The walk to the campus was much harder than he had thought, as most of the roads were blocked by walls of rubble that were impossible to climb. His only way to reach his destination was to take the subway.

Richard peered below the entrance of Jackson station, the one he always took to go to his classes. This plan wasn’t much to his liking, as there could every kind of monster imaginable inside, but there wasn’t any other way, so he took a long breath and descended the first step. Moisture and the growth of moss had made the concrete much slicker, and it was evident that they weren’t built for someone of his size, so he had to put extra care, making his descent uncomfortable and slow.

Inside, the air was thick and damp, which made him release steam from his nose and ears, making the usual pressure cooker noise.

Your body is ill suited to moisture. You lose -20 END. Your Health will regenerate slower, and your spells will be less effective.

In fact, the pressure against his skull from within was a sign that he was uncomfortable in this place, but it wasn’t no different when he went there in the morning after three hours of sleep and stood half an hour inside a wagon so cramped that it was like being a living Tetris block.

On the platform, there were some glowing yellow light sticks on the ground, a sign that a sentient being had been here some time before. Some weird symbols had been scrambled on the walls, and, as he passed through this station every day, he was sure that they weren’t there two days ago, but Richard lost interest of them when he spotted a distant human shape lying on the ground.

A wide red line had been cut on his throat from ear to ear, and his jacket was stained with blood. His glassy eyes were staring at him. It was the first time Richard saw a dead person that wasn’t in a casket and hadn’t been thoroughly cleaned. But instead of being surprised or struck in terror as he should be, it was like watching a run over animal on a street, and he hated himself for that.

It was another human who had murdered the man, and not a monster. Richard kneeled on him and closed his eyelids with the tips of his claws.

You can harvest ten units of human flesh from this individual and place them in your inventory.

Hell no, not now that he was in control of his mind. The jeans of the man were unbuttoned, without any belt, while the pockets had been cut with a knife. Something was glowing inside the man, near the end of his sternum.

You have detected a rare object, but you can’t harvest it until you put it in your hands.

It was stupid, he would never desecrate a human body just for some loot. It was a form of respect, so he had to forget it and get on with his job.

But then the thought that the victim didn’t have any use of it anymore appeared in his mind, and it was better in his hands than in the ones of those who had killed him, so he had to go back and retrieve it.

Richard pulled the zipper of the jacket down and raised an old t shirt. He took a sigh and averted his gaze before pushing the five claws of his hand inside the skin near the left side of the ribs. They teared through his abs, then the oblique muscles, and perforated the peritoneum. Inside that sticky mess, he found out that the stomach was perforated, and the rare object was inside a pocket below the liver and next to the spleen.

At last, his fingers got hold of the object and he jerked it out. It was a cheap digital watch with a rectangular cracked screen, dripping of blood. It was the first piece of technology he could put his hands on after the he woke up. After cleaning it a bit, he tapped the tip of claw on the screen, lighting it up. It was showing 13:56, tough the System told him that it was ten in the morning.

New Quest! You’ve found an object of high value that has another person has declared as missing. Path 1 Return it to the rightful owner or heir to receive a reward. Reward: +5 Investigation, +400 EXP; Path 2 You can sell it. Reward: +4 Barter; Path 3 Path 3: You can harvest it for parts to upgrade the System. Reward: Upgraded system. You need the (Technician) perk and an Intellect of 85 to pick this path.

Well, he had no clue to who this man was, but if he were to find someone who knew him then he’d ask him about it, or maybe not because he couldn’t talk. Th

This wasn’t how he expected meet someone, but at least it confirmed that humans weren’t extinct, and he wasn’t the only sentient creature still alive. Maybe they lived outside the cities, as this place was full of dangers.

Richard progressed inside the railway tunnel. The tracks were rusty, but they still maintained their straight shape, and the wooden planks weren’t as rotten as he had thought.

One of the few upsides of the walking inside the underground tunnel was that it was the home of a lots of bats and rats. When he heard their squeaking sounds or a movement of wings, the hidden part in his brain that made him do unpleasant things got activated and he couldn’t refrain from chasing, grabbing and swallowing their bodies.

He went on until the tunnel descended to a lower level that was flooded. The campus was still far, but that was the end of the line.

He took the stairs at the Green line station. Where he expected to see the Wester park, with its tall and luscious trees, he found a giant lake covered by a thick mist that left him stunned. The tips of the buildings thrust out of the dark waters, with a large amount of debris floating that were pushed by the strong current towards the central whirlpool.

An island was on the other side of the lake, in the place of where the campus should be. He could see the outline of the blocky building, but it was too far to see more of it. It was impossible to reach for anybody, and especially for someone who had water as one of his weaknesses. The ground shook and waves rose from the lake.

You have entered inside the territory of a Lv. 25 Dungeon. Continue at your own risk.