1 Superpowers in the Apocalypse
"See you later!" a black-haired young man named Rudy left the restaurant after greeting his friends and made his way to the university across the street.
'Finally! Today is the day when I get my degree and apply to the highest paying company.' He rejoiced.
'I got another offer from the international company last week. They are ready to pay 30k$ as my first monthly salary, then later promote me to the section chief. I Will be earning even more after the promotion.'
Rudy glanced around the street to make sure no vehicles were coming. The lights were red, so he began crossing the street.
'I should accept their offer. After all, they are the ones paying me the highest of all the companies.' Rudy successfully crossed the street and entered the university gate.
'I don't want to sound like a jerk, but my top priority is to get the job that pays me the most. I have to take care of my family now. They have been sacrificing their happiness for me, so now it's my turn to fulfill all of their wishes.'
Rudy glanced around the campus to look for his girlfriend, but she was nowhere to be seen.
"Weird. She said she is waiting for me at the gate." Rudy moved his hand to his pocket to take out his phone, but he realized he had left it at the restaurant.
"Come on~" he groaned and made his way back to the restaurant.
Luckily, his friends were still there, so his phone was safe. He grabbed his phone and left the restaurant in a hurry.
"Phew!" he sighed and muttered, "All my important data is on the phone. If I lose it, I might get into trouble."
Rudy called his girlfriend on the phone and crossed the street. His attention was on the university gate and the phone call, but he made sure to check the lights and they were indeed red.
"Hey, where are you? No, you are not at the gate. Oh! The other gate. Yeah, I will wait for you at the—"
Rudy was hit by the truck passing at full speed.
His body was sent flying a few meters before hitting the floor. Lights faded from his vision as his lifeless body rolled on the street.
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When he opened his eyes, he found himself in an unfamiliar room. He could smell the scent of chemicals and medicines.
'Where… am… I?' he thought to himself.
He moved his eyes around and realized he was in the hospital room. He tried to move his body, but he couldn't move. He couldn't even move his fingers, nor could he speak; He was crippled from everywhere.
He stayed like that for some minutes until the nurse who came for his regular check-up noticed his eyes were open.
She immediately rushed out of the room and called the doctor. The doctor came soon after and performed a check-up on Rudy. However, Rudy passed out during the check-up.
The next time he opened his eyes, he saw his girlfriend, his best friend from childhood, and his mother, standing in front of him with the doctor.
His girlfriend burst into tears after seeing Rudy opening his eyes.
"I will ask you some questions. Try to reply to them if you can. If you have trouble speaking, you can simply blink and let us know. Are you ready?" the doctor asked. "If you can listen to me, blink once."
Rudy blinked once.
"Good." The doctor looked at the reports and asked, "Do you know who you are?"
Rudy blinked once.
"What is your name? Is it Riley?"
Rudy blinked twice in denial.
"Is it Ronald?"
Rudy blinked twice.
"Is it Rudy?"
Rudy blinked once in response.
"Good." The doctor pointed his finger at Rudy's mother and said, "Do you know who she is?"
Rudy blinked once.
"Is she your teacher?"
Rudy blinked twice.
"Is she your aunt?"
Rudy blinked twice.
"Is she your mother?"
Rudy blinked once.
"Very good." The doctor then pointed his finger at Rudy's girlfriend and asked, "What about her? Do you remember who she is?"
Rudy blinked once.
"Is she your sister?"
Rudy blinked twice.
"Is she your classmate?"
Rudy blinked once.
"Is she your girlfriend?"
Rudy blinked once.
"Nice!" The doctor moved to Rudy's best friend and asked, "What about him? Is he your brother?"
Rudy blinked twice.
"Is he… your classmate?"
Rudy blinked twice.
"Is he your friend?"
Rudy blinked once.
"Great!"
The doctor turned to them and said, "It seems he hasn't suffered from amnesia."
"How long will it take for him to recover fully?" his best friend asked.
"Let's talk about all that in my office."
The three of them followed the doctor to the office.
The doctor told them that Rudy's injuries were incurable, and he will have to stay at the hospital for his entire life.
"Most of his bones are shattered. And his broken ribs punctured his lugs, and his neck also cracked on impact. It's a miracle that he is still alive, but after looking at his condition, I wonder if…" the doctor sighed and continued, "I will be serious with you. He is beyond saving, and he can die anytime."
Rudy's mother and girlfriend started crying while his best friend signed the documents for Rudy's treatment.
Days passed, but they never stopped visiting Rudy. His mother and girlfriend would come to visit him every day, while his best friend would come whenever he got time.
His friends from high school also visited him once or twice, and his classmates from the university sent their regards. Most of them were busy with their jobs, while some were still hunting for jobs.
