Eric took a deep breath, adrenaline still coursing through his veins. Never in his wildest imagination had he thought that one day he would be attacked by a carnivorous rabbit. If his friends knew what happened, he was sure they would make fun of him instead of worrying about him.

His cheek stung as blood trickled down his face. He winced as he wiped it away. Looking at the blood covering an old burn scar on his palm, he clenched his fist and looked at the culprit.

"You little shit!" He glared at the creature.

What the hell is wrong with this rabbit?!

Eric frowned as he examined the lifeless rabbit. At first glance, except for the weird horn, the creature didn't look any different from a normal rabbit, but upon closer inspection, he noticed that the blood oozing from its body was an unnatural shade of black instead of the usual red.

"Strange," he muttered.

Was it sick?

Considering the fact that he had just seen it eating human flesh, being sick was the only thing he could think of at the moment.

But what kind of disease would cause it to turn into... a zombie rabbit?

The creature's unusual behavior wasn't the only thing on his mind. He remembered the strange-looking window that appeared while he was dealing with the rabbit; it looked similar to some video games he used to play as a kid.

What am I thinking? A video game interface! My mind must be playing tricks on me.

He stared at the lifeless creature to confirm it, but his vision remained blank. The message disappeared when it died.

Just as I thought. It must be a hallucination because I lost too much blood.

Eric knew from experience that severe blood loss could cause hallucinations due to decreased oxygen to the brain. Although he wondered why he was hallucinating about video games of all things, he didn't dwell on it and turned his attention to the more pressing matter, how to free himself. Fortunately, whether it was intentional or not, the monster bear somehow ended up helping him, as some of the debris he was stuck under was blown away after the monster put its paw on it.

He noticed a metal rod protruding from a piece of concrete. He grabbed it and shook it back and forth until it snapped. With half of the rod in his hand, he placed it under the rubble and pushed up.

At first, Eric struggled to lift the massive weight of the debris, and even the pole bent a little, but he persevered through clenched teeth. Little by little, the debris began to rise.

Eric groaned as he felt his leg about to tear out. Lifting his head, he noticed another bar coming out of the rubble and piercing his leg. Biting his lip, he stiffened his leg and kept pushing, this time more urgently.

When the debris was high enough, he quickly pulled his legs out. Thud! The debris fell. Eric took a deep breath before checking his legs.

Not broken. That's good.

They were mostly fine, except for the gaping hole in his left leg where the metal bar had pierced it. He grabbed a shirt near him, turned it around, and let the dust fly off it before tying it around his leg wound. It wasn't perfect, but it would do for now.

I don't know if that monster is still out there.

After tending to his injuries, he finally had some time to think. Of course, the thing that came to mind was the bear; the sight of that monster devouring people still haunted him. He looked around but saw no sign of it. Only crumbling buildings surrounded him, but he was worried. It could still be hiding somewhere.

That monster doesn't need to hide if it wants to hunt me.

He saw with his own eyes how the creature broke through the rubble, sending large chunks of concrete flying as if they were nothing. A monster like that doesn't need to prepare to hunt; it can just do whatever it wants. Eric even doubted that some bullets would be effective against it.

But why was there no news about such a creature?

Surely, such a thing would be all over the news.

Is it an alien?

Eric knew that his thoughts were absurd because he didn't believe in aliens, but he couldn't stop his mind from running wild and trying to figure out the reasons behind the existence of such creatures. Alien, as absurd as it may sound, would explain why it wasn't in the news. A whole new species yet to be discovered, or kept a secret from the public.

But it didn't look intelligent.

He remembered the monster's behavior. Aside from its appearance, the bear was no different from any other predator. It showed no signs of communication or consciousness, just primal, savage animal instinct.

Whatever that thing was, it's best to stay as far away from it as possible. I don't think I have enough luck to survive a second encounter.

Speaking of luck, he remembered the people who were the reason he was still alive. If they hadn't made noise to attract the monster's attention, he wouldn't be alive right now. It wouldn't be a lie to say that they traded their lives for his; even if it wasn't on purpose, he was still grateful.

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The least I could do was pay my respects to their families.

He wasn't a bastard enough not to show gratitude to his saviors.

But first…

He limped forward until he reached Alex's body, but was startled to find another horn rabbit feasting on her remains. He gritted his teeth, clenched his fists, and dashed forward, not caring about the blood oozing from his leg as anger overshadowed his pain.

The rabbit looked at him, blood dripping from its mouth as it chewed on Alex's arm, further enraging Eric. But before he could reach the rabbit, it ran away, taking her arm. Eric tried to follow, but a sudden noise rang in his head, causing him to stumble over a stone and fall. He barely managed to catch himself before hitting his face first to the ground.

