1 Chapter 1 My 100'th Life
Kisha Aldens as a fresh graduate looked high and low for a place to work, our society now is very competitive and almost all companies are looking for stellar workers with experience and a good family background. Hence, Kisha did not fit in with the requirements, her only advantages are her stellar grades and her celebrity-like face. Despite her clean records, others still valued their interest and helped their relatives to get the positions.
After a multitude of applications sent to various companies, big and small, she finally landed an average position in a medium-sized company.
At first, everyone treated her cordially, she even garnered some admirers because of her pure and kind temperament and she's great in her work, but it's also because of this quality that she has gained the jealousy and envy of other women.
Their Manager Lisa was the first to make a move when her sugar daddy, the company's Director got captivated by Kisha's beauty. The unsuspecting Kisha had almost become a capitalist toy if it were not for Lisa's fear of being replaced, would she not have helped Kisha avoid the disaster. However, she also started targeting Kisha, giving her unfair treatment in the company and even instigated others to do so.
Kisha felt that it was unfair and hard not to get angry but if she gets fired. It will be harder for other companies to hire her, her only choice was to persevere and resign after a few years to have a better prospect. Not until she suddenly saw a bluish system interface showing a countdown in front of her face.
She thought she was hallucinating after long hours of work and lack of sleep. She tried to look around and saw her colleague acting normal. She blinked a few more times but it was still there. Another prompt message appears.
"Ding"
"[User had met the requirements to integrate with System 008]"
Below the message was a 10-second countdown. She did not know what it was, the feeling was very novel. It was so vivid that it was hard to think of it as a hallucination, not unless she was going nuts.
There were even two buttons to Accept or Decline the offer.
She tried to wave her hands around but accidentally clicked the Accept button. The interface changed and showed a loading icon that almost occupied the entirety of the interface.
She was puzzled but she was not given time to think deeply,
The department manager Lisa walked out of her office as she shouted. "Alright, everyone! Finish your respective research and report! I need it by the end of the day!" She walked around the room in body-fitted clothes and 6-inch high heels.
She never forgets to stop at Kisha's desk to sarcastically demean her. "What are you doing Ms. Aldens?! Start working! The higher-ups are egging me on with the development report for the new project! You're as slow as a turtle and as dim-witted as a pig"
Kisha kept her head lowered and did not speak because the more she tried to explain, the heavier their bullying would be. No one would stand up for her nor show sympathy. One's weakness is not their business but Kisha has never experienced this before, she grew up well protected by her grandparents.
She always believed that as long as she's a good person and her conscience is clear, she'll soon find her happiness. Naive, I know. But she was raised by a middle-aged couple who found her on the road when she was 6 years old. They were good people and forgiving, they would always tell her stories of Prince and Princess and isolate her from the madness of people's inner thoughts because they wanted Kisha to remain kind and pure even when she grew old, that's why Kisha grew up believing in Prince Charming and never delved deeper into people's hearts. This belief caused her not just an arm but life, or should I say lives.
Kisha's long and curly eyelashes fluttered as she blinked multiple times, a severe headache assaulting her head as she listened to the loud voice above her, sounds of computer keyboards halted almost at the same time, and women around snickering as they enjoyed another bout of Kisha's miseries.
Not long after, there was a big earthquake, cracks slowly crawling on the walls, and things falling from high places. This sends everyone into chaos. After the scary tremor, everyone evacuated the building in an orderly manner and stood outside looking for an open space to avoid the aftershock. Not long after the earthquake was a bloody rain that lasted for 10 minutes and was enough to cover everyone from head to toe with blood-like fluids, the horrifying scene was so scary that everyone thought that it was the end of the world.
Well, they are not wrong. Soon after, their thoughts started materializing. People outside started screaming in pain and scratching their skin as if trying to dig into their flesh.
Horrified, some took a step back and looked at the woman who was squirming on the floor. A man tried to call for an ambulance while two other men tried to stop the woman from hurting herself, thinking that she was having a panic attack.
The woman bit the man holding her arms, and due to the pain, he pushed her using all his strength. But the chaos intensified, more people started biting on the people near them and the scene became bloody.
Kisha was scared silly and held the person next to her, Lisa. Although Kisha was not weak they were all mentally unstable because of all the blood gushing and spraying around. She didn't know what to do until one of their male colleagues pulled them to run.
It was crowded outside their office and everything was in chaos, and it became a stampede.
They turned and entered the building instead to hide for a while to monitor the situation. When they thought that they were safe, a man with part of his face's skin falling off and an open stomach ran after them, it attacked Lisa but since Kisha was still holding on to Lisa's arm, Lisa kicked Kisha to the zombie to be her meat shield.
