One moment, Justin Alex just ran the race of his life in the greatest track of all, the Summer Olympics, overcoming the impossible odds before him to create a legend but the next moment, he was dead, or not.
Instead of dying, his soul was kidnapped!
The last thing Alex remembered was being lifted by Nesta Paul in celebration. This was why as he looked around, he was so baffled and horrified.
'Where the heck am I?!' He thought worriedly.
At this moment, Alex was riding inside what looked like a ship and not just any ship, it looked like those spaceships depicted in futuristic anime.
At first, he didn't want to believe it but all evidence was before him.
The futuristic setting inside this spaceship alone convinced him. And from the transparent upper body of this spaceship that was made of transparent metal alloy, looking out, Alex could tell that they were currently riding through space.
'What the f*ck!'
This was a 4 sitter-capacity space vessel with one chair at the front for the space pilot, and 3 chairs behind for passengers.
At this moment, Alex was tightly strapped to one of the passenger chairs; he was the only passenger.
In the pilot chamber though was someone, a lady.
This purple-haired lady wore only a designers' white polo shirt on black tight-fitting shorts. Considering the fact that the tight shorts only covered her privates, Alex stared at her beautiful supple white skin and gulped.
In the pilot chamber, there was a manual control module close to the pilot's chair. Apart from the control module, there were multiple small screens surrounding the pilot chamber, including a big screen that directly faced the pilot.
At this moment though, instead of focusing on piloting the spaceship, this female pilot sat casually on the chair, one leg resting high up on the metal hull of the ship while the other was casually folded.
With her posture, her white polo shirt jumped up a bit, exposing her beautiful slim belly. Alex gulped again on paying attention to this.
Seated in that casual posture, this female pilot held a game console at this moment through which she played a computer game on the big screen before her.
'She's playing a game?'
'Heck! That's not the biggest concern now, where the f*ck am I?'
'Don't tell me that the Big Bang occurred and Planet Earth is no more, and I'm now somehow living in a galactic age'. He joked.
Despite his silly joke though, Alex was sweating, where was this?
Right as he thought of that question was when the most inexplicable thing happened to him, a virtual screen shimmered to life in his vision.
***
{…your soul has been kidnapped!}
{Your new name is Runner 87!}
{Your color is red!}
{Now…, run for your life!}
***
This time, Alex could no longer suppress his emotions concerning the ridiculousness of this whole situation, he exclaimed. "What the f*ck!"
The female pilot who was completely engrossed in her game finally paid attention to him. "You're awake," she commented casually.
Alex looked at her with wide eyes.
She turned away. "Don't panic, we'll arrive soon".
"Depending on the result of your trial race, this may end soon enough," she counted her fingers. "Which means I get a few days of rest".
Alex gulped as he stared at her. "W-who are you?" He stammered.
"Where am I?"
"Where is this?"
The female pilot didn't answer him, rather, a robotic voice announced the next moment that the spaceship was no longer on autopilot.
Storing the game console away, this pilot finally started doing her job, piloting the spaceship and she was right.
The next moment, they arrived.
Alex could not see it clearly but what he saw from afar seemed like the biggest stadium to ever exist if it was even one.
Somehow, this stadium was existing alone in space, seated on an asteroid, sprawling across such a large distance and taking up so much space.
It looked like a gigantic city from a distance.
There were bright lights shining from it, illuminating the surrounding space.
Clearly, this was their destination.
As soon as they arrived, the female pilot verified her identity in a language that Alex did not understand.
This was the scary part though.
Looking at the people who verified their identity, Alex was pretty sure that these abominations were not humans!
'…!' He felt his heart in his throat. 'Where the f*ck am I?!'
The spaceship went inside, navigating through different places till it finally entered inside the stadium.
By now, Alex already confirmed that this place was a stadium.
Once the spaceship was parked, his kidnapper, the female pilot blindfolded him before leading him out of the space vessel.
A few minutes later, Alex opened his eyes to see himself inside what seemed like a hospital ward as he was attended to.
"Commencing medicals for Runner 87".
A group of blue-skinned doctors attended to him, spooking Alex even more. They were just like those people who verified the female pilot's identity, these people were definitely not humans!
After using some strange medical instruments on his body, one of the blue doctors who seemed to be the leader finally nodded.
"Runner 87 is prepped for his trial race".
"He has been connected to the Runners game network".
"Let him wear the game suit".
Against Alex's will, he was stripped naked the next moment right in front of all the alien doctors and his human female pilot before a transparent suit was worn on his body.
As soon as Alex wore the suit, he felt like it connected to his brain.
Once the connection was established, the suit changed, no longer transparent as it turned red.
Right at that moment, the virtual screen shimmered to life before Alex's vision again, showing him new things.
***
{Congratulations! You have equipped the standard Runners suit!}
{Welcome to Runners; Survival and Glory!}
{Click on this link to open the guide to the hyper realistic game, Runners; Survival and Glory:}
{Player: Runner 87}
…
{Player, your soul has been kidnapped!}
{Your new name is Runner 87!}
{Your color is red!}
{Randomizing trial race…, please wait…}
{Race decided!}
{Alex- Runner 87 vs Gamma TL- Runner 808!}
{Race Attributes:}
{Speed: 4/15} – {Speed: 6/15}
{Acceleration: 5/12} – {Acceleration: 6/12}
{Strength: 4/18} – {Strength: 8/18}
{Intelligence: 11/15} – {Intelligence: 3/15}
…
{Life Attributes:}
{Health points: 50/50} – (Health points: 150/150}
{Stamina: 12/12} – {Stamina: 14/14}
{Now…, run for your life!}
***
This time, Alex didn't just think it, he voiced it out. "Wait, come on guys, what the heck is all this? What is going on?"
The doctors ignored him, turning to face the female pilot instead.
"Runner 87 is prepped for his trial race".
"Take him to the starting line".
"Yes, doctor". The female pilot nodded.
Alex's fate was sealed.