Chapter 02: Scavenger’s Dawn

The First Night after the attack,

The wind howled through the skeletal remains of Border City-17 like a dying beast.

Luo Yuchen curled tighter into the hollow space beneath a collapsed mecha hangar, his breath coming in shallow, trembling gasps. The cold bit through his torn clothes, but he dared not move. Outside, things scurried—claws on metal, the wet snuffling of predators searching for prey.

"Don't make a sound."

His father's last words echoed in his mind. "You must survive."

A high-pitched whimper cut through the darkness.

Yuchen stiffened.

Not a beast. Too small. Too... close.

Slowly, he peered through a gap in the wreckage.

Two glowing golden eyes stared back.

It was a dog—or what used to be one.

No bigger than his forearm, the puppy's fur was matted with dirt and soot, but beneath the grime, faint silver markings shimmered along its spine like constellations. Its ears were too large for its head, flopping awkwardly as it tilted its face at him.

A mutated animal. But unlike the monsters outside, this one didn't bare its teeth. It... *whined* again, pressing its tiny body against the debris as if seeking shelter.

Yuchen hesitated.

Animals don't trust other species. That's what the survival manuals said. But this puppy wasn't attacking. It was scared.

Just like him.

A guttural growl rumbled in the distance. Something heavy crunched through the rubble nearby.

The puppy's ears flattened. It shivered.

Before he could think, Yuchen reached out, fingers brushing damp fur. The puppy didn't resist as he scooped it against his chest, tucking them both deeper into the shadows.

"Stupid. What if it bites? What if it's poisonous?"

But the puppy only nestled closer, its tiny body radiating an unnatural warmth.

And for the first time since the world ended, Yuchen didn't feel entirely alone.

Dawn brought no relief—only gray light filtering through smoke.

Yuchen moved like a ghost through the ruins, the puppy tucked inside his makeshift sling (ripped from his own shirt). Every sound made his pulse spike, but the little creature stayed eerily silent, as if understanding the danger.

Rule 1: Avoid open spaces.

He stuck to the jagged canyons formed by collapsed buildings, where larger beasts couldn't follow.

Rule 2: Water first.

A broken pipe leaked steadily near the eastern sector. He lapped at it like an animal, then cupped his hands for the puppy, who drank greedily.

Rule 3: Never stay in one place too long.

The Phantom Mantises left scent markers. He'd seen what happened to other survivors who didn't move fast enough.

His stomach growled.

The puppy whined in sympathy.

Food was the real problem. The city's stores had been looted or crushed. His only hope was—

A crash echoed from a half-standing supermarket.

Yuchen froze.

Through the shattered windows, he saw it: a F-Rank: Razor Rat, its back bristling with quills, gnawing on a moldy bag of rice.

His mouth watered.

But rats were fast. Rats bit.

The puppy wriggled in his sling. Before Yuchen could stop it, the little creature leaped—

And landed silently behind the rat.

Yuchen held his breath.

The puppy's silver markings pulsed.

The rat stiffened, nose twitching, then... drooled. Its beady eyes glazed over as it wobbled drunkenly.

The puppy pounced, tiny teeth latching onto the rat's neck with shocking precision. One shake. A crunch.

Dead.

Yuchen stared.

The puppy trotted back, dragging its prize, tail wagging faintly. It dropped the rat at his feet and sat, ears perked as if waiting for praise.

What... are you?

By the fourth day, patterns emerged,

The puppy's glow intensified at night, keeping them warm.Its saliva seemed to paralyze prey (Yuchen tested this on a Spine Wolf pup—it worked).It always knew when danger was near, nudging Yuchen awake moments before beasts approached.

On the fifth night, as they huddled in the ruins of a school, Yuchen made a decision.

"You need a name."

The puppy cocked its head.

He traced the silver markings along its back—strange, intricate patterns that almost looked like...

"Xing." Star.

Xing yipped softly, licking his fingers.

Yuchen smiled for the first time in weeks.

Then the ground shook.

It wasn't the usual tremors of scavenging beasts.

This was rhythmic. Purposeful.

Thud. Thud. THUD.

