DOOMSDAY LEDGER

Chapter 4: Tier 1 "The Doomsday Cashier"

The rainwater hitting Elian's face felt like sharp gravel thrown from the sky. Cold, brutal, and unforgiving. He ran out of Cosmo Mart, leaving the only place that could be called "safe" that night, for a plan whose chance of success was smaller than winning the lottery.

"Hey! Get over here, you rotting corpses!" Elian yelled with all his might, his voice almost drowned out by the thunder. "Fresh meat here! Still warm! No preservatives!"

His shouting was effective. Very effective.

Hundreds of heads that had been bowed or shuffling their feet in the parking lot turned simultaneously. The sight was more terrifying than any horror movie. Hundreds of pairs of eyes—some pale white, some glowing red, some hollow—were now locked onto one point: Elian.

"Holy crap, there are so many..." Elian muttered, his courage instantly failing. "Okay, Elian. You asked for it, you got it. Run, you idiot!"

Elian spun on his heel and sprinted toward the farthest corner of the parking area, where a concrete utility pole stood leaning, its severed high-voltage cables dancing wildly over the wet asphalt. Blue sparks popped every time the cable ends touched a puddle, creating a deadly danger zone.

Behind him, the sound of a massive growl sounded like the buzzing of a giant swarm of bees. The horde moved. They weren't slow, old-school zombies. They ran. Some were limping, but many sprinted as fast as hurdlers, leaping over car hoods and boundary fences.

"Rico! Now!" Elian yelled without looking back.

At the store entrance, Rico, Mr. Hendra, and Lina ran out, crouching behind the row of parked cars, heading toward an expedition box truck parked at the adjacent shophouse. Elian's crazy plan was simple: Elian was the sacrifice, the rest escape.

Elian jumped over a wrecked scooter lying in his path. His feet landed in ankle-deep water, splashing black mud. His heart was pumping blood so fast his ears were ringing.

One runner zombie—a security guard in a torn uniform—managed to catch up. The creature leaped from the left side, its hand reaching for Elian's shoulder.

"Whoa! Missed me!" Elian instinctively dodged, swinging his mop handle sideways.

Crack!

The cracked wooden mop handle finally gave way. It broke in two upon hitting the security guard's head. Elian was now only holding half a blunt wooden stick.

"Oh, come on! My weapon!" Elian cursed, throwing away the remaining wood.

He had no time to mourn his mop stick. Three other zombies came from the front, cutting off his path. A woman in a house dress, a young man in a metal band t-shirt, and a man with half his face missing.

Elian slammed on the brakes, his shoes squeaking on the wet asphalt. He was surrounded. Three in front, hundreds behind, a shophouse wall to the right, and a burning sedan to the left.

"I'm dead. This time I'm really dead," Elian thought.

He saw the utility pole. Still ten meters away. The sparking cable waved as if mocking him.

The metal t-shirt zombie charged first. Elian kicked its knee, making the creature fall. But the woman in the house dress immediately grabbed Elian's left arm. Her teeth sank into Elian's thick denim jacket.

"Aaargh! Let go!" Elian elbowed the woman's face. Luckily his jacket was thick; the teeth hadn't pierced his skin yet.

Elian struggled, broke free, and ran again. He jumped onto the hood of the burning sedan, feeling the heat of the flames lick at his pants. From the car hood, he leaped far toward the utility pole.

He landed, rolling on the asphalt, right beneath the concrete pole. He was out of breath. His chest ached terribly.

In front of him, the high-voltage cable hissed, its bare end spitting blue sparks into the puddle just two meters from Elian's position.

Elian turned around. His back pressed against the cold concrete pole. Before him, the sea of undead was coming. Hundreds of hands reached out, wanting to tear his flesh. The stench of wet corpses filled the air, overpowering the smell of ozone from the electrical cable.

He looked toward the adjacent shophouse. Rico and the others had successfully entered the box truck. Rico stood at the back door of the truck, waving his hands frantically, shouting something that was inaudible over the sound of the rain.

Elian smiled faintly. At least they were safe.

"Okay, God. If this is the end, please don't make it hurt too much," Elian whispered.

He stared at the dangling cable. His idea was to lure the zombies into the electrified puddle. But he miscalculated. He himself was trapped in the middle of that puddle. If he touched the cable, he'd die along with these zombies.

The largest zombie—perhaps a former bodybuilder judging by the remnants of his muscle—stepped forward first. He let out a low growl, then leaped toward Elian.

Instinctively, Elian raised his hands to block.

And that's when the strangeness happened.

Time seemed to slow down. Raindrops appeared to hang in the air. Elian could see the horrifying details of the yellow teeth of the zombie flying toward him.

The warm sensation in Elian's chest that he had felt inside the store exploded. It felt like a mini nuclear reactor had activated in his heart. A current of static electricity crawled out of his skin pores, making his hair stand up against gravity.

In the sky, black clouds swirled into a vortex directly above the Cosmo Mart parking lot.

Crack... BOOOOM!

A giant bolt of lightning struck down. It didn't hit the utility pole, nor a tree, but Elian.

A blinding white light split the night. The world went completely white. The thunder that followed was so loud it shattered the windows of the cars around the parking lot.

Elian felt no pain. Strangely, he didn't feel the heat of burning. What he felt was... a connection.

It felt like plugging in a USB cable and hearing the 'ding-dong' sound on the computer, but this time his body was the USB, and the lightning was the computer.

Amidst the blinding white light, a transparent, neon blue screen appeared floating in front of his retina. Digital writings scrolled quickly like matrix code.

