ã€ŠConsciousness Errorã€‹


 Prologue : Disconnection

    The first dollar went in the slot. It was sucked into the vending machine as it whirred. And then, the second. It did the same thing once again, performing its odd sound of rolling in cash into its unseen bank. It was afterward that the buttons under the drinks displayed on the vending machine flashed red, an indication that one of those drinks could now be purchased.

    ¡°Feeling sleepy¡­ so I might as well get a coffee,¡± said Ryan.

    He pushed the black button-¡ªcurrently flashing red¡ªplaced just below the displayed empty tin of coffee within the vending machine. The vending machine gurgled, and with it came a tin of cold coffee dispensed out.

    Ryan bent down, and took the coffee out.

    Ryan¡ªbeing as who he was¡ªpreferred sipping the cold coffee on the way to his class, so he took it along with him rather than drinking on the spot. For sure, that it would get a bit less cold when he would finally drink it, but to him, the satisfaction that comes from it was all worth it.

    The day was scorching hot, the sun glaring down on the bone dry asphalt road. Ryan would have definitely broke a sweat if he was to simply strut down the street, no matter even if he was just to walk leisurely, as it was just that hot. Even then, there was no other detours he could take to avoid the intense heat, and plowing through it might have been the only available option.

    ¡°I wish I wore a thinner shirt today,¡± grumbled Ryan.

    Ryan¡¯s attire was a simple one. He was wearing a red t-shirt with a black line running across the chest part, from his left shoulder to his right, paired with a dark blue pair of trousers that seemed a tad bit out of synch compared to his shirt. Attached on his back was a black bag that resembled a computer¡¯s, with a red pyramid symbol sewn on it.

    Fashion, as complex as it was, never mattered to Ryan. Such was because his motto for fashion had been simple.

    ¡°As long as it¡¯s comfortable,¡± he would always say.

    Truly enough, Ryan would wear even tattered clothes that had been laden of holes all over it, just so that he could be comfortable with his wear. Of course, logic and pride held him back from wearing such odd attires out in the open, but it definitely wouldn¡¯t stop him doing as such if he was alone in his private space.

    Out of the blue, one of Ryan¡¯s trouser pockets vibrated intensely, almost like there was a mini-earthquake happening in it.

    He tucked his hand in said pocket, and pulled out his smartphone, which had been the source of the vibration. Portrayed on it was a green screen, with someone¡¯s name and their number just below it. Ah, I¡¯m screwed, thought Ryan. He thought such thing because the name currently on his vibrating smartphone was one that he didn¡¯t want to ever see popping up.

    He dragged the green phone symbol¡ªwith a heavy heart¡ªand placed his phone against his left ear.

    ¡°Good morning, professor! Almost there, in like, 5 centimetres!¡± said Ryan, producing a dry laugh afterward.

    ¡°If you were that close, you would have already noticed that today¡¯s class is cancelled,¡± Professor Edward replied.

    Ryan was caught off-guard for a moment. ¡°S-sorry? Class cancelled? Oh¡­ no, I meant, of course I know that, professor.¡±

    A heavy sigh could be heard on the other side of Ryan¡¯s phone.

    ¡°Putting that matter aside, I need your help with the Air Conditioner Compressor for the Lecturer¡¯s section. It¡¯s broken again.¡±

    ¡°Again?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    ¡°Okay, professor. I¡¯m on my way. I¡¯m expecting a payment out of this!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll consider of voiding your last absence to my class.¡±

    ¡°Oh, come on!¡±

    ¡°In any case, be here quick.¡±

    And just like that, the call was disconnected by the professor.

    ¡°Man, he could have given me something better for it,¡± complained Ryan.

    The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    In the end, he decided to shrug that matter off and rather make haste towards the Air Conditioner room within the Lecturer¡¯s Office section. It was a hot day indeed, but if walking through it could grant him one less day of absence, that by itself was plenty of a reward enough.

    With a pace that was a bit quicker than just walking, Ryan made his way alongside the empty street heading to the Department of Information Computer Technology, the building where the Air Conditioner Compressor within the Lecturer¡¯s Offices section had broken down. In this kind of hot day, they would probably prefer that the problem was fixed quickly, or else everyone would be working while drenched in their own sweat.

    Along the way, Ryan took notice of several other students, be it in groups or alone scattered throughout the scene. Some was making their way back to the dormitory, the place where Ryan had just bought his coffee drink¡ªstill cold in his hands¡ªand was walking away from, while others were going to the cafeteria or classes located in one of the three main buildings.

    A drip of sweat emerged from Ryan¡¯s forehead, and slipped down his cheek. He was starting to feel the heat, and that had only been the beginning. He held his coffee drink close to the left side of his forehead, a source of coolness to ward off the heat, no matter how temporary it was.

    Ryan arrived on the building of his destination, walking along the walls that separated him from the inside of the Lecturer¡¯s Office section. The usual and distinctive sound of the Air Conditioner Compressor working was gone from the vicinity, whereas only the sound of distant chattering from other students could be heard.

    He took a few more steps, until two brown doors stood in his path. Engraved on a silver plate on the door was the word ¡®Lecturer¡¯s Office¡¯. Ryan took grab of the doorknob, twisted it and stepped inside. Previously, just by opening the door, a refreshing gust of cold air would slap him in the face. Now, on the other hand, it felt like he was standing in front of a dying furnace instead, steadily blowing hot air into him.

    ¡°This is¡­ like standing out in the open under the hot sun,¡± mumbled Ryan to himself.

    Inside, the layout of the office was simple. White tiles layered on the floor, expanding all the way as it covered the entire room. The walls was painted in green, giving off a refreshing vibe from the room in spite of the high temperature. Multiple desks were arranged next to each other, divided by thin barriers made of plastic glass. Each desks belonged to a different lecturer, and there were all sorts of books, papers and documents on each of them.

    In a short moment, Ryan noticed how the office was less crowded than it usually was. Most of the lecturers probably took a run from the office, and escaped somewhere that¡¯s less hot and constricting than being in here. The leftover of them, as in those who chose to stay inside the office, was, literally speaking, soaked in sweat.

    ¡°Ryan, is that you? Come over here,¡± a familiar voice called out to him in the distant.

    Walking past the desk counter that was used to handle visitors¡ªand was basically empty at the time possibly due to the heat¡ªRyan turned the corner and saw Professor Edward. In contrast to what he was called, Professor Edward had a very selective number of attire that he personally chose, and all of them never included a white lab coat.

    Instead, he often sport a bright blue tracksuit from top to bottom, with a spiky hairstyle dyed in pitch black. The only thing on him that resembled the title ¡®Professor¡¯ was his pair of glasses that he had to wear due to deteriorating eye sights. Otherwise, it would be like calling the bright Sun as Moon itself.

    ¡°Took you a while there. As slow as ever,¡± complained the Professor.

    Professor Edward, alongside his contrast appearance, was also known for his attitude that didn¡¯t seem like a lecturer at all. His wordings style reflected more like that of a teen rather than a man that was in his thirties, which made him quite popular with both the male and female students. Even then, Professor Edward was strict where he needed to be, so it was all good.

    ¡°Hahaha¡­ it was just so hot outside, professor,¡± said Ryan.

    ¡°And what makes you think inside here is any different?¡± the Professor replied.

    ¡°Okay, okay. I got it. I¡¯ll fix the thing as quickly as I can.¡±

    Professor Edward stepped aside, behind him two similar doors just like the Office¡¯s entrance, except this time written on the silver plate was ¡®A/C Room¡¯.

    Ryan stepped inside. The room layout was a total different from the office. Not only it was very small that it could only fit a single Air Conditioner Compressor at the middle, the floor, ceilings and even the wall was covered in a material similar to aluminium foil. Ryan never knew what their function was, but he couldn¡¯t care enough to know.

    The Air Conditioner Compressor that stood before Ryan was silent, with a big tube attached on its top. Usually, it would generate a certain amount of noise as it operated, but right now, it was as dead as a corpse. Ryan circled around the compressor that was shaped like a box, filled with mysterious components known not to Ryan.

    ¡°Yeah¡­ doesn¡¯t seem like there¡¯s any physical damage. I guess it really is an internal issue,¡± noted Ryan.

    ¡°Can you fix it?¡± Professor Edward asked.

    ¡°We¡¯ll see,¡± Ryan answered as he took the bag he carried off his back, and placed it against the wall of the room. He also gently placed the coffee drink he had since just now beside the bag.

    Ryan turned to Professor Edward. ¡°Take care of my body for a bit.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, will do.¡±

    Ryan approached the Compressor, placed his hand on it, and closed his eyes.

    ¡°Conscious Access.¡±

    As soon as those words were spoken, Ryan¡¯s body dropped on the floor and was barely caught by Professor Edward who had stood behind him. He slowly dragged the unconscious Ryan outside the room, and placed him against the wall, just the opposite of the A/C Room¡¯s entrance.

    Every few brief seconds, the Compressor would suddenly make a few noise here and there with its control panel blinking like crazy, but then in another few it would be silent like it was once again. The scene repeated itself a few times over the span of a few minutes. Ryan, who was inside the machine was trying his best after all.

    And then, all of a sudden, all the electronics and computers within the Office room suddenly died. It almost seemed like whatever infected the Compressor was spreading outward, something that doesn¡¯t usually happen as the security gate to access the electronics inside the Lecturer¡¯s Office was tightly guarded.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?!¡± shouted Professor Edward. He looked to Ryan¡¯s body. Still unconscious.

    And then, all of a sudden, the Compressor whirred very loudly. No, it wasn¡¯t the sound of it back to being operational. It was a simple mechanical whirr at first, but slowly increased into an abnormally intensive roar that echoed throughout the Office. Professor knew by then that he had call Ryan back because things were getting worse.

    But, before he was able to, Ryan returned to his body back already.

    As if zapped by electricity, Ryan stood up instantly. His face was pale and full of fear, as if he had just stared at the face of death itself. He looked at the roaring Compressor just a few steps away from him, and at the Professor that stood beside him, eyes full of questions. It was then things flashed back to Ryan.

    ¡°Professor! We need to get out of here! And I mean quickly!¡± shouted Ryan.

    Without caring to explain of the current situation, Ryan took hold of Professor¡¯s hand and sprinted away from the room. He left his bag and the coffee drink that was still inside there, but to Ryan, that¡¯s the least of matters he should be caring about. Something big was about to happen, and now was only a cornerstone of it.

    ¡°Ryan! What did you do?¡± asked Professor while he was still being dragged away.

    ¡°There¡¯s no time to explain! We need to run away or¡ª¡°

    But¡­ before Ryan could reach the door of the Office to escape and finish his sentence, he could hear it. The close sound of something tearing through the air, generating a ton of pressure and heat, crushing all those in its path. It was coming, fast. The corner that Ryan had just turned from was now flashing considerably bright orange, and the flames of it all was coming quick. The walls that had been by Ryan¡¯s side, cracked in thousand pieces and all of them burst into one direction.

    Him, and the Professor.

    Yes, an explosion had occurred within the A/C room, and Ryan, alongside the Professor, was by no means far enough from it.

