The air inside Lin Fan's shelter remained a serene 22°C, but the external sensors, displayed on his internal monitoring panel, painted a picture of absolute desolation. The temperature outside had settled into a brutal, constant -68°C (-90°F), far colder than the Arctic Circle. The wind velocity was high enough to shear steel. The city grid was dead, wrapped in an opaque shroud of frozen mist.
Lin Fan stood in his newly established airlock—a small, insulated anteroom right behind the formidable vault door. The time for preparation was over. The time for acquisition had begun.
The A-Rarity resource—the "Stabilized Energy Core"—was an irresistible lure. It represented an exponential leap in his fortress's viability, and leaving it in the hands of a frozen corpse was simply unacceptable.
His mission was simple: Ascend four flights of stairs to the penthouse, retrieve the Core, and return in under thirty minutes.
The Hunter's Gear
Lin Fan stripped down to his thermal base layers, then began the methodical process of gearing up. This wasn't clothing; it was a custom-designed, multi-layered survival system.
First, the Arctic-Grade Thermal Suit: a thick, flexible suit originally designed for deep-sea exploration, featuring an internal micro-heating coil system powered by compact lithium batteries. He layered this with heavy-duty, reinforced combat trousers and jacket.
Next, the Ballistic Protection: He donned the lightweight but durable Kevlar vest and slid the ceramic plates into the front and back pockets. The ballistic helmet was secured, the visor equipped with both night vision and thermal imaging overlay.
The weapons were next. He selected the AR-15 assault rifle as his primary tool—reliable, high-caliber, and capable of sustained fire if needed. He loaded the extended magazines and slung the rifle across his chest, ensuring easy access. He holstered one of the Glock 17 pistols to his thigh—his secondary.
He carried no backpack for loot; everything would go directly into the Dimensional Storage. His only external tools were a high-powered tactical flashlight, a heavy-duty bolt cutter, and a climbing axe—necessary for navigating frozen stairs.
He looked at his reflection in the polished steel of the vault door. The man staring back was unrecognizable—a ghost of the past, now a heavily armored, cold-eyed predator.
He toggled the communication helmet's internal mic. "Air lock engaging. Initiating depressurization sequence."
A light hiss filled the airlock as the internal pressure equalized with the outside corridor, ensuring the sudden rush of air wouldn't damage the main vault door seal.
Lin Fan grabbed the AR-15. "Let's go hunting."
A Corridor of Ice
With a deep CLUNK and a mechanical groan, the Class Five Vault Door unlocked, and the seal briefly hissed. Lin Fan slowly pulled the heavy door inward just enough to slip through.
The air that hit him was a physical blow. It wasn't just cold; it was painful. Despite the thermal suit, the raw, aggressive chill of the outside environment stabbed through the layers, immediately condensing on his visor.
He flicked on his helmet defogger and the thermal overlay. The entire corridor was a tunnel of darkness and frozen ruin. The air was still, heavy with the scent of burst pipes, frozen ammonia, and, faintly, death.
Lin Fan had sealed his vault door quickly, but he took a moment to look down the corridor toward where the fire escape was located. He saw a shape.
It was Sarah.
She was slumped against the wall, a frozen monument to her own greed. Her face was locked in a grimace of agony, covered in frost. Her eyes, wide and staring, were frozen tears of ice. Lin Fan could see the faint yellow shape of the worthless $1,000 she had accepted clutched in her hand, now stiffened and blue. The single bottle of water lay frozen and cracked beside her.
Lin Fan paused for exactly two seconds. He felt a fleeting curiosity about the physics of her death, but zero emotional connection. She was a frozen obstacle.
He walked past her without breaking stride, the crunch of his boots muffled by the thick thermal layers. "Collateral collected," he muttered dryly into his helmet mic.
The Ascent of the Dead
The elevator shafts were likely flooded with frozen water and useless. Lin Fan opted for the service staircase, a dark, narrow climb that would take him from the 6th floor to the 10th.
The staircase was a nightmare. A pipe had burst on the 8th floor, and the resulting waterfall had frozen into a cascading, crystalline sculpture of death. The railings were coated in a thick layer of blue-white ice, and every step was a treacherous, slippery hazard.
Lin Fan deployed the climbing axe, jamming the spike into the gaps between the concrete steps to haul himself up. His movements were slow and measured, every second of training and preparation being validated by the hostile environment.
On the 9th floor landing, he noticed a door ajar. Inside, a family of four was huddled together, frozen solid around a charred, overturned BBQ grill—a desperate, fatal attempt to use charcoal indoors for heat. The sheer scale of the tragedy outside his fortress was staggering, but it only strengthened his resolve.
You chose kindness. I chose to live.
