Chapter 652: Chapter 652: Not A Hero (Part 2)
Regardless of the atmosphere pressing through the building, Don stepped forward without hesitation.
The entrance closed quietly behind him.
Immediately, the darkness shifted again beneath the weak emergency lighting scattered through the corridors ahead.
Some ceiling panels still functioned properly while others flickered intermittently, causing entire sections of the hallway to alternate between visibility and shadow every few seconds.
His Beastshift adapted first.
The darkness softened.
Edges became clearer.
Then Keen Eye layered itself over everything else.
Small details started surfacing automatically inside his thoughts while the augmented overlay continued feeding structural information across his vision.
Blood.
Footprints.
Scrape marks.
Movement patterns.
The corridor itself looked expensive despite the current state.
Decorative wall panels lined portions of the hallway beside framed artwork and recessed lighting fixtures now blinking weakly beneath emergency power.
Blood stains spread unevenly along the floor while abandoned luggage and overturned cleaning carts partially blocked some intersections.
The smell lingered everywhere.
Old blood.
Sweat.
Rot beginning to settle in.
Don walked quietly through it all.
Every now and then the augmented system updated nearby structural information or highlighted movement detected several floors above.
Occasionally distant noises echoed faintly through ventilation shafts somewhere deeper inside the complex.
Screaming once.
Then silence again.
The first secured access point appeared less than a minute later.
Heavy reinforced doors blocked the route toward the lower residential sectors while a dead guard remained slumped against the wall nearby with half his throat torn open. Blood had dried in long streaks down the access scanner beneath him.
The system immediately highlighted the lock.
Restricted Access.
Low-Level Security.
Keycard Compatible.
Don crouched briefly beside another corpse and searched the body without urgency.
Wallet.
Phone.
Access card.
He used it immediately.
BEEP~!
The lock disengaged.
The reinforced doors slid open slowly enough that the grinding mechanisms echoed faintly down the corridor.
Don paused afterward.
Waited.
Nothing came running.
Then he continued.
Further downward, the building became progressively worse.
More blood.
More barricades.
At one intersection, several apartment residents had apparently attempted sealing themselves inside a maintenance room using tables and broken furniture.
The barricade had collapsed inward eventually. Blood covered most of the surrounding walls while handprints streaked across the floor leading deeper into the corridor.
No bodies remained nearby.
Dragged away.
Another access corridor farther below required higher clearance.
This time no corpse waited nearby.
Don studied the lock briefly while the augmented overlay highlighted weak points inside the mechanism itself.
Thin structural lines spread across his vision afterward, tracing the electronic housing hidden beneath the wall paneling.
He stepped closer and pulled part of the panel loose carefully using his fingers.
Wiring sat exposed underneath.
The augmented system highlighted the exact bypass path almost immediately.
A few adjustments later—
BZZT~!
The lock disengaged.
Don pushed through quietly afterward.
Quite frankly, he wasn’t rushing.
That was the important part.
Every instinct inside him told him not to move carelessly through this place. Whatever had happened here wasn’t simple panic from infected overrunning the apartment complex.
Something else sat beneath it.
The movement patterns.
The barricades.
The bodies dragged afterward.
Even the infected activity outside hadn’t matched properly.
So Don moved carefully instead.
When another sealed passage blocked his route lower down, he avoided the reinforced door entirely and instead climbed through a maintenance vent partially loosened near the ceiling.
The metal groaned softly beneath his weight while cold air moved through the narrow shaft around him.
Elsewhere, he bypassed another secured route by forcing open weakened hinges near an emergency stairwell door after the augmented overlay identified stress fractures along the mounting brackets.
Small things.
Quiet things.
Enough to keep moving without drawing unnecessary attention.
Eventually he reached the bunker level.
The atmosphere changed immediately.
The corridors here looked far more secure than the residential sections above.
Thicker walls.
Reinforced support structures.
Heavy-duty blast doors positioned along multiple intersections.
No luxury decorations anymore.
Only functionality.
Emergency lighting cast dim white illumination across the bunker corridors while warning indicators blinked faintly above several sealed entrances.
Some doors stood partially open while others remained fully secured beneath electronic locking systems.
The augmented overlay updated instantly.
Bunker Room 03 — Unlocked.
No life detected.
Bunker Room 05 — Locked.
Mid-Level Security.
Hackable.
Bunker Room 07 — Unlocked.
Multiple deceased detected.
The same notices had followed him throughout most of the descent.
Annoyingly secure.
Not military-grade exactly, but definitely built with superhuman threats in mind.
Reinforced alloy frames hid beneath most doors while locking systems carried secondary backup mechanisms designed to resist brute force entry.
Right now that mostly made the place irritating.