 Chapter 1 : Intrusion

    In one of the ICU wards of the Roizen Hospital, located only a few kilometres away from the University where Ryan had been, things appeared dead silent. In the room, it was laden of medical equipment with cables and transparent tubes running all over the place on the ground, and then finally connecting themselves to a teenager that was lying down on the bed, centred between all these equipment.

    That teenager, was Ryan.

    His body was adorned of stitches and bandages, with plaster casts covering both of his legs¡ªcurrently suspended in the air¡ªwhereas even his eyes were both patched. His chest rose up and down rhythmically, his breathing aided by an oxygen mask attached to his mouth, its tube running by the side of his body, and finally into the Oxygen Supply Unit that sat just by his bed. The room was cold and dead silent, only the beeping of the Pulse Monitor and other equipment could be heard.

    His mother, Alicia, sat on a chair just by his side, her hands clamped together. She was praying to her God, for the safety of her son and his survival. It was all she could do, after all.

    ¡°Doctor! How is he? Will he be okay?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m afraid there are several complications, madam. 40% of his body suffered a second-degree burn, followed by fractured bones in several vital areas. There are also the matter of whether he¡¯ll be able to see again or not. But¡­ most of all¡­¡±

    ¡°What is it, doctor? Please, pray do tell me.¡±

    ¡°His Consciousness Chip Linker. It¡¯s¡­ malfunctioned.¡±

    ¡°What does that mean?¡±

    ¡°From what we¡¯ve gathered, your son, Ryan, is currently in the state of comatose, not because it is medical-induced, nor is it because of natural causes. We believe¡­ his consciousness had been forcibly ejected from his body due to intense electromagnetic radiation exposure.¡±

    ¡°¡­What?¡±

    Alicia held Ryan¡¯s left hand, limp and devoid of life. She could do nothing in this situation. Ryan might be out there, trapped inside a place where she knows not of. Even if she wanted to personally search for him, it was not a viable method for her anymore. After all, her CCL had already reached its usage limit. Any attempt to perform a ¡®Conscious Access¡¯ using expired CCL would only bring danger to her mind, with the possibilities of entirely ¡®corrupting¡¯ her consciousness, thus causing a literal brain dead condition.

    Alicia was worried for Ryan, not only because he was trapped somewhere within normally inaccessible areas, but also because of the danger that lurked within the cyberspace. She had first-hand experience of it all, and she knew exactly what kind of things would live within that dimension. Not to mention, there was also numerous unknown rumours of side-effects that came with being out of the body for a long term.

    Alicia could only hope, that her son¡¯s luck would last for him.

    Far away from the Roizen Hospital, inside the house of another that lived in the city of Roizen, something else entirely was happening. A girl was playing a MMORPG game on her computer, and had worn only a light purple pyjama with a bunny pattern on the back and some frilly wrist designs, despite it being about twelve o¡¯clock in the morning. Her room was void of light, except from the monitor that stood before her.

    ¡°What? That has to be a lie! I mean, I got the last hit in, so why didn¡¯t I get the Interfike?¡± shouted the girl all of a sudden.

    She furiously tapped onto that keyboard of hers, which was constantly changing colour from blue to red, to yellow, to green and to other possible colours within the rainbow family. The girl was getting angry, and it definitely wasn¡¯t subsiding, and she kept on typing intensively on the keyboard so much, that merely the sound of the action itself was reverberating throughout her room.

    C3L3R1NA :

    HEY! WHY DID I NOT GET THE ITEMS? I THOUGHT THE DROPRATE FOR THE LAST HIT WAS 100%! WHAT THE HELL?!?!

    LIGHTSABER405 :

    YEAH, WHAT THE SH*T IS HAPPENING D:< ? IS THIS SOME SORT OF A BUG? I SPENT LIKE A TON OF HOURS JUST TO BEAT THAT BOSS!

    [GM]NETNEUTRALITY :

    I APOLOGIZE. I¡¯LL TRY TO INFORM THE HIGHER UPS OF THIS MATTER. UNTIL THEN, PLEASE REMAIN PATIENT UNTIL THE ISSUE IS SOLVED.

    C3L3R1NA :

    URGHH!! =_=¡­ THIS IS KILLING MY MOOD. I¡¯M OUT.

    The girl immediately closed the game, and threw the headphone she was wearing atop the keyboard. It was¡ªsort of¡ªthe start of Saturday morning, and yet, she definitely did not have a good beginning of it all. All she had was her piece of anger and also frustration. Then again, it wouldn¡¯t bode well with her to just get pissed off over it for the entire day, so she took the decision of cooling down her head.

    She rose up from her chair, and turned heels toward the door. As she opened it, the bright light from the outside invaded her room for her a brief moment before she closed the door, her eyes squinted due to the difference of light exposure from the inside and outside. She went to the bathroom that was just beside her room, and washed her face at the sink.

    The bathroom was quite spacious, or at least enough for several people to fit in. It was divided in two parts, bordered by wooden door at the entrance, and then an opaque glass door that separated the two different parts of the bathroom. The first part consisted of a sink with a mirror installed against the wall, and a toilet to finish any nature¡¯s call. The second part, instead, was used for bathing, with a digital shower placed on the wall, or for some members¡¯ of the girl¡¯s family, to bath in the tub for a change.

    She took a look at the mirror, and much to her expectations, her blonde hair was a dishevelled mess, and her face was as pale as a corpse. What could she expect? The first thing she did after she woke up today was turning on her computer and completely immersed herself in the ritual of constant boring grinding that lasted hours and hours. She didn¡¯t even take a bath yet, for all she knows. She washed her face several times, just to make sure she chased away the grogginess of tiring herself right after she woke up.

    The bathroom¡¯s door was met with a couple of soft knocks.

    ¡°You¡­there, sis?¡± a small voice asked.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

    ¡°Yeah, I am. Just about done using, so¡­ yeah,¡± she answered.

    She opened the door, and standing before her was her little brother, John Myers. It seemed like he also had just woken up, his eyes as small as it could be, his hair twirling all over like a hurricane¡¯s playground. In his left hand, seemingly appear to be choking to death was a brown teddy bear. The girl frowned.

    ¡°How many times I told you not to get the teddy inside the bathroom? You¡¯ll get it wet!¡± said the girl. She took it off his hand, and placed it by the basket just right in front of the bathroom.

    ¡°Ooookay. I needa pee,¡± answered the sleepy little brother.

    The girl could only sigh, and then shook her head. It was like the tenth of thousand times¡ªor at least so she assumed¡ªthat she told John not to bring the teddy along when he was going to the bathroom. Or it could perhaps had been because he just woke up, and didn¡¯t have the energy to think of all the do¡¯s and don¡¯ts in that state. Either way, it would do John well if he just had it left in his bed in the first place.

    The girl returned to her room as quickly as she left it. She had just remembered that she should have the computer shut down first before actually doing anything else for the day. After all, there¡¯s nothing worse than having a computer left unattended, using unnecessary amount of electricity¡ªnot that she¡¯s the one that paid the bills for them anyway¡ªand who knows what more. She hastened her steps, and heard the sounds of cooking tools clamouring in the kitchen. That was probably her mother, cooking something up for her and her little brother.

    She returned to her room, knelt on her bed and drew the curtains open. Light burst into the room instantly, and things could be seen as clear as day in her room than before. Set just by the window of the room was her bed, with its blanket and the bed¡¯s sheet all shrivelled up due to the girl¡¯s excessive moving while she slept. The former had the pattern of white polka dots all over it, while the latter was basically pure pink without any obvious decorations on it.

    Her pillow had already ran off the bed, lumped down at the corner of the room. Even the girl wondered just how it flew off from her bed to that corner. Beside the lumped pillow was the girl¡¯s personal closet, used to keep all her clothes and other personal belonging of hers. It was made of dark brown wood, and were made to be resistant to termites. One of the closet¡¯s door was slightly ajar, and she almost felt like something was peeking from within.

    Laid down on the floor of her room was a fur carpet dyed in almost blue of entirety, with its centre coloured in red, taking the shape of a circle. It¡¯s easy to get dirty, so the girl¡¯s mother never allowed her to actually eat inside her own room, because it would be so easy to make a mess inside that not even an effort would be needed. Even then, the carpet was comfortable to her legs, and easy to her eyes. Definitely don¡¯t want it to be thrown out, if anything the girl had thought of.

    In any case, it was time for her to shut down her computer.

    She got off her bed, pulled the chair before the computer¡¯s table, and then sat down. The monitor had entered sleep mode after a while, but it was obvious the computer itself was still on. After all, the desktop¡¯s indicator was still blinking. She grabbed the mouse by the keyboard, and moved it a bit. The monitor responded, and instantly returned to the screen that the girl was previously on.

    The girl dragged the mouse into the Window icon, and was ready to shut down the computer. However, just before she was able to do it, something peculiar suddenly happened. The monitor went haywire for a brief moment, going dark all of a sudden and showing distorted images of the girl¡¯s desktop screen. She also lost control of her mouse, the tiny little thing blasting off all over the screen like someone was shaking the mouse like a lunatic.

    ¡°Huh? What¡¯s going on? Oh¡­ don¡¯t tell me it¡¯s broken. God, please, no,¡± said the girl.

    Much to the girl¡¯s happiness, the odd situation stopped occurring, and a new pop-up emerged on the screen. It was one of her many anti-viruses residing inside her computer, and this one was specifically designed to target spywares and the likes of them. Good job, she thought. Whatever was causing the erratic behaviour of her computer just now was already found out.

    On the screen was written:

    -VIRUS FOUND-

    Name: Ryan.exe

    Type: UNKNOWN (Reports has been sent to the Lab)

    Location: C:\Users\Personal User\Documents\501551515

    ¡°¡­Hmm? What¡¯s this? Who¡¯s the idiot that wrote this program to have such a lame name?¡± said the girl.

    ¡°Whatever. It¡¯s going to be gone now anyway,¡± she continued.

    The girl pressed the ¡®Delete¡¯ button, expecting it to be gone as she did. The pop-up disappeared, but seconds later it resurfaced. Her eyebrows rose up. She tapped the ¡®Delete¡¯ button for the second time. Still the same thing. It resurfaced, again. Once again, she pressed the ¡®Delete¡¯ button, but before even half of a second passed, the pop-up emerged again. It just won¡¯t go away, and the girl was losing her patience.

    ¡°Fine! If you¡¯re going to make my day an even worse one, then I¡¯ll do this personally!¡± claimed the girl.

    She touched the top of her desktop. Her intention was clear. She was going to take on the virus herself.

    ¡°Conscious Access!¡±

    The girl¡¯s vision blacked out, her senses faded away, the sounds went dead, but it took mere seconds before she regained them all. Nonetheless, the scene around was definitely not her room anymore. Her bed was gone, the computer that sat before her no longer in sight, and it was not just that. Everything surrounding her changed. She now seemed to be inside a purely ocean blue room, with three doors standing against her. The floor, walls and even the ceilings of the room had lines randomly drawn on them. Each of them were pulsating, like signals being carried across the entire place, from one to another.

