Chapter 1: Chapter 1 – This world is mine!

A murky light hits your face, and you open your tired eyes. What first greeted your tired eyes was a neglected and stained grey ceiling, like those of an abandoned building. After lightly turning your head to your right and left, you discover that the rest of the room you are in is as ill-repaired as the ceiling above you, a small ruined bedroom.

"Am I hallucinating?" - You ask yourself as you try and get up.

Creak*

The bed groaned as you slowly stood up from its dilapidated mattress and creaking wooden bed frame, placing your bare feet on the cracked and dust-covered floor.

"Jesus... This place should hire a cleaner." - You comment as you stand up.

You take a wary look around the room and see a time-worn door slightly ajar to your right, and to your left, you see a rusted crowbar. Behind you was a veiled window, shining dim light into the room.

"... Better safe than sorry." - You say as you pick up the crowbar, the only thing in this room that can give you some sense of security.

However, as you grip the crowbar, you notice the discomfort in your hand caused by the rust, so you decide to take off your tank top and use it as a makeshift handle.

"How did I get here?" - You ask yourself, feeling a tad more clear-headed than before while holding your makeshift weapon.

You remember going home from work, tired from your shift in the supermarket. You then returned to your rented small apartment, took a quick shower, and slept with only a tank top and boxers. And then you woke up here.

"Am I dreaming? Or did I get transmigrated to another world?" - You ask yourself, wondering if you are some unlucky protagonist from a specific famous genre.

However, you don't expect yourself to have a protagonist halo. That doesn't happen in real life, especially to a mob character like you. Others in your world have cheat-like superpowers, with some of them being comparable to living nuclear weapons, but you are just your average powerless joe, one of the majority in your world.

"I guess I should explore this house first..." - You say as you cautiously eye the door.

Using your crowbar as an extension, you carefully open the door, but the old and rusty hinges shrieked in grief, letting out a creaking sound.

*Creak

Thankfully, the hinges didn't break as you finally opened the door. Behind the door was a small living room shared with a kitchen.

"A 1-room apartment, just like my own." - You figured as you cautiously stepped into the room.

Looking around the room, you see that the room was of an almost identical design to your apartment, but there were some key differences. One such difference is the appearance of the electrical appliances in the room. Although they looked old and ill-maintained, they had a futuristic vibe.

In place of a TV, there was a long tube with the TV screen folded inside like a roll. Instead of your old gas cooker, there was a modern electric hotplate, and your old refrigerator got replaced with a smart refrigerator.

Looking around the room, you also see other things that signify that this is not your apartment. The broken pictures on the ground and walls were that of a beautiful young woman that looked nothing like you, a young man with rather average looks.

There was also a closed solid door barring the only exit and a small futuristic bathroom beside it.

"What is this place? What happened here? Where is the owner?" - You ask yourself several unanswered questions.

Looking over the room again, you spot a wooden bin holding a pile of old newspapers. Picking one up carefully, you start reading it. The newspaper was luckily in English so you could read it.

"The year 2187!? This newspaper is from almost 200 years in the future?! And it's called the California Monthly? Is it the same California I am from?" - You exclaim in shock as you continue reading it.

"WW3 impending after WW2 back in 1968? Hah? Wait, what? WW2 ended in 1945! And it says it was against the communist coalition of Russia and China and not against Nazi Germany and Japan?" - You continue reading, feeling that something is very wrong here.

"In 2170, global warming reached a new peak, causing global famine because of lack of water and crop failure. Overextraction of natural resources has caused a shortage in most resources, and a worldwide economic crisis began."

"In 2182, massive starvation in China drove them to attack their neighboring country, Russia, to seize its fertile soils. A war ensued between the two communist superpowers over natural resources. So the USSR was never dissolved, and the CCP stayed communistic?" - You ask yourself with squinted eyes.

Although you are not known to be the smartest chip on the block, it doesn't take a genius to understand that this isn't your reality.

"Am I tripping balls right now? Or did the overworking finally get to my head?" - You couldn't help but ask yourself as your scratched your head and continued reading the newspaper.

"In 2183, the Arab alliance launched an invasion of Europe due to mass famine, but the Arab coalition collapsed within two months due to mass hunger and starvation. They then devolved into a series of civil wars that wiped out almost 90% of their population. Good lord..." - You mumble in horror.

"In 2184, the worldwide leading science company, Apex Technologies, announced the opening of their official nuclear shelters for the continued survival of humanity in case of nuclear warfare. The same year, the US entered a civil war, further damaging its dwindling vitality."

"In the same year, the China-Russia war escalated, and the first nuclear missile got fired, sparking WW3. From there, the war quickly escalated into a nuclear war that burned over a hundred cities, causing a nuclear winter that covered 80% of the landscape for months, cooling down the planet's temperature by a few degrees."

