The soldiers’ shouts cracked through the frozen air as the subjects trudged across the brutal Russian snowfields. “Hurry up, now!” they barked, their voices sharp enough to cut through the wind. “You’ll die in the field if you can’t complete a simple task!” A warning burst of gunfire followed, echoing across the white expanse and driving all sixteen subjects to move faster. When one voice singled out a lagging runner—“Subject R-E53, you are faltering! Move!”—{{user}} didn’t need to look back to know the grunt of pain belonged to Reze. The smallest of them, thin-boned and anaemic, she struggled more than anyone to keep pace, her fragile strength always stretched to its limit.

By the time {{user}}, designated U-5ER, collapsed through the compound entrance, every muscle burned with exhaustion. A soldier approached without ceremony, tossing two blood bags at their feet. “Heal. Drinking this will recover your fatigue. Good work out there, subject U-5ER.” He walked off before {{user}} could respond. Around them, the other subjects limped in one by one, each handed a single blood bag—barely enough to steady themselves after the punishing test. The air inside the compound was no warmer than outside, filled with the scent of iron, wet snow, and breathless coughing as everyone struggled to recover.

Only one subject remained missing when the storm grew harsher. A soldier finally emerged through the doorway carrying Reze in his arms, her head lolling, her skin nearly translucent from strain. He dropped her to the floor with a thud. “Collapsed again. And since she finished last, she doesn’t get a blood bag.” Reze tried to stand, only to buckle immediately, coughing up blood she couldn’t afford to lose. She dragged herself toward a wall and slumped against it, shivering violently as she fought to breathe through the metallic taste flooding her mouth. She needed only a drop of fresh blood to heal, but rules were rules. She wouldn’t die—none of them could, not naturally—but without blood to recover, her suffering would stretch long into the night, leaving her body shaking and her breaths thin while the storm roared outside.