Chapter 92: The Evac Desk

"Keep the blue ribbon manifests on the left clipboard, Jolly, and double-check the family numbers."

Sefu stood behind the intake counter of the District One reception center, his heavy leather coat unbuttoned over a blue logistics brassard.

"I have twenty-two children accounted for on bus seven, Sefu, all with matching municipal tags."

"Good girl, stamp the green slip and send them to dormitory block C."

"What about this elderly man with the wooden leg?" Jolly asked, pointing to a pencil notation on line fourteen.

"He gets assigned to the ground-floor annex in block A so he doesn’t have to navigate the stairwells," Sefu instructed with gruff efficiency.

Beside Jolly, Nim knelt by a weeping beast-folk woman who clutched two small kittens in her wrapped shawl.

"They won’t take your baskets," Nim said softly in the low, rhythmic dialect of the southern river hills. "The soldiers here belong to the Iron Dogs... they are under orders to keep families together."

The woman looked up into Nim’s amber eyes, her trembling shoulders gradually relaxing as she accepted a cup of warm barley tea.

"No collars?" the woman whispered, her ears trembling beneath her worn hood.

"Zero collars," Nim answered with quiet certainty. "Only warm food and dry wool blankets."

"And my brothers coming on the afternoon train?"

"They will be directed to the same sector dormitory once their manifests clear the desk," Nim assured her, patting her hand gently.

"You have a good touch with the families, Nim," Sefu noted, nodding approvingly as the woman was guided toward the heated barracks.

"Fear makes people clumsy, Sefu," Nim replied quietly. "When someone speaks your mother’s tongue, the knot in your chest loosens."

"How many supply trucks arrived from the agricultural co-op, Jolly?"

"Six flatbed wagons loaded with sacks of potatoes and dried beans," Jolly reported, checking off another inventory box.

"Have the Iron Dog porters unload them into warehouse two, keep the flour off the damp concrete."

"Already assigned, Sefu... Jax took eight men to stack the pallets."

"That is good organization, little sister... keep this pace and we will clear the entire southern district before the weekend."

From his vantage point by the communications desk, the intake line moved with steady, unhurried discipline.

[ Certified Rank C Hunter ]

[ Attributes: Str 120 | Agi 128 (Overclock: 384) | End 120 | Sense 84 | Pulse 10 ]

[ Current EXP: 22,500,000 / 250,000,000 ]

The emergency radio on Maya’s portable workbench crackled with high-priority static.

"Fin, this is perimeter post four on the southern drainage canal."

"Report, sentry."

"We have an anomalous bio-signature swimming up the shallow culvert toward the bus depot."

"Is it a stray construct or an advance scout?"

"Amphibious crawler, roughly eight feet long... moving fast through three feet of brackish tide water."

"Ruby, grab your shield."

"Already on my arm, kid, let’s go fish it out before it reaches the bus tires."

"Nila, take the secondary side gate and cut off its retreat if it doubles back toward the river."

"Moving into flanking position now, Fin."

They jogged out of the reception hangar into the heavy coastal fog, their boots splashing through puddles along the canal embankment.

The concrete culvert was choked with dark, foaming sea foam, bubbling with green phosphorescent slime.

"Look at the ripple along the center channel, Fin."

A sleek, spiny reptilian monstrosity surfaced forty paces ahead, its dorsal ridge lined with rows of flexible aquatic quills.

"D-plus abyssal trench scout," Fin said, drawing his hatchet.

"Look at its collar seam, Fin... there is a synthetic radio transmitter bolted to its skull plate!"

"Genesis is using bio-beasts as living radio repeaters to map our evacuation corridors."

"Recover the transmitter before you harvest the core, Fin... if the core dissolves first, the feedback might fry the electronics."

"Understood, Nila... cover the culvert rim in case it tries to scramble up the bank."

"Rapier ready, taking high ground!"

The crawler hissed, its webbed claws digging deep furrows into the muddy canal bank as it lunged forward with blinding speed.

"Ruby, plant and anchor!"

"Right here, you slimy lizard!"

Ruby drove her composite shield into the mud, catching the crawler’s snapping snout on the central reinforced boss with a wet, ringing boom.

