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2024-10-29 19:42:56As Amy stopped the car and ensured that Marnie was okay, Seth poured all his scrutinies into the lit-up phone in his hand. “Mind sharing with the class what Ally is?”
It didn’t take long for the System to reply.
[The word is pretty explanatory.]
He heard the blonde girl’s snickers from his left. “It’s not funny.”
“Sure it is,” she said, not sensing the dire situation.
“I got nothing from it, after killing five infectores,” Seth argued.
[No kill detected.]
He read the words again. “Are you blind?”
[Only Systemist and registered Ally can earn from killing infectore.]
The System showed the same message.
Seth grumbled, “Fine, I’m a Systemist, I get it. But the car I am in just killed a bunch of infectores, doesn’t that count?”
[No.]
[Only Systemist and registered Ally can earn from killing infectore.]
“Damn it,” he rubbed his forehead. “Then, what do you mean by Ally?”
[Ally is a Systemist’s registered partner.]
[Invite 3 people to be Ally and get 9.000 cells for free.]
“Huh?” Seth reread it to make sure he’s not hallucinating. “That’s a lot.”
“Free cells!” Amy exclaimed as she leaned to peer at his phone. The smell of cheap body spray surged in his nose. “Let’s do this so I can be stronger and buy things too in the System!”
Seth already calculated the amount of how much things he could get from the free cells alone. “Does being an ally make any difference?”
[Yes.]
[You will get an assist point from each of your Ally’s kills, and they will have 10% of your statistics.]
“Including all of my balance and future skill?”
[No.]
[Only 10% of your Regeneration, Strength, Speed, Resistance, Technique, and three of your chosen skills.]
“That’s pretty handsy.”
“Right?” Amy once again said in a too-loud voice to his ear. “Why stalling around? I want a revolver. It’s so cool!”
“You watch too many cliché action movies.”
“Novels. All mafia daddies have a revolver in their pants,” she said dreamily, eyes twinkling as if imagining some steamy scene in her head.
Seth didn’t get it, but his ex, Sarah, made the same face when watching a series with a blonde muscled dude only wearing a speedo prancing around the beach. He cringed at the memory, huffing in disgust.
Turning his attention back to his phone, he asked, “What’s the cost?”
[10% damage to your Ally will be reflected to you.]
“Then, I don’t want it.
Amy was quite disappointed. “It’s a good deal, Seth.”
[Are you sure?]
“Yes.”
[You will also unlock a Gift from the System.]
Seth remembered the stats on his phone. The nonexistent skill and gift. It piqued his interest. “What Gift?”
[Absolute Command.]
Seth quickly turned his phone away before the blonde sales girl could read what was displayed there. He didn’t know what that meant yet, but from the sound of it, Amy wouldn’t like it.
“What’s that?”
“Nothing. The System said unauthorized person can’t know,” he lied.
“Seriously?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“Then, I guess you don’t want to be my ally?”
Amy hummed, staring suspiciously at him. After a moment of silence, she sighed and crossed her hands in front of her chest. “You better not pull a prank on me.”
“Do I have any time to do that?” Seth sarcastically asked, hoping she wouldn’t smell his bullshit away.
“Fine, do what you want, but if anything bad happen after I become you ally, I’ll kick your ass to hell and back.”
“Pinky promise,” he humored her. After she went slumped into the driver's seat, Seth looked into his phone, making sure she couldn’t read what was displayed on the screen.
[Absolute Command.]
[A Gift to make your Ally do everything you told them to. You can only do it three times to any of your Ally.]
He facepalmed, “Why beat around the bush. You should tell itto me first. I say yes.”
[Consent required.]
Not wasting any more time, Seth told it to Amy. Apart from the most deciding part, of course.
[Sending request to Amy Palmer.]
[Request has been sent to Amy Palmer. Please check your email.]
“Huh? I haven’t told you my email address.” Upon opening her email, a particularly new one had just arrived from ‘systemcenter@inv.uou,’ and she clicked it.
It looked like a business email, something she used to see from her manager or the head office. Boring font and a completely white background with no single typo in sight. The terms and conditions to be an ‘Ally’ were also laid bare, but she wasn’t the type to the jungle with wordy explanations.
So, she scrolled down the pages, all twenty of them, and went straight to the bottom corner where her sign was needed. She also typed her nickname to use in the System.
And just like that, she gave her consent away.
Dong!
[Congratulations!]
[1 Ally registered.]