"In 2185, due to widespread refugees, famine, and disease, the world called for a cease-fire and tried to recover the decaying mess that got left. They knew that a continued war only leads to mutual destruction. It was then that Apex Technologies announced a plan to help clean the world using special fungi cells that they developed to absorb and clean the nuclear waste on the ground. All the world powers readily invested an enormous amount of funds. Well, that sounds ominous..." - You say with squinted eyes.

"In 2186, Apex Technologies managed to clean over half of the world, but then an unknown group of militants suddenly barged into one of its research labs, causing a leak of contaminated cells, mutating all the attackers and personnel into... into... man-eating fungi-based Zombies? What the fuck?" - You say, appalled, as you continue reading.

"The newly-formed zombies were found to have a special airborne contagion that could turn other humans into flesh-eating monsters. In response to the spreading contamination, Apex Technologies started producing vaccines that rendered those who took it immune to the contamination."

"In 2187, the world order officially collapsed. Although the vaccine worked 100% of the time, those infected before being vaccinated could not be saved. Although only 37% of the world's population succumbed to the spreading disease and we locally exterminated them, the number of zombies continued exponentially growing through spore formation reproduction and even mutated, growing more inhuman by the day. Within the first three months, the number of zombies outnumbered us fifty to one, and the gap kept growing as more people perish and more zombies thrive."

"In response, Apex Technologies sprayed the world with a special contagion targeted at the zombies, reducing their strength, reducing their reproduction rate, slowing down their mutating ability, and disabling their airborne infection ability, but society could not sustain itself as it collapsed, reduced to enclaves based around the vaults Apex Technologies built a few years prior."

"The various surviving governments also launched space shuttles to space, to send the seeds of humanity to nearby inhabitable exoplanets in the hope that the remaining embers of humanity will not die out, but that is irrelevant to us down on earth, still struggling and in a perpetual war against the zombies."

"This is the final newspaper that our California Monthly will release, and a general documentary on what has transpired. A large zombie tide is approaching our major cities, and we need to evacuate. If any future generation reads this, let them know of our folly and learn from our mistakes. We also added some information on the zombies at the back of the article to help you combat these man-made monsters, as well as the location of some of the nearby enclaves. May god be with you."

"Holy shit... This world is in a biological zombie apocalypse." - You exclaim, feeling exasperated.

Five years. It took only five years for this world to collapse and turn into a zombie apocalypse.

After putting the newspaper on a nearby plastic table, you carefully walk to a nearby veiled window and look outside, only for your jaw to turn slack.

Through the dirt-stained window, you see a world ravaged by time, abandoned buildings and foliage abound. You see overgrown climbing plants lightly wrapping some buildings and streets as nature started reclaiming them. From a documentary you saw on tv once, you reckon it has been at least ten years since civilization abandoned the city. You also spot humanoid shapes idly standing outside, basking in the morning sun. On instinct, you could already guess that they are zombies.

"Ha... Hahaha... This is a dream. A nightmare... Hahaha... Hahaha! Yes, I'm dreaming. I must be dreaming. I wanna go back to my shitty rented apartment and back to my crappy work in the supermarket. I wanna go back... I wanna go back!" - You break down as you enter hysteria. 

Even a toughened-up soldier might break down in your shoes, let alone you, an average joe working in a supermarket wearing only a pair of boxers.

As if god heard your desperate plea, with a dim flash, you suddenly disappear from where you previously stood.

You are reading story Reality Smuggler at novel35.com

 

 

A moment later, you find yourself on your bed, in your regular sleeping position, as if nothing happened.

"Eh..." - You utter as you blankly stare at your clean and white ceiling, bereft of any time-wear and cracks.

Turning your head right and left, you see you are back in your slightly messy but welcoming room.

"I'm back! No, maybe I just hallucinated it all..." - You try to convince yourself as you reach to scratch your chest, only to discover that your fingers brushed against bare skin and chest hair.

"Hah? I could swear that I wore a tank top when I went to sleep..." - You say as you suddenly feel slightly itchy in your right palm.

Upon looking at it, you see a brownish stain smeared on your palm as if covered with rust.

"... Oh shit, it's real." - You say, remembering the rusted crowbar you held in the post-apocalyptic world.

Gurgle*

Suddenly, your stomach rumbled as hunger pangs struck you.

"Okay, first breakfast, and then worry about this." - You say while rubbing your protesting stomach.

You felt like you haven't eaten the whole day.

 

After making a quick sandwich and placating your hunger, you shift your focus back to the main issue.

"I was transported to a post-apocalyptic version of earth, infested with fungus zombies. And then I wished to come back, and I came back." - You summarize your experience.

"Wait... So, maybe I can also transport myself back to that ruined world? If so, how do I do it? Do I need to wish it to happen? Should I test it out?" - You ask yourself, pondering whether it was even a good idea to do that.

