small?" he asked, glancing between the slime and the neatly displayed items. "Feels like a scam."

The merchant simply smiled.

Tyler stepped closer to the display and reached toward one of the items— a compact firearm. His fingers passed through the merchant earlier, but this time the weapon felt solid. That confirmed something important: the merchant was a projection, but the items were real.

"So what if I just take it?" Tyler asked bluntly.

The merchant didn’t react with anger or urgency. Instead, he answered in the same composed tone.

"You may try," he said. "But those items are protected. If move without proper exchange, they will self-destruct."

Tyler paused mid-motion.

That made things inconvenient.

He withdrew his hand slowly and glanced sideways at Tansy, who was still holding the pouch. Her expression showed she was already considering options, but unlike Tyler, she wasn’t reckless enough to test the merchant’s claim blindly.

Tyler reached out and took the slime from her.

The piece still carried a faint blue shimmer, dull but not entirely lifeless.

"Stay here," Tyler said calmly. "Keep an eye on him."

Tansy raised an eyebrow. "On a hologram?"

"On whatever’s behind it," Tyler corrected.

The merchant continued smiling as if he had heard everything but didn’t mind.

"I’ll be back," Tyler added, already turning away.

Without waiting for a response, he stepped out into the street again, his gaze shifting immediately toward the direction they had come from. If a small fragment wasn’t enough, then the answer was obvious— he needed more of that Azure Tox Slime.

And if the game wanted to make things difficult, then it had probably placed more of it somewhere dangerous.

Tyler smirked faintly.

"Of course it wouldn’t be simple," he muttered as he moved forward alone, "But for me..."

┉┈ ◈ ◉ ◈ ┈┉

After getting separated from Tyler and Tansy, Rose and old man Rudd didn’t even realize where they were falling until the ground rose up to meet them. The drop wasn’t deep enough to break bones, but it was sudden enough to knock the air out of their lungs. Dust rose around them in a dull cloud, and for a brief moment, neither of them moved as the echoes of the collapse faded into silence.

Rose recovered first.

"Grandpa, are you alright?" she asked quickly, pushing herself up and reaching toward him.

Old man Rudd rolled his shoulder once, testing it, then stood up with surprising steadiness. His body might have been old, but it was far from weak. He brushed off the dust from his clothes and gave a small nod.

"I’m good," he said calmly. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

Rose exhaled in relief, her shoulders dropping. "That’s good... I was worried." Then her expression shifted almost immediately as she turned toward the direction they had fallen from. "Sister...? Sister...?"

Her voice echoed faintly, but no reply came.

Rudd glanced around, taking in their surroundings with a sharp, experienced gaze. "Looks like we got separated from them."

Rose bit her lip, her thoughts running faster than she could organize them. "Ah... I can’t let her stay alone with him..." she muttered under her breath, her voice so low it barely carried. "She might make him my brother-in-law..."

Rudd didn’t catch the meaning of that clearly. To him, it just sounded like a younger girl worrying about her sister in a dangerous place, which wasn’t unusual at all.

"Don’t think about that right now," he said, his tone steady but firm. "We need to focus on ourselves first. We don’t even know where we are."

Rose finally looked around properly, and the confusion in her eyes deepened. The place they had landed in wasn’t a simple underground pit or natural cave. It had structure—walls, tracks, metal surfaces, all partially buried under dust and decay.

"It looks like a tunnel," she said slowly, stepping forward and looking along its length. "But... not like anything I’ve seen before."

Old man Rudd nodded slightly. "This isn’t from the sectors. This is old infrastructure... something from before." He paused, then added, "Let’s find a way out."

Without hesitation, he began walking in one direction.

Rose followed after him, but after a few steps, she couldn’t hold back her curiosity. "Why are we going this way, grandpa?"

Rudd didn’t slow down. "When we fell, the barrier was behind us. That means the opposite direction should be safer."

It was simple reasoning, but in a place like this, simple reasoning mattered.

