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2024-10-29 19:42:56*********** TRIGGER WARNING: Violence and Attempted Rape. Consider yourself warned. ************
Zack glances at Celeste, a silent exchange of dread passing between them.
“Listen,” he starts, trying to reason with the barging men. “I don’t have money right now, but I promise I will pay.”
“And we warned you before,” Adi says. “Just steal it from that woman over there.”
“How much was it?” Celeste whispers to Zack.
“Don’t bother, Celeste,” he says, not wanting to involve her in it.
Suddenly, Celeste steps forward. “How much is his debt?” she asks again, her voice laced with defiance.
Zack pales at the sight of her standing up for him, for them.
“Celeste…” he tries to intervene, but she brushes him off.
“I just told you I will help, right?” she says, before turning to face the goons again.
“How much was it?” she asks again, this time louder.
“Ten thousand dollars,” Adi replies with a sly smirk on his face.
Zack gasps. It has already ballooned that much?!
Celeste turns her attention back to him and asks, “I’m guessing that’s over the loan amount?”
“It is not supposed to be that huge…” he answers, his face going pale.
Sighing, Celeste turns her attention back to the goons. “We’ll pay it, but give us until tomorrow to withdraw.”
“Tomorrow? We want it now,” Adi answers, a wicked grin on his face.
Zack can see that he’s assessing Celeste, his eyes raking over her body with a lustful intent. He wanted to punch Adi right then and there for even thinking about her in that way. But he knows he has to keep calm if he wants to get out of this situation unharmed.
Celeste doesn’t back down, though. She stands her ground, her voice firm and confident.
“After you have destroyed my door, I don’t think you have the right to demand,” she points out.
Adi licks his lips as he continues to stare at her. Zack can see the dangerous glint in his eyes, and he doesn’t like it one bit.
“No right to demand?” Adi remarks, laughing. “Men, did you hear that?!”
The other men laugh and then Celeste snaps at them. “If you have nothing more to say, get out of my apartment!”
The men laugh all the more. Zack holds onto her arms tightly, trying to stop her from provoking the men any further, especially when their leering gazes are making him sick to his stomach.
“Or what, darling?” scoffs another, his gaze raking over her form. “You’ll call the guards?”
Then one of the men takes a step towards them and, despite himself, Zack steps in front of Celeste as if to protect her.
“I will pay, I promise,” he says, his voice shaking slightly as he tries to defuse the situation. “Just give us until tomorrow. Or even later.”
The man laughs mockingly at him. “We don’t care about your promises. We want our money now.”
“Do you really think threatening us is going to make us magically produce ten thousand dollars?” she retorts.
Zack clicks his tongue. She should just be quiet! Can’t she see that she’s just riling them up?!
Then the goons exchange glances before one of them smirks at Celeste. “Maybe not magically,” he says with a wink. “But we can think of other ways that you can pay us back.”
Celeste frowns at the insinuation, and Zack’s grip on her arm tightens.
“We’ll pay, just leave us alone,” he pleads this time.
But the goons aren’t so easily satisfied. They start advancing towards him and Celeste, their intentions clear.
“Touch her and I swear…” Zack’s voice is a hoarse whisper. His body is still aching from all the injuries he has incurred the past few days. He can’t fight now, and be beaten up again. “I swear that you won’t like it one bit!”
“Big words for a deadbeat like you,” Adi scorns.
“Leave this apartment now!” she screams. Zack glances at her and sees that she is already calling someone on her phone.
“Who are you calling? End that call, bitch!” Adi orders her.
“I will end this, only if you leave this place.”
Suddenly, Adi rushes to her. His hand connects to Celeste’s cheek with a loud smack. She stumbles and a gasp escapes her lips as she uses the couch for support, her phone skidding away from her reach.
Zack feels his heart drop, his stomach clenching. He sees red and, without thinking, he lunges forward, shoving Adi away from Celeste.
“Don’t you dare touch her!” he growls, his voice raw and filled with fury.
