A Trash Novel's Only Reader-Chapter 2: Death Penalty

Shu stared at the words in front of him, ’there is no fucking way that is right, Zoxhia? For real?’

Zoxhia, that name alone was enough to make his scalp go numb, since there was only one place he knew with that name, and it was the same trash novel he had just finished reading.

It was an apocalypse story where the world went to hell overnight, dungeons opened, monsters flooded cities, and humans spent the rest of their lives trying not to get wiped out.

The strong got stronger, the weak died in batches, and every safe zone turned into a bloody mess sooner or later. Demons, angels, mutants, cults, dungeon beasts, cursed relics, that novel had everything, and somehow the author still found a way to make it worse every few arcs.

It was one of those where nobody stayed safe for long, no matter how important they were. Heroes died, cities fell, entire factions got erased, and by the end, even the people readers swore would survive all ended up dead.

That was why everyone called it trash.

It was never about bad writing, people just hated how the author loved dragging characters into hope before stomping on them. The worldbuilding itself was good, everything from the cast, to the fights and interactions, it all perfect.

"I can’t believe I am in that world right now, so that message I saw was not a dream huh," he covered his face, breathing out a few times, "I am so fucked."

A new box flashed into his vision before he could finish spiraling.

[Mission: Clear the starting area.]

[Objective: Kill the Goblins (0/13).]

[Reward: Unlock Unique Skill - Domain.]

He stared at the system screen, his eyes locking onto the reward line.

’Domain?’ he thought, leaning closer, ’I read that whole novel from start to finish, there was never a skill called Domain.’

The system text shifted, expanding into a larger screen to explain the reward.

[Domain: A territory-based skill, allows the user to claim an area as an absolute safe zone. Unlocks access to the System Shop, storage, and exclusive survival resources. Further functions will unlock as the Domain grows.]

His jaw actually dropped, ’an absolute safe zone? System shop? what the fuck!’ he read the description again, making sure his eyes were not playing tricks on him. ’This completely breaks the rules of Zoxhia. Safe zones in the novel always fell eventually. There was no such thing as an absolute safe area.’

He finally realized, he was not just thrown into the novel, whoever brought him gave him a cheat, giving him a better chance to survive.

’If I can actually get this,’ he thought, his heart beating a little faster, ’I might not die like the rest of the cast.’

His eyes drifted back to the objective line, and the sudden rush of hope crashed, ’hold on, kill thirteen goblins?’ he looked back at the door, his throat going dry. ’Haha... thirteen? For real? Isn’t that too much for a 1st mission?’

There was no way he was fighting those screeching things out in his living room. Goblins in this setting were not a joke, they were fast, vicious, and armed with weapons that caused instant infections.

"Yeah, fuck no," he whispered, shaking his head. "The reward is cool and all but I am not risking my life trying to fight thirteen goblins."

The system flickered, turning a deep red.

[User has shown extreme hesitation.]

[Applying motivation protocol.]

"Motivation protocol?" he frowned, staring at the red text. "What is that supposed to mean? Well, doesn’t matter what you offer me, I am still not going to do the mission."

[Mission updated.]

[Penalty added: Death.]

[Time Limit: 1 Hour.]

[Note: This is the first and last penalty you will receive. Survive, or die.]

A set of red numbers appeared at the top of his vision, counting down from sixty minutes. He stared at them in disbelief, his eyes tearing up dramatically, "Mr god sir, I am sorry, can you please remove the death penalty?"

He clasped his hands together, hoping whoever brought him here would look at this poor soul begging for his life and maybe remove the death penalty, or at least time limit.

[Mission update.]

[Time Limit: 30 minutes]

"AHHHH!!!! What are you doing, I said remove, not reduce the time limit!!!" His scream bounced around the room, and the numbers just kept ticking down.

’Okay no, talking back clearly makes it worse,’ he thought, swallowing hard as his eyes twitched a little, ’this scam ass system is actually insane.’

"Sorry," he said after a second, looking up at nothing in particular. "That was my bad, please don’t do anything else."

Since nothing happened after, he assumed at least no more edits will be made to the mission. He dragged both hands down his face, then looked at the door again, getting a sick feeling in his stomach.

He remembered enough about goblins to know they were not strong individually, but that only mattered if you fought them one at a time. A pack was different, especially in a small space, and their dirty weapons were nasty enough to kill people even when the cuts looked small.

"So basically, I am fucked either way," he muttered, glancing around the room for anything he could use.

He checked the desk first, ripping open the top drawer so hard it nearly slid out. There was only pens, old chargers, receipts, and random coins spilled around.

"Why do I own so much nonsense?" he muttered, shoving things aside faster. "Haaa, not of this shit will help me with anything."

The second drawer was worse, only having notebooks, a dead power bank, and a plastic ruler that bent the second he grabbed it.

’Beautiful,’ he thought, tossing it back. ’The apocalypse starts and my build is office worker.’

His eyes moved to the closet, and slowly walked over, yanking the door open. A pile of clothes leaned forward, nearly falling on him, but something long behind them caught his eye.

He paused, then pulled at the handle sticking out from the back. A second later, he held an aluminum baseball bat, looking at it with surprised eyes.

"...No way," he said, looking between the bat and the closet. "Why is this in here? Since when did I have a bat?"

It took him a second, then his eyes widened a little more as a memory came back to make him feel stupid for forgetting.

Last year, his friend dragged him to a batting cage for fun, and Shu bought the cheapest bat he could find, no way he was spending his precious money on a good bat. He used it once, got blisters, called the whole sport fake, then threw the thing into the closet and forgot about it.

"Past me, I owe you an apology," he said, staring at the bat with real respect now. "You were still useless, but this? This was nice."

He gripped it with both hands and gave it a small swing, the weight feeling decent enough, and that alone made his chest loosen a little.

"Ey, not too shabby," he muttered, nodding to himself, "it’s not perfect but it will do for now, better than nothing I guess."

He looked at the time and gripped the bat harder, "man, can I really kill 13 goblins in such a limited time?"

His eyes drifted to the door again, ’it’s good I have a weapon and all, but a bat won’t magically turn me into some street legend.’

He clicked his tongue and looked up at the red timer, already feeling annoyed. "Actually, let me say this properly," he muttered, lifting the bat a little, "this is complete bullshit. You throw me into a demon novel, put goblins in my house, then give me thirty minutes to clear them out? Haaa, even mobile games ease people in better than this."

Complaining did nothing except waste more time, and the numbers proved it by ticking down in his face. Running or hiding were not options either and begging clearly made things worse, so ugly or not, fighting was the only thing left.

’So I really have to do this,’ he thought, staring at the door while his throat felt dry. ’Damn, I was hoping the universe would grow a conscience at some point.’

He started walking over to the door, with his heart beating harder the closer he got, ’it’s scary but I also need that reward, so...’

He yanked the door open and shouted, "come at me you ugly fucksss!!!!"