Jonathan was having a strange 'dream'. He was sitting in a chair and there was a table in front of him with refreshments. The place he was in was completely white and he had been there for hours, or so he thought. Time was weird in this place.

But the time he had been here had helped him calm down about what he had heard before he fainted. Jonathan knew he would faint, since the last time SHOP transmitted information (Chapter 2), he had also fainted.

' I don't know how much more dangerous the world will get, but I think we'll still be able to survive just fine, thanks to SHOP. Of course, that is true for my group, but the others...'

The humans of this world were unlucky. Zombies suddenly appeared and killed practically 95% of the human population just for existing. Now, after months of adapting to these zombies, they were going to evolve into a more dangerous version.

Jonathan thought of his parents, whom he had no idea where he was, and became apprehensive, "Calm down... Now that the baby is born, I can look for them more quickly. But, if I do that, I probably won't be going back to prison for a long time...''

But he was at peace with that. He was going to spend some time with the baby, to see if there was anything wrong with him, thanks to him inheriting Jonathan's old SHOP, then he would leave supplements to last at least a year or two, and finally, he would set off to find his relatives.

However, his conscience was growing heavy, 'But what about the rest of the humanity? Even if I didn't mean to, my mere presence has caused the zombies to evolve, and will probably kill most of the remaining humans...'

Sighing and with no good idea of how to solve this problem, Jonathan continued to wait for something to happen. Until now, he didn't know what the new version of SHOP looked like or what this place was.

Time passed and just when Jonathan was about to lose patience, a screen appeared in front of him. It was the new SHOP.

'' CONGRATULATIONS TO THE HOST. YOU NOW HAVE THE UPGRADED VERSION OF THE SHOP. THE OTHER VERSION WENT TO THE NEW HOST.''

Jonathan already knew that so he didn't react much. He was way more curious about the state of the world than the new version, '' Can you tell me how and what is the evolution of the world you talked about.''

'' YES, I WILL EXPLAIN IT TO YOU. YOU, A SOUL FROM ANOTHER UNIVERSE, IS AN ANOMALY THAT CHANGED THE COURSE OF HISTORY IN THIS UNIVERSE. IT MADE THINGS WEIRD AND THE UNIVERSE HAD TO CHANGE A FEW THINGS HERE AND THERE TO MAKE THINGS RIGHT.''

'' WHEN YOUR CHILD WAS BORN, IT CAUSED ANOTHER ANOMALY, ONE THAT THREATENS THE EXISTENCE OF THE UNIVERSE, AS YOU AND YOUR CHILDREN WOULD HAVE GROWN TOO POWERFUL. LEFT WITH NO CHOICE, THE UNIVERSE HAD TO ACT TO MAINTAIN BALANCE.''

''THAT WHY THE ZOMBIES HAVE EVOLVED. IT WILL START SMALL, MAKING THEM FASTER AND INTELLIGENT. BUT, IN THE FUTURE, THINGS LIKE THAT MIGHT APPEAR.''

The SHOP interface started to show images to Jonathan, images of zombies he knew very well.

'' Nemesis?!? ... HOW!? AND WHY?''

Jonathan was almost losing his mind. The most powerful 'weapon' in Jonathan's arsenal was a couple of grenades, and he was sure it wasn't nearly enough to kill a simple BOW, let alone Nemesis.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

'' And why the hell did the universe decide to put a Resident Evil character here?!?''

The SHOP ignored that question and continued to speak, '' NOTE THAT I SAID IT IN THE FUTURE, AS YOU CAN STILL DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. AND, AS YOU NOW HAVE AN UPGRADED VERSION OF THE SHOP, EVERYTHING IS NOW AVAILABLE TO BUY. CARS, PLANES, ROCKETS, MORE ADVANCED KNOWLEDGE/INFORMATION, ETC.''

Jonathan wasn't that thrilled about the last part, as he just found out he probably would die fighting in the future. So, he thought about what the SHOP said and asked what he thought was more important about what he heard earlier, '' What do you mean I can still do something about it?''

The SHOP said nothing and just showed something to Jonathan. It was an item that made Jonathan have goosebumps all over his body.

