Zack leaned over his workbench, his fingers already sketg rough designs on the digital pad. “Ego, take notes. We’re building a new armor system. Let’s call it the MV-09 Apex Suit. Structural design based on the modurity of the MV-07. Material: ultralium alloy with graphene reinfort. Power source: upgraded hydrogen fusion core with supercapacitor backups. Now, ons…”

  He paused, tapping his stylus thoughtfully against the pad. “We need a full loadout. Wrist-mounted ser emitters, palm kiic pulse ons, miissiles in the shoulders and arms. As for close bat…” He frowned. “saws? Too bulky. Let’s go with something sleek. How about… aromagic whip? pact, powerful, aile.”

  “Noted, Sir” Ego chimed in. “Would you like to optimize the whip for cutting through ductive materials, or should it also include high-velocity shock capabilities?”

  “Both,” Zack said with a grin. “Let’s make it multipurpose. High-voltage shock for disablironics, and cutting power for physical barriers or enemies.”

  The first draft of the Apex Suit blueprint began to take shape, its streamlined frame incorporating Zack’s every improvement. The suit’s fusion core would be housed in an armored spiion, ensuring maximum energy output while keepi bahe ultralium-graphene posite provided the perfect blend of flexibility and durability, while the modur design allowed the suit to repair itself mid-battle by sing out damaged pos.

  After hours of intense focus, Zack sat back, satisfied with the final desigransferred the blueprint to Ego’s database and, in a rare symbolic gesture, ied the inal sketch with a psma cutter. “How long to manufacture?” he asked.

  Ego responded promptly. “Fabrication of individual pos will take approximately 14 hours. However, due to the ultralium alloy smelting and graphene bonding process, total assembly will require three days.”

  Zaodded, his mind already moving to logistics. “Three days is tight, but doable. We’ll need more ultralium for this, though. Sehe coordinates of the vault with the remaining supply. I’ll hahe delivery myself.”

  Meanwhile, in a battered helicopter several provinces away, Ava struggled to stay scious. Her pale face was etched with pain, and her lower abdomen was ed in blood-soaked bahe sharpshooter’s escape from the Imperial City base had been far from —three bullets had peed both the steel pting and her body. "Just a bit further…" Ava whispered, her hands trembling as she gripped the trols. Her vision blurred, arength waned, but she refused to give in.

  The helicopter wobbled dangerously, desding toward the ground. With her st ounce of strength, Ava pulled the lever, softening the crash nding in an unfamiliar city before bg out entirely.

  "Roar!""Hiss—roar!"

  The chilling sounds of zombies echoed from all dires, growing closer. "Sorry, Captain... I ’t... stay alive..."

  Ava’s sciousness began to fade, her vision darkening. Her strength waned as the approag zombie horde neared. Suddenly—BOOM! Even in her unscious state, Ava thought she heard the deafening crash of something heavy hitting the ground.

  Back at the mansion, A pale-faced woman y ft on the cold floor. Two small, hastily modified mieical Ants crawled over her lower abdomen, diligently stitg her wounds with threading tools. With no ahesia, every needle pierg her flesh made her brow furrow in pain, even though she remained unscious.

  “Looks like we o build proper medical units soon,” Zack muttered, w methodically at his cluttered workbench just a few steps away.

  “Are you talking about the pilot from the zombie wave attack?” Erza asked, croug beside the womae her usual carefree nature, she carefully dabbed sweat off the pilot’s face with a cloth, her movements uncharacteristically gentle.

  “Yeah,” Zack replied, his focus unwavering.

  “She’s the only survivor?” Erza frowned, gng at the unscious woman.

  Zaodded. “If I hadn’t gotten there in time, she wouldn’t have made it.” He hadn’t fotten his earlier instrus to Ego—his AI panion—to monitor the helicopter piloted by Ava. The moment it crashed, Ego alerted him, and Zack wasted no time. He flew the Avalon at top speed, arriving just before the zombies shattered the helicss.

  “What are you w on now?” Erza’s curiosity iqued. This was her first time allowed into the basement, and the strange high-tech gadgets around her made little sense.

  “Something for her,” Zack said without looking up.

  “For her? What’s so special about her?” Erza asked, puzzled.

  “She’s a pilot with potential,” Zack said bluntly.

  “And?” Erza pressed.

  “Like you, I’m going to ensure she’s... useful to me.” He picked up a syringe filled with a clear, faintly glowing liquid and approached the unscious woman.

  “What’s in that?” Erza asked, squinting at the syringe.

  “Microchip, GPS trag, friend-or-foe identification, and...” Zack paused briefly. “A self-destruct meism.”

  Erza rolled her eyes. “Seriously? Are you the reination of Gengis Khan? So paranoid!”Despite her sarcasm, Erza knew Zack’s cautious and suspicious nature was what kept them alive in a world where betrayal often came from within.

  “Fortresses fall from the inside,” Zack said calmly, plunging the syrio the back of Ava’s neck.

  The iion was quick, leaving only a faint red dot on her skin. The chip traveled through her bloodstream, lodging itself near her heart. “Is that it?” Erza poked at the red mark, unimpressed.

  “Yup. Done.”

  “Hey, I get one of those too? This neckce you gave me is annoying to wear, especially when washing up.” Erza fiddled with the metal pendant hanging around her neck.

  “No hat neckce suits your... Erha temperament,” Zack replied, his to.

  “Erha?” Erza blihen bristled. “You’re calling me a husky?! Is that how you see me? A silly, eic husky?”

  “A beautiful one,” Zack said casually as he turned ahe basement.

  Erza opened her mouth to retort, but froze mid-sentence. “Wait... Did he just call me beautiful?” She stood there, stunned. “Hehe... I k. Even he ’t resist my charm!” Her self-satisfied grin vanished wheiced a pair of cold eyes staring up at her. “Ah!” Erza jumped back. “Y-You’re awake? Uh... About what I just said—”

  Ava’s icy gaze didn’t waver. “Everyone heard it. As a girl, you’re surprisingly shameless.”

  Ava sat up, her movements slow and deliberate to avoid straining the freshly sutured wound on her abdomen. Pain flickered across her face, but she didn’t make a sound. “What is this pce? Who saved me? And who are you?” Ava asked, her to and direct.

  Two Days Later, by now, Ava had learned everything she o know. When Zaformed her about the microchip—a potential time bomb—in her body, she merely shrugged and said, “Oh.” Her posure was unnerving, her ess unshakable. If Erza was carefree and lively, Ava was her por opposite: an ice-cold goddess, radiating frost from her very bones.

  Despite agreeing to follow Zack’s orders, Ava refused to ie into the group. She even requested permission to live alone in the nearby Mansion No. 8 rather than sharing Mansion No. 9 with the others. Zack, uanding her situation, approved without hesitation.

  *Patreon suddenly deactivated my at without any reason, so i decided to move to Ko-fi. This is basicly atreon say We terminate or suspend your at at any time at our sole discretion. We also cel any membership subscriptions and remove any descriptions, posts, s, or bes at our sole discretion.

  *If you're subscribed there i hope you got your money back, since i never get paid there. =