It was just a typical day for everyone, a workday where people were busy chasing after trains, or maybe even cursing to themselves while sprinting to the office because they woke up late.The clock showed eight in the morning, the time when office workers were settled in their high-rise towers. They looked at the coffee, held in their paper cups, and watched as the liquid began to ripple.“What the heck,” one of the workers muttered, talking to his colleague in front of the window on the twenty-fifth floor, facing a view of glittering glass buildings caught by the morning sun.“Probably just a truck passing by. The vibration travels, bro,” his colleague answered, shrugging it off.Before the first worker could argue, a larger tremor hit. It made everything inside the office, the entire building, sway violently. The shaking grew, sending everyone into a panic, screaming, and scrambling to protect themselves.“Earthquake! Earthquake!”“Oh my God…”But the tremor kept getting bigger, and

They slumped, backs to the sealed window, spent. All the tension, the raw fear from the chase, drained out of them, if only for a moment's grace. The silence was thick and heavy.Then, without warning, Raline listed sideways and slid to the floor weakly. Devon caught her, his arms moving instantly. Her body was still burning hot against his skin.He lifted her easily as she was so thin, cradling his younger sister, and carried her across the debris strewn floor to the mat he had pulled out and laid down earlier.This mini mart was a temporary sanctuary. It held everything they needed—food, water, medicine, even a surprisingly clean restroom on the same floor. They could hole up here for a decent while, waiting for the outside to settle down, for the crushing danger to recede.Gently, he covered her with a thin blanket. He left her to her sleep, which was likely more of a fevered stupor. Devon, however, couldn't rest. His body was aching, but his mind refused the peace of exhaustion.I

Devon stared at the golden panel hanging in the air, the text glowing black. A flush of excitement warmed him, the idea of gaining Anubis's power, but something about the text bothered him.'Why is the damn status so long?'He focused, reading the lengthy text from the top, his eyes scanning every line.[STATUS WINDOW] [Name: Devon Adams Lambert] [Title: Heir of Anubis] [Rank: C — Adept Absorber] [Level: 1] [Health: 220/220] [Mortuary Essence (ME): 100/100]He blinked at the initial bars. 'You've gotta be kidding me," he whispered, careful not to wake Raline. "This is… this is like a real LitRPG."He let out a short, nervous laugh, a mix of disbelief and gallows humor. "I read so many of these novels, they always talk about power systems. And now I actually get one?"His eyes slid to the next section.[Statistics:] - [Strength (STR): 14] - [Agility (AGI): 13] - [Vitality (VIT): 15] - [Intelligence (INT): 16] - [Wisdom (WIS): 17] - [Charisma (CHA): 10] - [Defense (DEF): 13

Raline, his sweet little sister, was five year younger. She naturally possessed their mother's softer, gentler face. Devon, now twenty-one, had inherited their father's sharp features.Their parents had died, both in a work accident, when Devon was seventeen, and he'd been forced to drop out of school. He had to earn money for himself and Raline.True, the workplace accident had left them with some insurance money, but it wasn't much, and Raline's constant illnesses bled them dry. Therefore, Devon had to keep searching for cash.Now, for him, she was the only anchor to life he had left. She had also quit school, because her frail health meant she was always absent.But she wasn't a gloomy child. She always tried to support Devon, with whatever she could manage.Sometimes, she took part-time work from a bridal shop, sewing sequins onto wedding dresses, a job she kept secret. It often meant staying up late to hit deadlines.Devon wasn't completely ignorant of this. Their financial situ

The skeletal horse neighed, rising onto its hind legs, its front hooves pointed at Devon. The rider stayed mounted, and when the horse's front legs landed back on the earth, the rider, also the living Skeleton, jumped forward.He landed smoothly on the ground, walking toward Devon with a palpable, threatening aura. The body wore no clothes, showing off its full skeletal form, but the creature did wear a cape without a hood.Its hand held a large, long sword, still in its sheath. As it walked across the flat ground, the empty sockets of its eyes fixed on Devon.Seeing this Skeleton, whose capabilities he knew had to be superior to the scout he had killed in the mini mart, Devon didn't dare act rashly. He remained standing in the middle of the clearing, waiting for the creature to approach.After about ten meters, the Skeleton stopped. It didn't speak, because it couldn't, but it drew its sword with a deliberately slow, drawn-out motion.Devon heard Raline gasp, but he didn't look towar