VAP - Chapter 1
Chapter 1: System 0996, Real Name Yue Du
System Space, Main Hall.
In a grand hall constructed from a strange, silver-white metal, unceasing streams of blue data flowed everywhere, following some unknown pattern. The characters “0” and “1” surged within them, silent yet magnificent.
Anyone who came here would instinctively hold their breath before such a majestic scene, their heart filled with awe.
That was how it was supposed to be.
However, in the center of the hall—
A massive parrot, a terrifyingly dark alien, a petite tuxedo cat… creatures of all shapes and sizes were gathered in a circle, uniformly dressed in black-and-white work uniforms, snacking and chatting. It was a picture of leisure.
This was the scene Yue Du saw when she pushed open the door, as if she had stumbled upon a large-scale gathering of employees slacking off.
Her expression didn’t change as she walked straight toward the idle customer service staff.
Suddenly, a parrot lifted its head and squawked in a hushed, urgent voice, “Everyone, a system’s coming!”
In an instant, the motley crew of creatures scattered with the speed of lightning, sitting bolt upright at their respective workstations.
When Yue Du approached, she acted as if she hadn’t seen a thing and nodded to the customer service staff with a smile. “Hello.”
The parrot was closest to her. It immediately opened a light screen and said eagerly, “Hello, Customer Service K at your service. How may I help you?”
“I am System 0996. I’m here to apply for mission execution qualifications,” Yue Du said.
Customer Service K said, “Application received. Please wait a moment.”
The tips of the parrot’s colorful wings tapped here and there on the silver-blue light screen.
A moment later, its beady black eyes suddenly went vacant. Its beak opened, emitting a cold, mechanical voice:
“Ding—System 0996’s basic information database has been unlocked. Commencing information verification.”
“Name?”
“Yue Du.”
“Retrieved from?”
“137 Silver Galaxy Small World.”
“Pre-retrieval racial form?”
“Humanoid.”
“Have you passed the system training courses?”
“Yes.”
“Training duration?”
“Seven days.”
“Training grade?”
“…A+.”
After a long string of tedious and complicated questions, the final one was asked:
“Are you prepared to execute cross-world missions?”
After a brief silence, Yue Du answered softly:
“Yes.”
“Information fully matched. System 0996’s basic information has been re-entered. Approved for assignment to the mission sequence.”
Customer Service K spoke in a mechanical voice of indeterminate gender, concluding the lengthy routine questioning for the system about to undertake a mission.
When in work mode, a customer service agent’s voice would have a uniform, slight upward inflection at the end of each sentence. The timbre, pitch, volume, and emotional components were all precisely calculated to be the most pleasing tone for a listener.
As both listener and respondent, Yue Du nodded lightly and said gently, “Thank you, Miss K.”
Customer Service K paused, then switched from the mechanical voice to its own slightly shrill parrot voice, saying shyly, “You’re welcome, it’s my job. Congratulations on obtaining your mission execution qualifications. Keep up the good work.”
With that, it flapped its wings in encouragement: clap, clap, clap.
The other idle customer service agents also put down their snacks and drinks and began to earnestly applaud with their wings, fins, paws, or tentacles, celebrating the birth of a qualified mission system.
A tuxedo cat agent suddenly remembered something and reminded Customer Service K, “Stop flapping your wings and give her the identity brand first.”
Customer Service K had a moment of realization. “Right, the brand… System 0996, please raise your hand.”
Yue Du smiled and did as she was told.
A stream of blue data emerged from Customer Service K’s light screen. It circled Yue Du a few times before finally settling on her wrist, transforming into a black, seven-pointed star insignia.
This was Yue Du’s “ID card” as a system.
Seeing the proof of identity in place, Customer Service K switched back to its mechanical voice and said, “Identity brand complete. Assigning system to a group, please wait…”
“Grouping complete. System 0996 has been assigned to the Villain Awakening Project, becoming the fifth member of the project group.”
“Screening for missions, please wait…”
“Mission screening complete. Data packet has been dispatched. System 0996, please prepare for departure in three hours and three minutes to the mission location: 161 Silver Galaxy Small World.”
Yue Du received the mission data packet. With her consciousness, she controlled the decryption of the compressed file, locked onto the data, and opened the key information page. This series of actions was so practiced it was as if she had been born a system, a string of data, and not a human.
Of course, it was true that she was no longer human.
At the very top of the key information page was information about the mission world’s host—that is, Yue Du’s future strategic partner.
Yue Du gave it a quick read, smiled as if she found it interesting, and silently recited the person’s name in her mind.
Qi Jiu.
The Word Spirit Esper, Qi Jiu.
The first time Yue Du came here was seven days ago.
By then, she was already dead.
She had once imagined that death would be a dark, sweet dream, where she could sink into silence, devoid of consciousness, never to be disturbed again.
However, after she died, Yue Du’s hazy consciousness fell into a boundless, pure white space, where it drifted for a long time… After an unknown amount of time, it was resurrected amidst the vast data streams of this majestic hall.
When she opened her eyes, she was met with the sight of a tuxedo cat wearing a small, professional skirt suit, complete with a bow tie.
The tuxedo cat sat behind a high-tech virtual light screen and said with a slight curl of its cat-like mouth, “Hello, I am Customer Service J, affiliated with the System Space. May I ask, are you aware that you are currently deceased?”