Damn it! He punched the ground in frustration as the rabbit's figure disappeared. Not only had it slipped away, but it had also taken his friend's arm.

What the hell was that noise? Where did it come from?

As if in response to his grumbling, something appeared in front of him. A small blue line of light before it turned into a touch screen floating in the air. Eric jumped back and raised his hands, clenching them defensively as he stared at the floating screen.

The Fuck!!!

The screen followed him, stopping two feet from his head. He backed away, but the screen stuck to him like glue. He gave up after seeing no sign of danger and instead looked curiously at the screen.

"Hologram?"

The window looked like something out of an old video game—blue with white edges and text. He reached out to touch it with an experimental finger, the screen shimmering as his finger went straight through. His finger felt like it had been dipped in cool water.

He looked left and right but found no sign of any kind of projection that could create such a window. Instead, as he began to move, the screen followed. There was text on the screen, and he began to read it.

****

** Status:

** Name: Eric Walker

** Level: 0 (Rank 0)

[Attributes]

[Abilities]

[Skills]

[Inventory].

****

Huh, is my mind playing tricks on me and I'm hallucinating right now?

By now, his headache had subsided and he could think properly, but the situation in front of him wasn't exactly what he could explain with a clear head. He massaged his eyes before opening them again, but the floating screen was still there.

Am I finally going crazy?

For a moment, he thought he had lost his mind and that these were all the hallucinations he was seeing. As a former soldier, he saw that many of his fellow soldiers, especially those who had experienced war or had been on the battlefield, sometimes had trauma. They either found a way to live with it or they would suffer from PTSD.

Eric thought the latter was happening to him, but he refused to accept it because he hadn't had such an experience, at least not recently.

It would be great if there was some kind of satisfying explanation for what's happening to me.

The only source of explanation he could get at the moment was from the strange-looking screen. He opened his eyes wide to see if he could make sense of the situation.

This is like a video game interface.

"Attributes," he read in the first unexplained section, ignoring the fact that it had his name, like some kind of video game character, which was definitely not the most questionable thing at the moment.

In games, attributes usually mean the person's stats. How can I see them? Just as he finished his thoughts, a new screen appeared.

***

**Attributes:

-Strength:12

-Agility: 14

-Vitality: 11

-Constitution:12

-Perception: 13

-Magic power: 10

-Mind power: 7

*Free points:0

***

He hadn't expected this thing to work on command, but it didn't seem to come with an explanation, as he tried to ask it several times to no avail. He finally gave up and just read the information it gave him.

The attributes were self-explanatory. He noticed that his stats seemed very balanced, with only Mind Power being the lowest. He didn't understand what Mind Power was or why it was so low compared to the other stats, but he didn't think too much about it and continued to read. He assumed that 10 points was the average stat per person, which meant that except for the unknown Mind Power, he was above average in the other stats.

When he looked at the whole picture, he noticed that his level was 0.

"Could it be that I can level up like in games?"

He tried to focus on the various elements on the screen, but to no avail. It simply informed him that strength meant strength, and agility meant agility.

After reading all his attributes, he absently thought about how to get back to the main interface, which it did immediately. He scratched his head and checked it, just in case he had missed something earlier, but everything seemed fine; there wasn't a single injury on it.

It doesn't look like I have a chip on my head.

For a moment, he thought that someone had put a chip in his head, like the ones he had read about on the Internet that could help the human brain or something. That would explain why he could see those windows and why he could mentally communicate with them, but after checking his head and feeling no signs of head surgery, he dismissed that possibility, or more likely, he didn't want to think that such a possibility existed; he didn't like the idea of being someone who had been experimented on.

What's next on the list?

Just as he was about to check, several wolf howls stopped him in his tracks. Startled, he looked left and right, trying to locate the source. The howls sounded distant, but not too far. The screen followed, blocking his line of sight, which he found annoying, and he thought about closing it, which it did immediately.

Shit!

He didn't expect wolves to come over here, but a quick thought made him realize why. Wolves had a keen sense of smell, and in this place filled with corpses, the smell of blood must have attracted them.

What should I do?

He knew that he should run, as wolves were creatures who moved in packs, so facing them wasn't an option. He would be surrounded and killed if he stayed, but even while knowing that, he stood rooted in his place. His eyes flickered with conflicted emotions.

If I run away...

He looked at the remains of Alex. If the wolves managed to get here, they wouldn't let her body be—not just her, but they would feast on all dead bodies here.

He closed his eyes, clenched his fist, and stood until a cool wind brushed past him. Opening his eyes, the hesitation disappeared from them. With gritted teeth, Eric turned around and ran in a direction where he didn't hear the howls.

I'm sorry!!