The evening sun dipped below the ruined city in the distance, casting long, dark shadows across the overgrown fields.
At the outer perimeter of the village, the atmosphere was tense. The constant roars from the city had grown louder as the nocturnal monsters began to stir.
Cai Dajian stood at the front of a small hunting squad, his heavy iron pipe resting on his broad shoulder. His face, still marked with the burn scars from the Bulgasari, was grim. Beside him, four militia members nervously gripped their spears, their eyes scanning the darkening tree line.
They were just finishing their final sweep before retreating behind the barricade for the night, when another group would take over.
"Alright, wrap it up," Dajian ordered, his deep voice carrying over the rustling wind. "We don't want to be out here when the bigger things come looking for a meal."
Before the militia could turn around, a series of panicked, high-pitched screams shattered the quiet evening.
Dajian's head snapped toward the sound. It was coming from a dense cluster of trees just beyond the outer warning flags.
A moment later, a small group of humans burst from the underbrush, sprinting wildly across the open field. There were five of them.
Two men, two women, and a younger boy, all stumbling, bleeding, and looking back with expressions of absolute terror.
A massive, hulk-like shape exploded from the forest. It looked like a grizzly bear, but its flesh was completely devoid of fur, replaced instead by thick, overlapping plates of bone and calcified muscle.
[Bone-Plated Ursid Lv 8]
It let out a deafening roar that rattled the chests of the militia members. It was incredibly fast for its size, closing the distance between it and the fleeing survivors with terrifying speed.
"Help us!" one of the women shrieked, spotting Dajian's group near the barricades. She tripped over a hidden root, crashing hard into the dirt.
The bear didn't hesitate.
It lunged forward, its massive jaws opening wide to snap her in half.
"Move!" Dajian roared.
He didn't wait for his team. His massive Endurance and Strength propelled him forward like a cannonball. He crossed the distance in a fraction of a second, stepping firmly over the fallen woman and planting his feet wide.
He swung the heavy iron pipe with both hands, aiming directly for the beast's skull.
CLANG!
The impact rang out loudly. The bear's skull didn't shatter, protected by its thick bone plating, but the momentum of its charge was instantly halted by Dajian's form. It stumbled sideways, shaking its head in a daze.
"Form up!" Dajian shouted, ignoring the painful vibration running up his arms.
The militia snapped out of their fear. They had trained for this. They rushed forward, fanning out around the disoriented beast, harassing it from every side.
The bear recovered quickly, swiping a massive, clawed paw at Dajian.
Dajian didn't dodge. He raised his arms, taking the blow directly against his hardened forearms. The claws dug into his flesh, drawing blood, but they couldn't cut deep. His Endurance made his muscle fibers incredibly dense. He gritted his teeth, holding the beast's attention entirely on himself.
"Now!"
The four militia members thrust their improvised weapons simultaneously.
The beast roared in agony as the makeshift spears dug into its sides and legs. It thrashed wildly, trying to shake them off, but the militia held the shafts tightly, leveraging their body weight to pin the creature in place.
Dajian saw his opening. He stepped inside the beast's guard, raising his heavy pipe high above his head, and brought it down with every ounce of his strength directly onto the base of the beast's neck.
A sickening crack echoed through the air.
The monster's spine shattered. It collapsed instantly, twitching briefly before going completely still as Dajian stomped its skull.
[Bone-Plated Ursid Lv 8 killed!]
Dajian let out a heavy breath, wiping a smear of blood from his cheek. He looked down at the terrified survivors huddled in the dirt. They were staring at him and the militia as if they had just witnessed a miracle.
"Get up," Dajian said gruffly, pointing his pipe toward the village. "Get behind the wall."
The five rescued survivors were not immediately allowed into the main settlement.
Instead, they were escorted into a sturdy wooden storage shed situated just inside the inner perimeter. Two armed militia members were posted outside the door.
Inside the dim shed, the newcomers huddled together on the dusty floor. They were given a single canteen of water to share, which they drank from greedily. They peeked through the cracks in the wooden walls, staring in absolute awe at the safe houses, the burning fires, and the organized patrols.
It was paradise. And they were terrified of being thrown back out into hell.
Deep within the command center, a meeting was taking place.
The room was lit by the flickering glow of several oil lanterns. A map of the village and the surrounding area was spread across the wooden table.
Lu Zhang wasn't there. The sun had long since set, and he hadn't returned from his hunt. His absence hung heavily in the room, creating an underlying tension.
Without his overwhelming presence to instantly finalize decisions, the responsibility of camp management fell entirely on the core group.
Su Yao sat at the head of the table, her dark eyes reflecting the lantern light. She was tapping a pen rhythmically against a piece of paper.
