[Purchase Confirmed!]
[Item: 'Gilded Folding Fan of the Bored Noble' (Bronze-Rank - Growth Type)]
[Cost: 450 Coins]
[Special Attribute: 'The Breeze of Indifference' — Increases evasion by 10% and looks 100% more stylish.]
Chen sat on the edge of the convenience store roof, snapping the fan open with a sharp clack. It was made of reinforced bamboo and silk, heavier than it looked, with a landscape painting of a lazy cat sleeping under a willow tree.
"Coins well spent," Chen muttered, fanning himself as the sea of Pale zombies milled about below him like an angry, porcelain-colored carpet. "But... Gary?"
He tapped the fan against his chin. The name kept bubbling up from his subconscious, accompanied by the phantom smell of floor wax and the sound of someone complaining about a mop.
Who is Gary? he wondered. Every time I think of him, I feel a strange urge to delegate all my physical labor to someone else. Was I a manager? A CEO? Or just an exceptionally lazy person with a very dedicated friend?
He looked at his hands. They were steady, but the "Martial Awareness" vibrating through his muscles suggested he wasn't just a boss; he was a weapon that had forgotten it was unsheathed. The "Apocalyptic Guide" remained silent on the identity of Gary, flickering only to show his updated stats.
While Chen was contemplating his past over a pile of expired snacks, three miles to the East, the "Power Spike" source was being hunted.
A man moved through the ruins of the downtown district with the terrifying grace of a predator. He wore a high-collared coat of silver-grey leather, and his skin was so pale it practically glowed in the moonlight. This was Officer Kael, a Silver-Rank Collector serving the Sanguine Lord of the Midwest.
[Entity Identified: Kael (Silver - Level 22)]
[Class: Sanguine Enforcer]
Kael stopped in the middle of a bridge, his nose wrinkling in distaste. From the shadows beneath the wreckage, three Lycans emerged. These weren't the clumsy Bronze-level zombies Chen had encountered. These were massive, hulking beasts the size of motorcycles, their fur matted with dried blood and glowing fungal spores.
[Monster Identified: Spore-Back Lycan (Silver - Level 15)]
"Out of the way, mutts," Kael said, his voice like silk sliding over glass. "I'm in a hurry. Something just woke up in the ruins that shouldn't exist."
The Lycans didn't listen. They roared, a sound that shattered the remaining glass in the nearby skyscrapers, and lunged simultaneously.
Kael didn't draw a sword. He simply extended his hand, and the blood from a nearby puddle rose into the air, hardening into jagged, crimson needles. With a flick of his wrist, the needles accelerated, piercing through the Lycans' thick hides with the force of sniper rounds.
One Lycan reached him, its massive claws swiping for his head. Kael tilted his head a fraction of an inch—an evasion so precise it was almost insulting—and drove a silver-plated dagger into the beast's throat.
"Bronze-tier tactics," Kael sighed, stepping over the dissolving carcass as the other two Lycans whimpered and retreated into the dark. "Whatever caused that power spike at the old school... it was clean. It was sharp. It felt like a 'Saint' yawned in its sleep."
He looked toward the horizon, his grey eyes locking onto the distant roof where Chen was currently trying to figure out if the folding fan could be used to slice a bagel.
Back on the roof, Chen suddenly stopped fanning himself. The violet light in his eyes flared, turning deep and cold. He didn't see Kael, but he felt the "Vibe."
"System," Chen said, his voice dropping an octave. "I feel a very 'Silver' headache coming from the East. It's loud, arrogant, and smells like expensive cologne and old blood."
[Warning: Sanguine Collector 'Kael' is approaching.]
[Distance: 2.8 km. Estimated arrival: 6 minutes.]
"Six minutes?" Chen stood up, snapping his fan shut. He looked down at the three hundred zombies below him. "Well, I suppose I can't spend all night thinking about Gary. If a Silver-level 'Collector' is coming to see me, I should at least prepare a proper stage."
He looked at the fan in his hand, then at the "Martial Awareness" map blooming in his mind.
"Gary... whoever you were," Chen whispered, a playful grin returning to his face. "I hope you're watching. Because I'm about to do something very 'un-Salted-Fish' of me."
[New Mission: The Debut Performance]
[Objective: Intercept the Sanguine Collector and maintain your 'Bronze' disguise.]
[Reward: Skill – 'Mirror of the Sovereign']
Chen stepped off the roof, not falling, but gliding downward as if the air itself were a flight of stairs. The apocalypse had been going for ten years, but for Chen, the show was just beginning.