Chapter 1: The Edge of Survival

Cold. It wasn't just in the air—it was in the ground, the water, the bones of the Earth itself. A death sentence creeping in with every passing day.

I adjusted Lily's weight on my back, her tiny arms wrapped around my neck. She had stopped crying days ago, her body weak from exhaustion. The last time she spoke, she had asked me if the sun was ever coming back.

I didn't have an answer.

The sky above was a swirling gray, thick with ash and ice crystals. The Earth's magnetic field had weakened after the first cataclysmic quakes, allowing more cosmic radiation to seep through. The atmosphere was breaking down, and with it, the last remnants of warmth.

I clutched my rifle, scanning the shoreline. The tide had frozen in jagged shapes along the sand, locking rusted shipwrecks in icy tombs.

[System Notification: Incoming Threat Detected – 500 Meters]

My breath hitched.

"Daddy?" Lily's voice was barely a whisper against my shoulder.

I shifted my stance, keeping my eyes on the distant movement. Figures—humans, maybe six or seven. Wrapped in makeshift furs, carrying scavenged weapons. Survivors.

Or worse.

"Almost home, baby," I said, forcing my voice steady.

Home. The abandoned research facility buried in the cliffs ahead. My last hope.

[New Task: Evade or Neutralize Hostile Targets]

[Reward: Reinforced Entry Doors – Fortification Level +20%]

The system was my only advantage, my only certainty in a world where science had betrayed us. It had appeared in my head the day of the first quakes—cold, logical, efficient. No one else had it. No one else understood it.

And if I wanted to keep Lily alive, I had to trust it.

I exhaled, calculating my options. The facility entrance was still a hundred meters away, hidden beneath layers of rock and ice. The scavengers were getting closer.

No choice.

[System Command: Activate Silent Mode – Noise Reduction 80%]

I moved quickly, my steps muffled, my heat signature lowered just enough to avoid detection. The system adjusted my breathing pattern, conserving body heat as I navigated the frozen debris.

The figures stopped near a wrecked truck, scanning the area.

"Tracks," one of them muttered. "Someone's close."

I swallowed hard, gripping my rifle. They weren't just scavengers. They were hunters.

I reached the facility's hidden entrance and punched in the access code with numb fingers. The door groaned, then slid open with a burst of warm air.

[Task Completed: Evade Hostile Targets]

[Reward Claimed: Reinforced Entry Doors Activated]

I slipped inside and sealed the entrance just as voices rang out behind me.

"The tracks end here."

"Then we keep looking."

I leaned against the steel door, exhaling slowly.

They would come back.

But I wasn't just another survivor.

I had the system.

I had a plan.

And I wasn't going to die on this frozen Earth.

Not yet.