Sunlight poured through the thin curtains in sharp, golden bands. It was bright enough to sting.
Ethan’s eyelids twitched, then slowly opened.
For several long seconds he didn’t move. He simply stared at the ceiling, mind empty, body strangely light. The air smelled clean~disinfectant mixed with the faint, familiar scent of baby powder.
Then the memories came rushing back.
The supermarket. The mutant rats. The Rat King. The bite that had nearly taken his arm. The blood. The Core he’d forced into Debbie’s hands right before everything went black.
His expression tightened.
He flexed his fingers carefully.
Nothing.
No pain. No stiffness.
He frowned and tried again, curling his hand into a fist. Still nothing. Only a faint pink scar remained where the Rat King’s teeth had torn through muscle and nearly exposed bone.
Carefully, he pushed himself upright. His body felt almost too light, like the weight of the last few days had been lifted off him entirely. The crushing pain in his chest was gone. His breathing came steady and deep.
He was still weak, but compared to the half-dead state he’d been in when he blacked out, this was a miracle.
Ethan stared at his arm.
"What the hell..."
He hadn’t used a Recovery Potion. He was certain of that.
So how~
"You’re awake?"
The soft voice came from the couch across the room.
Ethan turned.
Debbie sat there with Nina sleeping peacefully against her chest. Her hair was messy, dark strands falling across her face. Deep circles shadowed her eyes. Her lips were almost colorless. She looked like she hadn’t slept properly in days.
The moment she realized he was awake, the exhaustion in her eyes melted into pure relief.
"You’ve been sitting there the whole time?" Ethan’s voice came out rough.
Debbie shook her head gently.
"No. I was resting. I just woke up."
He didn’t believe her.
He pointed at his arm.
"My wound."
Debbie followed his gaze. A small, shy smile touched her lips.
"I healed you."
She raised her right hand. A soft white glow bloomed in her palm~gentle, warm, like moonlight trapped beneath her skin. It wasn’t bright enough to hurt the eyes. It simply existed, quiet and steady.
Ethan stared.
"I awakened an S-Rank Healing Ability after I swallowed the Core," she said quietly. "There was a message in my head explaining it." Her eyes returned to him. "You were unconscious for two days. I kept using the Ability until your wounds closed."
Two days.
Ethan’s eyebrows rose.
He looked at her again and suddenly saw the truth written all over her face~the dark circles, the pale skin, the way her shoulders slumped with exhaustion. She had only awakened the Ability two days ago, and she’d spent almost every hour of those two days pouring it into him.
"You should have stopped," he said.
Debbie blinked.
"Why?"
"You just awakened it. You had no idea what it would cost you."
"I didn’t care."
The words came out so naturally that she seemed to realize what she’d said only afterward. A faint flush rose in her cheeks. She lowered her gaze.
"I mean... you were injured because of me."
Ethan went quiet.
Something uncomfortable stirred in his chest. He’d given her the Core because he wanted the system’s reward. He’d expected a powerful Ability. He hadn’t expected her to nearly exhaust herself keeping him alive for two straight days.
"Thank you."
The words came out more seriously than he’d intended.
Debbie looked up. Ethan’s gaze settled on the dark circles beneath her eyes.
"You need to sleep."
"I’m fine."
"You look like hell."
She stared at him for a second. Then, despite herself, a tiny smile appeared.
"So do you."
Ethan almost laughed. Fair enough.
Debbie adjusted Nina carefully in her arms.
"I’m the one who should be thanking you. You gave me something that could change our lives." Her fingers brushed the baby’s back. "With this Ability, I can protect her now. And maybe... we can actually survive."
Ethan watched her.
There was something in her eyes. Gratitude. Relief. And something warmer~something that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.
His instincts screamed at him immediately.
No.
Absolutely not.
He knew that look. If he pushed even a little right now, Debbie might not refuse. And that was exactly the problem. She was a top-tier system target~Beauty Score 95, Rarity 99. Getting involved with her the way the system didn’t want could destroy the entire point of keeping her as a gift target.
