CHAPTER 81: NEXT STOP

After the fluff had dozed off its breakfast and returned to a smaller, calmer state, Ling Yu rose to her feet. She slung her blade across her back, adjusted her pack, and pulled her cloak tighter. The factory’s mild peace was a comfort, but it was also a trap.

She could not linger there more than necessary.

Her ink black eyes scanned the survivors gathered under the leader’s quiet commands. They were trying, clinging to order in the ruins, but they were not her people. Their paths were not hers to walk.

And she knew very well that every second counted.

The second wave had ended, yes, but the third was not far behind. Before that, the system’s task was clear: gather resources, secure survival, or face penalties. Which meant chaos. Scavenging, looting, raiding, and death, for those too weak to fight back.

She had already decided her path. And that was the Gates that had to be closed before the world drowned in monsters.

Ling Yu bent down, scooping the fluff gently into her arms. It chirped once in surprise, then settled into the crook of her elbow, its round body radiating warmth against her cold skin.

"Come," she whispered, more to herself than to it. "We don’t have the luxury of staying here for long in peace."

"Let’s move."

As she made her way toward the factory’s exit, a few survivors looked up. Some stared at her retreating back with curiosity, others with suspicion. The leader himself watched her for a long moment, his expression unreadable, before turning away to continue his work.

No one dared to stop her.

Perhaps it was the blood still staining her cloak. Perhaps it was the aura that she carried, the cold certainty in her steps. Or perhaps it was the faint squeak of the fluffy in her arms, the reminder of how easily their hostility had faltered the night before.

She left in silence, her boots echoing against the concrete floor, until the heavy factory doors creaked open and shut behind her.

The city stretched before her, broken and bleeding under the pale light of dawn. Skyscrapers had collapsed into jagged silhouettes, streets were cracked and flooded with rubble, and cars lay overturned and burnt. Smoke rose from distant fires, black streaks painting the sky, as well as the corpses lying beneath.

The dead bodies of the monsters and humans lay scattered like discarded dolls, already attracting the stench of rot.

Ling Yu adjusted her grip on the fluff, her gaze steady.

She did not fear the sight. She had seen even worse in her past life; she had walked through rivers of blood, through cities drowned in screams. Compared to those memories, this was only the beginning.

She stepped forward. Each footfall was sure and measured. Her blade glinted faintly in the morning light, her silver eyes reflecting the ruins as though already calculating paths and dangers unseen.

Behind her, the factory shrank into the distance. Ahead of her lay the next vicinity, the unknown, the gates that threatened to tear the world apart.

The fluff nestled closer into her chest, cooing softly, unaware of the blood and shadows waiting for them.

Ling Yu’s voice, soft but resolute, cut through the silence.

"Let’s move."

The sun was already slanting westward, a smear of rust and violet bleeding into the horizon as Ling Yu advanced down the overgrown road. Her boots crushed fragments of broken glass and scattered bullet shells, echoes of a civilization that had collapsed too suddenly.

The path ahead twisted through once-busy avenues now littered with overturned cars and moss-crept barricades. She moved in silence, her blade faintly humming with traces of mana still clinging to its edge. Each step was measured and steady as her body was guided by memories that didn’t belong to this lifetime alone.

Fluffy, the round little creature she had picked up from the basement, perched neatly on her shoulder. Its fur, soft like a puff of fresh snow, caught the dying sunlight and gleamed faintly as if dusted with starlight. Every so often, it let out a cheerful coo, a sound so out of place amidst the corpse-stench of decay and the distant wails of wandering zombies, that it felt surreal.

But Fluffy wasn’t just a comfort; it was a small mystery. When it had devoured the mana stones earlier, the Apocalypse system’s interface had flared in surprise, sending a flood of blue-text notifications across her vision:

[Notice: Unknown Entity has absorbed raw mana.]

[Analysis failed. Classification: ???]

[Warning: Potential anomaly detected. Current hostility level: 0%.]

And then, as if trying to excuse Fluffy’s voracious appetite, her system had added almost sheepishly:

[Host... it looks very happy.]

Ling Yu had only sighed at that, stroking the creature absentmindedly before moving on. Responsibility wasn’t something she was prepared to accept, not after the burdens of her past life, but she couldn’t quite bring herself to push Fluffy away either.

Now, as the train station’s silhouette grew nearer, the air itself seemed to shift. The faint scent of smoke, human sweat, and something acrid, the smell of gunpowder, drifted on the wind. She slowed her pace, eyes narrowing.

The station was no longer just a hub of transit; it had been converted into a refuge. Makeshift barricades lined the entrances, built from rusted train parts, barbed wire, and scavenged steel sheets. Fires burned in half-barrels, sending orange sparks into the dimming air.

Survivors bustled around in ragged clusters, some haggling over supplies, others sharpening crude weapons, while children crouched in corners, eyes wide and hollow with hunger.

At first glance, it almost looked like a community, a semblance of order in the midst of chaos. But Ling Yu’s sharp gaze picked out the truth quickly. Men in mismatched armor like baseball pads, leather jackets reinforced with scrap metal, patrolled the perimeters with makeshift spears and shotguns slung carelessly over their backs. Their movements were too casual, their grins too sharp. They weren’t protector, rather they looked like your typical group of local thugs.