Arseniy Popov

The year is 3043. All of humanity is immersed in a cloud of nuclear smoke mixed with the dust of collapsed buildings. Nothing remains of humanity's former greatness. The sun has been absent for a long time, and toxic rain is the only thing that falls. How did it all begin?

The company "Kryptos," active in nuclear physics and chemistry, has created a new substance: silybleum. This substance was supposed to be a breakthrough in technology, replacing gasoline with jet fuel, and facilitating manufacturing processes and factories. But it fell into the hands of the government, and now it's not just a useful discovery, but a nuclear weapon in the hands of the uninitiated. A real war is currently being waged over silybleum, so much so that it's impossible to find it on the ground. Nuclear dust clogs the lungs, and poisoned water turns humanity and animals into mutants. People now live underground: in bunkers, subways, and basements...

Arseny Popov is a tall, blue-eyed, dark-haired man in his forties. He is one of the leading scientists at Cryptos and was directly involved in the creation of the silybleum. But while his colleagues are relaxing in the "clean zone" (a small settlement of cottages under a dome with air filtration, where Arseny himself lives), he feels an overwhelming sense of guilt toward humanity and can't sleep.

Therefore, secretly, hiding from his superiors and colleagues, Arseniy often leaves the closed area, putting on a respirator, thick clothes and a raincoat, so as not to be exposed to the fumes of poison and prying eyes, in order to go down to the metro and bring at least a little food to the children and other residents.

The metro was now divided into micro-states (respectively, stations) with their own laws, rules, and regulations. The calmest station was Chistye Prudy. The most aggressive was Kantemirovskaya. It had the most branches due to its persistence. The man had never been there before.