Cheat In Apocalypse

Two

Ray arrived at the office, but an unsettling feeling gnawed at him.

  Something was undeniably wrong, though he couldn't pinpoint what it was.

  "What is this feeling...? Is it the air? No, it's something different," Ray muttered, glancing around uneasily.

  The rain had stopped pouring, but the dark clouds lingered ominously, heavy and unmoving.

  The streets remained empty, as people hadn't yet ventured out after the downpour.

  On the surface, everything seemed normal, but Ray could feel it on his skin.

  Something was off... or perhaps, strangely, something was very right?

  "Maybe I'm imagining things because of all the medications I've been taking," Ray said, shaking his head as if to clear his thoughts.

  "Someone, please help... help!"

  Just as he was about to step into the office, a woman's scream pierced the quiet.

  Snapping his head in the direction of the voice, Ray saw a woman standing in front of the burger shop beside his office.

  She was holding onto a man, likely her boyfriend, who lay on the ground, convulsing violently as though in the throes of a severe seizure.

  "Help... somebody help!" the woman cried, clutching the man tightly.

  "I would help, but I'm in no condition to assist anyone..." Ray muttered to himself, sighing deeply.

  He couldn't even call for help due to the strange phenomenon that had gripped the world over the past week and a half, rendering all forms of wireless communication useless.

  Ray, with his frail body and limited strength, felt powerless to act.

  Then, that unsettling sensation from earlier returned, creeping over him.

  It was as though the very air around him shifted. 

  A cold wind rushed past him, followed closely by a warm breeze.

  His heartbeat quickened for a few moments, erratic and intense.

  And then, to his utter shock, a blue, transparent prompt appeared before his eyes.

  [An unawakened solar system with a viable star and planets has been identified in the Milky Way galaxy in Sector Omega-8.]

  [Locating lifeforms capable of awakening evolutionary traits...]

  [Two planets housing lifeforms with evolutionary traits have been found.]

  [Registering the solar system with its star, referred to as 'Sun' by the inhabitants, into the database.]

  [Arousing the planets in this solar system to release otherworldly essences into the atmosphere simultaneously...]

  Ray stared at the series of messages displayed in the system prompt, his expression a mix of shock, confusion, and fear.

  At that moment, he noticed waves of transparent energies of various colors such as purple, red, black, gold, yellow, green, and all remaining colors emanating from the ground like a mist rising from the Earth.

  The gaseous energies surged upward like a vast sea, reaching the highest point in the sky before disappearing as though they had never been there.

  But their effects were far from inconsequential.

  These gas-like energies blended seamlessly into the atmosphere and began seeping into the skin of every living being on Earth and another red planet within the solar system.

  Ray felt a strange sensation ripple through his body, a mix of cold and heat spreading simultaneously.

  It wasn't exactly uncomfortable, but it didn't feel pleasant either.

  It was unlike anything he had ever experienced.

  Concurrently, Ray felt an intense tremor as if an earthquake had suddenly struck the city.

  The ground beneath him quaked violently, forcing him to abandon his thoughts about the strange phenomenon he had just experienced.

  "What is happening?"

  "It's an earthquake!"

  "I'm going to d-die"

  Ray could hear the panicked voices of people around him, but he was in no position to focus on their distress.

  He had to prioritize his own survival.

  Without hesitation, he darted away from the office building. Instead of entering, he ran toward an open space, away from vehicles and buildings that could collapse during the quake.

  Finding a clear area, Ray sat down cross-legged, clutching his head and covering his ears.

  The cacophony of screams and the rumbling of the earth felt unbearable.

  He gritted his teeth, trembling with fear for his life as the quake rattled his body and soul.

  When the shaking finally ceased, Ray opened his eyes, only to be struck by a new wave of shock and disbelief.

  "What... what is that?"

  Before him stood an enormous cylindrical tower, rising ominously into the sky at the center of the city, and the sky turned darker.

