BLOOD AND POWER

That night felt like any other night. The city was still alive with the glittering lights and the hustle and bustle of passing vehicles. From the fifth floor of his apartment, Raka Wiratama sat in front of his laptop, his fingers typing quickly on the keyboard.

On the screen, the strategy game he was playing showed his troops who had just defeated the enemy. He smiled faintly, but the fatigue in his eyes could not be hidden.

"It's too late," he muttered, stretching.

He glanced at the digital clock on the table. 23:59. Almost midnight.

Raka yawned, reached for his cup of instant coffee that had gone cold, then took a slow sip. He thought about going to bed immediately, but suddenly—

BOOM!!!

A loud explosion shook the air.

Raka flinched, his body tensing. From the window, he saw the sky in the distance turn bright red, bright light splitting the night sky.

"What…?"

Suddenly, the electricity in his room flickered several times, before finally going out completely. His laptop died instantly.

From the street below, the sound of repeated honking could be heard. Raka stood up quickly, walked to the window, and his eyes widened.

Out there, chaos was happening.

People were running in the streets, some screaming in fear. Cars were crashing, their drivers looking panicked. From a distance, Raka saw a man in a suit running, his breath gasping.

But suddenly—

SREEETT!!!

Another figure lunged at the man from behind, his teeth sinking into the victim's neck.

"AAAARGHHH!!!"

Blood spurted out. The man struggled, but couldn't free himself. In a matter of seconds, his body fell to the ground, motionless.

Meanwhile, the creature that attacked him raised its head. Its face was covered in blood, its eyes were blank, its skin was rotting.

Zombies…?!

The thought flashed through Raka's mind as fast as lightning, but he immediately shook his head. Impossible. This must be a dream.

But before he could think any further—

DING!

A strange voice echoed inside his head, as if it were directly entering his thoughts.

[Welcome to the Age of Apocalypse!!!!The world has changed. There is no law. No mercy. Survive or die. The choice is yours.]

[Initial Mission: Kill Your First Zombie.]

Raka's eyes widened.

As if that wasn't enough, a transparent screen appeared in front of his eyes, floating in the air.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

[PLAYER STATUS: RAKA WIRATAMA]

Level: 0

HP: 100/100

Strength: 10

Endurance: 10

Agility: 10

Skill: -

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

"What the hell is this?!"

His heart was pounding. He tried to touch the screen, but his hand went through it like a hologram.

Meanwhile, the screams and growls from outside were getting louder.

CRASH!

A loud bang was heard from outside his apartment.

CRASH! CRASH!

The apartment door shook violently, as if something was trying to break in.

Raka swallowed, slowly backing away. His hands trembled as he reached for the wooden baseball bat leaning against the corner of the room.

CRASH!!!

The door finally broke.

A human figure with rotting skin walked in. His eyes were white without eyeballs, his mouth gaping with blood dripping from his teeth.

Zombie…

The creature growled, then lunged towards Raka.

"Damn it!"

With quick reflexes, Raka swung his baseball bat.

PLAK!

The zombie staggered, but did not fall.

"Why isn't it dead?!"

The creature attacked again. This time, his claws slid towards Raka's face.

"Shit!"

Raka jumped back, narrowly missing the target.

His hands were sweating, his heart pounding. If he didn't kill him now, he would be the one to die!

With all the strength he had, Raka swung his staff again.

CRASH!

The blow hit the zombie's temple hard, making it flinch. However, the creature continued to rise, as if it didn't feel the pain.

CRASH!

Once again, Raka slammed into the zombie's head. This time, its skull cracked, thick black liquid leaking from the wound.

But the zombie wasn't dead yet.

With a powerful scream, Raka swung his staff once more—and again!

CRASH!

CRASH!

Until finally, with one final blow, the zombie's head burst open. Black blood gushed onto the floor.

ITS BODY FALLED TO THE GROUND.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

[BEGINNER ZOMBIE HAS BEEN DEFEATED!]

+50 EXP

+New Skill: Corpse Domination Lv.1

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Raka gasped, staring at the corpse in front of him.

Suddenly—

THE ZOMBIE'S BODY MOVED AGAIN.

However, not to attack.

The zombie rose slowly, but this time, its movements were stiffer. Its eyes were blank, but its body was still, as if waiting for orders.

[Corpse Domination Skill Lv.1 Active]

{You can control one corpse within 10 minutes.}

Raka's heart was beating fast. He stared at the living corpse warily. "So… I can control it?" he muttered.

Raka's hands were sweaty. Slowly, he tried to move his hand to the right—and the zombie followed his movement. He moved his hand to the left, and the zombie turned in the same direction.