Adi stumbles back at the unexpected force of his attack. The other goons quickly move in, surrounding him.
“You shouldn’t have done that,” Adi sneers, wiping a trickle of blood from the corner of his mouth. “Now we’ll make sure you pay!”
Celeste wipes the blood from her nose, and she groans at the pain. Zack’s pulse hammers in his ears, and he feels a more primal need to protect her.
He attacks Adi, but Ben catches a hold of him. Zack pulls him away from Celeste but they push him down onto the floor. They easily overpower him and their fists start to rain down on his body.
“Get away from her!” he shouts, despite his own plight. He tries to push past the three men who surround him, but he is just getting pulled back and used as a punching bag.
He then sees Adi rip off Celeste’s shirt. She pushes at him, but then she is pinned down against the floor, unable to escape as he starts tearing all her clothes.
“Leave us alone!” she screams at Adi.
“Your little boyfriend can’t do much to save you now,” he says, leering at Celeste before burying his face in her neck.
Celeste doesn’t let out a cry for help. She just pushes against Adi and tries to scratch him. In horror, he sees Adi taking her shorts off.
“Don’t you d—”
A punch connects to his face again, cutting off his threats. He struggles to get away, but his limbs are shaking and he feels weak.
The three men continue to pummel his body. His vision is blurred and his head is spinning from all the blows he is receiving. But through the haze, he can see Adi on top of Celeste, taking off the last of her clothes, spreading her legs, forcing himself on her. This time, he can see her tears.
“Don’t touch her…” he whimpers, trying to push himself up.
Adi looks up at him with a smirk. “Your little girlfriend is quite feisty,” he taunts. “But she won’t be able to resist me for long.”
“Go away!” she screams at him.
“It’s your fault, darling. You are too pretty to be involved with our Zack-boy.”
“You bastard! It’s not about how I look! I’m sure you would fuck anyone with a hole!”
She then continues to fight against him, pushing him off her with all her strength. But she’s no match for his bigger and stronger frame. Tears stream down her face, struggling against him as he forces to spread her legs.
“Stop that!” she cries out, struggling in vain. “I am warning you!”
Zack’s heart hammers in his chest as he watches the scene unfold in front of him. He desperately tries to break free from the grip of the goons, but they continue to beat him down.
Adi’s fist rise to the air and then it connects to Celeste’s temple in a sickening thud. She groans on the floor, her screams muffled by the brute force of the blow.
“Leave her alone!” he screams, furious and desperate. “Just beat me up!”
Adi laughs cruelly as he leans down to kiss Celeste’s chest. She squirms under him, kicking him, her cries getting more and more pained. She looks much weaker now, and unable to fight any longer.
In horror, he traps both her arms and legs. Adi is about to penetrate her when events become slower. At the sound of her cries, the room seems to tilt and reality blurs at the edges.
“NO!!!” Zack screams, his rage igniting.
Something stirs inside him, and it’s not his fury and desperation to save Celeste. It’s something else entirely. It feels like his will, and not his, at the same time. But one thing is for certain, he can feel power, a power enough to change his fate.
Then his heart thrums a frantic rhythm against his ribcage. A jolt of electricity courses through his veins. He feels an energy, raw and untamed, pulsing within him.
Something warps in front of him, and then an interface materializes before his eyes, ethereal and luminescent. Texts dance around it and then it forms into a string of words.
