Chapter 2: Worm?
Lin Wu was in denial of his current situation. He could not believe the voice that he was hearing neither the floating screen that could be seen in front of him.
“NO,No,No,No… This is all a dream. I’m still dreaming, that’s right. I’m just too tired and my brain is not working properly.” Lin Wu spoke to himself.
Lin Wu kept on speaking to himself and felt that he was about to go crazy. He tried moving as much as he could but felt as if he was restricted. Unable to do anything at this point, he eventually calmed down.
“Okay. Even if this is just a dream, I should just play along, shouldn’t I? This is… this is just extra entertainment, yeah. I’ll just have some fun before the exam.” Lin Wu said to himself, still in denial.
“Hmm, so this thing wants me to break out of an egg. But what egg is that? Wait… does this mean I’m in an egg?” Lin Wu thought.
Lin Wu tried moving around again, but this time tried to pay attention to the feeling he got from his surroundings. He felt as if there was a soft, smooth, and elastic surface containing him.
“If this is an egg, then why is it so soft and elastic?” Lin Wu thought.
He then suddenly had an epiphany, as he remembered what he had studied before. Lin Wu was a biology major, thus he knew a lot about animals and plants.
“The only animals whose eggs are soft like these are either reptiles, amphibians or fishes. This means that I’m one of those creatures right now.” Lin Wu determined.
Lin Wu then tried to think of a method by which he could break out of the egg.
“The egg is still soft, then this means that it’s not mature yet. Me not having limbs would also explain that my body has just not developed yet.” Lin Wu concluded.
Having come to a result, Lin Wu now knew what to do.
“This is easy. I just have to wait till I’m mature enough and the egg hardens and becomes brittle. If I’m lucky, this dream will end before that too. That will be hitting two birds with one stone.” Lin Wu decided.
Having decided his course of action, Lin Wu started to sing to himself to pass the time.
“Whatever you say boo___
Okie dokie boo____
______________
_______________
Hit or miss____
They got a boy friend____
______________
______________”
Lin Wu kept on singing random songs till he got bored and eventually fell asleep.
An unknown amount of time later, Lin Wu woke up and felt groggy. He could feel tremors in the surroundings. These tremors kept on getting intense with every moment and eventually felt like an earthquake.
“Wha-What is happening? Is this an earthquake? Oh no, I’m still in the dream somehow.” Lin Wu spoke with shock.
A few seconds later the source of the tremors was right above him. Lin Wu could feel the throbbing waves passing through his body making it shake as well. The tremors had gotten so intense that Lin Wu felt pain due to them.
It was as if all of his internal organs were being massaged by a very bad masseuse, like one would find in a shady place. It was as if he refused to pay the masseuse a tip and now she was giving him a ‘special service’.
“On no, I have to escape, or these tremors will kill me by shaking me to death.” Lin Wu decided.
Lin Wu started struggling again and moved his body around. Fortunately, this time he felt as if the surface that was surrounding him had become harder and stiffer. This time he could actually push against it and would not be pushed back.
“Haaaah…… Haaaah…… Haaaah-” Lin Wu heaved and succeeded in poking a hole in the shell.
“YES! Now I just need to make it bigger and escape.” Lin Wu exclaimed.
He kept on prodding the small hole with his body however he could and expanded it. In the entire process, Lin Wu had somehow forgotten that he still did not have any limbs, and he was breaking the egg. He had proved his previous conjecture wrong. It was not that he did not have limbs because his body was not mature; it was simply because his current body was not supposed to have any limbs at all.
“Annnd success, Yay!” Lin Wu shouted to himself.
He wiggled to orient his body and pushed it out through the hole he had made through the shell. In a surprise to him, he was able to move rather nimbly even without his limbs. It was as if it was an instinct and was intrinsically a part of him.
It was now that he heard a familiar sound.
~Ding~
FIRST QUEST COMPLETED: Breaking out of the egg.
REWARD OBTAINED: Freedom
ISSUING SECOND QUEST: Error! Quest directory not found.
RECALCULATING PARAMETERS: Please wait patiently.
“Chickie nuggie? WHAT DO YOU MEAN WAIT PATIENTLY? I’m about to die here.” Lin Wu shouted.
“I’m leaving! You can’t tell me what to do, you… you… you? Wait what are you again? Oh yeah, system.” He spoke.
“I’m leaving, you stupid system.” He reemphasized.
Lin Wu then started wiggling and moved through his surroundings, which felt like soft and moldable particles to him.
“What is all this? This feels like… dirt? I’m in the ground?”
Lin WU kept on wiggling and moving through the dirt that surrounded and moved away from the source of tremors. A few minutes later he had moved a sufficient distance away and could no longer feel those tremors.
“AH, finally! Now I’m safe and it doesn’t feel like I’m getting my guts rearranged.”
It was now that Lin Wu heard the notification sound again.
~Ding~
NEW PARAMETERS CALCULATED: Analysis completed.
ISSUING SECOND QUEST: Reach the surface
POTENTIAL REWARD: ???
Lin Wu was a little dumbfounded upon reading the notification window that had just popped up in front of him. Previously when he got the first notification, he had not paid much attention to it as he was too disoriented by his situation. But now that he had calmed down and had also gotten through an endeavor, he felt much more stable.
“I don’t think the first notification mentioned a reward. Wait! Why are you even mentioning a reward if you’re just gonna put question marks in front of it. You’re really a stupid system, aren’t you?” Lin Wu stated.
By now Lin Wu had understood a little about his situation. He grasped that the system was like a video game interface, or perhaps even a system from a ‘System novel’.
“If it is as I think, then I’m pretty unlucky. I just got a dumb and stupid system.”
Pulling his mind to the current situation Lin Wu thought about how to proceed.
‘It says that I need to reach the surface. So that meant the surface should be the place the tremors were coming from, I just need to head towards there.’ Lin Wu inferred.
“If I die due to this, I’ll beat your butt, you stupid system.” He cursed before continuing his journey.
A few minutes later, a blinding light filled his vision as he reached the surface.
“LAND! Oh, wait I was in the land already… SURFACE!” He exclaimed
It was at this moment that Lin Wu looked down and saw his body. An extreme level of shock filled his being as he realized and started to doubt his own existence.
“I’m… I’m… I’M A WORMMMMM!”
~DING~
SECOND QUEST COMPLETED: Reach the surface
REWARD OBTAINED: Analyzing, please wait a moment.
Lin Wu stayed there lying as still as a dead worm, wallowing in self-pity and shock.
~Ding~
ANALYSIS COMPLETE:
REWARD OBTAINED: Self-awareness
