Ch 1.5

Histeria Express

A fairly popular and notorious 2D management simulator game where the player is tasked to sell the passengers of the express to its customers. The game was based around catching and selling passengers to earn money to build more carriages to store more passengers to sell for more money. The game follows this loop until you sell 80 passengers, at which point the game ends.

But the game was also notoriously difficult. 

So much so that no one has ever beaten the game.

When a customer buys a passenger they have a random chance for the sale to be a success or a failure. If it succeeds then great! You lose a passenger but you get paid to be able to progress further into the game. But if it fails... then not only will you not get paid but you also lose the passenger and it won't even count as a sale. Once a passenger gets sold regardless if its a success or a fail, it can't return back to be sold again.

On top of that most customers have a set passenger they want to purchase, regardless if the chances of success is less than 1 percent. To make it even worst, you can't decline any purchases, so when a customer wants something you have to give it to them.

It was also incredibly grindy and time consuming as you have to capture the passengers yourself if you can't hire a clerk to do it for you. Which takes a long time since the clerk is locked behind a brutal gacha system with a 0.1% chance to get a clerk and a 99.9% chance to get nothing at all! Do I even have to mention that it doesn't have a pity system either.

And to top it all of, once you reach 70 passengers sold the game becomes an unplayable mess, crashing constantly and forcing the player to restart their playthrough.

Sold a certain entity on the 71st passenger mark?

RESTART

Adjusted the volume or brightness setting?

RESTART

Idle for more than 30 seconds?

RESTART

Some players who got very unlucky had their computers bricked entirely.

Because of all of this the game had a bad reputation in the community, seeing it as a game that was not meant to be beaten or a game created by a sadistic developer that just wanted to torture their players. 

But still, the game did manage to garner a small but loyal fanbase, dedicated to completing the game and become the first person to ever clear it.

One of those players was Mikhail who was the closest to ever beating the game, reaching 79 passengers sold after 3 years of trial and error.

But just as he was about to get the last passenger...

He starved to death.

But rather than dying and going to any kind of afterlives, he was instead brought to an empty cathedral.

The candles were lit, yet dust adorned the place. The bells rang, yet there was no light outside.

Mikhail woke up in the front row seats of the cathedral, he looks around confused until his eyes center on something in the front of the altar where the candlelight cannot reach.

"Is it safe to assume that voice belongs to you?"

Yes.

"Huh, so where am I?"

A border between life and death.

"So does that mean I died?"

Yes.

"Huh, well that sucks."

Mikhail sighs in disappointment, yet this act does not feel genuine.

Are you disappointed?

"Not really, I'm dead so I'm dead, that's about it."

I see.

"So anyways why am I here?"

I have an offer for you.

"An offer?"

A deal.

A second chance.

"Okay, what exactly is it?"

You have played Histeria Express corecct?

"Yeah, but I guess I died before I finished it."

How unfortunate.

"Well that's that and this is this. Anyways what about it."

You must run a similar facility in a different plain.

"???, different plain?"

A different world, to be more precise.

"What do you mean by a similar facility?"

You must do what you have done before.

Sell 80 passengers for the Express.

"So basically I have to play Histeria Express in another world?"

You will not be confined to a glass screen, rather you must handle it personally.

Rather than being confused, happy or scared. He seems to be calm and copes with it easily.

"Hm, okay but what do I get in return?"

Upon completion of your task you shall be reborn with all your memories and a comfortable life in your next life.

"???, more specific?"

If you want for food, you will have plenty of it.

If you want for fortune, you will be rich with it.

If you want love, you shall have as much as your heart desires.

The world shall focus on granting your every wish and desire.

"..."

"Let's say there is a movie I liked in my past life that I want to watch in my new life. If I wanted it to watch that movie again, even though it doesn't exist in the new world, can I watch it?"

Yes.

"Will it be the exact same movie I watched without a single difference?"

Yes.

"How exactly will that happen?"

The world and fate itself shall bend to ensure it happens. A series of coincidences maybe? Or perhaps a talented mind shall be implanted with the idea.

"I see, and will it work for everything else? Like video games for example?"

Yes.

"Hmm...."

Mikhail scratches his chin with his fingers, thinking.

"Before I answer can I ask something before I decide."

Yes.

"What do you want to achieve?"

I wish to save the world.

"Save them from what? the passengers?"

Save them from the path they are taking.

"What kind of path is this world taking that you need to save them from?"

The incorrect path.

"That doesn't really clear things up."

...

"I want to make sure I don't get backstabbed by doing this or get cheated on my reward at the end so I need to know exactly why your doing this."

Then I shall be clear, it is not a lie to say that I am trying to save this world, the path they are taking shall lead them to woe and destruction.

I will also ensure that during your stay in this world and the next, anything and anyone that wishes to harm you shall not. Even any harm from I.

"How do I know your not lying to me?"

You must have faith.

"Hard to believe any word from something that looks like you."

...

Mikhail rises from his seat and scratches the back of his head.

He sighs.

"But I am dead so I might as well see where this goes."

He makes his way to the altar and extends his hand to something in the dark.

"Mikhail, I don't know if you can shake my hand. But sure I'll take you up on your offer."

In the dark, something moves extending a hand towards Mikhail's and shakes it.

"Okay, that's pretty creepy."

Raquel.

I look forward to your business.

Conductor.