The land was covered in blood, gore, and relentless heat. Kai felt like he was back in the desert wasteland of Nevada. The whole ordeal with Base 35 turned out better than expected—he survived. He was alive. Although it would take time for him to fully recover from all his injuries, he would live beyond any shadow of a doubt.
"Argh…"
Daksha was nowhere to be seen. He was probably out of energy and resting on the other side.
'Sigh—'
Thinking of him made Kai sigh. He did not deserve the beast's loyalty. He had betrayed countless people in his life and killed many to save himself. And he could easily imagine his other side cutting off the fox and leaving it to die to save his own skin, yet the beast followed him faithfully in this god-fallen world.
Crossing the ruined streets—the once bustling streets of New York City that were now filled with debris and remnants of the past, tall buildings lay in ruins, and nature was slowly reclaiming the city—Kai was lying in the midst of a thick forest that had grown over the buildings.
Kai had done his research before coming here.
'Now that I've accomplished what I came here for,' he glanced at the back of his hand—a glowing blue mark was there. It had appeared as soon as he touched that device in the armory. 'I need to figure out how this thing works. The old man didn't really give me the details of this... thing. I assumed the data would be inside a chip or drive. But an AI interface, huh... to think it was an integrated version, this just got more complicated.'
"Man, I always thought they were just sci-fi."
An integrated AI interface is a cutting-edge technology where liquid nanites are absorbed into human skin and integrated into the neural system of the brain. This gives the user a first-hand interpretation of data similar to an augmented reality.
Kai knew this because he used to work for the Department of Research in his previous organization—Spade—on field missions. Learning new things was a sort of hobby to him. To think this would actually happen to him...
'I already have enough problems in my head.'
Heaving another sigh at his predicament, Kai decided to start moving too. Staying in one place for too long on the ground was just asking to be attacked by monsters.
After crossing the ruined streets filled with debris, luckily without encountering any monsters, he came across a survivor camp.
Scattered throughout the city, small camps of scavengers had formed after the apocalypse. They were resourceful survivors who made a living in the urban wasteland, often trading with or clashing with people from the military base. The people in these camps possessed a deep hatred for anyone wearing clean clothes or uniforms.
The hatred stemmed from the actions of the military. Due to limited resources, the army denied shelter to these people, while some rich and government-affiliated individuals were prioritized for safety.
'Haah, damn... I wanted to avoid making contact with these people.'
There was but one rule for people in the camps—make the best use of those around you. That was the way they had survived this long without dying. It was their formula for survival.
If it wasn't for the fact that night was approaching, he would've found some other way.
'And it's going to be a long night too.'
Seventy-two hours of day and seventy-two hours of night—that was what Kai defined as one apocalyptic day. That was how time worked now. Currently, after experiencing ninety-six such days, he and all the survivors of humanity had come to understand one thing that must never be underestimated.
Night is when the worst appears.
'Never make a move in the dark,' the old man's words echoed in his mind.
Kai clenched his teeth and started moving toward the camp.
The camp was at the edge of a vast forest outside the city limits. Due to the morphed geography and elevated landscape, Kai knew from a distance that if survivors made camp anywhere, it would be around here. Thankfully, he was right. Monsters on the land avoided high places in fear of sky scythes, ruthless carnivorous predators of the sky. But the scythes were only active around where their prey lived—the ground. So conveniently, monster habitats were far from these places; most survivor camps were built around elevated locations like this.
These were called green zones, while monster habitats were declared red zones. The army came up with a ranking system—from A to E—to determine the degree of safety and danger, respectively, of these zones.
By Kai's estimate and the height of this place, it could easily pass for a C-rank green zone.
'While I can be sure I'll be safe from monsters, I can't say anything about the people here before I meet them. This is a risk I have to take if I want to survive another night.'
The closer he got, the more movement he noticed. They were undoubtedly antsy after the unknown explosion earlier coming from the military base's direction. Any fool with eyes could have come to the conclusion that the base was incinerated in the fire and people might have died.
The mixed smell of blood and fire was something these people could never forget. They probably knew from experience that it meant only one thing. The only safe bastion in the city, MB-35, had fallen.
The military and the Crimson Group were also probably headed to other scavenger camps, hoping to find shelter before nightfall. The guys in uniform would probably be driven away unless they decided to act harshly toward the survivors in those camps.
'Well, forget about it for now. I need to prioritize myself right now and heal my injuries. The rest will depend on how I treat them... yes, the key here is communication. I should take things positively once in a while. Maybe they will turn out to be good guys and take me in. They look quite resourceful too, given that they're holding guns—less efficient than what I knew—and had built concrete homes around the small mountain.
Yes, let's go with a smile. I'll raise my hands and plead for shelter—'
"Excuse me, but I need help—"
"Don't let that f*cker get any closer! Fire!!"
Bang-bang-bang-bang-bang.
'Well... so much for communication.'
The flurry of bullets tore through the air and dust. Kai jumped sideways and hid behind a large stone. The bullets scraped against the stone, sparks igniting the dry grass before the heat died down.
Kai peeked out to see the attackers, but a second wave of bullets was fired immediately after they spotted him.
"Again! Man, this is getting me nowhere. Can't they see I'm harmless?"
The sound of gunfire gradually faded and stopped before long. Anxious, he moved closer to the edge of the stone to see what they were doing. He started to sweat profusely as he saw more people with guns taking positions along the mountaintop edge. Some guy who looked like their leader was talking with a nearby group.
'Curses.'
Because of the distance between them, he couldn't make out what they were talking about. But there was no way in hell he was going to fight them on this slope. That was basically suicide. These places were called survivor camps for a reason. They had the high ground, and no doubt they had faced monsters before. Kai was a sitting duck here.
On the other side, some time earlier, the guy who had assumed command of the whole place as soon as he got a report of something suspicious approaching the camp ordered his men to grab all the ammo and weapons they could find.
Any large activity that was out of the ordinary was considered a threat or a sign of approaching danger. The earlier explosion that destroyed the city base definitely counted as one. The unrest had spread through all the other camps as well—unless they had an oracle or seer awakened among them who had seen it coming.
In their eyes, they could be the next ones attacked after MB-35, so Harry, the camp's leader, ordered everyone to be prepared. Then some guy just showed up in the mountain range when he was already tense.
Looking down, it seemed like the guy below was walking strangely. Perhaps he was a refugee seeking shelter. Harry raised a pair of binoculars and saw a man in tattered clothes. Harry was decent enough to consider helping him, but then the guy below smiled, suddenly looking in his direction.
'No way, he's actually looking at me. But how? He's so far away...'
Harry was immediately creeped out.
"....cuse.., but, I.. ..help—"
"Ergh! Don't let that f*cker get any closer! FIRE!!"
===