They returned to the safe zone just as the sun began to set, loaded down with impossible loot and carrying enough supplies to last weeks.
Sophie ran up when they entered through the barrier.
"You're back! Did you—" She stopped, staring at the gears all of them were carrying. "Where did all that come from?"
Marcus grinned, setting down the ammunition. "Magic loot boxes."
"Really?"
"Really."
Mr. Chen approached slowly, leaning on his cane. His eyes widened when he saw the generator, the ammunition, and the blueprints.
"Where did you get all this?" he asked quietly.
"System rewards," Eli said, setting down the generator carefully.
"Turns out I've been sitting on unclaimed quest rewards for days. I just didn't know there was an inventory system."
He spread everything out on the concrete floor. The survivors gathered around, staring at the haul in stunned silence.
"This is more than they've found in three days of scavenging," Linda said quietly, echoing her earlier statement.
"And there's more," Eli continued. "The system I have has features I never explored. There's a safe zone management system, a skill tree, survivor tracking, corruption maps… I've basically been stumbling around blind while there was a whole interface available."
Mr. Chen picked up the reinforced barricade blueprint, unrolling it carefully. His experienced eyes scanned the detailed diagrams.
"This is professional military grade fortification design," he said. "Whoever designed this knew what they were doing. With these plans and the materials, we could turn this parking structure into a real fortress."
"How long would it take?" Eli asked.
"With three people working? Following these instructions?" Mr. Chen studied the blueprint.
"Four hours for the first barricade. Maybe two days to fortify all the entry points."
Linda picked up the water collection system blueprint.
"And this… if we set this up on the roof, we could collect rainwater. With the purification tablets, we would have clean drinking water indefinitely."
"We'll start tomorrow," Eli said. "For now, everyone rest."
He pulled out the food supplies and water bottles, distributing them. For the first time since the Death Surge began, no one had to ration.
Sophie took her canned food carefully, then looked up at Eli.
"Mr. Eli? What's that glowing thing on your vest?"
Eli looked at his vest. The etched patterns pulsed with faint blue light in sync with his heartbeat.
"Corruption resistance," he said. "It helps me stay human longer when I use my powers."
"That's good," Sophie said seriously, her young face solemn. "Because we need you human."
Eli's throat tightened. He swallowed his food, before replying. "Yeah. I know."
Marcus held up one of the golden vials. "And these potion things?"
"Humanity restoration," Eli said. "If my corruption gets too high, I can drink one and restore 10% immediately. No need for cleansing meditation like I did before."
Marcus nodded, remembering he once saw Eli in pain when he did the corruption cleansing. "How many times can you use them?"
"Three per day. I have three vials, so… nine uses total before I need to find more."
"That's basically three extra lives," Marcus said.
"Nah. More like three emergency resets, because I could do the cleansing before it goes at 50%," Eli corrected. "But yeah. It's huge, useful when I have to fight a lot of them at once."
Mr. Chen was still examining the soul attuned M4 that belonged to Eli. "This weapon. It's different from the others."
"Soul attuned," Eli explained. "It's bonded to me. No one else can use it. The bullets deal extra damage to corrupted entities, directly to their souls, not just the body."
"And that matters?"
"Higher corruption revenants are tough. Their bodies get harded to damage. But this bypasses that, hits the soul directly."
Mr. Chen nodded slowly, then handed the rifle back. "You're becoming something more than human, aren't you?"
Eli met his eyes. "Yeah. I think so."
"Is that a good thing?"
Eli pondered for a moment, before answering. Then he sighed. "I don't know. But it's keeping all of you alive."
*******
That night, after everyone had eaten and settled in to sleep, Eli sat on the roof alone with his new gear.
The soul attuned M4 lay across his lap, and he was wearing the tactical vest. The three golden vials sat in his inventory pocket, ready to summon at any time.
He pulled up his status screen, and stared at the long texts. Nothing new. He opened the Safe Zone Management interface.
[SAFE ZONE: FORTIFIED (LEVEL 2)]
[POPULATION: 7]
[MORALE: 71% (GOOD) - INCREASE DUE TO NEW SUPPLIES]
LOYALTY: 76% (HIGH) - INCREASED DUE TO SUCCESSFUL MISSION]
[RESOURCES: 12.4 DAYS REMAINING - DRAMATICALLY INCREASED]
[DEFENSES: CORRUPTION BARRIER (18 HOURS REMAINING)]
[AVAILABLE UPGRADES:]
[1. IMPROVED CORRUPTION BARRIER: 500 EXP]
[2. WATCHTOWER: 300 EXP]
[3. WORKSHOP: 400 EXP]
Not enough experience for any upgrades yet. But he was learning.
He opened the corruption map. The 500 meter radius around the parking structure showed clearly.
Thirty seven green dots, fifteen yellow dots, eight orange dots, and two red dots.
One of the red dots was moving. It seemed it was patrolling a route about 300 meters northeast.
The other was stationary, about 400 meters south.
"Those are the real threats," Eli murmured.
He pulled up the Special Quests again. It showed exactly the distance between the safe zone with each.
Eleven more survivors within a mile. If he could rescue them all, that would nearly double their population.
And 1,000 experience points total. Enough for two safe zone upgrades.
He checked his second Special Quest.
Three hundred forty percent increase in survival probability if Auditors worked together.
That was significant.
Eli stood up, looking out at the burning city. The red sky cast everything in blood colored light.
Tomorrow, he would start building. They would construct barricades, set up the water collection system, maybe even get the generator running.
But soon, maybe the day after, he needed to start rescuing those other survivors.
And he needed to find that other Auditor.