Andre closed his eyes, remembering how simple life used to be.
Wake up. Go to university. Sit through lectures. Join a club. Maybe flirt with a girl or two. Walk home before sunset.
That world was gone.
The ground had split open without warning. A deafening roar. Buildings crumbled like paper. The sky turned to dust. Then—darkness.
He came to be buried under slabs of concrete and twisted steel, lungs burning, legs numb. Somehow, he crawled out.
But the world he found was worse than the one he left behind.
People screamed in every direction. Fires raged. Blood smeared the pavement. Sirens wailed—then died.
And that's when he saw them.
Not dogs. Wolves. Massive, monstrous things—wrong in every way. Eyes glowing. Jaws foaming. Massive horns on their heads. And above each head:
[Rabid Horned Wolf – Level 9]
A health bar. Like something from a game.
Andre didn't wait to question it. He ran—limping, bleeding, barely upright. The wolves were faster. And hungry.
He wasn't the only prey.
Bodies shoved past him, some crying, others silent with shock. One man tripped and didn't get up. The wolves didn't hesitate. A sickening crunch—then screams.
Andre didn't look back.
He ducked behind a half-collapsed bus, lungs ragged, vision swimming. Blood soaked one side of his shirt—he hadn't even noticed the gash along his ribs. Adrenaline numbed it.
[You are bleeding: -2 HP per minute]
A small red notification blinked in the corner of his vision, semi-transparent. It hovered there, perfectly still, no matter where he moved his head.
"What the fuck—" he gasped, smacking the air. It didn't disappear.
His legs gave out at the bottom. He collapsed behind a maintenance gate, pulling it halfway shut just before the first claw scraped against the metal. However, he wasn't sure how long the gate would stand, the earthquake almost destroyed everything.
Snarling. Pawing. Then silence.
He pressed his back to the wall, heart threatening to burst.
What the hell was going on? One minute he was a normal student with midterms and a crush on his chemistry partner, and now he was—
He paused.
Level 1 – Corporate Slave
HP: 68/100
Status: Bleeding, Exhausted, Unarmed
He hadn't imagined it. The screen was still there—hovering like a HUD in some survival RPG.
Somewhere behind him, something groaned in the dark. Not human.
Andre stared into the shadows.
"Fucking zombie???"
[Husk – Level 2]
He didn't have any idea, it looked human. The husk then came running toward him. He then came toward the husk, his leg limping, but then, he slammed the zombie with an iron bar he found.
The zombie got smacked very hard, and he hit it right in the head, smashing right into its skull and killing him instantly. He felt no remorse, but oddly, he felt that it was the least of his worries.
Outside the maintenance gate, more husks, and more wolves, Andre decided to head deeper into the alleyway, figuring out where the only alleyway would bring him too, this was the only standing building.
The alley felt like a different world. Narrow, choked with debris, and eerily silent. Behind him, the snarls and shrieks faded—muffled by layers of rubble and steel. For now, at least.
Andre kept limping forward, iron bar dragging at his side. Every step sent a sharp jolt up his leg. His ribs throbbed with each breath.
Right across a street, the building ahead loomed like a miracle: a half-collapsed maintenance building wedged between two shattered apartment blocks. The door was crooked, the windows cracked, but the power box still blinked with power. A faint hum buzzed from within.
He approached cautiously.
[Safe Zone – Temporary]
The notification hovered for a second before vanishing. Relief almost knocked him off balance.
Andre leaned his head back against the counter, the cold linoleum pressing against his skull. His vision blurred at the edges. A faint ringing had settled in his ears, like the world itself was slowly tuning him out.
He looked down.
Blood was everywhere now—soaking through his pants, spreading in a slow, widening pool. His fingers felt numb.
HP: 22/100
Status: Heavy Bleeding (Critical), Exhausted
Time to Unconsciousness: 3:45
"Guess that's it," he muttered.
No potion. No medkit. No save point.
His hand reached toward his iron bar out of instinct, but it felt miles away. The adrenaline buff ticked down second by second. Even blinking felt like effort.
Would you like to use: Emergency Trait Activation?
[Yes] / [No]
The words appeared suddenly in the center of his vision. Glowing white. Still. Calm.
"What?" he breathed. "What trait?"
He hadn't even made a character.
The prompt blinked.
[Yes] / [No]
He stared at it, vision swimming. He didn't know what it meant. Didn't know what it would cost. But what choice did he have?
He gritted his teeth. "Yes."
The screen vanished instantly. For a moment, nothing happened. Then:
[Activating Cyberpunk System - 2077+ Edition]
Welcome, Operator. Link established.
> Neural Sync: ☑ | Environment Scan: ☑
> Inventory Grid: ☑ | [ID: 2091-SRS-A-CSO]
Current Corporate Employee Status: Arasaka Affiliated
[Emergency Access Granted – Corporate Asset Recovery Mode Active]
A wave of heat surged down Andre's spine, followed by a sharp, searing pulse behind his eyes. His vision flared white—then snapped back into focus. The ringing in his ears faded. Vital signs blinked into view, crisp and clinical, overlaid with a faint green glow. A new HUD followed, more complex than before, detailing his status… and far more.
[Now you have 100,000 Eurodollar Debt with Arasaka]
"The fuck…? Is this some kind of sick joke?"
Andre blinked, and the number remained. Glowing. Inevitable. There was no dismiss button—just a faint pulsing icon next to it:
Debt Repayment Plan Active.
Status: Life-Contingent
Minimum Monthly Due: Survival
Something inside him shifted.
Not pain, exactly—pressure. A deep, alien wrongness.
