Elsewhere, in a luxurious hotel, a fierce battle was unfolding.
A group of men, armed with bats, steel pipes, and knives, fought against a horde of relentless zombies.
Each man displayed remarkable strength, but one among them stood out. With uncanny speed, he darted through the swarm of zombies, swiftly unsheathing his katana.
The heads of the zombies fell to the ground, one after another, followed by their bodies.
This remarkable swordsman was Draco, the second-in-command of one of the city's most notorious gangs.
With the zombies dispatched, a charismatic man in a white suit emerged from the shadows.
The men in the room quickly cleared a path and bowed respectfully, even Draco, the agile swordsman, paying his respects.
He was a burly figure with a thick beard, the boss of the Red Flame Gang, known as Bunta.
He casually took out a cigarette and lit it up without a lighter. Taking a puff.
"Report?" Bunta inquired, exhaling a cloud of smoke.
"Creatures are mostly zombies, sir. I did spot a mutant bird roaming in the distance," one of the men reported.
"Good," Bunta nodded. "Keep an eye out for any other unusual monsters, gather as many resources you can find and search for survivors."
"Yes, sir," the men replied in unison, setting off to fulfill their duties.
Earlier, Bunta and his men were suddenly attacked by zombies while in the hostel but they awakened the system, and using tutorial weapons they fought, others using weapons they were familiar with, others holding their ground to fend off zombies.
As they killed the zombies, they began to feel stronger, some awakening special abilities.
Bunta had awakened the ability to manipulate fire however he wanted and was strong enough to lift a car, while his assistant had awakened with unnatural speed, swift as the wind.
Quickly realizing that the world was spiraling into chaos, Bunta's goal was to seize power as early as possible.
It was only a matter of time before the authorities lost control; if they hadn't already.
To achieve this, he needed more power, and he learned that unique monsters dropped special cores when killed, and these cores, when absorbed, would grant one special power.
Bunta got his flame ability from defeating a Flame Turtle monster. Becoming the first human to defeat a tutorial boss, which earned him a special title.
He found the hotel had somehow turned into a tutorial keeping them inside with zombies and other monsters until they kill the most powerful creature in the building.
Bunta and his men had successfully managed to do this and they were free.
But the outside world contained it's danger with some of his scouts not returning, most likely because they have been killed.
This didn't stop Bunta though, as he ordered his men to scour the city for resource, and search of any invidual or group that had survived the tutorial as well they couldn't possibly be ordinary.
No one was anymore in world. It was either you were a zombie or a system user.
His goal was to collect a number of resources and create an army system users, to create a new world how he sees fit, becoming the supreme leader.
And, if anyone resisted his authority, or becomes an obstacles he had no qualms about crushing them underfoot.
*
Meanwhile, Grey, back at the office, made an intriguing discovery.
He observed one of the zombies he had slain earlier as he watched its body slowly withering away until it eventually disintegrated into ashes.
Looking downwards, Grey didn't see any corpse of the zombie he had killed, which proved the phenomenon was consistent.
The zombies turn into ashes when they die; this is far from natural.
Grey was starting to doubt that the virus that started this might not be of human origin, especially since it seemed linked to the source of the sytem.
He wondered if humans truly capable of creating something like this.
Perhaps it was made by an extraterrestrial source.
Or a divine being?
Grey could only speculate.
Reaching the 8th floor, Grey placed his ear on the door, listening to hear if there were zombies behind it.
Silence greeted him, raising questions about whether the doors were soundproof or if the zombies were simply further away.
He gripped his axe, turned the doorknob, and pushed it open, and what he encountered was a nauseating stench of decay, along with a horrific sight.
A gruesome scene unfolded before him: mutilated zombie bodies, heads ripped from their torsos, limbs torn asunder, and skulls caved in.
Grey was taken aback by the sheer brutality of the scene.
He wondered if this carnage was the work of a monster or a human, although the latter seemed unlikely.
Grey's curiosity led him further into the room, where he heard a sudden growl.
It emanated from one of the offices at the far end of the floor.
It sounded inhuman, sparking Grey's curiosity and trepidation.
He cautiously approached the source, his axe at the ready.
As he entered the room, the sight that met his eyes left him stunned.
Huddled in the corner was a colossal, muscular creature, its veins throbbing like pulsating arteries.
It was an unsettling sight, and Grey couldn't help but wonder what it could be.
Ding!
[ Vein Crusher - Rank 7 ]
"Veincrusher?!"
Grey was taken aback by the system notification that came right in time as if reading his mind, but was more shocked by the fact that there was a ranking beside the zombie name.
What this meant was that there would most likely be zombies of higher rank, and this further confirmed his suspicion that there would be zombies with abilities.
Grey looked at the Veincrusher closely, gauging it.
It was a monstrous specimen, larger and more powerful than the others he had encountered.
Heck even its name screamed danger.
Grey gulped nervously, his muscles growing tense in fear, as doubted he would be able to defeat the juggernaut with his current strength.
The zombie hadn't noticed him yet, so Grey thought to leave and come back later when he was more confident with his strength.
But then, the system notification hit Grey with a jeering slap that left his jaw hanging.
Ding!
[You have been given a Battle quest: Defeat Veincrusher]
[Reward: Free weapon, Shard stones and a New Skill]
[Time Duration: 30 min]
[Failure: System Disabled]
Grey stared at the notification dazed.
Fours words escaping his mouth:
"What the actual f*ck!"