Under the night sky, the dim room remained unlit, with only a gloomy, colorful light source faintly illuminating the room's contours.
The interior was filled with furniture that possessed a considerable sense of technology, neatly arranged in every corner of the room. As time passed, a uniform stream of light rippled through the gaps.
The sound of some "crackling" video game noise resonated within the gloom. A shadow projected by the dim light fell upon the wall, swaying slightly in sync with the increasingly intense sounds of the game.
On the wall where the shadow was cast hung a photograph—a smiling joint photo of a young man and a young girl. However, the entirety of it was sunken in shadow; only the glass frame still reflected the dim, astringent light.
Clack!
Inside the water cup on the computer desk, ice cubes trembled, causing ripples to float upon the water's surface.
The glass cup reflected the only light source in the entire house—the computer screen showing the game.
Click-clack, click!
As the buttons on the controller continuously emitted crisp sounds, the image on the screen shifted incessantly:
Multicolored lights were emitted from the character in the first-person perspective, constantly striking the humanoid BOSS in the center of the screen. Meanwhile, the bright red health bar at the top of the screen receded rapidly, until only 5% of the health remained.
Click!
Tender pink lips revealed white teeth as they crunched the lollipop in her mouth. She let out a light laugh. Her deep brown eyes, behind a pair of glasses, blinked, and then she pressed the decisive button—
[BOSS—Core Mita, Defeated]
[You have successfully cleared the game]
"Alright~ Success!"
She tossed the controller aside, collapsing limply into the computer chair, and let out a sigh of relief.
The young girl gazed thoughtfully at the computer screen, her fingertip hooking a strand of deep black hair by her ear, winding it into circle after circle. It was unknown what she was thinking.
After a long while, she stood up and took off her glasses. She cupped the beautiful hair at the back of her head with both hands, then let it cascade down—
The long, straight black hair flowed like a waterfall, rippling like water, before naturally settling behind her back.
"I want a cup of coffee." The girl sat back in the chair to think, speaking casually to the empty room.
At that moment, a disc-shaped instrument placed on the floor in the corner began to glow. That light built from a point to a ring, and then to a circle, gradually constructing a pure white doll-like figure.
The figure's head gradually separated into beautiful hair, adorned with a large butterfly bow, and an academy-style uniform skirt "grew" out of the body.
The pure white was gradually dyed with pigment, as spots of color seeped in continuously... skin white, coral brown, dark brown, black.
Finally, a beautiful young girl stood upon the disc.
She looked calmly at the person on the computer chair, her gaze unperturbed, and walked toward another door.
Click!
When she opened the door and returned, her hand now held a cup of steaming brownish-black liquid.
"Mn, thanks." The black-haired girl took the coffee, responding coldly, her line of sight refocusing on the screen.
The defeated BOSS—Core Mita—lay paralyzed and powerless on the ground. But upon closer inspection...
One could still see that tiny, sporadic bit of remaining health.
"Still hiding?" The black-haired girl took a light sip of coffee and casually pressed a button on the game controller.
But after a while, the first-person perspective on the screen still did not launch an attack.
"Mn... mechanism monsters really are annoying, aren't they? Monika." She sighed helplessly.
"Yes, Miss." Monika stood expressionlessly by her side, her eyes veiled in an indistinct shadow.
"But keeping Core Mita... I just feel like something terrible might happen..." "Miss" looked at the paralyzed corpse on the computer, pondered for a moment, and said casually,
"How about you help me get rid of her?"
Monika hesitated for a split second before answering evenly, "Alright. Should I go now?"
"No need to be so anxious. Core Mita can't make any waves right now anyway. Go later." Miss took a sip of coffee; the liquid, bitter with a trace of sweetness, surged into her mouth, the rich mellowness of the coffee beans causing her tightly furrowed brows to relax slightly.
"Phew..." The black-haired girl breathed out a puff of hot air, leaning back against the chair in silence, closing her eyes to rest.
Monika stood quietly, not disturbing her, while thoughtfully sizing up Core Mita on the screen out of the corner of her eye.
"You didn't kill her?"
This sudden sentence caused Monika's pupils to contract instantly...
But she quickly recovered her composure. "Didn't you tell me to go later? Since I am still here, how could there be any talk of killing or not killing?"
"I wasn't referring to that." Miss opened her eyes, her indifferent gaze landing on Monika.
"I was talking about... that twin-tailed Mita." The black-haired girl's gaze swept over every inch of skin on her face.
Monika's expression did not change in the slightest. "I believe that keeping her alive can delay Alain for some time."
She was likewise observing Miss's expression. "You created that virus world precisely to do this, didn't you? Miss Wanhua."
"Mn, that's true." Yang Wanhua seemed to accept her explanation, causing Monika to close her eyes lightly and heave a sigh of relief that was imperceptible.
But in the next second—
"Monika. Are you currently an artificial intelligence, or an electronic lifeform?"
Instantly, she opened her eyes, only to see...
Those deep brown eyes were almost pressed within a hair's breadth of her own eyeballs.
Wanhua widened her eyes, the whites clearly defined, wanting to obtain an answer from Monika in excruciating detail.
Monika swallowed a mouthful of saliva.
"I am the artificial intelligence belonging to Miss Yang Wanhua."
Wanhua seemed to have received a satisfactory answer. She sat back, smiling beautifully at her.
"That's good then."
With her next blink, Wanhua's smile was gone, and she reverted to that cold expression, closing her eyes to rest.
Monika glanced at the connection cable on the computer tower. Following the cable, she arrived at a photograph.
The photo was not a group shot, but a solo picture of a young man.
Looking at the photo, Monika pursed her lips lightly. She said something seemingly irrelevant,
"You really love him."
Wanhua opened her eyes, noticing Monika's line of sight.
"Mn~ Of course. After all, everything I do is for him!"
When the black-haired girl spoke of this topic, her indifferent eyes blossomed with the brilliant light of stars.
Wanhua picked up the photo, cupping it in her palms, and gazed affectionately at the young man in the picture.
In the bottom right corner of the photo, written in elegant calligraphy, were the two Chinese characters: [Alain].
But Monika's attention was obviously not on this.
Her gaze drifted toward the object concealed behind the photo, which was also the endpoint of the tower's connection cable:
It was an old-fashioned instrument with a simple keyboard, possessing a screen, and inserted with a light blue [Cartridge].
The screen on the instrument displayed a string of numbers:
[90%]
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