The hunger in Lin Feng Yi stomach was not just for food. It was a hollow ache that seemed to radiate from the center of his chest, a side effect of the potion that was still rewriting his nerves. He sat on the cold floor of the bunker, watching the others sleep. The warm yellow lights he had fixed were steady, but the air felt thin. They were running out of everything. The emergency rations were mostly salt and chalk, and the water recycler was beginning to make a rhythmic clicking sound that suggested a filter was about to snap.
He stood up, his bones popping like dry wood. He looked at the screen of the terminal. The red dots on the map had faded, meaning the Hesperians had moved their search to a different sector, but that did not mean it was safe. It just meant the immediate threat was elsewhere.
He woke Geng and Hao first. He didn't shake them. He just placed a hand on their shoulders, and they both bolted upright with their eyes wide and wild. That was the life of a scavenger. You never woke up slowly. You woke up ready to run or bite.
We are going out, Lin Feng Yi said. His voice was a rasping whisper.
Geng rubbed his face, his skin looking grey in the morning light. Out where? The ground just opened up and swallowed a ship yesterday. It is probably still hot out there.
We need Jade, Lin Feng Yi replied. The bunker is running on fumes. If the power cell dies, the air stops moving. If the air stops moving, we die in our sleep.
Hao, the younger of the two, looked at the hatch above them. But the Hesperians are still out there. They want us.
They want the boy they saw in the ruins, Lin Feng Yi said. They do not know about this place yet. We will be fast. I know where a storage depot was located. It was a secondary site for the city transit system. There should be a cache of industrial Jade there.
Geng stood up, his height making the small room feel cramped. You keep saying you know where things were. Like you lived here before the sky fell. It is creepy, kid.
I have a good memory, Geng, Lin Feng Yi said, turning toward the equipment locker. Now get your gear. We need bags and anything that can be used as a pry bar.
They gathered their meager supplies. Lin Feng Yi took his iron strut, which was now stained with the dark oil of the Hesperian scout he had killed. He felt a strange attachment to the piece of metal. it was heavy, reliable, and did not require a battery.
Before they left, Mei woke up. She didn't say anything, but she watched them with an intensity that made Lin Feng Yi heart ache. He walked over to her and knelt down. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small piece of plastic he had found in the bunker. It was a toy, a small blue bird that had survived two thousand years of silence.
Keep this safe for me, he said, placing it in her hand. We will be back before the lights flicker.
Mei clutched the bird to her chest and nodded. Don't let the smoke get you, Xiao Lin.
The trio climbed the ladder and cracked the hatch. The air that hit them was freezing and tasted of wet ash. The parking garage was a ruin of twisted metal and steam-blasted concrete. The massive crack in the earth was still there, a jagged black scar that breathed out thin wisps of sulfur. The Hesperian transport was gone, likely pulled out by a recovery crew during the night, but the ground was littered with brass scraps and broken glass.
They moved through the ruins like shadows. Lin Feng Yi led the way, his eyes scanning the horizon. The golden script in his vision was quieter now, but it still pointed out the structural flaws in the buildings around them. He could see the stress points in the leaning towers. He knew which piles of rubble would slide if stepped on and which would hold their weight.
As they walked, the silence of the city felt heavier. It was a world without birds or insects. The only sound was the wind whistling through the empty window frames of the skyscrapers.
Why did they do it? Hao asked suddenly. The people from before. Why did they build so high if they knew it was all going to fall?
They didn't think it would fall, Lin Feng Yi said. They thought they had solved the world. They thought they were the smartest people who ever lived.
He felt a pang of guilt. He had been one of those people. He had sat in glass offices and talked about recovery while the world was already beginning to burn at the edges.
They reached the transit station after two hours of walking. It was a massive dome of cracked glass, half buried under a landslide of red brick. The entrance was blocked by a rusted train car that had derailed and slammed into the lobby.
In here, Lin Feng Yi said, pointing to a gap between the train and the wall.
