RTS System in the Apocalypse: New World

The basement air was worse.

It smelled like something had dried there after being alive for too long.

Adrian landed on the last step and raised one hand. Echo Two stopped behind him, one by one, their silenced SMGs angled toward the dark corners.

Vex moved beside his leg, but the dog did not go ahead this time. Its ears pointed forward, and its tail froze mid-air.

That’s not good.

Adrian looked at the Radar map. The five red markers remained above.

Two near the front. One on the left wall. One by the rear. One climbing higher.

They had no intention of leaving, for now.

Adrian’s brows furrowed under the mask. "NVGs, now."

A soft series of clicks answered him.

Four hands moved to four helmets. The night-vision mounts snapped down over their masks, lenses settling in front of their eyes.

The basement changed color.

The Radar overlay remained above it, cold and precise, turning the basement into a map of shadows and guessed spaces.

It even adjusted its colors, making the interface look friendly enough.

"Echo Two-One."

"Yes, squad leader?"

"Mark all exits."

"Already doing it."

Yellow lines appeared on the shared map, connecting the stairs, the locked rear door, the drainage slit above, and a dark corridor leading deeper underground.

The last one was something Adrian had skipped over before. He stared at it and whispered.

"Where does that one go?"

The rest of the squad remained silent.

"Yeah, right. We were sent here to find that out. Enter formation. Echo Two-One, take point."

"Understood."

Echo Two-One moved first.

His SMG stayed low but ready, the muzzle following the line of the dark corridor. Vex walked beside him, quieter than his size should have allowed.

The basement was not large. It had old storage shelves, broken crates, and a few rusted pipes running along the ceiling.

Adrian kept his eyes on the Radar map.

This hardware store is strange, he frowned. The connection spans long. A secret tunnel for smuggling?

The thought did not feel far-fetched.

Grefort had too many old service passages, drainage routes, and industrial corridors hiding beneath its streets. Add a few corrupt officials, a few private contractors, and enough money, then a hardware store with a strange basement no longer sounded ridiculous.

Adrian looked at the wall.

A faded metal plate hung beside the corridor entrance, half-covered by dust.

Municipal Maintenance Access — West Drainage Line.

His brows furrowed deeper.

"Not a secret," he murmured. "Just barely forgotten."

Echo Two-One stopped ahead and raised two fingers.

Adrian moved closer.

The corridor dipped downward after a few meters, but the floor was not clean. Thin black streaks clung to the corners where the wall met the ground. They looked like old burn marks at first, until Adrian noticed how they curved around the pipe joints.

"Hold position," he cautioned. "Check the tunnel connection. We’re onto something here."

"Understood."

Echo Two-One lowered himself near the wall plate while Echo Two-Two shifted the shared map into structural view.

The Radar overlay adjusted.

Lines spread from the corridor ahead, thin at first, then widening as the map searched for connected spaces beneath the street. Some sections appeared clearly. Others blinked with broken outlines, blocked by collapsed concrete, old metal interference, or simply too much underground mess to read cleanly.

Still, the shape was there.

The basement corridor did not end beneath the hardware store.

It connected to the West Drainage Line. From there, smaller passages branched outward like veins beneath the western edge of Grefort.

Adrian’s eyes narrowed.

This network of tunnels was too complex. Which insane group of people planned the layout, and eventually carved a path underground?

"How far?"

"At least two blocks confirmed," Echo Two-Two answered. "Maybe more. Several sections are unclear."

"Entrances?"

"Three possible. For now."

"Where are they?"

"One behind us. One through the drainage slit outside. One farther south, but the map can’t confirm if it’s open."

Adrian looked at the yellow lines spreading in his vision.

Was it a smuggling route? An honest maintenance line? Or something older than both purpose?

Whatever it was, the reason for this tunnel’s existence did not matter much. What mattered was whether something thrived around here—

Adrian’s eyes widened, almost letting out a gasp.

"Squad, have you seen a sewer monster around these parts?"

Echo Two remained silent.

"Negative," Echo Two-One slowly replied. "No underground infected detected since entry."

"None on the Radar either," Echo Two-Two added. "Only the five above."

Adrian stared at the tunnel lines spreading across his vision.

His mind flashed back to the days when the Commander’s apartment had housed several of these creatures in the basement.

And now, in a drainage line inside a city populated with infected—how come no sewer-type monsters could be seen here?

Adrian stared at the diverging tunnels ahead.

Something had cleared this place, but who, or what exactly?

Cell 7 could not be the culprit. They were more or less estranged in their little secret safehouses all this time.

And such commotion would have drawn all the infected around.

No, was it even cleared by killing the sewer-type monsters? Or... was it pushed out of their territory?

Both methods looked worse than the other.

Adrian held his SMG tightly, then let out a deep breath.

"Echo Two-Three, guard our exit. Bring the other dog along."

"Understood."

The third Scout shifted back toward the stairs, moving low and quiet. One dog followed him, ears still forward.

"Vex, on me."

Vex wagged its tail.

Adrian almost chuckled, then turned to the rest of the squad.

"Echo Two-Two."

"Yes, squad leader?"

"Prepare a burst report. Keep it short."

"Message?"

Adrian stared at the tunnel lines again.

"West Drainage Line confirmed. No underground infected. Hive residue suspected. Surface group searching."

"Sending."

A small icon blinked on the shared Radar map. Long-distance communication may be impossible through normal radio, but the Radar gave them another way to pass the message.

I hope the Commander sees it.

Adrian did not wait for confirmation. His eyes remained on the five red markers above.

The crawler had stopped climbing.

The two near the front had not moved either.

The one by the rear stayed close to the blocked door.

Holding their positions?

He scoffed. There was no point in standing here and guessing their intentions.

"Echo Two-One, take point. Let’s check this tunnel and see where it goes."

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