My Infinite Investment System

"Third click," Jun whispered as his hand killed every light before the tunnel could answer.

Darkness covered the hidden tunnel while the Pathfinder Boots pulsed a return direction beneath his heels.

"Something tracks current," he whispered, keeping one hand against the brick wall.

She closed both fists around the glow on her knuckles and asked, "You learned that from three clicks?"

"The second came from the powered cable, the third came when your light moved."

Ryan held the bitten line away from the water.

Spark Sense opened in the dark and found dozens of weak gold sparks inside the walls, each moving toward electrical charge.

"Wire mites," he said, lowering his voice, "small bodies, metal teeth, pack behavior."

Nia unfolded her shield without activating the core.

"How many?"

"More than the tunnel deserves."

Thousands of tiny legs scratched behind the wet bricks and moved toward the dead cable.

The first mite dropped onto Ryan’s sleeve, a pale insect as long as his thumb with copper mandibles and six needle legs.

He slapped it into the black water before its mandibles reached the stitching.

The small splash brought the entire wall alive with pale bodies and copper teeth.

Hundreds of mites poured from the mortar gaps and covered each side of the narrow passage.

"Back!" Jun called, turning on his recorded path.

Both heels pulsed twice, then the left carried a steady backward rhythm.

Northstar retreated without light.

Nia moved last with her inactive shield scraping the walls, preventing the swarm from reaching the others while metal teeth chewed bright lines across the old frame.

Mika stayed ahead of her and released single sparks into the opposite wall whenever the scratching came too close.

Each spark pulled the mites away for one second.

"Fourteen meters to the panel," Jun said, trusting the boots instead of the darkness.

The floor broke beneath him.

His right leg dropped through flooded brick to the thigh, and the tunnel ceiling answered with a deep crack.

Ryan caught the back of his jacket before the flooded hole could pull him deeper.

Nia drove one shield edge beneath the failing arch before it collapsed.

Stone landed against the inactive frame hard enough to force her onto one knee.

"Move!" she shouted through clenched teeth.

The path behind them had vanished beneath rubble.

Jun pulled free, found his feet, then stood without moving while the haptic bands searched.

One pulse pointed backward into the fresh collapse where their recorded path had ended.

No exit.

His breath stopped as both hands searched the darkness for a wall that no longer existed.

’The boots cannot invent an exit,’ Ryan thought as dust thickened the dark, ’they can only prove he lost one.’

She reached for his shoulder, stopped before touching him, and said, "Tell us what you still have."

Jun swallowed.

"Recorded path to Junction Six is behind the collapse," he said, forcing each word through one breath.

"Anything ahead?" she asked, keeping her hand suspended beside him.

"Unmapped," he replied as the boots searched again.

"Then map it."

The words sounded brutal until he heard the trust inside them.

The scout turned away from the blocked route and faced the dark passage nobody had recorded.

His boots recorded the choice with one firm pulse beneath both heels.

"Nia holds thirty seconds, Ryan stays on my jacket, Mika gives sparks only when I call."

Nobody argued while the shield groaned beneath another shift in the broken ceiling.

He moved deeper with Ryan’s hand fixed on the back of his wet jacket.

The tunnel split after nine careful steps beneath a low arch covered in mineral stains.

Cold airflow touched his left cheek, but water ran toward the right.

He chose left, counted twelve paces, then found iron rungs set inside a vertical shaft.

"Up route."

He tested the lowest rung and said, "Corroded, but attached."

A cluster of wire mites reached the junction behind them and spread across both flooded branches.

"Spark right!" Jun called, already climbing.

She threw one blue thread into the flooded branch and pulled the nearest bodies away.

The swarm followed the current away from the shaft while copper jaws snapped beneath the water.

Ryan climbed after the scout, Mika followed beneath him, and Nia backed toward the rungs with the shield above her shoulder.

The tunnel ceiling collapsed as Nia entered the shaft with her shield above both shoulders.

Broken brick sealed the mites below and cut off the metallic scratching at once.

The impact killed every sound except their breathing and falling dust.

The scout climbed blind with both heels preserving every bend beneath him.

The shaft bent after six meters, narrowed around his shoulders, then ended beneath a circular iron cover.