Task: Protect Celeste. Neutralize the threat.Success: Attributes Statistics Screen
Failure: Death
Consequence: ______
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Zack’s mind races, trying to make sense of what’s happening now. It looks like the screen of an ordinary video game, but smaller and miniaturized with fewer details. And besides… Attributes Statistics? Death? An empty Consequence? The system? What does it all mean? Then, remembering the urgency of his situation, he shifts his attention to Celeste. Her eyes are closed tightly, her face a picture of fear and disgust. A notification appears again. “Being a first-time user of the Zenith System, all your attributes will be reset and all wounds will be healed.” There’s a ting, and Zack stands up, discovering that his body feels light and energized. There is no more pain and exhaustion. The wounds on his face and body disappear as if they are never there. He looks around, everything is still moving in slow motion. Without a second thought, he moves towards Celeste, who is still struggling under Adi’s weight. He can feel the power coursing through him, urging him to protect her. He grabs
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Zack frowns. Why is failure always equal to death?! And why is the consequence always left as blank?! Nevermind that. At least, he got a new task this time. He’s not going to question it for fear that it will disappear. But, seriously? Thugs are following him? Are they in the same loan agency as Adi and the other three men? And so, Zack enters a convenience store. He buys the cheapest drink they have and subtly glances outside. There they are, he thinks, seeing the men outside the store, looking for him. They are wearing their typical dark clothes, their faces obscured by hoodies. Zack can see the telltale signs of their tattoos, peeking out from underneath their sleeves. He can also see the knives holstered to their belts. Thankfully, they don’t have guns, or else this task has already ended — with his death, that is. He finishes the last sip of his drink and heads outside, ready to face them. But before that, he needs to bring them somewhere with no crowd. It should also be a pla
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“What is going on?!” Zack groans, feeling like he’s trapped in some horror movie.He quickly finds himself running down a narrow alleyway, the sound of footsteps behind him growing louder. He takes a sharp turn and sees a door at the end of the alley. Without hesitation, he flings it open and shuts it behind him, leaning against it to catch his breath.“Man... This Luck stat is really NOT working out for me,” he pants between deep breaths. However, he knows that he needs to defeat ten zombies within 24 hours, but to do that, he needs weapons.After gaining his breath, he looks around. He’s in some kind of an abandoned warehouse. Maybe he can find some weapons here? Now, more than ever, he needs that Luck attribute to work!“Come on, where are you?!” he mutters under his breath.Just then, he catches sight of an old metal pipe lying on the ground. Without hesitation, he grabs it and swings it around experimentally. It’s not the best weapon, but it’ll have to do for now.He takes a dee
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Zack quickly turns and heads back towards the front door, determined to leave before it’s too late. As he reaches for the doorknob, he hears growls coming from outside.“Shit,” he mutters under his breath.Instead, he exits through the back door. He rushes out of the house while frantically scanning for any signs of zombies, and a house that seems empty.He runs past houses until he nears the tenth house along the same street. There is something different about it. The house is barricaded with wooden planks over its windows and doors.Zack quickly makes his way towards the house and starts to climb up onto its roof using a nearby tree branch. Thankfully, he’s stronger now, or else he won’t even be able to pull himself up the first tree branch.As soon as he reaches the roof, Zack takes a moment to catch his breath before moving towards a small attic window that was thankfully left open.He carefully climbs in th
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“AHHHHH!” Zack screams, trying to get courage and curb the pain from all the screaming. The time is ticking. Only five minutes remain and he is still sandwiched between the giant zombie and a wall of a house. ‘I need to kill it…’ he thinks to himself. Zack’s adrenaline kicks in as he tightens his grip on the longsword. He activates his Power Strike skill and uses all his remaining strength to pierce through the giant zombie’s skull. The longsword cracks and disintegrates into pieces, but not before delivering a fatal blow to the giant zombie. The giant zombie lets out a final roar before collapsing onto the ground, lifeless. Zack takes deep breaths, feeling exhaustion wash over him. The timer disappears, indicating that he has completed the task just in time. “Task Completed.” “Title Unlocked. You are now a Zombie Hunter.” “Weapon Storage Unlocked.” He wants to laugh at the absurdity of the rewards. What’s the use of a title? And now that his longsword has disintegrated, he ha
