Chapter 123: Vault Dweller
Kyle did not even bother trying to pick the sturdy deadbolt because they were completely out of time, and Aiden was practically swaying on his feet from physical exhaustion.
The mercenary simply raised his heavy combat boot and kicked the cellar door right on the centre hinge with every single ounce of strength he had left in his tired legs.
The loud impact echoed terribly across the quiet church sanctuary, and the locked door groaned loudly before completely giving way and crashing down a flight of dark stone stairs.
Julien winced at the terrible noise, quickly pulling a cheap glowing crystal from his spatial inventory that only cost him two pioneer credits in shipping fees because it literally weighed less than a feather.
He held the blue crystal high above his head to illuminate the dark basement, revealing a very terrified resident huddled in the farthest corner of the dusty room.
The survivor was a young guy wearing ragged clothes that looked like they had not been washed in several decades, and he was clutching a rusted iron pipe in one hand while desperately guarding a small wooden crate of stale bread with his other arm.
He stared at the rescue group with wide, disbelieving eyes, looking completely shocked to see actual living humans walking around the vampire-infested city.
"Please do not kill me, because I honestly do not have any valuable loot or system points to give you," the local guy whispered frantically, dropping his rusted pipe and raising his hands in surrender while keeping a very protective eye on his stale bread.
"We are definitely not here to rob you, but my friend over there is going to die if he does not eat some carbohydrates in the next three minutes," Julien explained calmly, keeping his empty hands visible to show they were not a threat, while Aiden practically threw himself at the wooden crate.
The survivor was too stunned to argue as Aiden started shoving the stale bread into his mouth, chewing frantically while his rapid regeneration skill finally stopped trying to consume his own muscles for energy.
"You guys are clearly not from this place," the survivor noted quietly, watching Kyle lean his steel sword against the stone wall while Maya kept a close eye on the broken cellar entrance.
"My name is Silas, and I have not seen another normal human walking around this cursed city since the integration phase completely failed ten years ago."
Julien sat down on an overturned wooden barrel and let out a very long sigh, feeling a serious headache starting to form right behind his eyes as he processed the terrible history of World 0001.
"Our home world just went through the apocalyptic integration phase exactly one year ago, so we are still trying to figure out how the universe actually works," Julien admitted honestly, rubbing the back of his neck to relieve the built-up tension.
"But I honestly do not understand how everything fell apart here so badly, because our districts already have fully working politics, expensive modern skyscrapers, and completely functional mana-powered cars driving around the streets just twelve months after the world ended."
Silas let out a very bitter, humourless laugh that echoed quietly in the dark cellar, looking at the entire rescue group like they were completely out of their minds.
"You actually think your people built those fancy skyscrapers and advanced vehicles by themselves in a single year?" Silas asked incredulously, shaking his head and pointing a dirty finger right at Julien.
"Are you seriously telling me that your surviving population woke up from a world-ending apocalypse and immediately decided to manufacture luxury mana-powered cars instead of farming for food?"
Maya crossed her arms and frowned, clearly offended on behalf of their home dimension.
"Well, we have some very smart engineers in the sector, and people need to get to work somehow," Maya argued defensively, though she sounded a little less confident now that she was saying it out loud to a stranger.
"The system does not just magically give humanity a bunch of blueprints and wait for them to slowly rebuild society after destroying the planet," Silas explained grimly, keeping his voice carefully lowered so the monsters outside would not hear them.
"When the system initiates an integration phase, it literally drops pre-built mega-structures, advanced mana-technology, and fully established political borders directly onto the ruins of the old world straight out of the sky."
’Wait, is he saying the system literally gave us the entire commercial sector for free?’ Julien thought to himself, feeling his entire understanding of their local economy shatter into a million confusing pieces.
’I have been paying ridiculous rental fees for my market stall to a bunch of hunters who just claimed a pre-built building that literally fell out of the sky!’
A glowing blue notification suddenly popped up right in front of Julien’s face, chiming softly to confirm the terrible truth they were just discussing.
[Lore Database Updated.]
[Notice: World Integration Protocol typically includes the deployment of Tier One architectural assets and basic mana-transportation networks to stimulate rapid economic competition among surviving populations.]
’So the system is basically just playing a giant city-building game with our lives, and we are just the disposable characters running around inside it doing all the hard work,’ Julien thought in pure disbelief, swiping the depressing blue screen away so he could focus on the terrifying reality of their current situation.
"So your world failed the forced evolution test, and the vampires just took over all the pre-built structures?" Kyle asked gruffly, crossing his arms and looking very disturbed by the cruel reality of the cosmic game they were all trapped in.
Before Silas could even open his mouth to answer the mercenary’s question, a bright red warning screen suddenly popped up right in front of Julien’s face, accompanied by a very aggressive digital alarm that made his heart skip a painful beat.
[Proximity Alert Activated.]
[Notice: Hostile tracking entity has successfully isolated the party’s dimensional scent profile.]
[Target is currently located directly above your current position.]
Julien stared at the glowing red text in pure horror as a terrible, heavy scratching sound suddenly echoed from the main floor of the church right above their heads.
Something incredibly large with very sharp claws was actively trying to dig its way through the heavy wooden doors they had barricaded just a few minutes ago.
Silas went completely pale, his entire body trembling as he covered his mouth with both hands to stop himself from making a single sound.
"We need to be quiet right now," Silas whispered through his trembling fingers, looking up at the stone ceiling with pure terror in his wide eyes.
"The vampire knights do not just hunt by sight in the dark, because they use mutated tracking beasts to sniff out human blood from miles away."
Another impact shook the entire church above them, followed by a deeply unnatural growl that sounded like it belonged to a predator straight out of a horror movie.
"A giant bat-hound is already sniffing at the front doors, and if it figures out we are hiding down here in the cellar, it will tear this entire building apart just to eat us," Silas warned them desperately, backing himself further into the dark corner as the heavy scratching above them grew even louder.
Julien quickly dismissed his glowing red system warning and looked over at Kyle and Maya, realising they were completely trapped in a dead-end basement with a giant mutated monster actively trying to break into their only hiding spot.