The voice reverberated in my head. It was so clear yet at the same time felt so distant. I couldn't make out whether the sound was that of male or female.

And the voice claimed to be my god? For real?

"Your world has fallen too deep into depravity, sin and arrogance. You think highly of yourself and worship false gods. Others have felt sick of you. Arrogant beings, doom has been casted onto your world. Your world has been merged with a savage world created solely for your destruction. You deserve it."

What? I didn't know what to think of it. I was about to open my mouth but, apparently, the god hadn't finished.

"But not everyone of you are sick and immoral. A few of you are still pure and kind. For the sake of these children of mine, I bestow this world a chance to survive. I have intervened as much as I can and made changes, now Doom is not absolute anymore. You can fight back and reclaim your world."

"Human Shi Huicheng, you have opened the first door to my realm. I will grant you power. Choose well and travel the journey to prove your worthiness."

At that instant my body felt warmth. The pain in my body was gone. I could feel something appeared on my left hand wrist. There was now three thin lines circling the wrist, like faint tattoes. I touched the lines and the voice reverberated again.

"Human Shi Huicheng, those are my gift to those who open the first door to my realm. First line signify your strength. Second line your vitality, last line your agility. I will now grant you the knowledge to understand them," with that said I suddenly felt like something went through my head and a stream of light entered my mind.

"Go and use this gift wisely," and, just like that, I felt emptiness surrounded me. I dropped down to the floor. The voice of the being claiming to be my god had now gone. But whoever that was, he or she left me with extraordinary stuff.

I was no longer ordinary human.

There were thin lines on my wrist. The thin lines had almost transparant color. It was very difficult to see clearly, even from such close range. I deduced it was because of my improved physique that I could see them a bit clearer. There was hint of transluscent white bar on each of the lines. When that transluscent white bar fully circled my wrist then I would increase to higher level in that spesific status line.

I could now improve myself to become better human in three aspects. The strength line meant how strong my physical power was. The higher my strength was the more things I could achieve. I could hit harder, jump higher and lift heavier objects. It was basically an improvement to abilities using physical muscle power. The vitality line simply meant my overall stamina. It meant how long I could exert my strength or ran at full speed before I got tired. The agility line showed the improvement of my control and balance. In other words it meant how nimble and flexible I became.

I almost could not believe what was happening to me. Well, the appearance of monsters like the ones I killed was not believable too. They were here nevertheless.

Who was I to argue with a god anyway? Whatever this was, it meant I now have a better chance of survival and to reach my goal.

Too bad I couldn't ask any question. Whoever this being claiming to be god was, he or she sure loved to do a monologue. I was reminded of a certain superior I once had in a company I once worked for. What a great inspiration he was to our team. The monologue created fantastic team work, making sure we were always at the bottom of departmental performance in the company.

I looked at the first monster corpse. The dark translucent marble still laid on top of its body. I took it and lifted it to my eye level, scrutinizing it.

"So, this tiny thing is what I need to improve huh?" I said to myself. I opened my mouth and then swallowed that transluscent darkish tiny marble.

As the marble entered my body, I was physically surrounded by a very vague glow. Like a very dimmed glow. A glow that only I could directly see because I did not see it on my reflection on a mirror nearby.

I felt the energy. That feeling was like it was searching for a place to stay. With my mind I directed it to my strength status line. The energy then disperse and I could feel myself invigorated. The almost transparant white bar on my strength line was now a bit longer compared to the other two lines.

"That's how it works huh."

The more the better then, I thought. I remembered those two corpses in front of the hotel entrance gate. They got these marbles as well. I was thinking about how to get to them. It would be a challenge considering now that I have no weapon.

"Let's see if there's a chance from the outside," I decided. I picked up my backpack and headed out through the exit.

The road behind the hotel was empty from any activity. It was originally not a big street and today it lost the chance to get busy since this Doom thing happened over night. Still, I had to be careful so I walked quite stealthily.