    On the other hand, the doors that stood before the girl symbolized the entrance to her drives within the computer. The first door had the name ¡®DATA (D)¡¯, which was a drive containing all of the girl¡¯s personal information and matters, like pictures of her with her school friends, or something as simple as what most would call, a girl¡¯s diary. The second door adorned the name ¡®OS ?¡¯ on it, and without a doubt, was the core of the computer¡¯s cyberspace.

    Ultimately, it couldn¡¯t be denied that without an operating system, a cyberspace would fail to maintain its existence, and would soon enough disintegrate. Naturally, the second door had the highest of all securities, and not all the files within it could be manipulated by even the admin. The third door, was basically a representative of the girl¡¯s third drive, the ¡®GAMES (:E)¡¯, which, as the name literally mentioned, contained her personal collection of games that she oftentimes played when she could.

    In the current situation, the intrusive spyware was located in the core of her computer, the drive of ¡®OS ?¡¯. It could be that the main objective of the spyware was to steal critical information related to her computer and its cyberspace, a cornerstone to whatever that was going to hit her. But, she couldn¡¯t help but to wonder. Why her? She had nothing important stashed away in her computer, so it made no sense that a spyware that could resist deletion was sent her way. Regardless, it was all irrelevant now.

    ¡°Administration Control,¡± said the girl.

    The moment she uttered those words, a program materialized before her. It was in the form resembling a humanoid, but it was made purely of light, shining bright, but not too strong that it would blind the girl. In a way, she could call the manifestation before her as a ¡®will¡¯ of the computer itself, granting full control over the main body should the inquirer be its owner. On the other hand, if it¡¯s an invader from the Net, then it would¡ªalongside other Anti-Virus programs¡ªattempt to delete it from the computer¡¯s mainframe.

    ¡°Access Code required,¡± requested the program.

    ¡°Celerina401.¡±

    ¡°Admin control granted. Welcome back, Emily Myers,¡± said the program, vanishing away as soon as its task were fulfilled.

    The girl, Emily, now had the ability to travel throughout her computer instantly without limitations. However, now was not the time to delay her actions. She still had a spyware lurking within her computer, and it could be transmitting away her personal data as time passed by.

    Emily looked up into the ceilings of the room she was currently in. ¡°Operating System! Transfer me over to the Documents section, into the file where the invader is located!¡±

    ¡°Acknowledged,¡± the operating system answered.

    Emily¡¯s body shone bright, and she dispersed into bits of data in the form of light, absorbed into the pulsing lines that were adorned on the ceilings, walls and the floor of the room. These lines served not only as informational pathways for the cyberspace of Emily¡¯s computer, but also as a method to access any folders possible within a drive without having to pass through security situated on every folder access points. In this case, to the place where the spyware was currently residing.

    In only mere seconds, she arrived at the destination. The parts of data that consisted of her consciousness re-emerged from the lines everywhere within the room, and was concentrated to once again materialize her in a physical form. It slowly gathered at the centre of an empty space, and from there, each individual data connected itself to the previous data, and then slowly rebuilding the shape that of a human.

    As soon as Emily materialized correctly, the bright light condensed around her immediately dispersed into nothingness in the vicinity.

    Standing before her was the manifestation of the anti-virus that had generated the pop-up, notifying her of the spyware existence. Instead of possessing the semblance of a human like the computer¡¯s ¡®will¡¯, the anti-virus¡¯s manifestation instead took shape of a dark purple sphere. It had two layers, with the first layer of the sphere being a light purple, while the inner layer was darker than the former. It was hovering in mid-air, producing skitters of dark and light purple light in its path.

    ¡°Fahren AV. Why did you fail to delete the threat?¡± asked Emily.

    ¡°¡­¡± It gave no respond.

    ¡°Answer me!¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­Did it crash? Urgh¡­ what¡¯s happening here¡­?¡±

    In the end, Emily decided to ignore the unresponsive Fahren AV for now, and focus her attention on the threat first, which, was behind her. The cyberspace of this area seemed weak, the light of the floor, ceilings and walls were much dimmer than they usually were, and there was no pulse travelling throughout the place. It almost seemed like the entire area was dying, so she needed to hurry before this particular space was deemed corrupted.

    However, she did not expect that she would be facing something different from the usual critters of the Net. Emily turned around, and much to her shock, she did not see any embodiment of virus, program, or anything resembling things as such. Instead, hovering in the air before her was something entirely different. In fact, it did not look like a ¡®something¡¯. It looked more like a ¡®someone¡¯.

    ¡°¡­Huh? This is¡­?¡±

 Chapter 2 : Recovery

    Ryan had no idea on what just happened. The only thing he knew was that he had been running away from a hijacked Compressor set to self-destruct inside the Lecturer¡¯s Office room. And that Professor Edward was by his side when the walls against them cracked into thousands and dispersed into their way. He remembered it clearly, even the fact that he pushed the Professor aside in order to save him, and took a full hit of the blast. Ryan thought that was the end of everything. A trade of life, his, to save the Professor¡¯s.

    In spite of that, things were not as what he expected.

    ¡°What¡­ is this¡­ place,¡± Ryan mumbled to himself.

    His vision was distorted, and he could see nothing beyond his own eyes. Pain soared throughout his body, as if he was being ripped apart from every direction. His heart pulsed in a very abnormal rate, and it seemed as if he had no blood circulation system in his body, the blood itself rushing outward from the centre into his very limbs. Every few brief moments, Ryan¡¯s body would act like it was zapped by electricity, trembling at a very considerable speed.

    But, at the same time, Ryan could feel like his body was absorbing something. He didn¡¯t know what exactly it was, but it was easing his torment, and that it gave him the energy to not pass out from the pain alone. He noticed, that if he was to focus on absorbing these mysterious things, perhaps he could regain his senses, and even completely block out all the abnormal things happening to him. There was simply no logic reasoning behind it, but Ryan decided to not nit-pick on the little things, for he was devoid of even the state to do so.

    And so, few minutes passed since he decided to just put his mind on absorbing the mysterious energy around him. There was something that appeared to do something to him, as if trying to remove him forcefully from his current position, but Ryan couldn¡¯t ascertain what it was. On the other hand, whilst that ¡®something¡¯ had continued to stay around him, he noticed his energy absorbing rate seemed to spike up all of a sudden. Perhaps I¡¯m feeding off it, he thought.

    But it didn¡¯t last until the thing suddenly stopped bothering him, and then the amount of energy Ryan was absorbing dropped down again.

    Ryan finally regained the ability to think properly, and he began pondering on what exactly was happening to him. Was he perhaps inside some sort of advanced healing chamber that accelerated his physical healing? If so, where was Professor Edward? Was he safe? Ryan didn¡¯t know. There was simply no source of information he could rely on, not with his senses being mysteriously blocked. Panicking was one thing he didn¡¯t want to do, but since he woke up feeling extremely exhausted, Ryan had no energy to even panic to begin with.

    However, his peaceful self-restoration was suddenly interrupted by someone, probably the first he heard after waking up in this state.

    ¡°Hey! Aren¡¯t you an User? What are you doing in my computer?¡± a voice shouted. It seemed like a girl¡¯s voice, but he couldn¡¯t confirm, not with his sights still extremely blurry. However, there was something else that he took notice of.

    ¡°¡­Com¡­puter?¡± replied Ryan, in a low voice. He didn¡¯t know why, but simply speaking slowly drained the energy he had been absorbing, and right now, it was the sole thing that was keeping him from feeling all those pain he had experienced. Even then, gaining information took priority, and he had a lot of things to ask about. Ryan didn¡¯t know how much words he could speak before his body could take the pain, but it was a risk he needed to take. Not to mention, it bothered Ryan on how the voice said that this place, was its computer.

    ¡°You¡­ you don¡¯t look good. What happened?¡± the voice asked.

    First things first. An introduction was needed. Ryan couldn¡¯t possibly keep conversing with the voice, without knowing its name, or something of the similar.

    ¡°¡­Name¡­ Ryan. You¡­?¡± he asked.

    ¡°Emily. It¡¯s Emily,¡± answered the voice, Emily.

    ¡°Emily¡­ tell. Is¡­ this¡­ a cyberspace¡­ your¡­ computer¡­?¡±

    ¡°Yes, it is. What happened to you?¡±

    A cyberspace? Ryan thought. By his memory, it was impossible that he could suddenly end up being in a cyberspace, because clearly he was running away from an explosion. It was also unheard of to be able to suddenly traverse within the cyberspace without the will of the user itself, since the CCL could only be activated if the user was willing to perform a ¡®Conscious Access¡¯. It was set to be as a security countermeasure against any accidental or unwilling events of a human suddenly entering the cyberspace of an electronic without their own consents.Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.

    Ryan was about to speak of another sentence, but before he could do so, he felt a sharp pain soaring throughout his body. This time, it was much worse, and he could literally feel like he was losing sense of his limbs. It was there previously, but as time passed by in this condition, it felt like they were disintegrating away, like smoke blown away by the wind. Ryan couldn¡¯t focus himself, his mind as if being pulled away from his own body.

    ¡°Hey, what¡¯s going on? Hey! Don¡¯t lose me now!¡± said Emily.

    ¡°¡­Weakened,¡± was the final word Ryan could say, before he lost completely of his ability to hear.

    Ryan¡¯s five senses stopped responding. He couldn¡¯t hear, he couldn¡¯t feel, he couldn¡¯t see, he couldn¡¯t taste, and he couldn¡¯t smell. What could he do in this situation? Nothing. If anything, he was grateful that the pain he had suffered since just now stopped coiling around his body, and that if death was the only solution, then be it. He wanted to do something, but if he continued to become stuck in this suspension state, then it¡¯s only a dream.

    ¡°I¡¯m not letting someone die in front of me.¡±

    Suddenly, Ryan felt like he received a burst of energy. It cleared away all the darkness that surrounded him, and he could actually notice that his senses were returning to him, much clearer than ever. There was no longer pain, only the feeling of warmth that wrapped his body. His mind became clear, and he was no longer experiencing mental distortion. Sense of relief surged inside Ryan, as he never thought that he would be ever be rescued, not in this kind of space.

    As his eyes reformed their sights, Ryan could finally see. His environment around him, that he was hovering in mid-air, and even the small figure that stood below him. It was Emily, the little girl¡ªwhom was oddly enough wearing a pyjama inside a cyberspace¡ªwho had pulled Ryan out of his death. Behind her was two stationary objects, one that appeared like a light purple sphere, and the other was a green diamond that spun in place constantly.

    Ryan recognized them immediately. An anti-virus and data.

    ¡°So¡­ I am really inside a cyberspace,¡± said Ryan. He looked down on his body, which was noticeably transparent like that of a spirit, something that was not supposed to happen to an User. Wait a minute¡­ this state¡­, thought Ryan.

    ¡°Are you okay now? Can you like¡­ uh, you know, come down or something?¡± said Emily whilst looking at Ryan with her head up.

    ¡°Ah yes, of course,¡± replied Ryan.

    Hovering in mid-air within a cyberspace was definitely not a normal feat for an User, but he was personally taught by his mother on how to do it. Usually, it would need a strong mind and focus to be done, so Ryan was perplexed as to how it occurred. Even then, it was all in the past, and a gratitude came first for the person who pulled him out of certain end.

