The station was louder than Jin remembered.
Not in a chaotic way—just alive. Busy. Echoes of training calls from the courtyard, the low hum of power conduits running through reinforced walls, and the clatter of weapons being checked and rechecked by patrols that passed every few minutes. System lights flickered above hallways made from salvaged steel and scavenged architecture, now reinforced with glowing glyphs and defense modules.
It felt like a real stronghold.
Not just a place to survive.
A place to push forward.
Jin walked just behind Ryu, the rest of his group fanned out loosely behind him. Seul kept her eyes sharp on every corner, her boots silent on the worn concrete. Joon craned his neck at the massive plasma-core generator embedded into the left wall like a trophy, whistling under his breath.
"I see you've been busy," Joon said, brushing ash off a rail as they passed a side corridor. "You installed a whole lot of interesting stuff while we were gone."
