Chapter 2: The Deal and the Design
With [Master Blueprint] active, Logan's vision deconstructed and reassembled the world. To his eyes, the 'Hope Creek Dam' was no longer a simple concrete structure. It was a colossal blueprint, composed of millions of data points.
[Target: Hope Creek Dam Main Steel Gate]
[Material: Reinforced Titanium Alloy (Pre-Apocalypse Grade)]
[Structural Integrity: 89.7%]
[Vulnerability Analysis: Severe corrosion on lower right hinge. Looseness in central locking mechanism due to wear. 73% probability of structural failure starting at these points upon external impact.]
[Recommendation: Propose fabrication of an 'Emergency Bar Lock' using minimal resources.]
As he processed the translucent information window, a blueprint unfolded in his mind like a 3D model. Scrap pipes scattered nearby, broken rebar, old steel anchor bolts embedded in the dam wall. His skill automatically converted all this junk into optimal components, completing the most efficient design.
'Fabrication time: 17 minutes. Required resources all available within a 10-meter radius.'
Perfect.
His plan to seal off the external threat complete, Logan's gaze finally turned to the darkness inside the dam. Faint moonlight streamed through the gap, illuminating a figure collapsed on the floor. Silver hair was matted with blood and dust, and with every ragged breath, the body beneath the black combat suit trembled slightly.
He approached without a sound. Combat Awakened, especially those near S-Class, were like wild beasts who could sense killing intent even in their sleep. Logan suppressed all signs of his presence. He was a soldier, and his body remembered the fundamentals of infiltration.
As he drew closer, her status became clear.
[Target: Eva Rostova]
[Class: Blade Dancer (S)]
[Status: Mana Exhaustion (Critical), Hemorrhage (Severe), Exhaustion (Extreme)]
'This is the worst-case scenario.'
The deep gash in her side had been temporarily staunched, but blood was still seeping out. An Awakened in a state of Mana Exhaustion had a recovery rate lower than that of a normal person. Left like this, she would die within an hour from shock or hypothermia.
He looked down at this potential ally, and potential threat. Her hands were instinctively curled toward the empty scabbards at her waist. Lying next to her, as if dropped, was a pair of longswords. They were not the crude weapons common in the wasteland. He could see the mark of an expert, a set of lethally sharp, well-balanced blades.
Logan didn't hesitate. He carefully picked up the swords. The feel of the leather-wrapped grips and the blades' deadly balance transferred to his hand. These were master-crafted swords that had tasted the blood of countless monsters. He had no intention of letting her wake up with these in her grasp.
He silently lifted both swords and carried them twenty meters away, placing them in a dark corner of the control room. Now, she was a tiger without her claws.
Logan returned to her side and set down his military backpack. Inside was one of the few items he had guarded with his life during the escape from Fort Jericho: an emergency medical kit. He unzipped it, revealing antiseptic alcohol, synthetic painkillers, a medical stapler, and compression bandages, all neatly organized.
He carefully tore open the side of Eva's combat suit, revealing the gruesome wound beneath. The flesh was carved out, scorched by a plasma burn.
"Don't move. I'm treating you."
He whispered softly, just in case she regained consciousness and began to clean the area around the wound with an alcohol-soaked cotton swab.
The moment the cold liquid touched her skin, her body flinched, and a faint groan escaped her lips.
***
Consciousness was submerged in cold, deep water. Her body felt heavy as lead, unable to move a single finger. The aftereffects of Mana Exhaustion were far more terrible than she had imagined. It was a powerlessness that felt as if her bones and muscles had been separated.
Just then, a burning pain from her side, along with an unfamiliar sensation, pulled her fading consciousness back to the surface. A touch. A steady, careful, yet unhesitating hand was touching her wound.
'An enemy…!'
Her survival instincts screamed. She had to move. Draw her swords, pierce his heart. But her body flatly refused to obey her will. She couldn't even lift her eyelids. It was the worst helplessness she had ever experienced in her twenty years in the wasteland.
She had drifted through countless settlements. Leaders who coveted her power, allies blinded by jealousy, traitors who always aimed for her back. She had learned the hard way that the moment she lost her strength was the moment she died.
Her mind faded with every wipe of the cold antiseptic.
'Am I going to die like this? In this dark, damp place, without ever revealing the truth of the 'Red Cradle'...'
"Don't move. I'm treating you."
A low, calm man's voice echoed in her ear. It held no killing intent, no greed. It was a perfectly businesslike tone, like that of a technician repairing a broken machine.
Eva desperately forced her eyelids open. Her vision, heavy as lead, opened just a fraction, a thin sliver. A man's face came into blurry focus. He lacked the sharp, intimidating aura of a combat Awakened. Instead, she saw deep-set eyes that seemed to have weathered countless storms and a firmly set mouth. His hands were covered in all sorts of calluses and scars. the hands of a craftsman. Hands accustomed to holding tools, not weapons.
The man, unaware of her gaze, focused silently on the treatment. His movements were as precise as a surgeon's as he meticulously cut away the necrotic tissue with a sterilized knife and then sealed the wound with a medical stapler.
Clack, clack, clack.
The sound of metal staples piercing flesh echoed strangely in the dam's silence. It was painful, but the man's calm demeanor was, oddly, beginning to chip away at her fear.
Finally, the first aid was complete. The man firmly wrapped a thick compression bandage around the wound.
"You're awake."
He said, meeting her eyes directly for the first time. His dark brown eyes were deep and calm, as if they were measuring and analyzing her.
"I'm Logan Miller. As of today, I'm this dam's new administrator."
Instead of answering, Eva instinctively fumbled for her waist. The feel of the empty scabbards sent a chill through her heart. Her swords were gone.
