Chapter 9: Voice of Olympus
1485 Words
Cold acid rain, mixed with the stench of blood, lashed against my face. I knelt beside the corpse of Brute the Bonebreaker, gasping for air, my lungs feeling like a pair of shredded bellows. My entire world was spinning, and the reflections of neon lights in the puddles twisted into clusters of burning ghost fires.
My hands were shaking—not from fear, but from the sheer exhaustion of having my strength drained dry. I had just killed a man. A living, breathing human being. The cold chime of the system echoed in my mind: [Main Quest Completed.]
["Existence Deletion" Protocol deactivated.]
I survived.
The thought brought no joy, only a sense of numb emptiness. I looked down at Brute’s wide-open cybernetic eye. It stared hollowly at the deep purple night sky, as if accusing me—the killer who had taken everything from him. Between his brows, the bullet hole—its trajectory twisted by the last of my mental energy—looked like a mocking black dot.
I won, but at what cost?
Just then, my fingertips brushed against the cold metal briefcase lying beside his corpse. Stamped on the case was an emblem of a compass and a scepter—the insignia of the Olympus Corporation. And right next to it lay a black data chip.
Like I was possessed, I picked up the chip.
The moment my skin made contact with the chip, a searing jolt of electricity surged up my arm and into my brain!
[Warning: Unknown data source detected... Attempting to parse...]
[Parsing failed! Data structure conflict!]
[Warning! Data corruption level rising rapidly! 5.1%... 6.3%... 8.5%...]
"Agh—!"
I let out a stifled scream, the agony curling me into a ball. My vision was completely drowned in static and garbled code as countless fragmented images flashed frantically before my eyes. A sterile white room, the pungent scent of disinfectant, and a man in a white lab coat whose face was a blur.
His voice pierced through the data storm, ringing clearly in my ears with a tenderness I couldn't comprehend.
"...Nova..."
"Welcome home."
My heart clenched. Nova? Was he calling me? Home?The hallucinations vanished, leaving behind only a splitting headache and an even deeper sense of confusion. I wasn't some NPC Unit #734; I was Nova? That pure white room—was that my "home"?
No. I couldn't stay here. Athena’s cleaners would be arriving soon.
I forced myself up, my body feeling like it was falling apart. I grabbed the heavy briefcase, clutched the eerie black chip tightly in my palm, and stumbled into the nearest sewer entrance.
Darkness, dampness, and a foul stench swallowed me instantly. Steadying myself against the slime-covered walls, I trudged forward with uneven steps. Every step felt like walking on knives; the data corruption inside me was like a wildfire, searing every nerve. My vision flickered—one moment it was the dark tunnel, the next, an afterimage of that pure white room.
I had to find Old Doc. He was the only one who could help me.
I don't know how long I wandered through the maze-like sewers, but I finally saw it—the familiar container disguised as a pile of trash. Using the last of my strength, I pounded on the rust-stained iron door.
The door opened, and Old Doc’s wrinkled face appeared. A flicker of surprise crossed his cloudy eyes when he saw me.
"You're still alive," he rasped, dragging me inside. "And you look like death warmed over."
I collapsed the moment I entered, the briefcase hitting the floor with a heavy clang. Old Doc shut the door, and the dim lights of the clinic offered a long-lost sense of safety. He knelt down, prying my eyelids open with a rough, meaty hand to inspect my pupils.
"Data corruption... what the hell did you do, girl?" His voice was grim. "Do you think your abilities are some kind of bottomless refill? Every time you use them, you're overdrawing your 'existence'! Keep this up, and you'll be burned into a pile of meaningless junk code!"
"I had no choice," I panted, my voice as raspy as sandpaper. "If I didn't kill him, I would have been 'deleted'."Old Doc fell silent. He looked at the mess I was in and finally let out a sigh. "Come here, lie down." He helped me onto the cold operating table and took a syringe filled with a fluorescent green liquid from a cabinet. "This is a 'Purifier'; it can temporarily stabilize your data structure. But remember, this is just a painkiller, not a cure."
The cool liquid flooded into my neck, and that burning pain finally began to subside. My vision gradually cleared, and those annoying bursts of static and hallucinations slowly receded.
"Thank you," I said sincerely.
"Don't thank me, it's just business." Old Doc wiped the needle. "You coming back alive is the only thing that kept my investment from going down the drain." He glanced at the briefcase on the floor. "Looks like you pulled it off."
I nodded, sat up on the operating table, and then opened my palm to reveal the black encrypted chip.
"I need you to take a look at this."
Old Doc's gaze fell on the chip, and the expression on his face changed instantly. He picked up the chip carefully, held it under the light, and used a magnifying glass to closely examine the physically etched circuits on it. His fingers subconsciously began tapping on the table in an extremely complex, rapid rhythm, like a code I couldn't understand.
"Shit..." he cursed under his breath, his expression more solemn than ever. "Olympus Group... military-grade 'Cerberus' triple encryption. The physical lock on this thing is tougher than the vault doors of the Bank of New Atlantis."
"You can't c***k it?" My heart sank.
"Me?" Old Doc gave a self-deprecating laugh. "I'm just an old man patching up scrap metal in the Sinking District. Trying to open this is like running naked through Athena's central server. I'm not tired of living yet."
The spark of hope that had just ignited was immediately doused by a bucket of cold water. I stared intently at the chip, the voice of the man in the white coat echoing in my mind again. "Welcome home, Nova."
No, I won't give up! This might be the only clue to uncovering my origins!
"Then who can?" I pressed, a hint of desperate stubbornness in my voice. "Someone has to be able to open it!"
Old Doc was silent for a long time, his clouded eyes seeming to look right through me. Finally, he looked as if he had made a decision."There is a place... or rather, a group of people. They are Athena's sworn enemies, ghosts of the data world." He lowered his voice, as if speaking a forbidden name. "The Sinking District's hacker collective, 'The Weavers.'"
"They are the only ones who might be able to c***k this thing." He handed the chip back to me, warning, "But they never trust outsiders, and they absolutely despise anything related to Olympus. Going to them with this is no different from suicide."
My heart began to race. The Weavers... I had seen their fluorescent circuit board markings in the sewers.
Just as I hesitated, that long-absent, cold system voice suddenly rang out in my mind. But this time, what it said left me stunned.
【Side Quest Triggered: Seek the help of the Weavers.】
【Quest Objective: Find 'The Weavers' and persuade them to c***k the encrypted chip.】
【Quest Type: Optional.】
【Accept/Decline?】
An optional quest?
My mind went blank. Up until now, the system had only issued mandatory death warrants. This was the first time it had given me the right to choose. Plus, its goal lined up perfectly with my own goals—guiding me to investigate the "Eden Project."
This "glitch system," what exactly was it? It seemed... to have its own agenda.
Old Doc watched my shifting expression and pulled something out of a drawer, pressing it into my hand. It was a broken circuit board—only half of one, with jagged, uneven edges.
"If you're hell-bent on throwing your life away," he said grimly, "find their contact hiding in the abandoned subway station and show him this. Maybe it'll make your death a bit quicker."
I gripped the half-circuit board, feeling its rough edges. Then, I looked up, meeting Old Doc's conflicted look.
Suicide? Perhaps. But before I figured out who I was, who that man in the white coat was, and what the Olympus Group had done to me, I wouldn't let anyone—or any system—decide my fate.
I mentally made the selection on the system panel.
【Quest Accepted.】
I looked at Old Doc and said, enunciating every word, "Tell me where to find them."
- Writer
