Their grotesque faces looked peaceful in sleep, an eerie contrast to their true nature.
He stepped closer, raising the blade. His fingers tightened around the handle as he positioned it above the first creature's spine.
"Here goes nothing."
With a swift thrust, he drove the knife deep into the back of the goblin's neck, severing its spinal cord.
Squelch!
Thick, dark blood oozed from the wound as Zane pulled the blade free.
Ding!
[You have slain an F-Grade Dormant Monster: Goblin]
<+50 EXP>
<+50Coins>
A translucent notification flashed before his eyes. He barely had time to process it before turning to the second goblin.
Stab!
Ding!
[You have slain an F-rank Dormant Monster: Goblin]
<+50 EXP>
<+50 Coins>
The message appeared again.
Zane exhaled, shaking off the unease settling in his stomach. The sensation of taking a life—even a monster's—felt strange. Not horrifying, not exhilarating. Just... necessary.
The smell of blood was overwhelming, thick and nauseating.
He grabbed the goblins by their legs and dragged them outside. Though their bodies were small, they still weighed around 45 pounds each.
He tossed them onto the pavement, away from his apartment entrance.
Glancing around, he hurried back inside, locking the door behind him.
His body moved on instinct as he rushed to the kitchen, grabbing a small container filled with water.
He returned to the doorway and poured it onto the bloodied ground, trying to rinse away the evidence before more monsters caught the scent.
The water mixed with the blood, diluting it as it trickled down the cracked pavement.
Once the task was done, he bolted the door shut and pressed his back against it.
Silence.
Then, suddenly, laughter bubbled up in his chest.
It started as a chuckle, then grew into a full-bodied laugh—wild, almost hysterical.
He couldn't stop it.
He threw his head back, the sound escaping from deep within him. It wasn't just relief, nor was it madness. It was something else entirely.
For the first time since the world had fallen apart...
He felt alive.
His stomach growled in protest at the emptiness. He got up, went to the kitchen, opened the fridge, and took out two eggs.
Fuck!
As he turned the knob, the fire didn't ignite, and no gas came out. He cursed, then cracked the eggs, pouring their contents into a glass before grabbing a loaf of bread from the small apartment shelf.
He took another glass and filled it with water. Slowly, he sipped from the first glass, then drank three more in succession.
Afterward, he opened a packet of bread, tore off a mouthful, and began chewing. Once he swallowed, he picked up the glass of eggs, shook it lightly, and took a gulp.
The taste was strange but bearable. He needed protein and nutrition—he hadn't eaten or drunk anything for the past three days.
He took another bite of bread, followed by another gulp of eggs.
After finishing his meal, he summoned his stats and looked at the display screen in front of him.
[Status Window]
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Name: 〘Zane Somnus〙
Level: ⟨ 0 ⟩ ⟦ 100 / 1000 EXP ⟧
Title: ???
Race: 〘Human〙
Class: ???
Coins: 200
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Zane still needed 900 EXP to level up. The goblins he had just slain were Dormant, the weakest rank of F-Grade monsters. That meant he had a long way to go before he could even consider himself stronger.
He frowned. If Dormant-ranked monsters gave only 50 EXP and 50 Coins each, then leveling up was going to be a tedious grind.
Frustrated, he began testing various commands, asking the system about quests, missions, or alternative ways to gain more skills.
No response.
"Damn useless system," he muttered under his breath.
But as he pondered over the ranking of monsters, something unexpected happened.
A new floating screen flickered into existence before him, displaying a detailed hierarchy of F-Rank creatures.
---
F-Rank Monsters
Overlord – 250 EXP / 250 Coins
Tyrant – 200 EXP / 200 Coins
Rampant – 150 EXP / 150 Coins
Awakened – 100 EXP / 100 Coins
Dormant – 50 EXP / 50 Coins
-------
His eyes scanned the list, absorbing the information quickly.
"So... I really did just kill the weakest ones," Zane murmured.
His total EXP had risen by 100, and his Coins had increased to 200, but these gains were far from enough. If he wanted to reach Level 1, he had to either slay stronger monsters or hunt more Dormants.
Sighing, he dismissed the screen and turned his attention to his skills menu.
A small arrow icon blinked beside his Sleep Skill.
Curious, he tapped it.
---
☾ [Sleep] (S-Grade) ⟦ Upgrade^ ⟧
[Skill upgrade from S-Grade to SS-Grade requires 1,000,000,000 Coins]
[Yes/No]
---
Zane froze, his eyes nearly popping out of his skull.
"A billion coins?!" he exclaimed in disbelief.
That number was absurd. Completely out of reach.
At least for now.
But this also revealed something crucial—coins could be used to upgrade skills.
He immediately asked the system another question:
"Can I use coins to increase my stats?"
Silence.
No answer.
Zane sighed, running a hand through his hair.
For now, it seemed like he was on his own, left to figure things out without the system's guidance.
But that was fine.
