Chapter 33: Setting the Traps

Chapter 33: Chapter 33: Setting the Traps

Donald stood alone in the center of the bunker, staring blankly at the rusted delivery chute. His heart was still beating a frantic, erratic rhythm against his ribs.

He walked over to the small industrial kitchen area, turned on the faucet, and splashed freezing cold water onto his face. He gripped the edges of the metal sink, taking deep, steadying breaths.

Get it together, Donald, he scolded himself, watching a drop of water fall from his nose into the drain. You are going to war against a syndicate of elite vampire assassins. You do not have time to simp over a woman. Even if she is... incredibly...

He vigorously shook his head, physically forcing the image of Evelyn’s lips out of his mind. He needed to focus.

The Aegis-7 Proximity Ward was a great final line of defense for the bunker’s ventilation, but if the Wildfire Syndicate brought a full execution squad, a single ward wouldn’t be enough. If they managed to breach the heavy plasteel blast doors, Donald and Evelyn would be trapped in a concrete box.

He needed to control the battlefield before they reached the doors. He needed to turn the abandoned freight warehouse directly above them into a meat grinder.

Donald walked back to the Guild requisition terminal. The screen still glowed a pale green. He checked his System ledger. After buying the ward, the B-Rank armor, and paying for the bunker, he only had 15,000 credits left. High-tier magical traps were expensive, and 15,000 wouldn’t buy enough to cover the massive warehouse above.

He needed more capital.

Donald opened his System inventory and pulled out the heavy, yellow-glowing Impact-Wave Gauntlets he had looted from Silas. He placed them on the table. Next to them, he placed the massive, pulsing purple mana core from the D+ Rank Centipede Queen.

He placed his hands over the items. Liquidate.

The familiar, brilliant golden light washed over the table. The heavy metal gauntlets and the toxic core dissolved into shimmering dust, instantly absorbed by the System.

[Items Liquidated: Impact-Wave Gauntlets (C-Rank), Centipede Queen Core (D+ Rank).]

[Yield: 17,000 Credits.]

[Current Total Assets: 32,000 Credits.]

With his funds doubled, Donald turned back to the terminal. His SSS+ Investor class wasn’t just about managing Evelyn’s growth; it was about asset protection and risk management.

"Let’s see what the Mid-City surplus network has for pest control," Donald muttered, rapidly typing on the keyboard.

He didn’t look for basic explosive mines. The Lesser Vampire had shown terrifying speed and regenerative capabilities. Standard shrapnel wouldn’t put them down. He needed specialized, lethal stuff.

He found exactly what he was looking for in the corporate sabotage section of the catalog.

[Item Selected: ’Solar-Flare’ Flash-Charges (Pack of 5).]

[Description: Detonates a highly compressed sphere of artificial UV-radiation and holy-aspected light. Blinds organic targets and inflicts severe burns on dark entities.]

[Cost: 10,000 Credits.]

"Perfect," Donald smiled. If vampires hated the sun, he was going to bring the sun underground.

He kept scrolling, filling his digital cart.

[Item Selected: ’Widow-Maker’ Mono-Wire Spools (200 meters).]

[Description: Razor-thin, magically hardened carbon wire. Invisible in low light. Capable of slicing through C-Rank armor.]

[Cost: 8,000 Credits.]

[Item Selected: ’Scorched-Earth’ Arc-Mines (Pack of 4).]

[Description: Proximity-triggered mines that release a B-Rank electrical storm, locking the target’s muscles and frying their nervous system.]

[Cost: 12,000 Credits.]

He hit purchase. The terminal flashed, completely draining his account down to a mere 2,000 credits, but Donald didn’t care. Money was meant to be spent.

A few minutes later, the chute hissed, and three heavy black cases dropped into the receiver.

Donald grabbed the cases, hauled his Type-3 Pile Bunker onto his shoulder, and walked over to the plasteel blast doors. He pressed his palm to the scanner, opening the heavy doors just enough to slip through, and climbed the long, spiraling concrete ramp up to the surface level.

The abandoned freight warehouse was massive, easily the size of a football field. It was dark, filled with rusting shipping containers, broken forklifts, and stacked wooden crates. Rain leaked through the high, corrugated tin roof, creating puddles on the cracked concrete floor.

Donald closed his eyes and activated his EX-Rank [Valuation Eye].

When he opened them, the dark, messy warehouse transformed into a glowing, three-dimensional blueprint of tactical data.

[Analyzing Structural Integrity... Identifying optimal infiltration routes.]

Bright yellow lines instantly appeared on the floor, tracing the most logical paths an invading force would take to reach the bunker ramp. Red circles glowed on the walls and pillars, highlighting structural weak points.

