Something was off.
Ryuji frowned.
If this were a normal human, seeing two strangers wandering around—especially after they had circled the place twice—would have prompted some kind of reaction.
Even if they didn't assume them to be zombies, they should have at least acknowledged them.
But there was nothing.
No greeting. No sign of wariness. No attempt to drive them away.
"Weird..."
Suppressing his doubts, Ryuji stepped forward to the iron gate. He cleared his throat and called out.
"Excuse me, can you open the door?"
He kept his voice at a volume loud enough to be heard but not so loud that it would attract any lingering zombies.
But still—nothing.
The shopkeeper neither reacted like a zombie—mindlessly throwing itself at obstacles upon hearing a human voice—nor did they respond in any way to his presence.
They just stood there.
Breathing. Slightly swaying. Staring blankly ahead.
Like a statue.
"What the hell is going on?"
Ryuji couldn't help but voice his unease. A bad feeling crept over him, and the unnatural stillness of the shopkeeper sent a chill down his spine.
But they had come this far. There was no turning back now.
"Should we go in?"
Erina gripped her axe tightly, nervous as she looked at Li Ke.
"Should we really go in?" she asked hesitantly.
Ryuji took a deep breath, tightening his grip on his own weapon.
"Yeah, we have to try. But stay outside for now. I'll go in first."
Crouching down, he grabbed the bottom of what looked like a metal roll-up door, intending to lift it.
But no matter how hard he pulled, the door wouldn't budge.
"Is it locked?"
Just as the thought crossed his mind, a strange sensation rippled through his body—like something deep inside him was stirring.
The fever burning through him flared up. His vision distorted.
And then—
'Press E to open'
A line of bizarre text floated in his vision.
A hallucination?
Was he about to turn into a zombie?
His head spun violently. He staggered, catching himself against the shop's door.
Ding!
A sharp, piercing sound rang out the moment his hand touched the door, making both him and Erina wince and clutch their ears.
His dizziness worsened, and panic surged through him.
Because now, he could see something else—
Floating in his vision were several odd little boxes, and in the first slot of the top row… was the hammer he was holding.
"Am I... dying?"
His breaths came heavy and ragged. He forced himself to take a deep inhale, trying to steady his mind.
But the more he tried, the more strange elements appeared in his vision.
A directional compass at the top.
A faint message on the side: "Collect plant fibers."
This was starting to look way too much like a video game.
"Is this some kind of health care?"
His gaze fell back on the shop's iron door. Without thinking, he instinctively willed the action in his mind—
Press E.
And the moment he did—
His hand passed through the rising iron door.
Completely off balance, he stumbled through the gate, falling headfirst into the shop.
"Nakamura-san!"
Erina gasped in shock as she saw half of Ryuji's body phasing through the door.
For a split second, she wondered if she was still dreaming—or if she had just witnessed something beyond reason.
But as the iron door fully lifted, her fear faded.
Ryuji hadn't disappeared. He had just tripped and fallen inside.
Lying flat on the cold floor, pain shot through his body—real pain. The dizziness faded slightly, his mind clearing just enough for a single thought to surface:
"Did I just... pass through a wall?"
Had his brain finally lost it?
Erina rushed over to help him up, concern written all over her face.
But Ryuji, still half in a daze, had a different thought.
"If this is just a hallucination... then it shouldn't feel real, right?"
Muttering to himself, he reached out and grabbed the softest, roundest thing in front of him—Erina's chest.
The plush, warm sensation spread through his fingertips, a feeling so incredibly real that for a moment, he forgot everything.
This… This was definitely something he had never experienced before.
Erina froze.
Mouth agape.
Face turning bright red.
And at that exact moment, a new red health bar appeared above her head—85/100.
And she wasn't reacting.
"Oh."
"So this really is just a dying hallucination?"
If this was all just an illusion, then… he might as well enjoy it, right?
His other hand reached for Erina's slender, soft thighs.
But before he could complete the movement, she suddenly snapped out of it, yanking herself away in sheer panic.
"Nakamura-san! W-What are you doing?! Have you lost your mind? Are you… turning into a zombie?!"
Ryuji blinked, shaking his head as the strange text and HUD elements began to fade away.
The floating menus. The compass. The inventory slots.
It was like they had only existed in his mind, shaped by his perception.
And yet… something inside him had changed.
Something powerful had stirred… and then fallen back into dormancy.
His fever was completely gone.
His mind was clear again.
His heart pounded in his chest.
"Maybe. But if my guess is right… our lives are about to get a lot easier."
When he first arrived in this world, he had tried everything—calling out for a system, willing a menu to appear, even mentally pressing 'E' in random situations.
Nothing ever happened.
But now… something had.
What was different this time?
The shop? The fact that he had killed so many zombies?
Or maybe…
The infection.
Ryuji wasn't sure.
But there was one way to test it.
He turned back toward the iron door, staring at it intently.
Focusing.
Calling out to that hidden power once more.
A moment later, the words appeared in his vision—
"Press E to close."
He grinned.
" 'Press E' it is."
As soon as the thought crossed his mind, the iron gate, untouched by anyone, slowly descended.
Erina's mouth fell open once again. She glanced at the motionless, doll-like merchant standing in the room, then turned to Ryuji, who had a knowing smile on his face. Her mind was filled with questions.
Watching the iron gate close, Ryuji finally breathed a sigh of relief and couldn't help but chuckle.
