Ryan Steele yawned, staring at his laptop screen in the cramped dorm room at New York University. The online lecture on "Modern Economics" droned on in the background while he scrolled through his phone, checking the latest memes. It was just another ordinary Tuesday in New York—until it wasn't.
A deafening siren suddenly blared from every phone, laptop, and speaker in the building. Ryan jolted upright as a massive blue holographic screen materialized in the sky outside his window, visible across the entire city.
[Global System Integration Initiated.]
[Welcome to the New Era, Survivors.]
[All life forms will now evolve. Prepare for the integration.]
"What the hell...?" Ryan muttered, rubbing his eyes. His roommates—Jake and Tyler—burst into the room, phones in hand.
"Dude, is this some prank? AR filter gone wrong?" Jake laughed nervously.
Before anyone could reply, screams echoed from the hallway. The door to the dorm building slammed open downstairs. Then came the moans—wet, guttural, hungry.
A student stumbled into their room, blood pouring from a bite on his neck. "Run! They're eating people! Zombies—"
His words cut off as a grotesque figure lunged through the doorway. Pale skin, rotting flesh, milky eyes. It was their neighbor from down the hall, but... wrong. The creature's jaw unhinged with a crack, and it sank its teeth into the student's throat.
Chaos exploded.
Ryan's heart hammered. "This can't be real!" He grabbed a chair and swung it at the monster, but it was too fast. Claws raked across his chest, sending him crashing into the wall. Pain exploded through his body as another zombie—his own roommate Tyler, now turned—bit deep into his arm.
Blood filled his mouth. The world spun. Darkness closed in.
*I'm... dying?* Ryan thought, his vision fading. *Just like that?*
Then—
[Ding! Host has died from zombie infection.]
[Detecting extreme survival will...]
[Hidden Unique System Activated!]
[Congratulations! You have obtained the God-Tier Devourer System!]
A new blue panel flashed in his dying mind, brighter than the ones in the sky.
**System Name:** God-Tier Devourer System
**Host:** Ryan Steele
**Level:** 0 (0/100 EXP)
**Attributes:**
Strength: 5
Agility: 6
Vitality: 4
Intelligence: 7
**Skills:** None
**Special Ability:** Devour – Consume any organic or inorganic matter to gain EXP, attributes, and random skills. No limits.
Ryan's eyes snapped open. The pain vanished. His wounds were closing, and the zombies in the room froze as if time had stopped for them.
He stood up slowly, blood still dripping from his clothes—but he felt... stronger. Alive. Reborn.
The first zombie lunged again.
Ryan didn't scream this time. A cold smile crept across his face.
"Devour," he whispered.
The system responded instantly.
[Ding! Devouring Low-Level Zombie Corpse...]
[Gain: +2 Strength, +1 Agility, +50 EXP]
[Random Skill Acquired: Basic Regeneration (Passive – Heal minor wounds over time)]
The zombie crumbled to dust in his hands, its essence flowing into him like liquid power. The second one charged—only to meet the same fate.
Ryan looked at the blue panels floating before his eyes, his heart racing with excitement instead of fear.
The apocalypse had begun.
And he was going to eat it alive.