Kai’s grip on his rifle loosened as he stared at her.
’That’s her...’
The battlefield was littered with broken Sentinels and Spyders, but for him, everything seed to fade into silence.
i.
He rembered her from the office, the quiet programr who had joined their cybersecurity team fresh out of university.
Back then, Kai was already a senior penetration tester and systems engineer, juggling audits and red‑team simulations.
i had been assigned under him, and he had spent months guiding her through the labyrinth of firewalls, exploits, and endless lines of code.
It was definitely one of the most morable tis in his company.
She had always called him Senior Kai.
He was seen as reliable, steady, and soone she could lean on when the pressure mounted. Though he didn’t think himself to be like that, he always tried his best to ensure that his junior would have soone to rely on.
After all, he couldn’t have her quit! At that ti, many of the new hires would only last a month or two!
As for i, Kai had really been careful training her and had read lots of books about it since he no longer wanted to train another hire.
And now, here she was, standing in front of him in the middle of the apocalypse.
Despite the chaos of the world, i still looked attractive...
Her short black hair frad her face neatly, and her skin now carried a warm tan, probably because of her constant movent under the sun during this apocalypse...
Still, even in the ruins of civilization, she had managed to keep herself composed...
It was almost surreal, as if she had stepped out of the office and into this nightmare without losing her grace.
Kai’s mind turned back to the leaderboard. He had seen her na there weeks ago, climbing steadily into the top three.
She had even chatted in the world chat once or twice, but he had ignored her ssages. Revealing his identity in public was too risky. If private chat existed, maybe he would have reached out. But it didn’t. So he stayed silent.
Now, fate had brought her here.
i broke the silence first and smiled. "Senior Kai... I don’t have that many options. I got six, actually... Alien Invasion, Ragnarok, Demon Invasion, Deep Sea Awakening, Zombie Outbreak, and A.I. Rebellion. So I chose A.I. Rebellion... It looked doable."
She glanced at the survivors around them, who were staring in shock that she knew Kai. Her smile widened.
Then, she approached Kai and whispered.
"We’re programrs, right? We just need to hack their systems and take control of them!"
Kai exhaled slowly and shook his head. If it were that easy... Then he would do so. "You always did think like that. It might be doable, but where can we even find a terminal?"
Claire and the others exchanged looks, but quickly turned their attention back to looting the battlefield.
Plasma rifles were the most valuable spoils, and they wasted no ti stripping them from the fallen Spyders.
i watched them work, impressed at their coordination.
"You’ve built a reliable team in just over a month," she said softly. "anwhile, I’ve been alone... surviving with only my Talent."
Kai tilted his head... "A Talent that can help you survive alone? Isn’t that even more impressive? It helped you survive ch Siege and that Field Tyrant..."
"Hahaha... You’re right. It sounds aweso, but not really... It’s so kind of camouflage."
She then paused for a mont before revealing how she managed to stay on top despite not combat talent...
"You see... If I use it with my other Gene Skills, it works like invisibility... It lets sabotage their bases, sneak past patrols, and strike when they least expect it. That’s how I’ve lasted this long. It’s why I’m in the top three."
Kai studied her carefully. Since she said what her talent was, Kai felt obliged to reveal sothing about himself as well.
This way, they could easily trust each other.
"Right... My Talent helps get resources. If you join my team, I can help you, i... I’m really curious how you managed to stay alive alone in this Apocalypse."
i smiled as she recalled her lonely days and nights, surviving in the wild.
It was a difficult Chapter of her life. "Yes. Alone. No team, no shelter. Just against the A.I. army."
After taking a deep breath, she shrugged lightly... "But I was lucky. My Talent suits this Apocalypse."
Kai’s voice softened. "You’ve changed... but not that much."
i chuckled. "And you’re still the sa Senior Kai. You’re always protecting others."
For a mont, it felt like they were back in the office, sitting side by side in front of glowing monitors.
He rembered her asking endless questions about exploits, about how to bypass intrusion detection systems, about how to patch vulnerabilities in the systems.
She had been eager, determined, and he had taken it upon himself to guide her.
Now, she stood before him as an equal.
Kai finally asked, "Is that camouflage that effective even against Tyrants, or maybe those Hounds?"
She t his gaze and nodded.
"That’s right... It’s pretty aweso, right? I just have to use my Faded Gene Skill while using my Camauflage and even the Hounds would not notice my presence."
Kai gently nodded as he realized how great it would be for them if she stayed in their shelter.
anwhile, the other survivors continued looting, and thanks to their experience, they were able to do it quickly.
"Plasma rifles secured!" Wallace shouted.
"We’ll need Victor to check the cores later! We’re ready, Kai... What do we do with this Artillery? I don’t think we can carry these things."
Claire nodded...
"I noticed that they used vehicles to transport the materials based on the tracks they left behind, but they’re already gone."
Kai finally turned his attention to his team and nodded.
"Don’t worry. We’ll disassemble this thing and bring it back to our shelter. We’ll mount it there. Call Victor."
User Comments
0 comments from readers