As I walked on this empty street I felt quite wonderful. That god was not lying about the gift. I felt like a new man. I wondered what would happen if these thin lines had all the bars full. I looked forward to it.

I paid attention to the surrounding area and crept toward the big road in front of the hotel. There was blood in every corner of the street but no actual body. Where did the bodies go?

Then, I saw a movement inside a house across the road. Immediately, I took a cover. The house front door was broken. The second floor of the house had big glass windowed area. I was still on the road at the back of the hotel. Since it was not a large road, I could see silhouettes from the glass window.

From the movements and silhouettes I could tell that there was a monster in the house and some indications that there were more than a person inside. Since there were more people than the monster, I was considering helping them. However, my not having weapon really made it hard for me to decide to help. I wasted a couple seconds before coming to my senses.

I ran across the street and got inside the house immediately. I heard movements upstairs. I went to the kitchen and carefully open several drawers before I took out the sturdiest and biggest knife I could find. With this knife in hand I crept upstairs.

Usually in movies, there was at least one step that caused creaking sound. This time, fortunately for me, there was no such such thing.

When I arrived at the top of the stairs, what I saw almost make me puke. Bloody hell?

I was stunned from fear. For a second, it's like I lost control of my body and couldn't move. I needed to calm myself lest I would be drown in my emotions.

There on the floor was two human bodies. There was blood everywhere and some body parts of the two human were dismembered. They were dead. On the side of one of the body was a monster kneeling. It was clawing and gnawing on the body. It was busy feasting on its dead victim and wasn't aware that I was on the stairs.

'This monster is eating!' I shouted in my mind. It fed on us? So we were food for them? That's why there were no dead bodies!

Suddenly, this made me feel very angry.

I didn't know these people. I had no relation to them whatsoever. I wasn't even a citizen of this country. However, we were all human. What I saw make me trembled. The god said we were being punished. The god was not kidding. We became livestocks!

I was about to lunge at the beast with the knife when suddenly the monster were growling and shaking a bit.

What the hell? I intensely stared. This was like what happened to me when I ate the marble from the dead monster. They could improve too? The god didn't say anything about this. Then I remembered that the god wasn't particularly open.

If the monster could improve then how in the world would we human be able to survive? What kind of chance do we got when even without this gift the monsters were already more powerful than us?

Was this the feeling when you thought you just got a decent raise of salary only to find out that others had received a lot more than you?

'Wait a minute... this monster is getting stronger! What am I doing standing still?' I suddenly thought. This human-eating monster was getting its power up. I didn't know how many times this monster had powered up but it wasn't going to have more chance in the future. I wouldn't allow it!

Before the monster finished its power up I ran and charged at it. I plunged the knife directly at the back of the its neck.

"Zreeee!" the monster screamed a bit before its sound became gargles. It twisted its body and swung its arm, hitting me on my right arm.

"Ugh!" I was thrown to the back of the room. Damn it! This one was even stronger than the two I faced before. I thought I got a stronger but the pain was not getting lessen. My arm felt almost broken.

The monster was trying to pull the knife out of its neck. I saw it and without minding the pain I got up just in time. The monster did get a hold of the knife but my kick landed on its head at the same time.

The monster was thrown and slid on the floor which had become slippery because of blood from the two corpses. I didn't want to give it any chance, no I couldn't afford to give it a chance, so I rush forward, however the beast was not going down without a fight. It got up and staggeringly managed to block my fist. When the beast wanted to take a swing at me, I dodged.

The dodging move hurt me more but I had to do it. The claws of the beast weren't thing I could handle. I rolled back and created more distance between us. This one particular monster obviously had powered up, its perseverance was much better than those two before. Even with its neck fully pierced with a knife it still had the strength to fight on.

At this time, I regretted not being an experienced fighter. I grew up preferring to use brain over brawl. My body ached and had trouble moving freely.

The beast looked more and more wretched. The attack it made to me obviously costed the beast a lot of its stamina. It looked at me with savageness not unlike the first two monsters I killed. It sent chills up on my spine. That monster tried to move toward my direction.