Not happening.
Ethan deliberately looked toward the window.
"It seems quieter outside."
Debbie’s smile faded.
"What?"
"The street. There were more zombies a few days ago."
"Oh." She looked outside. "Yeah. Maybe they’ve moved somewhere else."
Silence settled between them, thicker than before.
Ethan noticed her shoulders drop. The hand supporting Nina tightened slightly. He suddenly realized how his reaction must have looked.
Shit.
She probably thought he’d rejected her. Maybe she thought he disliked her because she was divorced, or because she had a child.
If only you knew.
There was no way he could explain the truth.
So instead he pulled the blanket back and lay down again.
"I’m still weak. I’ll sleep a little longer."
Debbie stared at him for a second. Then she understood. He wanted to be alone.
Her eyes reddened slightly.
"Alright."
She stood carefully, making sure not to wake Nina, and walked toward the door. Just before leaving she glanced back. Ethan had already turned away.
The door closed quietly.
A few seconds later he heard a faint sigh from the other side.
Ethan rubbed his forehead.
"This system is going to kill me."
He closed his eyes and focused.
The world around him seemed to fall away. His consciousness sank into a strange space~dark, silent, empty. Roughly one hundred cubic meters. Not huge, but far larger than the Temporary Storage he’d started with.
"That’s it?" he muttered. "An SSS-Rank Space Ability and I get a storage room?"
The system answered immediately.
[Ding! Ability Rank represents potential, not current power.]
[Host must increase strength to unlock the full potential of an SSS-Rank Ability.]
Ethan smiled slowly.
So that was how it worked. SSS-Rank didn’t mean he was already invincible. It meant the Ability had terrifying potential~and the rest depended on him.
He needed to test it.
He focused on the cup sitting on the table nearby.
Nothing happened.
He frowned and tried harder.
Still nothing.
"Come on."
He reached out and touched the cup, concentrating.
Whoosh.
The cup vanished from his hand.
Ethan froze. His eyes widened. He looked at the empty table, then at his empty fingers.
A grin spread across his face.
"Useful."
He reached out again. Whoosh. The cup reappeared in his palm.
He couldn’t help laughing under his breath.
The Temporary Storage had merged with the Space Ability. No more one-slot limitation. No more worrying about different types of supplies. Time inside the space was completely frozen~food wouldn’t spoil, water wouldn’t evaporate, medicine wouldn’t go bad.
This changed everything.
He could finally start preparing for the long term.
...
The next three days passed quietly.
Ethan stayed inside and focused on recovering. Debbie treated his remaining injuries every morning. Whenever she raised her hand, that soft white glow would spread across his skin~warm, comforting, with a faint tingling sensation like an itch beneath the surface.
"Bear with it," she would say softly. "It might feel a little numb."
Each day she seemed less exhausted. Her control over the Healing Ability was improving. So was its strength. By the second day his wounds had completely closed. By the third, even the scars were barely visible.
Ethan looked at his arm and smiled.
That’s one Recovery Potion I get to keep.
An unexpected bonus.
On the seventh day the system’s cooldown finally ended.
Seven days since Debbie had received the Rat King Core.
Ethan was ready.
There was only one problem. The food he’d brought back from WestMart was still mostly untouched. The compressed biscuits. The canned beef. All of it.
He’d noticed Debbie never touched the canned beef.
One morning he finally asked.
"Why haven’t you eaten any of this?"
Debbie looked at the cans.
"You risked your life to get them."
"So?"
"I didn’t know if you wanted to save them."
Ethan stared at her.
"You could’ve just asked."
She lowered her eyes.
"I didn’t want to take something you might need."
He sighed.
What a stubborn woman.
This was the Apocalypse. Food was scarce. People were killing each other over scraps. Yet she was still worried about eating something without permission.
For the past few days they’d survived mostly on compressed biscuits. Ethan hadn’t touched the canned beef either~not because he didn’t want it. He’d been saving it.
For this.