His fingers twitched, but they didn't feel like his. The skin flexed too smoothly. No tremble. No sweat. His hands—burned and bloodied just moments ago—were now flawless. Black. Metallic. Not even close to human.
Joints too precise. Muscles too smooth.
He looked down.
Armor plating gleamed beneath torn clothing, black and red, with an Arasaka logo on top of it. Oh, he already had an idea, he had been converted into something less human. A cyborg, or a robot.
At the edge of his vision, HUD diagnostics began to auto-scroll.
Body Type: Full Conversion – Arasaka SRS-A Cyberframe
Skeleton: Reinforced Titanium Alloy
Muscle Layer: Nanofiber Mesh Actuators
Skin: Gen-3 Bioflex Dermal Weave (Heat Reactive)
Neurolink: Direct Cortex Interface (Unlocked – Class: Intern)
He reeled, stumbling into the counter, the edge leaving a dull clang against his chestplate.
"I didn't... I didn't ask for this."
[You were unconscious. Emergency corporate stabilization protocol executed.]
[Asset preservation prioritized. Terms non-negotiable.]
It was in the fine print. It always was.
He could still feel the echo of his old body—the fragility, the pain, the exhaustion—but it was fading. Replaced by eerie stillness. Like he was piloting something else. Something stronger. Something wrong.
HP: 100% [Leveling Up Doesn't Affect HP Amount]
Status: Cybernetic Overclock – Stable | Full-Body Conversion
Debt Timer: 30 Days until Collection Trigger
"Oh God…" Andre whispered, his voice hollow. "I'm not even a person anymore. I'm a f—"
Product.
The word echoed inside his skull like a gunshot in a vault.
His head snapped up. "Who's there?!"
He surged to his feet, grabbing the crowbar in a flash—his movements disturbingly smooth, mechanical, as if muscle memory had been rewritten.
You belong to Arasaka now.
"No," he growled, heart pounding against cold alloy ribs. "I'm still me. I'm not theirs."
A figure emerged from the dim corridor—elegant, surreal. A woman in a white kimono, its design far too perfect to be handmade, far too futuristic to belong in this world. The fabric shimmered with embedded data threads, pulsing like veins.
"Hello, Andre," she said softly. "You may call me Miko."
His grip tightened around the crowbar. "Fantastic. My own ghost. What are you—some corpo specter? The new Silverhand? Great."
Miko tilted her head, face unreadable. "I am your liaison. Arasaka's interests are now aligned with your continued functionality."
"And if I refuse?" he asked, though he already knew the answer.
Her gaze sharpened. "Then Arasaka will reclaim its property—your body, your systems… and whatever remains of your soul."
Andre froze. A low, sick heat crawled up his spine.
Property.
The word hit harder than any bullet.
His fists clenched. Rage flared in his chest, white-hot and pulsing.
"You think I'm just gonna roll over?" he growled. "Fuck that. Fuck you. I'm not some asset to be balanced on a spreadsheet!"
His voice cracked with fury. The HUD blinked coldly in his vision—vitals, system diagnostics, debt figures. All of it screaming owned.
By Arasaka.
A goddamn fictional megacorp. From a game.
"This is a joke, right?" he barked, laughing bitterly. "I played your shit. I know how this ends—backstabs, brain jacks, bodies dropped like garbage. And now I'm supposed to be your errand boy?" He flipped the bird hard at the projection. "Go ahead. Take the body. Strip it down. Melt it for scrap. But I'm not your fucking puppet."
His voice was hoarse now, trembling with fury and disbelief. "I'm not Arasaka's anything."
Miko tilted her head, the synthetic smile never quite reaching her eyes. "Such passion. Misguided, but admirable."
Her tone shifted—softer, almost sympathetic—but every word dripped with calculation.
"I believe your anger has clouded your reason. That's understandable. You've been… overwhelmed." She stepped forward, her voice silk wrapping around steel. "But we're not your enemy, Andre. In fact, we've chosen you. That's not something Arasaka does lightly."
She extended a hand, glowing slightly with interface code. "You want freedom? Take it. We're giving you operational independence—no leash, no handler. Just… collaboration. Mutual interest. Trust us, and we'll give you power."
Andre stood in silence, chest tight, crowbar still clenched in his grip. The shed was quiet again—too quiet—except for the faint hum in his skull, the residual echo of her voice.
Now he was alone… or at least, he thought he was.
A ghost in his head. A corporate siren in a white kimono, offering deals like poisoned candy.
He didn't know what the hell to believe. Didn't know why any of this was happening. A fictional megacorp had taken over his body—his body—like it was just another asset. Not a man. Not a soul. Just hardware.
And yet… that offer still burned in the back of his mind.
Trust us.
[Equipment Unlocked: Basic Corporate Field Kit – Mk.I]
1× TKI-20 "Shingen" (Smart Submachine Gun | Burst-Fire Enabled | Auto-Target Assist: ON) 3× 30-Round Magazines (Polymer-coated, HV ammunition | Biometric lock synced to user ID)
[New Mission Has Been Added]
[Husks Eliminated: 0 / 30]
We require a substantial number of biological specimens for ongoing analysis—specifically, Husk-class entities. In your terminology, you may refer to them as 'zombies.'Your objective is to neutralize 30 such targets. Bodily integrity must be preserved to acceptable standards; incineration may render the specimen void.
A recovery unit will retrieve the corpses autonomously. You will not be notified of the extraction. The process will be conducted discreetly, without your direct involvement or awareness
[Reward: 2,000 Eurodollar]