[Status]
[This personal Information will be hidden from other Systemists.]
[Full Name: Amy Palmer
Date of Birth: 04-05-2000]
___
[Nickname: Grimrose
Level: 1
Exp: 0
HP: 300 / 300
Regeneration: 0
Strength: 0.04
Speed: 0.02
Resistance: 0.02
Technique: 0
Skill: None]
“I don’t feel anything,” Amy protested, “Did this even work?”
Without warning, Seth gave a hard pinch to her arm. She yelped and smacked his hand away in reflex. “I feel it too, so yes, this works.”
[Need 2 more Ally to get free 3.000 cells.]
They both shared a look, then simultaneously turned their head to where Marnie was silently watching them from the back seat. She was looking back and forth at them before smiling at them. “I want pizza for lunch.”
“After you sign something for me first, okay?” Seth didn’t beat around the bush.
“Sign?” the six-year-old repeated, tilting her head in confusion.
“She doesn’t even know how to sign,” Amy concluded, sighing yet again to Seth.
“You teach her.”
“Why me? You’re her brother.”
“Is it, uhm,” Marnie started, touching her lip in thought, “Daddy thaught me. It’s what adult draw in paper.”
Seth hummed, thumbs busy with his phone. “Yes, something like that.”
“Make her an email address.”
“Already on it.”
“And we should get Wade to be an Ally too.”
“That’s my plan.”
But it wasn’t as easy as they thought.
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100 Systems Invasion 20. Parallel Log
When they stupidly went to open the modified van’s trunk – while ignoring the disgusting remains of the bulldozed infectores on the road and tires – Wade could only consent with a loud groan and flailing arms.“Right. He’s practically a braindead zombie.” Seth closed the trunk again.“Completely forgot about that.” Amy agreed, pinching her nose. “It’s useless anyway. We still have to kill people.”“Infectores. Not people.”“Oh, so it matters to you now? Didn’t you easily make a man explode into bits and blood?”Seth gritted his teeth, “It’s not me. Victor exploded by himself, I just sat opposite him.”“You know him?”“My professor in uni. But the one who died came from the future.”Amy guffawed, “There you go, let your creativity flow.” However, after his silence and humorless face, she faltered. “Wait, you’re serious?”“We got this nonsensical System and ridiculous invasion where your cousin now drools at human brains. Appearing from the future and then spontaneously self-explode ten
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100 Systems Invasion 23. The Hidden Elimination
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100 Systems Invasion 24. Skill Mastery 0%
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100 Systems Invasion 25. Dominant Pheromone
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100 Systems Invasion 26. Systemist Alert
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Invasion Day 5Courtyard by Marriott, Fishkill, NY“You know what, let’s get him in, Seth!” the blonde girl cut her cousin off, seemingly couldn’t contain her giddiness any longer. “Make him to be an Ally too!”Right, he needed to do that.Seth opened the menu again, quickly finding the icon he needed to click.[Sending request to Wade Moore.][Request has been sent to Wade Moore. Please check your email.]Amy took over, and in no time, Wade was an Ally.[Congratulations!][1 Ally registered.][Status][This personal Information will be hidden from other Systemists.][Full Name: Wade MooreDate of Birth: 2-09-1993]___[Nickname: moreweedpleaseLevel: 1Exp: 0HP: 300 / 300Regeneration: 0.28Strength: 0.49Speed: 0.74Resistance: 0.29Technique: 0.88Skill: None]
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77. Running for Life
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76. Into Hidden View
After four days of work, Rhea finally got her day off again. Mikhal texted her, 'Meet you at East Station in twenty.' Smiling to herself, Rhea texted back an affirmation. "So…" Liz glanced at her from behind the steering wheel, "If I may ask, where are you going, Miss Rhea?""Out," she merely said."Any specific place in mind?"Rhea locked her phone, "Not really."The bespectacled girl looked uncomfortable for a second before she asked again. "Do you have any companions?""Yes.""Oh. Who is that?"Rhea narrowed her eyes, not liking where the bespectacled girl was going with this. "Is this an interrogation?""No, of course, not." Liz hastily said, topping it with an awkward laugh that she tried to make it sound natural. "I'm sorry if it came out like that, Miss Rhea. I didn't mean to."She sighed, turning to the sturdy houses that came into view as they finally reached the town's area. "It's fine. Lucian ordered you to do that, right?" Liz stayed silent, so she'd take that as a yes.