Still—
He’d made it this far without attracting attention.
That mattered more.
Don walked toward one of the locked bunker doors and crouched slightly near the access panel.
The augmented system immediately projected a highlighted overlay across the lock internals while small sections of circuitry became visible through the scan.
He removed the outer casing quietly.
Then adjusted several internal contact points manually while the system guided the sequence.
Three seconds later—
CLICK~!
The lock disengaged.
Don pushed the door inward.
And immediately someone attacked.
A security officer lunged from the other side swinging a reinforced baton toward Don’s head.
Fast.
Desperate.
But Don reacted faster.
His hand shot upward instantly and caught the baton mid-swing with enough force to stop it cold.
THAK~!
The officer’s eyes widened.
Before he could react further, Don shoved him hard in the chest.
THUDD~!
The man stumbled backward into the bunker room, nearly losing his footing before crashing against a folding table inside.
Several others immediately recoiled deeper into the room.
Fear spread visibly across their faces.
Two women sat near the far wall clutching kitchen knives shakily while an older woman remained seated against a stack of supply crates with both hands covering her mouth.
Three teenage boys stood near another corner gripping improvised weapons made from broken furniture legs and pipes.
Their clothes carried blood stains.
Not all of it looked theirs.
Don stepped inside slowly.
The bunker itself looked large enough to house far more people than currently remained there.
Foldable cots lined portions of the walls while bottled water, canned food and emergency medical supplies sat stacked near reinforced storage shelves toward the back.
The air smelled stale.
Used.
The security officer forced himself upright again while gripping the baton tightly despite his trembling hands.
"Stay back!" he said hesitantly. "Identify yourself!"
One of the teenagers immediately looked toward Don again.
"Wait," he said quickly. "Maybe he’s help?"
Don ignored the question completely.
His eyes moved across the bunker calmly.
No Ash.
Without another word, he stepped back out into the corridor.
The security officer watched him leave but visibly hesitated to approach further.
Between the blood covering Don’s figure and the completely unbothered expression on his face, the man ultimately said nothing.
The bunker door shut again moments later.
Inside, the teenagers still shouted questions through the closing gap.
"Hey! Is there military outside?!"
"Did rescue come?!"
Don kept walking.
The next bunker door opened similarly after another bypass.
This time the reaction differed slightly.
A large man in a worn dark suit stood near the entrance almost immediately after the door opened.
Blood covered portions of one sleeve while bruising spread visibly along one side of his jaw.
His build looked thick even beneath the damaged clothing, broad shoulders filling much of the narrow bunker entrance while faint veins stood out along his forearms.
Superhuman.
Most likely.
Behind him stood a woman clutching a small child against her chest while two older boys and a teenage girl remained huddled near the far corner beneath blankets and emergency supplies.
The man initially moved forward aggressively.
Then saw Don properly.
The motion stopped immediately afterward.
Not fully.
But enough.
Don’s frame.
The blood covering him.
The unflinching stare.
Combined together beneath the dim bunker lighting, the effect visibly unsettled him.
The man unconsciously stepped back half a pace.
His posture shifted from attack to defense almost instantly.
Even the people behind him reacted.
The woman tightened her hold around the child while the teenage girl lowered her gaze entirely.
"Who are you?" the man asked while trying to steady his voice. "How’d you open the door?"
Don barely looked at him.
His eyes swept across the bunker once.
No Ash.
He turned to leave immediately afterward.
"Wait?!" the man called after him quickly. "What’s the situation up there? Has help arrived?! Hey!"
Don didn’t answer.
The man continued yelling after him from the doorway but never actually followed into the corridor.
A few moments later, Don reached the next bunker.
The lock disengaged.
The door opened inward.
And this time—
Ash stood directly on the other side holding a handgun with both hands.
The barrel pointed straight toward the entrance.
Her finger already tightened against the trigger.
Then her eyes widened.
"B-boss?!"
Relief hit her voice immediately despite how strained she sounded.
Her face looked exhausted beneath the emergency lighting while bruises spread faintly along one side of her neck and blood stains covered portions of her jacket sleeves.
But she was alive.
Don gave her a quick glance over.
No visible marks.
No severe injuries.
Then his attention shifted deeper inside the bunker.
This room held more people than the others combined.
Mostly women and children.
Several younger kids remained asleep beneath blankets along the far wall while exhausted mothers sat nearby clutching improvised weapons or emergency supplies.
A few older men remained present too, though most looked injured or exhausted beyond usefulness.
One man sat tied up near the corner.
Blood covered portions of his face while zip restraints bound both wrists tightly behind his back.
Don stepped inside calmly.
Then asked plainly—
"What’s going on here?"