    Ryan relaxed his legs and imagined as if he grabbed hold of the cyberspace¡¯s dimension itself. He tugged on it softly, and just like that, he went down, little by little. He continued to do so, until his feet touched the solid ground, which, he had just noticed, was considerably dark in colour. It was a definite sign that this area was already ¡®dead¡¯, or in a better term, corrupted. Just what had happened? Ryan didn¡¯t know.

    Before him, stood Emily that was shorter than him, probably younger as well by his predictions. Even then, she was his saviour, and he should properly express his gratitude.

    ¡°Emily, was it? Thank you so much for saving me. If I may ask, what exactly did you do?¡± asked Ryan.

    ¡°I literally fed you data.¡±

    ¡°What? Wait a minute, that¡¯s not possible.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I thought so as well, until I saw how you kept draining this area¡¯s data of integrity, and also shrunk the data behind me, like, half of its original size.¡±

    ¡°Huh? This¡­ corrupted area, and that data, I did that?¡±

    ¡°Exactly. I¡¯m even starting to question if you¡¯re actually an User, or an advanced Trojan horse that seem like an User. You even sort of destroyed my Anti-virus.¡±

    Ryan took a peek behind Emily, and just like she said, the purple sphere which was the Anti-virus, was not responding at all.

    ¡°Uh¡­ my bad. I really don¡¯t know what¡¯s happening to me,¡± Ryan apologized.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine. Just, log out now, ¡®kay? I¡¯m really not a fond of some random guy being inside my computer and all,¡± said the girl.

    ¡°To be honest¡­ if I could do that, I would have done it long ago.¡±

    ¡°What? Of course you can, right?¡±

    ¡°You see¡­ I think my CCL chip is destroyed.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    Just like Ryan said, the probability of his chip being destroyed was considerably high. He had¡ªafter all¡ªstood against the blast of the explosion head on, so it wouldn¡¯t be odd that if it would become damaged afterward. Not to mention, there was another concrete evidence that his chip had indeed been destroyed. His current form of his body.

    ¡°What do you see right now?¡± asked Ryan.

    ¡°Your body? Uh, transparent?¡± she answered.

    ¡°Exactly. This is what you call Desynchronization state. Basically, I can¡¯t ¡®recall¡¯ back my consciousness to my body, because the link that allowed me to do that is severed now,¡± Ryan explained.

    ¡°Seriously? Isn¡¯t that bad?¡± Emily questioned.

    ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s quite bad. However, if I can somehow come in contact with my physical body, I can then try to perform a reverse ¡®Conscious Access¡¯, from the cyberspace, into my CCL. I¡¯m also guessing that I¡¯m absorbing data in order to stabilize my existence inside the cyberspace, much like a cyberspace that needs an operating system to stay alive,¡± continued Ryan.

    ¡°But, isn¡¯t it bad for you to stay out of the body for long?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. To be honest, I have 2 days before I¡­ never mind.¡±

    ¡°What? What is it?¡±

    ¡°Well¡­ 2 days before I lose control as a human, and turn into a virus. A virus that could think and evolve like a human.¡±

    ¡°That is just¡­¡±

    Ryan noticed how the girl had a concerned face on her, but he shouldn¡¯t burden her any longer. Emily gave him enough help, and that should be it. If anything, he should leave this place, and in the future if possible, repay the girl for all she had done to help him, however simple it was.

    ¡°Hahaha¡­ it¡¯s fine. I¡¯ll leave now. I¡¯ll find a way somehow. Thanks for the help still,¡± said Ryan.

    However, before Ryan could turn and leave, Emily tugged on his back.

    ¡°Wait a minute. You need data to survive, don¡¯t you? How are you going to survive out there if so?¡±

    ¡°Oh¡­ yeah, there was that. Uh, I¡¯ll make do?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not going to happen! You do realize there¡¯ll be defensive systems that will try to delete you for absorbing data, don¡¯t you? Inside here, nothing¡¯s happening because I¡¯m the admin here, and I made sure nothing could touch you. Or¡­ at least before I realized it was an User,¡± said Emily, lowering her voice at the end of it.

    ¡°Wait. Did you¡­ tried to delete me?¡±

    ¡°Of course I tried, okay? And I¡¯m sorry for it! Anyway, how about this. I¡¯ll let you live inside here for now, but not on my computer, cause god knows just how much more you¡¯re going to eat.¡±

    ¡°Really? Didn¡¯t you try to chase me away just now?¡±

    ¡°Gosh! Have anyone told you that you¡¯re so nit-picky about everything? Just accept it!¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­ okay.¡±

    For now, Ryan had found a temporary shelter for him to live in. It was indeed abrupt, even the fact that his CCL was destroyed. Even then, he couldn¡¯t afford to be so fixated on it, because he had a time limit before things go awry for himself. For now, his first task was to affirm himself of his current situation, and to gather enough information on where his current physical body was located at.

    And perhaps, even for just a little bit, he felt sort of excited for the little adventure he was about to have.

    ¡°I just hope I don¡¯t need to take a poop in this space,¡± Ryan said.

    ¡°DON¡¯T YOU DARE!¡± shouted Emily.

 Chapter 3 : Installation

    ¡°So, to be exact, where would I be living in?¡± asked Ryan.

    ¡°You¡¯ll see,¡± replied Emily.

    ¡°Conscious Recall,¡± she continued.

    Emily began flashing bright, and she soon disappeared from Ryan¡¯s sight, leaving him alone in the corrupted cyberspace of Emily¡¯s one of many folders. Standing before him was the still-dead Fahren Anti-virus¡ªwhich became broken probably because Ryan also absorbed it¡¯s life¡ªand also the green diamond which was the data that Emily fed Ryan with. Ryan touched the data, and a word appeared in the form of hologram in front of it.

    CACHE DATA [CURRENT SIZE: 254MB]

    ¡°Oh, so it was a cache,¡± thought Ryan.

    Of course. Emily wouldn¡¯t want to feed someone using her personal data, so she must have pulled this one out from the Operating System. In spite of that, Ryan basically also sort of helped her by getting rid of junks that often gathered itself in a computer, while maintaining his own form inside the cyberspace. It¡¯s a win-win situation, Ryan would say. And, considering the fact that it¡¯s not really a vital data to the computer¡¯s cyberspace itself, Ryan decided that he should just devour the entire thing, and along with the AV because it was already dead anyway.

    ¡°But, how do I¡­ eat it?¡± contemplated Ryan.

    Emily was taking her time, so Ryan might as well learn of his current situation, and what exactly he could do in order to survive until he could come in contact with his physical body. He circled around both the data and the anti-virus, constantly poking at them while thinking that it would trigger something. Nothing happened. Touching at these things felt like touching a solid matter, that¡¯s for sure.

    Ryan also tried literally biting them, but to no avail. In fact, it made him look more stupid by the second.

    But then, Ryan remembered something. How did he absorbed the data whilst he were in the suspension state? It was like a warm sensation entering Ryan through his torso, and then spreading it outward within his insides. That was the only clue he had, and the only witness to see what actually happened was Emily, whom was currently outside the cyberspace, doing something that was unknown to Ryan.

    ¡°Hmm¡­ what if I do this¡­¡± thought Ryan

    He reached both of his arms out toward the data and the anti-virus, and then relaxed his body. In a way, it was like calling out those two entities to himself, but it wasn¡¯t guaranteed to work. It wouldn¡¯t hurt to try however, so Ryan still did it anyway. Afterward, he began thinking within his mind repeatedly, like it was sort of an ancient ritual to summon a monster from another dimension. He closed his eyes while doing it.

    ¡°Come.¡±

    Ryan swear to god he felt like cringing so much right now.

    ¡°Come.¡±

    Still nothing.

    ¡°Come.¡±

    After several times of the odd chanting¡ªand self-humiliation¡ªresults were finally showing itself. The data and the anti-virus shook intensely, and then started to disintegrate into tiny pieces of matter, slowly floating towards Ryan. Ryan was delighted to see it happening, but when he looked down towards his chest, he noticed a swirling black hole on it. Naturally, he was shocked. Very much so.

    ¡°I got a hole in my chest. Hahaha. Of course I got a hole in my chest,¡± said Ryan, his laugh as dry as desert itself.

    Regardless, the data and the anti-virus turned into some form of a mist, and was sucked into Ryan through the black hole on his chest. He could feel it, the amount of energy he receiving, and how it circulated throughout his body, solidifying his current existence within the cyberspace. After the last bits of the data and AV was absorbed by Ryan, his body emitted a light that lit the entire dark cyberspace he was inside. A sentence appeared before him, in the form of a hologram.

    CCL Update ¨C Version 3.5.19

    You have acquired the program ¡®Restore¡¯ and ¡®Delete¡¯ from consuming Fahren AV.

    It is now possible to restore this Cyberspace to its former condition.Stolen story; please report.

    ¡°¡­Uh¡­ what,¡± said Ryan.

    Just like the CCL notification mentioned, Ryan seemingly had obtained a fragment of ability that the AV had before it was consumed. Often, it wasn¡¯t possible to do such things, as Users wouldn¡¯t really absorb program or even data in the first place. Naturally, such thing didn¡¯t apply to Ryan, as he now needed to feed on data to ensure his survival within the cyberspace.

    As someone who had often traversed into cyberspace to fix things and such, Ryan had some degree of information about it, but he definitely never heard of the story that someone obtained a program¡¯s ability. Therefore, he didn¡¯t know what he should do in this situation. On the other hand, Ryan also felt a little relief as absorbing the AV didn¡¯t turn him into some sort of corrupted User. There was indeed risk present, but he just couldn¡¯t resist trying it out.

    ¡°Let see¡­ I could restore this cyberspace now?¡± asked Ryan.

    If he could do that, it would be nice as it was his fault that this part of the computer¡¯s cyberspace became corrupted. But, the real question remained. How could Ryan activate this ability?

    ¡°Hmm¡­ how about this. Restore!¡± Ryan shouted. Nothing happened.

    ¡°Okay¡­ that didn¡¯t work. Maybe I need to specify what exactly I¡¯m trying to restore,¡± said Ryan.

    This time, Ryan knelt down, and touched the cyberspace¡¯s floor. ¡°Restore.¡±

    As soon as Ryan said that, a phantom copy of the Anti-virus appeared before him. It was transparent, just like Ryan himself. In any case, the phantom floated into the centre of the cyberspace and began dispersing a bright aura that spread outward. The parts of the room that touched the aura started reverting to its former colour, the colour of the blue ocean whilst the lines pulsed data once again into other parts of the computer. At the same time, Ryan noticed that he was a bit exhausted after using it, as if the energy used to repair the cyberspace was taken out from his own body.

    ¡°Of course. Nothing can be born from nothing. There will always be something needed for another,¡± said Ryan as his energy slowly plummeted.