'' A WAY TO FIND THE CURE: YOU HAVE THE CHANCE TO BUY A WAY TO FIND THE CURE TO THE ZOMBIE VIRUS. OF COURSE, IT'S NOT GOING TO BE THAT SIMPLE, AS THE UNIVERSE ITSELF WILL INTERVENE TO MAINTAIN THE BALANCE, BUT YOU WILL BE GIVEN INFORMATION ON HOW TO MAKE/FIND THE CURE. NOTE: IT WILL NOT WORK ON PEOPLE WHO ALREADY TURNED INTO ZOMBIES, ONLY ON PEOPLE WHO WERE BITTEN BUT STILL HUMAN OR AS A PRECAUTION.

PRICE: ALL YOUR MONEY, REGARDLESS IF YOU ONLY HAVE A DOLLAR OR BILLIONS, AND YOU WILL LOSE ACCESS TO THE SHOP, BUT NOT THE INVENTORY.''

Jonathan could only stare at that, ' A cure... the price is way too absurd but ... this means a safer future to all of us.'

Of course, Jonathan would not buy it now, but it's something to think about really really hard. He asked the SHOP interface, '' How long until the zombies started to evolve into something like Nemesis or other BOW?''

'' AS OF NOW, THE ZOMBIES HAVE GROWN FASTER AND SMARTER. BUT, THE EVOLUTION INTO BETTER VERSIONS IS FAST. THE FINAL EVOLUTION WILL OCCUR IN 5 MONTHS.''

'' Is Nemesis the last part of said Evolution?''

'' IT DEPENDS ON HOW YOU ACT.''

' Great, this version acts enigmatic... At least it's more talkative than the other.' Jonathan could only sigh about his luck.

'' You mentioned buying more advanced information and guns. Can you explain that part better?''

'' OF COURSE.''

The SHOP showed Jonathan the new interface and the new things he could buy. There were some changes, as the things that were blocked before were now open and the KNOWLEDGE part was way bigger than before.

Jonathan looked at some things there and was shocked.

KNOWLEDGE ON HOW TO FLY A PLANE. PRICE: 1M

KNOWLEDGE ON HOW TO PILOT A TANK: PRICE 1M

KNOWLEDGE ON HOW TO FIGHT LIKE A MASTER: 1M

Seeing those things, a thought came to Jonathan's mind. He said immediately, '' Wait, isn't this just like the movie Matrix?''

In that movie, the characters just needed to have the information/knowledge sent directly to their brains through shenanigans, and they would be a master of said things. Jonathan thought it was very similar to how his SHOP was looking now.

'' CORRECT. YOU CAN BE A MASTER OF ALL THINGS YOU WANT, BUT TAKE NOTICE OF THE PRICE.''

Jonathan was silent as he looked at his remaining money. 2 billion dollars. He could probably buy all KNOWLEDGE and there would still be some money left. But he wasn't going to do that, at least not now.

' When I leave this place, I will take some time to think about on what to buy... Knowledge will be what I will buy more, cars are a must, a helicopter is something good to buy, but the problem will explain all that to the others...'

Again, Jonathan was limited on how to use his powers, as he didn't want to expose them yet. But, as time passed, he was getting more and more frustrated, as in most situations, he could not resolve it fast enough. He was debating internally if he should just reveal his powers or not.

'' Is this all information you have about the situation?'' Jonathan asked the SHOP.

'' YES.''

''OK, so when can I go back?''

'' I CAN SEND YOU BACK RIGHT NOW.''

'' Then please do that.''

Jonathan already got all the info he found relevant from the SHOP right now. He really wanted to see his child and then start to plan what to do regarding the situation at hand, ' I have to act fast.'

''OK. 18 HOURS HAVE PASSED SINCE YOU PASSED OUT, AND THE WORLD ALREADY FINISHED THE FIRST ROUND OF EVOLUTION. GOOD LUCK.''

Jonathan then felt the world around him shift and turn, so he closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he was back in prison, on his bed.

He tried to get up, but he had a headache, ' What the hell, it's literally the same feeling as a bad hangover.'

Ignoring the pain, Jonathan went out of his cell/room, to see the others and to check how bad the situation was.