Chapter 2 - Two Inventories

After half an hour, the commotion outside had started subsiding as the screams were replaced with the falling sound of the building and the loud honking of the vehicles. It was the scariest thirty-minute event that had happened on Earth so far, leaving everyone in a shocked and hopeless situation. 

[World Cleansing Procedure 1: Meteor Shower Calamity is over.] 

[The next Meteor Shower Calamity will commence next week.] 

Meanwhile, Zach and Zoey could be found crouching on the floor as they looked outside with wide eyes. The situation inside was completely fine as there was only a small portion of the convenience store that had been damaged while most of the building was in good condition aside from the supplies, shelves, and carts that fell on the floor. 

"H-Help." 

Suddenly, a voice of helplessness reached Zach and Zoey's ears. Their eyes then looked to where it came from, and there they saw a woman bleeding with her stomach being pierced with a steel cable. 

"Z-Zach." Zoey called as she held onto Zach's shirt while looking at the woman outside. It was her first time seeing such a thing at such a close distance and it made her mind blank on what to do. 

[Ding!!!]

[Optional Mission has been triggered.] 

[Description: Bring as many lives as possible to safety. 

Reward: 5 Free Attributable Stat Points per 10 people save.] 

Zach, on the other hand, remains silent as he looks at the blue screen in front of him before biting his lips. The notion that everything was real or a dream was still fighting inside his mind, but he felt like he needed to act before he regretted it later. He then just looked at Zoey and told her, "Hey!! Listen!! Look around the place and search for food, water, and other essential things to live. Lastly, don't come out until I come back." 

With that, Zach then walked it out wanting to see the situation outside after thirty minutes of hiding inside the convenience store. Meanwhile, Zoey was completely stupefied by what he just said but she still did what she was told as she hastily looked around the place with her mind still in chaos. 

Meanwhile, Zach, who had gone outside, was completely shocked by the current situation of the place. Destroyed buildings, burning vehicles, and intact and severed bloody dead bodies were all over the place. Despite his unique circumstances, such a scene was still beyond his expectations, and it made him freeze in place not knowing what to do.

"H-Help." 

"Help." 

"H-Help." 

After a while, a voice woke Zach up as he looked at a man asking for him while dragging his broken leg. With that, his senses then came back to him as he moved immediately wanting to help after remembering the mission. 

Forcing himself not to throw up, Zach helped the man as he dragged him back to the convenience store, the only safe building in the area. As he didn't know what to do with his leg, he just reassured him that the place was safe as he walked outside again to look for people who needed help. 

Time continued to pass as it was already night after the sun had finally set however, despite the hours that had gone by, no rescue had appeared in the area as if the police or the government were out of service. Meanwhile, the convenience store where Zach and Zoey have stayed has turned into something like an emergency room of any hospital seeing several injured people gathering in the place. 

Fortunately, the store was large enough to accommodate thirty or so people before Zach finally stopped searching outside as it was now completely dark which made it more dangerous as there was no longer electricity in the area. He knew for himself that he was not a hero who was ready to sacrifice himself for such a thing but was an ordinary person who had a family to look after and care for. 

"Zach. D-Do you think mom and dad are safe?" Zoey couldn't help but ask while looking at the wailing people inside the store. She has also seen the situation outside after doing what Zach had ordered her which fears her knowing that their mom and dad were working at a 50-floor building. 

"I-I don't know." Zach replied with a tired voice after he finally had a breathing. It was also something he was worried about, but he couldn't do anything about it since both of them were working in the neighboring city. He then just looked at the people inside before a system notification got his attention. 

[Ding!!!] 

[It was determined that the host had saved 33 lives.] 

[Counting the equivalent rewards.] 

[15 Free Attributable Stat Points have been given.] 

It was something nice to hear at the moment, but Zach didn't have the mood to feel grateful since there were still important things to do at hand. He then just set it aside for now as he talked and reassured Zoey not to worry saying that everything was going to be alright. 

Two hours later, Zach and Zoey moved out of the convenience store as they could no longer tolerate the noise and bloody smell inside the building. Of course, they were not dark-hearted enough to leave them just like that, as the two of them tended to their simple needs before leaving. 

Carrying some plastic bags full of supplies, Zach and Zoey hurriedly walked their way toward their apartment building hoping that it was all right. While walking, they could see dead bodies everywhere and at the same time saw injured people crying and screaming for help. 

It was something very sad and gory to see but Zach held on to Zoey telling her to look straight ahead and not bother helping them as what they needed to do right now was to find a safe place for the night and observe the situation for the time being. 

It didn't take long before they found themselves in front of their apartment building whose higher floors had disappeared leaving only its lower floors standing its ground. It was completely safe when you just looked at it, but Zach and Zoey remained cautious as they didn't know the current situation inside. 

After that, Zach and Zoey entered the building because fortunately their apartment was situated on the lower floors. Taking the stairs, both of them could now finally rest for the night. And since everything was still fresh, what they all wanted to do was to sleep after eating a little bit of food from the supplies that they had gotten in the convenience store. 

