Resistance

He was correct in his assumptions. As soon as he left the area, a jet arrived at the location. Its back door opened, and drones emerged. The drones began scanning the area for any human activity.

Within a two-mile radius, nothing could hide from them. According to their calculations, no human could have run this fast within such a short amount of time, so the humans should be within this range. But they were wrong. With thirteen units of strength and agility, Sanjay ran fast. Within ten minutes, he had traveled five miles.

Fifteen minutes later, he was hiding inside a dilapidated building, watching the tower. He could see no androids in this location. Most likely, no one had been to this place for a long time.

Sanjay looked left and right and started moving toward the tower while carrying a gun. He had left his suit in the building as there was no need for it now. He slowly turned the knob on the back door of the tower.

The door creaked and slowly opened. He looked inside; it was completely dark. He switched on his night vision. Previously, it had not been possible to use night vision because he had been wearing an industry-grade hazmat suit.

He went inside the tower slowly. The interior was completely dark, but he could feel it in his nerves—something was here.

He saw a faint line in the corner through his night vision. As soon as he saw this, he shot at it.

"What?" a voice came from the other side.

Sanjay's bullet seemed to hit a metal plate. He was certain the bullet didn't strike whatever was on the other side.

As he prepared to shoot again, multiple lights were suddenly directed at him. He was caught in a spotlight. With so many lights, he was blinded momentarily because he was wearing night vision. He quickly removed the night vision and looked up at the source of the lights. He could see multiple soldiers pointing their guns at him.

"Stand down! Drop your weapon!" one of them shouted.

But Sanjay tightened his grip on the gun. With so many guns aimed at him, he couldn't predict the outcome. Sanjay wasn't about to go down without a fight. At the very least, he could escape with the help of his shield crystal.

"Are you the one who killed the android in the south?" a woman's voice came from the direction he had shot. He could make out a faint outline but couldn't see who was speaking. Slowly, the outline became clearer, and a woman's silhouette was visible.

What was this? The woman had been invisible but became visible again after a few seconds. Was it a skill? Sanjay examined the woman more closely. She was wearing a completely black suit that clung tightly to her body, outlining her curves.

She noticed Sanjay staring at her without answering her question. As a woman, she was used to men checking her out, especially in this type of world.

"Who are you people? Are you the resistance?" Sanjay asked.

Hearing this, the woman's eyes sparkled. "Did you come here by cracking the graffiti?" she asked.

Sanjay nodded.

"Yes, we are the Fifth Demon Squad of the resistance army," she said proudly.

All the other soldiers came down, still pointing their guns at Sanjay. Sanjay also kept his gun aimed at them. Seeing this, the woman didn't say anything. One of the soldiers approached her.

"Captain, no mechanical lifeforms were following him. He's clean," the soldier said, looking at a tablet in his hands.

Hearing this, everyone relaxed slightly. Having a gun pointed at them was no big deal; the machines sent by the AI were the real threat that could lead to an intense gunfight.

"Do you want to go to the resistance hideout? What is your name?" the woman asked, looking at Sanjay.

Sanjay nodded and said, "Sanjay."

"Okay, Sanjay. You look like you can handle a gun, but we're not going to trust you. You'll stay in the middle of the squad. Any suspicious movement, and we won't hesitate to shoot."

"Works for me," Sanjay said confidently. He didn't expect these people to trust him right away.

She turned to her team members. "We're done here. Let's move."

In formation, everyone exited the building with Sanjay in the middle.

A few days later, they reached a position deep within a jungle on the outskirts of the city. Along the way, they had fought multiple battles.

Although Sanjay's guns were weaker than theirs, he showed excellent valor while engaging with the robots. His flashbangs saved the lives of multiple teammates. During these days, he became close with the team, and they started trusting him more.

From the Demon Squad, he came to know that they didn't specifically wait for anyone in the tower. The tower was one of multiple safehouses of the resistance army that they used during missions. Sanjay was just lucky to find them as they were resting after completing their mission. Other than this time, the tower was mostly empty.

He also learned about some advanced technology available in this world, like camouflaging and becoming completely invisible in the surroundings. Sanjay was only able to catch on to it due to his high intelligence points.

He became friends with the tech guy responsible for the tech in their unit. His name was Zero. From Zero, he learned that you could buy anything from tech to weapons from the resistance camp by using contribution points. You could earn contribution points in exchange for resources such as medicines, weapons, or by completing missions provided by the resistance.

While talking, they arrived at a location completely covered by huge trees in the jungle. This location was neither too big nor too small. There were multiple people walking throughout the base. He could see a few military-level trucks that looked much more advanced than the ones from the real world but had not yet reached a sci-fi level.

He already noticed the guns in the squad's hands. They were far more advanced than what he had. Maybe the association and the army also had these types of guns but hadn't made them public.

After reaching the location, the female captain smiled at Sanjay and shook his hand.

