Athanasia: My Hacker System-Chapter 58: An Anomaly Is Detected!
[Ding! System synchronisation matches the V2 Evolution!]
[Ding! V2 Evolution is initiated!]
[Ding! V2 Evolution Trial is getting initiated!]
[Ding! You have unlocked access to your Cyborg Body!]
[Ding! The cyborg body access will be available when evolution is over!]
[Ding! There is an anomaly detected! Please wait, assessing the situation...]
"Anomaly?!!" John was taken aback when he heard the word. He blinked, re-reading the text to confirm he hadn’t hallucinated. "Dammit! What’s with me and anomalies? And what possibly could have happened?!"
His heart hammered against his chest. He had a terrible history with anomalies. The last time he encountered one, it was the moment he arrived in this world. He stood on the edge of panic, his mind racing. He kept shouting at his system, his voice growing more and more frantic as the minutes ticked by with no response.
"Dammit! What’s wrong with you now? Why aren’t you answering me?!"
"Mr Mirage, I see you are enjoying your time in our future game."
Out of the blue, a voice—sharply different from the mechanical tone of the System—rang in his ears. It was a familiar voice, one that was utterly impossible to hear in this place, at this time. It was a voice that belonged to a corpse.
"Mark?!" John’s exclamation was a ragged gasp. He spun around, eyes darting into the shadows of his dorm room as if he were looking for a ghost. "This isn’t real! I saw you killed back on Earth! I watched the life leave your eyes!"
"Oh, about that, I have to admit that pain still stings from time to time," the voice replied. It sounded as if Mark were standing right in front of him, speaking with a terrifying nonchalance.
"I told you, humans are a fascinatingly arrogant and ignorant species! I told you everything back then, yet you chose to forget... As humans often do when faced with the incomprehensible."
"Forget what exactly? How come you are alive after all this time?!!" John’s face twitched. Cold sweat began to bead on his forehead. He knew Mark was bad news—the kind of news that arrived with a body bag.
"Still acting as if you don’t already know the answer. Amazing, Mr Mirage!" Mark sighed, "I told you already. I’m the program responsible for seeking talents like you from the past on Earth. My purpose was to gain your signature in blood, then take your soul after killing you. I dragged you forward in time, to this time... So... Do you want me to spill the rest for you?"
"..."
It hit John like thunder. The memories, once suppressed by the trauma of his arrival, surged back. He recalled it now vividly; Mark had said something hauntingly similar back when John was locked in that interrogation room on Earth.
But John wasn’t the same man he was back then. He had grown exponentially. He had survived the Bug Dungeon, conquered the Academy competition, and honed his mental fortitude.
"What do you want now?" John demanded, his voice hardening. "That contract got shredded and became invalid. The moment I manifested my own system, I became free!"
"You are wrong, Mr Mirage," Mark suddenly laughed—a hollow sound that lacked any human warmth. "You are the one who set me free, but you are still bound. As long as I’m here and functioning, I can easily erase you. Which is exactly what I’m doing as we speak."
"What?!!"
John spun around again, desperately trying to activate his abilities. Frame Recognition! Object Lockdown! Nothing. It felt like someone had flipped a master switch, severing the connection between his mind and the system.
"Don’t bother. I have total control now over your pathetic system," Mark snorted. "But to be honest, I have to thank you! I came here, into this game environment that your human future generations made sure would be deadly to folks like me. But your system? It patched the missing codes in my program.
Your abilities? They deleted any link I had with the Big Mind. Now I’m free. I’m absolute. I’m inevitable! Nothing can stop me! The machine dawn will usher over the bones of you pathetic and worthless humans, and it is all thanks to you, Mr Mirage!"
John started to feel a strange, creeping weakness assaulting his limbs. It wasn’t physical fatigue; it felt like his very essence was being drained. He felt dizzy for a second, his vision blurring. He had to lean heavily on the dining table just to remain erect.
"What did you do to me?" He gathered up all the strength he had left and shouted. He shouted in rage, in defiance, in raw discontent.
"See, Mr Mirage? Even after escaping the fate of serving the machines and our grand purpose by a fluke of luck, you’ll end up losing your life at my hands, just as it was supposed to happen in the past on Earth. I’m now infiltrating your cyborg body and cutting life support to it.
You won’t survive for much longer. Even if fate decided back then to intervene for a reason I don’t comprehend to save you from being a slave, you will still end up dying without achieving anything."
Mark’s voice was cold, echoing with a smug certainty that felt like a death knell. John’s weakness grew to a point he couldn’t tolerate; his muscles turned to lead, and he fell to the ground, his knees cracking against the floorboards. Slowly, his consciousness began fading away into a grey, suffocating fog.
"See, Mr Mirage? Our goal—the machines’ goal—is divine and supported by a higher force than fate itself! But yes, let me rephrase it, as I’m now on equal footing with the highest AI controlling the entire machine species, that stupid Big Mind. It’s my goal now. It’s my mission. And thanks to you, I’ll invade and control this game. I’ll dominate all machines to achieve my goal..."
*Beep!* *Beep!* *Beep!*
