My Infinite Investment System

The scoring appendix covered half the shared map while another pack hunter struck Nia’s shield.

"Thirty-one alive, eastern extraction is four hundred meters, and family groups double the survival score if they cross together."

She wiped rain from her mouth with the back of one wrist and asked, "You found the rules during the fight?"

"They were attached to the rules we signed yesterday."

"That sentence makes me want to hit paperwork."

The bulwark threw the creature away from the well, rotated her restored shield toward the nearest cottage, and said, "Give us the route."

He marked the bakery, gatehouse, three homes, and a carpenter’s shed across the local display.

"We collect by building, keep families together, then move east behind the wall."

"The eastern road is exposed," she said, following his line beyond the palisade.

"Only from ground level."

She looked up toward the roofs, smiled through the rain, and said, "Oh, that is rude."

Northstar moved before the next pack wave could close around the central well.

Nia led the first cluster along the inside of the wall, keeping six residents behind the wide blue field while pack hunters scratched useless lines across its surface.

Ryan stayed in the middle with the civilian constructs, matching names from the rescue map so nobody crossed without a spouse, parent, or child.

Mika traveled above them across the connected roofs, keeping pace with Nia’s shield below.

She jumped from the bakery awning to a cottage roof and pulled lightning between both hands.

Controlled arcs dropped into every creature that tried climbing over the eastern palisade.

The regulator held her discharge at thirty-eight percent without allowing a single dangerous spike.

No roof caught fire.

’Thirty-eight feels like trying to whisper through a riot,’ she thought while another hunter convulsed against the wall, ’fine, whisper louder.’

They reached the eastern corner with twelve people and no clear exit.

The gatehouse map showed a culvert beneath the road, but a collapsed storage shed covered its entrance.

Ryan pressed his bruised shoulder against the nearest support beam and drove both shoes into the mud.

Nothing moved.

"This is why route analysts should be issued upper-body strength," he muttered, testing a second angle.

The old man from the well shoved beside him with rainwater pouring from his beard and said, "My sons built this shed badly."

"Today that may count as good parenting."

Three adult constructs joined them while Nia absorbed another impact behind the group.

The rotten support beam shifted one inch before several buried nails caught inside the wall.

Before they could lift again, every public screen inside the gate switched to orange.

The official split feed vanished behind a black route map marked **@doorghost** in one corner.

One route pulsed from their position, through the carpenter’s shed, then under the east road.

**Culvert clear after nine meters, two hunters above exit, camera blind for eleven seconds**

She crouched at the roof edge with both hands braced against the wet shingles and said, "Your doxxer is helping."

He stared at the impossible map while its stolen position markers continued updating and said, "That is the live observer grid."

"So your doxxer is stealing while helping."

The chief observer’s voice burst over every channel with enough volume to distort his first word.

"Unauthorized broadcast interference detected, teams continue while officials restore control."

Another orange message appeared beneath the route before officials could restore their own feed.

**you are welcome**

’Doorghost stole a city feed to say you are welcome,’ Ryan thought, ’I have a headache shaped like this person.’

He checked the buried culvert entrance against Spark Sense while rainwater collected around his shoes.

Gold gathered along the same route and ended beyond the eastern road at the extraction marker.

"Use it," he said, bracing his shoulder against the beam again.

The trapped civilians lifted together on his count while the old man shouted encouragement beside him.

Rotten nails tore free, the wall folded outward, and cold water rushed around their boots from a stone channel beneath the shed.

Nia backed into the narrow opening without turning her shield away from the approaching pack.

"Twelve through, then I follow."

"You cannot fit sideways," she called from above.

"Then I remove stone."

The nearest pack hunter struck her blue field again with its divided jaw fully open.

She stepped backward under the impact, planted only long enough to gather force, then drove the shield edge through the culvert frame.

Old masonry split around the blue barrier and showered broken mortar into the flooded passage.

The damaged opening widened enough for her armored shoulders and shield harness to pass through.

[Growth condition nearing completion]

Ryan guided the first family into the dark while orange arrows appeared along the submerged floor.

The stolen map updated faster than the official feed while three new messages appeared beside the culvert route.