    Soon enough, the repairing was done, and the phantom AV disappeared. Ryan estimated¡ªby the mere rough feeling¡ªthat ¡®Restore¡¯ took about five percent of his energy. Not too alarming, and it could be dependent on the size of the thing that he needed to restore. What¡¯s important was that at least Ryan fixed this cyberspace for Emily. In a way, I literally vomited out what I ate from this place now, didn¡¯t I, Ryan thought.

    ¡°Now then, there was the ¡®Delete¡¯. I wonder if it literally just delete something? That would be both dangerous, and useful in some situation. I shouldn¡¯t use it until I really have to, and also I have to account for the amount of energy I use every time I activate an ability,¡± thought Ryan.

    Just as Ryan was fixated on his newly gained abilities, a program suddenly emerged before him. It manifested in the form of a sphere, much like the previous anti-virus, but instead of being coloured in purple, it was in blue instead. Yes, Ryan knew exactly what it was. Inside the cyberspace of a computer, each programs were coloured differently, depending on their type. Anti-viruses were coloured in purple, neutral programs like Paints and Browser in blue, third-party or outsourced programs in black, and so on.

    The sphere before him wasn¡¯t doing anything. It stood still, and then it started producing words in front it in the form of a hologram. It was likely a notepad, accessed by Emily currently in the real world.

    Ryan. I can see that you¡¯re still in there. I can¡¯t speak to you in voice, so I¡¯ll use this. Anyway, I¡¯m going to move you to my smartphone. I¡¯m not sure what¡¯ll happen if I tried to forcefully move you, since I never did this before. Anyway, tell me when you¡¯re ready. I¡¯m going to click you, and then drag you to my smartphone. It¡¯s connected through the USB port, so¡­ yeah, we¡¯ll see what happen.

    ¡°Smartphone, huh. Well, it is fine I guess,¡± said Ryan.

    Ryan grabbed the blue sphere before him with both of his hands. He focused his mind, and slowly absorbed specifically the data that made up the words of which Emily had written. It all disappeared into him, and Ryan took control of the program in order to reply to Emily.

    I¡¯m all good. Let¡¯s try that out.

    Ryan let go of the program. The words on it disappeared.

    I was wondering how you were going to reply. Can¡¯t believe you actually took control of the notepad program and wrote the words yourself. Anyway, I¡¯ll start now. Prepare yourself.

    Ryan braced himself for the transfer. He began by concentrating the energy that was collected in his body by imagining as if they were concentrated at the centre. It solidified, and slowly, strengthened his integrity within the cyberspace for a temporary amount of time. Just as he did that, a black wall suddenly appeared from the floor around his leg, and rose up to trap Ryan within from what appeared to be a cuboid. This was probably Emily¡¯s attempt to transfer him into her smartphone.

    It was pitch black inside, and Ryan couldn¡¯t see a thing. He guessed that this was how a transfer would happen, when a data was moved from one place to another. It was sort of scary to Ryan, as it reminded him of his state when he had just woke up in this cyberspace. Still, he was in Emily¡¯s hand, so he believed that he would come out unscathed. Hopefully.

    CCL Notification ¨C Version 3.5.19

    You are now accessing a different Cyberspace. Cyber Body is now converting to APK format.

    Conversion Complete.

    Please wait until you are authorized for installation.

    .

    ..

    ..

    Installation authorized.

    ¡°Wait a minute. Installation?¡±

    Just as Ryan questioned about that, all of a sudden, the wall that surrounded him disappeared. He was suspended in mid-air within a new cyberspace, where no walls, ceilings or floors could be seen as far as his sights could reach. Line of ever changing light red numbers decorated the pitch black background, where it came from the top, until it reached the bottom of the space. Ryan was so confused, he didn¡¯t know what was going on.

    Before he could gather his thoughts again, multiple cables materialized around him, and charged for him. Ryan tried to stop them, but he was way outnumbered, and lost the skirmish. The cables all attached on his body, from his legs, to his torso, up to his arms. Lights of data began pulsing within the cables, slowly appearing from the darkness of the cyberspace, and travelling into Ryan¡¯s body. He felt dizzy for a brief moment, as there were multiple bits of data entering him at the same time, overloading him much more than he could sort of take.

    With his blurry vision, he could see that each cable had a name to it. Camera, Speaker, Microphone, Root Control, and so on. However, he couldn¡¯t keep up with the stream of information input.

    In the end, he fell unconscious as he kept being fed with data.

    On Emily¡¯s side, she was panicking. Her smartphone had suddenly asked for her authorization to install Ryan into it, literally. She had no ways to contact Ryan in his current form, so she could only believe in his luck and allowed the installation. As of now, there was still no respond from Ryan, and it had been a few minutes passed. Inside her smartphone, there was now an application called ¡®Ryan¡¯ with other apps, but pressing it didn¡¯t yield any result. Naturally, uninstalling it would be the last thing Emily was going to do, as it might actually cause some unspeakable consequences.

    Just as Emily was about to give up and place the smartphone down, Ryan appeared on the screen. In his full form. He was just stepping above the icons of the application shortcuts on the home screen, appearing perplexed. He took a look around his new surrounding at first, but then, he stared outside the screen directly, as if he could see Emily.

    ¡°Emily?¡± the speaker of the smartphone produced his voice.

    Emily¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°Wait, Ryan? How are you doing this?¡±

    ¡°I¡­ I don¡¯t know. I think, I¡¯m sort of merged with your smartphone now,¡± answered Ryan.

    ¡°Huh?¡±

 Chapter 4 : The Net

    ¡°Wait a minute, Ryan. You¡¯re saying that you¡¯re literally controlling my entire smartphone right now?¡± asked Emily.

    Ryan was sitting on the ¡®Browser¡¯ icon in the smartphone with his hands on his knees, his legs swaying forth and back. ¡°I think so. I think it¡¯s likely you granted me root permission, so I basically have access to the entire smartphone itself. I mean, I¡¯m not actually controlling, as you can still do things on it, but more like I can do anything here if I will it to be.¡±

    ¡°Like turning on the flashlight.¡± The smartphone¡¯s flashlight flicked on and off.

    ¡°Playing a music.¡± One of Emily¡¯s favourite anime songs started playing for a brief moment, then stopped.

    ¡°And three things I¡¯m actively controlling right now, are both the front and back camera, alongside with the speaker and microphone, to actually see and speak to you,¡± Ryan continued.

    Emily squeezed her forehead. ¡°This is¡­ just so confusing,¡± she took a glance at the carefree Ryan, ¡°and how are YOU calm in this situation?¡±

    ¡°I mean, there¡¯s just so many things happening at once, I can¡¯t even have the time to make an appropriate reaction. I¡¯m actually pretty confused as well, but I just can¡¯t feel it for some reason,¡± said Ryan nonchalantly.

    There was one more thing to be mentioned. Ryan¡¯s true cyber body was currently residing deep within the root core of the smartphone, with the cables all still attached and feeding him information. He simply took control of the display in order to generate a copy of himself and hanged around on the main screen of the smartphone. Otherwise, Emily wouldn¡¯t be able to see him, not that it really mattered but it would be sort of weird to talk to an empty screen for her.

    Emily sighed heavily. ¡°Fine, whatever really. So, what do we do now?¡±

    Ryan took a long stare at her¡ªthrough the front camera naturally. She appeared fine in the cyberspace of the computer because of appearance-correction, but in real life, she was a walking mess. He didn¡¯t mean to stare at her with such intensity, but it irked him on the fact that she was still wearing her crumpled purple pyjama with that blonde hair that looked like she sat in front of a tornado for an entire day.

    ¡°Speaking of which, did you even take a bath yet? From the time in here, isn¡¯t it already like, what, one o¡¯clock in the afternoon?¡±

    ¡°Uh, no?¡± replied Emily.

    Ryan shook his head. ¡°You know, I understand that I haven¡¯t known you for long, you saved me and all, and even gave me a place to live for a while, but understand the position we¡¯re in here. I¡¯m an unknown guy, and there you stand, still in your sleeping suit. Don¡¯t you think you should make bathing your first priority?¡±

    ¡°God, why do you sound so much like my father? I¡¯m not so childish to be told to take a bath now!¡± she rebutted.

    ¡°Just take a bath for now, and then we¡¯ll talk on how to proceed from here on. I¡¯m going to find some information on my physical body¡¯s whereabouts,¡± said Ryan.

    He stood up, ¡°Go. Now,¡± and then disappeared from the smartphone¡¯s screen.

    ¡°Hey!¡± shouted Emily, but it was no use. Ryan probably turned off the phone¡¯s microphone and went on the hunt for information using her phone.

    Emily felt a little angry, considering how Ryan acted around her, who had actually saved his life. Still, he held truth in those words, and it was indeed strange for her to wear such attire, in front of someone Emily had just met for less than an hour. In the end, she decided to listen his words, and take a bath. There was no point hanging around in her room anyway, as Ryan was not even around at the current moment.

    She placed the smartphone down on her computer¡¯s table. Then, she went to the closet, opened it and took out her folded towel inside it. She closed it, and left the room.

    Meanwhile, Ryan was busy thinking on where and how he should start on searching for his physical body. Right now, all he remembered was the explosion that started this all, and that was it. He could begin by looking into hospitals to see if there¡¯s any recent transfer on victims of the explosion from his University, but there was one fatal flaw in the search for this clue. He had access to internet¡ªthanks to Emily¡¯s house Wi-Fi¡ªand also to the browser within Emily¡¯s smartphone, however, passing through a Hospital¡¯s cyberspace to find the needed information was on a whole new level.Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.

    In fact, the information he would need to find his physical body were all behind tight securities.

    ¡°This is a problem,¡± contemplated Ryan, still floating inside the core of Emily¡¯s smartphone.

    Ryan kept on thinking and thinking, and then, something hit his mind.

    ¡°What if I was to find an online newspaper featuring about the explosion? There should be something like that in the open Net, and is not necessarily hard to find,¡± thought Ryan.

    Ryan, in his current true form, was unable to move even an inch. It was due to the fact that all the cables were all still attached to him, and removing them would make him lose control of Emily¡¯s smartphone. Not to mention, he didn¡¯t know what would happen if he was to forcibly remove them. Then, how could he access the Net in order to find some information? That, was another hurdle for him to climb over in the search for his body.

    The trick he used on making a second copy of himself on Emily¡¯s smartphone screen couldn¡¯t be used here. Such was because he needed to be ¡®actively¡¯ present in a certain cyberspace to analyse new data for him to process, whereas simply ¡®appearing¡¯ on the screen was just an image of his true self.

    Ryan was stuck with this obstacle for a while, and he couldn¡¯t find a true solution for it.

    But then, Ryan thought about the problem in a new perspective. Browser, in its true nature, was basically an app that acts as a ¡®gateway¡¯ in order to access the Net while still maintaining its permissions within the smartphone. Ryan himself was currently in the form of an application, so it might be possible that he could access the Net just like how the Browser did. Question was, how could he do it? Then, he noticed that within Emily¡¯s smartphone, there were three browsers. Mozilla FireCoyote, Yoogle Chrome, and a built-in default browser.

    Ryan had an idea.

    Through his will, Ryan called forth Yoogle Chrome. It materialized immediately within Ryan¡¯s current cyberspace, appearing in the form of a pitch black sphere, with skittering darkness falling beneath where it floated.

