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Seth woke up from his sleep when he heard a thunderous sound above in the sky of Chicago. He turned his head slowly towards his system bracelet, a blue holographic screen appeared with words on it.
[Congratulations!]
[You have successfully conquered the first floor]
[Reward:]
[+1000exp]
[+500gp]
[+1 mystery box]
[Mystery box location: 41°52'09 "N 87°37'07 "W]
[Mystery Box ID: 2617452918]
[Mystery Box Password: 9281745362]
A holographic screen appeared above his right bracelet, displaying a map of the city of Chicago. The mystery box's exact location was Arvey Field, close to Seth's, though he would have to find a way to return to the surface.
It was impossible for Seth to return to the surface by going through the one-way stream of heavy water, especially with his broken left hand. The only way to get back up was by walking along the passage in that place until he met an iron staircase that led upwards.
[Level Up!]
[2nd floor unlocked]
[Side mission unlocked]
[Party unlocked]
The bracelet continued to display text indicating the features had been unlocked. Seth continued to pay attention to the text on the holographic screen while walking along the underground sewer until he found an iron staircase leading up.
It was challenging for him to climb the ladder, as only one hand held him up so he wouldn't fall. It took Seth ten minutes to get above the city's surface from the underground sewers right after opening the iron plate.
Seth's head came out of those underground sewers, looking to the right and left, precisely around the buildings of the place. There was not a single survivor as far as the eye could see. The world seemed as lonely as a dead city in the middle of the night.
Seth was finally completely on top of the city street, walking away from the hole without closing it. It was 1 p.m.; people should have been fast asleep if the Skywatcher invasion hadn't happened.
Before arriving at Avery Field, Seth planned to go to the house where Laura hid. The location was quite far from where he was currently standing, but he was close to the location of Avery Field.
In the end, Seth decided to go pick up Laura by going shirtless, his clothes completely used to rest on his broken left hand.
"Are you alright?" asked a survivor, a man with a bloody wound on his head.
"Just a fracture. How about you?" asked Seth, chatting with the man for a moment.
"My head was scratched by an iron; it might need a few stitches," said the man before Seth, wincing in pain as he held the cut on his head.
"Come with me. I'm a doctor. I can treat your wound," Seth said.
"A-All right," the man said.
Seth continued to watch the man's behavior; he introduced himself as Alfred. A 25-year-old man who worked as an advertising consultant in an advertising company said he took shelter along with several people. However, they all died after the Skywatcher white army came to their hideout.
Alfred pointed towards a retail store where he was initially hiding. Seth could clearly see the store looked half destroyed, probably the impact of the laser shots fired by the Skywatcher soldiers on Alfred and his colleagues.
Unwilling to keep Alfred sad for too long, Seth took the man he just met to enter the housing compound. The deeper Seth went into the neighborhood, he could see survivors coming out of their hiding places.
Some came out of a ditch, a trench, the roof of a house, and even the back of a car. They used every possible way to survive, even if they had to squeeze into small places.
"Where are we going?" asked Alfred, curious.
"A house on the side of the road, where my girlfriend is hiding on the roof," said Seth.
"Woah, you're hiding with your girlfriend? How fun, huh?" asked Alfred.
Seth laughed softly at Alfred's words. He and Laura had actually broken up since their conversation at the restaurant where they had lunch. However, Seth had no idea what the continuation of this relationship would be like after the Skywatcher invasion occurred.
From a distance, Seth could see the house where Laura was hiding, judging by the wooden chair Seth had previously thrown to shatter the window of the room on the house's second floor.
The man stopped momentarily before the house, then entered with Alfred seemingly following him. The two walked up the wooden stairs until they reached the second floor, in the boys' room.
He looked up, realizing the hole was open and not closed. Seth wondered, was Laura still up there, or had she left?
"Laura!" Seth shouted, calling her out from her hiding place.
There was a rumble of boards and wood being stepped on from the rooftop. Laura popped out of the hole in the roof, looking so happy to find Seth alive and seemingly injured on his left hand.
Laura jumped straight up without worrying about injury, surprising Seth and Alfred, who were in the room. Without a second thought, Laura hugged Seth tightly, who was now shirtless and stinking of sewage.
"I thought you were dead," Laura said softly as she buried her face in Seth's shoulder.
"I won't die easily," Seth said.
They embraced each other for a while, and Laura finally let go of the embrace. She walked over to the wardrobe, trying to find something Seth could wear to keep himself from getting cold.
She found a jacket, large and made of leather. Laura immediately put the jacket on her lover's body.
"Did you also get the mystery box?" Seth asked. Laura cleared her throat.
"Me too. I wonder what's inside the mystery box, huh?" asked Alfred, drawing Seth and Laura's attention.
"I don't know, probably some kind of item or food supply," said Seth.
"Where is your mystery box located?" Seth asked Laura.
"Around The Great Ivy Lawn."
"That's pretty close to the location of my mystery box," Seth said.
Alfred himself was nearby, so the three decided to go to the location of their mystery box.
During the trip, Laura kept asking about how Seth was able to escape the pursuit of the Skywatcher's white soldiers. Seth happily explained to her when he had to jump into the lake and arrive at Chicago's underground sewers.
"After we pick up our mystery boxes, we'll go to the hospital to treat my wounds and his wounds," Seth said, turning to look at Alfred.
"Alright. I'll follow," Laura explained.
Twenty minutes of walking from the housing compound, Seth and the two people with him finally arrived at the location of their mystery box. The three separated for a while and then returned to that point after collecting their mystery box.
The mystery box was black, emitting a white holographic screen that displayed ten black numbers. Each person had their own ID, as well as the password to open the mysterious black box.
Seth continued to walk around while his eyes kept watching it until his steps stopped when he saw a box with the same ID as his own.
He crouched down, inputting the numbers of the black box's password. Just when the password was correct, the white holographic screen above the box disappeared with a clicking sound from inside it.
Seth opened it with one hand, surprised to find that the box contained two black handguns, which felt different from regular human guns. Not only the gun, but he could also see six small bottles with blue liquid, laser plasma.
Seth held the handguns and inserted one plasma bottle into each. Now, his two handguns were loaded with laser plasma, which he could use to protect himself later.
"Those two cannot know that I have this."