The sun had barely risen when Lu Zhen stirred inside the RV. His mind still reeled from the night before, a dull ache lingering at the base of his skull—residue of the intense crafting session that had pushed his system to its limit.
"You're finally up," Lin Xia said gently, offering him a reheated meal pack. "You slept through the first light. Yue and I already scouted ahead—quiet, for now."
Lu nodded slowly and sat upright. His HUD flickered to life. The mental load indicator had finally stabilized, and his crafting interface felt responsive again. No lingering lag. Just a slow recovery.
Yue Fei entered, her boots slightly dusty from the street. "The road ahead's worse than expected. The main highway collapsed. We'll have to move through the old commercial district."
"Urban ruins," Lu muttered, chewing his food. "Great."
She smirked. "Welcome to the city."
After breakfast, Lu sat back and accessed his blueprint module. Though his body was resting, his mind was already working.
They needed more than weapons.
They needed adaptability.
He opened a new design tab and began sketching.
[Blueprint Created – EXOFRAME v0.1]– Type: Mechanical Support Harness– Function: Increase carrying capacity, movement support– Status: Lacks computational chip– Warning: No motion sync. Physical benefit only. No reactive assist.
He tapped his chin. The frame was purely mechanical for now. Without a chip to handle micro-adjustments, the user's brain had to carry the burden of coordination. Still, even passive support could mean faster movement or reduced fatigue.
He opened another tab.
[Blueprint Created – TACTICAL SUPPORT HELM v0.1]– Function: Threat awareness, vision assist– Neural Link: Active– Chip: Missing– Result: Moderate neural fatigue during combat– Recommended Use: Limited bursts
Lu leaned back, eyes scanning both designs. "Not perfect... but worth making," he murmured. "For now, it's just metal. But later... with a brain, they'll come alive."
Outside, the air was dry and thick with the stench of scorched rubber and mold. Yue stood on the RV's hood, scouting through binoculars. The road ahead split in two—one leading into collapsed overpasses, the other into the heart of the old city.
Lin approached. "We don't have enough fuel to loop back. Through the city it is."
Lu nodded. "Let's move."
They entered the commercial zone by mid-morning. Towering ruins loomed over them, once glass-and-steel symbols of prosperity, now blackened carcasses of civilization. The RV weaved between shattered pillars, overturned buses, and collapsed parking structures.
Soot clung to the windows. Faint scorch marks painted old sidewalks like battle scars.
Lu spotted a survivor outpost—tarp coverings, barricades, and empty water barrels. Long abandoned. On the wall: bloodstains, claw marks, and something else—massive dents, as if struck by a heavy creature.
"This wasn't a simple Infected attack," Yue muttered. "Something bigger came through here."
Lin scanned a crushed car near the edge of the square. "Look at this... four claw marks, sunk deep into the metal. Not human. Not Tier F either."
"Something else is hunting out here," Lu said.
They pushed forward in silence.
A few blocks later, the RV slowed near a collapsed shopping center. Lu stepped out to investigate while Yue stood guard. He ran a scan on an exposed support beam.
[Decomposition Target Identified – Reinforced Steel]– Tier: 1– Extraction Viable– Estimated Decomp EXP Gain: +15
His system processed the extraction quickly.
[Decomposition EXP +15][Current EXP: 234 / 300]
The familiar hum buzzed in his ear. Vault updated. The materials weren't rare, but they were clean—usable.
Back in the RV, Lu sorted the components into categories. His vault was almost full, but he had enough to make something light. He tapped through the EXOFRAME blueprint, tagging components he could salvage later.
Not now. His body needed rest, not more mental strain.
Instead, he turned his gaze out the window.
The ruined city blurred past—more shadows than structures, more silence than life.
"This place used to be the heart of commerce," Lin said. "Now look at it."
Lu responded quietly, "Everything built by human hands... gone in days."
Yue, still scanning the road ahead, added, "Then maybe it's time we build something that can't fall."
By nightfall, they found shelter in the lower level of an abandoned bank. Thick walls, metal shutters, and only one entrance—ideal.
The RV was parked beside the entrance, hidden under a half-collapsed overpass.
Lu and Lin reinforced the front with leftover steel boards. Yue set up a lookout post on the roof using a broken ventilation shaft.
That night, Lu sat beside the fireless camp lamp, looking over the day's blueprint additions.
[Blueprints Added: EXOFRAME v0.1, TACTICAL SUPPORT HELM v0.1][Crafting EXP: 1 / 600][Decomposition EXP: 234 / 300]
No level-ups today. But progress wasn't always about numbers.
He looked at Yue, who sat quietly cleaning her blade. Lin was sorting old first aid kits beside her.
"I want to try building the helmet tomorrow," Lu said suddenly.
Yue raised an eyebrow. "You sure? You still look like hell."
He chuckled faintly. "It'll help. Even without a chip, it can enhance combat awareness."
"But it'll hurt you mentally, won't it?" Lin asked, worried.
"Only if I use it too long," he admitted. "It's not ideal... but until I unlock the chip module at Level 4, my brain will have to make do."
The group nodded in quiet agreement.
For now, it was enough to keep moving.
That night, distant howls echoed beyond the city's edge. Metallic screeches. Bone-shaking tremors. But none came close.
In their makeshift shelter, surrounded by steel and silence, Lu Zhen stared up at the cracked ceiling.
Sixty kilometers to Tianlei.
A long way still to go.
But for the first time, they weren't just surviving.
They were planning.
They were building.