12 12: Laundry

[ MISSION ONE: CABIN IN THE WOODS | COMPLETED ]

[ USER EXP: +10 ]

[ USER LEVEL 1, EXP: 11/100, more stats ]

Oh, so that was a mission? Why didn't the System tell him about it since the start? Jay could've been more prepared for it. Well, he couldn't do much physically, but at least he could prepare mentally and emotionally for it.

[ WOULD USER JAY LIKE TO BE INFORMED ABOUT FUTURE MISSIONS' STARTING POINT AND ENDING POINT? ]

[ YES ] [ NO ]

Why isn't that the default setting? Of course, he chose yes.

Once the blue interface screen was out of his way, Jay focused his attention on his female caregiver who's poking one of the waterlogged tunnels with a broom she found in the closet. At one point, her male companion, who's still holding the baby villain, threw a piece of wood into the stagnant water. The slash of water was an unpleasant indication that flood isn't shallow enough to walk through.

_

Thankfully, they're not going through those creepy tunnels. Not yet, at least.

For the first time since he transmigrated, Jay wished that he was an adult, or just a little older so that he could tell his caretakers that going through those tunnels would be a bad idea. In the original book, everything was written through the point of view of the protagonist, the one and only Golden Boy, the star that is Kade Easton. Everything from how he first met his future lover Natalie in highschool to after he graduated and immediately threw himself into the world of superheroes and villains when his power awakened. In one of his quests as a newbie in the United Superhero Council or USC, Kade and his friends were chasing down a minor villain who led them into the tunnels where the flood water never drained, giving it a sewage-like appearance. The waterlogged tunnels were also home to a ridiculous amount of crocodiles.

Jay blamed the author's bad writing and lack of creativity back then, but now that he's living in the world, he's internally cussing the author out because no one wants to get eaten by giant hungry water lizards. Plot armor only applies to the protagonist, and he's not the protagonist of the book, so he should be careful. After all, the System did mention that he could fail and die.

'System!' The baby called out in his head while his hands were fiddling with the Rubik's cube. His deep purple eyes moved to the two teens hanging their laundry at the window. 'Do I have to go through the tunnels? Like for a future mission?'

[ SYSTEM IS NOT PERMITTED TO SHARE THIS INFORMATION. ]

'That sounds like a yes to me.' Jay almost rolled his eyes at the thought of the System being set to no-spoilers mode. Whatever. He'll find a way to survive one way or another.

Soon, he got bored of the Rubik's cube. It's been a few hours since the caretakers found him in the basement. Then, they fed him, and they've been doing laundry since. The baby stole another glance at the two teens to make sure that they're not paying attention to him.

"I'm shorter, so hang your shit over there, not here!" JJ yelled at her companion as she picked up a gray T-shirt too large for her from the window frame and threw it at the teenage boy.

Red King snorted mockingly as he easily caught his shirt. His red eyes glared at the teenage girl in front of him for a moment before he decided that it's not worth the fight, so he began hanging his clothes on the top rail.

His silence lasted for a few seconds, then he sneered, "There's more than one window in this house, Jay."

"I know. The other window is for Kaon's stuff." JJ huffed as she picked up another shirt to hang on the bottom rail. "No way I'm gonna use the kitchen window. We need all the sun we can get."

Her partner grumbled to himself for a second, which turned into a full on complaint about how the house was built and the direction it's facing. The Red King's words earned an offended gasp from his companion, who then lectured him about how Armani Wolfwood tried her best to build a home from scratch.

Now that they're busy bickering, Jay looked up at the rooting wooden ceiling. It's still unnerving to see the pale wood and absence of spiders considering how abandoned the cabin was.

'System!'

[ YES, USER JAY? ]

'Is there a digital library in your system?'

[ SEARCHING FOR "DIGITAL LIBRARY"... ]

[ 0 TERMS MATCHED IN DATABASE. ]

The baby let out a sigh internally, and he wanted to throw his Rubik's cube away in anger, but if he throws it, he'll have nothing to play with.

'That's not what I mean. Okay... Think...'

At this point, Jay was more frustrated at himself for being unable to find the right words to order what he wanted. Well, he's looking for reading material, anything that the System allows him to know about this world.

As a transmigrator, knowledge is power. The more he knows about this world, the better he can navigate it. It's not a secret that while he was alive in his original world, Jay didn't have the best memory, so now he wanted to have some sort of plan to overcome that. Since he won't be able to remember each and every single detail of a book that he read once, much less retain what little knowledge he has until his baby body reaches adulthood, he needs a secured place to note things down and a library of stuff that he could refer to.

A while ago, the System showed him information about World War III and overly summarized versions of his caretakers' backstories. Where can he read those things again? Must he ask for each specific thing every time?

[ YES. ]

'Fine, fine. Better than nothing.'

Jay snapped out of his head when the ceiling was replaced with the face of a teenage boy with red eyes and jet black hair dangling down his head.

"Whatcha looking at, little guy?" Red King grinned, then he tilted his head for a bit, pretending that he was also looking at the ceiling. "Hmm... There's no spiders for you to count. So, what's so interesting?"

Fuck... Did the transmigrator spend too much time 'spacing out' while looking at the ceiling? Maybe. Definitely.

'System, is there a punishment for them finding out that I'm not a bab—'

[ USER JAY'S EXP WILL BE REDUCED FOR OOC. EACH VIOLATION IS -100. THE HIGHER YOUR LEVEL, THE HEAVIER THE PUNISHMENT. IF USER EXP GOES BELOW -50, USER ACCOUNT WILL BE TERMINATED. ]

Okay, nevermind, nevermind. He'll find some other way to avert the crisis since telling his caretakers about his situation isn't an option. Besides, who knows what the villains would do to him if they somehow find out?

"Haha, ahahaha!" The baby began clapping his hands together, trying to convince the teenage boy that he's happy with being all alone by himself and bored to hell.

Even with his strained laughter, no one could resist a baby's smile. The teen eventually broke into his own fits of laughter as he sat down in front of the transmigrator.

"Look at the ceiling all you want. We're leaving when the sun sets." Red King's eyes moved from the baby to the teenage girl who's rearranging the laundry, trying to expose each clothing out in the mid day sun as possible. "Or whenever our clothes dry. It won't take long, promise."

[ NEW MISSION UNLOCKED!!! ]

[ MISSION TWO: BABY'S FIRST WORDS | STARTING IN 2 DAYS ]