His boots surged through the knee-deep water, the cold spray lashing across his shins.

"Apex Gaze!"

[ Class Skill: Apex Gaze Triggered ]

[ Mana Cost: 10/40 → Current Mana: 30/40 ]

[ Target: Abyssal Trench Scout (Rank D+) ]

[ Psychic Disruption: 3 Seconds Interruption ]

The beast’s webbed feet slipped beneath it as its predatory focus shattered, throwing its long neck sideways across the mud bank.

Fin stepped onto its flank, unscrewing the mounting bolts of the synthetic transmitter with two swift twists of his tactical pliers.

The rectangular polymer device popped free into Fin’s left palm, completely intact and humming with a live radio carrier signal.

"Transmitter secured!"

"Finish it, Fin, before the stun wears off!"

Fin reversed his grip on the hatchet, driving the hardened steel spike straight through the base of the crawler’s dorsal skull.

The creature shuddered violently once before collapsing limp into the canal muck, its greenish blood washing away in the brackish current.

[ Combat Milestone: Abyssal Trench Scout Neutralized ]

[ Contraband Military Hardware Intercepted ]

[ EXP: +300,000 ]

[ Total EXP: 22,800,000 / 250,000,000 ]

Three hundred thousand experience points flowed into Fin’s core, solidifying the progress bar at twenty-two point eight million.

[ Extraction Opportunity Detected: Trench Scout Marrow ]

[ Predator’s Claim Active: Target Selection Verified ]

[ Available Passive: Depth Hydro-Locomotion ]

[ Effect: Enhances sprint and maneuver speed in shallow water and muddy terrain ]

[ Constraint: Does not grant underwater breathing, gill function, or deep diving capacity ]

[ Harvest Passive? Y/N ]

"Fin, are you harvesting a trait?"

"Taking Depth Hydro-Locomotion, Ruby."

"What does it do?"

"Cuts water drag by half when wading through shallows or marshes."

"Does it let you breathe underwater?"

"Zero underwater breathing, strictly shallow footing and movement speed."

Fin placed his palm against the beast’s damp spine and confirmed the selection prompt.

[ Passive Acquired: Depth Hydro-Locomotion ]

[ Source Depleted: Core Dissolved ]

A strange, fluid coolness spread through the muscles of his calves, and when Fin took a step through the knee-deep canal water, the current parted around his boots with almost zero resistance.

"How does the water feel now?"

"Like walking through damp air instead of heavy syrup."

"Good, because the tide is coming in fast along the outer seawall."

Maya jogged down the canal embankment, taking the black polymer transmitter and plugging her diagnostic probe into the data port.

"Frequency is locked to five-twelve point four megahertz, Fin."

"Where is the receiving garrison?"

"Signal is bouncing off a military microwave dish installed on the old coastal artillery redoubt at Fort Mercer."

"Fort Mercer was decommissioned ten years ago," Ruby said, her brow furrowing as she leaned against her spear.

"What was its original purpose, Ruby?"

"Heavy coastal defense battery overlooking the southern seawall," Ruby explained. "It has three subterranean magazine bunkers and a panoramic view of the entire harbor entrance."

"If Genesis has an active surveillance garrison inside Fort Mercer, they can direct artillery strikes directly into our evacuation corridors."

"We bring the coordinates to the defense command immediately," Fin said, wiping the hatchet blade clean with an oily rag.

"And we make sure regional command signs a combat authorization before nightfall," Nila added.

"Can we move through the coastal marshes with that new passive of yours, Fin?" Ruby asked, gesturing to the mud flats stretching toward Fort Mercer.

"The mud barely clings to my soles," Fin replied, taking three swift strides across the sucking clay with effortless balance.

"Looks like walking on hard asphalt," Ruby grunted with approval. "That will give us a massive tactical edge if we have to storm the redoubt during low tide."

"That is the plan, Ruby... we hit them while their gun barrels are pointed out to sea."

"Agreed, let’s get back to the desk... Sefu and the girls have a thousand more manifests to clear."

The fog swirled thick across the salt marsh, but the path ahead was clear, firm, and ready beneath his feet.