The sound of rain and thunder covered any other audible sounds. A group of black men surrounded a teenager with a thin frame.
'Give up, 2058."
2058 shook his head as a smile of relief appeared on his face. He pulled out a gun from the sleeve of his coat as the surrounding black men quickly dashed towards him, predicting his next course of action. But they were too late as the loud sound of a gunshot was heard and 2058 had left this world.
…
"Do you wish for another chance?"
"Do you wish for a life full of excitement and fun?"
"Do you desire a real life?"
2058 couldn't understand who or what the voice was but he unconsciously answered yes as he quickly lost consciousness once again.
...
The next time 2058 woke up, he found himself In a simple and brightly lit white room. The room was entirely composed of some white-steel and there was a metallic sheen to the entire room. 2058 immediately recognized this room as it was the room he had been imprisoned in his entire life.
'Have I returned to the laboratory?...'
'No, that's impossible!! I died for sure but then where am I?'
2058 analyzed the room he was in and quickly found that there was a difference from the room he had spent his whole life imprisoned in. One, there were no surveillance cameras.
"My wounds…. How have they completely vanished?" 2058 opened his eyes in disbelief as he examined his abdomen which previously had a hole. He did not feel any urgency to get out of bed but instead tried to recall recent events before shaking his head. He then unbuttoned his shirt to find a symbol that seemingly resembled Exodia located on his chest. While many would find themselves panicking in such a situation, 2058 had been raised and trained in a unique environment so he was able to maintain his composure and stay calm. With his injuries gone and stamina restored, he was extremely calm and showed not a hint of confusion from the recent strange events. Instead, he displayed a very relaxed and natural expression, a slight hint of curiosity showed in his eyes as he examined his surroundings.
His eyes turned to the computer as he walked over and found a few crucial pieces of information.
'The Divine Realm? It seems a bit like Heaven but…'
'I'm sure any Christian would interpret it as so however this is not such a kind place…'
'Endless evolution.'
'Conflict.'
'Death.'
2058 closed his eyes before periodically tapping the desk.
'This is quite interesting.' A slight smile appeared on his face as he issued a command mentally.
'World Engage.'
[ Subject no.3962, congratulations on being chosen as part of the Evolution Project ]
[ This is will be your first experience in the Divine realm – Newbie Zombie Apocalypse]
[ Relevant Information related to the world will be transmitted to the subject's brain shortly ]
[ WARNING: You may interact with the various people within the world, but you may not leak any information regarding the Divine Realm.]
[ Main Mission: Survive for 48 Hours ]
[ Mission summary: A virus created by the Chinese government has spread all over the world and human extinction is imminent. The virus has been named as COVID-36 and leads its hosts to turn into zombies just like in movies.]
[ Mission goals: 1)Find a method to cure COVID-36 2)Survive 3)Save as many people as you can 4)Kill those that have lost their morals within disaster 5)Kill as many zombies as you can]
[ Bane of Zombies: Eliminate 100 Zombies(Upgradable)]
[ Plague Doctor: Cure an incurable disease ]
[ Brave One: Survive a zombie apocalypse]
[ Justice demands retribution: Kill 20 people that have lost their morals ]
[ Criminal: Commit 40 crimes]
"…"
"…."
[ Titles can be created]
[ Titles stack and subjects are allowed to equip as many as they desire ]
[ WARNING: Subject will not revive after dying. ]
[ FINAL WARNING: This is reality, treat it as such.]
2058 carefully brewed over the information within his head before a smile appeared on his handsome face as he disappeared.
...
"Not bad, you're one of the fastest I've seen," a cold voice said. 2058 searched for the origin of the voice and found a black-haired guy staring at him like a monkey in the zoo. The person had a very rough appearance with multiple scars on his face and bulging muscles. He took a deep smoke of his cigarette as his gaze turned behind him which was when 2058 noticed five people were lying beside him. Three men and two women. Other than that, over ten westerners were lying in another corner.
'We appear to be inside of a train...the train is moving quite fast.' 2058 noted these things mentally as he looked around. He didn't bother asking questions as the relevant information was already transmitted inside his head and the man with scars on his face had an expression that he didn't wish to be bothered.
Eventually, the others gradually woke up and chaos began to spread amongst the passengers. Most of them were scared but others seemed to be strangely calm as their eyes darted around. Finally, somebody mustered up the courage to ask the scarred man with a large gun strapped to his shoulder a question.
"Mister, have we come to a different world just like those novels?" A chubby dude from the Asian group asked.
The scar-faced man quickly shot a glare at the fatty as he cowered in fear before answering.
"There are a lot of different opinions about the actual reality of our situation but you're more or less right."
"Then can we go back?" A skinny man from the Asian group asked.
"Haha!" For some reason, this question resulted in the scar-faced man breaking into laughter.
Both groups stared at the man in confusion but he eventually responded.
"Don't even think about it." This response instantly dashed the hopes of many as they brooded in despair.