The ascent was a grueling 15 minutes of pure physical exertion. He finally reached the penthouse floor. This floor was different. David, the bully, had clearly started his own preparations. The corridor was partially blocked by flimsy wooden barriers.
Lin Fan chuckled bitterly. "A toothpick defense against the world."
He raised his boot and kicked the barriers aside, the splintering wood adding a momentary, sharp noise to the deafening silence.
The Penthouse Prize
David's apartment, Unit 1001, had a custom-made steel door, but it was nowhere near the quality of Lin Fan's vault. The extreme cold had shrunk the metal, cracking the inferior wooden frame. A simple burst pipe had frozen the locking mechanism solid.
Lin Fan switched to the bolt cutters, the thick steel jaws biting into the cheap deadbolt. With a loud SNAP, the lock gave way.
He kicked the door open. The penthouse was a mess.
David had clearly panicked. Furniture was overturned. Empty bags of frozen MREs (Meals Ready-to-Eat) littered the floor. The panoramic windows, once boasting a million-dollar view, were shattered, the curtains whipping violently in the intense wind that roared through the aperture.
David himself was sitting upright in his leather armchair, looking oddly composed. He had wrapped himself in several thin blankets, and his hands were clutching an expensive bottle of whiskey. He had clearly died mid-sip, his eyes staring blankly at the ruined city view.
Lin Fan scanned the room with the thermal view. No life. Just frozen bodies and debris.
He moved past David's frozen corpse and headed straight toward the resource beacon glowing in the corner of the room.
It was placed on a reinforced pedestal that David must have recently installed. The item itself was breathtaking: a perfect, smooth obsidian sphere, roughly the size of a bowling ball. It wasn't visibly connected to any power source, yet it emitted a gentle, internal golden glow and a faint, high-pitched hum. It felt strangely warm to the touch, radiating a subtle energy that cut through the immense cold.
[Resource Detected: Stabilized Energy Core. A-Rarity. Acquire?]
Acquire.
Lin Fan reached out, and with a familiar mental command, the A-Rarity Core vanished from the pedestal, sucked into the waiting void of his Dimensional Storage.
He quickly scanned the rest of the penthouse, grabbing anything of value: a safe containing several bars of gold and platinum jewelry (now just shiny weights, but useful for barter in a post-apocalyptic trade network), a high-grade satellite phone (useless now, but maybe repairable), and a large case of high-calorie survival bars.
The moment he had the Core, his mission was complete. He took one last look at David. "Enjoy the view, David. I'm taking your battery."
The Reward of the Prepared
The return journey was faster, fueled by the adrenaline of success. Lin Fan ignored the frozen chaos and the structural groans of the building. He was home.
He slammed the vault door shut, engaged the hydraulic locks, and watched the internal sensors jump back to life, confirming the integrity of the shelter. He stripped off the frozen, heavy gear in the airlock, tossing the rifle and vest onto the decontamination rack.
He emerged into the warm, silent main chamber and brought up the System panel.
"System. Analyze the Stabilized Energy Core."
[Analyzing Stabilized Energy Core...][Analysis Complete.][The Core is a highly condensed, self-sustaining energy source designed for long-term power generation. It is clean and stable.][Integration Recommended: Integrate with Shelter Power Grid?]
Lin Fan didn't hesitate. "Integrate."
A soft, golden light pulsed from his monitoring panel, and the fuel reserve indicator for his diesel generators instantly dropped to zero. But the Primary Power Source indicator shifted from "Solar Grid" to:
[Primary Power Source: Stabilized Energy Core.][Status: Infinite Energy Reserve. Output: Stable.]
"Infinite energy," Lin Fan breathed, closing his eyes in profound relief. He was truly invincible now. No more worrying about fuel consumption or generator maintenance. His fortress was sealed, warm, powered, and stocked for eternity.
The System, however, wasn't finished.
[Core Integration Success. Host Reward Unlocked.][New Function Unlocked: Modular Resource Creation.][Description: The Host can now spend accumulated Scavenge Points (gained from acquiring high-value resources) to instantly generate small, non-complex components within the shelter.]
Lin Fan stared at the screen. He could create materials out of thin air? This was beyond survival; this was godhood.
He didn't have time to process the sheer magnitude of the power. A new alert flashed on the external thermal camera feed he had left on.
[Threat Detected: Movement Signature (Unidentified) - Ground Level (400m radius).][Temperature: -68°C.]
Something was moving outside. Something large, and definitely not human. The freeze hadn't killed everything.
The game has changed, Lin Fan thought, a thrilling sense of danger mixing with his newfound power. The apocalypse is here, and I'm ready to play.
(Author's Note: Infinite Power! And something is moving outside the fortress! What is the new threat, and how will Lin Fan use his Modular Creation ability to defend his home? Like, comment, and toss a Power Stone for the next chapter!)