Marx just ignored the scream. No one lived outside the village. He decided to ask questions. There were things the system mentioned such as internet that he did not quite understand. Also there was the 'version' part.
The screen displayed an image to explain to him what the internet was but at the same time came another screams. He stood up fast and hopped on his bike. Maybe there existed life outside their village.
He paddled towards the direction of the scream. He scanned the surroundings but they showed no signs of someone being there.
Many buildings still had their glass windows intact. Only their walls seemed to have aged but seemed to still be sturdy. He guessed that if people returned on earth, the city would be back running in a few days.
Even many parts of the city appeared intact. He stopped at one place that appeared to be desolate part of the city. There were old metal cans all over the ground. He was sure that he saw a rat.
The walls appeared to have drawings of various people and objects he could not recognize. They were fading though. He had to get off the bike and push it due to the litter on the ground.
Even the cans seemed to be numbered in hundreds. He walked for around five minutes and stopped. He must have imagined it. He felt like a fool having come that far. He would have already learnt a few things by then from the system.
He walked a few steps but suddenly he heard the scream behind him. He quickly turned to look at who dared play a prank on him. He was surely going to skin him or her alive.
He turned and saw a monkey.
"Heh..." Marx lacked the words to say but one emotion overwhelmed him. He had been played. By a monkey to be specific. Irritated for wasting his learning time, he decided to kick the monkey.
The monkey took a step back when it saw him release the bike and start heading towards it. It then turned and started running. Marx was not letting it off that easily as he ran after it.
The monkey was astonishingly faster than him. It suddenly stopped ten meters away from him. Marx stopped and skidded stopping eight meters away from it.
He also did not seem to notice the sun disappear. Even if he had,he would have dismissed it as the clouds blocking it. But the sky had been clear blue few seconds ago... The reason he did not seem to realize this change was due to the system improving his eyesight.
He suddenly realized that the area behind the monkey was surprisingly dark. He could not help but wonder how come the place got darker. Suddenly he saw two dots appear in the darkness behind the monkey.
"Trying to scare me is not going to work on me. Just get your ugly ass here," he gestured the monkey to come at him.
He took a step backwards and another pair of red dots appeared. Then another pair opened. Then another one and it continued with even ten pairs opening at once.
Even the roof of the buildings appeared to turn into thousands of red dots. The red dots on the alleyway went as far as his eyes could see. He felt his hair rise. A cold sweat trickled down his spine.
The monkey which barely reached his knees had an evil smile on it. Its long tail swinged from side to side.He was sure it smiled. Its eyes made it appear like a small devil. He saw it raise its hand and suddenly let out a sound like a command.
Then, white evil smiles appeared below the red dots and suddenly the chattering sound of monkeys filled the area. Marx felt like his eardrums would burst. He then saw a red dot move into the day light and it turned out to be a monkey.
He wanted to laugh at it because it was even smaller than the one he had chased here. The monkey charged at him. He prepared his leg ready to kick the incoming monkey.
The monkey jumped and it was just as he had anticipated. Midair, he kicked the monkey sending it flying back into the red dots. He heard another sound from the monkey. He could tell that it was angry.
It was probably giving a command. Two monkeys stepped forward and another two stepped forward. Ten monkeys dropped from the sky and also more stepped into the daylight.
Marx knew only one thing was important to him and that was his life! He turned and went on his heels. He looked behind and saw the monkeys had started charging at him and, it was actually all of them.
It appeared like a stream of darkness was following him. The monkeys seemed to number even in more than a hundred thousand. Their chattering filled the entire area. He could see the rats on the path running away and hide into the metal cans.
The monkeys occupied the whole alleyway to the top of the buildings which spanned more than thirty floors. Others were running on the roof. Marx could tell that the monkeys were catching up. He looked behind again and they were fifteen meters apart.
Had he not taken action fast and gotten the head start, he would have already been caught up in the swarm. His bike was almost 100 meters away from him. Without the system's boost, he knew that he could have been probably dead.
He increased his speed as he could tell that they were catching up. Were they possibly faster than him even when he had the system's boost? Then how fast was he without the boost?
He was approaching the bike but the monkeys were already catching up. Just a meter behind him. He ran and sometimes felt like he was not even stepping the ground.
He somehow managed to enlarge the gap with three meters by the time he reached the bike. He quickly lifted it and turned it as he hopped on it. He knew with the bike he could move faster than them.
He started paddling and the few seconds he wasted, the monkeys had caught up with him. He felt one jump on his back and start pulling his hair. He shook his head violently until his neck hurt.
But he managed to shove it way. He was sure that it had pulled some of his hair out. He almost hit the wall and crashed on the metal cans. He stepped on the sides to balance himself as two more monkeys jumped on his shoulders.
They all seemed to be after his hair. He released the bike and continued paddling. He held the monkeys by their necks and pulled them from his shoulders. He then threw them to the wall and held the bike again.
He paddled faster but it difficult to increase his speed because the monkeys kept distracting him. He was slowly getting a headstart but the monkeys would bridge the gap by jumping on him.
He would slow down and push them away but whenever he almost got a gap, they would jump on him and slow him down. He suddenly saw a corner few meters away.
He pressed the brakes and negotiated the corner. The monkeys were caught offgurad and some just went straight. Thinking that they would have to stop and take a few steps back, he saw the ones in the middle take the corner and started chasing in his direction.
He had stopped to see their next move and he cursed. He was not aware that animals could be this intelligent. He quickly started paddling. He rejoiced when he realized that the gap between them kept growing and he later realized that they were never going to catch up.
He did not brag and just continued paddling with increasing speed. He stopped when he heard that they had stopped. He was not tired and he waited for two minutes to confirm that they were not coming after him.
After confirming that they had left him, he started pushing his bike. He had touched the tyres and he had felt they were hot.
Marx was about to take his first step when he felt some rumbling. The stone pebbles on the ground seemed to vibrate. The glass windows rattled. He felt his whole body vibrate. He was not sure what was happening but it certainly was not an earthquake.
He looked up in the distance and saw something strange. It appeared like a giant spider and it towered above all the building. It was dark from afar. Hiis mind was telling him to run away but he wanted to witness what that was.
[Alpha monkey detected]
"No way..." Marx spoke his lips rounded.