I searched around for weapon I could use but there was nothing of no real value near me.

"Hrrr..," the monster slowly advanced. I had little confidence fighting empty handed against such a monster. While I was considering whether to throw the TV remote control or the bag of snack nearby it fell right in front of me.

It died and I sighed relieve.

I looked at the dead monster and shivered. I was too rushed. If I did not stabbed it first, I doubt I had the chance to kill it. I would have been dead instead. That god! What kind of chance was he or she gives to us?

The marble appeared on top of the dead beast. I took it and put it in my mouth right away.

My body started to tremble as I felt the energy flowing in me. There was a difference this time. This energy was definitely bigger than the two before. That wasn't the only thing. I felt I could do it differently. I directed the energy to my strength line and vitality line. Just as I intended, both lines were raised.

'If the energy contained within is more then I can direct it to more than one status line. Interesting'.

I could also find out how many people the monster had killed just by basing it on the the number of energy I could spread out. Wait a minute, it should not be the number of people this monster had killed but the number of people this monster had eaten.

The thought that I could know how many people this monster had eaten appalled me. I'd rather not dwell on it.

I could feel the improvement right away. I felt ecstatic. However, this time I told myself not to let it go to my head. This improvement was not enough to make me invincible. Not by a long shot. I had to be more careful next time.

My clothes were now covered in blood. I should changed them. I took out my other clothes from my backpack. Looking at them I realized something. I didn't have comfortable clothes, and also running shoes for that matter. This was supposed to be business trip. The clothes I was wearing now was the only set that close to being comfortable for casual wear.

I took a look at one of the dead human. From the remains, he was obviously a man. I could not easily tell his size since his body has been ravaged. I turned away, afraid I would throw up if I see more.

I saw the picture hanging on the wall. At a glance, it seemed the man was about my size, more or less. Picture could lie so I couldn't be sure. They were husband and wife, and only the two of from the look of the picture. Meaning that they didn't have a child. They should be pretty well off to be able to stay in a house this size in the center of the city. But all that money meant nothing now. Even a good solid door could not stop the monster from barging in and slew them.

I said to the direction of the two corpses, "I'm sorry I was late to help you."

I went into their room. From the closet I chose a set of clothes. I thought he was my size but apparently he was slightly smaller. The shirt I choose was the biggest one available. I remembered not having the chance to take a shower this morning so I took this chance to clean myself a bit, including shaving. I took another set of clothes and put it inside my backpack. I went to the kitchen and ate a slice of bread, also grabbed a bottle of water and took another knife with me.

It didn't take long for me to get out of the house. I was only there for no more than twenty minutes.

I was about to head to my original target, which was the two monster corpses, when I saw several movements. There were more monster going to the hotel. Their eyes glaring to every corner of the street, looking for more food.

So much for the freebies, I thought. It was akin to suicide if I still went there so I decided to forgo the two marbles.

"Need to find weapon and food," I said to myself. I started moving through the street.

I thought about taking a vehicle but finally decided against it. I still remembered how easy the sound of pistols attracted more monsters to the hotel. For now I had to rely on walking only.

Then I saw a police station about several hundred meters from where I was.

'There should be weapons in there,' I told myself. I wasn't thinking about firearms since the noise was a big no no. I was thinking more or less about real combat knife. Currently what I had now was only a kitchen knife. Preferably, if available, some kind of sword would be good though I did not think I would find such one in a police station.

I walked through the street, minding the surrounding carefully and keeping in mind that one false move could cost me my life. On the buildings, there were some movements. I became alert. Surveying those buildings, I finally saw people peeping out of the windows. They were afraid and cautious, just like me.

Because of the need to be vigilant, it took me some time before finally reaching the police station. I looked around and saw no one on the street. No human, no monsters. Then I pushed the door to police station open.

I stood very still at this very moment. Two people, police officers judging from their uniforms, were holding guns pointed at me. They were visibly trembling.