The alarm had been screaming for forty minutes.Riccardo Gonzales finally slapped it silent at 9:47 a.m. before rolling onto his back and staring at the water-stained ceiling of his condominium unit on the fourteenth floor of Avida Towers, Makati City. Morning light bled through the gap in his curtains while a car horn blared somewhere outside amidst the usual morning chaos of EDSA traffic.He groaned and rubbed his face, muttering, "Dude, why."His phone showed three missed calls from Professor Harmon, fourteen unread group chat messages, and a calendar notification screaming MIDTERM PRESENTATION AT 8:00 AM in bold red letters."Oh, you have got to be kidding me."He was already typing a frantic apology message to his group mates when the building shook.It was not the rumble of a passing truck or construction equipment, but rather a deep and bone-rattling tremor that sent his glass of water sliding off the nightstand and his bookshelf swaying against the wall. Riccardo grabbed the d

Riccardo pulled the overturned kitchen chair off the floor, set it upright, sat down, and stared at the holographic interface floating in the middle of his apartment as if it paid rent."Okay," he said as he took a deep breath to steady himself. "We are really doing this."The interface pulsed gently before a small blinking prompt appeared at the bottom of the glowing screen.[ MANUAL AVAILABLE: RECOMMENDED FOR NEW HOSTS ] Read now? Y/NHe reached out and tapped the affirmative option.What unfolded in front of him was not a simple pamphlet or a quick-start guide, but rather the most comprehensive and exhaustively organized survival document he had ever seen in his life. It was structured with absolute military precision into tabbed sections where each one expanded into sub-sections containing incredibly detailed explanations, diagrams, and footnotes. Riccardo had written a forty-page thesis during his last semester of college, and that massive academic paper looked like a mere sticky

"Hold up," Riccardo said, stopping on the landing between floors twenty-eight and twenty-seven.The column of soldiers behind him stopped with the immediate, silent precision that he was still not entirely used to. Hayes appeared at his shoulder without being summoned, which was either impressive or mildly terrifying depending on the hour."Sir?""There is a tab I have not opened yet," Riccardo noted as he pulled up the interface and scrolled past the stats, skills, inventory, and mission tabs to finally reach a section he had clocked earlier but had not yet found the time to examine. The tab was labeled 'Zombie Encounters', so he confidently tapped it.The tab opened into what could only be described as a comprehensive bestiary. It served as a catalogued archive of every infected variant the System had on record, completely organized by threat tier and complete with behavioral notes, physical descriptions, and specific engagement recommendations. At the top of the active list sat an