He picked up one of the cans and walked over.
"Debbie."
She looked up while feeding Nina.
"Eat this." He held out the canned beef. "You need the nutrition. Nina can’t live on formula forever, and you’re not exactly eating well either."
Debbie hesitated. Then slowly reached for it.
Their fingers brushed.
It was barely a touch, but she immediately pulled her hand back as if she’d been shocked. A faint blush spread across her cheeks.
"Thank you, Ethan."
She looked down at the can. After a moment she quietly added,
"If you ever need anything... you can come to me."
Ethan’s heart skipped.
He understood exactly what she meant.
Don’t think about it.
He immediately stood.
"I need to check something."
Then he practically escaped into his room.
Behind him, Debbie remained seated on the couch. She watched his back disappear through the doorway. For several seconds she didn’t move. Then she lowered her gaze and let out a faint sigh.
Inside the room, Ethan shut the door and leaned against it, staring at the ceiling.
"You absolute piece of shit system," he muttered under his breath.
He had been receiving green lights from Debbie for days now. Soft looks. Quiet concern. That little blush every time their fingers brushed. The way she kept finding reasons to check on him. And now this~straight-up offering herself like that.
If the system didn’t exist, he would already be on that couch with her. Hell, by now they’d probably be in bed, and only God knew what else would have happened after that.
But no.
The system had to slap a Rarity score on her. Ninety-nine. The highest he’d seen. And the rules were crystal clear~if he got involved with her the way his body was screaming to, that beautiful multiplier would drop faster than a zombie’s jaw. Fifty times would turn into something pathetic, maybe even worse than Morgana’s trash return.
So instead of doing what any normal man with a pulse would do, he was stuck playing the world’s most sexually frustrated investor.
"Useless goddamn system," he hissed. "I’m getting blue-balled by my own cheat code."
He took a long breath, forced the images of Debbie’s soft curves and those quiet, hopeful eyes out of his head, and focused on the system interface.
[Ding! Gift detected.]
[Target: Debbie Miller ~ Beauty Score: 95, Rarity: 99]
[Base Return: 50x]
[Strong emotional response detected. Bonus Drop activated.]
[Reward: Canned Beef x200. Stored in Space.]
[Target Cooldown: 7 days.]
Ethan’s consciousness entered the Space. He stared at the newly appeared mountain of canned beef~two hundred cans stacked neatly in the frozen darkness.
One can. Two hundred in return.
A grin spread across his face despite everything.
Food problem solved. At least for now.
Then another problem came to mind.
Water.
His smile faded. He walked back into the living room and glanced at the large water container beside the wall. Only a small amount remained~half a container at most. Even if they rationed carefully, it wouldn’t last more than a few days.
As if the Apocalypse wanted to make the situation worse, the lights suddenly flickered.
Once.
Twice.
Then went out.
The apartment fell silent.
Debbie looked toward the ceiling.
"The power..."
Ethan picked up his phone. No signal. He tried again. Nothing. Communications were down too.
He slowly lowered the phone.
Water first. Then electricity.
He walked to the window.
Outside, the city was eerily quiet. A few zombies wandered through the streets below, dragging their feet between abandoned vehicles. Morning light barely touched the ruined buildings.
Ethan stared at them, expression hardening.
There was only one place nearby that could solve their immediate problem~the water treatment plant near the highway.
Looks like I’m going out again.
Behind him, Debbie laughed softly as Nina made a strange little sound. Ethan glanced back. Debbie was smiling at her daughter, the soft light from the window catching the curve of her cheek.
For a moment the apartment almost felt normal.
Almost.
Then Ethan remembered what she’d said earlier.
"If you ever need anything... you can come to me."
A wry, slightly pained smile tugged at his lips.
"That woman is going to be the death of me."
He turned back toward the window.
He had no idea how long he could keep resisting.
And he certainly didn’t know that before long, the situation would get completely out of his control.
Because the woman he’d been carefully keeping at arm’s length...
Wasn’t planning on letting him stay there forever.