2026-01-26 23:35:22“Okay, Raka. The plan is simple,” he whispered to himself. “Find a safer place. A supermarket, maybe. Stock up on food, and more coffee. Most importantly, don’t make any noise.”
His eyes scanned the street. The white swan was still there. Now perched precariously atop the wreckage of a mangled sedan, it appeared to be preening its feathers, completely oblivious to the world that had ended around it.
“It’s just a bird,” Raka muttered, trying to calm himself. “I just need to get through it calmly.”
He began moving across the street with calculated steps, stepping from one piece of rubble to another to muffle the sound. He had almost passed the white swan. Only a few more meters. The swan didn't even look in his direction.
Raka almost breathed a sigh of relief. However, it was big mistake.
Just as he was level with the swan, the creature stopped grooming itself. It straightened its long neck and turned its head with a jerky movement. The swan stared straight at Raka, its black eyes gleaming.
Then without warning, the white swan opened its beak.
Raka already knew what was going to happen next. He raised his hand. “Oh, no, don’t—”
“KWEK!”
The voice exploded like a grenade into the silence. Loud, shrill, and full of arrogance.
The voice echoed through the silent buildings like a beacon shouting, “Hey, monsters! There’s free food here!”
“You crazy bird!” Raka shouted in a panicked whisper.
Instinct took over. Raka leaped toward the swan. His sole goal was to shut that damned beak before it could make another sound.
But Raka was too late.
From the surrounding alleys, three Sleeper figures emerged simultaneously. They moved quickly and silently. They had appeared, drawn by the sound that broke the silence.
“Look what you did!” Raka shouted at the goose, who just stared at him in disdain.
Two Sleepers lunged towards Raka, while another one jumped onto the car to lunge straight towards the source of the sound, the goose.
'Your story is over, noisy bird,' thought Raka as he prepared to run to save himself.
However, what happened next froze his blood. The Sleeper landed in front of the swan, its long claws swinging to tear the white creature in two.
The swan didn't move. It just puffed out its chest a little.
SHRRIIING!
As the monster's claws touched the goose's feathers, a metallic sound rang out. The sleeper was thrown backward as if it had just hit a steel wall.
The arm he had used to attack was now torn to shreds, spraying a thick black liquid onto the asphalt. The goose feathers were razor-sharp and hard.
The injured sleeper let out a silent scream and collapsed. The swan began to preen its chest feathers as if it had just swatted away a fly.
Raka stared at the scene with his mouth agape. “What… what the hell is that?”
The other two Sleepers now turned their full attention to Raka. A much softer target, one that wasn't made of razor blades.
“Okay, running is the best plan!”
Raka turned and ran as fast as he could. Adrenaline and caffeine gave him a decent amount of speed, but the Sleepers weren't slow either. They chased after him silently, their long strides quickly closing the distance.
As Raka was running for his life, the blue notification he hated the most appeared again.
[Mandatory Active Side Quest: Rescue the Arrogant Fowl!]
[Target: Anomalous Creature #001. Codename: Immortal Swan]
[Objective: Save the Immortal Swan from danger.]
[Reward: Life]
[Penalty: Imminent death through System intervention]
Raka nearly tripped over his own feet as he read it. He glanced back. He found the swan in no danger. In fact, it was currently pecking at Sleeper's dead eyes nonchalantly.
“Save him?!” Raka shouted in frustration. “System, are you blind?! He doesn’t need saving! I do!”
[Target in potential danger in the future. It's the rule. Complete the mission or you're disqualified.] the System replied bureaucratically.
“It’s not fair!” Raka growled. “Why should I risk my life for that arrogant mutant bird?!”
[Disqualification Countdown Begins: 10… 9…]
“OK! OK! I’LL DO IT, DAMN IT!”
With endless curses, Raka braked suddenly, nearly colliding with the Sleepers behind him. He turned and ran back to the car.
“Come on, you crazy bird! Let’s go!” he shouted as he approached.
The goose looked at him, then went back to pecking at the monster's corpse as if to say, “I'm busy.”
"No time!"
