Ash didn't sleep that first night.
The walls groaned like something alive was pushing through them, and the wind screamed just to remind him it wasn't going to be easy. Every ten minutes, the Foundation Core pinged a minor system alert. Contamination. Instability. Ambient fear levels: rising.
He lay on the cracked floor, crowbar within reach, eyes open. Listening.
When dawn came, he moved.
Log Entry 003
Water first. Then shelter. Then power.
Survive the order, or die out of sequence.
The old kitchen was a grave. A collapsed ceiling tile had crushed half the counter, and the smell of mildew choked the air. What hadn't rotted had rusted, and what hadn't rusted… twitched. Mold that blinked. Flies that didn't fly.
But the sink still dripped.
Just enough to try.
SYSTEM QUERY:
[Contaminated Source Detected]
Construct Basic Water Processor?
TIME: 3 Minutes
Material Cost:
Plastic Tubing (2)
Filtration Cloth (1)
Ceramic Shards (3)
Sealant Resin (Low-Grade)
Energy Draw: 4 Units/hour
Ash scrolled the blueprint with a flick of his hand. "Accept."
Panels unfolded in front of him, ghost-blue and clean. He followed the motion guides with precise hands, muscle memory from years of building games triggering automatically. Snap joint. Seal twist. Siphon-lock install.
The moment the cloth filter slotted in, the processor beeped.
Module Online.
STATUS: Partial Functionality (Contaminated Input)
Output: 3 Clean Units/hour
Ash stared at the water trickling into the reservoir. It wasn't clear. But it didn't glow. Close enough.
He drank. Carefully. Slowly.
Then sat back against the counter and opened the build menu again.
Power Grid (Jury-Rigged)
He dragged the blueprint out into the hallway. Rusted copper wire. A half-broken solar node he'd salvaged off a neighbor's roof. An old car battery still holding charge.
TIME: 14 Minutes
Output: 20 Units (Daylight Only)
Stability: Fragile
It wasn't pretty. It wasn't safe. But when the circuit finally connected and the lights flickered to life, Ash felt something shift.
Not just in the room.
In him.
Skill Cache Detected
[Scavenger Lv.1 Activated]
Bonus: Minor loot detail detection, +5% efficiency during dismantle
[Builder Lv.1 Activated]
Bonus: 10% faster module construction
New unlock: "Shelter Patch Kit"
"Good," he muttered. "You're finally waking up."
The Foundation Core didn't speak, not in words. But it responded. Each action gave back a piece of the system. Each improvement unlocked a new tool. Like it was watching. Judging.
Rewarding.
Outside, the sky was sick.
Faint red spores drifted like snow, and every gust of wind carried a hum that didn't come from nature. Ash reinforced the front door with scrap wood and sealed it with the Shelter Patch Kit. It creaked, but held.
For now.
He had claimed the ruins. That didn't mean they were his.
Yet.
Around noon, a ping echoed through the base.
ALERT: Proximity Spike – Redroot Bloom Activity
Local Threat Level: Minimal
Mutation Type: Nestbound (Dormant)
Ash didn't freeze. He went still — like prey that's learned what comes from noise.
He opened the console's surveillance panel. A nearby house — three doors down — pulsed faint red on the minimap.
New Zone Marker:
[Infection Node – Light Bloom]
Status: Dormant
Proximity Range: 62 meters
"I'm surrounded already," he muttered. "Of course."
He scanned deeper. No movement yet. No spread. That meant time.
SYSTEM SUGGESTION:
Construct Basic Perimeter Sensor
Unlock Turret Blueprint (unavailable: Tier Lock)
Alternative: Set Warning Triggers (Manual Craft)
Ash built two tin-can trip alarms and strung them across the hallway. Crude, but he'd learned in games: even noise was data. One alert could save a life.
He spent the rest of the day stripping the second bedroom for parts. Shelves became planks. The metal desk was harvested for bolts and screws. Even the mattress cover got cut up for fiber.
He dismantled the past piece by piece and rebuilt it as future.
By nightfall:
Water: Online
Power: Unstable but functional
Shelter: Sealed (75% integrity)
Morale: Steady
Skill Cache Progress: 12%
Redroot Activity: Passive
Log Entry 004
Base is ugly, but functional. No sign of other people yet. Not sure if that's good or bad.Every wall I patch feels like resistance. Not to the infection — to forgetting.This place was once mine. Now it's a node. Now it obeys. Maybe that's how I survive: by making the world follow rules again.
He stood at the window and watched the faint glow from the Infection Node in the distance.
It pulsed like a heartbeat.
SYSTEM NOTICE:
Phase I Progress: 9%
Subtask Complete: Establish Shelter
Next Priority: Expand Node Influence
New Objective: Claim Secondary Site – "Substation Ruins"
Distance: 0.9 km
Warning: Contaminated Zone
Ash smiled.
It wasn't safe.
But it was a task.
And in this new world, tasks were better than hope.
Tasks could be completed.