Aftermath of the First Wave

A period of one day might not seem like very long, but it really depended on the context. A day hanging out with friends and having fun would pass by like a spring breeze. A day of hard work would feel longer.

A day of fighting against giant killer wasps certainly felt like an eternity.

Shia, who was sitting down in the corner of the room, did not participate in the fighting, but she felt her mental exhaustion accumulating as she watched the insectoid corpses stacking up into a small hill as the day progressed. It actually reached the point where a wall of wasp corpses prevented more from entering the room, though they would manage to break through every now and then, forcing Zhan to quickly fight against a swarm of up to 6 of them at once.

He never dropped his guard, he never relaxed. He increased his stamina and his agility further, but by the end of the day, his muscles still ached like hell and his mind was blurring from the extended period of forced concentration.

Even though Zhan didn't add points into this area, his 'will' stat increased by 0.2 points unknowingly. Zhan looked at his stats tiredly, and despite his intense exhaustion, he grinned.

-

Race: Human (Civilian)

Strength: 3.4

Defence: 2.2

Agility: 4.1

Stamina: 3.5

Vitality: 4.8

Perception: 2.8

Intelligence: 1.6

Will: 4.9

Life-points: 0.3

-

Every small increase was a massive improvement to his abilities. An agility of 4.1 was basically inhuman, and combined with his other stats, he really was too far beyond any normal human now.

Honestly though, killing these wasps didn't provide him with many life-points. Compared to that three headed wolf, 24 hours of wasp killing was only a little bit more profitable. Killing small creatures wasn't the best way to earn life-points, it seemed like killing a single, more powerful creature, was the way to go.

After the full 24 hours was up, the system was kind enough to alert Zhan and let him know that the first wave had finished. He again felt suspicious towards this sort of accuracy and timing, but regardless, he was so tired right now that he fell asleep on the spot.

When he woke up, he was in his room. Room 120, the top floor of the apartment complex. As in, the entirety of the top floor. It wasn't just a room or even a condo, because Zhan had his own complete high performance gym fitted in here. This gym allowed him to train conventionally, but it also contained wooden dummies and other weird things on which he could practice his spear techniques.

As he sat up in his bed and stretched, Zhan noticed that he wasn't alone in his room.

"Hey, Shia, wake up." He nudged the girl lightly.

Shia's performance, despite not fighting, was enough to impress Zhan. Whilst others broke down or ran away, Shia tried to maintain order until the very end. When Zhan told her to follow him, she just left the fighting to him, which made sense given that he could actually fight, whilst she obviously didn't possess such weapon skills.

Zhan didn't really expect everyone to be like him, able to rise to the occasion, fighting bravely against the enemy. In the first place, he didn't really see his actions as something 'brave', but rather, his obsession towards excitement and danger was more like a weak point.

He could have easily lived a boring, safe life until now, but he chose instead to embrace a life filled with danger. He was drawn into the world of fighting until he found himself competing on the most bloody stage on the planet, gladiatorial combat under the syndicate.

Even he had to admit, the sudden change in his life was almost comical. When he was young, he stayed in school without much direction in life, then just 5 years after graduation, he was a champion gladiator having fought to the death over 25 times.

And why did he do all of this?

Because he was bored.

Zhan found modern life too boring, it was so dull that he almost lost his will to live when he was younger. The life of violence was a vice for Zhan, a crutch which he used to prop up his ever-bored psyche. A single fight to the death could leave him satisfied for a month or so afterwards, during which time he would feel much better and could tolerate this monotonous world.

So, when the so called cataclysm struck, Zhan felt as if he had been given a gift from god. This last day, this day filled with exhaustion and tension…was probably the best day of his life! He had fought and killed not only a three headed wolf, but also tens of giant killer wasps!

Normally, after a life and death battle, Zhan would feel a sense of contentment and peace, it was the feeling of having survived and finally being able to take a break…but he did not experience such a feeling this time around.

No, because it wasn't over. That was only the first wave, the next wave would come in one month time. The second wave would be an order of magnitude more dangerous, so he couldn't relax in this time, he needed to find a way to survive.

'Huh…thinking about survival as my main priority…I usually only feel this way during a fight.' Zhan thought.

Shia quickly woke up after Zhan nudged her.

After having the apartment staff carry his exhausted body upstairs, she ended up falling asleep in an awkward position at the edge of his bed. This made it look like she hung around to watch over him, but she really just passed out from tiredness like Zhan.