Who is this?
Why ask such a bizarre question right off the bat?
Yue Du subtly sized up her surroundings and answered calmly, “I am.”
The tuxedo cat tapped on its data panel and asked again, “Oh, then are you aware that you are a system?”
Yue Du, who had been human for twenty-three years: “…”
That was beyond her scope of knowledge!
The tuxedo cat seemed accustomed to this situation and said nonchalantly, “Welcome back, System 0996. Please proceed to the training department with the other recently retrieved systems to begin your system curriculum. Once you pass the course assessment, you will be assigned to the mission sequence to participate in missions.”
The amount of information was a bit much. Yue Du took a moment to process it before asking cautiously, “May I ask what kind of missions?”
The tuxedo cat’s tone was mysterious, like a pyramid scheme recruiter. “Great missions that cross various small worlds, all for our great Main God.”
Yue Du: “…”
Yue Du said sincerely, “I’m sorry, but after thinking about it, I don’t think I’m suited for executing missions.”
The tuxedo cat tempted her, “Completing missions comes with benefits, you know. We can arrange for you to be resurrected in your original world to reunite with your family and friends. As long as you keep working, you’ll also be rewarded with endless wealth and material goods, guaranteed to make you a winner in your system life.”
Yue Du met this with a smile and said, “No, thank you.”
When enticement failed, it resorted to threats. The tuxedo cat’s face hardened. “Systems with no use value will be formatted, and their consciousness erased!”
Yue Du was very calm. “Mm, then format me.”
The tuxedo cat: “…”
Impervious to both threats and persuasion! What was it supposed to do?!
It had been years since it had seen such an uncooperative system. The tuxedo cat was so worried that its perked-up ears drooped listlessly. It had no choice but to lower its head and look at System 0996’s biographical data from before its retrieval.
The first piece of information it saw was System 0996’s cause of death.
—Hiss, that was a bit brutal.
The tuxedo cat was so horrified its fur was about to stand on end. No wonder the lure of resurrection and the threat of erasure didn’t work. The person had been seeking death in the first place and was probably hoping to be formatted as soon as possible.
This was a tough case.
The tuxedo cat scanned the data again, its gaze lingering on the section for family relations.
“How about this: if you cooperate with our work, we’ll give you an employee benefit and resurrect your younger sister.” The tuxedo cat tapped the light screen. “Yue Hao, right? Such a pretty little girl.”
This time, Yue Du didn’t speak.
After a long while, she asked softly, as if to herself, “Resurrect?”
The tuxedo cat: “That’s right, a perfect resurrection! Both consciousness and body. Satisfaction guaranteed.”
Yue Du’s completely different reaction encouraged it. The tuxedo cat was quite excited and was about to say more to push things along when it suddenly froze.
Right before its eyes, the humanoid system named Yue Du, number 0996, began to smile.
This smile was completely different from her earlier polite one. It was hard to say what it meant, but it was enough to let the tuxedo cat know that it no longer needed to painstakingly persuade her.
As expected…
“I agree,” Yue Du said.
The tuxedo cat was overjoyed. “In that case, please sign the contract.”
A stream of blue data flowed out from the light screen, condensing into a thin sheet of white paper in the blink of an eye. It was covered in square characters—Yue Du’s native language.
Yue Du read it carefully twice and found no loopholes, except for one point—
“The one signing this contract with me is your Main God.”
Her delicate brows furrowed slightly as she asked calmly, “Since it’s a god, is this contract binding on it?”
The tuxedo cat let out an embarrassed meow. Beside it, the other customer service agents of various forms turned to look in unison, their gazes all carrying the same scrutinizing quality.
“The Main God… disdains to break a contract,” the tuxedo cat finally offered a noncommittal explanation.
Yue Du understood. It disdained to, not that it was unable to.
But the reward was too tempting. Yue Du couldn’t refuse, nor did she intend to. She took the pen handed over by the cat’s paw, lowered her eyes, and wrote her name on the contract, followed by the number 0996.
She had to resurrect Yue Hao.
Since there was hope, she had to do it, leaving no regrets. Besides… she had nothing left to be tricked out of.
As it turned out, the tuxedo cat had recruited a good employee.
Yue Du was a fast learner, and her training period was much shorter than the other recently retrieved systems. After seven days of system training, she had met the mission requirements and could now travel to the various small worlds to find a host.
After becoming an official employee and receiving her mission information, Yue Du bid farewell to the customer service staff and left the main hall.
Outside the side door of the main hall was a pool of silver-white water, bubbling softly and shrouded in mist—this was the “gate” for systems to travel to the various small worlds.
Yue Du sat down by the edge of the pool.
No other systems were around at the moment, so she just sat there quietly, pulling up the data to study the mission world while waiting for her departure time. Her deep amber eyes were devoid of emotion; no one could know what she was thinking.
Three hours later, the silver pool began to glow with ripples of light.
Yue Du checked the time, stood up, and stepped into the pool.
The bottom of the pool was not solid but a deep, unfathomable starry sky. Yue Du’s slender body gradually broke down into blue symbols in the starry expanse. They would travel between the barriers of worlds and reassemble in one of the small worlds within.
—The first mission had begun.
Comments
Post a Comment