"As expected. If this isn't just a vivid hallucination, then I've already confirmed some crucial information about this world."
Erina didn't quite understand what he meant. She looked at him, then back at the eerie merchant, before gripping his arm tightly.
"Nakamura-san… what is this place?"
The sudden rise and fall of the iron gate, coupled with the merchant's lifeless demeanor, sent chills down her spine. She feared they had walked into a trap.
"Well… I'm not entirely sure myself, but I think this is a good thing."
Ryuji strode towards the small room where the merchant stood. As he moved, he carefully observed his surroundings but saw no sign of other people. The only thing separating him from the merchant was a single door.
A door, just like the entrance—impossible to push open or twist the handle. But the moment he imagined pressing 'E' in his mind, the door instantly swung open.
Even though his hands weren't anywhere near it.
Erina watched in shock as Ryuji opened another door without touching it. Her brain struggled to process what she was seeing.
But Ryuji wasn't in the mood to explain. He stepped inside and turned his attention to the unmoving merchant.
Calling her a "beauty" might be an overstatement—she was slightly above average. She had black hair, a stethoscope hanging around her neck, and ragged clothing.
But she was certainly well-endowed. Though smaller than Erina in that regard, she was still quite large.
The most important thing, however, was the prompt floating above her head:
[Press E to talk to Merchant Jane]
Ryuji instinctively covered his forehead, suppressing the urge to laugh.
There were still a few things he needed to verify.
He reached out and waved his hand frantically in front of the woman's face. No matter how much he moved, the merchant remained motionless, her expression unchanged—a fixed, welcoming smile.
"Nakamura-san… what is this?"
Erina's unease grew stronger. She barely had time to process what was happening before Ryuji suddenly swung his axe and struck the merchant's head.
A metallic clang echoed through the room.
The axe stopped dead against the strands of her hair, as if an invisible force was protecting her. No matter how much strength he put into it, he couldn't land a proper hit.
"As I thought. Indestructible buildings… indestructible NPCs."
Retracting his axe, Ryuji took a deep breath to calm himself.
"This place… what is it?"
"You've played video games before, right, Erina?"
Ryuji leaned against a nearby shelf, now certain this wasn't just a hallucination.
If it were, his hands wouldn't be aching from the force of impact. He also wouldn't be able to feel the warmth and softness of human skin so vividly.
"I know what they are… the kind of thing guys are obsessed with," Erina said hesitantly, still unsure why he was bringing this up.
"Well… I think we've been thrown into a game world."
Ryuji voiced his suspicion.
Erina's first reaction was disbelief. But after taking another look at their surroundings—the eerie merchant, the impossible doors—she found herself swallowing hard.
"W-Who would do something like this…? And it's not real, right…? Mr. Takahashi?"
Fear crept into her voice. The situation was becoming more surreal by the second, and she instinctively wanted to deny it.
"There's no use denying it. We either accept it or we don't. As for who's responsible… an evil god? A malevolent demon? Who knows. Either way, it's out of our hands. The only thing we can do is try to survive."
Ryuji sighed. He wasn't sure if this was one of those "infinite survival" scenarios or something else entirely, but for now, all he could do was live his life the best he could.
"This woman here—she's probably an NPC that handles supplies and quests. Completely invincible."
He chuckled and reached out, pressing his hand against the merchant's chest.
Soft. Warm.
There was even the sensation of a heartbeat beneath his palm. The fabric of her clothes was real.
"Na...Nakamura-san…?"
Erina watched, flustered, wanting to stop him but too overwhelmed by everything happening.
But the next moment, Ryuji grabbed the merchant's clothes and yanked them open.
Her tattered coat slipped off, revealing a simple white undergarment beneath.
Yet she didn't react.
She simply stood there, smiling.
That was when Erina's emotions hit a breaking point.
Fear. Embarrassment.
She still hadn't forgotten that Ryuji had done the same thing to her earlier!
"See? No matter what I do, she doesn't react," Ryuji explained. "That means this world really has no living people—only NPCs and zombies."
His expression darkened.
"And the worst part? This looks exactly like a survival game."
Survival games typically operated in one of two ways:
Either the players were doomed to perish from an ever-spreading virus…
Or they would be constantly hunted by endless hordes of undead.
"And this building? We probably can't stay here forever," Ryuji muttered. "It's 'invincible,' after all."
It was a common mechanic in survival games. Players were never given an easy safe zone. There was always some kind of event—a zombie siege, a food shortage, a natural disaster—to keep them on their toes.
Which meant, sooner or later… something bad was going to happen.
"We're probably not going to make it through the night here, Erina."
Ryuji turned his full attention to the merchant.
Then, in his mind, he pressed 'E.'
In an instant, the woman "came to life."
Her smile became livelier, her arm moved in a welcoming gesture, and she spoke in a cheerful voice:
"Hello, friend! How can I help you?"
At the same time, an unseen force surged through Ryuji's body.
A menu materialized before his eyes, its text and layout eerily similar to a video game interface.
Three options appeared:
1.Let me see your inventory.
2.Do you have any jobs?
3.Never mind.
Without hesitation, Ryuji selected the first option.
Again, he felt that strange force moving inside him, as if gears were turning within his soul.
Then, a shop window opened before him, displaying a list of purchasable items.
"…Is this… my cheat ability?"
Ryuji frowned, staring at the merchant and the list of goods, suspicion creeping into his heart.