No one slept.
No one even tried.
The words of the System still hung in the air.
World Event Initiated
The First Harvest has begun.
Outside, the city remained drowned in crimson light.
Sunrise never came.
The horizon should have been glowing orange by now.
Instead, the blood-red crack in the sky burned brighter than ever.
Marcus checked his watch for the tenth time.
"Six twenty-three."
He frowned.
"It should be daylight."
Emma looked through the broken front window.
"It isn't."
Noah muttered, "So... the sun just disappeared?"
"No," Liam said quietly.
Everyone turned toward him.
"The sun's still there."
"It's just..."
He looked at the crimson sky.
"...something is covering it."
Nobody liked that answer.
But nobody could argue with it either.
The streets were empty again.
Not because the monsters were gone.
Because they had all marched toward the city center.
Only corpses remained.
Cars sat abandoned where people had crashed trying to escape.
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A city bus leaned against a collapsed bridge.
The silence was almost unbearable.
Ben swallowed hard.
"Maybe..."
"Maybe we should leave while they're gone."
Marcus nodded slowly.
"I've been thinking the same thing."
"The supermarket won't hold forever."
Rachel unfolded the city map.
"If we head west, there's a police station."
"They'll have weapons."
Noah shook his head.
"If there are still police alive."
Marcus sighed.
"We need supplies first."
"Food."
"Medicine."
"And somewhere we can actually defend."
The discussion quickly turned into an argument.
Everyone had a different idea.
No one knew which was right.
Liam barely listened.
He was staring at the gray Administrator window.
It had changed overnight.
Administrator Authority
Current Authority: 5%
Functions Available:
-Observation
-Archive
New Passive Effect:
Rule Detection (Incomplete)
Rule Detection.
Liam focused on the words.
Nothing happened.
Then...
The world around him blurred for an instant.
Tiny gray lines appeared across the supermarket floor.
Some led toward broken shelves.
Others stretched toward the exits.
Most disappeared entirely.
One line...
Ran directly to the rooftop.
Liam frowned.
"What..."
The line pulsed once.
Then vanished.
"Liam?"
Emma noticed his expression.
"You okay?"
"I think..."
He hesitated.
"I think something was here."
Marcus frowned.
"What do you mean?"
"I don't know."
"But it feels like..."
He searched for the right words.
"...like I can see traces."
Noah raised an eyebrow.
"That's... oddly specific."
Liam wished he could explain it better.
He couldn't.
He barely understood it himself.
A loud crash echoed outside.
Everyone reached for their weapons.
A man stumbled into view through the shattered entrance.
He wore torn military camouflage.
His left arm hung limp at his side.
Blood soaked his uniform.
But he was alive.
"B-Please..."
He nearly collapsed.
"Help..."
Marcus rushed forward.
Rachel covered him with her spear.
The soldier raised both hands weakly.
"I'm not infected..."
"I just..."
He looked behind him.
"...they're coming."
Liam's Rule Detection activated on its own.
The faint gray lines appeared again.
This time...
They surrounded the soldier.
Not one.
Hundreds.
Thin, almost invisible threads connected him to rooftops...
Alleys...
Storm drains...
His pulse quickened.
Those weren't random.
They were paths.
Something...
Was following them.
"Marcus!"
Liam shouted.
"Don't let him inside!"
Marcus froze.
"What?"
"He isn't alone."
The soldier looked confused.
"What are you talking about?"
"I came by myself!"
Liam stared at the gray threads.
They were getting brighter.
Closer.
"They're underneath."
The street suddenly exploded.
Concrete burst upward.
A massive insect-like creature erupted from beneath the asphalt, showering the entrance with broken pavement.
It wasn't chasing the soldier.
It had used him as bait.
Marcus barely jumped back in time.
The creature slammed into the supermarket entrance, its razor-sharp mandibles tearing through steel as if it were paper.
A crimson status window hovered above its head.
Burrower
Level 12
Rank: Elite
The room fell silent.
Level 12.
Higher than anything they had ever faced.
The Burrower let out a piercing shriek.
From beneath the streets...
More answered.
One...
Then five...
Then dozens.
Liam stared at the cracked road outside.
The ground...
Was moving.