"Zhan! You're awake…how do you feel?" She quickly stood up and brushed her hair with her hand as she asked. After feeling her messy hair, she wanted to take a shower, badly.

"I'm fine. How about you?" Zhan yawned slightly, then turned on the television.

"Ah, I'm fine, unlike you I didn't fight at all…" Shia blinked, then turned towards the TV uncertainly.

"Blackwater City was plunged into chaos for 24 hours straight…"

"Is this the end of times as we know it? Hundreds of videos captured on mobile phones showcase outbreaks of monstrous animals rampaging through Blackwater City…"

"As you can see Joan, I am currently standing in the wreckage on South Meadow Street. Scenes like this can be found all throughout the city, the damage is thought to be in the billions whilst the number of lives lost is at 42,322 and counting…"

Every channel was discussing the same story. Based on the sensational headlines and dialogue filling every major and minor news outlet alike, it seemed like the strange animals appeared all over Blackwater City. However, this phenomena was limited to Blackwater Island, the rest of the earth was unaffected…for now.

The death toll had surpassed 40,000, but this was the number recorded merely half a day after the animals stopped appearing and people were willing to step out into the streets once again.

There were still some mutated animals running around here and there. It seemed like this day long 'first wave' referred to the period of time during which animals and humans could undergo mutations. After the first wave ended, those mutated organisms remained alive and well.

As for the mutated beasts, most had been killed in vicious battles against civilians, whilst those remaining were hunted down by the police and UN military. There were now only a few stragglers remaining.

Video footage of the various beasts was shown on television in a much more bloody scene than would usually be displayed at this time of day. Zhan guessed that they were hurriedly airing stories to gain more views and weren't properly filtering for the 'appropriate' content.

"This…this is insane!" Shia gasped. "Do you think it's over now? It seems that no more of these beasts are appearing any longer…"

"It's not over." Zhan responded, shaking his head lightly.

Shia was shocked by the confidence with which he said this. She felt chills as she realised that Zhan had not been wrong a single time since this all started.

He noticed the three headed wolf before it appeared, so based on this, she believed that somehow, his opinion should be the truth…in any case, his performance during the last day had left too deep an impression on Shia, she felt naturally inclined to believe in him.

There was much speculation about the mutations across every news station. It was simply too sudden and nobody had a sufficient explanation.

It wasn't even the animals that shocked people the most, but the humans.

Humans were undergoing insane mutations! It seemed like anyone who came into contact with the bodily fluids of a mutated animal had a chance to undergo a mutation themselves. Zhan thought back to Nui, the girl who suddenly changed, developing pink hair and eyes. He thought that maybe he should check up on her…some people who underwent a mutation seemed to completely lose their rational mind.

"Hey, do you know where that pink haired girl lives?" Zhan asked.

"What, are you intending to take advantage of the situation to hook up with that girl?" Shia asked him sharply.

"Of course not." Zhan was left speechless by her sudden accusation. "You're mis-representing me Shia, do you think that a righteous young man like myself would do such a thing?"

Now Shia felt speechless.

"Yes, of course I do. Do you think I haven't noticed those women you bring home every now and then?"

"Ahem, that…" Zhan coughed and decided to change the subject back to the original point. "The pink haired girl, Nui, she had a mutation, right? They're saying that some of mutations continue on for a long period of time, she might have changed further and we don't even know it."

Shia realised that he was right and quickly agreed to take Zhan to Nui's room.

Nui lived on the first floor, just above the reception hall on the ground floor. The higher the floor, the more expensive and lavish the apartment. The first floor was basically exclusively used by students, since it was small, cheap and affordable.

Knock knock knock!

Zhan knocked three times on the door numbered '4' and immediately heard a hasty fumbling sound from within.

"Who is it?" They heard an anxious high pitched voice call out from inside.

"It's Zhan, I'm here with the manager."

"A-ah, landlord!"

"Just call me Zhan." Zhan furrowed his brows, glaring at Shia accusingly. She looked away and pretended to whistle, causing Zhan to sigh and shake his head.

"Anyway, you feeling ok?" He called out to Nui again. "We wanted to check on you since you had a mutation and all." Zhan said this so casually that Nui almost opened the door immediately. However, she stopped herself, deciding to first change her clothes, then slowly opened the door by a crack. She didn't step outside.

Through the crack in the door, Zhan could see that she was wearing a light grey hoodie, covering her head. He could also see her bright pink eyes.

"You gonna open the door or not?"

"I, I think I'll stay like this…"

Zhan and Shia shared a glance. Definitely suspicious.