Ch. 1 Is this a future world?

Reinhard had just returned from the convenience store.

As he walked home with his head down, he noticed that the surroundings had dimmed.

He looked up.

"Weird person...?"

"That's right! Because of excessive love for soda, I've been with soda day and night, even bathing with soda. When I came to my senses, I found myself transformed into a weird soda monster!" The weird monster shouted, "Soda is a treasure of the human world, everyone should love it! Come, have some soda!"

No wonder it felt so familiar.

It looked like a large glass bottle of cola with limbs.

Although it wasn't the first time, he still wanted to complain. The reasons for transforming into weird monster were too random. Bad habits, excessive stress, or genetic mutations could lead to transformation, but Reinhard mostly encountered the first two. And these weird monster were not really formidable.

"Is that so? Well, good luck then."

Reinhard bypassed the soda weirdo blocking the way and continued walking.

"Thanks for the encouragement. I'll keep working hard, do you think I would say that and let you go so easily?! Don't underestimate me, take this!"

Bang!!!

Before the soda weirdo could finish speaking, a gunshot was heard, followed by the sound of something breaking like glass and causing an explosion.

Without looking back, Reinhard held a M1911A1 with smoke coming out of the barrel.

"Annoying."

As he retracted his hand, the gun disintegrated into invisible particles and returned to Reinhard's body seamlessly. There was no pause, and it happened smoothly.

Reinhard ignored the weirdo he just blasted away and continued towards his accommodation.

...

Currently, Reinhard lived in a remote area.

About a month ago, he, formerly a corporate slave, come here and transformed from an uncle to a young man.

Although there was something similar to a 'system,' it was very unreliable. Besides installing some hardware and software that Reinhard didn't have before, collectively called special abilities, it disappeared without a trace.

With no clue, Reinhard had to survive in this unfamiliar world. Due to lack of money, he settled in the outskirts of a city called Z, recommended by a real estate agent.

Let's briefly introduce this world.

Although it was somewhat unbelievable, it did belong to the future.

Sometimes Reinhard wondered what the world would be like a hundred years, two hundred years, or a thousand years from now. Unfortunately, he wouldn't live that long and could only use his imagination.

Now he had indeed arrived in this future world, but it wasn't as beautiful as he had imagined.

In this world without the concept of countries, looking back to the times when countries still existed was called ancient. Therefore, there was a time gap of at least several hundred years.

In summary, this world had gone through two revolutionary periods.

The first was in the ancient times when there were still concepts of countries and nations. Due to territorial disputes and resource competition, the conflicts escalated into large-scale wars called 'World Wars.' When the population sharply declined, people agreed to a prophecy, putting aside their fighting and gradually unifying the official language, economy, and forming a united government.

The second revolutionary period was relatively short compared to the first. The aftermath of the world wars caused severe consequences, with environmental pollution, explosive reproduction of harmful organisms, and drastic climate changes melting polar ice caps, leading to rising sea levels and submerging many lands.

People had to abandon a significant amount of land and move to a supercontinent to establish a new civilization. The supercontinent was divided into 26 mega-cities labeled A to Z, forming the current structure.

This was the historical information Reinhard found in the library after spending some time.

'Although human civilization has gone through a series of grand events, it seems peace is still hard to come by.' Reinhard thought, 'Maybe it's because I live in the outskirts that I encounter more monster lately.'

He just met one right after returning home.

Today was relatively mild, usually, there would be one every fixed distance. On his way home, the most he encountered at once was over thirty. Although one shot could easily take them down, it was genuinely annoying.

After walking a distance, Reinhard finally reached the front of the apartment.

Due to the high frequency of monster appearances in the outskirts of Z city, where not everyone had the ability to protect themselves like Reinhard, the residents here were very few.

Therefore, rent, utilities, gas, etc., were unbelievably cheap, almost to the point of being free.

But getting around was a bit troublesome.

There were no bus or tram stops around, and there were no convenience stores or facilities for convenient services nearby.

As he was opening the door, he noticed the adjacent door opening.

Out came a bald guy.

"Isn't this Saitama-san? Come out to take out the trash?" Reinhard greeted him.

"Yeah," Saitama smiled.

"Oh."

The first time Reinhard met Saitama was about a month ago.

Back then, he had just arrived in this world, unfamiliar with his abilities and changes in himself, and encountered monster.

Saitama happened to pass by and saved him.

But at that time, Reinhard was still confused, so he didn't bother Saitama. It wasn't until after renting this apartment that he found out Saitama was his neighbor. To express gratitude for saving his life, Reinhard visited and treated him a few times, and they became acquainted.

It was said that Saitama was engaging in hero activities out of interest, and Reinhard could be considered Saitama's first fan.

"By the way, Saitama-san." Reinhard mentioned the groceries he bought and gestured, "I'm planning to make sukiyaki with beef. Do you want to join?"

"Oh, yeah!" Without hesitation, Saitama agreed.

"Then I'll go prepare. Saitama-san, just come over when it's ready."

As he lived alone, the place wasn't too big.

It was approximately the size of twelve tatami mats, with a kitchen, bathroom, balcony, and living room all present. The decoration was basically complete, and there were no issues with light and ventilation. It was a nice place.

He set up a low table in the living room, took out a cartridge stove and a canister of butane, and then brought out a ceramic pot.

Next was preparing the ingredients.

For the broth, he used a dashi made from kombu and bonito flakes, seasoned with mirin, Japanese soy sauce, Japanese sake, and sugar.

The ingredients were classic as well.

Shirataki noodles, tofu, shiitake mushrooms, mizuna, baby bok choy, enoki mushrooms, and, of course, the A5 wagyu beef he specifically bought from the A city today.

'Come to think of it, this is the first time I'm making something like this. It looks good though, maybe I do have a talent for cooking.' Reinhard pondered seriously about the possibility of changing careers.

"Wow, it smells so good!"

Saitama, being familiar, was as carefree as ever.

After swinging open the door, he walked in casually. There was no restraint, as if he had returned to his own home.

Reinhard paid no attention to it.

"Saitama-san, over here." He waved, "The meal is ready. Today, I'm confident in cooking this"

"I won't hold back then!" Saitama's eyes lit up, and saliva couldn't help but flow, "Is this top-grade snowflake beef? So much of it! Damn it, Reinhard, aren't you like me, with not much income? How can you afford such good meat!"

While eagerly eating the beef, Saitama, moved to tears and questioning Reinhard's financial situation like a pauper.

"Huh... Saitama-san, didn't I tell you about my ability? I call it 'Dark Matter.'"