"Damn… is this real?"

Just as he was trying to understand the situation, a thunderous sound from outside brought him back to his senses.

CRASH! CRASH!

The sound of running feet was heard in the apartment hallway, followed by someone's scream.

"HEY! OPEN THE DOOR!"

Raka recognized the voice. Quickly, he ran to the door and opened it slightly.

Outside, a young man in a white shirt covered in blood stood there, breathing heavily.

Bayu.

His college friend looked scared. "Raka! Help me!"

Behind him, three zombies were chasing him quickly.

Raka didn't think twice. He pulled Bayu inside, then immediately slammed the door.

CRASH!

The zombies slammed the door hard.

"Shit! Shit! Shit!" Bayu slumped to the floor, his face covered in sweat. "I thought I was going to die!"

Raka stared at him sharply. "What happened?"

Bayu was still trying to catch his breath. "I was at my boarding house. Suddenly the electricity went out, my cell phone had no signal, and when I came out, everyone had turned into monsters!"

His voice was shaking. "I saw it myself… our friends… they were bitten, then changed! No one could help! The police died too!"

Raka clenched his fists. He had seen the chaos outside himself. This was not just an ordinary incident. The world had truly changed.

CRASH!

The zombies outside were still trying to break in.

Bayu glanced to the side, and his eyes immediately widened.

"Raka… that… that's a zombie!"

His eyes were fixed on the zombie standing still in the room. His face instantly turned pale.

"Wait! Don't panic!" Raka hurriedly raised his hand, stopping Bayu who was about to scream.

"Why are there zombies in here?! Why are you so quiet?!"

Raka took a deep breath. "I… can control them."

Bayu fell silent, his mouth slightly open. "You… are joking, right?"

To prove his statement, Raka gave an order in his mind. "Raise your right hand."

The zombie raised its right hand.

Bayu's eyes widened even more. "What is this…?!"

"Wait, I'll explain later," Raka said quickly. He checked the window and saw the situation outside was getting more chaotic.

Zombies roamed the streets. The survivors tried to run, but most of them were eventually caught and died horribly.

"We can't stay here," Raka said. "We have to find a safer place."

Bayu looked at him with a desperate face. "Safe? Where is the safe place now?! Look outside! They are everywhere!"

Raka gritted his teeth. He knew that there was no place that was truly safe anymore. But if they stayed here, they would be trapped and starve to death.

CRASH!!!

The apartment door shook violently. The zombies outside were getting more and more vicious.

[New Mission: Survive the Zombie Onslaught!]

Raka tensed up. "Bayu, grab any weapon you can get your hands on. We're going to be attacked."

Bayu quickly looked around the room. "Shit! I don't have a weapon!"

Raka glanced at the zombie he had controlled. An idea crossed his mind.

"Then… we'll use this zombie."

5 MINUTES LATER

CRACK!!!

The apartment door finally broke down. Three zombies immediately burst in, followed by growls from the hallway.

"Raka!!!"

"QUIET!"

Raka immediately gave an order to his zombies.

"Attack them!"

As if getting an invisible push, the zombie he controlled immediately jumped forward, charging at the zombie that had just entered.

Bayu could only stare in horror as the two zombies began to fight each other.

CRACK!

Raka did not waste the opportunity. He ran towards one of the zombies that was still standing and immediately hit its head with a baseball bat.

CRACK!!!

The blow shattered its skull.

[Rookie ZOMBIE DEFEATED!]

+50 EXP]

Meanwhile, his zombie managed to knock his opponent to the floor and rip his neck.

CRASH!

Bayu, who finally dared, took a wooden chair and hit the last zombie with all his might. The chair broke, but the zombie was pushed back.

Raka immediately hit his head with a final blow.

[Rookie ZOMBIE DEFEATED!]

+50 EXP]

Silence.

Inside the apartment, there were only three zombie bodies scattered on the floor.

Bayu was still panting, his hands shaking. "We… we made it?"

Raka looked at the notification in front of him.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

[LEVEL UP!]

Level: 1 → 2

Strength: 10 → 13

Endurance: 10 → 12

Agility: 10 → 11

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Slowly, his body felt lighter, stronger. This was truly like a game.

However, before he could celebrate his victory, a new voice appeared in his mind.

[[New Notification!]

The city will enter the next stage in 12 hours. Zombie mutation will begin. Factions will form. Survive or be conquered.]

Raka's eyes narrowed. The world wasn't getting any better—it was getting worse.

He looked at Bayu, then out the window. In the distance, buildings burned, screams still echoed, and the living dead roamed endlessly.

He knew one thing for sure: survival wasn't enough. If he wanted to stay alive, he had to rule.