The stairwell reeked of blood, mold, and something worse—death left too long to rot.
Jaden gripped the railing with one hand, his rusted knife in the other. He took slow steps, keeping his body low. The building was eerily quiet, but the kind of quiet that didn't last. The kind that whispered trap.
The Lock System glowed faintly in the corner of his vision, a constant reminder he was no longer an ordinary man.
Quest: Escape the BuildingFloor: 6 of 12Enemies Detected: ???
Each floor was a gamble. Doors were cracked open, some hanging from hinges, others smeared with bloody handprints. He paused at the fifth-floor landing when he heard it—gurgling. Wet, low, and close.
He turned the corner just in time to see one of the infected stumbling from a broken doorway. Its face was torn open, one eye dangling loose.
Before it could snarl, Jaden was on it—one clean stab through the eye socket. The corpse dropped.
[You have killed: Infected - Lv. 2]+1 Lock Acquired: [#004 - Basic Lock]
He barely had time to breathe before another emerged—then two more behind it.
"Shit!"
Jaden bolted down the next flight of stairs. The infected gave chase, their footsteps thunderous behind him.
The hallway on the fourth floor was worse—lit only by the flicker of a dying emergency light. And that's when he saw her.
A woman, mid-30s, backed against a door, holding a broken mop handle. Her clothes were soaked in blood—not all of it hers. Three zombies had her cornered.
She screamed.
Jaden didn't think. He charged.
The first zombie lunged for her—only to be tackled mid-air by Jaden. They crashed into the wall. The impact jarred his arm, but he stabbed anyway, wild, desperate.
[You have killed: Infected - Lv. 1]+1 Lock Acquired: [#005 - Basic Lock]
The second zombie turned. Jaden rolled to his feet, barely ducking under its grasp. The woman stabbed it in the neck, buying Jaden time to leap forward and plunge his knife into the base of its skull.
[You have killed: Infected - Lv. 2]+1 Lock Acquired: [#006 - Basic Lock]
The third one fell shortly after. Jaden stabbed, twisted, and shoved until it stopped twitching.
Breathing hard, he looked at the woman.
"You okay?"
She nodded shakily. "Y-Yeah. I… I thought I was done."
"Stay behind me. I'm getting out of this building."
They moved fast now—every second mattered.
By the third floor, the noise had drawn more. Jaden and the woman—"Tess," she told him—fought their way down through waves of infected.
Jaden was faster now. Stronger. His stats weren't just numbers—they were real. He dodged swipes that would've torn his throat out an hour ago. Every Lock gave him a slight edge. And he was learning—how to aim, how to move, how to kill.
By the second floor, Tess had picked up a real weapon—a kitchen knife from a ransacked apartment. She wasn't as quick, but she was fierce.
"Almost there," Jaden panted.
Then they reached the lobby.
And all hell broke loose.
The glass doors had been shattered inward. Blood stained the marble tiles. Dozens of bodies—some twitching, some still—littered the ground.
And in the center of it all stood something else.
Taller than the rest. Muscular. Pulsing with black veins.
[Mini-Boss: Berserker - Lv. 5]Lock: #007 - Rare Lock (Sealed)Status: Aggressive
Its eyes locked onto Jaden and Tess.
"Back!" Jaden yelled, pulling her behind the reception desk just as the Berserker charged.
It hit the desk like a truck, splintering wood and sending dust into the air. Jaden barely rolled away in time.
BOOM!
Its fists cracked the tiles.
He lunged and slashed across its ribs—barely a scratch.
"Great," Jaden hissed. "Mini-boss already?"
The thing roared.
They fought a brutal minute—Jaden ducking, slashing, stabbing, barely dodging bone-breaking strikes. Finally, he spotted an opening—just a flicker—when it raised both arms for a slam.
He dove in and jammed the knife into its eye.
It howled.
Then he pulled Tess's mop handle—still sharpened—and drove it through the back of its skull.
The Berserker collapsed.
Silence.
[Mini-Boss Defeated: Berserker - Lv. 5]+1 Lock Acquired: [#007 - Rare Lock (Sealed)]Quest Complete: Escape the BuildingReward: Random Lock x2 | System Upgrade Unlocked
Jaden fell to his knees, gasping.
Tess leaned against the wall, breathing hard. "You're insane."
He smiled, blood on his face. "And you're welcome."
Outside, the city burned. Sirens wailed in the distance. Smoke rose into the sky. A world devoured by the undead.
But Jaden?
He was alive.
And now he had seven Locks.
He looked at the sealed one still glowing in the air.
[#007 - Rare Lock] — Requires: Key Fragment x1
Jaden grinned.
"Guess we're just getting started."