Chapter 65 - 64 : Don’t Trust anyone anymore

The two groups didn’t rush into each other. Just silence and the heavy weight of suspicion. One of the men finally stepped forward, raising both hands to show he wasn’t hostile. "We’re alive. Same as you. But if what that... thing said is true, we can’t just trust each other blindly." I gave him a thin smile, though it didn’t reach my eyes. "Smart man. So what do you suggest?" He exchanged looks with his group before answering. "Daylight. Tomorrow, when the sun rises, we walk out together. Whoever burns... isn’t human. That’s the only proof we’ll accept." I could feel everyone behind me stiffen. Ye-rin whispered sharply, "So what, we spend the night staring at each other waiting for fangs to pop out?" The man didn’t flinch. "Better than dying in your sleep." The silence dragged, broken only by the distant howl of some monster outside the district walls. At last, I nodded. "Fine. Daylight it is. Until then... we keep our distance." And so we did. Two survivor groups—two camps in the same ruined city—watching each other across the night, waiting for dawn to prove who was human, and who was already a monster. We moved across the streets, right back into a nearby building that we fortified during last week. It was a double storey building with a basement. Hyun-tae, In-ji and myself worked hard on making sure the building was secured while others did the interior. Night. The kind of night that crawled under your skin and stayed there. Hyun-tae, Eun-ha and the twins were asleep. Mother, Hana, Seo-yeon, In-ji, Ye-Rin and myself couldn’t fall asleep as we all sit in the living room. Minutes stretched. The silence pressed heavier. The stat screen flickered A second line of text etched itself across the bottom: Note: Vampires cannot survive direct sunlight. They must eliminate survivors before dawn. Survivors who survive until dawn receive shared victory. Shared victory. What a joke. Seo-yeon was the first to speak, her voice soft but cracked. "They want us... to kill each other." Her words hung heavy. Hana shouted in frustration, "Then we just don’t play their damn game." Her tone was sharp, almost desperate — like she was trying to cut down the fear with sheer anger. "We stick together and kill whatever comes at us." I said trying to calm her down. "That’d be great," Seo-yeon said, folding her arms. In-Ji checked his gun, the click of the chamber oddly loud in the tense air. "If the mission’s real... that means there are already vampires here. Mixed in with survivors." "Do you think we can trust those people we met a few hours ago?" Hana asked as she continued, "What if they don’t show any symptoms tomorrow and are fine in daylight but next night they turn into vampires." "Exactly," I said. "Which means we’re about to star in the worst reality show ever: Trust Issues, featuring hopeless idiots and a guest cast of fanged psychos." Seo-Yeon’s head snapped toward me. "This isn’t funny." "I’m not joking," I shot back. "I’d love to believe this is just some edgy tutorial screen, but let’s be real — the system’s been escalating since day one. First was hell, then goblins who came at us in hundreds, then that towers and now, Vampires showing up now? Yeah, that checks out." Her lips pressed thin, but she didn’t argue. She knew I was right. Ye-Rin’s voice wavered. "W-We’re not going to... turn on each other, right?" Everyone froze. Her question wasn’t stupid. It was the question. In-Ji lowered his gun slowly. "Depends," she muttered. "If someone in our group gets bit—" Seo-Yeon cut her off sharply. "We’re not killing our own unless we’re sure." "Sure?" In-Ji gave her a hard look. "What is sure even mean here? If the system wants paranoia, it’ll give them ways to hide. What if they can fake stat screens? Fake daylight walking? We don’t know anything about their mechanics yet." My stomach twisted.He was right. We didn’t know jack. The system was dangling survival like a carrot, but the stick was obvious: force us to doubt the very people we relied on. Break the bonds we’d barely managed to build. And worst of all? It was working. "Alright," I said finally, dragging in a deep breath. "Here’s what we know, straight from the mission description: 1. Vampires die in sunlight. 2. They’ll probably hunt at night. 3. Survive 3 dawn, we get victory." "Which means," I continued, "we don’t trust anyone outside this group. Not survivors, not strangers, not some crying kid who suddenly shows up begging for help. If someone joins us, they get tested. We make them walk into daylight, no excuses. They refuse, they’re out." Ye-Rin frowned. "And if they’re infected but not turned yet?" "Then they’re a danger," In-Ji said flatly, beating me to it. "A danger we can’t afford." Mi-Sun flinched. Seo-Yeon rounded on In-Ji. "They’re still human until they turn. We’re not monsters." "No," In-Ji said coldly, "we’re prey. Prey doesn’t get second chances." The air between the couple crackled. Great. Exactly what we needed. Our own little civil war brewing before the vampires even showed up. I raised my hands. "Enough. Look, we can argue morality later. For now, we keep three rules: Rule One: No one sleeps alone. Rule Two: Everyone gets tested in sunlight daily. Rule Three: If someone starts acting weird, we don’t ignore it." "Acting weird?" Ye-Rin scoffed. "That’s your big plan?" "Hey, it’s worked for me so far," I said, flashing her a grin. "Besides, I’ve got sarcasm detection maxed out. If a vampire tries to fake being me, they’ll fail instantly." That earned me a tiny snort from Mi-Sun. It wasn’t much, but it was something. Because right now, the only thing scarier than fighting vampires... was fighting each other. [New Mission Generated] Event Type: Invasion – Vampire Hunt Objective: Survive until dawn. Eliminate or expose infiltrating vampires. Reward: EXP and rare drop scaling by contribution. Hidden rewards possible. Penalty for Failure: Death Mother, whose eyes were fixed on this screen for a long time spoke which shattered on how we will view the things moving forward.