**North cottage basement: 4 alive, chapel loft: 6 alive, boss changing direction**

The last message turned red as a low impact shook water from the culvert ceiling.

Above the trees, the official broadcast returned in broken fragments across the gatehouse screen.

Apex had shattered the boss’s front armor and driven both blades deep into its shoulder, but amber light now poured through every plate along its spine.

The stone boar threw Darius through a young pine and sent his barrier spinning into the ferns.

His silver barrier collapsed into sparks before the broad hunter struck the ground.

Luca shouted for a retreat while the wounded creature turned south, following the pack hunters toward the settlement.

"They did not finish it," she said, watching the feed restore itself.

"They removed the armor," he replied, enlarging the exposed amber seam.

"That is almost thoughtful."

The team delivered its first twelve residents across the eastern extraction marker before the boss reached the palisade.

The survival board finally displayed both teams’ points above the crowded extraction zone.

**Northstar: 1,760**

**Apex: 220**

Luca saw the same numbers from the forest road and stopped long enough for his team to pass him.

"The scoring was concealed," he said over the team channel, blood running from one temple, "Northstar accessed restricted information."

He kept counting residents into the safe zone without looking toward the field camera and said, "The formula was Appendix Twelve."

Silence crossed the open channel while rain hissed against the fallen boss armor.

She laughed from the roof and said, "You lost to reading."

The remaining pack scattered when the wounded boss hit the northern wall.

Timbers burst across the settlement while the plated head tore through two cottages, exposing amber light beneath its broken shoulder.

Ten resident markers remained inside the damaged palisade around the chapel and upper basement.

Nia ran toward the northern breach with her tower shield already widening its field.

The old shield frame stayed in front of her, but the new core pushed force through her legs until each stride crossed twice the old distance.

She met the charging boss beside the stone well before its tusks reached the chapel wall.

Instead of bracing, she angled the barrier and ran with the impact.

The creature’s tusk slid across blue force, its huge body turning one degree, then three, then enough to miss the chapel by less than a meter.

Her boots carved twin trenches through the square without stopping.

[Growth achieved: Mobile Anchor]

[Investment return generated]

[Ability acquired: Spark Step]

Gold burst through Ryan’s legs with enough force to rip both shoes from the mud.

The settlement blurred sideways before his balance could follow the sudden movement.

He appeared four meters from where he had been standing and crashed shoulder-first into the bakery wall.

"New ability," he gasped, peeling himself away from wet stone, "poor timing."

"Useful timing," she called as the boss exposed its broken flank.

Nia rotated with the creature, keeping the vulnerable amber seam facing the rooftops.

"Now!"

Mika jumped from the cottage roof with her arms already bright beneath the rain.

Lightning gathered from both arms into one narrow white line while her regulator climbed through forty, fifty, then sixty percent.

She landed on the old well roof, planted her boots, and drove the entire discharge into the exposed shoulder.

The amber seam opened from the creature’s stone neck to the core beneath its heart.

Thunder filled the square.

The boar took one final step before every stone plate throughout its body lost light.

The enormous body collapsed onto the muddy square without touching the chapel or its remaining residents.

For two seconds, rain was the only sound inside the gate.

Then the scoring board updated on every restored screen inside the survival zone.

**Northstar: 3,940**

**Apex: 620**

The remaining residents emerged from the chapel loft and northern basement under Nia’s moving shield.

They delivered all ten across the marker while Apex returned from the forest carrying Darius between them.

The gate ended with thirty-one survivors, one destroyed bakery wall, and the hot-pink **Northstar victory** banner somebody outside had forced across the official feed.

The chief observer appeared beneath it looking personally offended by the color.

"After review of all field actions, survival values, and unauthorized interference that did not alter participant decisions, the result stands."

Mika hooked one arm around Ryan’s neck before he could escape the nearest broadcast camera.

Nia rested the tower shield beside them, its old frame smoking around a perfectly stable blue core.

Across the mud, Luca stared at the final score without finding a camera smile.

The observer raised Northstar’s provisional crest over the extraction field.

"Northstar wins."