Raka didn't want to bother anymore. He grabbed the swan's body and lifted it. Raka thought he would feel the softness of its feathers, but instead, what he felt was the weight and solidity of a marble statue.
“KWEK!” The goose protested because it didn’t like being held.
“Shut up and cooperate!” said Raka while hugging the goose tightly to his chest and running again with the additional weight that continued to struggle.
The Sleepers were chasing behind.
Raka ran helter-skelter through the destroyed streets while carrying a bulletproof goose that wouldn't stop pecking at his head.
“Ouch! Stop that!” he screamed.
Every peck felt like a hammer blow.
[User666: HAHAHAHA being beaten by a duck. The dumbest host of all time.]
“It's a goose, you idiot!” Raka replied to the comment in the corner of his view.
Knock!
“Oww! My head is going to leak!” he screamed again as the goose pecked his head.
Raka turned sharply into a narrow alley, hoping to lose track of his pursuers.
However, bad luck had become his best friend. The alley turned out to be a dead end. A tall brick wall loomed before him.
Raka turned around to find another way out when two Sleepers blocked the only exit. They approached slowly, as if they knew their prey was cornered.
"We're finished," Raka sighed, then pressed his back against the wall.
He was too tired to run anymore and his head was dizzy from being pecked. In desperation, his grip on the swan loosened.
The swan seized the opportunity and jumped down from Raka's embrace and landed gracefully on the ground. It didn't run. Instead, it took a few steps forward, facing the two monsters directly.
“What are you doing? Get back!” Raka whispered in panic.
The swan ignored him. It straightened up, puffed out its chest, and flapped its wings.
SHIIIIING—WHOOSH!
The flapping of its wings produced no wind but the sound of metal being swung at high speed. The tips of its steel-hard wings moved in a deadly arc.
The Sleepers' two eyeless heads flew into the air, spinning around before crashing to the ground. Their headless bodies jerked several times before collapsing lifelessly.
Raka stared at the scene with his mouth hanging open. His brain was starting to fail to process what he had just witnessed.
'That swan just… beheaded two monsters… with its wings.' He thought.
The swan folded its wings back with a soft, contented quack, then turned to Raka as if to say, “See? I don’t need your help.”
Just then, a festive golden notification appeared before Raka's eyes, complete with a virtual confetti effect.
[WOW! WHAT AN AMAZING ACTION FROM ANOMALY #001!]
[MVP OF THIS ROUND: NEW TEAM MEMBER!]
[The System Decides to Give a Special Reward! Give a Gift to the Swan eh~]
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Chapter 9: Rain and Blind Radar
“Damn!” cursed Raka.However, he was sure he would be fine as long as he had coffee with him.The deafening System Alarm was still ringing in his head, as Raka kicked open the balcony door and dragged himself back into the darkness of the night.He didn't look back, not wanting to see the old woman's corpse or the bird that had caused it. He knew only one thing: he had to leave.“This way!” he called to Baginda, who he was sure would follow him. Then he pointed to the emergency stairs they had climbed.As his foot touched the first metal step, a drop of water fell down his cheek. It was cold and large. In the next instant, the sky, which had been cloudy, shattered.A torrential downpour came down suddenly, as if someone had just dumped an ocean from above. In an instant, the entire city was drenched in a deluge of water, obscuring sight and drowning out all sound.“Perfect,” Raka grumbled, his hair instantly limp and sticking to his forehead. “Absolutely perfect.”He hurried down the
Chapter 8: Humans Are More Terrifying
The air rifle's barrel shifted position, aiming straight between Raka's eyes."Ma'am, please, put the gun down," Raka said in a low, cautious voice. He raised both hands in the air to show that he wasn't threatening at all.The old woman before him stood straight, her wrinkled finger still on the trigger, her gray eyes narrowed in suspicion and fear.Baginda landed silently on the balcony. The swan positioned itself between Raka and the only exit.“I’m not a monster,” Raka added. “My name is Raka. I’m just… trying to survive.”“Liar,” the woman hissed in a hoarse, trembling voice. “I saw you. You were jumping between buildings like you weren’t human. And that thing behind you… it’s no ordinary animal.”“He… is a little different, Ma’am,” Raka admitted. He glanced at Baginda, who was now staring at the old woman with the intensity of a master predator. “But we didn’t hurt you. We just needed a place to hide for a while.”“Hurt me?” The woman laughed humorlessly. “You did it! You brough
