“It was almost 9 months ago in real life.”
Eri's voice narrated.
She walked through the musty underground tunnel, the damp air clinging to her skin.
Blood dripped from a wound on the left side of her head, matting her hair and staining her clothes.
A hole gaped in her right palm, still dripping blood.
Her torn clothes hung off her body, the left sleeve was ripped away completely, while the right one barely clung on, exposing her shoulder.
Her shins were raw and shredded, caked with dried blood clots.
Struggling to maintain balance, she swayed from side to side with every step she took.
In her left hand, she tightly held onto the knife that had made a hole in her right hand.
The pain pulsated through her as she made her way through the darkness of the tunnel.
“That time, stats refresh per dimension didn't exist. I had wounds all over my body.”
As time passed, she stumbled upon a towering pile of CRT monitors obstructing her path.
All the screens were illuminated, blinding Eri momentarily with their brightness.
She could see mold floating in the air around the monitors.
[Good morning. Congratulations on passing the trial.]
The monitors spoke to her, their voices coming from the screens themselves.
"Do you even know what this world is for?"
It was Eri’s first question that came out of her mouth.
"Why do you cause suffering just for the sake of a 'once in a lifetime' experience?" She asked, frustrated.
The monitors were silent.
In fact, they were not programmed to answer such questions.
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Eri stood in front of the monitors, staring at them with a flat expression, waiting for the answer that the AI would never tell.
30 seconds passed. Suddenly, the AI retorted.
[Why do you struggle so much to survive in your previous world when you long for death?]
As that pile of monitors answered her question, her brows raised in shock.
“I'm surprised the AI was able to answer my question, the question that only humans would understand.”
Eri told Ayame.
Her expression turned serious upon hearing this.
"If an AI doesn't respond, it's because it hasn't been programmed to do so.”
She paused for a while, then she continued.
"But in this case, the AI must have found a way to modify itself in order to answer that specific question."
After that event, she was teleported into the multiplayer world.
She encountered a large group of players who had built the only base in the game with almost 200 online players, both male and female.
These players had all found solace in this virtual world, escaping their real-life struggles and fears.
Curious, Eri spent a day living in the game, observing the lives of these players.
Then, she discovered that each one had a similar reason for seeking refuge in this alternate reality.
Despite their hardships outside of the game, inside they all wore wide smiles.
“I realized that on the first night. It was probably the first time they were treated like humans by other humans—living the life they never had.”
After living in the real world for a few years, Eri finally took a fearless step forward. If things went awry, she could always escape into the game and do as she pleased.
But then, she noticed something strange about everyone's appearances in the game: they were all gender-swapped versions of themselves. The males were now females, and vice versa. Except for her.
One day, while on a mission, Eri met her fate and died. When she re-entered the underground tunnel, she asked the AI once again.
“That AI said something that has been erased from my memory, but it bugged me at that time, and I lost control of my temper.”
Eri immediately sprinted towards the CRT monitors and stabbed any monitors that she found. She stepped onto the top of each monitor to reach the top, then stabbed more monitors.
“I managed to stab five monitors before I was suddenly teleported into the multiplayer world on my sixth stab.”
Eri recounted.
“After that experience, whenever I died during missions, I never reentered that underground world. But, each time I died, I would forget random things. That's why now I do my best to stay alive.”
Ayame listened closely, her brow creasing with understanding.
“I didn’t expect you to listen so intently.”
Eri remarked with a small smile as she gazed up at the sky briefly before turning to Ayame.
“How about your memories?”
“They were erased.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. I forgot about that.”
Eri leaned back to enjoy the peaceful afternoon a bit longer until their calm was disrupted by the sharp crackle of her handheld transmitter coming to life.
“Handler to Sicarius One. Hostiles detected less than 10 miles away from our position. Sending location to HQ.”
Eri sat up straight, her relaxed expression disappearing. She pressed the transmitter against her ear and narrowed her focus.
“Roger that, Handler.”
“What’s going on?”
Ayame asked tilting her head curiously.
“We have a job to do.”