Paul entered the apartment. He heard conversations, laughing, and it just seemed like the mood was good, but little did they know that this was probably the last time the atmosphere would be this good. Paul also wanted to enjoy this moment, but he knew that in a few hours the whole world would be turned upside down.
As Paul joined the living room, he greeted Max and Justin with a classic handshake among friends and sat down next to them. They had already begun to drink, easy to recognize by the strong alcoholic scent in the air.
"Hey Paul, what took you so long outside?" Max asked. He was a friend of Thore, Hannes, and Paul from middle school. He was Indonesian, had black hair and brown eyes, and was somewhere around 5'8". He had moved from his home to the city of Rostock, where they were currently, and was training as a hotel manager.
"I was just buying some stuff for the week, nothing special. Do y'all really want to go to the club tonight? I think it's not gonna be so special, and someone told me it's gonna be empty because there's a huge private party tonight," Paul said, trying to convince them to stay home or at least hold them back until midnight.
"Doesn't matter, let's go anyway, and if it's bad, we can leave," Justin answered. He was also a school friend of the group and was always the one joking in class, which resulted in his bad grades back in school, but he still got a job in the end. He had blond hair and brown eyes and was the shortest in the group, with a height of around 5'7" or 5'6".
"Nah, I'm not spending 10€ just to leave if there's no one there. Why don't we just chill here, drink, and play some blackjack or poker? If we don't want to play anymore, we can still go to the club," Paul suggested. "But not until midnight, because if people are gonna be there, it'll probably be after midnight."
Paul's suggestion sounded logical and had something for everybody's liking, so the group was pretty much in agreement. So the five of them played poker and blackjack and just talked about their old school times and memories until it was 11:40.
"I need to take care of something real quick. Do y'all wanna come with me?" Paul asked the group.
"What do you need to take care of at such a time?" Hannes asked, confused, not knowing what his brother had in mind at such a time.
"Let's fight some Talahon," Max said, obviously drunk from the alcohol and looking for violence.
"Shut your mouth, Max," Paul said, laughing at Max's comment. "No, I need to get something real quick and thought it would be more fun if you came with me," Paul justified. He didn't want to bring them with him without a reason. He was concerned that if he left them here, they would either go out and, with bad luck, get infected or go to the club without him knowing. So the best solution was to bring them with him.
"Okay, yeah, let's go. Why not?"
Before the five of them went off, Paul quickly went to his room and packed up some things like a flashlight, a small knife, a few clothes, and all the money he had lying around.
They then left the house and walked to the car. Paul was the only one who was allowed to drive because he hadn't drunk beforehand, and apart from him, only Hannes had a driver's license.
The destination this time was the museum in the downtown area of the city. Why? Because the first fortunate encounter or artifact Paul would target lay there. It was the first and most important, and if everything went right, this would also be the most significant turning event of his life. In his past life, a guy who named himself "The Judge" encountered this artifact, and he was one of the top 10 strongest humans because of his abilities. One ability of his was [Truth be Told], with which he could ask people what evil deeds they had done, and the person targeted by him needed to answer this question with the truth even if they didn't want to. His second ability was [Divine Punishment]. This ability made it possible for him to punish the person before him based on the evil deeds they had done. This combination of abilities was well known around the world, and many people were terrified because it was enough for someone to steal something, and when he used his [Divine Judgment] on them, one could lose a hand or sometimes even the whole arm.
Those were the only two known abilities of his, but these two were enough to get him such a reputation.
How did Paul know all this? In the fifth year of the apocalypse, a streaming system suddenly appeared where everyone could post content about fights,there bases, there cultivation Manuals and Skills and stories like that of The Judge, for views which one could exchange for resources and other important goods like as an example Cultivation Techniques, which were a rare good in the Apocalypse in his past life, people who found them or made them were therefore not only extremely rich, but also terrifying strong, some who could in a thousand years maybe even rival the gods.
The Jugde was one of these people who could be said to someday make rival that and this was the reason why Paul needed this opportunity
The Judge told the world that before, he was a normal civilian who lived a few blocks next to the museum and searched for shelter in this museum, and then on the morning of the outbreak, did he encountered the opportunity in the museum. He didn't say what exactly he encountered, but he told the world that him were offered three wishes, of which two were the abilities and the third was unknown. To Paul's luck, the museum he talked about was the exact museum of the city he lived in.
Close to midnight, the group then arrived at their destination. Thore then asked, "What the hell do you need to take care of at a museum at such a time?"
"I just need to get something, and then we're gonna leave. Relax, Thore, I won't take long. But don't get out of the car no matter what happens!"
"Yo bro are you going to break in that thing?" Justin said suspicious about Paul's sudden idea.
"No, I'm just getting something dude like i said" Paul answered, trying to defend himself
"Nah that's crazy, you really robbing a museum?!"
Bro no, I'm just getting some, just stay in the car and wait until I'm back."
"Nah man, first you took us to some museum, and now you want us to stay in the car and wait? No way, I'm not waiting. I'm coming with you," Max answered with a determined voice, not wanting to accept that he should wait in the car, but still being pretty scared of what troubles they could get into.
"If there's no other way, you can come, yeah, but don't do anything stupid. This whole thing is really important to me!"
"Damn thats crazy but i will go too," "Me too," "Yeah, I'm definitely not gonna stay here alone." And so, just like that, not only Paul entered the museum, but so did the whole group.