[SYSTEM DETECTED]

[EXTERNAL ENERGY SOURCE RECEIVED: 1.21 GIGAWATTS]

[MANA CONVERSION: SUCCESSFUL]

[INITIALIZING LEDGER PROTOCOL...]

[ERROR: USER IN CRITICAL CONDITION]

[SOLUTION: FORCED TIER 1 ACTIVATION]

"What is this..." Elian thought. His voice echoed in his own head.

A flat female voice, similar to G****e Translate but smoother, sounded directly inside Elian's brain.

"Welcome, User Elian. Your first transaction has been recorded. Life exchanged for Power. Balance achieved."

Ding!

[Cosmo-Ledger System Activated]

[Role: Merchant of Doom]

[Class: Intern Cashier (Tier 1)]

[Passive Skill Acquired: Static Conductor]

The white light slowly faded.

Elian opened his eyes. He was still leaning against the utility pole. But the rain no longer felt cold. His body was smoking. His clothes were singed in several places, revealing skin that was not burned, but instead glowed faintly with blue circuit patterns beneath it before fading back to normal.

Around him, in a five-meter radius, was a small hell.

Dozens of zombies that had been closest to him, including the bodybuilder, now lay charred on the asphalt. Burnt to a crisp. Black smoke billowed from their stiff bodies. They smelled like burnt satay mixed with burning tires.

The zombies in the back row stopped. They looked confused. Their animal instincts detected danger. A fiercer predator had just been born.

Elian stared at his palms. Still shaking, but not from fear. There was a current of energy humming beneath his skin, demanding to be released.

Above the head of every remaining zombie, Elian saw something new. A red bar floated.

[Hollow Walker - Lv. 2]

[HP: 45/50]

[Infected Citizen - Lv. 1]

[HP: 20/20]

"Am I... am I hallucinating?" Elian mumbled, his voice hoarse.

The transparent blue screen reappeared in his field of vision, as if embedded in his cornea.

[Emergency Mission: Clear Parking Area]

[Target: Kill 3 Hollows within store radius]

[Reward: Active Skill - Shock Sting]

[Progress: 0/3]

Elian laughed. A dry, slightly insane laugh. "Okay. I'm definitely crazy. I played too many games and my brain short-circuited from the lightning."

He tried to stand. His knees were shaky, but his strength returned with unnatural speed. He saw an iron pipe—a former parking sign—lying near his feet, perhaps dislodged by the lightning blast.

Elian picked up the iron pipe. As his fingers touched the metal, tiny blue electrical sparks jumped from his hand to the pipe, making the metal hum softly.

Zzzt.

"Hey!" Elian shouted at the zombies who were still stunned. "Come on! Round two!"

The zombies, though stupid, seemed to sense the challenge. Roars sounded again. Three zombies from the left side ran forward.

Elian didn't run this time. He took a stance. His eyes focused on the lead zombie—a man in a flannel shirt. The HP bar above his head showed [HP: 30/30].

As the zombie leaped, Elian swung his iron pipe. It wasn't a random swing. He felt his body move lighter, more precisely.

Thud!

The iron pipe struck the zombie's temple.

[Critical Hit!]

[-35 HP]

The zombie's head shattered sideways. Its body instantly fell limp. Its HP bar instantly emptied and disappeared, replaced by a small, floating gold number: [+10 XP].

"Holy hell..." Elian's eyes widened. "Is this really like an RPG?"

The two remaining zombies didn't care that their friend was dead. They attacked simultaneously. Elian stepped back, then thrust the tip of his iron pipe into the second zombie's chest.

Electricity from Elian's body flowed through the iron pipe.

ZRAAAK!

The zombie convulsed violently as the high voltage fried its internal organs. Smoke came out of its ears and mouth. Its HP bar dropped drastically from green to red, then empty.

[Passive Skill 'Static Conductor' triggers 'Paralyze' effect]

[Enemy Paralyzed]

The third zombie, a woman in a nurse's uniform, managed to approach from the side. She clawed Elian's arm.

Scratch!

It stung. Blood dripped.

[-5 HP]

A green bar appeared in Elian's view. [User HP: 95/100].

"That hurts, you idiot!" Elian cursed.

The pain reminded him that this wasn't a dream. This was real. The pain was real, the blood was real. He was angry. Adrenaline and rage mixed into one.

Elian spun, swinging his iron pipe with all his might at the nurse zombie's neck.

Crack!

The nurse's head rolled onto the asphalt.

Ding!

[Emergency Mission Complete!]

[Reward Received: Active Skill - Shock Sting (Lv.1)]

[Description: Channels concentrated electricity into a touch. Cost: 5 Mana.]

Elian stood tall in the rain, his breath ragged, the iron pipe in his hand smoking. He looked at the corpses around him, then at the status screen floating in the empty air.

From a distance, in the window of the box truck, Rico and Mr. Hendra stared with wide-open mouths. They didn't see the blue screen; they only saw Elian, who had just been struck by lightning but got up and slaughtered three zombies with an iron pipe that was spitting electricity.

"Elian..." Mr. Hendra mumbled inside the truck, his face pale. "That kid... did he just turn into Gundala?"

In the middle of the parking lot, Elian wiped the blood from his cheek. He looked toward the ruined Cosmo Mart store. There were still many zombies there. But the fear that had been choking him was gone, replaced by curiosity and a strange urge to... "level up."

"Okay, System," Elian whispered to the empty air. "If you want me to be the doomsday cashier, let's start the bookkeeping."

Elian stepped back toward the store. Not to run, but to clear out the unwanted "customers."