    ¡°I¡¯m sure¡­ that Emily can just reinstall this later on,¡± said Ryan. His plan was obvious. Very much so.

    Just like when he was on the computer¡¯s cyberspace, Ryan spread his arms wide, and chanted the ¡®magic¡¯ word.

    ¡°Come,¡± once.

    ¡°Come,¡± twice.

    ¡°Come,¡± thrice.

    Yes. This was Ryan¡¯s plan in order to obtain the ability to access the Net. Definitely, there could have been other better methods than this, but for Ryan, he simply couldn¡¯t think of any other. Every seconds passing by would mean a step closer to him becoming a full-fledged virus who had lost control of his mind, so he needed to use every methods viable for himself. Surely Emily could reinstall it later on, after all.

    The Yoogle Chrome sphere floating before Ryan vibrated intensely at first, and then it stopped. It started disintegrating into million numbers of small bits in the form of mist, and was headed for Ryan. As it was before, a black hole appeared on Ryan for him to ¡®consume¡¯ the mist of data, and slowly, it all entered his body. He could feel as it was becoming one with himself, its data as a food source for Ryan, and its ability taken for himself.

    The notification Ryan expected had finally appeared in front of him.

    CCL Update ¨C Version 3.5.19

    You have acquired the program ¡®Gateway Create¡¯ from consuming Yoogle Chrome.

    ¡°YES!¡± exclaimed Ryan happily.

    Just as he expected, absorbing the application gave out the same result as it did when he took the Fahren AV into himself. Ryan went and rechecked the list of the applications that had been within Emily¡¯s smartphone, and just as he had guessed, consuming the Yoogle Chrome made it disappear from the list. It was natural considering that when Ryan consumed something, its data and ability would become a part of himself, thus making it disappear from where it had been installed previously.

    Regardless, Ryan got what he needed and immediately used it.

    ¡°Gateway Create!¡± shouted Ryan.

    The phantom version of the Yoogle Chrome appeared in front of Ryan. Then, it split into two, one floating above Ryan, while the other on his legs. Both of them combined, they started projecting a transparent and thin wall surrounding Ryan, and he could feel like his mind was leaving his body. His body itself wasn¡¯t going anywhere, but his consciousness was being called elsewhere by the phantom program.

    Soon, his vision became blurry, so much that Ryan couldn¡¯t see merely even 5 centimetre forward. It didn¡¯t last however, disappearing almost as fast as it came. The surrounding of Ryan was no longer within the core of Emily¡¯s smartphone. Instead, he was in a cyberspace room that was quite small, standing before him was a single blue and flat door with pulsing lines resembling those that ran within Emily¡¯s computer adorned on it. At its centre was a single dot, all the lines coming from and spread outward within the door¡¯s surface. The door itself had no doorknob, so Ryan estimated that the dot itself was the ¡®doorknob¡¯.

    He pressed it, and a sentence appeared in his minds.

    DESTINATION:

    Ryan¡¯s first priority, like he had planned just now, was to find an online newspaper talking about the explosion. If memory served him correctly, it happened the day before, which meant Friday.

    Ryan willed it in his mind, to write his destination.

    DESTINATION: Explosion on Roizen University, Friday, 6<sup>th</sup> of June, 2031

    He entered it, and instantly, the door shone bright and disappeared from his sight. It was a whole new sight beyond the door, as it was like a never-ending big hallway that stretched till the end of his sights could reach. It was bustling with users from all over the world in various forms and colours, some appearing like floating black Diamonds, or the simplistic cuboid with a colour of yellow, and so on. However, these were not users themselves, but rather, the devices that they were using to browse the Net.

    The floor of the hallway¡¯s cyberspace had no pulsing lines, but instead, the entire floor itself pulsed, as if carrying the entire cyberspace¡¯s data itself within the floor. Ryan looked upward, and hovering in the sky of the cyberspace was a massive dark purple sphere rotating in place, like it was the Sun of the cyberspace. That form resembled so much like a computer¡¯s anti-virus, probably assigned to protect the Net from suspicious users and defending from attacks. However, a big difference of its form from the usual anti-virus was that it had dark purple wings as well, slowly flapping them.

    Every time it did so, the cyberspace shook ever so slightly, signifying just how humongous the wings itself were. Regardless, it was not the time for Ryan to be in awe in the architecture of the Net, and he should instead focus his attention on finding the correct site for information.

    Just as he was about to walk forward, his heart¡ªno matter how imaginary it was in his current form¡ªstarted throbbing intensely. Ryan fell on his knees due to the sudden pain, his current form quivering in a rapid manner, his body glowing, and then he turned even more transparent than he was before. Previously, he could see the colour of his body, but those colours fell apart in solidity and disintegrated, leaving him in the colour of black and white.

    He had flickering visions of the CCL, and his current body, then his vision blackened out for a temporary moment before returning. Ryan feared that the Net¡¯s Security would do something to him whilst he was in that form, so using his knees, he retreated back into the small cyberspace provided by his current ability. He crawled slowly, his hands grabbing the floor and dragging his body forward, one at a time until he reached the inside of the cyberspace.

    Ryan laid down on the floor, his body still in an unstable state, curled up in the form of a foetus. He closed his eyes, attempting to endure the pain, and also not noticing the words that were floating before him.

    CCL WARNING!

    DESYNCHRONIZATION STATE LEVEL 2!

 Chapter 5 : Bytes of Truth

    In the Roizen Hospital where Ryan¡¯s body was still living in its comatose state, the medical equipment around it was going haywire. All of them kept blinking repeatedly, some generating beeping noises as a warning to the nearby medical staffs. Nurses began storming into the room, some revising the equipment¡¯s status, others ensuring that Ryan was in no danger. Physically, his body seemed fine, so the cause had been of another matter. A doctor with stethoscope hanging on his necks, and his lab coat reaching till the pocket of his trousers came into the room.

    Alicia, who had been worried since just now, talked to the doctor. ¡°What¡¯s happening, Doctor?¡±

    But, the doctor ignored her and went directly to check on Ryan. It wasn¡¯t that he didn¡¯t want to answer Ryan¡¯s mother, but Ryan had to come in first for priority, and so he went to do his job immediately. He placed the buds of his stethoscope in his ears, and then placed the other end atop Ryan¡¯s chest. He clarified Ryan¡¯s heartbeat as normal, and proceeded to the next steps on checking Ryan¡¯s current status.

    A nurse, clad in blue uniform for medical staffs of the hospital, stood between Alicia and the doctor.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry Madam, but we¡¯ll have to ask you to leave the room for a moment. We need to ascertain the cause of the abnormality that¡¯s causing this whole disruption, if you will,¡± said the nurse politely.

    Heavy-heartedly, Alicia agreed to her, and decided to leave the room for a while, at least until Ryan¡¯s condition stabilized. She stepped outside, and took a last glance at the nurses surrounding Ryan and the doctor before leaving the vicinity. Still, Alicia couldn¡¯t possibly sit by the chairs out on the hallway whilst her son was fighting for his live, in here and out there. She wanted to help him somehow, as Ryan¡¯s time was drastically decreasing by the second, and the survival chances would drop when that happened.

    Alicia took out her smartphone from her bag hanging by the sides, and flicked the screen open. She pressed the Contacts, and scrolled down the long list of numbers in her book. She did so, until she arrived at one name. Program Equal. Her eyebrows stiffened when she saw the name, as if there was a hidden anger directed toward it. She didn¡¯t want to actually this, to use this final card of hers in order to assist the survival of her son, but there was no choice. She had to do it, or else she risked the chances of being able to see her son alive and well again. She pressed the call icon, and took the phone by her left ear.

    It rang constantly for a few seconds, until a click was heard on the other side of the call.

    ¡°Equal,¡± said Alicia.

    ¡°Is this call what I expect it to be?¡± asked the voice, considerably distorted on the other side.

    ¡°Yes,¡± answered Alicia.

    ¡°How is he?¡±

    ¡°Level 2. It¡¯s only half a day, but it already progressed this fast. Something¡¯s not right.¡±

    ¡°¡­I understand. I¡¯ll try to find him with the best of my efforts, after all,¡±¡ªa brief silence stretched the call¡ª¡°it¡¯s my fault that this happened.¡±

    ¡°True. And I expect you to repay that mistake with your actions.¡±

    ¡°I will.¡±

    The voice had mentioned that it was his, or her fault that this incident happened on Ryan. The meaning behind these words were heavy, and was still encased in mystery. Was Ryan somehow a vital piece that triggered the explosion within the University? Or was it that his involvement in this incident was merely coincidental? None truly knows, as those who held the truth had decided to keep it a secret even now. Regardless, it was all a story saved for the future to Ryan, as he had better focus his attention on not ¡®dying¡¯ within the cyberspace.

    The call was disconnected afterward. Alicia pressed the power button, the smartphone¡¯s screen turned black, and tucked it back into her bag.

    ¡°Just hold on, Ryan. Help will come,¡± murmured Alicia to herself.

    ¡°Madam Alicia?¡± the nurse called, standing by the side of Ryan¡¯s room.

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    Alicia turned heels and headed toward Ryan¡¯s room. There was new hope that would come for Ryan, even if that hope was the one that had put him in this situation in the first place.

    On the other side of the world, within the cyberspace back to where Ryan was, he had been leaning against the walls. His body had lost its colours, and Ryan felt considerably weaker than he was. From what he estimated, level 2 of desynchronization state shouldn¡¯t be this bad, nor should it had happened just now. It hasn¡¯t been so much of even half a day since he awakened out of his body, whereas the time needed for a level 2 to happen was usually a day.

    The severity of a Desynchronization state was listed in four different levels. In the first level, the body of the User simply turns transparent. In the second level, normally, Users would only experience a slight pain to their head and heart, and that their body would turn even more transparent and lose their colour, in contrast to how ravenous Ryan¡¯s level 2 was. It was worth to mention that Level 2 of Desynchronization would only happen after twenty-four hours had passed since the user last returned to their body, in which Ryan¡¯s took about twelve.

    In the third level of Desynchronization, affected Users¡¯ cyber bodies would begin turning into the colour of red, the sole colour used by no other but viruses, the villains of the Net and its destroyer. In this level, it would no longer be possible to use the CCL¡¯s normal functions, including the vital ¡®Conscious Recall¡¯ to immediately return to one¡¯s physical body. This stage would only occur after a maximum of 2 days had passed since an User¡¯s last return to their body, and the only way to return would be manual transfer from the cyberspace, into an user¡¯s CCL.

    In the fourth stage, and also, the final stage of a Desynchronization state, it is a stage which if an User had entered, would never return to their original state anymore. The User would no longer retain their original forms, and instead reverts into the form of a red hexagon, the symbol of destruction within the Cyberspace. A Hexagon was basically a symbol of an A.I., in which red Hexagons were hostile A.I. capable of inflicting massive damage to a cyberspace¡¯s mainframe.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    Its true threat lies in its ability to think just like a supercomputer, henceforth making it a deadly weapon that no longer possess a human consciousness, which retains the power to override a cyberspace¡¯s control and will, and at the same time was considerably hard to counterattack against. There had been several rare cases of humans going into this stage, and none had survived to live the tale.