"Thank you, Sanjay, for your help and for saving my soldiers. Please, if you want to join the squad, meet me. I will personally ask the commander for you," she said with a smile.

Sanjay also smiled. "I will think about it, Captain, and let you know."

"Sure, you can find me in the military barracks," she said, pointing to a place that civilians were not allowed to enter.

Sanjay nodded, and then they all separated. Sanjay first needed to get a civilian ID to stay in this place and earn contribution points as soon as possible. There was a line to create an ID.

The process of creating an ID was not long. A computer-generated plastic ID card was given to him with his name and photo on it.

With this, he gained entry into the resistance camp. But the look of the resistance camp inside was not good. There were people begging everywhere. The soldiers patrolling didn't even glance in their direction.

There was nothing they could do. The people begging were either injured or suffering from diseases and couldn't do any other job. He felt pity for these people. He resolved to help them while he could.

Some people had opened shops on the roadside and tried to attract customers with their hawking skills.

Zero had already told him to directly look for the merchant building in the southeast block. That's where transactions between contribution points and goods happened.

Without paying attention to anyone else, Sanjay went directly to the three-story building. People were constantly entering and exiting the building. He could see some people carrying swords and bows in their hands. They must be players, Sanjay thought.

"Sanjay," he heard someone calling his name.

He looked in the direction of the voice, and a girl suddenly hugged him. Sanjay was surprised to see her; it was none other than Shruti.

"What are you doing here? You didn't tell me you were also coming to the third trial," Shruti asked excitedly.

"You also didn't tell me you were coming to the third floor," Sanjay said with a smile. He couldn't just ignore her; he wasn't that heartless. She was one of the few who were good to his predecessor and didn't judge him. Besides, she was quite a beauty.

"Is that so? I thought everyone knew. I even posted in the MeChat group. If anyone wanted to come, they could, but no one has reached the third floor until now," she said, sounding a bit despondent.

"Oh, I changed my phone, so I got out of the group," Sanjay replied. He didn't even know they had a MeChat group.

"Huh, you should have told me. I would have added you to the group," she said, facepalming herself.

"No worries. So, where is your team? Are you alone?" she asked.

"Yes," Sanjay nodded.

"Good," she said, pulling Sanjay toward a group of people equipped with swords and bows. 

"Tyson," she said, looking at a boy.

Tyson was a huge boy, his body covered with multiple pieces of armor—the biggest one on his chest and two on his legs. He carried a sword on his back.

Hearing someone call his name, he turned around with his imposing figure.

"Yes, Shruti?" Tyson said with a smile.

"Tyson, this is my friend from school. Can we take him into our team?" she asked, as he was the team leader.

"Oh," Tyson said, looking at Sanjay. He didn't seem powerful, and he was carrying a gun. Guns weren't particularly useful on this floor. While readily available, they didn't work well against robots built with titanium alloy.

No one suspected that Sanjay might own a storage pouch since it cost millions. It was better to spend that money on weapons for the lower floors.

Tyson frowned. "What is your rank and skill?" Asking someone their level was considered rude, so he avoided that.

"C rank, long-range fire attack skill," Sanjay said without hesitation.

"Huh, long-range attack skill. But we already have a player with that skill set," Tyson said, pointing to the boy carrying a bow. The boy looked at Sanjay and smirked when he noticed Tyson talking about him.

Shruti frowned when she saw him. She knew him—his name was Luke. He was an A-rank long-range attacker who had joined the Phoenix Guild at the same time as her. Luke had tried to flirt with her multiple times and hadn't stopped even after she rejected him repeatedly. Sanjay also noticed his smug attitude and frowned.

"Sorry, Sanjay. We can't take you on our team," Tyson said with a straight face. He had to ensure the team's success. Out of the seven members, three were A rank and four were B rank. If Sanjay had at least been B rank or possessed a unique skill not already present in the team, Tyson might have reconsidered. But seeing Sanjay with only a gun—a weapon easily available on this floor—Tyson wasn't confident about him.

Sanjay nodded in agreement. He wanted to go solo anyway and wasn't particularly interested in joining the team. It was better this way, with the leader only rejecting him outright.

"Tyson, please let him join the team. He can support from the back," Shruti pleaded, her eyes imploring him.

After several pleas, Tyson finally relented. "Okay, Shruti, we can involve him in our support mission after completing the main one," he said, giving up.

Shruti beamed with a big smile. "Thanks, Tyson. You surely won't regret it."

Tyson just smiled but didn't say anything. He walked off to talk with his teammates, who had been watching the entire exchange and overheard the conversation.

Seeing Shruti plead for Sanjay, all of them glanced at Luke. Luke understood why. Everyone knew he liked Shruti, but it seemed like she had someone else in her sights. To make matters worse for him, Sanjay, despite being C rank, was much better looking.

P.S: Hope you liked it! Please add it to your collection for future updates. I'm planning to update one chapter every day.