The screen shifted abruptly to another scene.
This time, I recognized it immediately.
The camera displayed my bed from above, and beside my head, my phone buzzed endlessly, its screen glowing in the dim light.
["UN Emergency Security Council discusses halting all operations at nuclear and other power plants."]
One by one, emergency alerts flooded in, then gradually slowed… until the final message.
["As of today, all electricity and water supply will be discontinued. Citizens are advised to prepare for power and water outages..."]
With that last notification, my phone's screen dimmed and went dark.
More time passed.
Thud, thud, thud...
I opened my eyes groggily, stirred by the dull thuds echoing through the silence.
******
"…Oh."
I was standing before the refrigerator in Unit 1404, but my thoughts were elsewhere, haunted by the scenes the system had shown me.
Images of mutant horrors, grotesque creatures tearing through military tanks as if they were nothing. There was no way that footage was fake—it was all too vivid, too brutally real.
A shudder rippled through me. If those mutants existed, what else lay out there, lurking?
The tank, one of the military's most powerful defenses, had been shredded like paper. It made me wonder… could there be zombies capable of bringing down helicopters? Bombers?
With a swift slap to my cheeks, I forced myself to focus.
"Get it together," I muttered. Here I was, acting invincible after learning one skill, as if I was above it all. How foolish.
But why was the system showing me this? Revealing the existence of mutants felt like a tactical advantage, a warning. Normally, it refrained from giving information that affected the game balance. This was different.
The system stayed silent, so I let the question go. It wasn't going to answer anyway.
"Those things… they must have names like 'Crusher' or 'Destroyer,' right?" I muttered, picturing that hulking mass of muscle. I had a sudden flashback to that zombie game from years ago, where a mutant "Tank" hurled chunks of concrete. Back then, I'd felt my heart pound every time I encountered one.
"Maybe fire is its weakness too?" I chuckled to myself, masking my nerves.
[Insufficient knowledge on the mutant. Knowledge can be gained through defeating mutants, with a chance to obtain it.]
"Fun of discovery, huh? Is that why people hate old RPGs?" I scoffed. I was done waiting for answers.
"System, open the notifications."
The system window blinked to life, flooding my vision.
[The system is being renewed to align with the desires of the Awakened as part of their Second Awakening!]
[From now on, all points are known as "Faith"! The amount of Faith acquired will increase based on the number of believers you have!]
[Upon killing zombies, you will gain Faith instead of points!]
[All stats and skills will transfer to exclusive skills!]
[(Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Magic, Telekinesis) -> Sacred Body Lv.4]
['You are the first to get a profession as an awakener in Country zone!']
['You are the first to get a profession as an awakener in World zone!']
[Obtained New Passive Skill: Faith Overload.]
[Description: This skills allows you to passively receive faith points. (1/Hour) -> (25/Hour) -> (50/Hour)]
[Name: Palmer]
[Gender & Age: Male, 27]
[Job: Cult Leader]
[Faith: 200 (50/H)]
[Exclusive Skills]
[Sacred Body Lv.4]
[Your body mimics the divine, it gets nourished by the fanaticism of others. As the level increases, all-around abilities improve.]
(Upgrade cost: 500 Faith)
[Divine Perception Lv.1]
[You can dwell into victim's desperate needs and subconscious thoughts, the efficiency and strength of the skill increases as the skill level rises.]
(Upgrade cost: 200 Faith)
[Sanctuary Declaration]
[Establish a religion and declare your sanctuary. (One-time use only)]
"…Whoa."
My status had transformed—entirely, in just a moment. I reread everything twice, letting it sink in.
"A Second Awakening and a hidden job… like levelling up a class in an RPG."
Now, Faith replaced points, and I earned it passively—every hour.
'Which is whopping 50 points too!'
"Passive income…" I laughed, almost giddy. "Amazing."
But the thrill wasn't just in Faith; it was the rewards waiting on the path ahead. This new role meant I wasn't just fighting to survive—I was building a CULT.
Other survivors could struggle and scrape for what little they could kill; meanwhile, I'd grow stronger even without doing anything.
I suddenly thought of all the RPG players who used to complain that farming operations were ruining the game economy.
They weren't wrong, of course.
But if I was the one reaping the benefits, well, that was a different story. In this world, the only fair rule left was that if you got bitten, you became a zombie.
'But that rule didn't apply to me anymore, now that I could buy a zombie cure from the store.'
Squelch—
The sound awakened me from my thoughts as I arrived at a new destination.
'I am back 1501!'
