Isaac took a deep breath. Panicking and screaming at floating text wouldn’t help him at all. He was better than that—or at least life had taught him to be. Calm and composed, that was how he had to approach this. For the most part, there didn’t exist a problem that couldn’t be fixed with a good, carefully planned approach.

  His eyes locked onto the first two lines of text. They only confirmed that whatever was happening around the world was far beyond human comprehension for now. He also made a mental note about this “Phase Two.” It was worrying, but a lot could happen in twelve hours.

  “Host scan finished,” Isaac read quietly, his gaze drifting lower.

  What came next almost didn’t make any sense to him. He understood his name—obviously. But the rest? Origin? Legacy? None of those words meant anything to him, at least not without some additional context.

  Of course, that wasn’t all. Virus Stage and Integrity came next. Isaac shivered once he read those names. He could only imagine what they meant, and none of his guesses were comforting.

  When the red text first appeared back in the shop, it mentioned something about a broken strain, and now there was this “Virus”. One didn’t have to be a genius to connect the dots between that and the monsters prowling the streets.

  I really need more context. Even my patience has a limit, he thought as he read the final lines of the text again. At least now I know what to call the transformed humans.

  Wretched.

  Not exactly a name Isaac would have chosen, but it beat referring to them as humans-turned-monsters or defaulting to calling them zombies. Although, with their behavior, the latter wasn’t entirely inaccurate. The Wretched were only missing decayed bodies to fit the picture.

  Stop imagining that. He lightly slapped his cheeks. Focus!

  The Interface, or whatever this thing really was, told him to kill twenty Wretched if he wanted to unlock its other functions. Hell, it even offered a reward for being quick with it.

  Now that he thought about it, all of this almost felt like some sort of a…

  “Game,” Isaac mumbled, the realization sinking in.

  He had never been much of a gamer—mostly due to his lifestyle—but even he could recognize the patterns. Interface, progress, missions—it all added up.

  Damn…

  It honestly looked like some sort of a higher being—and wasn’t that another can of worms waiting to spill—decided to play a sick joke on the population on Earth. Monsters, games, massive barriers. And all of that for what?

  No one knew.

  But then again, Isaac asked himself.

  Did it really matter?

  He had spent most of his life drifting from place to place until the old man finally took him in. By then, he had already grown apathetic to almost everything that happened around him. The few years with the man had fixed that part of him to some degree, but old habits die hard. So what changed now?

  Nothing… and everything.

  He was still the same person as before, the same guy who went through life like he was going through the motions. No purpose, no goal, no aspirations. Living a life of complete monotony because the only person to truly give a damn about him had asked him to live and never give up. That was all he amounted to.

  Or so he thought.

  This breakout—this virus—had awoken something within him that he had felt only a couple of times in the past few years. Curiosity. For now, it was just a tiny spark, but the more his thoughts strayed back to the approaching apocalypse, the more it grew.

  And then there were the monsters, the adrenaline coursing through his veins when he faced them. He might have been scared back then, but he had also never felt more alive. If not for that feeling, that spark of curiosity, he might have left the guy trapped in the trash container to his fate.

  Did it make him a bad person? Maybe.

  Did he care? Not really.

  Isaac just wanted to feel all of that again. He wanted to find out if this was what the old man meant when he said that life was worth the effort. He had to know, and if an apocalypse caused by some godlike being helped him figure it out, then so be it.

  If only my le—

  His thought was cut short when the air a foot in front of him erupted in a brief burst of fire. The tiny flame lingered only for a moment before fading and leaving behind a red envelope that slowly fell toward his lap.

  Startled but curious again, he fought the urge to jump away and instead grabbed the envelope mid-air. The soft and smooth texture felt like any other paper, even if it arrived by some mystical fire teleportation.

  Okay then… Reaching inside, he removed a colorful, thin page. A pamphlet?

  He flipped the paper, his eyebrows rising slightly at the text on the other side.

  Greetings, new Hosts!

  In the name of the Overlord Conductor, we welcome you to the next Integration Cycle. Unfortunately, your starting experience has been negatively affected by the breakout of the Broken Strain. Do not worry, though. As the new hosts, all of you will have plenty of chances to grow stronger and survive the danger until the Overseer stabilizes your planet.

  If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

  Until then, fight and grow stronger! Soon, the eyes of the entire integrated universe will be on you! Good luck in the upcoming battles and stages!

  Friendly reminder: To discover the purpose of your freshly unlocked Bound Status, just call out: “Interface:

  .” For example: “Interface: Name.”

  The moment Isaac finished reading, the pamphlet and envelope burst into flames again, leaving nothing but ashes behind. He didn’t even have the time to throw them away.

  “Huh.” He looked down at his hands. “No burns.”

  Noting that for the future, his thoughts returned to the words written on the pamphlet. Most of them were a bunch of nonsense and would continue to mean nothing until he got more context. But that friendly reminder at the end? That could be useful.

  “One way to find out,” he muttered, giving the floating red text another look. “What did the pamphlet call you? Right… Interface: Status.”

  Instantly, the entire text rearranged itself, most of it disappearing completely.

  [Status - Bread and butter of every Virus Host. Managed by the Overseer, it tracks your progress and helps you learn about your growing abilities. Currently bound. Can be summoned and operated with mental commands.]

  This Overseer again. Isaac furrowed his brow. Other than that, everything sounds simple… Status.