"Don't look for that. I put that somewhere safe."
Logan stated dryly, as if he'd read her mind.
"It'd be a problem if you went wild. I've got enough work to do as it is."
Eva barely managed to ask in a hoarse voice,
"...Who are you?"
"I just introduced myself. Name and occupation."
Logan replied nonchalantly, packing up his medical kit. His casual attitude only confused Eva more.
Did he not know about her S-Class status or her title as the 'Blade Queen'? Or did he know and just not care?
"What do you want? The bounty on my head? Or are you planning to hand me over to The Scrapyard?"
The law of the world she knew was simple. A weakened predator becomes prey for another.
Logan finished packing his kit and turned back to her. His expression held no greed, only the look of a tired businessman.
"I'm proposing a deal."
"...A deal?"
"That's right. A deal. I will provide you with three things."
He held up his fingers one by one.
"First, a safe haven from your pursuers. Second, medical treatment until your wounds are fully healed. Third, the minimal food and water necessary for survival."
Eva couldn't believe his words. In the wasteland, kindness without a price was a shortcut to death.
"...And the price?"
"In exchange, you will become this dam's 'Guardian.'"
Logan's voice was firm.
"The contract term is until your body has fully recovered. During that period, you will be obligated to use your combat abilities to defend this dam from all external threats. Be it monsters, raiders, or those men who were chasing you."
He continued, his tone like a formal declaration.
"When the contract ends, you are free to leave. Of course, you'd also be welcome to stay and become a member of this new community. The choice is yours."
Eva was speechless. His proposal was so rational that it felt unreal. He wasn't trying to covet her power or enslave her. He was simply offering a 'contract' as an equal, an exchange of their respective skills.
Logan paid no mind to the mistrust filling her eyes. He stood up and began pulling scrap pipes and tools from his backpack.
"You have plenty of time to think about it. I need to take care of urgent matters first. Later."
With that, the deafening sound of a heavy hammer striking a steel pipe began to echo throughout the dam.
***
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The rhythmic hammering filled the space. Logan erased all other thoughts and focused solely on the task at hand. He pounded the red-hot metal, fused it with a portable welder, and ground the surface smooth. In his hands, ordinary scrap metal was transforming into intricate gears, bars, and lever mechanisms. The [Master Blueprint] design in his mind was being forged into reality, into steel, without a single millimeter of error. It was the process of creating something from nothing. It was like breathing life into a schematic.
17 minutes.
Exactly the time he had calculated. Finally, the last component was welded, and the complex, sturdy-looking 'Emergency Bar Lock' was complete. It had to weigh over 100 kilograms.
Using a lever, Logan moved the finished lock next to the steel gate. He drilled anchor bolts into the exact positions indicated by the [Master Blueprint] and secured the mechanism. The entire process was fluid, without a single hitch.
Just then.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The sound of something heavy pounding on the massive steel gate came from outside. The pursuers had arrived.
"Eva Rostova! We know you're in there! Open this gate!"
Havek's cybernetic voice seeped through the crack.
"You have ten seconds! Open it, or we'll turn this door to ash!"
But Logan was unbothered. He tightened the final bolt, then placed his hand on the giant lever of the lock he had just installed.
"Finally, some peace and quiet."
He yanked the lever down with all his strength.
Clang-! Clang-! Boom!
With an ear-splitting shriek of metal, multiple thick steel bars shot out horizontally and vertically, sinking deep into the dam's concrete walls. In an instant, an ordinary door had transformed into a fortress gate.
BOOM!
A terrible explosion erupted outside. The plasma cannon had fired. The massive steel gate shuddered, and dust rained down from the ceiling. But that was all. The door didn't buckle or warp. The bar lock Logan had installed was dispersing the entire impact across the dam's concrete structure.
"Impossible…!"
The pursuers' baffled voices came from outside.
Logan patted the lock, satisfied. He scanned the area and spotted an old, dust-covered intercom unit abandoned in a corner of the control room. He ripped it off the wall and hot-wired it directly to an emergency power cable. After a few sparks, the intercom's speaker crackled to life.
Logan grabbed the microphone and made his declaration to the outside. His voice, amplified by the intercom, boomed across the entire canyon.
"Listen up, you dogs of The Scrapyard."
His previous dryness was gone, replaced by the firm authority of a man defending his territory.
"This is the territory of 'New Hope.' You are currently trespassing and have initiated an unprovoked attack. If you are not gone in thirty seconds, I will consider it an act of hostility and will annihilate you."
"New Hope? Never heard of it! Cut the crap, you rat!"
Havek shouted back, his voice a mix of mockery and rage.
"Hand over Eva Rostova, and I'll let you live!"
"Negotiations are over."
Logan said curtly, then grabbed an old, red emergency lever on the wall next to the intercom. It was connected to the dam's emergency spillway. Of course, that spillway currently held no water—only, as Logan had already confirmed, tens of tons of old construction materials and scrap metal, piled up precariously.
KRR-RUMBLE…!
A tremor ran through the ground from high up on the dam.
"What—what is that?"
The pursuers' panicked voices were drowned out by a deafening, landslide-like roar. Tens of tons of scrap metal cascaded down like a waterfall, burying their vehicles and completely cutting off their escape route. A brief chorus of screams and tearing metal was followed by absolute silence.
Perfect silence.
Satisfied with the quiet he had created, Logan turned back to the woman in the darkness.
Her icy-gray eyes were staring right at him, filled with disbelief. Wonder, confusion, and an unfamiliar emotion she had never shown before swirled violently within them.
He recalled the words he had wanted to prove.
'Logistics wins the fight.'
Now, perhaps, even that S-Class Awakened would begin to understand what he meant.