33 Fighting in a simulation (1/2)

I groaned with pain and threw the heavy machine gun down on the ground for the third time.

I was currently walking toward the town through forest. Walking along the highway might have been easier, but it also exposed me to all the the abnormals and mutant beasts lurking around in the area.

I did not know if walking through a forest was safer. I could only hope I would not have to fight against any more. My arms hurt like hell and every step that I walked only made me realize how exhausted I was.

I had the strength of four men now, but the heavy machine gun weighed around 60 kilograms. That's 15 kilogram of weight for a normals person. I could pick it up easily and walk around with it with no problem as well. But that was not all that I had to do.

The place where reinforcements had fought against the abnormals was about 700 meters away from the town.

I had only travelled 200 meters by now and was already panting with exhaustion.

'Fuck this Heavy machine gun.' I cursed and kicked it a few times to express my dissatisfaction but didn't get any relief.

'This can't go on.' I thought and looked at the highway in the distance. After thinking for a while I dragged the heavy machine gun to the highway and threw it inside a black colored van.

I remembered it's name plate and then heaved a sigh of relief.

'If big bro really wants it, then he can send someone to get it himself.' I then continued on my journey.

I felt a stinging sensation on my thigh with every step I took. It had not been so apparent when I started walking but after a while, when the adrenaline faded away, I realized that I was not in a very good condition.

I touched my thigh and felt that it had swollen considerably. I was not surprised as the same thing had happened to both both my arms where the mutant dogs had bitten.

My condition was bad, but not so bad that I would not be able to walk. Just that, I would preferred to be in a better conditions.

I walked back to the forest and continued to move in the direction of the town.

After five excruciatingly painful minutes, I reached back to the town which had become deserted once again. Just like the first time when I saw it.

'Well, I'm back again.' I thought and started jumping from one building to another. Although I was sure that all the abnormals must have left the town along with the horde, I did not want to take chances.

After I jumped a few more time, I finally reached the house where I was given a room.

'I should go and give a report to Big bro. But before that, I should take care of these wounds.' I thought 'If Neha and big bro sees me in such a battered condition, then they would definitely worry about me.'

I dragged injured leg which was hurting even more after all the jumping and opened the door and was surprised for a moment.

'Oh yeah. She was here as well.' I thought and looked at the beautiful girl sleeping in the bed. She looked rather cute and… venerable in her current position and I would have appreciated such a sight any other time. But right now, there was something else in my mind.

'If she's sleeping in my bed, then where the hell am I supposed to rest.'

There was no other furniture in the room after all. And I was too lazy and tired to go to any other house.

I pushed her aside gently and laid down in the bed beside her. Then I took off my helmet and looked the ceiling in with a frown.

I looked at the Black watch in my hand and opened the hologram after which I started searching for some kind of medicine.

But I really had no idea what I should be buying at this point so I asked Lily instead.

'Oi Lily. What kind of medicine should I buy?' I asked.

'Well, I have a few medicines in my mind, but I have a better option that will save you some white coins.' She said.

'What is it?' I asked tiredly.

'Well… Thing is, after you raise all of your stats to 4.0, something significant will happened all of your wounds will be healed automatically.'

'Something signification. What do you mean?' I asked.

'You'll understand yourself when you get to that point.'

'Well… Alright then.' I said and checked up on my wealth.

After selling the three cores of the mutant dogs, I had a total of 194 white coins.

I used 160 white coins and bought 16 green crystals.

'This should be enough.' I thought and gulped them down with some water.

Soon, the crystals melted in my stomach and a warm feeling spread throughout my entire body.

I moaned in ecstasy and after the feeling faded away, I was going to open the hologram when I realized that I could not move anymore.

It was as if all the muscles in my body had gone stiff all of a sudden.

I could see, smell and hear everything that was going around me, but I could not move a single finger.

'What the hell!' I cursed in my mind and tried to move my eyes to look around. But when I looked at the lower part my body, my heart froze in terror.

I dense black fog was being emitted from the Black watch and it was slowly covering my entire body.

'Damn it!' I cursed but it didn't help and the black fog slowly crawled up to my face and submerged my whole body.

—————

I opened my eyes at once but as the bright light burned my eyes, I had to close them once again.

After a few seconds, I slowly opened my eyes and looked around to have a good understanding of my surroundings. But…

Everything that I saw around me was white for as far as I could see.

I looked down at the floor beneath my feet. It was bright white in color and extended to the horizon for as far as the eyes could see.

The sky above, if it could be called a sky, had a bright white color.

I looked down at my feet and realized that I had no shadow of my own.

'Where's the light source in this place?' I thought but then another important thought hit me.

'Where the hell am I anyway?'

'You're in a simulation created by the Black watch.' I heard Lily's voice coming from all around me.

'A simulation? Well… What the hell am I supposed to do here? And how am I supposed to get out of here?' I thought 'Wait! Why am I here in the first place?'

'You're here because you've increased all of your stats to 4.0 points. Now we're going to enhance your genes and help you evolve. But before that, you must prove that you're deserving of this reward.'

'Huh! Evolve my genes? What do you mean by that?' I asked confusedly. I didn't really liked where this was going.

All of this seemed far too complicated and far too unnecessary. I just wanted to increase my stats and become powerful so that I could protect my family. Why he hell did I do to get here. And what the hell was up with the Black fog coming out of the watch.

Thoughts rapidly circulated in my mind but I couldn't draw any conclusion from the little information I had.

'A normal human cannot eat crystals and grow stronger indefinitely.' Lily explained. 'There's a limit to how much strong a human's body could become.'

'The black fog is designed to help you evolve and become much greater than a mere human. But as I said before, you must prove yourself deserving of this power.'

'So… You're saying that I cannot advance any longer unless I evolve into an enhanced human? Is that it.' I sought for conformation.

'Yes.' Lily replied in a simple. She was being a bit too formal today which made me feel a bit uncomfortable. But I chose to ignore it.

'Is the 'evolving' thing going to harm me in any way?' I asked.