"Five of them," Dajian reported, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. The scratches on his forearms from the fight were already scabbing over. "No weapons, completely starved. They said they've been hiding in a collapsed subway station for the past few days before getting flushed out by the bear."
"I'm against their integration," Elena said immediately.
The room went silent. Arthur and Dajian looked at her in surprise.
Elena stood straight, holding her clipboard to her chest confidently. "I understand that it sounds cruel," she continued softly, her tone pleading for understanding. "But we have a functioning system here. We don't know anything about these people. They could be scouts for a bandit group looking to raid a safe zone. They could be harboring malicious intentions, waiting to sabotage us from the inside."
She looked at Su Yao directly. "We have limited food. We have limited space. We cannot risk the safety of the entire settlement for five strangers. We should give them one meal and tell them to leave by morning."
Arthur slammed his hand on the table, his sense of justice flaring up. "Send them away? Have you lost your mind? Sending unarmed, starving civilians back out past the inner boundary at night is a guaranteed death sentence!"
"It's not our responsibility to save everyone, Arthur," Elena countered calmly. "Our responsibility is to the people already inside these walls."
"We need the manpower," Dajian argued, siding with Arthur. "The militia is spread thin as it is. If we want to maintain the patrols and start clearing the ruins for more supplies, we need more hands. We can manage five half-dead civilians."
They bickered back and forth, the tension rising in the small room.
"Enough."
Su Yao's cold, authoritative voice cut through the argument instantly. The tapping of her pen stopped.
"We let them in," Su Yao declared, finalizing the decision.
"It's logical," Su Yao observed flatly. "Dajian's right. We have a severe labor bottleneck. The older survivors cannot manage the manual labor alone. If we are to establish a permanent, self-sustaining stronghold, our population must grow. We will integrate them into the camp."
She stood up, her gaze sweeping over the group. "But they do not get a free ride. No one does."
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The heavy wooden door of the storage shed groaned as it was pushed open. The five survivors flinched, huddling closer together as Su Yao stepped into the dim light.
Su Yao looked down at them, her expression entirely devoid of warmth.
"You are currently inside a designated safe zone," Su Yao stated, her voice echoing slightly in the small space. "The monsters outside cannot enter this village. You will be provided with shelter, running water, and a daily ration of food."
A collective sob of relief washed over the survivors. One of the women buried her face in her hands, weeping freely.
"However," Su Yao continued, her tone hardening, immediately killing the joyful atmosphere.
"Safety is not free. This is not a charity. We are currently fighting a war for our survival, and dead weight will not be tolerated."
She paced slowly in front of them. "Those who can fight will join the militia under Arthur and Dajian's command. You will keep the perimeter secure."
"For those who cannot fight, you will work. You will manage the crops, you will clean the latrines, you will build the barricades. If you do not contribute, you will be cast back out into the ruins."
She stopped pacing and looked at them intently. "What are your skills?"
The survivors quickly began listing their pre-apocalypse professions, desperate to prove their worth. One was an accountant, another a retail worker.
It was mostly useless information in the current world.
Then, the oldest man in the group slowly raised his hand. He was heavily wrinkled, with a thick gray beard and forearms that were disproportionately thick, covered in old, faded burn scars.
"I... I used to run a metal shop," the old man rasped, his throat dry. "Custom forging. Welding. I know how to work a furnace."
Su Yao's dark eyes lit up with a sudden, intense interest.
She looked at his calloused hands, then turned to Dajian, sharing a knowing glance.
The camp was currently sitting on dozens of pounds of jagged Bulgasari iron, but they lacked the specialized skills to melt it down and reforge it into proper weapons and armor. They had been crudely tying the jagged shards to wooden poles.
"What's your name?" Su Yao asked, her tone shifting slightly.
"Garrick," the old man replied nervously.
"Garrick," Su Yao repeated, nodding slowly. "There is a stone smithy near the center of the village. Starting tomorrow at dawn, that building belongs to you. You are our new blacksmith. We will provide you with the raw materials and assistants to fire the forge."
Garrick let out a shaky breath, nodding vigorously. "Yes. Yes, thank you. I won't let you down."
"See that you don't," Su Yao said coldly.
She turned and walked out of the shed, leaving Dajian to assign them their initial sleeping quarters.
As Su Yao stepped back out into the cool night air, she looked toward the dark, ominous tree line in the distance.
The group was growing, and the infrastructure was solidifying. They were turning the survivors into assets for their camp.
But as the distant roar of a high-level monster echoed through the night, Su Yao frowned.
Lu Zhang was still not back.
And until he returned, the camp would always remain vulnerable.
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[Name: Su Yao]
[Level: 9]
[Strength: 19]
[Speed: 17]
[Intelligence: 36]
[Endurance: 17]
[Stat Points: 25]
[Mana: 360/360]
[Skills: Inspect Lv 6, Inferno Lv 6]