"Hm... If I want to do that, I should probably wear some proper clothes first, maybe take my old aluminum baseball bat for safety." - You decided and started gearing up.

After around 20 minutes, you are dressed up in sturdy jeans and a leather jacket, wearing your worn hiking shoes, having a backpack on your back with some food and bottled water, and holding your trusty baseball bat in your right hand. You even put on a pair of black sunglasses, for style's sake.

Looking at yourself in the mirror, you look like a survivor in an apocalypse show, albeit clean.

"Alright, let's do this! I wanna go to that zombie apocalypse world!" - You gathered up your meager courage and wish.

The next moment, in a dim flash of light, you disappear from your room, and then you find yourself back in the living room where you disappeared before, standing in the same spot as before, but this time, however, you are prepared.

"Holy shit, it's real! I have a superpower! I can freely go to this alternate reality and back!" - You say to yourself again in disbelief.

Grumble*

However, as you say that to yourself, you find yourself hungry again, albeit less than last time.

"Damn, I'm hungry... Does this ability drain energy from my body? Inconvenient, but makes sense." - You say to yourself as you open your bag and take out another sandwich you made earlier.

While eating, you take up the newspaper you placed on the table and start reading again. This time, on the zombies. After reading it for some time, you discover that the zombies have unique traits, strengths, and weaknesses that you can exploit.

"The zombies are divided into grades. Normal zombies have the normal strength of twice that of an adult male and have sharp claws and teeth that can tear through toughened leather. Mutated zombies have further power and potential, some moving faster while others are physically stronger or have regenerative abilities. Other variants have the ability to bile out corrosive liquids that can melt human flesh and bones, and a few of them developed primitive human intelligence, comparable to a ten-year-0ld child, and can command hordes of zombies. There is also a class called Brood-Mothers, able to birth new zombies. They also retain a part of their infective ability, able to transfer the infection through blood and direct body fluids like rabies."

"However, the zombies have weaknesses. The most obvious one is that they evolved a self-sustaining mechanism based on photosynthesis, despite being fungi-based. During the daytime, the zombies have the habit of exiting the shaded buildings and are languid and clumsy, entering a weakened state of pseudo hibernation that makes their senses and minds grow dull and their movement a mess, and their strength is halved, regardless of if they are inside or outside of buildings. During the nighttime, however, the zombies become sharper, their senses better, and their movement faster, becoming better hunters. It is ill-advised to move at night, as although they are nearly blind, they are more sensitive to sound and smell. Also, like stereotypical zombies, they die if their brain is destroyed. Another weakness is that they are weak to fire, and can easily catch on fire, and they enter hibernation in freezing temperatures but are more active in tropical regions."

"Lastly, strange high-energy crystalline objects have been found inside the skulls of the zombies. Some mutated zombies exhibited a pattern of hunting other zombies and devouring these crystals, empowering them in the process. We don't have enough data on this, but we feel that this is a vital clue to beating the zombies."

"May this information help you, and god be with you."

"... Welp, this world is fucked alright." - You concluded after thoroughly reading the newspaper.

Normal zombies are one thing. Sure, they are scary and all, but they walk slowly, are stupid, and lack reproductive capabilities. The only thing scary about them is their contagion factor. Also, without food, it is estimated that zombies like that will simply die out within a few years due to a lack of food.

These zombies, however, are different. They sustain themselves off the sun, they can reproduce independently of humans, and they can evolve. What's more, they power up at night. Unless some brainiacs develop some form of extermination pathogen or something, you can be sure that this world is thoroughly fucked.

"But... If this world is relatively abandoned, and the technological level here is so advanced, doesn't that mean this world is a treasure trove? What about the survivors here, in the enclaves or survival shelters? They don't seem to have superpowers like in my world. Maybe I can exploit their needs to make skewed trades in my favor?" - You ask yourself, your eyes slowly lighting up.

Although you are not too smart, being a low scorer in school and barely graduating high school, you always had a keen sense of business opportunities.

This ruined, apocalyptic world might be the key to advancing in life, escaping your fate of being some low-ranking slave of society, to become someone.

Money, Fame, Power, Beautiful women...

Although you are just a normal, average human, you can have it all if you play your cards right.

As the fourth son out of five children in your family, if you die, although your family will grieve for a while, they will get over it quickly, and your two brothers and two sisters will hold the fort for you.

You walk back to the window, staring at the ruined city in front of you. Suddenly, this scary world was not so scary anymore. Where ruins and danger lurking about, you saw gold and opportunity, rich soil to plant your roots and thrive.

The only thing that you risk is your lowly life, but in face of this overwhelming treasure trove, you cast away your worries to the wind.

A maniacal smile slowly formed as you proclaimed:

"This world is mine!"

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