Player 0: Foundation of a Fallen World
Chapter 10 — The Ones Who Have to Make It to Midnight
The emergency announcement had gone silent.
But no one on the fourth floor went back to the way they were before.
People began closing the curtains and blocking the shattered windows with beds and cabinets. Those who could still walk worked together to drag things around, while the injured were moved into rooms farther inside.
Phod watched everything from his bed.
Then he looked at the system window again.
[Foundation Quest]
Survivors in the area: 46
Time remaining: 04:32:11
Condition: At least 30 survivors must remain until 00:00.
He frowned.
Forty-six.
There had been forty-seven at the start.
One person had died.
So the system really was counting only this floor.
Phod glanced at the people along the corridor.
Sixteen people.
That was how many they could “afford to lose.”
The thought instantly made him disgusted with himself.
Afford to lose? What the hell was he thinking?
These were people.
But the system didn’t care about names.
It cared only about the number.
Bow walked back over to him.
“What kind of math are you doing with that face?”
“There are forty-six people here.”
“And?”
“The system says at least thirty have to be left by midnight.”
Bow went still.
“What if there are twenty-nine?”
“Quest failed.”
“And will anything happen to you?”
“No penalty.”
“Then that’s good.”
Phod looked at her.
“The world will punish us instead.”
Bow sighed.
“Your system talks like a smart-ass.”
“I’m starting to wonder if it picked the right owner.”
“Agreed.”
Dr. Kanchana walked up just in time to hear that.
“If you’ve still got the energy to argue, you’re doing better.”
Phod turned to her. “Doctor, how many seriously injured people are there on this floor?”
“Seven who are genuinely concerning.”
“Are any of them at risk of dying tonight?”
The doctor didn’t answer immediately.
She looked him over, assessing him.
“Three.”
Phod fell silent.
Even if no more monsters showed up,
the number could still drop on its own.
“Why?”
“One has internal bleeding. One has heart problems after the Selection. The other has lung damage from the restructuring.”
“Can they be treated?”
“If we had all the equipment, enough blood, a full team, and no walking dead in the hospital.”
“So, basically?”
“I don’t know.”
Phod nodded.
He liked that answer better than “we’ll have to wait and see.”
At least it was honest.
A system window appeared whenever he looked at the patients one by one.
[Internal bleeding]
[Chance of deterioration within 2–4 hours: High]
The next one:
[Myocardial damage from the Selection]
[Unstable condition]
And the last:
[Lung tissue transformation]
[Cause: Unknown]
Phod stopped at the last patient.
Unknown again.
The patient was a man around fifty, lying there and breathing heavily. Gray-black lines spread across the skin of his neck like tree roots.
“Doctor.”
“What?”
“What ability did this man get during the Selection?”
Kanchana turned and called for a nurse.
A few minutes later, they had an answer.
“Mist Control.”
Phod looked again.
More data appeared.
[Innate ability: Mist Breath]
[Damage caused by ability backflow into tissue]
[Preliminary cause: Excessive energy retention inside the lungs]
Phod raised an eyebrow.
“This isn’t caused by the Selection alone.”
The doctor turned to him. “Meaning?”
“His ability is hurting him.”
The man opened his eyes.
“I...haven’t used it at all.”
Phod paused.
“Since you got it?”
“I was afraid to.”
There was the problem.
He looked over the data again.
[Ability requires natural release]
[Accumulation beyond the limit causes tissue damage]
“Sir.”
“Yes...”
“Try exhaling slowly and at length.”
Dr. Kanchana frowned. “Are you sure?”
“Not completely.”
“What percentage?”
“Enough to try with a doctor standing beside him.”
Kanchana was silent for a moment, then nodded.
The man tried to draw a breath.
Then he slowly blew it out.
At first, nothing happened.
Then a thin white mist flowed from his mouth.
The people nearby instinctively backed away.
“Keep going.”
He exhaled again.
The mist grew thicker.
The black lines on his neck began to fade.
[Energy pressure inside the lungs decreasing]
[Tissue condition slightly improved]
Phod watched intently.
“That’s enough.”
The man stopped gasping.
His expression visibly improved.
Dr. Kanchana listened to his lungs.
Then she looked up at Phod.
“He really is better.”
The man’s eyes filled with tears.
“I thought this power was killing me.”
Phod answered flatly.
“It almost did.”
The man’s face fell.
Phod quickly added, “But now we know how to keep it from killing you.”
The man let out a dry laugh.
“Thanks.”
The window above him changed.
[Proficiency: 0% → 1%]
[Basic energy release discovered]
Phod stared at it for a long time.
That made four people now.
It wasn’t just the fighters.
Some abilities could kill you even if you sat perfectly still, if you didn’t understand them.
So being an Awakened who had successfully completed the Selection didn’t mean you were safe.
The system gave people powers,
but it didn’t give them the whole instruction manual.
A voice came from the end of the corridor.
“Doctor!”
A staff member came running.
“The backup water on this floor will only last a few more hours. The main pump isn’t working.”
“What about the electricity?”
“The generator’s still running, but we don’t know how long it’ll last.”
That answer made the people nearby start whispering.
“The water’s going to run out?”
“What about the ventilators?”
“What do we do if the power goes out again?”
Phod looked at the system.
Forty-six people.
Even if they killed every monster—
if the water ran out, people would die. If the power went out, people would die. If there wasn’t enough medicine, people would die.
This wasn’t a game where the only problem was having enemies to hit.
It was about keeping an area “livable.”
His father’s voice came from beside the bed.
“What are you thinking about?”
Phod looked at him.
“Dad.”
“What?”
“We need to figure out what this floor has left before anything else.”
“What kind of things?”
“Water, food, medicine, batteries, people with powers, and people who know how to do things.”
His father nodded slowly.
“Like making an inventory.”
“Pretty much.”
Bow laughed.
“The world ends on day one, and you’re already opening a store?”
Phod turned to look at her.
“If we don’t keep an inventory, the store will go under before the ghosts eat us.”
Kanchana spoke up.
“I’ll handle the medicine and the patients.”
The security guard, who had just finished bandaging his wound, walked over.
“I’ll check the entrances and exits, along with everyone who can still walk.”
Thanwa raised his hand.
“I’ll check...the electricity?”
Everyone turned to look at him.
Thanwa hurried to correct himself.
“I mean the people with powers. I won’t burn anything anymore.”
Bow nodded.
“Improvement.”
Phod looked at each of them in turn.
No one had appointed him leader.
No one had said the word team.
But each person was beginning to take on a role of their own.
A system window appeared silently in front of him.
[Basic resource allocation detected]
[Cooperative structure detected]
[Some Foundation conditions fulfilled]
Phod stared at the message.
Foundation...
For the first time, he was beginning to understand the word.
Maybe it didn’t mean his power at all.
Maybe it meant—
making a group of people survive together.
Suddenly, static crackled from the security guard’s radio.
“Fourth floor... do you copy...”
Everyone turned toward it.
The voice on the other end was very faint.
“This is the emergency room on the first floor...”
Sobbing broke through the transmission.
“We have twelve survivors.”
There was a brief pause.
“Please help us.”