10 Chapter 10: A New Dawn, A New Jin
The stairs leading to the lower floors of the Luminous Sky Lounge were stained with blood, but there were no corpses spotted, not even bones.
After clearing the surrounding area, Jin walked down the stairs to the first floor.
His messy black hair glistened in the sunlight as he walked, and the ammo pouch on his waist jangled, its contents audible.
Once he arrived on the first floor, he was greeted by an empty area.
"Food and ammo," Jin muttered and walked down into the little hidden basement where he used to take cover before.
Taking all the remaining ammo, making his total shotgun shells 200, including his old ammo and the remaining shells on the shelf.
Checking the remaining drawer revealed only a few remaining snacks somehow fitting into his jeans.
"How's the outside?" Jin said to himself.
Many thoughts raced in his mind, but they all shared one similarity...
Once his feet stepped out of the exit door, the glaring sunlight shone and blinded upon him...
...Day 1 since Aetheria arrived on Earth..
The warm and brilliant sun shone strangely, shining even brighter on Jin as he stepped out of the nightmare place he had suffered through.
Forcing himself to shield his eyes from the sun, the slit pupils began surveying the surrounding area.
The long asphalt, black road that should have been jammed with traffic in the morning was now filled with crashed cars and scattered clothes.
The busy sounds of claxons and people typically heard that would normally have filled the whole asphalt were now silent.
This was a main road, and it was impossible for it to be this silent without any sight of vehicles, especially in this rush hour.
"Even the electric is off?" Jin muttered inwardly and sighed.
He lived in the Pudong New Area District in an apartment near Shanghai Jianqiao University, where he also worked as a security guard.
He lived there rent-free thanks to the apartment owner's kindness.
Pudong New Area District was well known for its stock exchange, and many large Chinese companies had their central offices located there.
Rumors were circulating about disputes among the big companies, supposedly leading them to secretly employ and support the local gang as a source of leverage.
This was the reason why Jin had already given up his career the moment he heard the trio were backed by one of the gangs.
To walk back to his home, which was located several miles away, he usually just called an online ride-hailing service that would take at least 15 minutes.
But now, with the service down due to the arrival of the strange alien entity, he had no choice but to walk by himself.
"Home..." Jin muttered, rummaging through one of the many pockets on his new pants.
He took out an old-fashioned brass skeleton key with intricate details etched into its metallic surface.
The long, slender stem ended in a rounded, bulbous head.
"A chance to increase my chances of survival," he thought to himself as he put the key back into his pocket.
His slit pupils began scanning the whole area, intending to search for any useful vehicles.
"The only problem is someone might unlock the basement and try to get their hands on what's inside."
The key was not exclusive to him; the other security guards also had the same exact key.
Inside the basement, there were things the owner said were for safety measures.
Those things were the same as what he held in his hand right now - a gun.
This made him wonder how wealthy these people were, building a secret and secure basement just because of the dispute among the large companies.
However, just as Jin was pondering, his eyebrows furrowed.
There was a strange feeling nagging him, prompting him to halt his track and turn to the side.
Flickering light from moving clouds was spotted under his vision.
It was 500 meters from his location and somehow, his eyes could spot the blurry image of a sliver of black cord dangling over the edge of the parapet wall.
"Flickering light can only be caused by something related to a mirror, but seeing it on the rooftop with something sticking out... don't tell me," Jin muttered inwardly.
Somehow his heart sank and his expression looked wary as the slit pupils squinted.
Just as he had some doubt, a ringing bell rang inside his head.
His entire head to the neck felt chills, causing him to unconsciously tilt to the side.
SWOOSH-!
The wind suddenly blowing his face, following after that a black thing whistled past him making the squinted eyes opened wide.
"A sniper?!" Jin thought inwardly.
Without hesitation, he jumped to the side, where there was a narrow, dark alleyway.
Leaning his body against the wall, he slightly peeked from it.
His eyes spotted several shadows coming along with the sounds of their steps.
"Ohh? That man can dodge the bullet?," one said, following after that, they halted, gazing at Jin's previous shot location in surprise.
"Nah, he just lucky, Ping Ping recently got cancer, and he's old now," another replied.
Upon hearing their conversation and seeing how they casually attacked a stranger like himself, Jin's heart sank and his expression darkened.
"The gangs..." Jin murmured in a low tone.
A bat invasion turning normal people into Blood Slaves had just fallen upon the world.
But these people were armed and seemed to have been long prepared.
Thinking of these things, Jin, who had been tracking the movements of every shadowy figure, glanced down and gripped the shotgun tightly.
"Found you, little rat!" Just as Jin was pondering, a voice came from behind him, surprising him.
Jin glanced back only to see a shadowy human figure in the distance, already pointing a gun toward him.
BANG-!
The sound of the gunshot echoed harshly across the narrow, dark alley, but Jin, who was the target, looked around in the aftermath.
"I need to find cover!" Jin shouted inwardly.
The bullet missed, perhaps due to the distance, falling to pierce the wall beside him.
However, because of this, laughter and footsteps could be heard approaching from where Jin had been tracking several figures before.
BANG-!
BANG-!
Several gunshots were heard, aimed toward Jin as he ran in a zigzag pattern toward a wide open door several meters ahead.
It was a risky move, with no guarantee of avoiding the gunfire with this method.
But... It was pure coincidence that these attackers were using pistols and firing wildly from a distance, perhaps thinking they were using rifles instead.
The northeast was guarded by a sniper and those few people continuously firing their guns, while to the west, in the opposite direction from the alley, was the first attacker who had shot at him.
With no choices, Jin was forced to run back south, the direction he had just come from the nightclub.
The road ahead was clear and there was only one alley in sight as far as he could see.
Fighting with his shotgun, designed for close range, was not an option.
Not to mention the number of enemies was still unknown.
All of the doors on nearby buildings were tightly shut, and he dared not gamble on whether they were locked or unlocked.
His only hope was to get back inside the club, where, though he would be trapped, he could kill them one by one.
BANG-!
BANG-!
Gunshots sounded again, landing below his feet.
With each shot his heart beat loudly.
Gasping for breath and sweat drenching his clothes, continuously pouring from his forehead.
His only hope was that these idiots who kept shooting at him would stand in the line of sight of the sniper.
In this heat of the moment, finally, his slit pupils saw the opened door and without hesitation, he entered the club once more.
BAM-!
The door tightly shut.
...
Bending over with his hands on his knees, Jin panted to catch his breath.
His vision was slightly shaky, but suddenly something clicked in his mind.
His tired expression turned to one of stunned realization as he raised his eyes to see only faint darkness ahead.
"Door?!" Jin turned around, only then did he realize it wasn't the night club.
The night club door had long since disappeared, and he himself had experienced how heavy their doors were.
He had entered the wrong building!