Chapter 7: Parkour or Fall
'Run away, you idiot!'Raka's brain commanded his legs to run. However, his muscles refused, and he froze in place. He could only stare in horror as the creature dragged the rest of his body up onto the roof. The creature lowered its body to cling to the corrugated iron surface, its long arms and legs stretched out like a spider's.Baginda, who had been silent until now, finally let out a low, sharp "quack." His voice sounded like an arrogant warning. He stepped forward and positioned himself between Raka and the new threat.“Baginda, be careful!” Raka whispered. “That creature seems… different.”The System Panel lit up on his retina, reading his thoughts just now.[Warning: 'Crawler' type Sleeper variant detected.] [Attributes: Agility A+, Strength D. Highly sensitive to vibrations and low frequency sounds.]'No wonder,' Raka thought again.He still couldn't or wouldn't make a sound hoping that by doing so, Crawler would leave him.The crawler hissed softly and then shot forward. It
Chapter 6: Social Inequality Between Species
"Come on."Without thinking, Raka snatched the goose that was grooming its feathers again and ran as fast as he could. He ignored the goose's soft "quacking" sound because he saw the emergency stairs directly across the dead-end street.They reached the other side of the street safely. A rusty emergency ladder made Raka wince. He released the goose he was carrying onto the rung above his head.“Get on,” he said to the goose.The goose turned to Raka and pecked his head once as if to say, "Don't you see my short legs?"“Ouch,” Raka complained, rubbing his aching head. “I asked you to get on, not peck my head.”The goose pecked Raka's head again."Okay, okay," growled Raka then grabbed the goose excitedly and put it on his shoulder. "Stay there. I'll go up."After struggling to climb to the roof of the three-story shophouse, Raka leaned against the parapet. His breath was rising and falling rapidly. Carrying the weight of the goose on his shoulders and having to climb the stairs to the
Chapter 5: Goose, the Immortal Tanker
“Okay, Raka. The plan is simple,” he whispered to himself. “Find a safer place. A supermarket, maybe. Stock up on food, and more coffee. Most importantly, don’t make any noise.”His eyes scanned the street. The white swan was still there. Now perched precariously atop the wreckage of a mangled sedan, it appeared to be preening its feathers, completely oblivious to the world that had ended around it.“It’s just a bird,” Raka muttered, trying to calm himself. “I just need to get through it calmly.”He began moving across the street with calculated steps, stepping from one piece of rubble to another to muffle the sound. He had almost passed the white swan. Only a few more meters. The swan didn't even look in his direction.Raka almost breathed a sigh of relief. However, it was big mistake.Just as he was level with the swan, the creature stopped grooming itself. It straightened its long neck and turned its head with a jerky movement. The swan stared straight at Raka, its black eyes gleam
Chapter 4: Withdrawal in the Midst of the Apocalypse
“It hurts.” Raka suddenly complained.The pain came like a sledgehammer. It started as a stabbing pain in her skull and then spread to a torturous throbbing as her heartbeat grew weaker.Raka's body lay paralyzed on the warehouse floor, every muscle refusing to cooperate. Cold sweat beaded on his forehead, and his vision blurred, transforming the pile of burlap sacks in the corner into hideous monsters.“It… crashed …” he groaned hoarsely. “But… this is worse than anything.”The vibrations from outside had stopped. He knew the sea of monsters was out there, silently roaming. He was trapped here. Dying from a condition that would normally only make him groan and search for a cup of coffee.A blue panel flashed across his retina, blinking as if mocking his suffering.[System Alert: Critical Blood Caffeine Level.] [Heart Rate (BPM): 55… 54… 53…] [Analysis: Host's cardiovascular system has been modified. Congratulations, your heart is now a high-performance internal combustion engine th
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