1 Chapter 1:- Am I Having a Bad Nightmare?

"Man, Dubai is always hot. I wish I could see the rain in Dubai." Walking on the streets, a handsome young man whose age was 19 years old was going home after doing his second part-time job.

The young man had messy long black hair and a slightly above-average handsome face. Bangs covered his forehead. Beads of sweat rolled down his forehead and fell on the ground as he walked.

The young man was wearing a white shirt and black pants. He had a bag on his back. He was around 5 feet 10 inches tall. He was neither skinny nor too fat. He had fair skin.

"Haha! I don't think I will ever see rain in Dubai. This is the Middle East I am talking about. A developed city like Dubai very rarely sees rain. Even if it rains, it lasts no less than 10 minutes. The rain barely does anything." The middle east was famous for its desert climate, life-taking hot summer, and Arabs.

Aditya was a foreigner who had come to the Middle East for a better standard of living. One of the most developed countries in the middle east, in middle east region this country had the second highest GDP after Saudi Arabia.

Dubai was known for its tall skyscrapers. Anywhere, Aditya looked, he would only see tall buildings reflecting the sunlight.

"Apple has recently released the iPhone 14 series. With the money I currently have saved up, I should have enough money to afford an iPhone 14 pro. Should I buy it?" Aditya currently was using an old Huawei model. His friends and families all used iPhones, only he used Huawei. Sometimes he felt embarrassed about that. But again being an Asian, Aditya was reluctant to use his save up money to buy an expensive mobile when his old phone works fine.

At the same moment, unknown to Aditya, unknown to the countless people who lived and worked in the city of Dubai, unknown to the millions of people who lived in UAE, unknown to the billions of people who lived on the planet named Earth, something that was going to change every living being's life was heading toward the blue planet.

A few scientists who were in the international space station noticed something transparent golden light heading in their direction.

"Paul, do you have any idea what that golden light is?" One of the scientists asked.

"How would I know about it? Maybe we are witnessing the death of a star. I am not sure about it."

At this moment all the scientists in the international space station watched as the dim and transparent golden light started getting brighter. No one had any idea what was happening. As the golden light was heading in the direction of Earth. As the golden light passed by the moon, the moon slightly vibrated as if expressing its excitement.

At the same time, the whole world experienced earthquakes. The skies in different countries and continents began getting clouded by dark clouds. The seas and the oceans became more violent. Tsunamis began hitting many big cities located near the sea. Thousands of islands were devoured by the huge wave of tsunamis. Hundreds of dead volcanoes all over the world suddenly became active with magma coming out.

"What is happening?" Aditya who was on his way back home suddenly noticed the strangeness in the atmosphere. He felt strong gusts of winds blowing from all directions. Not only that, the ground shook which caused many people who were walking on the street to fall. The sudden earthquake also had 21 car incidents.

Aditya got up from the ground as he suddenly felt something big was coming. It was as if his instinct was screaming at him to run.

Billions of animals and plants all around the earth expressed their joy. They instinctively knew what was going to come. At this moment all the animals, whether it was the hunter or the prey, all stopped running and looked at the sky which had been covered by black clouds.

The marine lives that lived in the sea and the ocean were also doing the same. Every marine life on the ocean was eager for the unthinkable to arrive. Every animal instinctively knew that these changes were for its good. This change was going to make them stronger.

At this moment little did any human know that all life on earth was going through a trial of evolution.

The golden light finally came. All the rockets, spaceships, and satellites around the blue planet were instantly melted from the intense bright golden light. The golden light covered the whole planet in less than a second. Without anyone noticing a new element has entered the atmosphere of the world.

Aditya who just stood up after falling thrice on the ground. He felt the earthquake was getting stronger. "What is happening?" By now thousands of people were already injured. A few kilometers away from Aditya, two tall buildings that couldn't withstand the earthquake fell down, killing more than ten thousand residents and people.

As if these all weird and strangest changes weren't enough, with the strong wind current, it began to rain.

"Is the world going to end?" Aditya couldn't help but ask himself this question. In just 30 seconds he saw and experienced things that a normal person never might have experienced even if that person lived for 200 years. He was sure that this earthquake had to be the most dangerous and most violent earthquake in the history of Earth. Big cracks and fissures had appeared on the roads. It was not just Dubai, by now millions of people had died from the strong earthquake.

Aditya by instinct felt something coming from the sky. When he raised his head, he widened his eyes in disbelief.

"Did some advanced Alien civilization attack Earth?" This was the last thing Aditya said before his vision was blinded by the intense bright golden light. At this moment it was not just Aditya. Every animal, human and marine eyes were blinded by the golden light.

When the golden light fell on Aditya, he felt something foreign yet warm entering his body. He couldn't understand what this warm yet comfortable thing was.

Around a minute later, when he opened his eyes, Aditya nearly had a heart attack seeing something that looked like it was taken out of a zombie movie. He saw blood coming out of the people's eyes, ears, and noses. Followed by the flesh on their faces began rooting and falling out. Their nails began elongating while their pupils turned red.