The bloody floor was a disgusting site. Rotten, black blood covered the living room, thick with the stench of decay from the mother and daughter I'd killed. I wrinkled my nose, preparing to complete my main objective for coming back here again.
"I wonder… do mental skills work on zombies?"
I activated Divine Perception, directing it at the daughter's corpse.
[Mother's Attention.]
She had hungered for her mother's affection.
"Oh, this is quite interesting…"
My gaze drifted to the mother's corpse. What would her "deficiency" be?
[Demon child, Jasmine.]
Jasmine, you wretched child…of demon.
A tragic scene, but one that left a bitter taste. Each one had died searching for something already lost. And what had I done?
Barked demands for their faith, shouted for obedience like some enraged prophet. It hit me suddenly just how crude my approach had been.
Identify their needs, then fill it. That was the crux of Divine Perception. I was such an idiot to have threatened her, I should have offered her hope and could have easily made her mine.
[You wanted her to believe, but you pushed it too hard.]
'You shut up, system.'
[…]
If I was going to build a following in this world, I'd have to do more than intimidate—I'd have to inspire. A chuckle slipped out as I thought back on Confucius. "Among three people, there's always something to learn."
Looks like even zombies had lessons to teach.
Descending the floors, I noticed the stairs were stained with blood from the zombies I'd killed earlier.
Bzzzzzz—
Flies had already gathered around the zombie corpses, buzzing incessantly. Damn, it wouldn't be long before maggots showed up too.
The thought of maggots writhing over zombie corpses churned my stomach, even though it'd been days since I'd eaten. This place was rank with decay—I couldn't stay here long. I could have tossed their bodies outside, but what was the point? I had no plans to linger.
Thud, thud.
On my way back to my place, I used telekinesis to hurl the zombie man sprawled across my door. He hit the ground outside with a sickening splat, like a cracked egg. Without a backward glance, I shut the door behind me.
I grabbed my smartphone from the bed. Dead battery. Power had been out for days, and none of the houses I'd looted had a portable charger—odd for a time when people treated their phones like lifelines.
'I think there was one in the store window…'
[Portable Battery (10 hours of charge): 100 Faith]
Gritting my teeth, I spent the Faith. The charger materialized in my hand. After a moment's hesitation, I plugged in the phone and waited.
"Information is everything," I muttered. If someone like Stell Man had gone live on YouTube, that meant the internet was still up, buzzing with chaos and fear. People were locked indoors, desperate for any scrap of news.
The phone powered on, and I opened Reddit's open chat. Dozens of survivor groups appeared on screen, their titles a surreal mix of hope and despair.
[Liverpool survivors chat]
[Looking for someone to rescue a high school girl in Wallasey (18, virgin)]
[Trapped in Liverpool subway—help!]
[Anti-government chat room (no trolls allowed)]
My finger hovered briefly over the Wallasey chat before I clicked on the Liverpool survivors. Wallasey was too far. No point even thinking about it.
The chat was a mess.
[Wanna have sex (Liverpool, 34, male): Anyone up for one last round? Let's go out with a bang.]
I scrolled past the loser, looking for useful info.
[It's All Fucked: So, Anfield stadium, right? That's where the shelter is…]
[Screwed Beyond Repair: Yeah, soldiers with loudspeakers keep saying it's the "safe zone." But if you go inside we are treated worse than in Nazi's concentration camps.]
[Wanna have sex (Liverpool, 34, male): Any women left willing to—]
Ignore.
[It's All Fucked: Chat admin! Kick this creep!]
[Screwed Beyond Repair: Admin's been AWOL since yesterday. No one to kick him.]
Further down, something finally caught my eye: a photo of Seoul, sheathed in an eerie, translucent barrier.
[It's All Fucked: This is Seoul from above. No idea what's going on, but it's bad.]
[Toilet Finder (Has Gun): My mom's trapped there, and I can't reach her. This is the end of the line, guys.]
[Screwed Beyond Repair: Let's not forget our usernames while you talk about how screwed we are.]
But in between the chaos, something useful finally surfaced.
[Toilet Finder (Has Gun): Only an idiot goes to a shelter in a zombie outbreak. Guaranteed deathtrap.]
[It's All Fucked: But this isn't like the movies. Soldiers are out here rescuing people.]
[Toilet Finder (Has Gun): Yeah? All it takes is one infected hiding their bite, and it's over for everyone.]
Arguments raged on, but I scrolled past them until I found what I needed.
[Screwed Beyond Repair: Haaa, If I had known the apocalypse would come, I would have rented my house near Liverpool Central Library! My friend is happily trapped there T_T!]
Liverpool Central Library is perfect!
Information was my lifeline now, and so was that library.