By the ti Ivy and her children finally arrived ho, night had already settled in fully, heavy and quiet.
Exhaustion clung to her bones like a second skin.
Still, she forced herself to move.
Gently, she nudged her daughters awake, her voice soft but firm. "Aria... Lila... we’re ho. Co on."
They stirred weakly, barely conscious, their small bodies swaying as she guided them into the shelter. Step by step, she helped them onto the mattress she had bought earlier, carefully covering them with a blanket.
Within seconds, they were gone again....breathing evenly, faces peaceful, untouched by the weight of the world outside.
Ivy stood there for a mont, watching them.
Her chest tightened.
"What a long day..." she murmured under her breath, setting down the toys Aria and Lila had picked out from the supermarket. Their tiny hands had clung so tightly to them earlier, full of excitent... and now they couldn’t even stay awake to enjoy them.
A faint, tired smile crossed her lips but it didn’t quite reach her eyes.
The children hadn’t even noticed when the appliances she ordered had arrived. They had already been claid by sleep, stress, and the silent creeping fear they couldn’t fully understand.
Ivy herself felt like collapsing, her entire body ached but she didn’t stop.
She couldn’t.
One by one, she began clearing her orders, extracting each item into the system space. Her movents were slower now, heavier...but deliberate.
Even the diesel she had assud would arrive the next day showed up earlier than expected the mont she was about to drive off.
She didn’t hesitate.
"Good," she muttered, already moving. "No delays."
With practiced efficiency, she extracted that too.
There was no room for procrastination anymore.
Ti wasn’t just ticking.
It was running out.
***
When she finally stepped into the bathroom....
She turned on the shower, and warm water cascaded over her body, soaking into her skin, loosening muscles that had been tense for hours. A soft breath escaped her lips as she tilted her head back, letting the heat wash over her.
Then her thoughts drifted briefly to her daughters.
She would have loved for them to take warm baths too.....to wash away the exhaustion clinging to their small bodies.
But they were already asleep.
And perhaps... that was enough.
"At least they ate," she whispered to herself, eyes closing briefly.
That thought alone steadied her.
But peace never lasted long.
The mont she stepped out of the bathroom, drying her hair with a towel, reality ca rushing back in like a flood.
Her gaze hardened.
There was still too much left undone and not nearly enough ti.
Rest could wait.
Survival could not.
"System," she called, her tone regaining its firmness, "can I install the generator tonight?"
{Sure, Host.}
A breath of relief slipped through her.
"I need it installed imdiately."
She didn’t waste another second.
Stepping outside once dressed, the cool night air brushed against her damp skin, raising faint goosebumps. The darkness stretched endlessly, broken only by the narrow beam of her phone’s flashlight.
She stood still, hands resting on her waist, eyes sharp.
"You know what to do, System."
Imdiately, everything she had purchased earlier appeared before her in an instant neatly arranged.
Then the generator moved.
It slid across the ground on its own, positioning itself at one side of the shelter compound before sinking into place seamlessly.
No sound.
No vibration.
No indication it was even functioning.
Ivy frowned slightly.
"System...?"
Ding.
{Generator installed successfully, Host.}
She opened her mouth to respond but then it happened.
The generator pulsed.
A low, almost imperceptible hum vibrated through the air as its structure began to change. tal expanded, reshaped, reinforced....growing to nearly twice its original size.
Ivy’s eyes widened.
"What...?"
Light bulbs suddenly appeared overhead...the sa ones she had purchased and flickered to life.
Brilliant.
Blindingly bright.
The kind of light that erased shadows completely.
{Generator upgraded: indestructible, minimal consumption.}
For a second, Ivy just stared.
"Really?!" she breathed, disbelief and excitent colliding in her voice.
A genuine smile broke across her face this ti, bright and unrestrained.
"That’s... incredible."
Without hesitation, she turned and rushed back into the shelter.
The difference was imdiate.
Light flooded every corner, chasing away the suffocating dimness that had once filled the space. It felt... alive now.
Safe.
Before she could even process it fully, more changes began.
The standing fan appeared, settling into place and beginning to rotate steadily. Cool air brushed against her skin.
Then the air conditioner activated.
A soft hum followed, and within seconds, a refreshing chill spread through the room.
Ding!
{Air conditioner upgraded: indestructible.}
{Standing fan upgraded: indestructible.}
{Gas cooker upgraded: indestructible.}
One after another, every appliance she had purchased underwent the sa transformation.
Upgraded.
Perfected.
Untouchable.
Ivy let out a quiet, disbelieving laugh, shaking her head slightly.
"This system..." she muttered, almost in awe.
Then her expression sharpened again.
"You should install the caras too," she said quickly, urgency creeping back into her voice. "Connect everything. I want full surveillance...inside and outside. No blind spots."
There was a brief pause but after a while...
Ding.
{Surveillance system installed successfully.}
{System integration complete.}
{Enhanced detection enabled: living and non-living entities.}
{Power grid output: up to 10,000 volts.}
The transformation was instantaneous.
Screens appeared.
Interfaces lit up.
The shelter evolved from a simple underground space into sothing far more advanced...controlled, monitored, secure.
Every corner was visible.
Every shadow erased.
Ivy moved quickly, her heartbeat steady but heavy, as she entered one of the rooms now designated as the surveillance hub.
She approached the system console and activated the feed.
The first image that appeared...
Her daughters.
Sleeping peacefully.
Their small chests rising and falling gently.
Unhard.
Safe.
Her shoulders eased slightly.
Then she switched the feed.
Outside.
Her breath caught.
The world beyond her shelter was unraveling.
People staggered through the streets, so collapsing mid-step. Others scread, their bodies burning with fever.
Her mind then drifted towards the people putting on face mask this afternoon.
In her past life...after the flu, the fever appeared after three days...then after two days people turned to monsters.
Although so whose bodies couldn’t even handle the virus wouldn’t even wait till after three days before they died. They died imdiately when the virus hit them and for those who even survived the five days...so ended up dying eventually if they couldn’t undergo full transformation.
It was crazy!
Ivy exhaled slowly, forcing herself to look away.
"At least..." she whispered, her voice steadier now, "no one can get close to my shelter without knowing."
That alone mattered.
She left the surveillance room and returned to the living area.
Despite the many rooms available in the shelter, she and her daughters had chosen to sleep in the living room.
Together.
As if instinctively understanding that proximity ant safety.
Ivy lay down beside them, her body finally giving in as she sank into the mattress. Her eyes remained open, fixed on the ceiling, one hand resting gently over her stomach.
Even with everything she had gained...the system, the upgrades, the security...
Her chest still felt tight...restless, uneasy.
Maybe it was the approaching apocalypse.
Or maybe...
Her free hand shifted slightly, brushing over her abdon.
"...just the pregnancy," she murmured softly.
She didn’t know.
The air conditioner humd gently with the fan rotating in a steady rhythm.
Cool air filled the space.
Her eyelids grew heavier.
"The rest can wait until tomorrow... right, System?" she whispered into the quiet.
No reply ca.
But this ti...she didn’t need one.
Sleep claid her before doubt could return.
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