  "What the hell is that?" he whispered, his voice barely audible over the murmurs and cries of the crowd.

  "What is that thing?" 

  The terrified murmurs of the people nearby mirrored his own thoughts.

  Everyone stared at the colossal tower that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere.

  It stood silently, menacingly, with no accompanying sound or explosion save for the earthquake that had preceded it.

  And it wasn't just the city Ray lived.

  Similar ancient, cylindrical towers had materialized every hundred kilometers across the world, appearing on land, sea, and even remote wildernesses.

  At that moment, every single person across the five oceans, seven continents, and 195 countries was united in confusion and terror, all staring at these mysterious towers.

  As the panic reached its peak, a series of incomprehensible messages appeared in everyone's field of vision, delivered by an unknown entity calling itself The System:

  [The System has arrived on your habitable planet, known as 'Earth,' and has forced its inhabitants to undergo metamorphosis. You have gained the right to evolve.]

  [In five seconds, monsters from countless realms will invade Earth.]

  [Remaining Time: 5 seconds.]

  [Kill monsters, and you might survive.]

  [Remaining Time: 4 seconds.]

  [You can now view your attributes, talents, abilities, and skills by simply thinking about them.]

  [Remaining Time: 3 seconds.]

  "Monsters?"

  "Is this some kind of sick joke?"

  The people of Earth were overwhelmed with stress and disbelief, unable to fully comprehend or accept the horrifying reality unfolding before them.

  [Remaining Time: 2 seconds.]

  Ray's breathing quickened as the pain in his chest grew sharper due to his heavy breathing.

  Panic clawed at his mind, and his instincts screamed at him that an unimaginable danger was about to descend.

  "The System?" he murmured.

  Although he had never encountered anything like this before, an inexplicable sense of familiarity stirred within him.

  [Remaining Time: 1 second.]

  "W-What is that?" a man beside Ray stammered, pointing toward the road.

  Ray followed the man's gaze and saw a massive green ring, glowing with sparks, materializing out of thin air.

  It resembled something out of a science fiction movie, a portal pulsating ominously with energy.

  "This... this isn't good," Ray muttered.

  [Remaining Time: 0 seconds.]

  [Monster invasion has begun. Good luck.]

  Ray's face turned ashen as he noticed the man who had been convulsing with seizures earlier now standing unnaturally still.

  The man's skin had turned a dark, blood-red hue, his nails elongated into deadly claws, and his eyes were pitch black, bleeding at the edges.

  An inhuman expression had twisted his once-human features.

  Gggrrr

  A low growl emanated from the man.

  But the terror didn't end there.

  From the portal, monstrous beasts resembling wolves on two legs emerged, their enormous yellow teeth gleaming, and their sharp claws glinting menacingly.

  They growled and snapped, surveying Ray and the people nearby with predatory hunger, as if deciding which prey to pounce on first.

  Beside the demon-looking man, a woman sobbed uncontrollably.

  She had been holding her boyfriend earlier, the same man who had now transformed into something monstrous.

  Tears streamed down her bloodshot eyes as she reached out, attempting to touch him, a decision that sealed her fate.

  Without warning, the transformed man lunged forward, sinking his jagged teeth into her neck and ripping away a massive chunk of flesh.

  Blood spurted violently as he swallowed the flesh in one grotesque gulp.

  The woman crumpled to the ground, lifeless.

  Or so it seemed.

  Moments later, the woman's body convulsed.

  Her limbs twisted unnaturally, and she began to transform, her skin darkening, her nails elongating, and her eyes turning black.

  She, too, had become a monster.

  The horror that followed could only be describe

d as a massacre.

  All over the world, chaos erupted.

  On one side, Humans and animals transformed into grotesque beings, attacking those around them.

  On the other side, beasts of unimaginable savagery and Indescribable horrors poured from the portals known as Gates, indiscriminately slaughtering everything in their path.

  Earth, as humanity had known it, was no more.