Apocalypse Rebirth: My Gold-Eating System

elt like a journey across worlds. The cab pulled up to a dilapidated, two-story house that sagged like a tire

r and stepped out ont

to rot after her parents died, picking it clean of anything valuable before lo

elic from a lifetime ago. The lock was rusted and stiff. She had to jiggle t

. Empty. Etha's greed had been thorough. Bare floors echoed with her footsteps. The only things left were he

olation. She knew w

ld bedroom. This room, too, had been stripped bare. But Joanna walked with purpose to

ed, its color a fraction lighter than the rest. Using her fingernails, she pried at the edge. It resisted fo

inside w

in the dim light, as if the carvings were alive. The wood itself appeared to hold a faint, internal glow, barely perceptible bu

ade of glass. Her mother's hands had touched this wood. Her mother had chosen this box, carved with these st

d the box just out of reach, the way she had laughed while Joanna begged and bled on the floor of that damp, foul-smelling cellar. Destinee had known exactly what the box was worth. She had taken

its surface and unlatched the

e same dark wood as the box, carved into smooth, interlocking links. It looked plain, al

was unmistakable. Joanna's vision blurred. A single tear escaped, tracing a cold line down her cheek. She had forgotten what her mother's smile looked like. Ten years in hell had burned

vy in her palm. As she turned it over, she saw a faint, deep blue

her wrist, something sharp pricked her skin. A tiny, almost invisible needle,

touched the wood, t

t seared through her closed eyelids, turning everything to white-hot nothing. For a terrifying moment, there was only the light-and then, suddenly, darkness. A

seized her. It felt like her body was being pulled

ectly inside her mind. It was calm, gen

rmed. Binding to hos

n complete. Welco

ed as quickly as

imming. She was no longer in

ing in a vast

luminous white, stretching to a horizon she couldn't see. The air

assive, holographic screen, flickering with stre

It was a massive, vault-like structure, and emblazoned on

eturned, its words ech

ry. Initial function unlocke

asked, her voice sounding small in the immense space.

le appeared beside her. "Organic matter placed within The Reserve will not

, crisp, and unchanged as a digital timer ne

starving dog over a moldy crust of bread, the way her stomach had cramped with hunger for weeks on end. She had killed for less than what this system was offering her now. It wasn't just about preserving f

hidden in a forgotten house in Queens? She opened her mouth to ask, but the system offered no answers. The sil

nt metal door with the dollar sign. Hope swelled in her chest. This was it. This was the key to eve

. It was as sol

harder, throwing her shoulder against the metal. No

, ignoring her unspoken frustration. "New functional zones require an energy catal

quirements for the first unlock. A picture of the g

10 Ounces of .

dollars. A fortune. Money she had just bled from her aunt. A short, humorless laugh escaped her lips. Of course. Of course th

t she stood to gain. Not compared to survival. She thought of the food spoiling in a world without electricity, the medicine degrading in unrefrigerated wareh

sitting in her bank account. The mone

artup capital any

ten ounces, walk out with the bars in her hand, and feed them to this h

d across her face. She knew ex