he Scouting Te

t I had to tilt my head back to hold her gaze. "I run scouting

d me if I wa

hing." Han Xue's smile didn't reach her eyes. "Th

hool. "If he's in, I'm in. He kept me from becoming d

sion eased-barely. "Fireball talent, level two. Decent control un

ai

Xue walked away without loo

iance Established - Sc

onger Awakened increase sur

that part before she w

atching you flounder is oc

again that I ha

-

orway. Reinforced with scavenged rebar and a padlock

it: t

had bled violet light before sealing themselves shut. Storefronts da

her combat knife with the ease of long ha

le

han a car, we asses

e th

I kept my voice

lled." Han Xue's eyes were ice.

ide me. "She's warmer o

sh

her head. "But i

triangle. Han Xue on point. Mei and I trailin

in, we found ou

any dog had a right to be. Prowling a

ried. "Good training target. Copy-boy-y

Breathed the way the copied in

ature in the shoulder be

n lunged not at me, but at

e

range. The creature dropped in

e with no visible reaction. Her v

"Copy-boy, get close. I want to see if

-

d pavement. I crouched beside it out of morbid

t Detected - Enh

ssful - Effic

2/3 Oc

ard. "Wait-I can co

"Copy talents are rare. Most assume they only work on other Awakened. If yours works on mutants

ly, not yet, but present. Like a held breath I hadn't known I was holding unt

manship 14%. Enhanced Agility 10%. Recommend field

utated stray's spe

omeday, be

-

ruins, Han Xue crouched at a

mbush

muta

op

wo other shelter survivors I recognized from the bunk rows-opportunists who'd figured out fast that the old rules d

." Han Xue's hand drifted tow

ou took her best scout and a fresh Awakened outside the wall without full clearance, does she? I could mention

r a *grudge*?" Mei's voice

e. "Copy-boy made me look stupid in front of the

uined store at the alley's end. Drawn by rai

didn't

di

thing behind

ward, plated fist rising. "Sav

in a spray of glass and rusted shelving. Twice the si

aiming f

hattered. They left him standing closest to the thing's c

ted, knife already o

half a second of charg

think.

faster than they had any business moving. I closed the gap

that the mutant's jaws closed on

the dead cop's aim on pure adrenaline. Put three rounds into t

half a foot from

was seeing me-actually seeing me-for

onfirmed - Enhanced Agility Eff

Efficiency Incre

nist. Recommend evaluating whether this was strat

hard. Still straddling the space betwe

tes retracted as the adrenaline drained.

cracked. "You jus

idn't take. "Mostly I just didn't want to explain to Command

er knife. Looked at the mutant corpse, then at me, with an

om a live mutant mid-combat. Both improving under pressure in real time." A pause. "Command

ani

n from her. "You just became valuable, Zhang Wei. And people in thi

was still staring a

liation, something else was

ulat

owing pile of things about this

Host Stat

: 2/3 Oc

manship:

ed Agilit

. Recommend Host maintain strategic amb

. Me somewhere in between, replaying the fight in my head, feeling the new effic

y hummed with the low, wr

ened to admit us-and Comman

-

of Ch