Kisha's eyes widened in shock and pain but she could not do anything and was bitten in the neck. She used all her strength to push the zombie away, blood painted her white polo shirt.
"Ding!" " Congratulations Host for Successfully integrating with the system." A childlike voice sounded in her head. Aggrieved and flustered 008 said. "Oh no! I was too late, you were bitten by the infected."
It has just integrated with its new host and the user is already infected. He was fuming but it had no way out too.
Kisha felt a hot pulsing current from where she was bitten but lost consciousness before she got far. When she opened her eyes again, she was back in the office. Everything felt like a vivid nightmare. She subconsciously looked at her phone, it showed September 2nd, 1:30 pm. She remembered that it was supposed to be September 3rd today. She thought that her phone must have malfunctioned and looked at her computer screen to check the date.
It puzzled her to see the same September 2nd, 1:30 pm.
But everything became more clear when the nightmare she thought, happened again the next day.
On her third rebirth, she called for sick leave to avoid the disaster and did not allow her family members to go out. She wanted to wait for the government to rescue them but they ended up starving to death.
On her fourth rebirth, she and her family manage to save up supplies but was still not enough, not wanting to repeat her previous mistake to die from starvation, she and her brother went to find supplies but they encountered black-hearted people and they wanted to rape her so her brother did his best to protect her but ended up being stab in the throat. Knowing that she couldn't run away, she decided to throw herself into a zombie instead of being played with by those men.
On her fifth time, she decided that enough was enough. She took a kitchen knife and planned to fight instead of cowering in their house. She did manage to learn a few things after staying alive for 2 weeks. But she and her brother could not protect their grandparents well and still ended up dying with the scruples for supplies.
On the sixth rebirth, 008 seems to have had enough of seeing its host dying so many times.
"Host, why don't you use me, your system? I'm omnipotent, upgrade me and I'll be stronger!"
Hearing the familiar voice in her head, she started asking 008 to teach her how to use the system. After finding out its function and what it can do. Kisha started laughing and crying at the same time, she gritted her teeth as she tried to calm her raging heart and mind.
008 cowered as it felt its host's strong anger.
Kisha lost her reasons and for the first time in her whole life cursed and raged at someone. "You fucking system! You could have told me from the second time I woke up, I would not have been angry with you the first time because we were still integrating and it was too late, but you were silent for so long, you were supposed to be my support but you just watch me and my family die for so many times?!"
After the bout of cursing and letting her emotions out, she felt like she was truly reborn inside out. This nightmare kept on repeating and her only way out was her system. But soon after superhumans emerge. She was besieged by superhumans for her supplies and massacred her family.
Her unending death and rebirth kept on repeating that her mental health was collapsing, every time she went back to the first day of the apocalypse, her family would see her changes and it hurt to see her that way but they didn't know what caused it or how to help.
What seemed like an endless loop kept on repeating, she experienced all kinds of death. Countless years of experience were only visible in her head because even her experience points and the items she got before death would reset on the first day. She couldn't find a loophole, she tried all possible ways to give her family a safe place but the whole world was so engulfed by the apocalyptic era that it seemed impossible.
Not until she reached her 99th rebirth and she met the Tyrant Emperor, Duke. He built a base of his own and he found her talent and strength admirable, they see eye to eye, both on the verge of insanity. They found solace in each other's company, they built a safe haven of their own using his previous base as a foundation.
But Kisha is still a woman inside and out, in the chaotic harsh world they live in, her heart still looks for comfort and warmth that her family can't give. She felt the gentleness and love provided by a man that she once saved and fell in love with him.
Little did she know that the man she thought loved her would betray her and would cause not only her death but even implicate Duke who was killed before her.
....
She opened her eyes in the same old office that was engraved in her memory. The desk that she was so familiar with, the computer screen showing the same date and time [September 2nd, 1:30 pm], and the people sneering behind her.
Lisa kept demeaning her with the same old phrase. Kisha's long and curly eyelashes fluttered as she blinked multiple times as she tried to control the pulsing headache that made her feel irritated.
She massaged her temple as she tried her best to rearrange her thoughts. "Stop barking like a dog, will you?" Her temperament changed from timid to glacially cold, there was even a hint of killing intent.
Everything went silent and people's jaws dropped that can fit a whole duck egg. "What's wrong with Kisha?" A girl murmured.
Everyone looked at her as if they were looking at a new continent. Well, they can't be blamed, as Kisha's change of demeanor and tone had never been heard before, she is as timid as a rabbit even when bullied by Lisa, she would always hold her breath when Lisa is scolding her out of mood swings.
"Ding...."
She looked at the system interface in front of her showing a 24-hour countdown. "We meet again host!" A child-like voice sounded in her head.
A new system notification appeared in front of her. "New title obtained!"
"Congratulations host for obtaining the 100'th life Title!"
