Gene scrambled back down the narrow apartment stairs, pulling a faded black jacket over his shoulders while trying not to trip over his own feet.
By the time he hit the ground floor, he was already panting heavily, and his legs felt like wood.
His lungs burned just from a simple jog down three flights of steps.
'Wow, I am ridiculously out of shape,' he thought, leaning against the plaster wall to catch his breath for a second.
'No wonder it took me forever to reach level five hundred the first time around. My base stats are garbage right now.'
Gene grabbed his motorcycle keys off the small hook by the door and slung his battered backpack over one shoulder.
He knew he needed to move fast because the clock was ticking down in the sky and the system cared about nothing but punctuality.
Out of the billions of people living on the planet, only about fifty million were selected to enter Genesis at the start.
And the weird thing about that world is that you did not actually die right away if you failed a stage or got taken out by a boss monster.
The system would just kick you back to your home planet and open up a brand new trial somewhere in a city to recruit some poor soul to take your empty spot.
But that safety net was a complete scam for the rest of humanity.
Once the system finished recruiting and the final roster was locked in, the real apocalypse started.
The system would strip away the protective barriers, and the entire planet would be invaded by high-level monsters.
The billions of people left behind wouldn't have any system powers or magic skills to defend themselves, meaning they were forced into a total bloodbath just trying to survive the night.
Gene hopped on his old motorcycle and moved into the morning traffic, navigating through the dense crowd of cars and pedestrians.
It had been a really long time since he had seen so many normal, happy people just going about their daily routines without looking over their shoulders for goblins or trolls.
A wave of guilt washed over him as he watched a dad buying coffee at a corner stand and a group of high school students laughing at a bus stop.
He knew exactly what terrible things were coming for all of them in about an hour.
But even if he just stood on a street corner and yelled that monsters were about to fall from the sky and eat everyone, they would just record him for a funny video and call the cops to take him to a ward.
He could not save everyone by warning them, so he had to save them by winning the game.
Gene steered the bike toward the city's central lake, weaving past delivery trucks and slow commuters.
This was the spot where he was supposed to meet his ex-girlfriend ten years ago for what was supposed to be a normal morning, whatever it was.
Spoiler alert: She never actually showed up.
Last time, he had just been standing by the water looking at his phone when the system first booted up, and the trial gates opened right in front of him.
He had been terrified of the creatures pouring out of the gate and just ran away like a coward, leaving other people to deal with the mess.
But this time, he needed to be the very first player to enter the Genesis.
The system always rewarded the crazy people who took the initiative and stepped up first, and getting that First Blood bonus was an advantage that he desperately needed if he wanted to kill a room full of arrogant gods later on.
After about twenty minutes of fighting through the city traffic, Gene finally reached the lake park.
He had exactly half an hour left to get his head straight and prepare for the slaughter.
The very first trial was always completely bare-bones and straightforward.
Nobody had any special skills or magic powers yet, so the system kept the monsters relatively simple to give people a fighting chance.
You just had to rely on whatever you had in your pockets and your own two hands to survive the first wave.
Gene reached under the cover strapped to the back of his bike and pulled out a small, heavy camping axe.
He slipped the weapon into the deep pocket of his jacket, keeping his hand wrapped tight around the sturdy wooden handle so it was ready to swing at a moment's notice.
He found a quiet wooden bench near the water and sat down, watching the peaceful scene unfold around him.
A few early risers were jogging past on the paved trails, some older folks were throwing tennis balls for their golden retrievers, and a couple of brave people were taking a morning dip in the cool water of the lake.
Gene watched them laughing and splashing, and he actually found himself smiling along with them. It was not a happy smile, but more of a quiet promise to himself.
'I couldn't do anything to help anyone before,' he thought, watching a young kid throw pieces of bread to a family of ducks.
'But maybe this time I can actually save the people who deserve to make it out of here alive.'
The thirty minutes slipped by much faster than he expected while he was lost in his memories.
Ding!
The sound echoed through the entire park.
It did not come from the park speakers or from the sky above them, but sounded right inside everyone's head, cutting through all the background noise of the city.
Every single person around the lake froze completely still, dropping their coffees and stopping their conversations mid-sentence.
[Trial of judgement is about to begin]
[Please get ready]
Whispers immediately broke out across the grass as people tried to figure out what was happening.
"What trial?" a jogger asked, pulling out his earbuds and looking around the trees.
"Honey, what is this? Did you hear that weird voice?" a woman standing near the bench said, grabbing her husband's arm in a panic.
"Mom, someone is talking in my ear!" a kid yelled from the playground.
The people were completely confused and starting to freak out. Gene remembered feeling the same terrible confusion the first time around.
He still had no real clue why that black Existence Flame had decided to spit him back out ten years in the past instead of just deleting his soul, but he honestly did not have the time to sit around and ponder the deep mechanics of divine time travel.
Boom.
A shockwave ripped through the air and rattled the nearby streetlights.
The centre of the huge lake literally split wide open as a giant invisible knife had just sliced the water completely in half.
Huge waves splashed up onto the walkways, soaking the screaming bystanders who were too slow to back away.
Right in the middle of the empty dry space in the lake bed, a freestanding wooden door appeared out of the air, looking totally out of place.
[Trial 1: Bunny Killer]
[Kill 5 Bunnies to pass the trial]
The wooden door creaked loudly and swung wide open.
A dozen fluffy, perfectly white rabbits hopped out of the dark doorway onto the wet stones.
They looked exactly like the cute little pets you would see sleeping in a pet store window. A woman standing near the edge of the water let out a big sigh of relief when she saw them.
She actually stepped closer and leaned down to pat one of the little creatures on its head, thinking it was some kind of elaborate prank.
"Ahh how cute!"
The rabbit's cute red eyes suddenly turned to a toxic green colour.
Its little mouth ripped open, stretching way past its ears to reveal rows of sharp teeth. It lunged forward faster than a snake and clamped its jaws down hard.
With one sickening crunch, the rabbit bit her entire hand clean off at the wrist.
"Ahhhhh!" the woman screamed in pure agony, falling backwards onto the concrete as blood sprayed all over the green grass.
The peaceful morning turned into a stampede as people shoved each other out of the way, trying to run for their cars.
The rest of the bunnies did not just wait around to be petted.
They leapt into the terrified crowd like fuzzy little chainsaws, biting and tearing into anyone they could reach with terrifying speed.
Gene stood up from his seat and let out a long, slow breath to calm his racing heart as he tightened the grip on his axe.
'Here we go again,' he thought.
He broke into a full sprint, running directly toward the swarm of bloodthirsty monsters while every single other person in the park was running away in terror.
➢ [We wish you the best, Players]