[Ding! Zombie Apocalyptic system has found a suitable host.]

[Ding! Binding the system to the host's soul.]

"Who is speaking?" Aditya looked around in confusion. Right now his mind was already screwed by the changes around him. He was beginning to feel that this all was just a dream.

[....5%.....11%....17%...93%.....100%]

[Ding! Zombie Apocalyptic system has been bound to the host]

[Ding! A random ability card has been drawn for the host]

[Ding! Does the host wish to use the random ability card?]

[Yes] [No]

At the same time, the people around Aditya who had finally turned into zombies started walking in his direction which made Aditya feel fear. Aditya had no idea what the hell was happening. He did not stand there while hundreds of people walked in his direction.

"This all has to be a nightmare." Until a few minutes ago, Aditya was just a normal hard-working student who was in his last high school year. Aditya had no girlfriend in his life. All Aditya cared about was making money and getting as far as possible from his horrible family.

"If this is a nightmare, then when will this nightmare end?" Aditya laughed in despair.

"Little brother, are you going to give up in the face of despair?" Aditya opened his eyes hearing the soft melodic voice that reached his ears.

Aditya looked 2 meters above the ground to find a woman simply standing in the sky. The woman has to be the most beautiful woman that Aditya has seen in her entire life. No actress or model can be compared to this woman. Aditya doubts there is any woman on the planet that can compare to this woman in terms of beauty.

Aditya did not have the time to appreciate this woman's beauty as the zombies were close to surrounding him from 3 sides. Seeing that hundreds of zombies were coming at him from three sides, Aditya turned around and ran through the alley of the buildings.

"I cannot fall here." Aditya ran at his full speed. Seeing this the zombies also began running at Aditya which again shocked him.

"I thought zombies could only walk."

"Hmph! Why did you assume that zombies can only walk?" Aditya had no time to turn around. He gritted his teeth and ran at his fastest speed. Aditya was not a bad runner. He has always been a top runner in his class.

While running through the alleys, Aditya suddenly remembered about the system. Upon a closer look, he found a transparent green screen in his retina. Even with the screen on his retina, he was able to see things beyond that green screen.

[Yes]

Without stopping even for a second, Aditya chose yes.

[Ding! Congratulations to the host for 1st-order Shadow Manipulation skills]

Ah….

Aditya nearly fell as the sudden pain invaded his brain. Aditya held his head with his right hand, trying to endure the pain that made him want to roll on the ground.

As Aditya ran through the alley, suddenly he saw a zombie blocking the other end of the alley. The zombies were 6 feet tall and had black skin.

"Am I going to die here?" Aditya knew that he cannot avoid this zombie. If he stops then the hundreds of zombies who were chasing after him will catch up to him.

When Aditya was only 4 meters away from the 6 feet tall zombie, the look on Aditya's face suddenly changed as if he had realized something.

Just when he was only half a meter away from the zombie, a black sharp vine rose from the ground and pierced the zombie's head from behind.

Bang!

[Ding! The host has killed a level 1 zombie named Lee.]

[Ding! The host has leveled up. All of the host stats have been increased by one point. The host has obtained one free stats point.]

Everything happened too fast for Aditya and the zombie. Aditya looked at the 3 inches wide hole on the zombie's head. For some reason, he neither felt horrified nor felt disgusted. Aditya just felt calm. Even though this was his first time killing people, he strangely remained calm.

As the zombie began falling toward Aditya, he kicked the dead zombie's chest causing the zombie to fall to the opposite side. Aditya ran past the dead body. He strangely began feeling a little exhausted as his pace began slowing down.

"That was shocking. I never thought a human of this age would shock me this much." When the melodic voice reached his ears, Aditya wanted to stop running and turn around but he did not do it. Stopping even for a second could cost his life. His life was more important than this woman's.

"Human, enter this newly constructed house. You will be able to take a break." Aditya did as the woman said. He increased his pace and entered the newly constructed building. After entering, Aditya hurriedly made sure to close the gate so that no zombies would be able to enter.

"Behind you." Aditya's body jerked up hearing the voice. He jumped to his right and found a zombie in a security outfit. It was the guard of this house. Right now the man had turned into a zombie.

Shadow Manipulation!

Once again, a black vine from the ground rose and made a big hole in the zombie's head.

[Ding! The host has killed a level 1 zombie named Adam.]

[Ding! You have obtained experience points.]

"I did not level up?" When he opened the system, Aditya found that he needed to kill one more zombie to level up.

[_Name: - Aditya Benjamin

_Age: - 19

_Level: - 1

_Strength: - 11

_Speed: - 11

_Stamina: - 11

_Health: - 11

_Mana: - 21

_Free stats point: - 1

Power: - Shadow Manipulation]

"Hmph! Human, you know nothing. After reaching a certain level it will be extremely hard for your to level up unless you kill strong enemies." Aditya finally turned his attention to the woman who has been following him for a while now.