He pushed.

Nothing moved.

His heels pulsed the entire new route behind him, a physical memory no darkness could erase.

"Locked?" he asked from below.

"Weighted," Jun replied, pressing one shoulder against the iron.

"Can Nia reach it?" Ryan said from the cramped bend below.

"No space," he said, measuring the shaft with one elbow.

Her voice rose through the shaft as she asked, "Can electricity improve the situation?"

Jun found a rusted latch beneath the lid and said, "Only if you want to weld us inside."

"Rude design."

He removed the pencil blade from his sleeve, worked it beneath the latch, then twisted until old metal snapped.

The iron lid lifted two centimeters and allowed one stripe of gray daylight into the shaft.

Rainwater touched his face through the gap and ran across his closed eyelids.

"Outside."

All three people below him released the same breath before he shoved against the iron again.

He shoved again, rolled it aside, and climbed into an alley behind the eastern tram depot.

’Rain means outside,’ Jun thought as cold water struck his face, ’outside means breathe.’

Morning traffic moved beyond the fence.

The hidden route had passed under an entire city block.

Ryan emerged second, followed by Mika, while Nia pushed the heavy cover aside from below with one armored hand.

Nobody had streamed a second of it.

Jun stood in the rain and looked back at the shaft.

His breathing remained fast, but it belonged to the climb rather than the trap.

The system opened beside him.

[Growth achieved: Navigate beyond route loss]

[Investment return generated]

[Reward: Bronze Token]

A bronze disk appeared in Ryan’s palm, warm metal stamped with a branching path.

[Bronze Token]

[Use: Upgrade one E-rank guild contract reward]

The scout could not see it.

He could see him watching and asked, "What?"

"You found a route after losing the route," Ryan said, closing his fingers around the bronze disk.

"That is the job," Jun replied, checking the alley fence.

"Apparently," he said, hiding the reward before the scout noticed.

Jun looked down at the new boots, then across the fence toward the depot entrance.

"The hidden tunnel continues east, the mites came from somewhere with power, and the city map is missing at least one block."

She wrung dirty water from one sleeve and said, "Was that an application update?"

He returned the stolen clipboard from inside his jacket and removed its waterproof route sleeve.

Every page remained dry inside the clear plastic, including the applications he had drawn over.

On top, his own form carried one line written beneath the emergency contact field.

**Jun Park | F-rank scout | available immediately**

Ryan read the application twice before asking, "Why Northstar?"

Jun looked back toward the iron cover and said, "You waited at the door."

"Low standard."

"Three guilds told me panic made me unreliable, one sealed an exit behind me, and another sold the evaluation clip."

His right heel pulsed the full return route to the depot entrance.

’He did not need bravery purchased for him,’ Ryan thought as the signal reached his other foot, ’he needed one promise the dark could not edit.’

Mika folded both arms against the cold and said, "Probation means no stealing, including maps."

"Copies?" Jun asked, touching the waterproof sleeve.

"Ask," Mika replied, holding out one open palm.

"That sounds inefficient," he said, keeping the clipboard against his chest.

"It sounds employed," she replied without lowering her hand.

Nia inspected the dry pages and asked, "Can you follow field commands from somebody else?"

"If they are correct."

"Wrong answer."

He considered the shield still carrying mite scratches and revised, "I can challenge once, then follow."

"Better."

Ryan turned the form over, then wrote a thirty-day probation with equal field shares, independent streaming ownership, plus mandatory consent from anyone captured.

"Northstar owns mission maps created on paid time, you keep public edits and your account, medical or panic footage stays private."

Jun read every clause while rain gathered on the clipboard edge.

"No debt for the boots?" Jun asked, tapping the clause with one dirty nail.

"Still none," Ryan replied, initialing beside the line.

"Then add access to city archives," the scout said, sliding the form back.

"After you stop stealing ours," he replied, returning it across the clipboard.

One brief smile escaped before the hood hid it.

She took the clipboard and asked, "Do you steal from every employer?"

"Only maps."

Ryan held out his hand after the scout initialed every probation clause.

Jun looked at it, checked the alley exit once, then shook.

"Welcome to Northstar."