The journey away from the outpost was long, bitter, and too quiet. Even the wind seemed to tread lightly.
But Chen Yu? Chen Yu didn't change—he got louder.
Not in volume.
In presence.
"Hey, you know what I was thinking?" he said as they passed a half-collapsed transmission tower, where vines had wrapped like veins over the metal. "What if this whole world is just a dream someone had… while on the toilet?"
Li Wei didn't respond.
Rui was silent too, her thoughts knotted tight since the Vault encounter.
But Chen Yu kept going. He always did.
"Think about it! You fall asleep mid-poop, dream about zombies, apocalypse, mutant deer with six legs, and boom—you wake up and realize the real horror was constipation."
Rui gave him a tired look. "You're insane."
He smiled brightly. "That's what Eli said before I melted his ear off."
Li Wei paused in his steps.
Chen Yu noticed, shrugged, and kicked a loose piece of gravel into the bushes. "Too soon?"
Later that day, they came upon a burnt-out village—ashen bones of homes, twisted rebar like veins poking through concrete.
Chen Yu walked in like he owned it.
He even found a cracked mirror, half-buried in the dirt.
He picked it up, stared at his reflection for too long.
"Hey Rui, do I look… evil?"
She blinked. "Yes."
He grinned.
"I'm not actually evil, right? I mean, not in a classic villain sense. I'm more of a misunderstood anti-hero… with great hair and some slightly murdery tendencies."
Li Wei was rummaging through the ruins of a nearby convenience store. "Focus."
"I am focused," Chen Yu said. "On the fact that I saw a zombie swallow a wrench yesterday. You think he's trying to fix something inside?"
He laughed to himself.
Then he found something.
A small box. Clean. Untouched. Tucked under a blackened counter.
He opened it—and inside?
A doll's head. Cracked. Grinning. And still warm.
He didn't flinch.
Instead, he whispered to it, "You get it, don't you? Everyone else is breaking. Me? I'm already shattered. So the pieces just dance."
That night.
They made camp inside a church ruin.
Crosses had been flipped upside-down by time and wind. Pews were shattered. The altar burned to a stump.
Rui sat in a corner, legs pulled to her chest.
Li Wei cleaned his blade in silence.
Chen Yu?
He climbed the organ and pretended to conduct invisible choirs.
"Ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to the final concert of Earth's sanity! Featuring: Your screams, her trauma, and my beautiful laugh!"
He let out a dramatic cackle.
Rui sighed. "Do you ever stop?"
Chen Yu dropped down beside her.
The grin faded for just a moment.
Then he spoke, softer.
"I do. When it's quiet. When I remember things I shouldn't. That's when the voices stop laughing, and they start crying. And trust me… that's worse."
She looked at him.
For a heartbeat, she saw him—not the mask, not the act.
Just a boy who had seen too much.
Then he poked her forehead.
"Anyway! Can't stay in the sad zone too long, princess. We've got monsters to mock and secrets to unearth."
The next morning.
They found something strange outside.
Symbols. Carved into trees. Chalked onto rocks.
Circles, crosses, and something that looked like a child's drawing of a spiral bleeding.
Li Wei touched one and pulled his hand back immediately.
Burned.
Chen Yu leaned close. "Someone's been decorating. Very Pinterest, very hell."
Rui whispered, "I've seen this before… on the Vault screen. During the last broadcast."
Li Wei's eyes sharpened. "It's a summoning."
Chen Yu clapped. "Yay! New friends. Maybe they'll bring cookies and fire."
Later, as they moved toward the hills, a voice rang out from the trees.
"Unclean!"
Men in robes stepped into view. Robes dyed with ash and blood. Faces hidden behind masks of old bark and wire.
One raised a rusted blade toward them and shouted again:
"The world is reborn through fire! The impure must be cleansed! Mutants, carriers, unbelievers—all must burn!"
Chen Yu stepped forward with a smirk.
"Sorry, do you guys have a newsletter? Or is this cult invite-only?"
The nearest zealot pointed at Rui.
"She bears the mark. The Ghost. The Lie. She must be purged."
Rui's heart stuttered.
Li Wei drew his blade.
But Chen Yu?
He stepped in front of both of them, raised his hands, and said—
"Okay, okay. Let's talk this out. Maybe over tea and screaming."
And then he threw a live rat he had hidden in his coat at them.
It bit one of the zealots.
The man screamed.
Chaos erupted.
Li Wei sliced through two. Rui unleashed a psychic blast she didn't know she had. And Chen Yu? He danced through it all, laughing.
"God is dead," he whispered, driving a screwdriver into a robed throat. "But I make a decent substitute."