Donald went to work. He didn’t place the traps randomly. He used his Investor mindset to maximize the return on his lethal investments.

He found a narrow chokepoint between two towering stacks of rusted shipping containers—a path the yellow trajectory lines indicated was a primary infiltration route. He pulled out the spool of ’Widow-Maker’ mono-wire.

Carefully wearing a pair of thick leather gloves, he strung the nearly invisible wire across the gap at exactly neck-height.

"If they move as fast as that assassin did in the cave," Donald muttered, securing the wire to a heavy steel pillar, "they’ll decapitate themselves before they even realize the wire is there."

Next, he looked up at the rafters. The red structural markers showed that the heavy steel beams directly above the main entrance were severely rusted. He planted the four ’Scorched-Earth’ Arc-Mines onto the support joints.

If the assassins triggered the mines, the B-Rank electrical storm wouldn’t just fry them—it would blow the rusted supports completely, bringing tons of heavy tin and steel crashing down on their heads.

Finally, he placed the ’Solar-Flare’ UV charges. He didn’t put them on the floor. He used his Valuation Eye to find the darkest, deepest shadows in the warehouse—the exact places a stealth-based vampire would naturally gravitate toward for cover. He hid the charges in the blind spots, linking them to a remote detonator synced to his System interface.

It took him forty-five minutes to rig the entire warehouse. By the time he was finished, the upper level was a flawless, invisible web of absolute death.

Satisfied, Donald climbed back down the concrete ramp and sealed the heavy blast doors behind him.

As the heavy locks clanked shut, the door to the small industrial bathroom finally clicked open.

Donald turned around, and his breath instantly caught in his throat.

Evelyn stepped out into the dim light of the bunker. The B-Rank Obsidian Vanguard suit fit her flawlessly. It wasn’t the bulky, ugly iron armor worn by the Toll Collectors. It was a sleek, matte-black bodysuit made of reinforced spider-silk and dark-steel micro-mesh.

The material hugged every single curve of her athletic, mature figure perfectly, yet it looked incredibly durable and dangerous. High-density kinetic plating protected her shoulders, chest, and thighs, while leaving her joints completely free for maximum mobility.

She had strapped the Bloodhound’s Fang to a magnetic lock on her hip. Her dark hair was neatly braided back, keeping it out of her face.

She didn’t just look like a beautiful woman anymore. She looked like an apex predator.

"The fit is perfect," Evelyn said, her voice smooth and professional, though a faint hint of pink still lingered on her cheeks from their earlier encounter. She rolled her shoulders, testing the flexibility of the dark-steel mesh. "It’s lightweight, but the mana conductivity is incredible. My aura flows right through the fabric. It’s easily the best armor I’ve ever worn."

She looked up, catching Donald staring.

Donald quickly coughed, forcing his eyes up to her face. "G-Good. Glad it fits. It looks... highly tactical."

Evelyn offered a small, knowing smirk, but mercifully didn’t tease him. "What were you doing up there? I heard the blast doors open."

"Traps," Donald said, stepping over to the terminal. He tapped a few keys, bringing up a live holographic wireframe of the warehouse above them. The hologram was dotted with red, blue, and yellow blinking lights.

Evelyn walked over to the terminal, standing close beside him. The bunker’s damp air was replaced by her clean scent. Donald’s [Compound Interest] passive immediately hummed to life in his chest, boosting his stats simply because she was near.

Evelyn leaned forward, studying the holographic map. Her blue eyes widened as she read the trap designations.

"Mono-wire chokepoints? Arc-Mines on the structural supports? UV-Flashbangs hidden in the shadows?" Evelyn traced a finger over the perfect, lethal geometry of his trap network. She looked at Donald in pure astonishment. "You rigged the entire surface level. Wow, You didn’t just block the doors; you turned the warehouse into total a kill-box."

"Vampires are fast, and they regenerate," Donald explained, his voice turning deadly serious. "I tried to predict their foot traffic based on the layout. If they rush us, they hit the wire. If they try to hide in the shadows, I trigger the sun. If they cluster together, I bring the roof down on them."

Evelyn stared at the young man standing next to her. He was completely calm. He had orchestrated a military-grade defensive perimeter with the cold, calculating precision of a veteran commander.

"You really are terrifying when you spend money, my little Investor," Evelyn murmured, a fierce, deeply impressed smile crossing her lips.

Donald met her gaze, the awkwardness of the bathroom incident completely fading away, replaced by the heavy, shared adrenaline of impending battle.

"Let them come," Donald said quietly. "We’re ready."