Yuchen scrambled to a broken window.

In the distance, silhouetted against the burning sky, a B-Rank: Obsidian Colossus lumbered toward the city. Twenty meters tall, its stone-like hide cracked with molten veins, each step cratering the earth.

The evacuation warning made sense now.

The organizations hadn't just abandoned Border -17.

They'd sacrificed it—to slow the Colossus down.

Xing growled, low and terrified.

Yuchen's hands clenched.

"We can't stay."

But where could they go?

The Obsidian Colossus' footsteps still echoed in the distance, but Yuchen knew it was only a matter of time before it reached the city. He crouched in the ruins of an old bookstore, his fingers tracing a tattered map he'd pulled from the debris. Xing lay beside him, gnawing on a scrap of dried meat they'd scavenged from a ruined supply cache.

Border City-17 was marked in faded red ink, a dot on the edge of what used to be civilization. To the northeast, Harbin stood out—a major stronghold, one of the last remaining hubs of human resistance in northern China.

Yuchen's fingers tightened around the map.

We can't stay here.

The city was a death trap. The beasts would keep coming, and sooner or later, the Colossus would crush what little remained. But leaving meant crossing open land—territory ruled by mutated predators.

Xing lifted his head, sensing Yuchen's unease. The puppy's golden eyes gleamed in the dim light, his silver markings pulsing faintly.

"We need supplies," Yuchen whispered. "Real ones."

The military base.

Before the fall, it had been the heart of Border 17's defenses. If anything useful remained, it would be there.

Xing let out a soft "yip" of agreement.

The Ruins of the Military Base in Border city-17,

The base was a graveyard of steel and fire.

The outer walls had been torn apart, the reinforced gates reduced to twisted metal. The air smelled of scorched earth and decay. Yuchen moved carefully, keeping low, Xing padding silently beside him.

The first building—a barracks—had collapsed entirely. The second, a command center, was half-standing, its roof caved in. But the third…

The armory.

Its doors were sealed tight, the electronic locks still powered by emergency backup. Yuchen's heart raced. If he could get inside—

A low growl from Xing froze him in place.

From the shadows of a wrecked mecha, a pair of glowing red eyes locked onto them.

"D-Rank: Shadow Stalker. "

A mutated feline, its body lean and sinewy, its claws extended like curved daggers. It slunk forward, lips peeling back to reveal needle-like teeth.

Yuchen's breath hitched.

"Run?" No. The Stalker was faster.

"Fight?" With what? His only weapon was a rusted pipe he'd picked up days ago.

Xing stepped forward, his fur bristling, a deep growl rumbling in his tiny chest.

The Stalker hesitated.

Yuchen's mind raced. The armory doors—if he could just get them open…

His fingers brushed against a keypad beside the door. Locked.

But his mother had been a scientist. He'd watched her work.

He typed in the first code that came to mind—his birthday.

"ERROR."

The Stalker snarled, inching closer.

Yuchen tried again. His father's military ID.

"ERROR."

Xing's growl turned into a snarl as the Stalker lunged—

Yuchen slammed his hand against the keypad one last time.

"0901"—the day the world changed.

The door hissed open.

The armory was a treasure trove.

Rations. Medkits. A working plasma pistol with half a charge. And—most precious of all—a portable energy scanner, the kind used by mecha pilots to track beast movements.

Yuchen stuffed everything into a discarded backpack, his hands shaking with adrenaline.

Xing stayed by the door, his ears twitching at every sound outside.

Then Yuchen saw it.

In the far corner, covered in dust, was a child-sized survival suit, designed for civilian evacuations. It was scuffed and worn, but intact.

He pulled it on, the material adjusting automatically to his size. The visor flickered to life, displaying a rudimentary HUD—temperature, oxygen levels, even a basic threat detector.

A voice crackled from a forgotten comm unit on the wall.

"—any survivors in Sector 7, evacuate immediately. The Colossus has breached the—"

Static.

Yuchen's stomach twisted. They were out of time.

They left at dawn.

The survival suit kept Yuchen warm against the biting wind, the visor's HUD highlighting safe paths through the ruins. Xing trotted beside him, his nose twitching as he scented the air for danger.

