With the whole shitstorm gone already, they carried his whole body back home after the hospital people checked him.
Paradise had this super huge hospital, like freak-level modern, all the machines shining like they came from some sci-fi movie. Normal hospitals looked like old torture rooms compared to this place. And the craziest part? Emergency treatment was free.
Yeah. Free.
Because even though the place had rich malls and too-many fancy restaurants, most stuff in the district was paid by some big quarterly payment every house had to give. That money covered health care, security, clean roads that didn't even have one pothole, all that stuff.
Phei didn't know the exact number, but he knew it was stupid rich level. Like hundreds of thousands every quarter. That's why only the richest annoying people in the world lived here. They called it "paradise."
The irony wasn't lost on him. The only time Paradise's fancy benefits helped him was when he was literally lying about explosive diarrhea. Life was just laughing at him at this point.
They drove him home inside one of the community medical vans, and honestly that van was nicer than most real cars he ever sat in.
Leather seats and clean smell and everything. They even dropped him right in front of the Maxton mansion like he was some fragile box with a sticker saying "HANDLE WITH CARE: FULL OF SHIT."
Melissa was standing at the door already. Her face looked like she was worried, but her eyes were completely dead. She acted her role perfectly though, saying thank you to the medics, holding her chest and pretending she was scared for him, doing all that guardian-act for any neighbors who might be watching.
But when the door closed and the medics left? Her whole face died again.
"Go to your room." She didn't even glance at him. She was still looking at her phone. "Don't come for dinner. I'll have Maria bring something up."
Maria would carry it. Because why would Melissa care even a little.
Phei just nodded and kept acting like his stomach was exploding from the inside.
And just like that, he got another save. He didn't need to join the dinner drama or whatever stupid Maxton family thing they were planning tonight. Because he was "sick."
So now he was here, lying in his tiny room like some warehouse storage. The door was even locked, for the first time, and thank the gods for that. He stared at the ceiling that had old water stains and tried to understand his whole life.
He had too much to think about. Like a whole mountain.
Not only that he needed to sleep with his enemies to stay alive, but the bigger thing. He actually went back in time. He died. Or he would die. Was supposed to die after one week. But now he was thrown back to this moment?
How does that work?
He didn't know at all.
At the hospital earlier, some doctor with a name tag saying "Dr. Richardson" kept checking his heartbeat and asking boring stuff like, "how long have you had these symptoms?" And Phei just answered, "uh… since five minutes ago in my imagination."
While all that was happening, he tried asking the system in his head things like:
Yo, System. How did I time travel? What even are you? Are you like some god? Or alien? Or super AI?
But what did the big super system reply?
Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
Just more missions. More objectives. More blue boxes reminding him what to do. No explanation for the impossible thing happening.
It was like asking your siri how the universe works and siri replying, "I found websites that might help. Want me to open them?"
So useless.
He started wondering… was this that type of controlling system that readers always complain about in comments? The one that forces the character to do things? The ones that shock you or punish you if you don't obey?
He wasn't sure. The feeling was kind of different. But who knows. He had zero knowledge about magical time-travel sex-systems anyway.
But honestly? What choice did he even have in this whole giant mess?
He got a second chance. As crazy as it sounded, he was here again. Alive. Breathing. Not smashed on the street like flat meat. Not dying in some other unknown way he didn't even hear about before.
So what was he gonna cry about?
It was like a homeless guy complaining because someone gave him a bed and three meals for only cleaning the floor a bit. Like bro, you were eating trash yesterday. Maybe relax and accept the win?
Still... a man could hope, right?
"System," Phei said to the empty room, keeping his voice small. "You're not gonna, like… control my body, right? Force me to do stuff? Because I read enough light novels to know that part and it's creepy as hell."
[NEGATIVE. SYSTEM DOES NOT POSSESS BODY CONTROL FUNCTIONS.]
[HOST MAINTAINS FULL AUTONOMY OVER ALL ACTIONS.]
[SYSTEM MERELY PROVIDES QUESTS, REWARDS, AND CONSEQUENCES.]
"Oh thank fuck." Phei let out a long breath he didn't even know he was catching in his chest. "So you're just giving me the missions and letting me think how to do them?"
[CORRECT.]
"And if I tell you to go fuck yourself?"
[HOST MAY VERBALLY ABUSE SYSTEM WITHOUT PENALTY.]
[HOWEVER, FAILURE TO COMPLETE GIVEN QUEST WILL STILL RESULT IN STATED CONSEQUENCES.]
"Yeah yeah. Death. Got it." He rubbed his face with both hands. "You're basically like a very rude GPS. 'Turn left so you don't die. If you don't turn left, you fall off a cliff, but sure, up to you.'"
[ANALOGY ACCEPTABLE.]
Phei let out a tiny laugh. At least the system had a little personality. That was… something maybe?
Okay. Time to be serious for real.
He needed to stop freaking and focus on the main thing—he was gonna die in one week. Seven days. 168 hours. That was the real problem.
But wait. There was a loophole, wasn't there? A big shining one.
Just don't kill yourself. Boom. Crisis done. Like some superhero saving the world last second. Don't jump off the building, don't take pills, don't do whatever future-him was planning. He could just… not die. Easy, right?
[INCORRECT ASSUMPTION DETECTED.]
That blue text flashed in his eyes and his stomach dropped like a broken elevator.
"Oh, what now?"
[SUICIDE WAS ONE OF SEVEN POTENTIAL DEATH EVENTS SCHEDULED FOR ORIGINAL TIMELINE DATE.]
[NONE WERE SYSTEM-RELATED.]
[SYSTEM BINDING OCCURRED TO PREVENT HOST DEATH AND PROVIDE PATH TO SURVIVAL.]
[PRIMARY MISSION: ENSURE HOST AVOIDS ALL DEATH FLAGS AND ACHIEVES SUSTAINABLE HAPPINESS.]
Phei sat up so fast he almost cracked his own neck.
"Wait wait wait. Hold the fuck on. Seven? There were SEVEN ways I was supposed to die that day?"
****
A/N: Guys, let's figure the system out slowly, also thank you for being here with me on yet another adventure and this one... would give you goosebumps. @Fatalis Silverblade, give me some thumbs up if you're here already, buddy.