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Zack wakes up with his stomach growling. He groans as he stretches his aching muscles, still feeling drained from his stay in that zombie dungeon. He slowly pushes himself out of bed and stumbles towards the kitchen. His health has regenerated, and it’s no longer decreasing. As he rummages through the cabinets and fridge, looking for something to eat, he hears Celeste’s voice coming from the living room. “You really need to take a bath, Zack,” she says. “How long did I sleep?” he asks. “I don’t know. I didn’t see you for a few days. But you smell terrible,” she remarks. Zack feels heat rising to his cheeks as he realizes that he must have smelled pretty bad after days without bathing. He’s just too hungry. In fact, he didn’t even notice Celeste when he passed through the living room earlier. “That bad, huh?” he asks, peeking from the kitchen and into the living room, where Celeste has her laptop on. She peers through her eyeglasses and nods. “Pretty bad,” she says, scrunching h
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Then Zack notices something else as well. At the man’s head, there are small horns protruding from his forehead. No, not just any horns. They are black and twisted and seem to pulse with an otherworldly energy.And so he grips his katana tighter, trying to steady his trembling hands. He knows that this will not be an easy fight, but he also knows that he cannot back down either.“What are you?” Zack manages to ask, his voice shaking slightly.The dark mage chuckles. “I am a human and a dark mage,” he declares proudly. “I think you know that by now, given how you are looking at me.”“Then… how are you affiliated with the loan agency?!”“Ah, that? Well, I get my fresh supplies of humans to experiment on from them.”“What kind of experiments?” Zack demands, his grip on his katana tightening even more.The dark mage chuckles, a sinister gleam in his eyes.
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Zack takes a deep breath and tries to calm his nerves. He knows he’s no match for this level 32 woman, but he refuses to back down. He grips his katana tightly and prepares for the fight ahead.The woman rushes towards him with surprising speed, her fists clenched and ready to strike. Zack quickly evades her punches and tries to strike back with his katana, but she dodges effortlessly.“You’ll have to do better than that,” she taunts, her voice filled with confidence.Zack grits his teeth and tries to think of a strategy. He knows that he can’t rely on brute force alone, so he decides to use some of his skills. He concentrates and activates his Power Strike. But she easily deflects it with a flick of her knife.“Not bad,” she comments as she continues to dodge Zack’s attacks. “But you still need more.”Zack’s frustration builds within him as he realizes that none of his skills are wo
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Zack takes out the katana from his weapon storage. Holding the weapon in his right hand, he pushes open the door with his left.In the middle of the room, a man stands before him who is eyeing him warily. “An attack, huh?”Zack places the katana in front of him. “It might be,” he answers.“But why is there only a single person? Are you crazy?”“The others asked the same earlier.”“This place. Is this your doing, too?”“No,” he admits.“You have a weapon. Do you know how to use that?”“We’ll find out.”Zack keeps his guard up as the man suddenly lunges at him with his bare hands. He swiftly dodges the attack and counters with a slice from his katana.The man stumbles back, surprised by Zack. “Ugh, where are my gun and knife, anyway?” he mutters to himself.The man attacks again, but Zack is faste
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Zack steps inside. The place behind the fourth door is dark and musty, with only a small beam of light shining through a crack in the ceiling. In front of him is an old man who seems lost and is looking around.The instant Zack enters, he looks at him.“A young man,” he remarks. “Care to tell me where I am and who you are?”“I am sent to destroy a loan shark agency,” he admits.“Oh,” the old man says, looking up at him. “So, you’re here to defeat me.”“You?”“Are you hesitating because of my age?”Zack swallows. He doesn’t want a repeat of the zombie dungeon. He doesn’t enjoy hurting the elders.While he is hesitating, the old man takes his stance and prepares for battle.“I really—”Suddenly, the old man moves surprisingly fast for someone his age. He launches punches and kicks towards Zack. Thankfully, he has a Quick Dodge, and he is able to evade each surprise attack.“You’re good,” the old man comments as they circle each other. “But can you keep up?”Their movements become faster
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Chapter 028
