90 The news that changed everything
"KID! FORGET THE BLASTED RECORDING YOU JUST SAW!"
"!!!"
The same man showed up once more, but this time he was right in Zorey's face and extremely agitated – even his sideburns and impressive mustache seemed prickly, which all caused the boy to try and pull away – but the window stayed at the same distance regardless of his movement.
"EVERYTHING WENT TO SHIT! WHILE THE REST OF US WAS IN THE CRIOSLEEP, THE ACTIVE SOLDIERS WERE ABOUT TO WIN, BUT THOSE BLASTED ALIENS MADE A SUICIDE ATTACK AND MANAGED TO INFECT THE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN CONTROL OF THE REBIRTH PROGRAM AND DAMAGED THE FUNCTION THAT ALLOWED THE SOULS OF THE SOLDIERS TO RETAIN THEIR MEMORIES! THEY ADDED DOZENS OF BULLSHIT CLASSES THAT HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH FIGHTING AND EVEN REWROTE THE PART OF THE PROTOCOL CAUSING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THEIR OWN MAGIC INTO THE SYSTEM, CORRUPTING IT BEYOND REPAIR!"
The furious man shouted, and droplets of the saliva he was spitting with every word were sprinkled on his side of the window.
"BILLIONS OF CIVILIANS THAT WENT INTO CRIOSLEEP ARE DEAD, BUT THE MIX OF TECHNOLOGY AND MAGIC TRAPPED THEIR SOULS AND TURNED THEM INTO HOSTILE LIFEFORMS THAT DEVELOPED FAR BEYOND WHAT WE WERE FACING BACK IN 2137! BEASTS BEYOND ANYONE'S COMPREHENSION! Haaa...!"
The mustached man seemed to wear himself out with shouting and backed off from the window, taking a deep breath. As he did the room he was in shook, and some dust and pieces of tiny debris fell from the ceiling, making him glance there and shake his head with a grim expression.
"Our base is under attack by those very creatures that cannot be described in any other way than monsters. You are the only person in here who's compatible with the zeptobots, so your father will make sure that this video will play right after the instruction that all soldiers should be seeing to stop you from trying to reach any other bases as none exist in the present times whatever year it actually is. I am sorry for shoving the burden of such knowledge to not only a child but a civilian as well, but this base was made for the military personnel incompatible with the zeptotechnology, and you got here because of your father and mother's position."
The mustached man clicked his tongue and spoke in a much calmer voice while rubbing the back of his neck with clear discomfort.
"Alright. Stop. Stop this instant. Are you actually talking to me? You are, aren't you? Why are you not reacting to what I am saying?"
Zorey blinked repeatedly before shaking his head and covering his eyes with one hand while reaching the other as if to block the window and the man.
"As I am recording this video, your father is trying his best to buff up whatever zeptobots we have in this place to boost the chances of your survival. Honestly, we have no idea in what kind of world you will live, but it sure as hell will be extremely screwed up. Believe it or not, our base is being attacked by something that looks like a gigantic snapping turtle with half a cliff for a shell... if shit like that existed back when the Aliens first attacked, we would have been wiped off the face of Earth in the first week. If I can be honest, I doubt you will live long enough to see either recording anyway."
The dispirited man backed off even more and leaned against his desk while the whole room trembled and the light on the ceiling flickered.
"...turtle with half a cliff...? You don't mean the Earth Tortoise Golem, are you?! The last time one showed up near a human settlement was around thirteen years ago! I...! My... my father found me in the forest after... that monster moved past the village..."
Zorey felt as if his feet had lost contact with the ground, and he began falling down, and he felt his heart beating like crazy.
"Are... are you somehow talking to me from the past?! That's what you mean by recording?!"
The young priest of death reached out both hands and tried to grasp the window, but as it was merely something appearing within his vision and not a physical object, his fingers passed through the empty air.
"Oh, right. I almost forgot the most important information that your father asked me to record."
