System Of The Undead

Chapter 52: [Downloading...!]

Jason knew he couldn’t leave Clementine to her own devices, he had to be cautious and that was exactly what he did.

Chronos went silent as usual but it got him into this mess and it was its responsibility to get him out because if Jason does, Chronos ceases to exist.

For Chronos to function, Jason must live so would Chronos truly let him die if he was in a dire situation?

Jason established from Chronos’ jokes that he too was evolving but it also meant he was gaining self-awareness to a certain degree.

It wasn’t just an AI anymore, Chronos was slowly coming to life and Jason wanted to know just how self-aware this system was.

"Hey Chronos, any hint on how to get out of this situation you got me in?" Jason wasn’t vocal, everything was in his mind.

[Are You Trying To Play On My Feelings?]

Chronos asked and Jason was impressed that he could have a conversation with whatever this was but he took the phrase, voices in my head, literally.

[Because I Don’t Have Any!]

Chronos said and Jason couldn’t help but smile, the situation was dire yet Chronos’ crappy sense of humour managed to make him smile.

"Come on! I really need your help! How did such a zombie even come into existence!? What the fuck is happening and how the hell are the zombies evolving?" Jason needed answers and who better to ask than Chronos?

The bloated zombie suddenly halted and began turning, it was almost like he had intelligence and was looking for them.

Jason remembered that zombies could smell but he wasn’t sure that their smell wouldn’t be picked up by the zombie.

The zombie knew they were close but it didn’t know where they were, it was stationary but its body was tilted in their direction.

The darkness was their enemy because they couldn’t see this clearly but Jason hoped that Chronos would help him.

"Chronos! If you help me out here! I will do you a favour!" Jason tried to bargain with the system, he knew that this was stupid because what could Chronos possibly want to begin with?

He was a fucking robot, to say the least, but Jason also wanted to know where he came from.

Chronos just magically appeared out of nowhere and Jason wanted to know what the origin story of this system was.

There had to be a logical explanation for all of this, there was no way that this was supernatural but something in him questioned if he was going crazy.

"Is this what people mean when people say they hear voices in their head?" Jason thought to himself, this might be a symptom of mental illness.

[What Do You Propose?]

Chronos responded and Jason was surprised but desperate times called for desperate measures, he liked that Chronos was more interactive as well.

He was going to give in to his system’s demand because he had no choice.

"I have no idea! Anything you fucking want?" Jason responded; he knew that Chronos wouldn’t do anything that would directly harm him because this would also mean harming itself as if they were one.

Chronos went silent but a notification soon popped, it was the typical terms and conditions that Jason had to agree to, this meant that whatever was agreed upon would be bound by a contract.

"Yeah... I’m not reading all of that," Jason said, agreeing to the terms but in all honesty, who reads the terms and conditions?

[Ding!]

[System Update Available! Update Now? Y/N?]

Jason raised a brow because what the fuck was he updating to but now wasn’t the time for questions, now was the time to just do.

And that was exactly what Jason did, Jason agreed once again.

[Updating In Progress....]

[Downloading... 20%]

[Downloading... 50%]

[Downloading... 70%]

[Downloading... 99%]

[Downloading... 100%]

[Update Complete!]

[New Feature Available!]

[Map Feature Active!]

Jason was speechless, this did feel like the power of God because that was the only explanation for all of this. Jason smiled widely, momentarily forgetting that Bella couldn’t see what he saw.

"What’re you smiling for?" Bella asked Jason and he quickly wiped that smile off his face as he recomposed himself.

"Ha! Nothing, nothing. I just remembered a joke I heard earlier," Jason responded in a hushed tone but Bella was a brow because this was the worst possible place to remember a joke of any kind.

The map feature gave him a radar that seemed to only spot infected, all infected zombies were displayed on the radar but there was a radius.

It had a 20-meter radius for 30 seconds but that was more than enough for Jason, this would help him plenty no doubt.

However, he could only scan once a day, this was the current limit considering his level so it didn’t have an unlimited amount of usage that he could abuse, there was a cooldown to halt it from being unnaturally overpowered.

Jason scanned the area and only after scanning was he informed of this cooldown by Chronos. Jason didn’t know if he should curse the system or be thankful because this might just be the thing that could get him out of this.

He grabbed Bella’s hand firmly and began leading her away from the heat signatures that were popping on the map.

Bella knew she couldn’t make any noise but so did Jason as they expertly manoeuvred around the area but he noticed that the floor was slightly damped.

And there was only one explanation for this, this was the zombie that had nasty fluids dripping from its mouth.

Jason heaved a loud sigh of relief the moment the signatures disappeared as it meant that they were out of range.

Bella looked up at him but she was too mentally exhausted to speak; Jason didn’t doubt her sincerity anymore.

She could have easily run back to the motel and the fact that she tried to lead the zombie elsewhere showed that she had their best interest at heart.

Jason could tell that she had a lot of questions yet her mouth remained shut, he knew he would need to offer her an explanation later but right now, silence was appreciated.