Zack opens the Zenith system interface. He presses on the Level Up? text and sees that he only gained one level from completing the first floor. He also only earned eight chests and a hundred thousand zeniths. It feels weird. This is a loan agency, and he is earning fewer zeniths than the zombie dungeon? So, he proceeds to open the items instead, hoping that there are some good items in there. However, there are only four health potions, one ability point, and the rest are zeniths. Disappointed, he stands up. He searches for the staircase and ascends it. He pushes the door open and is met with a line of goons on the second floor. Zack swallows hard. Unlike the goons on the first floor. These people are tall and very muscular. They look as if every single one of them is a VIP bodyguard. He won’t even be surprised if they are using guns. On the other hand, he has the same strength as the first floor. He hasn’t moved his available skill points into his stats yet. Hopefully, they only
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Chapter 027
The sun is setting as Zack goes back and forth across the same street where he chances upon the zombie dungeon. However, nothing is changing. It has the same atmosphere, the same clean looking building, and the same living people. No zombie dungeon is opening up! Disappointment washes over him. He prioritizes increasing his Luck attribute all because of this particular problem. His health is at 200/200 and he feels more than ready for a mission, and yet, it is not appearing! He looks at the time. It is close to six PM. He still has time. So, he explores the area again, looking for any clues or signs on how to enter that dungeon. As he walks down the busy street, Zack’s ears pick up on a loud argument coming from an alleyway between two buildings. Curious, he turns the corner to investigate. A group of men have another man backed against a wall, their voices filled with malice. One of the men spots him and sneers, “Beat it, kid.” Ignoring the warning, Zack steps forward and holds h
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Zack wakes up with his stomach growling. He groans as he stretches his aching muscles, still feeling drained from his stay in that zombie dungeon. He slowly pushes himself out of bed and stumbles towards the kitchen. His health has regenerated, and it’s no longer decreasing. As he rummages through the cabinets and fridge, looking for something to eat, he hears Celeste’s voice coming from the living room. “You really need to take a bath, Zack,” she says. “How long did I sleep?” he asks. “I don’t know. I didn’t see you for a few days. But you smell terrible,” she remarks. Zack feels heat rising to his cheeks as he realizes that he must have smelled pretty bad after days without bathing. He’s just too hungry. In fact, he didn’t even notice Celeste when he passed through the living room earlier. “That bad, huh?” he asks, peeking from the kitchen and into the living room, where Celeste has her laptop on. She peers through her eyeglasses and nods. “Pretty bad,” she says, scrunching h
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“AHHHHH!” Zack screams, trying to get courage and curb the pain from all the screaming. The time is ticking. Only five minutes remain and he is still sandwiched between the giant zombie and a wall of a house. ‘I need to kill it…’ he thinks to himself. Zack’s adrenaline kicks in as he tightens his grip on the longsword. He activates his Power Strike skill and uses all his remaining strength to pierce through the giant zombie’s skull. The longsword cracks and disintegrates into pieces, but not before delivering a fatal blow to the giant zombie. The giant zombie lets out a final roar before collapsing onto the ground, lifeless. Zack takes deep breaths, feeling exhaustion wash over him. The timer disappears, indicating that he has completed the task just in time. “Task Completed.” “Title Unlocked. You are now a Zombie Hunter.” “Weapon Storage Unlocked.” He wants to laugh at the absurdity of the rewards. What’s the use of a title? And now that his longsword has disintegrated, he ha
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Zack heaves as he wipes the sweat off his forehead. He doesn’t know how many hours have passed since he pressed that YES prompt to continue defeating zombies. Thankfully, when he increased his Luck to 10. There are no more zombies of babies and young kids that appeared. He glances at the notifications in front of him. There are ten prompts about chests that are almost obscuring his vision. Earlier, he was making count of how often these chests appear and he realized that for a group of ten defeated zombies, there is a chance for at least one chest to appear. Then another notification appears about his Low health. Now, he’s on 5/100, almost dying. Instead of pressing the Level Up? text screen. He starts opening the chests instead, hoping that it contains one or two potions. Besides, potions in the shop are too expensive for him. One health potion in particular is around 200,000 zeniths. A longsword costs two million, while a katana amounts to four million zeniths! After opening the t