If he had to grind, then so be it.
After all, the world had changed, and he had no choice but to change with it.
Suddenly, Zane heard a noise from above—a faint but distinct sound of movement.
His body tensed.
"How could someone be there?" he wondered, gripping the knife still stained with the gray blood of the goblins.
He had assumed he was the only one left in this building. He didn't know when all of this started.
But he thought that in the past three days others had fled or perished when the apocalypse descended.
The stairs leading to the second floor weren't connected to the main living space.
Instead, there was a small room adjacent to the front door, from which a set of stairs ascended to the second floor and then continued to the third.
Zane's mind raced.
"Don't tell me there are more monsters in here… or could it be someone else took shelter?"
He murmured to himself, straining to see through the ceiling hole above him, but the angle made it impossible.
His heartbeat quickened.
For a moment, he hesitated, then called out cautiously, "Is anyone there?"
No response.
He waited a few seconds before trying again. As he grip the knife.
"I mean no harm. If you can hear me, please answer."
Silence.
Just as he was about to turn away, a sudden creaking sound came from above.
His instincts flared, and he instantly raised his knife, pointing it at the hole in the ceiling. He steady himself as to react at the first sign of danger and speaking the magical word.
Then—a face emerged.
At first, relief washed over him.
"A person?"
But the feeling was short-lived.
As the figure leaned forward, Zane's expression stiffened before a smile appears on his face.
The man's right side was horribly mutilated—his face clawed open, exposing torn flesh and jagged bone.
One of his eyes dangled from its socket, barely held by a few strands of tissue. His cheek was partially missing, revealing sharp, bloodied teeth beneath.
Zane felt bile rise in his throat.
The man pushed further, trying to squeeze his way through the hole in the ceiling, but the opening was too small.
The dangling eyeball got caught on a sharp wooden splinter, and as the creature struggled, the last bit of tissue snapped—
Plop!
The eyeball fell, landing directly onto Zane's bed.
Zane's stomach churned, but he didn't move.
Instead, his mind flashed with recognition.
"Is that... Kevin? ?Lu Qian's boyfriend?"
The realization made his blood run cold.
Kevin—if that thing even was Kevin—was no longer human.
The grotesque creature snarled, its mouth twitching unnaturally.
Zane didn't hesitate.
"Sleep."
The moment he spoke the word, the zombie froze.
Its struggle ceased instantly, its half-decayed body going limp as if someone had flipped a switch.
A suffocating silence filled the room.
"Hahahaha!"
Zane suddenly burst into wild, uncontrollable laughter, his shoulders shaking as he doubled over.
"This—" he gasped between fits of manic chuckles, "this is what happens to you, Kevin! Look at you now! This is your fate, and it's all ending in my hands!"
His laughter echoed through the dim room, a mix of triumph, madness, and sheer exhilaration.
Grinning like a devil, he grabbed the five-meter rope lying nearby and tied it securely around the handle of his knife.
"Don't take it to heart, Kevin," he continued, his voice dripping with mock sympathy.
"Just think of this as clearing our debts. Hahaha!"
His cruel laughter faded into a focused smirk as he began swinging the knife in controlled arcs, the blade spinning like a pendulum of death.
With a flick of his wrist, he hurled the knife toward the zombie's face.
Pick!
The knife missed, embedding itself into the ceiling instead.
Zane sighed dramatically and yanked the rope. The knife dislodged and came flying back into his grasp.
"Lucky bastard," he muttered.
Undeterred, he swung again.
Thud!
Another miss—this time, the knife lodged into the wooden beam beside the hole.
Zane's eye twitched.
"Are you dodging on purpose, you undead freak?"
His patience wore thin. Climbing onto the bed for a better angle, he steadied his breathing and narrowed his eyes.
"Alright, third time's the charm."
With a vicious swing, he let the knife fly.
Schlck!
A satisfying crunch of steel piercing flesh filled the air.
The knife sank deep into Kevin's decayed face, skewering his cheek like a kebab.
Zane grinned wickedly, yanking the rope just enough to make the knife twist inside the wound.
"Got you now, asshole."
His eyes gleamed with twisted satisfaction as the zombie twitched involuntarily, still frozen under the effect of his [Sleep] skill.
"Bet you never thought you'd go out like this, huh?!" Zane sneered.
With one last vicious pull, the knife ripped free, taking a chunk of Kevin's skull with it.
A wet squelch filled the air as grayish brain matter spilled onto the floor like overcooked oatmeal.
Plop!
Kevin's severed eyeball bounced off the bed and rolled onto the bloodstained floor.
Ding!
[You have slain an F-Rank Dormant Monster: Zombie]
<+50 EXP>
<+50 Coins>
Zane wiped the sweat from his brow, exhaling sharply.
Then, a slow, victorious grin stretched across his face.
"Hah. That was easier than I thought."
He twirled the bloodstained knife on the rope, humming to himself.
"Who needs a gun when you've got creativity?"