Day 12 was louder.
Not because zombies were inside.
Because people were.
The base was running out of patience. And when patience runs out, fights start over anything.
The crash from yesterday came from the armory lane. Someone tried to steal ammo. A soldier broke a man's nose. Then the man's friends came back with pipes.
Zhao Qingshan had stopped it before it became a riot, but the armory lane stayed tense.
Lan Huan took He Li and He Chenyu to check the fence rotations. Luo Yan stayed back to cook and to keep the new recruits from drifting away. That was his job now too, even if nobody said it.
Bai Ling sat on a crate and watched Luo Yan stir the pot like she was judging him.
"You're always cooking," she said.
Luo Yan didn't look up. "You're always cold," he said.
Bai Ling's eyes narrowed. "You're mouthy."
Luo Yan shrugged. "You started it."
Feng Yue sat nearby with her clipboard, writing. Nobody had officially asked her to do it. She did it anyway. It made the lane feel less random.
Mu Yin and He Chenyu quietly argued about where to store the rice.
Mu Yin said, "Not near fuel."
He Chenyu said, "It's sealed."
Mu Yin said, "So is a coffin."
He Chenyu stared at her. "You're dramatic."
Mu Yin looked at him. "You're boring."
Lu Ziming leaned toward Qin Yi and whispered, "They're flirting."
Qin Yi whispered back, "Nobody asked."
Lu Ziming grinned. "I'm asking."
Qin Yi shut his eyes. "I hate you."
Lu Ziming's grin softened. "No you don't."
Qin Yi opened one eye. "Yes I do."
Lu Ziming laughed and looked pleased with himself.
Then He Li came back early, face tight.
"Sir," he said to Lan Huan, "armory lane is about to blow up again."
Lan Huan's jaw tightened. "Why."
He Li said, "Someone is making weapons without permission."
Bai Ling scoffed. "Good."
Lan Huan ignored her and stood. "We go."
They moved to armory.
The lane smelled like oil and hot metal. Soldiers stood around a container marked ARMORY with rifles raised. They weren't firing, but they were tense.
Zhao Qingshan stood in the center, face hard.
Across from him stood a man in a clean, neat shirt under a dirty jacket. His hair was tied back. His posture was straight, like he hated sloppiness.
He held a strip of metal in one hand.
It was glowing faintly red at the edge.
Heat.
Fire.
His other hand shaped it, slow and precise, as if he was folding it with invisible fingers.
Metal.
Dual.
Luo Yan's stomach tightened.
This was Gu Jinghe.
Zhao snapped, "You don't touch my armory without orders."
The man answered, calm. "Your armory is chaos," he said. "You're handing out bullets like candy and calling it structure."
Zhao's eyes flashed. "Who are you to judge my base?"
The man didn't blink. "Someone who doesn't want to die because you ration wrong," he said.
Zhao lifted his hand. A dozen metal shards hovered around his wrist. "You think you're special because you can heat metal?"
The man's voice stayed even. "I think you're wasting resources," he said.
Lan Huan stepped in.
Zhao's eyes snapped to him. "General," he barked, "tell your people to stop collecting trouble!"
Lan Huan didn't look at Zhao. He looked at the man with the glowing metal strip.
"Name," Lan Huan said.
The man's eyes flicked to Lan Huan's insignia. Then to Lan Huan's face. Calm assessment.
"Gu Jinghe," he said.
Lan Huan nodded once. "Element."
Gu Jinghe's mouth tightened. "Fire," he said. "And metal."
Zhao scoffed. "Dual," he muttered like it tasted bad.
Gu Jinghe looked at Zhao. "Not all duals are rare," he said. "Just unpopular."
Bai Ling snorted. "I like him."
Feng Yue, behind them, said quietly, "He's useful."
Lan Huan said, "Join my unit."
Gu Jinghe stared at him. "Why."
Lan Huan's voice stayed flat. "Because you're making weapons in my base and Zhao is going to shoot you for it," he said. "I don't want to lose a useful person to pride."
Zhao barked, "Pride?"
Gu Jinghe looked at Lan Huan. "Your unit is the dragon unit," he said. "Everyone knows."
Lan Huan didn't deny it. "Yes."
Gu Jinghe's eyes slid to Luo Yan. "And Void," he said. "So this is a collection of trouble."
Luo Yan kept his face blank.
Gu Jinghe looked back at Lan Huan. "If I join," he said, "I don't take orders from idiots."
Zhao's face went red. "You little—"
Lan Huan cut in. "You take orders from me," he said. "If you can't, leave."
Gu Jinghe stared at him for a long beat.
Then he looked at the armory lane. At the soldiers. At Zhao's tight control. At the base that was falling apart.
He exhaled once. "Fine," he said. "I'll join."
Zhao looked like he wanted to argue. Then he just said, through clenched teeth, "Get him out of my armory."
Lan Huan nodded. "Done."
Luo Yan's system chimed in his head. Private.
Ding.
DAY 12 MISSION UPDATE: CORE SQUAD BUILD (6/10)
New Teammate: GU JINGHE (Fire + Metal)
Reward pending.
As they turned to leave, Gu Jinghe's gaze caught on He Li.
He Li was standing slightly apart, light bending faintly around him without him trying.
Gu Jinghe's eyes narrowed a little. "Light," he said.
He Li didn't answer.
Gu Jinghe's mouth twitched. "Useful," he said, like he was thinking out loud.
He Li's face stayed flat. "Don't start."
Gu Jinghe's eyes stayed on him. "I didn't," he said.
Bai Ling muttered to Luo Yan, "They're going to be a problem."
Luo Yan whispered back, "We collect problems."
Bai Ling huffed. "True."
Before they could get back to the container lane, the gate horn sounded again.
Long.
Warning.
Zhao Qingshan's face tightened. "He's back," he said.
And outside the base, beyond the gate, a calm voice carried through metal.
"General Lan," Zhou Qinsong called. "I brought you medicine today."
Lan Huan went still.
Because medicine wasn't a gift.
It was bait.