1.2 In A Dead Body

[Host! Please hold for a few minutes, Jiu is currently downloading the current world plot.]

An dim orb appeared in Ju Long's view, a bright glow slowly emerged from the bottom of the orb.

Ju Long let out a weak sigh. Truth be told, Ju Long wasn't mad or anything-- there had been weirder situations, this one was rather mild on that scale. He was just, just going through the motions.

Closing his eyes, Ju Long relaxed, letting his soul examine the body he was currently occupying. What he saw made his brows wrinkle.

What is this?.. Organ failure..zombie apocalypse.. This.. I am a zombie?

He led his soul straight to the head, searching for that bundle of memories, however he could not find it. Instead occupying its location, lodged directly in what is also known as the "mammalian brain", was a crystal-like sphere. It took about ⅕ of the space and although it seemed fragile in appearance, Ju Long could feel the energy hidden inside.

It was light, weightless even, and it moved freely, bounded by nothing-- the power of wind.

[Beep. Host, the downloading is completed. Would Host like to receive the plots?]

"Jiu I can't access the memories."

[Jiu will look into it. Please allow a few seconds.]

The orb hovering by his side whirled, swirling with a bright blue on the top and a glowing yellow on the bottom. As soon as the colors mixed into a solid green, the system let out a small ding and notified Ju Long of its findings.

[Host it appears that the zombie virus has eroded the original's memories. But no worries, Jiu has a saved copy of Host's memories of the first transfer. Would Host like to replay these memories?]

Ju Long's mouth opened but closed in the end. The orb also froze. Host and System remained silent as the implication of the words spoken stuck them like lightning.

Alarm bells rang in Ju Long's head, feeling like he was on the brinks of recovering something that was missing. He turned to the orb beside him speaking slowly,

"Jiu- ..System why do you have a copy of my memories?"

His eyes stared at his some thousand worlds-hopping companion; an orb currently flashing through variant colors of red. Like it was panicking.

A strange tension filled the room. Everything was still. Too still. Almost like the air had been sucked out of it. It tasted bitter to Ju Long as he waited for a reply.

[I- no Jiu-- System does not know. Error located. Error in configuration code. Automatic reboot started. Rebooting. 1%.. 15%..]

The original red color in the orb started to fade, becoming lighter in color.

Ju Long closed his eyes. "Override automatic reboot. Recover present A.I. system code named: 09."

[30%... Command accepted. Overriding automatic reboot. Cancelling resetting A.I. system code named: 09 to factory mode. A.I. recovered.]

The orb regained its vibrant red before resolving into a sky blue.

"Feeling better?"

There was something in its Host's voice that seemed to chill it to non-existent core. But the System answered, no matter what, an explanation was needed.

[..yes..]

"Then you better start explaining."

[..J-Jiu was programmed to automatically save Host's memories, how-however, after scanning through Jiu's programming code and comparing it to other known system coding, it shouldn't exist— Host someone is approaching.]

Ju Long pursed his lips at the trembling orb before sighing, "Forget it. We'll talk once we finish this world. Jiu, replay the memories and send me the plot."

[Yes. Loading saved copy…]

The world seemed to come to a complete stop as the orb's original blue was overtaken by a murky purple.

[Load completed. Playing saved copy.]