"Oh fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. Aaaaah!" Greed rapidly recited, his breaths sharp and panicked, trying to shake off the mind-splitting headache that had jolted him from sleep.
"Oh god, what the hell did I do to deserve this?" he muttered through clenched teeth, eyes shut tight as he grimaced in pain, pleading to any deity that might be listening to make it go away.
But there was no god to heed his pleas. He rolled around in what seemed to be a pile of trash, the rancid smells of the world outside his realm of agony wafting into his senses. The nauseating sounds of squelching, crunching, and the occasional pop of something unidentifiable punctuated his every movement, adding a grotesque symphony to his misery.
Gradually, the sharp throbs in his head began to dull. Each pulse of pain grew weaker, fading from a relentless pounding to a distant, manageable ache. Greed's breaths slowed, becoming less ragged. He dared to open his eyes, hoping the worst was over.
A desolate alley greeted him, filled to the brim with garbage. To his right stood a broken-down building, its bricks crumbling and windows shattered. To his left, a colossal, almost never-ending wall loomed, giving off an awe-inspiring aura that seemed out of place in his current environment.
Looking around, Greed was utterly flabbergasted. "What the hell, was I kidnapped?" he wondered, his mind racing.
Feeling horrific pain all over his body, panic set in. "Fuck, are my kidneys still here?" He frantically felt around his stomach, relieved to find all his organs intact. "Not kidnapped, my kidneys are still there... was I Cosby'd? No, my butt feels sorta fine... hmm."
Confusion clouded his mind as a prickling pain surged through his head. Memories began to flash past his mind at rapid speeds, threatening to fry his neurons. These memories felt familiar, yet he didn't actually recall them.
Greed shook his head, trying to clear the fog. Images of mutated beasts, terrifying zombies, and a harsh world flickered in his mind. He saw glimpses of an orphanage, devoid of parents, just the cruel caretakers and other orphans.
"Why... why do I remember this?" Greed muttered, his voice hoarse. "This isn't my life... or is it?"
He tried to piece together the fragments of his life and the memories of his body. Slowly, he began to understand. It seemed he had been reincarnated, but his soul had been in a trance-like state as it healed, making his body act purely on instinct. People had treated him like a retard, nicknaming him Greed due to his nonstop eating. His body's way of providing the nutrients needed to help his soul heal had also forced him to become fat.
From memories of classes taught by the orphanage, he recalled the name of this place: the Outskirts, a desolate area on the edge of the city where the poor and unwanted were dumped to fend for themselves against mutant beasts and zombies.
Yup, that's right—fucking zombies! Oh, and don't forget the mutant beasts! "Fuck, how fucking unlucky am I to be tossed into a fucking apocalyptic doomsday world with a body that can barely walk up a flight of stairs without getting winded!" Greed began to freak out as he remembered the history lessons taught in class.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Hundreds of years ago, this world had been just like Earth, with bustling cities, technological advancements, and relative peace. Then, without warning, everything changed. A mysterious energy began to awaken, spreading across the globe like a dark, invisible tide. Animals and people started mutating, transforming into grotesque, powerful monsters. Chaos ensued as humanity tried to comprehend and contain the unprecedented phenomenon.
At first, humanity put up a decent fight, but as the mutants evolved, the beasts and zombies quickly overpowered them. Regular firearms became useless against the thickened skin of beasts and the almost undying nature of zombies. As the world plunged deeper into chaos, governments resorted to their last desperate measure: nukes. They bombed their own countries, hoping to stem the tide of monsters, but instead, they created a desolate, irradiated wasteland still overrun by mutants.
In the aftermath, the last surviving humans struggled like cockroaches. They scavenged what they could to eat, avoiding mutants at every turn. Eventually, the same energy that turned the world into a hellhole gave them hope once again. Humanity began to gain the ability to evolve just like the mutants, albeit a very small percent. About 10% were able to devour crystals found within the heads of weaker mutants called fragments and grow strong enough to begin to damage and even kill them.
These individuals became known as Warriors. They fought against the mutants and reclaimed small bits of land for humanity, forging giant walls created by the strong men who evolved past regular warriors, gaining godlike abilities.
As the quick history lesson flung by, reality began to sink in.
"So, nuked earth into a doomsday land, mutants and zombies everywhere, and I'm stuck in the middle of it with a weak, fat body," Greed muttered.
"Great, just great." He rubbed his temples, trying to ease the lingering headache.
"I was an orphan with no family and not a single friend. Even the little bit of settlement funds provided by the orphanage was taken by a group of cunts!" he seethed, remembering that right before his soul awakened, he had been beaten, robbed, and left for dead on a pile of trash by a group of thugs.
As he lay there, processing this information and wishing death upon the guys who almost killed him, a strange sensation stirred within his consciousness. It was faint, almost imperceptible, but it was there. Greed's mind raced back to the countless novels he had read in his past life. Stories of reincarnation, systems, and paths to godhood.
"Could it be... a system?" he whispered, the thought filling him with a mix of excitement and desperation. "If reincarnation is real, maybe a system is too."
He focused on the sensation, trying to call out to it. "System?" he said, his voice trembling with anticipation.
A brief ding echoed in his mind, followed by a monotonous voice that sounded eerily like his own.
[Ding! Host detected. Do you wish to activate the system?]
"Fuck yes!" Greed exclaimed, hope surging through him. He envisioned getting back his ripped godlike physique from his last life, torturing those thugs who robbed him, and bathing in a sea of never-ending pussy. "Activate it!"
The voice, still eerily like his but more monotone and robotic, responded immediately, crushing his excitement.
[Ding! Activation requires one mutant core. Please provide a mutant core to proceed.]
Greed's heart sank. "One core... how the hell am I supposed to get a core?" He looked down at his weak, fat body and let out a bitter laugh. "Even beyond the grave, I can't escape late-stage capitalism."
He remembered how fragments and cores were the currency of this world. "One frag is basically a dollar," he muttered. "Cores come from King beasts and zombies which are level 10 and above... just a single core alone is worth thousands of frags."
Just a regular level 1 zombie could easily kill him if he's not prepared, how the hell is he supposed to kill a level 10? Keep in mind, a King beast has the ability to wipe out the Outskirts he currently lives in, as it can force all the mutants in the area to attack and also holds immense power itself. Regular bullets bounce off its skin, and a single roar from it can shatter the skulls of an average human within 100 meters.
"Damn capitalism."