005: 24 hours early?

Nadia

Unknown Number: How can you be so vicious?

Unknown Number: You threw me out for NOTHING. You owe me for emotional damages or my lawyer will sue you tomorrow!

I stared at it for one second. Blocked. Deleted.

Chloe's fourth burner number this week.

In my last life, that text would have sent me into a full panic attack. I would have called her, apologized, wired her money just to make it stop.

Now, I just felt a mild sense of embarrassment for the person I used to be.

I put my phone away and looked around the building.

Four days had passed since I woke up, and the transformation was almost unbelievable.

The underground section was completely finished.

The bathrooms had hot running water, the kitchen was fully equipped, and the sleeping quarters were furnished with sturdy beds and warm bedding.

My mother had spent the morning organizing the medical supplies and stocking the pantries, genuinely pleased with how comfortable it was.

Outside, the construction crew was putting the finishing touches on the heavy secondary gate. Welding sparks flew as two men secured the final reinforcement plates into the concrete frame. That was the last item on my list.

So I release them to go home to have some rest since they've been working non-stop. And the finishing touch can be done tomorrow before the countdown.

After they were gone, the supply distribution arrived as I planned.

I had them hauled ten percent of the food, water, and fuel in the surface warehouse as a decoy, while the remaining ninety percent was locked behind the reinforced steel doors downstairs.

And so, everything was done.

I leaned against the railing, letting out a long breath. For the first time since I woke up, the knot in my stomach began to loosen.

I had done it. I had build a place where my mother and I could actually survive.

According to my timeline, I still had twenty-four hours before everything started. That gave me a full night to rest, double-check the generators, and mentally prepare for the freeze that'll arrive with the countdown tomorrow.

With a bit of free time on my hands, my mind wandered back to something that had been bugging me.

Julian Cross.

I sat down on a chair inside and pulled out my phone. I couldn't get his face out of my head, the desperate look in his eyes when he tried to pull me out of the labyrinth.

But why didn't mom remember anything about him?

I opened a browser and typed his name into the search bar. Nothing useful came up. There were a few public records for people with similar names in other states, but no local matches.

Weird. I opened my old cloud yearbooks. Found my homeroom photo. I knew exactly where he sat — two rows behind me for two years, kicking my chair.

I zoomed in. Face after face.

He wasn't there.

I checked the roster at the bottom. His name wasn't there either.

A cold prickle ran up my neck.

That was impossible. I could hear his voice. ‘Are you actually kidding me?’

I could feel the leather of his jacket. I remembered him forcing that vial down my throat while I bled out.

How do you remember someone so clearly who never existed?

I rubbed my temples—

DING!

My thoughts were cut short by the sharp sound that rang outside.

I knew that sound. I would never forget that sound.

No. No, not yet. Today was only Day Four.

I stumbled outside and looked up.

The entire sky was a screen.

72:00:00

It was the System countdown. It wasn't supposed to appear until tomorrow.

I checked my phone with shaking hands. Day Four. Still Day Four.

I was still mulling over my thoughts when the air in front of my face ripped open.

[WORLD EVENT INITIATED.]

[You have 72 hours to select an Ability.]

[Only one Ability will be recorded.]

[Survive the next 72 hours.]

I read it twice.

71:59:48.

It had started.

A full day early.