"I'm only answering one more question so think carefully."
This response caused all of them to scrunch their faces unpleasantly as they gathered in a group to discuss what they would ask next.
However, their hopes were dashed when a blond youth abruptly asked a question.
"If we die, do we truly die?" This question seemed to garner the interest of the scar-faced man as he smiled, showing his yellow teeth.
"Nobody knows, at the very least, I've never seen somebody come back after dying here."
The blond youth narrowed his eyes before nodding but the others were furious that he wasted their last chance to gain information on such a stupid question.
2058 shot a glance at the blond youth as he mentally noted him as a target to pay attention to.
The others thought it was a stupid question but 2058 was aware of the underlying intent behind that question.
The train abruptly stopped jerking many of the passengers into each other which created a very awkward scene, especially for the women.
"Get off me pervert." A girl with glasses shoved the man that had landed on her with strength surprising of her frame.
2058 had been prepared and was grasping a pole on the train so he had been stable.
The doors opened and a machine announced that they had arrived at their destination.
The others were still regaining their bearings but the scar-faced man didn't wait on them as he quickly left without saying anything.
2058 followed in his footsteps and so did some others.
As they had hardly left a sound when leaving, many had not realized that they had left and quickly panicked before breaking out in a dash to find them.
After leaving the subway, the scene 2058 witnessed outside was less than ideal.
It was dark at night but he could still make out the ruined buildings and abandoned cars everywhere he looked.
It looked as if a natural disaster had struck this town many years ago and left no survivors.
The scar-faced man didn't seem surprised as he seemed to have a clear destination in mind as he started walking.
The others seemed to have caught up to us as they shot him and the two others that left an expression full of hate and furry.
2058 noticed that two people, the couple from the western group hadn't caught up and they were nowhere to be seen.
"Looks like two are already gone." The scar-faced man commented quietly before chuckling.
"So where are we headed?" A man with glasses from the Asian group asked.
"It's up to you guys whether you wish to follow me or not but I'm heading to the BOSS."
"The BOSS?" Many of them simultaneously asked in confusion.
"Every realm has a specific individual that is sort of like the King of the World. We call this individual a BOSS, of course, it doesn't mean that it has to be a person or even a living thing…"
They grimaced at the underlying meaning of the latter part of the scar-faced man's words.
"Shouldn't we just hide for the remaining 48 hours?" A quiet girl that appeared to be in her teens asked.
"As I said, you guys can do whatever you want."
Many hesitated between following the scar-faced man or not as he was intentionally heading somewhere dangerous.
In the end, the opinions split and a majority of them decided to find a safe place to hide and the original group became much smaller.
2058 had stayed along with the blond youth and a pair of girls that appeared to be sisters.
"Hehe...much better with less of y'all. Less baggage to carry around." The scar-faced man said in a voice just audible enough for all of us to hear.
"Do you have a specific plan to fight the BOSS?"
"Plan?... Sure, just blow it's brains out!" The scar-faced man said before breaking into a fit of laughter.
'This man's mental state is not good...he seems to have problems thinking logically due to trauma.'
2058 had noticed the various peculiarities with the man from a while back but he chose to follow the man as he was the only one here that had experience.
They took various shortcuts through many alleyways but strangely they hadn't encountered anything as of yet.
Still, 2058 hadn't let down his guard but the expressions of the sisters greatly relaxed over time.
After hours of traveling, the storm had gotten worse which forced even the scar-faced man to stop.
He chose a nearby building to rest in as they huddled around a small campfire.
The scar-faced man silently expressed that he had no interest in communicating with them as he wandered off to a corner after drinking some beer and went to sleep.
His carefree attitude was a stark contrast to the dangerous situation.
"Hi, my name is Cathy and this is my younger sister Brenda. What are your names?"
The seemingly older sister of the two asked 2058 and the blond youth.
"Arthur."
"Toast."
Pointless self-introduction took place before the girls asked the two of them a question.
"What were you two doing before dying?"
There was no language barrier and ever since they came here, it appeared that they were all speaking the same language and able to understand each other.
"I was an electrical engineer but I died in an accident due to the negligence of one of my co-workers."
"That's unfortunate…" The sisters offered condolences.
"What about you mister?..."
"I was a lab member who died in an accident."
The three stared at him in surprise as they conveniently interpreted that he was a researcher.
"Wow! To think I'd meet such a young scientist."
2058 appeared to be in his teens so it was understandable why they would be in shock.
They didn't doubt that he was lying as there wasn't much use to lie about such a pointless thing when they might die anytime.
The idle conversations continued but most of the dialogue was between the two girls and Arthur.
Arthur was above average in looks and had ample social experience so he was quickly able to socialize with the girls as 2058 could hear frequent giggling despite directing most of his attention analyzing his current situation. His gaze would occasionally turn to the scar-faced man in the corner, his snores reverberating through the room.