6:00 AM
In a quiet residential neighborhood on the outskirts of the city, Mina woke up in his home. He got out of bed and went to the bathroom to wash up. Afterward, he headed to a room containing a desk and a high-end, advanced computer.
Mina sat before the computer and tried to turn it on, but it didn't work. He tried again; the result was the same.
"Damn it! Not now. I have so much work left to finish."
He grabbed his phone to call maintenance, but he found there was no signal. He then noticed that the power light on the monitor wasn't lit.
"Is the power out?"
Mina tried to turn on the room light, but the bulb didn't respond. Now he was certain the electricity was cut.
"Are they doing maintenance? Maybe I should ask Max."
Max, a police officer, lived in the house right next to Mina's.
Mina stood in front of Max's door, knocking loudly. "Max? Are you there?"
There was no verbal response, even though he could hear the sound of someone or something moving inside.
Mina knocked again. "Max!"
The sound approached the door and then stopped. Mina thought Max was about to open it, but then—
BOOM!
Mina jumped back in shock as the door shattered. A zombie emerged from the house, its skin pale and sickly. One of its eyes was hanging out of its socket, there was a gaping hole where the nose should be, and the upper lip was completely missing.
Mina stood there, paralyzed by what he was seeing. But he snapped back to reality when he saw the zombie growling and lunging toward him.
The zombie closed in, attempting to grab Mina and bite him. Mina dodged by stepping to the side, positioning himself right next to the creature. He delivered a sharp kick to the back of the zombie's knee, forcing it down. Then, he kicked it hard in the back, sending it face-down on the ground. Without hesitating, he stomped on its head repeatedly until it was crushed.
Mina backed away from the corpse and sat on the ground, breathing heavily as the
adrenaline began to fade.
[Ding]
[Welcome, Host. I am 'The System.' Say 'Status' to see your statistics.]
Mina ignored the message at first. He stood up and entered Max's house to search for him. He checked every room, calling out in case he was hiding. Finally, he entered the bedroom where he found rotting scraps of meat, but nothing else—no signs of a struggle, no body, and no bloodstains to indicate if Max was dead. However, he noticed that Max's police uniform was missing; Max always prepared his clothes before bed so he could dress quickly in the morning to save time.
Then, Mina remembered that the zombie was wearing a police uniform. He swallowed hard, his face turning pale.
"I hope what I'm thinking isn't true."
Mina ran back to the zombie and stood beside it, hesitating. Gathering his courage, he flipped the body over with his foot. When he saw the name tag on the uniform, the shock was so great that his legs gave out, and he collapsed to the ground.
"I killed him..." He looked at his hands. "I killed him."
Mina closed his eyes, trying to pull himself together. He struggled to stand, his legs feeling heavy and unresponsive, but he eventually managed to get back to his house to rest, feeling like he might faint at any moment.
He sat on the sofa to catch his breath and process what had happened. After half an hour, he calmed down and said to himself:
"I didn't kill him. He died when he turned into a zombie. He was dead before I even went to his house. If I hadn't killed it, I would have died."
Mina felt a slight sense of relief; the guilt had been crushing him. After all, Max was his friend, the person who always stood by him in trouble.
"Now, what is happening? Is this a zombie outbreak? And what is this strange message that appeared when I killed it, asking me to say 'Status'?"
[Ding]
[Status]
Name: Mina
Class: None
Level: 1
Attribute Points: 0
Attributes:
Strength: 7
Agility: 6
Vitality: 6
Endurance: 7
Magic: 8
Mana: 150
Skills: Detection
When Mina finished reading, he whispered, "Are we in a game?"
....
"Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed the chapter!"