The deeper they walked, the darker it became. The faint light from above disappeared completely, leaving them surrounded by heavy shadows. Rose took out a glow stick and cracked it open, handing one to Rudd. The soft green light spread around them, revealing more details of the tunnel.

The tracks weren’t ordinary. They were embedded into a sleek structure that still hinted at advanced engineering despite the damage. The walls curved smoothly in some places, broken violently in others.

"Hyperloop," Rudd murmured.

Rose tilted her head. "What’s that?"

"A transport system. Fast. Faster than anything we have now," he explained. "Looks like it’s been abandoned for years."

They kept moving, their footsteps echoing faintly along the tunnel. The silence pressed in on them, broken only by the occasional drip of water or distant shifting sounds that didn’t seem to come from any clear direction.

After several minutes, the tunnel widened.

Lights appeared ahead—dim and flickering, but still alive.

They had reached a station.

The platform stretched out before them, covered in dust and scattered debris. Broken signs hung from the ceiling, and empty benches stood like forgotten relics of another time. Despite the decay, parts of the place still functioned, which made it feel even stranger.

Rose’s eyes quickly locked onto something.

"There."

A vending machine stood against the wall, its internal lights faint but still on.

Food.

Without hesitation, she raised her gun and fired.

The glass shattered instantly, echoing through the empty station.

She stepped forward and began pulling out packaged food and bottled drinks, handing some to Rudd while stuffing a few into her own pouch.

"Still works," she said, impressed.

Rudd gave a faint nod, but his attention had shifted.

He had heard something.

A subtle sound, almost lost beneath the silence.

"Wait," he said quietly.

Rose froze. "What is it?"

Rudd didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he walked toward the edge of the platform and looked down along the track.

"There," he said.

Rose followed his gaze.

A massive hole had torn through the side of the tunnel wall, as though something had broken through from outside. Metal was bent inward, and chunks of concrete lay scattered around the opening.

Inside that hole—

Something moved.

No, not something.

Someone.

"...Victor?" Rose said before she could stop herself.

Rudd glanced at her. "You know him?"

"He’s from our sector," she replied quickly.

Victor looked up at that moment, his face lighting up with relief the instant he saw them.

"Hey! Please—help me! I’m stuck!" he shouted, reaching toward them.

His voice sounded desperate, strained.

Rudd studied him for a moment.

Rose didn’t move.

Something about the situation didn’t feel right, but she couldn’t explain why.

Seeing her hesitation, Rudd sighed softly. It reminded him of his own granddaughter—the same uncertainty, the same instinct to help mixed with caution.

"We can’t leave him like that," he said.

He grabbed a thick broken cable nearby and threw one end into the hole.

"Grab it."

Victor caught it immediately and began climbing. With effort, he pulled himself out and onto the platform, collapsing to his knees as he caught his breath.

"Thank you... thank you..." Victor said, his voice shaking as he pulled himself fully onto the platform. His breathing was uneven, but the moment his eyes landed on the food in Rose’s hand, something in his expression changed. Hunger flashed across his face so clearly that it almost hurt to look at.

Rudd noticed it immediately. He let out a quiet sigh, his gaze softening for a brief moment. Victor was no older than Rose, and yet he was already forced into a situation where survival meant suspicion, hunger, and fear. Rudd couldn’t help but think about how wrong it was—how children were being thrown into this chaos simply to satisfy those who watched from above.

Without saying anything more, Rudd bent down, picked up one of the food packs, and stepped toward Victor.

"Eat something first," he said, stepping closer.

For a brief moment, everything seemed calm.

Too calm.

Victor lifted his head.

His expression changed.

Rose saw it.

But not fast enough.

The sound came suddenly.

A single gunshot exploded through the station.

Rudd’s body jerked.

The food slipped from his hand as he fell forward onto the ground.

"Grandpaaaa...!" Rose’s scream tore through the silence.