Apocalypse: After Reanimation, I Became The Queen-Chapter 35: _ New Ability Skill Unlocked!

I press my hand against the stairwell door, feeling the weight of whatever is on the other side pressing back. It’s eerily quiet, surprisingly.

There is shuffling, no groaning. Just a heavy and questionable silence. My fingers twitch against the handle, and I take a deep breath before pushing it open.

The moment the door cracks, the stench hits me like a slap. Come rot, sweat, and something foul that makes my stomach churn. It’s the unmistakable stench of the dead... and there are a lot of them.

The door swings open, and suddenly, they spill out in droves. It’s like a sea of decomposing bodies. Their skin is sagging, eyes glazed with a lifeless milky sheen. They scramble forward with slack jaws, some missing chunks of their faces, others dragging broken limbs behind them.

I freeze.

For a second, pure instinct tells me to fight, to run, to do anything other than just stand here like an idiot. But then I remember; I’m one of them.

And sure enough, they don’t even glance my way.

They push past me, brushing against my arms, their cold, clammy flesh making my skin crawl. I grit my teeth and force myself to not react.

This is fine. This is totally fine. This is not at all like being trapped in a crowd of sweaty tourists on a summer subway, except all of them are dead and decaying.

Just walk, Renata. Walk like you belong.

I step forward, weaving through them and careful not to bump too hard into any of them. Some still have remnants of their past lives clinging to them; one woman is in a torn nurse’s uniform, and a man is still wearing a Happy Birthday sash like he’d been mid-celebration when the world went to hell.

I’m halfway through when the system’s voice rings in my head.

~Ding!~

[Reminder!]

[Mission 1: Eliminate 100 Zombies. Reward: +1 Weapon Unlock.]

[Mission 2: Assist a Human Survivor. Reward: +1 Skill Upgrade.]

[Mission 3: Consume Human Flesh within 24 Hours. Reward: +10 Energy Points.]

I groan internally. Really? Now?

Can it just shut up for once and let me breathe? I’m trying to ensure my friends survive here, not trying to fulfill ability tasks!

I glance around at the undead surrounding me. If I even think about taking out 100 of them right now, I’ll end up failing my new friends.

I’ll just ignore it.

I keep moving, stepping over a corpse that’s too far gone to shuffle with the rest. The system, of course, doesn’t like being ignored.

[Reminder: Check mission progress? Y/N]

Why, this pesky little pest!

I sigh. Fine. "System, show me my progress."

[Mission Progress:

~Zombies killed: 45/100

~Human assisted: 1/1 – Tier 1 Skill Unlocked!

~Human flesh consumed: 0/1 – Pending... Time Remaining: 8 Minutes.]

Eight. Minutes.

I scowl. "Yeah, I’m not doing that."

[Warning: Energy depletion and decomposition will occur. Failure to consume human flesh results in a 95% strength reduction. Host is already at 75% strength depletion.]

"Well, what good news! Thanks for making my day, you old killjoy!" I throw my hands in the air.

However, this bully inhabiting my head without my permission goes ahead to rub it in like my protests hold no weight.

[Decomposition begins in 7 minutes.]

I let out a sharp breath, rubbing my temples. "This is ridiculous. You know that, right?"

[This is the easiest level.]

I nearly choke on my own spit. "The easiest? Are you fucking kidding me?! This is easy?"

[Affirmative. Tasks will increase in difficulty, but so will the rewards.]

Argh, this has got to be a nightmare!

"Oh, great. So later on, I’ll have to eat a whole group instead of just one person, huh?" I mutter.

[Incorrect. There are other ways to obtain energy points later.]

I roll my eyes. "Comforting."

There’s nothing I can do about the countdown right now, so I push forward, moving deeper into the floor and searching for anything useful.

If I have to eat someone later, the least I can do is to help the ones counting on me. You know, like planting trees to make the earth greener while you take from it?

Erh... scratch that. Time to get serious. I start by checking the rooms. Most doors are already wide open, their interiors ransacked long ago. Papers scattered. Broken furniture. Blood smears. Signs of past struggles.

The first room I find that isn’t completely destroyed has a pile of clothes in the corner. Most of them are ripped, dirty, or stained in ways I don’t want to think about.

I grab what looks salvageable; a jacket, some jeans, a hoodie. They might be too big, but anything is better than my current, bloodstained mess of an outfit.

The others will need a change of outfits as well.

As I stuff them into my bag, the system pings again.

[Time Remaining to Consume Human Flesh: 5 Minutes.]

I grind my teeth. "I heard you."

[Reminder: You cannot acquire your unlocked skill without 10 EP.]

I hesitate. That’s right—the skill upgrade. It did say I unlocked a new ability skill. What could it be?

I finally check what I unlocked.

[Tier 1 Skill Unlocked: Blood Sense]

Level Requirement: 2

EP Cost: 10 EP

Unlock Condition: Assist a human survivor.

Effect: Can detect living beings by their heartbeat and smell blood from 50 meters away.]

That would be... really useful. I could sense survivors before I stumble into them. Track enemies. Maybe even detect weak points in zombies.

I bite the inside of my cheek. I really, really don’t want to do this.

But if I don’t...

[Penalty: Strength reduction in 4 minutes, 30 seconds.]

My stomach burns. The hunger is already an inferno inside me. I can feel my body weakening as the clock winds down.

I swallow hard.

If I don’t find someone who’s already half dead in the next few minutes...

I may have to make a hard choice. Like, eat a healthy and fit human. In short, kill someone because I need to feed.

Oh, God... just how horrible would that make me? What sort of monster have I become?!