The rain had not slackened in three days.
Kael Zhou lay on his back on his narrow dormitory bed, tracing the lines of the cracks in the ceiling plaster with his eyes. The Beijing University dorm smelled of wet socks and mold, the air so damp he could taste it on his tongue. Outside, the storm assaulted the windows again, rattling the glass in the panes.
His phone vibrated for the twelfth time that hour.
*"All classes canceled until further notice due to weather event. Stay indoors."*
Kael slammed the device onto his desk, where it clattered against half-assembled robotics components. "Weather event." It was a joke. First it was "unseasonable precipitation," then "atmospheric anomalies." The administration wouldn't quit changing the words like new words could contain whatever was happening to the world.
A drop of water landed on his forehead.
"Perfect."
He wiped it off and sat up, the springs beneath his thin mattress squealing in protest. The ceiling leak was back, despite maintenance's promise to fix it last week. Now it was dripping in perfect rhythm—*drip. drip. drip*—onto his thermodynamics textbook.
Something brushed against the back of his head.
Not the moisture. Not the glaring fluorescent lights that had been malfunctioning all week. This was something else. The air itself was electric, like that moment before the lightning strikes but impossibly prolonged. Kael's skin crawled with static, the fine hairs on his arms quivering at attention.
Then the initial tremor hit.
The bed lurched sideways viciously. Kael barely caught himself when his desk chair tipped over, mechanical pencils and stress balls rolling in all directions across the floor. The walls groaned and creaked like a living thing, the sound resonating through his bones.
"Shit—"
A second shock threw him to his knees. Glass shattered somewhere down the hall. The fire alarm wailed, then stopped just as suddenly when power went out with a faint groan.
Then the nausea struck.
It hit with the impact of a sucker punch to the solar plexus. Kael's sight blurred with fractal patterns—equations dissolving and resolving at the edge of perception. His ears rang with a note that vibrated his teeth. For three terrible seconds, reality itself stuttered.
By the time the world refocused, the rain outside his window hung motionless.
Each drop of water frozen in midair, sparkling like diamonds in suspension.
The silence was deafening.
Then—
[System Initialization Complete]
[Welcome to the Darwin Protocol]
The words seared themselves into Kael's field of vision in neon-blue lettering that throbbed like a living organism. Additional lines flashed by in quick succession:
[Kael Zhou - Baseline Assessment]
Level: 0
Strength: 11 (Human Baseline: 10)
Dexterity: 13 (Human Baseline: 10)
Intelligence: 15 (Human Baseline: 10)
Constitution: 10
Adaptability: ??
System Affinity: Aerokinesis (Rare)
Kael's breath caught in his throat. The air around him resonated in sympathy, whirlpools swirling around his fingers like restless pets. He exhaled sharply, and the wind carried his breath further than physics had any right to—a visible ripple in the motionless air.
Then time resumed with a fury.
The suspended rain descended in a single loud thunderous deluge. His dormitory door burst open with sufficient force to crack the frame.
Chen filled the doorway—or what had formerly been Chen.
His roommate's head hung at an unnatural angle, black veins spiderwebbing across grayish skin. His mouth opened too wide, teeth elongated into jagged points. A wet, guttural noise issued from his throat, more beast than man.
"Chen.?" Kael's own voice sounded odd in his ears.
The creature sprang.
Kael responded on reflex. He lifted his hands and the air obeyed, shrieking forward in a concentrated blast. The force threw Chen into the bunk bed hard enough to splinter wood. The creature's head snapped back with a wet *crack* against the metal frame.
[Wind Pulse: Basic - Acquired]
[First Blood: +50 XP]
[Level Up!]
A tendril of silver light seeped from Chen's writhing body into Kael's chest. The shock was thrilling—like caffeine injected into his bloodstream, his nerve endings aflame with new energy.
He had no opportunity to process the occurrence before a shadow crossed the broken window.
A dragonfly the size of a dinner plate hovered outside, iridescent wings buzzing too fast to see. The insect's compound eyes locked on him with unsettling intelligence, needle-like mouthparts clicking with anticipation.
It struck like a bullet.
Kael barely had time to turn away, the wind of its passing burning his cheek. The creature banking sharply in mid-air, wings humming with unnatural precision. This time Kael was ready.
He drew a deep breath and *pushed*.
Air exploded outward in a concussive blast. The dragonfly slammed into the other wall hard enough to crack plaster. Kael maintained the pressure, sweat-beads welling up on his forehead as he compelled the wind to hold the creature fast against the wall. The buzzing increased in volume, then ceased with the nauseating *crunch* of chitin giving way.
A further wisp. A further warning.
[Combat Assessment: Tactical Adaptation +3%]
[Dexterity +1 (Adaptive Growth)]
Kael looked at his trembling hands. The warm air still hummed around them, poised and waiting. Down the hall further, more screams—human and not so human.
He moved quickly, grabbing his backpack from the ground. Protein bars, half a water bottle, his multi-tool—all into the main compartment. His fingers brushed against something metallic in Chen's pocket—the dorm master key.
A crash sounded in the hallway. Nearer now.
Kael shouldered the pack and stepped into the blood-stained hall. The emergency lights cast a reddish hellish glow over everything. At the far end, something crouched over something else—no, *someone* else—its shoulders working in a jerking rhythm. The tearing of wet flesh sounds echoed off the tile walls.
The creature's head snapped up at Kael's movement. Its chin was bloody as it sniffed the air. Then it charged.
Kael raised his hands, but the wind responded sluggishly now—fatigue setting in. The creature covered half the distance before he could summon another blast, which slammed it into a fire extinguisher on the wall. The metal cylinder crashed to the floor.
A idea struck.
Kael grabbed the extinguisher, yanking out the pin with his teeth as the creature regained its feet. As it attacked once more, he squeezed the lever and swung.
White foam erupted, blinding the creature. It shrieked, clawing at its eyes. Kael bashed the metal canister into its head with all his strength. Once. Twice. Until the creature didn't move.
No wisp this time. Only a message:
[Improvised Weapon Proficiency +5%]
Panting, Kael moved down the hall. The door to the stairwell was open, dark smears on the push bar. Sounds of fighting drifted up from below—grunts, thuds, then nothing.
As he swung through the doorway, one last message seared across his vision:
[Survivors Remaining: 19%]
[Next Evolution Wave in: 23:58:37]
Kael Zhou fell into the storm, the wind curling around him like a loyal hound.
The rules had changed.
Time to learn how to break them.