The journey would take days, maybe weeks. Harbin was over 300 kilometers northeast—through beast-infested wildlands.

But they had no choice.

As they reached the city's broken gates, Yuchen glanced back one last time.

The Colossus loomed in the distance, its massive form silhouetted against the rising sun.

Xing nudged his leg, whining softly.

Yuchen took a deep breath.

"Let's go."

The wind howled through the skeletal remains of Border City-17, carrying with it the scent of smoke and decay. The Obsidian Colossus had moved on, leaving behind only shattered buildings and the echoes of the dead.

But the city was not entirely empty.

A shadow passed over the ruins—a massive, sleek hovercraft, its engines humming with suppressed power. The insignia of the "Luo Organization" gleamed on its hull, a symbol of authority in this broken world.

The craft descended slowly, its landing gears extending as it touched down in what had once been the city's central plaza. The hatch hissed open, and a figure emerged.

"Luo Jinhai."

Chairman of the Luo Organization. One of the most powerful men left in the world.

And Luo Yuchen's grandfather.

Jinhai stepped onto the cracked pavement, his polished boots crunching over debris. His face, usually an unreadable mask of authority, was lined with something rare—fear.

Behind him, a squad of elite Luo soldiers fanned out, their weapons scanning for threats. But Jinhai's eyes were fixed on the ruins ahead.

"Tianyi… Qingyan… Yuchen…"

He had come too late.

"Search the city," he commanded, his voice rough. "Find them. Now."

The soldiers moved swiftly, their advanced scanners sweeping through the wreckage. Jinhai didn't wait. He strode forward, his coat billowing behind him, his gaze sharp as a blade.

He remembered the last time he had seen his son.

Five years ago,

The Luo family estate stood untouched by the chaos outside, a fortress of wealth and power. But inside its grand halls, a storm raged.

"You're a fool, Tianyi!" Jinhai's voice echoed through the chamber. "The organizations are the only future left! And you would throw away your birthright—for what? A border city?"

Luo Tianyi stood tall, his expression unyielding. "For people who have no one else."

Jinhai's fist slammed against the table. "Sentimentality will get you killed!"

Tianyi met his father's gaze without flinching. "Then let it."

The silence that followed was colder than the Arctic winds.

Jinhai turned away first. "If you walk out that door, you are no longer my son."

Tianyi didn't hesitate.

He walked.

And Jinhai let him.

Present day,

Now, standing in the ruins of the city his son had died defending, Jinhai felt something crack inside him.

A soldier approached, his helmet hiding his expression. "Sir… we found General Luo's last known location."

Jinhai's breath caught.

They led him to the wreckage of a collapsed defensive line. The ground was scorched, the remnants of a plasma saber still embedded in the earth.

Tianyi's weapon.

But no body.

Jinhai knelt, his fingers brushing the hilt. His hands, usually so steady, trembled.

"You stubborn… reckless… idiot…"

His voice broke.

For the first time in decades, Luo Jinhai—the indomitable Chairman of the Luo Organization—wept.

The reports came in one by one.

No sign of Bai Qingyan.

No sign of Luo Yuchen.

Jinhai stood at the edge of the ruins, staring at the horizon where his grandson had fled.

A lieutenant cleared his throat. "Sir… the boy couldn't have survived out there alone."

Jinhai's eyes hardened. "You don't know my grandson."

He turned back to the hovercraft, his mind already racing.

"If Yuchen lived… if he was out there…"

The Luo Organization had resources. Influence.

And Jinhai would burn the world to find him.

Three days had passed since they left the ruins of Border City-17.

Luo Yuchen adjusted the straps of his makeshift backpack, his survival suit's visor flickering as it compensated for the dust storm whipping across the barren landscape. The terrain had shifted from urban wreckage to scorched plains, where the bones of long-dead vehicles jutted from the earth like the ribs of some great beast.

Xing trotted beside him, his silver-marked fur bristling against the wind. The puppy had grown sharper in the wilds—his movements more calculated, his reflexes preternaturally quick. Twice already, he had sensed threats before Yuchen's scanner could ping them.