Inside one of the rooms, Zach could be found lying on the bed with his eyes still open looking at the blue screen in front of him. After what happened a while back, he finally had the time to check his status again as he didn't have the luxury of looking it up back in the convenience store. 

[Ding!!!] 

[Name: Zack Anderson 

Tier: 0 

Level: 0 (Progress: 0 %) 

Class: None 

Age: 19 

Strength: 10 

Agility: 10 

Vitality: 20 

Endurance: 10 

Stamina: 10 

Spirit: 100 

Active Skills (0/5): None 

Passive Skills (0/5): None 

System Inventory (∞): Survival Gift Pack 

Survival Inventory (0/10): None

Free Attributable Stat Points: None] 

Completely knowing what to do, Zach already distributed his free attributable stat points on something he deemed appropriate in the current situation. Looking at it now, he was surprised to see his Spirit having perfect 100 points which made him think if every human was the same but since he couldn't see the status of other people, then he wouldn't know if that was the case. 

Looking at his status, Zach felt like he was inside a game which made him think again that just maybe, everything that was going on right now was real and he was not just dreaming. He never stopped thinking about it until now but since he could not do anything, he just accepted it before thinking about something else, especially the function of his system as he still didn't know what happened back then that luckily saved their lives. 

Reading carefully, Zach has come to know that the guide comes in different forms, but everything seems to follow a color coding. Green represents 'Safe,' Yellow represents 'Fairly Safe', Orange represents 'Caution is Advice.', Red represents 'Dangerous', and lastly, Black represents 'Certain Death'. 

Zach couldn't help but gasp thinking how lucky he was after choosing the color green back then because if not, he didn't know if they would survive such a catastrophe. Calming himself down, he then looked at his inventory before frowning upon seeing two kinds of inventory in his status panel. 

[System Inventory (∞) 

Description: A separate subspace granted by the system that can hold an unlimited number of items inside while maintaining their current status. 

[Survival Inventory (0/10) 

Description: A separate and special subspace in which any item that has been placed inside would be granted with unlimited duplication.] 

Zach couldn't help but get up from his bed as he read and looked at the description. It was completely short and simple, but he immediately understood how this inventory works which made him feel with great surprise. 

Without further ado, Zach grabbed his pillow and placed it inside the survival inventory. Waiting for a while, he then thought of having it back but to his surprise, it did not conform with what he was thinking of after the survival inventory turned from 1/10 to 0/10 with the pillow returning to his hand. 

"Huh? How does this work?" Zach asked himself and wondered. He has read and watched several kinds of systems as an author and reader, but it seems the system in front of him was not as simple as it looks. Without backing out, he continued searching for answers since he was also intrigued to know how it worked. 

Zach's hard work has finally compensated after twenty minutes upon seeing his two hands shaking from excitement while holding two identical pillows. After several trials and errors, he finally found the way the Survival Inventory works. What he just needed to do was simply drag the item, instead of taking it out, from the survival inventory to the system inventory that he had and after that, a system prompt option would come out and ask how many duplicates he would like to have. 

"C-Can this also be duplicated?" Zach could not help but feel excitement as he looked at the Survival Gift Pack in his system inventory. Being an author and a reader, it was a norm that everything inside the system gift pack was something that would greatly help the protagonist of every story which made him ecstatic knowing that he could have as many as he wants with it with the help of the Survival Inventory. 

"Z-Zach, are you asleep?" 

Zach, with great excitement, was about to witness the phenomenal event when suddenly a knock and call came from the door interrupting him. With that, he then just put away his excitement as he calmed down and got out of bed knowing who it was. 

Opening the door, Zach looked at his twin sister Zoey in pajamas all the while embracing her pillow. A worried look could be found on his face as he thought something must have happened seeing her looking at him wearing a weird expression. 

"What's the matter?" Zach asked in a soft and caring tone. 

"C-Can I sleep with you?" Hearing Zach, Zoey embraced her pillow tight before answering while looking at Zach embarrassedly. She could still remember that they started sleeping separately when they were 12 but she couldn't help but ask for it now as she could not properly sleep after all the things that happened during the day. 

Zach's eyes shined for a second before a sweet smile formed on his face. He then just reached his hand out to Zoey's head and patted it before guiding her inside as he knew what she was feeling right now since he also felt the same aside from the excitement just a while back. 

On the bed, Zach then could be found staring at Zoey's sleeping face while softly caressing her hair. Aside from his thoughts about the current situation outside, he was, however, more afraid to see that once he woke up, everything that happened was just a dream. 

"If this is a dream then I wouldn't mind not waking up anymore." Zach muttered softly before moving Zoey closer to him and embracing her tenderly not knowing that the latter was still wide awake and just pretending to be asleep. 

'What's with Zach today?' Zoey thought while tightly gripping the pillows in her hands. Ever since earlier in the university, she had already felt like there was something different from him but she couldn't point it out. 

With that, Zach and Zoey were completely on their own as their tired bodies could no longer stop them from sleeping as if nothing had just happened.