"...?!"
The mustached man, speaking to Zorey from the decade past, sighed and waved his hand dismissively before straightening his back and making the boy subconsciously mimic his stance.
"Right now, the system can't restore itself because too much information has become corrupted, but there still is a small chance to reverse everything those blasted Aliens did to it. The digitalized data of the life forms the souls of the deceased civilians have become contains their memories of the world how it used to be. In theory, that your father has, flooding the system with all those pieces of information that are completely different from the corrupted database it operates with should force it to reboot itself and restore its default settings... that for some DAMN REASON CAN'T BE DONE FROM THIS DAMN PLACE!"
The mustache man spoke and became agitated on his own, raising his voice and slamming his fist against the desk.
"...haaa... sorry for that. Being powerless in the face of the incoming inescapable demise isn't good for my nerves. I'm getting too old and too emotional."
The man breathed out and scoffed, sounding as if he was annoyed at himself.
"From what I understood from the technical mambo-jumbo your father was spitting, there is a specific Class that the artificial intelligence administrating the whole System your mother created using her own consciousness as a base managed to implement before the Alien hacking corrupted it. That Class is supposed to be capable of extracting the useful data out of souls of humans and monsters that used to be humans, but the requirement for it is messed up."
"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?! My mother created a system?! THE SYSTEM?! AND USING HER OWN CONSCIOUSNESS AS A BASE FOR IT?!"
As the man continued to speak in a dispirited manner, Zorey's reaction was rather violent as he jumped right up on his feet and shouted despite already knowing that he couldn't get an answer out of the person in the window.
"The corrupted system tries to erase individuals that possess more of the specific data than others. I don't understand the details, but at the moment of death of said individuals, some sort of magic-based bullshit is sent out to trap their data, changing the host into something that we would call a zombie or an undead. I know it sounds ridiculous, like a plot to some lousy horror movie, but apparently it is true."
"...!"
The man from the past, unaware of Zorey's reaction, continued his monologue.
"The new Class can take control over the zeptobots within those corrupted individuals and safely extract the relevant data, returning it straight to the system where it will stack until it reaches the system's threshold and forces the reboot. The problem is it will require an ungodly amount of data, and allegedly, the corrupted system created additional classes that can directly erase the corrupted individuals and their data as a manner of countering that attempt. For me, it's all hogwash and pure bullshit, but honestly, since those outer space freaks showed up with literal magic like the ones in legends and fantasy stories, I lost faith in my common sense. Anyway, your father will attempt to make sure that the zeptobots you will get injected with will force even the corrupted system to assign you that good Class, so... I can't exactly order you anything as you aren't my subordinate, but..."
The mustache man breathed out and looked to his sides as if trying to find the right words or the motivation to come up with them on his own.
"...if you are alive and seeing that message, please, do the right thing. Even if you will not be able to accomplish it on your own during your entire lifetime, just... Do your job."
The man looked straight at Zorey – or at least that's how it appeared to the black-haired boy – and pleaded.
"That's it. Computer! End the recording."
*whoom*
The mustached man added, and the window disappeared from Zorey's vision, leaving the boy's mind in a complete mess.
"...why..."
Zorey stumbled back and whispered while staring at his hands, short of breath.
"WHY ARE YOU TELLING ME ALL OF THAT ONLY AFTER I MADE THIS BLOODY MESS...?!"
The boy howled into the sky in despair, agonizing over turning himself into a red-named player.
"It makes sense... but it doesn't make sense...! But it does...!"
The young priest of death felt his head spinning and crouched down, ending up sitting while hugging his legs and resting his head on his knees while staring vacantly into the distance.
"I feel like I'm going to throw up..."
Zorey sniffled and lowered his head, hiding his face in his knees and appearing very small and vulnerable.
"...ghhh..."
"...!"
Then, he flinched as the last surviving adventurer let out a pained groan while on the verge of bleeding out.