Rudy's girlfriend had also received a job offer from an international company, but she was stalling as she couldn't leave Rudy alone. He had promised her that they would get married once they got their jobs, but neither of them had expected this to happen.
When Rudy found out about his girlfriend's job conditions from his best friend, Rudy broke up with her because he didn't want her to destroy her life looking after him.
Rudy was aware that he could die at any moment, and there was no guarantee of his future with her. He made a reasonable and logical choice and drove her away from him.
Even if nobody had the heart to say it to his face, Rudy was aware that he would never be able to live normally again. It was agonizing to even think of living without her, but he was forced to make the logical choice.
This was the girl he wanted to marry, but the situation didn't allow him to be happy. He spent his nights silently crying, wishing he could just end himself to stop the cycle of self-destruction he was forced into.
Weeks passed by, and people eventually stopped visiting Rudy. Once in a while, his best friend dropped by. When Rudy asked how his family was doing without him, he told them that his little sister had to drop out of school because they couldn't afford her fees when they had to pay for his treatment. His mother had opened up a shop, and his little sister was helping in it. His father had also taken several loans for Rudy's treatment.
Rudy felt hopeless as he cried alone at night. He wanted to give his family a better life, but now he had become a burden to them. He spent countless nights thinking of his life choices and cried for hours.
One night, a mysterious man visited Rudy and told him about the 'gene experiment.'
Gene experiment was permitted by the government but wasn't made public. The scientists focused on the people with incurable diseases who were going to die sooner or later in exchange for money.
Rudy was one of them. With 12 other people like him, Rudy was transferred to the laboratory far away from his city.
Rudy had lost hope, but the gene experiment was giving him new hope. He wasn't worried about dying as his family was going to receive money upon his death.
Rudy felt the cold hard metal of the surgery table as he stared at the single light source on the ceiling. Even with his severe injuries, the equipment strapping down him forced any slight movement of his to halt.
"Begin testing for Subject 7."
After the voice of the head scientist rang out, futuristic machines Rudy didn't even think existed entered his vision.
Unknown liquids flowed through the tubes attached to the various parts of his body and needles pierced into his skin. He had no idea what was going on, but he didn't like the feeling one bit.
Still, thinking of his mother who was doing her best to support him, his sister who was forced out of school, and his girlfriend whose heart he had broken, Rudy suppressed his discomfort.
But it wasn't something easy to do. He felt the liquid enter his body and move through his veins. It was a harrowing feeling.
His broken body seemed to recover its life simply to force him to feel the pain he was currently in. He felt like thousands of small needles were simultaneously being stabbed into his skin over and over again.
His malfunctioning organs seemed to roar in protest as the foreign substance encased them. His insides felt like they would melt at any time. The pieces of his ribcage that were stuck in his lung dug further into their spot as the pressure within his body continued to increase.
He wanted to scream but he couldn't. He wanted to cry but he couldn't.
He could only silently endure the torture he was being put through, barely maintaining his sanity with thoughts of his family.
An indecipherable amount of time passed like this, and Rudy's eyes were already hollow. Any life left within them was taken by the pain he had just experienced.
But it wasn't just that. He was certain his eyes were open, but he saw nothing but darkness.
He had gone blind.
He was cursed to spend the rest of his days alone within this infinite void.
Luckily, if it could even be called lucky at this point, Rudy was still able to feel as the equipment was removed from his body.
But this didn't bring him relief. It only brought more pain, seemingly equal to what he experienced during the experiment itself.
"Experiment 7 has failed. The subject has lost any sense of sight and smell, while his nerves have been fried. The subject's pain receptors have experienced inflammation, leading the sensation to amplify by at least a factor of 100."
The lead scientist's voice was the last straw.
'I'm blind, I'm paralyzed, any slight movement will cause me excruciating pain, and it's still a miracle that my body even functions properly! I can't take it anymore!'
Any hope he previously had was erased thoroughly. He had truly become a useless waste now.
When Rudy agreed to become a test subject for the gene experiment, he thought he had nothing to lose. In either case, he was going to gain something. If the experiments were successful, then he would get his life back, and if it failed and he died, his family would get money.
It was a win-win situation for him. However, he forgot the possibility of failing and surviving the experiment.
He lost his already crippled body and now he was beyond repair. Even a miracle wouldn't be able to save him.
After feeling pity for Rudy, the scientists offered him a solution— that was to die. They promised they would still give a considerable amount of money to his family for helping them out with the tests.
Rudy requested them to leave his body in the open, where he could see the stars in his last moments, even though he was blind.
They injected a serum into his body and left him in the forest.
Rudy lay on the ground peacefully as silence descended around him. The only sounds left were the chirping of crickets and the rustling of trees as the wind howled in the forest.