Rule 1: Trust Xing's instincts.

Yuchen's stomach growled. The rations from the military base were running low. He'd stretched them as far as possible—half a nutrient bar per day, sips of water from condensation traps—but the wilderness offered little mercy.

A warning chime sounded in his visor.

"ENERGY SIGNATURE DETECTED: 200M NORTH-NORTHEAST."

Not a beast. Something mechanical.

Yuchen dropped to a crouch, signaling Xing to stay low. Through the haze of dust, he saw it—a **convoy of armored transports**, their hulls bearing the insignia of the Sutherland Organization.

Scavengers.

Or slavers.

Neither option was good.

The vehicles rolled to a stop near a crumbling highway overpass. Figures clad in reinforced leathers disembarked, their weapons scanning the area. Yuchen counted twelve—no, fourteen—armed men.

Then he saw the cages.

Dozens of them, welded to the backs of the transports. Inside, gaunt faces peered out—refugees, survivors from fallen cities. Some were children.

Xing let out a nearly inaudible growl.

Yuchen's fingers tightened around his plasma pistol. He had three shots left. Not enough.

The lead scavenger—a hulking man with a cybernetic eye—barked orders. "Check the perimeter! We camp here 'til the storm passes!"

They were staying.

Which meant Yuchen and Xing couldn't.

He began backing away, inch by silent inch—

A rock dislodged under his boot.

The cybernetic scavenger's head snapped up. "What was that?"

Yuchen froze.

Xing's body tensed, his markings glowing faintly.

Then—

"SKREEEEE!"

A sound like rending metal split the air.

From the storm clouds above, a "C-Rank: Storm Harrier" dove, its wings crackling with electricity.

Chaos erupted.

The scavengers scrambled for cover as the Harrier strafed their convoy, lightning arcing from its talons. One transport exploded in a fireball, sending shrapnel flying.

Yuchen didn't hesitate.

"Xing, go!"

They sprinted parallel to the convoy, using the smoke and debris as cover. A scavenger spotted them—raised his rifle—

Xing leaped.

His tiny form blurred, moving faster than should have been possible. His jaws clamped on the man's wrist, and with a sickening crack, the bone shattered. The scavenger screamed.

Yuchen didn't look back.

They reached the last transport—the one with the smallest cage. Inside, two children stared at him with wide, terrified eyes.

The lock was electronic.

Yuchen jammed his scavenged energy scanner against it, overriding the circuit.

CLICK.

The door swung open.

"Run," he hissed. "Northwest—there's a ruined factory about a kilometer that way. Hide there."

The children didn't need telling twice. They bolted into the storm.

Yuchen turned—

And found himself staring down the barrel of the cybernetic scavenger's shotgun.

"Well, well," the man sneered. "Looks like we got ourselves a little hero."

Time slowed.

Yuchen's pistol was still holstered. Xing was too far away.

The scavenger's finger tightened on the trigger—

"THOOM."

A high-caliber round took off the top of his skull.

Yuchen stumbled back as the man collapsed, his cybernetic eye flickering erratically.

From the storm emerged a new figure—a woman in a tattered mecha pilot's uniform, her rifle smoking. Behind her, four others fanned out, picking off the remaining scavengers with lethal precision.

"Clear!" someone shouted.

The woman lowered her rifle, her gaze locking onto Yuchen.

"You've got guts, kid," she said. "Stupid, but guts."

Xing growled, positioning himself between Yuchen and the strangers.

The woman's eyebrows rose. "And a mutated companion. Interesting."

She extended a hand.

"Name's Captain Li. We're with the Harbin Resistance."

Yuchen didn't take her hand.

"Prove it."

Captain Li smirked. She reached into her vest and tossed him a badge—the insignia of Harbin's defense force.

"Happy?"

Yuchen glanced at the bodies, then at the fleeing children.

"...You're heading to Harbin?"

"Eventually." Li holstered her rifle. "But first, we've got a stop to make. You're welcome to tag along—if you can keep up."

She turned and strode away, her team falling in behind her.

Yuchen exhaled.

Harbin was the goal.

But something told him this detour would change everything.