  Just like that, the old message returned. To make sure, he dismissed it with a single thought and called it back again. It worked like a charm.

  Now then. Name is obvious. Give me Origin.

  [Origin - One of the primary sources of power for every Host. It creates a link between you and one of the infinite aspects of the Mystical World. Origin grows with the Host, can advance, and may combine multiple aspects together. Additionally, it dictates the distribution of Ascension Power between attributes after each level-up.]

  Leaving me with more questions than answers but I get the general idea. Guess I will find out more once I unlock it. Isaac’s gaze dropped to the next function on the list. Interface: Legacy.

  [Legacy - Unlocks at Origin level 10.]

  He frowned. Fair, if underwhelming… Next then… Virus Stage.

  [Virus Stage - You are now a Host of a special lifeform that will always work for your benefit. Together, you grow stronger. The Virus’ main purposes are: keeping you alive, and transforming the ambient Immortal Mana into energy usable by mortals—Viron. Each subsequent Virus stage makes it more efficient, powerful, and unlocks additional features.

  Current Stage: Absorption - Your Virus is still developing and requires more power. Sire Strain: Overlord Chaos.]

  “Okay…” Isaac mumbled. Whatever he expected, it wasn’t this. Sure, it pretty much confirmed he was now hosting some alien virus, but it also hinted at so much more. His curiosity spiked once more.

  “Looks like people are getting their wish for superpowers… if I’m understanding this right, that is.”

  That gave him an idea, and just like with every other function of the Interface, he sent a query about Viron. To his satisfaction, an answer arrived, even if it was quite short.

  [Viron - Special energy produced and stored by the Host’s Virus. It is used for most abilities related to Origin, Virus, and Legacy.]

  Sounds about right, Isaac thought, dismissing this message. That left him with the final part of the bound status—the one that worried him the most. Interface: Virus Integrity.

  [Virus Integrity - In other words, it represents your Virus’ current condition. Once it hits 0%, the Broken Strain will consume you, leading to a fate worse than death. Getting wounded will lower Integrity by a certain amount, and falling below certain thresholds will apply temporary debuffs to the Host.]

  “And there it goes...” Isaac sighed, leaning back into the couch. The missing eight percent from his status? That was thanks to his leg—no denying it now. He was lucky the Integrity hadn’t dropped further.

  Fate worse than death, he thought, the images of Mrs. Harper flashing in his mind.

  Apparently, not even death could save anyone from becoming a monster. It also explained why his kill counter showed three instead of two. The poor woman had been so close to joining the horde that stabbing her in the heart counted as eliminating another Wretched.

  Isaac’s gaze strayed to the nearest window.

  “Might as well…”

  Ignoring the pain in his leg, he got up from the couch and hobbled over to the gap in the curtains. Not much time had passed since he last looked down on the street, but evidently, it was more than enough.

  A couple of corpses had already disappeared from the road, leaving behind only pools of dried blood. Of course, this could also mean that the bodies had vanished like the Wretched in the shop, but Isaac knew that wasn’t true.

  The corpse in the distance currently rising from the dead only confirmed that. A fate worse than death, indeed.

  He stepped away from the window, wincing as a sharp spike of pain erupted from his leg. Glancing down, he frowned at the drenched bandage. Some blood even got out, dripping down his calf.

  Looks like I gotta change you faster than I expected…

  It didn’t take Isaac long to return to his couch with a fresh bandage wrapped around his leg. He pretty much had to redo the entire thing, but at least he was starting to notice the effects. The bleeding became weaker, and his Virus Integrity even regained a single percent.

  Despite all of that, he didn’t go out—not yet. There was no way his leg could support him properly—though it definitely showed some miraculous signs of healing when he was changing the bandage. For now, he had to give it a bit more time. In any case, he had a whole box of painkillers waiting for him once he decided to move.

  Until then, Isaac settled for looking at the news on the TV and browsing the Internet on his phone. To no one’s surprise, the entire web was a mess. He had already seen multiple pictures and recordings taken by people within other Contamination Zones. Hell, he even found footage coming from Sacramento.

  And wasn’t that a sight straight out of hell—carpets of corpses, swarming hordes of Wretched, and people throwing themselves out of windows.

  Aside from scenes straight from nightmares, there were thousands upon thousands of posts scattered everywhere, talking about the apocalypse. Most were clueless ramblings, but he managed to find a few threads where other Hosts were describing the Interface. Few people believed them, and their posts were often lost in the flood of traffic, but still, the information was out there.

  We are all wasting time, Isaac admitted, glancing at the progress counter floating next to him.

  Current progress: 3 out of 20 | Rewards claimed: 42 out of 500

  Despite all the government alerts and every news channel screaming at people to stay safe, there would always be those who didn’t listen. Some had likely already died, but forty-two inside this Contamination Zone had succeeded, with more on the way. Now that the Hosts knew of the possible power-ups and rewards, some wouldn’t be able to resist.

  And that included Isaac, even if his reasons were slightly more complicated.

  Clear the building first. I will worry about what’s after later. He nodded to himself and swallowed the painkiller resting in his palm. Now then, I have a crowbar, but I could use a better knife.

  Yet before he could even get up, his phone vibrated again. At first, he thought it was just another alert, but no—the screen showed an incoming call.

  “Daryl?” Isaac arched an eyebrow but still accepted the call and put the phone next to his ear. “Hello?”

  “Oh, thank God! You’re alive, kid.”