They squeezed through, their clothes catching on jagged metal. The inside of the station was a cavern of shadows. Old ticket machines stood like sentinels in the gloom, their screens cracked and dark. The smell here was different. It smelled of old grease and ozone.
The Jade is in the maintenance sub-level, Lin Feng Yi explained. They used it to power the magnetic rails.
As they moved toward the stairs, a sound echoed from the darkness. It was the sound of metal scraping against metal. A rhythmic, deliberate sound.
Lin Feng Yi froze. He signaled for Geng and Hao to get down. They crouched behind a row of rusted turnstiles, their breathing heavy in the silence.
From the other side of the lobby, a group of figures emerged. They were not Hesperians. They were scavengers, but they were different from the people in the tunnels. They wore coats made of stitched-together hides and masks fashioned from old gas masks and scrap metal. They carried spears tipped with jagged glass and one of them had a crossbow made from a car leaf spring.
The Iron Rats, Geng whispered, his voice trembling.
Who are they? Lin Feng Yi asked.
The worst kind of scavengers, Geng replied. They don't just find scrap. They hunt other people for it. They live in the old subway tunnels. If they find us, they won't just kill us. They will sell us to the Hesperian mines.
There were six of them. They were moving through the station with practiced ease, checking the corners and poking at piles of trash. They were looking for something.
The leader was a tall, lean man with a shock of white hair and a necklace made of human finger bones. He stopped in the middle of the lobby and sniffed the air.
I smell fresh sweat, the man said. His voice was like grinding stones. I smell fear. Come out, little mice. We know you are here.
Geng looked at Lin Feng Yi, his eyes pleading. We have to run, he mouthed.
Lin Feng Yi shook his head. If they ran, they would be shot in the back. The man with the crossbow was already scanning the shadows. They had to fight, but they were outnumbered and outgunned.
He looked at the golden lines in his vision. He scanned the room, looking for an advantage. He saw a heavy chandelier hanging by a single rusted chain directly above the Iron Rats. He saw a pile of pressurized fire extinguishers in a rack nearby.
He didn't have the strength to fight six men, but he had the knowledge of how things broke.
Geng, when I move, you and Hao head for the maintenance stairs. Don't look back. Just go.
What about you? Hao asked.
I'm going to cause a distraction, Lin Feng Yi said.
He stood up suddenly, stepping out from behind the turnstile. The Iron Rats immediately turned, their weapons leveling at him. The man with the crossbow narrowed his eyes and pulled the trigger.
Lin Feng Yi didn't wait to see the bolt fly. He dived to the left, rolling across the dusty floor. The bolt slammed into a ticket machine with a loud clang.
Hey! Over here, you bastards! Lin Feng Yi shouted, his voice echoing in the dome.
The Iron Rats laughed. The leader stepped forward, his spear held low. A little pup. Where are your parents, boy? Did they leave you here to die?
Lin Feng Yi didn't answer. He ran toward the fire extinguisher rack. The scavengers followed, their boots thumping on the marble floor. They were confident. They thought he was just a scared kid.
He reached the rack and grabbed a heavy iron bar that was leaning against the wall. He didn't swing it at the men. He swung it at the valves of the old extinguishers.
One, two, three.
The extinguishers were old, but the chemicals inside were still under pressure. They didn't just spray; they exploded. A cloud of thick, white powder filled the air, blinding the Iron Rats and making them cough and gag.
In the confusion, Lin Feng Yi ran back toward the center of the lobby. He could hear the leader shouting, trying to gather his men. He looked up at the chandelier.
He picked up a heavy piece of rubble and threw it with everything he had. He wasn't aiming for the chain. He was aiming for the pulley housing that had been weakened by decades of moisture.
The housing snapped.
The chandelier, a massive circle of iron and glass, came crashing down with the sound of a falling mountain. It didn't hit all of them, but the impact sent shards of glass flying like shrapnel and the weight of the iron crushed two of the scavengers instantly.
