(Timeskip – 8 Days Later)
Kai sits atop a wooden platform overlooking the clearing he has claimed as his base.
Mist curls across the forest floor, drifting lazily between the trees, and for the first time since he woke up in this nightmare, the world feels—if only slightly—under his control.
[Day 11 – 4 Hours Remaining Until Global Activation]
It hasn't been easy.
The past week has been an unbroken cycle of scavenging, building, and surviving. He's cleared brush, stacked barricades from fallen logs, and reinforced the doors and windows of an old cabin at the clearing's center. Around the perimeter, a shallow trench glints faintly with water, lined with crude alarms — string and tin cans, just like he used to rig in-game.
In a patch of weak sunlight, a small farm grows — potatoes, beans, a few herbs he's managed to cultivate. Nearby, a stream winds past the camp, filtered through a crude contraption of gravel, sand, and cloth that trickles into a plastic container of clear water. Inside the cabin, shelves are stocked with scavenged food and medical supplies. Against one wall, a locked crate holds an assortment of weapons — rifles, shotguns, sidearms — all cleaned, loaded, and ready.
He flexes his arm, the bandages faintly golden where the system's healing interface still lingers. The wound has sealed, but the ache remains, a phantom reminder of the rogue data encounter. Sometimes, when he grips a weapon, he can still feel the pulse of that things — code and flesh fused into one.
Kai exhales slowly, eyes tracing the horizon.
Each bruise, each scar, every sleepless night spent fighting for another sunrise has led him here. The base is secure. Supplies are stable. Weapons are ready.
(Four hours… that's all that's left. After that, 249 participants enter. I have to be ready.)
He glances at the HUD — a faint flicker at the corner of his vision.
No new messages. No pings. No signs of Elara.
It's been days since her last message.
At first, he thought it was interference — some network issue between worlds. But the silence lasted too long.
Now, he knows better. Something happened. Something that took her away.
He shakes the thought off and returns to work.
He checks the traps along the treeline, inspects the makeshift barricades, tightens the ropes, adjusts tripwires, and repositions oil lamps for better visibility. Each movement is methodical, automatic — survival reduced to ritual.
At the cabin's edge, his eyes linger on a half-finished weapon stand.
When he concentrates, just for a moment, the nails seem to shimmer faintly — like the air's responding to his thoughts. Then it stops. He blinks, unsure if it even happened. Maybe the exhaustion's catching up to him.
Or maybe… something else is happening.
He mutters, "Get a grip, Kai," and returns to hammering.
The forest grows quieter as the sun dips lower. Shadows stretch long and warped, the fog thickening again, silver under the moonlight. The world hums faintly — a low digital vibration, like the simulation itself is waiting.
He crouches by the edge of the farm, scanning the treeline.
Somewhere out there, the system is preparing for the activation. 249 new participants — real people — will appear in scattered spawn zones. Some will panic. Some will think it's just a game.
None will be ready.
Kai tightens his grip on his rifle and looks toward the sky, the faint shimmer of code visible high above the trees.
(They'll need somewhere to run to… if they survive the first night.)
He's not sure why he's still preparing — whether it's instinct, defiance, or the last flicker of Elara's voice echoing in his memory: "You'll have to trust me."
Now, there's only static where her words used to be.
The mist stirs.
Something howls in the distance — a raw, broken sound that doesn't belong to the infected. The system hums back, answering.
Kai steadies his breath, shoulders his weapon, and watches the forest breathe.
Everything is ready.
Now, he waits.
[4 Hours Before Global Activation – Mission: Hold the Base. Survive the Incoming Players.]
In four hours, the world will flood with life again — and the true test will begin.
End of Chapter 5