Chapter 31: A Step Ahead!

The platform was even darker than the station above.

Broken concrete, twisted metal, and scattered debris littered the tracks. Among them lay countless unidentified bones, their surfaces stained black by dried blood and years of decay.

Several subway trains sat derailed on the rails, their carriages leaning at unnatural angles. Some of their doors hung wide open, revealing interiors swallowed by darkness, where indistinct shadows seemed to shift ever so slightly.

From this point onward... The dungeon revealed its true fangs. The monsters became stronger. The traps became deadlier, and a single mistake could cost a player’s life.

The seemingly ordinary stretch of floor ahead concealed a pressure-sensitive trap. The tiles were only a shade darker than the surrounding concrete, but stepping on them would unleash rows of steel spikes capable of impaling an unsuspecting player.

The rusted pipes hanging overhead looked unstable enough to collapse on their own, yet they were actually pressure-triggered mechanisms. Depending on which one was activated, they could drop heavy debris or flood the area with corrosive gas.

Hidden among the shadows were crude alarm devices. Trigger one and another wave of monsters would descend upon the unfortunate intruder.

Every one of these hazards had been uncovered in his previous life through blood.

Through sacrifice. Through countless players dying to expose the dungeon’s secrets.

Aiden remembered them all. He moved through the station with effortless precision. Like a world-class parkour athlete.

Like a prophet walking through a future only he had already witnessed.

At one moment, he flattened himself against the wall, slipping past an invisible detection trigger by mere centimeters.

Then next, he made a perfectly measured leap over a subtly discolored section of flooring that concealed sharpened steel spikes.

Moments later, he crouched low and glided beneath a rusted pipe that would have released a cloud of corrosive gas had anyone brushed against it.

Every movement was clean. Every step was deliberate. Every action flowed naturally into the next.

The deadly traps that had claimed countless lives in his previous life might as well have not existed.

To ordinary players, navigating this platform would have been a slow, nerve-racking crawl filled with hesitation and constant mistakes.

To Aiden... It looked more like a perfectly rehearsed performance.

This was no longer simple foresight. His memories had become instinct.

Every danger had already been engraved into his body, allowing him to control both himself and his surroundings with the calm precision expected of a true apex player.

Whenever monsters blocked his path, he refused to waste time in prolonged combat.

Using the surrounding terrain together with [Root Entanglement and his other abilities, he eliminated every obstacle as quickly as possible before continuing deeper into the station.

Most of the enemies here were Level 5 Crazy Passengers.

Twisted by the Game Invasion, they sprinted with unnerving speed, launching themselves at prey with frenzied bites capable of tearing flesh apart.

But roots burst through cracks in the platform, binding the leading Crazy Passenger mid-leap. Aiden stepped forward without slowing, his kitchen flashed across its throat, and the corpse crashed into another charging monster.

None of them managed to delay him for long. After clearing the final group on the platform, Aiden finally shifted his attention toward the derailed subway cars resting silently along the tracks.

His gaze settled on one carriage in particular. According to the memories of his previous life...

A hidden treasure chest was concealed inside. And within that chest rested an item that could provide an enormous advantage during the early stages of the apocalypse.

Aiden stepped carefully into the subway carriage.

The interior was cramped and in complete disarray. Seats had been ripped from their mounts and scattered across the floor, while several skeletons lay where they had fallen, their bones long since stripped clean.

He spared them only a passing glance.

Instead, he walked directly to the ventilation duct connecting the two carriages. Gripping the rusted grille, he pulled.

CLANG!

The metal cover came loose.

Hidden within the ventilation shaft sat a small treasure chest radiating a soft white glow.

[You have discovered a Common Supply Box.]

Aiden opened it without hesitation. Inside were two rewards.

[Minor Health Potion ×3]

[Restores 150 HP over 15 seconds after consumption.]

(Healing is reduced by 50% while in combat.)

[Rough Whetstone ×2]

[Temporarily increases the attack power of one common-grade weapon by 2 for 30 minutes.]

"Not bad." Aiden nodded in satisfaction before storing both items inside his inventory.

The health potions could save his life in a critical moment, while the whetstones would further sharpen his fruit knife, making the upcoming battles considerably easier.

Just as he closed the treasure chest and prepared to leave, something caught the corner of his eye.

A faint metallic glint. It came from the wrist of an inconspicuous skeleton lying in the corner of the carriage. His expression shifted.

He walked over and crouched beside it. Wrapped around the skeleton’s wrist was a heavily rusted iron bracelet.

It looked utterly worthless. Most players would have ignored it without a second thought.

But Aiden’s memories stirred. In his previous life, someone had discovered this seemingly useless bracelet by pure chance.

Only much later had they learned that it concealed a hidden secret.

Without hesitation, Aiden pried it free. A system notification appeared immediately.

[Rusted Iron Bracelet]

[Quality: Common grade]

[Equipment Requirement: None]

[Attributes: None]

[Special Effect: ??? (Hidden. Requires a special activation method.)]

[Durability: 1/1 (On the verge of breaking.)]

’As expected.’ A faint smile appeared on Aiden’s face.

The bracelet’s true value couldn’t be revealed through ordinary appraisal.

It required an Engineering consumable known as Rust Remover to strip away the corrosion sealing its hidden attributes.

At this stage of the apocalypse, almost nobody knew that. For him, however, this was an unexpected bonus.

Not only would it provide useful equipment in the future, but it also served as the first stepping stone toward developing his Engineering profession.

Carefully storing the bracelet away, Aiden left the subway carriage.

By now, nearly every monster on the platform level had been eliminated.

His inventory had grown noticeably heavier with materials and miscellaneous loot.

His experience bar had climbed another step. His attributes had increased once again through repeated activations of Sovereign of Souls.

He had become stronger, noticeably stronger.

Everything had gone according to memory. But the real challenge... awaited below.