The frigid breeze blew across the deserted campus. Barren trees creaked in the wind while flurries of snow began to attack those unfortunate enough to be outside.
Unlike the normally active campus, students had their heads down, scurrying here and there. Everywhere you looked, there were college students staggering around like zombies. If their nose wasn't pressed in between the pages of a textbook, they were frantically typing on their laptops.
The library was filled to the brim. All of the desks were occupied. While most were desperately cramming information inside of their brains, others had given up. They were slumped over, fast asleep on desks and in chairs.
Liu Aili looked as if she were to pass out at any moment. Dark purple circles rimmed her light-colored eyes. Her hair was swept back into a ponytail, and her fair skin looked sickly in the fluorescent lighting of the library.
She stood up and shakily put her laptop into her backpack. Her hands were shaking. She frowned as she glanced toward them and muttered, "I knew that fourth cup of coffee was a bad idea." As she walked towards the exit of the library, she glanced back towards where she was sitting to make sure she didn't forget anything.
"Crap."
She walked back toward the desk - it was already occupied by another desperate student - and grabbed her thermos off of the table.
"Sorry." She mumbled to the student that replaced her in the comfortable library seat. He didn't even glance at her as he responded. "No problem."
She placed her thermos into the side of her backpack before descending the grand staircase of the library. Like most of the buildings on campus, it was old. Very old.
Liu Aili stopped to stare at the high arched ceilings and thought it was as old as it was beautiful. Even though the library was creaky and cold, it harbored a little piece of her heart. She spent countless hours in its chilly embrace. Whenever she had a paper, she would come and work here. After 4 years enrolled in college, it would be her last time coming here. She would graduate in two weeks!
She harbored no doubts about graduating, but she held a wealth of anxiety toward the future. She didn't have a job lined up, and, as much as her parents nagged her, she didn't want to go back home and be a bum while doing her job-search. It's not that she wasn't a good student. In fact, she was an excellent student. She was naturally talented academically. But she knew that talent alone did not transfer over into automatically finding a job. Her thoughts flitted toward her double-major.
She majored in Communication Studies and in Animal Behavior. She loved animals. She adored their loyalty, their ability to be trained, and their level of intelligence. Most people harbored doubts toward how intelligent animals actually were. She snorted, they were certainly smarter than some humans! However, she knew that she would not make a very good salary by doing what she loved: training animals. She pursed her lips and started creating a mental to-do list of what she had left to do tonight.
She just finished her last paper - no need to write any more academic papers for a while! She grinned at the thought. Her grin faded as she mind moved toward what she had left to do. She only had one presentation left before she would be done for the semester.
But Professor Cheng was notoriously difficult to please. He would fire questions as rapidly as an automatic gun spewed bullets. He was the most curmudgeonly among crotchety old man. Professor Cheng would always make little quips and snarky comments during his lectures. Her brows furrowed. He would also make little quips and snarky comments during students' presentations. It was only funny if you weren't the one he made those remarks to.
Liu Aili had finished her presentation. But, she thought, she should compile a long list of potential questions Professor Cheng might ask her. She needed to shower and pick out her outfit for tomorrow, as well. She shuddered to think of what he might say if she showed up in an oversize hoodie and sweatpants.
Despite his sarcastic personality, she truly admired Professor Cheng. His knowledge was expansive in the topic of animal behavior. Not only was he more knowledgeable than other people, he was more knowledgeable than most textbooks. In fact, he had written a fair amount of textbooks himself.
She scowled as she looked at her watch. 8:02 PM. She would have to stay up half the night working on those questions.
Oh well. I should just appreciate this is my last all-nighter as a college student, she thought in an attempt to comfort herself.
As she walked on the snow-lined sidewalk, her mind wandered to her reading list. Her favorite authors had probably updated their novels and she had no time to read them! Tears streamed down her face. I'm sorry I haven't been a loyal reader! I will catch up tomorrow night! I promise!!!
She needed to get back to her apartment so she could get started on that list of questions.
She tripped on an uneven chunk of sidewalk and almost fell when she slipped on ice while trying to gain her footing. "@$#!%@%@!"
Today is really not my day!!
When Aili finally got her balance, she kept walking. She rubbed her dry and stinging eyes. They hurt due to the sheer lack of sleep she had gotten over the past week...
HOOOOONK!
By the time she looked up, it was already too late. She only saw the truck a second before it hit her.
As her thermos flew through the air, she wondered idly what Professor Cheng would say if he could see her right now. She could almost hear his dry voice, "Oh? So you'd rather walk into traffic than go to your final, huh?"
She landed on the frigid ground and felt her head crack against the pavement. Her legs were crushed. Was that her thermos leaking? Or was it her own life force leaking from her damaged body? She knew the pain would come soon.
Aili watched as the snowflakes feathered softly against the night sky. They were illuminated by the headlights of the truck, she distantly observed. It was almost as if it was not her who had gotten into the accident.
As she bordered in between life and death, she heard the sound of a bell. Ding!
A mechanical voice sounded.
[System initializing...]
The f*ck?! Was she really thinking about her favorite novels before she kicked the bucket? Was it a hallucination? Shouldn't her life be flashing before her eyes or something...
[System downloading.... Download Complete. ]
[.....]
[Congratulations! You won. You have been selected for the chance to use the Transmigrating Animal Communication System. Please say "okay" to claim your reward!]
Aili said, "..."
Why does this sound like a computer virus?! Didn't they just mash her majors together and add "transmigrating" to the beginning?!
"No...no thank you."
[Congratulations, Host! You have said "thank you." This fulfills the requirements to install the system.]
[System installing....]
WTF?! You went ahead and downloaded without asking me and now you're installing when I didn't give permission?? Installing to what?!
[System installation complete. Initializing set-up procedure.]
The mechanical voice suddenly adopted a masculine pitch.
[Host, do you want to live?]
...
.........
What is this nonsense?
"No!" Aili blurted out. Why did its voice change? I don't understand what's going on!
[Error message: an unknown error has occurred. Repeating question one.]
[Host, do you want to live?]
She felt dumbfounded. "I'm not a host! I want to die! Who wants to live like this? I don't want to study anymore! Just let me die in peace!! So what if I die? I don't even have a job lined up!"
[Understood. Confirming response. Did you say, "I'm a host! I want to live like this! I want to study! Just let me! I don't even have a job!"]
Pei! What system. This is a virus! A virus!!
She spit blood. She didn't know if it was from her injuries or from anger. She stayed silent and felt her body starting to cool down. Her eyes fluttered shut. Better to die than trust this shady hallucination.
[Response confirmed. Initializing transfer...]
Liu Aili's eyes snapped open. What do you mean initializing transfer?! I never agreed to this!!