    The condition to enter this final stage was still surrounded in mystery. In the cases that some humans had indeed turned into hostile Hexagons, the hours varied from one to another when it came to the time they first enter Level three state until they turn into Level four. Without subjects to study on, researchers came to a dead end in the search for the ¡®key¡¯ that produced these cyber weapons of destruction, and the proper counter measure for it.

    It was sad to be declared, but the only solution to win against these ¡®weapons¡¯ without suffering heavy losses¡­ was to kill the physical body of what was once, the consciousness of the User. The CCL would then stop transmitting operation signals to the consciousness within the cyberspace, and execute one final line of command that get sent through to the said consciousness, no matter how weak the link was. A kill code that ultimately obliterate the entirety of its existence.

    ¡°If this continues at a steady rate... no. I can¡¯t give up just yet,¡± said Ryan.

    Ryan wasn¡¯t going to go down like this, and there was still time for him to find his physical body. He just needed the will to do it. Who knows, his mother might be sitting by his side all day long, wishing for his return. He definitely couldn¡¯t bear leaving her alone in this world, not when she had already lost his husband. Indeed, Ryan was the only child in this family, his father already left the world since he was the age of nine. Ever since then, his mother, Alicia had been taking care of him all alone, without the support of anyone else.

    ¡°That¡¯s right¡­ not yet.¡±

    Ryan renewed his will to fight forward. Slowly, Ryan stood up by pressing against the floor, overloading the pain within his body with the concern for his mother¡¯s wellbeing. There was a way to deal with the pain. The only way.

    Ryan stamped his left hand on his chest. ¡°Restore.¡±

    The phantom Fahren AV emerged in front of him. It began by linking to Ryan through a series of lines made of light. He could feel the warmth in these light, and as soon as it connected to him, the pain soaring within his body was like being absorbed away. All the accumulated exhaustion had also melted into nothingness, leaving him feeling as perfect as he was previously. However, it still didn¡¯t restore the colours to his body, leaving him in the condition of black and white. Noticeably as well, the Fahren AV phantom had also lost its colour, resembling that of a grey-coloured sphere than purple.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know how long this will last, but I¡¯ll make the best of it for sure,¡± said Ryan.

    Being fully restored¡ªeven if it was just using his own energy¡ªRyan set out once again into the vast world of the Net. Of course, he walked out carefully, considering the fact that he had went crazy before under the eyes of the watchful cyber ¡®Sun¡¯. He took one step outside the door, nothing happened. He took a second one. Nothing happened. He walked a few steps in the hallway of the Net, and he was still alive. Ryan exhaled a heavy sigh of relief. If the ¡®Sun¡¯ of the Net decided that he was a threat, Ryan would be non-existent the moment he stepped inside.

    The ¡®Sun¡¯ of the Net was basically Ryan¡¯s abbreviation of the massive anti-virus floating in the sky of the cyberspace.

    Regardless, with the risks of being deleted thrown out of the window, Ryan could now finally focus himself on finding the information he needed. But first, he had to see the ¡®doors¡¯ to each individual site, and review whether they¡¯re relevant to his hunt for info or not. Such was because he didn¡¯t want to end up inside some sketchy scam websites or anything of the sort that¡¯s laden with viruses hiding behind advertisements, ready to jump on him and god knows to do what to him.

    Door by door, Ryan passed, slowly slithering his way through the bustling network of other users.

    The first door. How to make yourself thinner in one hour.

    The second door. St*am Sales 80% Off!

    The third door. 99gag

    ¡°If only they sorted the doors like they do with sites list in Yoogle Chrome,¡± murmured Ryan.

    For several more dozen of doors and some more slithering, Ryan had finally found the door that he was looking for. In the form of transparent texts, a sign was written atop the door.

    Explosion in the Institution of Roizen University. Accidental, or an Attack?

    www.unisonnews.com

    ¡°This is the one,¡± said Ryan.

    Ryan touched the door, and was immediately transferred to the said site. Within the site¡¯s cyberspace, there were other users floating around the room, but not as many as it was outside in the hallway of the Net. In the centre of the cyberspace was gigantic spinning green diamond, resembling much like Emily¡¯s cache data, but obviously, this one was a different type of data. In addition to appearing green, it also had a blue tip on both top and bottom, in which was connected directly to the ceiling and floor of the room through a dark blue cable on both side, appearing to pulse data in and out once in a while.

    Suddenly, a program manifested in the form of a humanoid covered in light, and stood before Ryan. Ryan knew what exactly it was. It¡¯s the ¡®will¡¯ of this site, the one that governed its control and guarded its integrity.

    ¡°You don¡¯t seem to be the ¡®same¡¯ as the other users in this cyberspace. You have¡­¡±¡ªit took a long look at Ryan from top to bottom¡ª¡°¡­abilities. Are you¡­ a threat?¡±

    The ¡®will¡¯ of this site appeared different from others. It had the ability to converse naturally like a human does, and it perceived how Ryan was different from normal users almost instantly. Then, Ryan saw exactly what made the ¡®will¡¯ before him different from its normal counterpart. On its chest, there was a circle on it, and nestled within that circle was a purple Hexagon. This site¡¯s will had been installed with an advanced anti-virus, one with the ability to act and think like an A.I.

    As Ryan was in awe of the fact that he saw his first A.I. in front of him, the ¡®Will¡¯ continued talking.

    ¡°If you¡¯re a threat¡­ then I shall do my foremost best to erase you from this space,¡± threatened the ¡®Will¡¯. Anti-viruses began manifesting behind it, one, two, three, and it kept popping up until they reached a dozen.

    Ryan snapped back to his mind. ¡°No, of course not. I¡¯m here only to read about the article on this space.¡±

    ¡°Is that¡­ so? Still, you are¡­ suspicious,¡± said the ¡®Will¡¯.

    ¡°Okay, how about this. You can, in some ways, restrict me to prevent me from using my abilities, and also supervise me personally. How about that?¡± negotiated Ryan.

    ¡°¡­True. You haven¡¯t¡­ done anything yet. I suppose I¡¯ll take that advice and turn it into actions,¡± replied it.

    The anti-viruses around the ¡®Will¡¯ surrounded Ryan, and linked with one another using a purple line. After that, a force barrier coloured in purple confined Ryan inside a limited size of space.

    ¡°Right now¡­ your abilities will be disabled in that space. I¡¯ll¡­ remove it once you¡¯re leaving from this place,¡± explained the ¡®Will¡¯.

    ¡°Okay,¡± said Ryan.

    Ryan walked past the will, and proceeded to the centre of the room, where the gigantic diamond resided at. He couldn¡¯t physically touch the diamond, but there was faint connection being materialized from him to the diamond. It gave him enough power to read the content of the data, but not actually to absorb it or overwrite it. It was probably the ¡®Will¡¯ assisting him to read the data, in which was still standing right behind his shoulder. Ryan decided to ignore the ¡®Will¡¯ for now, and move on to reading the data.

    This data was created on 7<sup>th</sup> of June, 2031.

    Title: Explosion in the Institution of Roizen University. Accidental, or an Attack?

    On 6<sup>th</sup> of June, 2031, the city of Roizen was shocked by a huge explosion occurring from the Roizen University. The explosion occurred approximately on twelve o¡¯clock in the afternoon as reported by witnesses that included the students of the University themselves and other nearby passer-by. It was said that the source of the explosion came from the Department of Information Computer Technology, in which was triggered by the supposedly-broken Air Conditioner Compressor within the building.

    Forensic report says that the exact cause of the explosion was unknown but was triggered within a cyberspace of the Compressor as there were no definite signs of a physical bomb being planted nearby the Compressor. Current investigation efforts are being impended due to the fact that the Compressor¡¯s Cyberspace was completely destroyed during the explosion, erasing any trace of possible causes.

    No deaths were accounted for. Two victims were heavily injured during the explosion, with thirty-two others suffering mild burns and injuries for being in close proximity to the source of the explosion. The two suffering heavy injuries were immediately transferred to the ICU wards within Roizen Hospital, whilst others are admitted into normal wards with some being discharged today.

    Investigations are still to decide whether this was accidental, or an attack from within the cyberspace.

    And the article goes on.

    Ryan slowly backed off from the diamond. He had a serious look on his face, his eyebrows stiffing downward, his smile perished away.

    ¡°It¡­ wasn¡¯t an accident,¡± whispered Ryan, a hint of anger in his voice.

 Chapter 6 : Unknown Menace

    Ryan¡¯s memories after the explosion had occurred was blurry, but he still could remember the pieces before that as clear as day. His thought on the explosion that happened in Roizen University, and the thing that had placed him in this situation in the first place, was not based off his intuition alone, nor did it branch from his hatred on whoever did this. Indeed, the exact source of it all was already tucked deep in his head, within his memories.

    On the day of the incident, as in yesterday, when Ryan was already inside the Compressor¡¯s cyberspace, things seemed normal at first. In fact, the cyberspace itself didn¡¯t seem like there was any visible problems to him. As a cyberspace belonging to a machine, the Compressor didn¡¯t have an OS of its own, but it still had a will to maintain the cyberspace, and also an array of green diamonds inside that stored information of how the Compressor was supposed to operate. In fact, contained in one of these green diamonds should had been a script that allowed self-restoration in the event the Compressor broke down, but it didn¡¯t seem to function that day.

    Ryan, unsuspecting anything, proceeded to check the green diamonds individually after being granted admin control by the cyberspace¡¯s Will. In total within that cyberspace were two dozens of green diamonds, each with different data inside them. In order to find out the source of the Compressor¡¯s malfunctioning, Ryan needed to check on every single of them, every single line of scripts, and every bits of data there were. Usually, such meticulous thing would require more than hours, but to Ryan, it was merely seconds.

    Such was because, Ryan¡¯s CCL was different from others. His mother, Alicia, was one of the scientists that spearheaded the development of CCL. She wasn¡¯t the one that created the original CCL, however, the fact still stands that she contributed considerably towards its development. The original operation time for the CCL had previously been only several hours, with other scientists hitting dead end when it came to increasing its number. But, with Alicia¡¯s assistant and brilliant ideas, the threshold was soon to be a history, with two days being the current limit as of today.

    She was also the one who had introduced the convenient ¡®Conscious Access¡¯ function and its other counterpart, ¡®Conscious Recall¡¯, in which, users had to previously physically connect themselves to a port using some specific cable to access a cyberspace. It wasn¡¯t an overstatement to mention that Alicia herself made the era of CCL a lot more convenient than it had first started as.

    Today, however, Alicia was no longer a scientist. For some mysterious reason known not to even Ryan, she had quitted being one. Alicia never bothered to explain the reason why, and Ryan knew that there was times when he shouldn¡¯t butt into the matters of an adult, henceforth the reason itself was always shrouded in mystery. Still, money was not an issue to both of them, as Alicia¡¯s previous works netted them a sum of money that was considerably large, and could support both of them even years after Ryan get into working himself.

