Meaningless Existence

Once Alex was outside, he did not recognize the place at all.

The trees, grass, giant flowers and variety of plants made the street completely different.

But he did not have the time for that.

Upon leaving the building, he took a right turn and started running.

'What the hell? What the hell? What the hell should I do?' Alex thought.

He arrived at an intersection.

As soon as Alex turned his face to the right, he found another group of monsters.

'Shit!' He thought as he continued running without even turning his head to the left.

By a stroke of luck, Alex did not find one monster on his way.

After running for more than 20 minutes, he arrived at what looked like the entry of a giant forest.

'Huh? Wasn't there a park here?'

But Alex had no time to think as he heard a loud howl coming from dozens of meters behind him.

He turned around and found a black wolf that was as big as a tiger.

Alex sprinted into the forest, not sure whether the wolf had noticed him or not.

He kept running deeper and deeper inside the forest.

Just when Alex was about to stop, loud thumps made the ground shake.

They came from his right.

A monster that was more than 5 meters tall was walking towards him.

In the monster's right hand, the corpse of a black wolf just like the one he had seen previously.

Shocked from such a view, Alex screamed and threw his knife at the giant beast before running away.

The monster's thumps as its feet hit the ground got more and more frequent as it started running.

It was extremely heavy, which made it slower than one would expect.

Alex could not think about anything but run away.

He felt dizzy, as it had been more than twenty days since he had last eaten something except the plants that were growing on his building.

Still, Alex kept running.

He ran so much that he exited the forest without meaning to, but what he found after the forest made him stop.

It was an unending desert with not one green plant in the horizon.

The temperature was not high, but all he could see was an endless plain of sand.

[You have entered the area of a certain Dungeon Gate.]

[The area surrounding the Dungeon Gate has evolved to resemble the Dungeon.]

'So there's a Dungeon Gate near here...? Ugh, why do I care? I better go back to the forest. At least there I can...'

His thoughts were interrupted as the ground below him started shaking.

Alex took two steps forward and looked back.

The next second, a giant earthworm that must have been 30 meters long and 4 meters thick exited the ground with great force.

Its mouth had more than 40 teeth.

The horror that Alex felt made him run into the desert as fast as he could.

The monster followed him, trying to devour the small being in front of it.

Luckily, Alex found a hole in the sand.

He jumped into it head first and could no longer be seen.

Alex had found a way of escaping the beast, but what he had entered was nothing more than a huge hole.

He fell for 8 meters before hitting the ground.

[You have lost 30 Health Points.]

Alex stood up immediately and looked around.

He found nothing around him.

It was a perfect cul-de-sac.

The hole did not lead anywhere.

"Thank god..." Alex muttered as he fell on the ground.

[Critical levels of Endurance Points!]

He fell asleep right away.

Alex woke up 10 hours later.

After looking around for a bit, he remembered the previous events.

There was no light inside the hole he was in as it was already dark outside.

"I guess I'm safe here but..." Alex raised his gaze towards the night sky.

'What should I do now?'

The next second, a scorpion entered the hole.

Without even thinking about it, Alex jumped towards it and sinked his teeth.

Although its body was hard, it felt good to finally taste some meat.

He hadn't noticed, but the scorpion's meat was purple.

[You have defeated 1 Poisonous Scorpion.]

[You have gained 2 Experience Points and 4 Gold Coins.]

By the time had eaten the whole scorpion, Alex's stomach ached.

[You have been slightly poisoned.]

'Poison?'

Alex sat down and closed his eyes.

'If I don't move too much...My body will take care of it on its own... Maybe?'

...

5 days later.

Alex spent his time walking around inside the hole he was in.

He had enough space to pace around in circles.

For time to time, a scorpion would pop up and constitute Alex's meal.

He got down on the floor and did something he hadn't done in months.

With his hands on the ground, Alex started doing pushups.

For no reason at all, except that he was alive, in a relatively safe space and there was nothing else to do.

After doing 100 pushups in total,

[Congratulations!]

[You have gained 1 Strength Point.]

"What? For real? You mean..."

Alex had an expressionless face.

'You mean I can actually get stronger?'

...

One month later.

Even though Alex's Strength Stat was as high as it has ever been, his body did not look the part.

Because of the lack of sunshine, he looked pale and sickly.

The only thing he could eat was Poisonous Scorpions.

He had become extremely skinny.

Still, an unending hunger was all he could feel.

That, and the extreme cold that came at night.

The sight of those scorpions was the only thing that made him move around with enthusiasm.

Once he ate the 47th Poisonous Scorpion,

[You have developed a new Passive Skill!]

[You have developed Poison Resistance.]

Alex did not care about the messages in front of him.

He was used to napping after eating the poisonous food, and he was not about to change that.

Why?

Because there was nothing else to do.

The hole he was in was 8 meters deep.

Which made the outside world seem extremely close, and yet it was too far for him to reach.

'What... did I do wrong...?'

Alex started reminiscing about everything that went wrong before falling asleep

...

Three months later.

Alex could barely move to hunt the scorpions.

He slept more than 18 hours every day.

That day, a message he did not care about arrived.

[You are one of the 100 Humans left on Earth.]