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75. Coping Mechanism
The cafeteria was full of cola and burgers. "Free dinner for everyone!" one of the senior staff called out as they entered it. Rhea grinned – almost jumped in excitement – as her favorite food was served in front of her for free. Emi, on the other hand, chimed in a loud voice, "We don't pay to eat here!"She stuffed her face with the burger. She sat surrounded by a white shirt and blue vest-wearing staff, finally having a nice break out of the craziness of the afternoon shift. "I can't believe I was so excited about it before."Emi smiled broadly, munching on her mouthful bite of burger. She looked funny. "Didn't I tell you that it's crazy?""Yes, but you carefully left out the fact that it is precisely like that oddball group all over again, except, it happens continuously. Marching in a group in the lobby, then shoving each other to get in the elevator. Why do we only have four elevators, anyway?""But it only happens in the afternoon. After that, it's pretty slow, isn't it?"Rhea h
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74. Unwritten Law
Lucian had been at the scene of serious diplomacy once, ages ago as he was still ten, where his father was showing him how to negotiate with a foreign mafia boss from another country. Earl would sign an agreement of letting said mafia boss move into Livingard and give him a little territory on the border to set up whatever operation they had planned. Earl would get back his prized butler slash right-hand man safely in one piece in exchange. He was fond of that man, his favorite butler. A middle-aged friendly guy who had a penchant for cutting apples into beautiful figures and dragging Lucian out of bed before dawn for a morning run. So, hearing that his favorite butler would be back after missing – he was captivated by the foreign mafia after accidentally crashing his motorbike to the mafia's daughter on the road – for three days, Lucian was eager when his father wanted him to tag along. It was supposed to be a valuable learning experience for him.One of the foreign mafia subordinat
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73. At Least We Try
'Let him be, don't talk to him, whatever, just ignore him.'She didn't even want to see him. But bottling her overflowing emotions? It was a ridiculous idea.Then a notification chimed in, breaking into her bubble of thought, pulling her from the suffocating underwater feeling. 'How's' your girl's day out with Emi?' Mikhal texted her, oblivious to the chaos she made herself. 'She was great.' She texted back.'Cool. No more outings today?' His reply came seconds later, followed by three dots, signifying he was typing now. 'Imma starts the afternoon shift today. Dunno what to expect.''Expect the worst.''Never know u'r such a pessimist.'She wasn't. Fine, maybe she was. Just at the moment, though. Rhea responded with a laughing emoticon. Followed by a string of crying yellow faces.'What was that?' She bit her bottom lip, 'I want to go out.' Her thumb sent it before she even read the line. She considered deleting it. No use, Mikhal already typed again.'I'm free, if you were asking
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72. The Walk Down
Sprinting to the beach, Rhea suddenly stopped before her sneakers touched the wet sand. Quickly taking them off, Rhea looked around for a place to put them without getting worried that the wave would sweep on them or someone take them away. Not that she was suspicious of some people enjoying the beach there, or that her shoes were extremely pricey – they were, not that Rhea knew about that, because it was Lucian who paid – but Rhea didn't want to lose her only pair of sneakers.She looked back to Lucian's parked car on the edge of the beach, where the dry ground met with green patches of grass. Squinting her blue eyes, Rhea calculated how much force she needed to get her shoes to the car's side. The light brown-haired girl got into a stance as if she would throw a slider with her sneaker as the ball. Then, Rhea let go of one of her sneakers in a powerful side swing. It flew in a bent trajectory and landed safely on the dry sand, though still a little far away from the car."Ah, I need
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71. Wolf in the Flesh
It was the first time Rhea saw a wolf in real life.The wolf looked like how a wolf would in a book or movie. Nothing special, unlike the jet-black wild wolf she saw in a show. Or the majestic white wolf in legends. The animal in front of her looked just like the usual wolf. Short, triangular ears. Broad snout. A long tail. Looking slender yet seems powerful in its built. Its back was grey, so was its upper head. While the rest of its fur was light brown, and the underside was white.Rhea could not believe it."Should we continue?" Jo asked, stepping slowly on the gas pedal.As Jo drove the car past the watchful gaze of the wolf, Rhea felt a shudder run through her body. Either it was a creepy coincidence, or Lucian somehow controlled the wolf to appear there and failed Rhea's escape. Which sounded impossible. Both of them.It was some minutes later that Jo stopped the car. They were near the first building in the outskirt of Stradfield's little town. "Are you sure you want to get off
