Chương 42: Chapter 41

Lily had returned to her corner to sit down after the events and was quietly watching the participants present their talents one after another. There were about ten more girls waiting before the men would also begin presenting their talents, hoping to catch the interest of one of the young ladies and possibly find an intriguing partner. As this was happening, Nina felt a presence. She looked within herself and checked around, leaving the main seat she had created within her consciousness.

After walking for a while, she found it. A strange thing. An interesting thing. Something that seemed to be glitching in and out of existence. Nina approached it and knelt down. She reached out to touch it, and the moment her hand came into contact with it, she watched as her hand slowly became infected, beginning to glitch as well. When she moved her hand away, it returned to normal.

Seeing that there was no damage, Nina continued poking at the strange object, moving her hand away whenever the glitching began to spread too far. As she continued, the men began their activities, showing their talents. Lily, who was rather bored, suddenly felt a disturbance within the main body. Her hand began to tingle, and she did not understand why.

Leaving the body on auto mode, allowing it to continue eating and chewing repeatedly before drinking water and continuing the process, she entered the conscious space. Seeing that Nina was not sitting in her usual chair, Lily looked rather worried. She searched around, calling Nina's name as she went further into the space and looked beyond. She thought deeply. Nina should have not gone into the subconscious, right? Just as Lily was preparing to dive in and drag Nina out, she felt the tingling sensation again.

This time, however, it was much stronger. Feeling it, Lily realized that Nina must be nearby. Searching around the corner and walking through the domain, she finally found her. Nina was in a very obscure corner, repeatedly touching a small, glitching object. Quickly joining her, Lily looked at Nina.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Nina paused in surprise and looked at Lily, who had suddenly joined her.

"Oh, hey, Lily. Why aren't you outside? Is it time for you to go to sleep?"

"No, I just came because I was wondering if you were alright."

"Oh, yeah. I found this thing."

"What about it?"

"I don't know. It feels weird." Nina showed Lily what happened. The glitching slowly traveled up her hand, but when she moved her hand away, the glitching disappeared.

"What do you think this is?"

"I don't know. I can't even tell you." If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

"Was it glitching this much before?"

"No. It was glitching a lot worse. But after constantly tapping it, it slowly calmed down."

"Ah."

"You want to join me?"

"Sure thing." So, Lily and Nina continued tapping the strange, small, glitching object, moving away whenever the glitching began to spread too far. … Just as Lily and Nina were tapping the thing together, completely immersed in the strange sensation, Lucian, Damien, and Elias, the three brothers, all came out. After finding where the others were, they looked toward Nina, waiting for an explanation.

"What is happening?" Just as Nina was about to explain, Lily interrupted.

"If you guys are awake, you should come and help. We need to get this glitchy thing to stop glitching. If you poke it, it'll calm down faster."

"What?"

"Hurry up! Help!" Without much explanation, all the siblings surrounded the small, glitching thing and began constantly poking it. Outside, half of the men had already finished presenting their talents. Time continued to pass, and only the remaining half were left to present. Hours slowly went by, but inside Nina's consciousness, everyone was completely focused on tapping the strange creature, not caring about what was happening outside.

"What do you guys think it is?" Lily asked.

"I don't know," Elias said.

"I just woke up. I don't even know what's happening." He paused before looking around.

"Also, it's hard to see the outside world. Why is your eating style so weird?"

"Don't question it. We're on a job right now."

"You're on a job, and you're tapping this creature?" Elias looked at the others in disbelief.

"Are you not serious?"

"Well, you guys are here too," Lily replied.

"You could just go and take control of the body if you wanted to, but instead, you're all actively poking this thing." Elias shrugged.

"If you can convince Nina to stop tapping it, then we can all go back to sleep." Lily turned to look at Nina, who was still focused on poking the glitching object. Then, she turned toward Damien.

"You do it." Damien, who had been poking the thing without much reaction, looked at her.

"I have no problem continuing this. If you guys have an issue, deal with it yourselves. Don't drag me into your messes." While they were talking, the glitching had visibly slowed down. The strange object was gradually becoming more solid, with only the occasional glitch appearing here and there. … Only a quarter of the men who still had yet to perform remained in the outside world, while within Nina's consciousness, the glitch had finally stopped.

Even though it had stopped quite some time ago, everyone involved was still poking it. This was because Nina, the main one, their leader, continued to do so. It was not until the box-like creature began to shake that Nina finally stopped poking it, allowing the other personalities to stop as well. However, due to Nina's intense curiosity, it influenced the others to remain and watch the conclusion of this strange thing, even if they did not particularly want to. After a moment, the object opened.

Inside were what appeared to be robotic eyes, but within them was something that resembled an entire galaxy. Nina felt a sense of familiarity. That same feeling traveled through all of the other personalities. As Nina stared into the eyes, she slowly opened her mouth, and a single word escaped.

"System." The moment she said it, the box-like object began to crack, and the thing within burst out. Just like the first time Nina had met the system, she encountered something surrounded by an endless void.

"Greetings, host." Nina immediately stepped back. She felt wary. Something was wrong.

"You're not... you're not the system." Just as Nina stepped back, the entity reached out toward her, attempting to attack her consciousness. However, before it could grasp her, the pieces of the shattered box moved and formed a shield between Nina and the entity. Once the pieces touched the entity, it was pulled back into the box, and the faint red tint that had surrounded it disappeared. As the box fully expanded once again, it returned to its original form: a faint blue, deep night sky. Nina looked at it.

The familiarity she felt was now correct.

"System, you're back."

"Of course I'm back," the system replied lightly.

"Oh, what are you guys all doing here? And who is this guy?" The system turned its attention toward Lucian, carefully examining him. What it did not realize was that, aside from Elias and Nina, who had previously seen the system in its cosmic state, everyone else was staring at it in astonishment.