Rudy felt the cool breeze brush through his hair and face, but this normally relaxing sensation brought him to torment instead.
He could only find solace in the fact that it would all be over soon.
Time trickled on for what felt like an eternity to Rudy as he thought about the past.
'How did I even live my life before all this?'
When the question entered his mind, he couldn't get rid of it. Thinking back, he truly couldn't remember a single exciting event in his life.
'Could it even be called living in the first place…'
Rudy wasn't anyone special. In fact, he was one of the most average people one could find on earth. From his black hair and brown eyes all the way to his bland personality.
Even his life experience was completely average. He grew up, he went to school, but that was it. He never felt rushing excitement even once.
Well, that was a lie. There was a single part of his life that never ceased to make him smile. His emotions became chaotic.
'Did I even deserve her?' He recalled his girlfriend.
She was probably the only thing that spiced up his dreary life. Their first meeting was simple, being introduced by mutual friends at a mixer at university.
Their love wasn't some amazing story, but Rudy felt otherwise. The slow build-up until they confessed their feelings, the awkwardness they shared on their first date, everything she did make his heart race.
And by the time they spent together in college, he had already promised her a grand wedding.
But none of that mattered anymore. The racing of his heart when he thought of her did nothing but cause him pain, both physical and emotional.
'After the way, I treated her at the end, will she even miss me when I am gone?'
But it was just an idle thought. He thought back to his family, his best friend, and everything he was leaving behind.
'I don't want to go yet.'
As death encroached upon him, the final flame of will within him ignited. After all, dying was scary. No one knew where one would end up after dying. Hell? Heaven? If they even existed. But would that change what happened to him in this life?
With all the suffering he went through, his future was destroyed right in front of his eyes as he rendered himself useless and crippled on the bed.
He never asked for anything in his life. Even when he grew up in a low-class family with no dreams of his own. He simply wanted to give his mother a happy life who sacrificed everything in order to raise him.
His life was colorless before he met his girlfriend, and she filled colors in his life with her sweet voice and innocent smile.
'There's still so much I want to do! I don't want to die yet!'
Hot tears streamed down his face. Now that the time had come, he was truly unwilling to accept it. He cursed his life, he cursed his fate, he cursed any higher power that could have saved him from his misery.
He wanted to scream into the heavens to quell the growing rage in his heart, but his voice was still broken.
'I didn't do anything to deserve this! I want to live, dammit! I want to live!'
He had already lost all feeling in his extremities. He could barely even feel his body anymore. What he could feel, however, was the beating of his heart slowing with every passing second.
He wanted to see his girlfriend, mother, sister, father, and best friend for the last time before he died. He didn't want to die in a pathetic way.
Weakly, Rudy let out the final thought he would ever have.
'I…want to…live…'
As he lost his ability to consciously think, Rudy could swear that he felt the darkness clear up as the blurred view of the starry sky entered his eyes.
Under that bright night lit by the color of stars and moon, Rudy's heart stopped beating entirely.
Regardless of how unwilling he might have been, he had died.
[Arise, My Child!]
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"...fr… one… get…"
Rudy's ears twitched as he heard a voice after a long time. He opened his eyes, knowing well that he wouldn't be able to see. However, when he opened his eyes, he found himself in the classroom of his high school.
"...!"
Surprised, he fell off the chair, and everyone's attention was diverted to Rudy.
"Rudy. Are you okay?" the female teacher asked.
Rudy stood up and sat on his desk. He glanced around the room and looked at everyone's faces.
'Is this real?' he wondered.
"Rudy. Are you okay?" the teacher asked again.
Rudy slowly opened his mouth and spoke, "Y..es."
'I can speak too!' Rudy couldn't believe his eyes and ears. 'Am I getting a second chance, or did I somehow travel back in time? Did the experiment work?'
Tears started rolling down his cheeks as though he couldn't control his emotions. He had too many questions he needed the answers to, but he was happy that he could move, speak and see again.
He looked to his right and saw his best friend scribbling on his book. Then he looked to his left to see his childhood friend looking at him with a concerned look on her face.
'This is truly happening!' Rudy stood up and yelled, "Yes!"
Everyone's attention was once again focused on Rudy, but he paid no attention to them.
He dashed out of the room to walk after years and rushtoand the washroom to see himself and to confirm that he wasn't in a dream.
"Where do you think you are going?!" the teacher yelled.
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Author's Note- I hope you guys liked the first chapter, although it was more like a prologue. This novel will be superpowers + fantasy creatures+ Monster waifus+ action+ slice of life+ harem+ comedy. With his crazy superpowers, he will live a hilarious daily life.
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