The white-haired leader screamed in rage. He emerged from the powder cloud, his face white with dust and his eyes red with fury. He raised his spear and lunged at Lin Feng Yi.
Lin Feng Yi didn't back away. He felt the potion in his blood surge. The world seemed to slow down. He saw the path of the spear, the way the man's weight shifted, the opening in his defense.
He stepped inside the reach of the spear, the iron strut in his hand coming up in a sharp arc. He didn't hit the man's chest. He hit the elbow, the bone snapping with a sickening pop. The spear clattered to the floor.
Before the leader could scream, Lin Feng Yi drove the end of the strut into the man's throat.
The leader fell, clutching his neck, his eyes wide with shock. He gurgled once and went still.
The remaining Iron Rats looked at their dead leader and then at the boy standing in the dust. They didn't see a fifteen-year-old. They saw a demon. They turned and fled into the darkness of the subway tunnels, their footsteps fading into the distance.
Lin Feng Yi stood there, his chest heaving. His hands were shaking so hard he almost dropped his weapon. He felt a wave of nausea. He had killed again. He had used his mind to plan a massacre.
Geng and Hao crept out from the stairs, their faces full of horror and awe.
Xiao Lin? Hao whispered.
I'm fine, Lin Feng Yi said, though his voice was shaking. Get their weapons. We might need them.
They stripped the dead men of their spears and the crossbow. Geng looked at the white-haired leader and then at Lin Feng Yi. You just killed the Butcher of the Subways like it was nothing.
It wasn't nothing, Geng, Lin Feng Yi said, turning away. Let's get the Jade and get out of here.
They descended into the maintenance sub-level. It was a labyrinth of pipes and wires, but Lin Feng Yi knew exactly where to go. He led them to a reinforced door with a heavy wheel lock. It took all three of them to turn it, the metal groaning as it finally gave way.
Inside were rows of lead-lined crates. Lin Feng Yi opened one, and the room was suddenly filled with a soft, pulsing green light. It was industrial Jade, pure and powerful.
This is enough to power the bunker for a year, he said.
They loaded the Jade into their bags, the weight heavy on their shoulders. As they prepared to leave, Lin Feng Yi saw a small box in the corner of the room. It was made of the same alloy as the bunker hatch.
He opened it and found a single crystal, different from the others. It was clear as water, with a single golden thread running through the center.
A Scholar's Stone, he whispered.
What is it? Geng asked.
It's a memory, Lin Feng Yi said, tucking the stone into his pocket. It's a way to unlock the Project Jade files.
They made their way back to the surface, moving even more carefully than before. The sun was beginning to set, casting long, bloody shadows across the ruins. They reached the bunker just as the lights were beginning to flicker.
Lin Feng Yi climbed down the ladder and saw Mei waiting for him. She saw the blood on his coat and her eyes filled with tears, but she didn't say anything. She just handed him back the blue bird.
He took it and sat down by the terminal. He felt the golden script in his eyes pulsing with a new intensity.
Academics Pillar Progress Twenty-Five Percent. Martial Pillar Progress Ten Percent. Digestion Status Twenty Percent.
He was becoming something else. He was no longer the man from 2025, and he was no longer the boy Xiao Lin. He was the Ritualist of the Middle Realm.
He pulled the golden-threaded crystal from his pocket and held it up to the terminal. The screen flickered, and the encryption on Project Jade began to dissolve.
A map appeared on the screen. It wasn't a map of the city. It was a map of the world, dotted with dozens of blue lights.
The other bunkers, he whispered. They are still out there.
But as he watched, one of the blue lights turned red. Then another. And another.
Something is killing them, he thought. Something is going through the bunkers one by one.
He looked at the scavengers, who were eating their meager meal by the fire. He looked at Mei, who was playing with her blue bird. He realized that the bunker was not a sanctuary. It was a target.
He stood up and looked at the hatch. He had the Jade. He had the knowledge. Now he needed an army.