Rust-Colored Survival: When an Office Drone Falls into a World Full of Mutants

The cola in the convenience store’s freezer was still ice-cold when a blinding flash dragged Lin Ye into an unfamiliar workshop thick with the smell of rust. His cotton T-shirt had become a worn-out uniform, metal shavings clung to the wound in his palm, and a crimson panel appeared out of thin air before his eyes, replacing his identity as an “office drone” with that of a “Contractor.”

This was the Rust Era, where industrial ruins from the old world had become nests for aberrations. Thumb-sized rust worms lurked in gaps between pipes, giant beetles that spat corrosive fluid made the ground tremble with every step, and even the air was polluted with substances that could cause Rust Disease. Survival points had to be earned by scavenging supplies and killing aberrations. With only 3 points of constitution on his status screen, he couldn’t withstand even half a minute of panic.

From hiding in a storage room and listening to the giant beetle’s shell scrape with a dry rustle, to gripping a rusted wrench and smashing his first worm, Lin Ye gradually understood: in this rust-stained wasteland, there were no tricks for slacking off at work. Staying alive was the only KPI. After all, the next corner might hold a supply pack, or a spray of rust capable of melting a person into molten iron.