Prologue (1)

The croaks of the undead emnated through the night. These deceased bodies had a putrid smell, attracting many flies and scavengers. However, these insects and animals simply became prey to the zombies, as they too get infected easily.

The once mighty skyscrapers that towered through the sky were now nothing but deserted. Their windows were completely smashed in and the furnitures inside were either taken away long ago, or was so dilapidated that they were just left there to rot.

A crimson moon hung in the sky, giving the whole land an eerie feeling, as if the world itself is bleeding. Hidden inside a forest, concealed behind multiple bushes and branches was a rather large cave. The cave was mostly empty. However, there were many wandering zombies were still walking about inside. One may wonder how did these zombies enter a cave concealed by nature? Then one may as well ask why did nature create such a horrible virus that killed 99% of the human population in a single year.

On this day, a young boy ran through the forest, he made as little noise as possible. One may not even hear the sound of the boy's footsteps if not for the twigs and leaves that were on the ground. The boy was carrying a large backpack. The backpack was camouflaged in green, it gave off a dusty feel, as if it was used and reused for many years already. The owner of the backpack suddenly stopped running. He held something in his hend and opened it. It was a yellow piece of paper. Within the paper denoted multiple dots, several squares, some squiggly lines and a large 'X' placed right at the top right corner of the paper. It seemed to be a treasure map.

"I'm close." The boy thought.

The forest was so thick that even the crimson moon could not penetrate it, making the whole place completely dark. Occassionally, there would be sounds of animals roaring from the background. The boy was already used to such sounds. He started to scan every single inch of the ground in front of him and toward his his sides. Then, he took a certain direction. After passing by a few trees, he changed directions again. After changing directions a few more times, he finally arrived at the place he was looking for.

The boy walked into the bushes, pushing the branches away. He took caution with every step, afraid that there might be traps along the way. However, there seemed to be nothing preventing him from moving forwards. He did not lower his guard, simply taking step by step until he finally reached into empty space.

The entrance of the cave was filled with zombies. They wandered about restlessly, making gargling sounds. The boy sprayed something onto his body and walked slowly, acting like he was one of the zombies. He slowly inched inwards, acting as if he was just wandering around. Then, he finally reached a bifurcation.

The boy noticed a lack of zombies on both sides. This could only mean 2 things: 1. There are really no zombies from this point onwards. 2. A stronger zombie is located ahead, causing the weaker zombies to be intimidated and moved away.

As the boy started walking onto the left side of the road, he started praying that it was going to be option 1. But it seems he had no luck.

Just ahead of him was a large mutated beetle. The beetle was towering, its body almost completely covering the whole cave. The boy started tiptoeing backwards, hoping the beetle would not notice him. However, it seemed that today was an inauspicious day for him. The beetle made a large cry and rushed towards him. The boy turned around and ran.

Even though the beetle was insanely large, it seemed to be quite nimble as well. After running for a few seconds, the beetle was already closing in on the boy. The boy returned to the bifurcation and immediately turned, heading towards the right side of the tunnel. The beetle followed. When it seemed like the beetle was just about to claw onto the boy's back, something landed onto its own back. It was another mutated animal.

It was an animal that mainly used echolocation to sense its surroundings -- a mutated bat. Originally, bats made sounds in a frequency outside of the humans' hearing range in order to use their echolocation abilities. However, this mutated bat's screech was completely hearable for human beings, and apparently the beetle as well, since both of them were immediately disoriented by the screech.

The boy shook his head hard. While the bat was fighting against the beetle, he ran inwards into the cave. He ran until he was out of breath. Holding his knees and panting, the boy took a look at his surroundings. It seemed as though he had arrived near an underground stream. The stream, however, was quite murky. The contaminated green water contained multiple chemicals that might damage a human body.

As the boy could not swim through the stream, nor could he turn around and head back as the beetle and the bat was still fighting, he could only stand and contemplate on what he would do next.

Suddenly, sounds of clapping echoed through the cave. "Well done. It seemed you have ran past my pets and arrived at the dead end that I have arranged. You are my first guest in a very long time, so please do try and entertain me." The person said in a playful tone.

The hairs on the boy's body immediately raised. "Run!" His instincts and his knowledge coincided, both telling him to leave this place as soon as possible. However, after he took a single step...

"Oh. You're not thinking of running away, are you? But you have not even entertained me yet. Oh well."

A slashing sound could be heard. Then a blood-curdling scream.

The boy fell to the ground, his legs completely severed below his knees.

"Tch! You couldn't even withstand a windblade? How weak. I would rather play with my pets than you. Begone!" The person who commited such a heinous act simply sound irritated, completely ignoring the fact that he just cripped a boy.

Another sharp blade was sent out.

This time, the boy knew what was coming. He immediately rolled his body in the direction of the river, but he was still too slow. The windblade severed his right arm. The boy screamed again in pain. He tried his hardest to continue to row towards the river.

"Oh? You're still alive? How truly annoying. You're like a cockroach, after stepping on you a few times, you still would not die. Should I just send a windstorm and cut you into a million tiny pieces? But I do not want to waste such an effort on a low-class human being." The person muttered in disdain.

The boy was about to reach the river, but the person sent out another sharp blade. This sharp blade successfully cut the boy's body completely in half, in the horizontal direction. His heart, lungs and many other organs were severed, while most of his other organs were completely missing. As the innards of the boy splattered out, the motion of the windblade caused the boy's upper body to fall into the murky river, disappearing downstream.

"Hmph! That was no fun! I really should not have picked this cave as my dwelling. Where should I go to find something to entertain myself with?" Sighing, the person hummed and walked away.

The boy's upper body flowed downstream. Most of his innards were already washed away, turning him into a husk of a body. By the time he was washed ashore, his upper body was turned into a piece of skin coated on top of the boy's bones. Above his neck, his face could be seen. The boy was completely pale, devoid of life. His facial features were sharp, making him look slightly cold. However, his accentuated eyebrows and well-shaped nose made him quite handsome. Unfortunately, there was a long scar running from the right side of his forehead, through his eyes, and down all the way to his jawline. This scar made the boy look more fierce than other people his age.

As the boy laid there, something seemed to have activated.

"Scanning gene sequence."

"Scanning soul body."

"Scanning level of biological degredation."

The female monotone voice echoed through the whole cave, but the only person that was there to hear it was dead.

"Gene sequence: suboptimal. Soul body: intact. Biological degredation: Very severe."

"Retrieval unit, please proceed to retrieve the body of designate Y3L2P9 and send it to lifepod 2."

Two robots rolled through the cave and arrived in front of the corpse. They used their metal hands to drag the corpse through a certain hidden tunnel. The hidden tunnel closed its entrance. There was no evidence that anyone have ever been to this area of the cave afterwards.