    Back to the topic at hand, Ryan¡¯s CCL was designed differently from others, in which was implanted in his body during infancy stage. To be exact, the normal versions of CCL that the public use was 2.5.19, whilst Ryan¡¯s was 3.5.19. Ryan¡¯s CCL was one version ahead from the public¡¯s. How did it happen? The CCL that Ryan was currently using, had been personally designed by his mother, Alicia, to be superior in various ways. One could say, that her mother was actually sort of using his own son to perform experiments on newly developed CCLs, but to Alicia herself, she was giving privileges to Ryan that others would never have, or a simpler word to say, she was doting on him.

    One of the specialties of Ryan¡¯s CCL was the ability to multitask much more efficiently than a normal CCL. He could access and read several diamond of data at the same time, a feat normally would crack a normal user¡¯s head apart, mentally that is.

    The job assigned to him that day was supposed to be an easy one. Hunt for the source, kill the source, and then revert the damages done. Yes, it was supposed to be easy.

    Whilst Ryan was working on the data, a sudden chill slithered up his body. The cyberspace vibrated ever so slightly, its pulse disrupted by a foreign interference. Ryan could feel it, that there was another presence that just broke into the cyberspace of the Compressor. It couldn¡¯t be Professor Edward, as he was watching over Ryan¡¯s body. So, what was it? Only one way to know. Ryan turned his head around the cyberspace, but there was nothing. Nothing in sight at all. The chill was still there, so the source had to be around here.

    He kept looking around, but still nothing, but as he made the last turn, he noticed bits of darkness skittering from above.

    Ryan looked upward, and there it was.

    Hovering in the air of the cyberspace was something¡­ unknown. Literally. The spaces around the source was in disarray, like it was covered in black mosaics that kept twisting the light around it. Ryan couldn¡¯t perceive its shape, nor identify the true identity of the source or even its colour. The darkness that encased it pulsed constantly, sending away black-coloured waves that perished as they reached a certain distance. It only stood there, mid-air, staring at Ryan as if it was assessing the current situation.

    Ryan had never seen this form of¡­ thing in his times within the cyberspace. Every users and programs had their shapes, even OS of a cyberspace, the core of everything. But¡­ this thing had no shape, no colour, not a single thing to identify it. Ryan didn¡¯t know what to do, but he was confident that this thing was a threat to the cyberspace he was currently in, and perhaps even the source of its breakdown. For sure, he couldn¡¯t leave it behind freely.

    ¡°Security Control!¡± said Ryan, preparing himself for combat.

    Purple spheres manifested around Ryan, the securities of the Cyberspace. Even the Will itself appeared.

    ¡°Threat. Unknown. Engage?¡± asked the Will.

    ¡°Affirmative,¡± answered Ryan.

    As soon as Ryan said that, the Will floated mid-air, preparing to engage the unknown threat. Meanwhile, Ryan who was in control of the purple spheres, commanded them to surround the green diamonds, and encased them all within a force field of protection. He didn¡¯t want to risk having the data of the Compressor being damaged from the threat, as they were now considerably valuable. Everything that came into this cyberspace would always be recorded by these green diamonds, including the threat itself. That piece of data would be vital for Ryan to give to Professor in order to analyse this menace, which may be a new one that had presented itself within the cyberspace.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

    After finishing that, Ryan gripped his hand into a fist. The spheres understood that gesture, and immediately surrounded Ryan. Each of them submerged into Ryan¡¯s body, shifting into pieces of dark purple coloured suit that laid over Ryan¡¯s original body. It was a protective combat form, designed specifically to reduce the amount of damage that an User would receive in the eventual cases that they were to personally combat a virus within a cyberspace. And now, Ryan was using the form, to fight against the¡­ thing before him.

    Ryan, using the technique his mother taught him, floated into the air of the cyberspace. Beside him was the Will, ready to engage as much as Ryan was. Currently, Ryan had two options to engage against the enemy. One, was to destroy it completely, and analyse the data diamonds later on to clarify its identity, and the second one, to capture it to perform the analysing even much faster. Naturally, the risk was higher on the second as Ryan would need to attempt to overload the threat with his own control to capture it.

    Still, such thoughts will have to be saved for later, until Ryan actually won the battle.

    With that, Ryan initiated the battle. He rose his left hand, and summoned five purple spheres. Ryan twiddled his fingers a little, and the spheres spun and shattered, and then reformed themselves into long spears. It was primitive to use such shapes inside this space, but Ryan had no time to think. The absolute form of offensive he could manifest best were those that he had seen in the real world. Regardless, he imagined that bubbles of compressed air gathered itself behind these spears, and then exploded them to eject the spears out of his hand into the enemy at considerable speed. However, before even reaching the target, a dark-coloured barrier suddenly flashed in the way of these shape-shifted anti-viruses whenever each of them touched it. It reflected all of them hitting the barrier, the spears losing their momentum, falling down to the ground and soon enough disintegrating afterward.

    ¡°¡­It didn¡¯t work,¡± said Ryan.

    Ryan had at least expected that one of the spears to actually hit the target, but he didn¡¯t account in the possibility of it possessing a barrier of its own. It seemed to surface only when something came close to hitting, and then vanishing once more after the job was done. Still, it didn¡¯t mean that the threat was invulnerable. Ryan only needed to produce something with more piercing power than those small spears, or perhaps blunt force to crack the entire thing.

    As Ryan was thinking, he noticed that there appeared to be movement within the clouds of darkness and mosaic encasing the threat. Ryan braced himself for an attack, but before the threat could do anything, it was pushed to the ground when a block of the ceiling¡¯s cyberspace fell on its head, plummeting it to the ground. The Will made its move. The attack was followed with a transparent cube materializing around the enemy, and then quickly getting smaller, putting pressure on its barrier which was withstanding the attack.

    Ryan took the chance and called forth several more purple spheres. This time, however, Ryan merged them all together into one gigantic version of them all. It floated above him, Ryan with both of his hands up in the air. Unlike the small ones, it took time for Ryan to control the gigantic sphere to change to the shape that he wanted, so he needed to focus. It shifted shape slowly, from its original form, into a¡­ massive cannon.

    ¡°If basic weapons are useless, then how about this?¡± said Ryan.

    A white orb manifested inside the cannon, its muzzle flashing bright. The orb was written into existence with scripts of restriction, and continued to load until its size was considerable, and its power immeasurable. The orb spun in place with intense force, causing the barrel of the cannon itself to shake. It was ready. With Ryan¡¯s control, the cannon pointed itself toward the threat¡ªstill being held in position by the will. He lurched his left arm forward, and then gripped it. From that signal, the cannon fired its shot.

    The mere force from the shot alone caused the entire cyberspace to tremble, and the script shell that came out of it teared the air apart from its intense velocity. There was merely seconds after the shot was fired by the cannon, and the time it took for the shell of scripts to reach its target. And when it did, it exploded on impact. The scripts contained inside the said shell was immediately released, the lines inside expanding outward from it and then confining the one inside. Line of commands written in white sentences were spread out in spherical form around the target, disabling away some of its abilities, including the barrier.

    The threat realized its true function of the shell shot by the cannon, but then chains of light manifested and attached to its body, and made it stuck to the ground. The Will was restricting its movement.

    From that, Ryan changed the form of the cannon into a gigantic sphere. He willed it to spin in place, and so it did. It kept spinning so fast, until Ryan could feel the air that it was producing from the force alone.

    With all his power, Ryan shot the spear away, and it came at the threat at full speed. The air reverberated, slashed into two as the gigantic spear dived to its target. It seemed like this was the end, as Ryan estimated that the barrier couldn¡¯t possibly be up again while in that disabled area, and even if it did, it would become pierced from the size of the spear. It flew to the target, straight and true, to aim for the centre of its existence. It appeared as if the battle was already won, and that Ryan would successfully delete the threat.

    Or so he had thought.

    Before the spear could reach the centre of the darkness, it suddenly turned black, and then evaporated into mist. Ryan was utterly shocked. The threat was supposed to have no control over this space, so how was it able to erase the bulk of anti-viruses just like that? Still, Ryan couldn¡¯t possibly give up, not just yet. He immediately summoned several more spheres to form additional spheres. This wasn¡¯t the end. Ryan still had more on where that came from, and several tricks up to his sleeve.

    ¡°Not yet. Not yet,¡± said Ryan.

    But then, the enemy had decided to make its move. First, it disintegrated the chains that was tugging away at it. The Will tried to keep it down by recreating the very same transparent cube it had used to trap it before, but as soon as it came close to the enemy, it shattered into million pieces merely from touch alone. At the same time, Ryan was sending away a barrage of spears into the target, but it was all deflected away and couldn¡¯t even touch it.

    As if the enemy had enough, it touched the floor of the cyberspace, and immediately, darkness began spreading outward from its touch. It corrupted the entire space, and made the Will lose control on the parts that had turned black. Noticeably as well, the Will itself was turning black, but it wasn¡¯t giving up at all. Its job was to protect this cyberspace, as the space itself was the Will. The Will shone bright, attempting to resist the corruption. Thanks to that, the encroachment of darkness on the cyberspace was slowed down, but still steadily progressing on. Ryan tried to help the Will by personally accessing the console on the Will¡¯s back, but the speed of him fixing its source code was being overwritten faster by the corruption taking control of it.

    The threat itself, on the other hand, had suddenly teared through the force field that was placed atop the diamond data. Perhaps it was trying to delete all the information about it within, but Ryan couldn¡¯t leave the Will¡¯s side, or else the cyberspace itself would collapse from corruption.

    ¡°¡­User. Escape,¡± instructed the Will.

    Ryan was still typing on its console, trying to take control of the cyberspace again. ¡°What are you talking about? If I left you here, this cyberspace will fall, and the threat will spread outward to other cyberspaces!¡±

    The Will pointed to the array of diamonds on the floor, each of them turning red from being overwritten by the threat. ¡°¡­Data. Reconstructed. Explode. 20 seconds.¡±

    ¡°Wait, explode?¡± Ryan thought of how his physical body was still dangerously in close range with the compressor, and even Professor Edward who was beside him.

    The Will touched Ryan¡¯s hands, and a sudden notification filled his head.

    CCL WARNING!

    EMERGENCY CONSCIOUS RECALL ACTIVATED.

    CODE 559, EMERGENCY PROCEDURE OF USER¡¯S EVACUATION¡­

    PERMISSION GRANTED!

    ¡°Thanks,¡± said the Will. Over half of its body was already dyed in black.

    ¡°What are you doing?!¡±

    Ryan¡¯s cyber body started shining, and was disappearing starting from his legs. He could feel his senses reconnecting to that of his physical body, although not fully yet. From the partial connection, he saw how the Compressor was in a critical condition in the real world, so he knew that it was already too late. Ryan could try all he wanted, but the effects were already in place. He had failed.

    Ryan could only grit his teeth, as he watched the entire cyberspace turning black, and before him, the Will which was waving away at him whilst he disappeared away slowly. The recalling action took 10 seconds, so it was obvious how much time had been left.

    ¡°10 seconds. I¡­ I have to be quick,¡± said Ryan.

    And such was the beginning of it all.