Clack, clack, clack…
Zhang Heng heard the clacking sounds as if they were right against his ears. The clacks weren't crisp, nor were they bass-like. They definitely weren't something that could come from any musical instruments, yet the clacks were eerily pleasing to the ear as if the sound was capable of reaching deep into one's soul.
Those sounds didn't come from the outside, but deep within his brain—his eardrums vibrated from the signals sent from his cerebral cortex. It was a sound that no one but Zhang Heng could hear.
"Host is confirmed."
"Calibrating host's neurons. Host's neurons connected."
"Begin scanning brain areas. Brain area functions normal."
"Initiating AI support program."
"AI support program initiating. Please wait…"
All those messages flashed in Zhang Heng's consciousness all of a sudden.
To be precise, the messages didn't appear in the form of either text or voice. It was instead some kind of consciousness signal. But the signal was comprehensible enough for him to interpret them as specific words and phrases.
But that was hardly the point; the point was that strange and nonsensical messages were somehow appearing inside Zhang Heng's brain.
His face was unable to help but twitched for a bit, an instinctive physiological reaction resulting from his nerves being subjected to startle, shock, and some other similar stimuli. He was frozen stiff at the moment, unable to move a muscle, and the air around him seemed to have stopped circulating, frozen in place.
He felt as if the world would come crashing down at any second in the midst of that utter dead silence. He had no idea what was happening, only that his mind was being assaulted by some kind of vicious storm that was about to come.
But his mind calmed once again as those messages passed and disappeared, making it feel like what he had experienced moments ago was just some kind of illusion that had appeared out of nowhere.
Am I seeing things? Or is my brain really out of whack?
He forced himself to stand upright and move his legs about a little bit, confirming that he wasn't feeling unwell anywhere at all, before letting out a sigh of relief.
But, just when he thought that all of those messages flashing in his head had to be some kind of illusion, he heard those strange clacking noises once again.
"AI support program initiated. Virtual personality setting up… Please select virtual personality. Options available for virtual personality are: lawful good, neutral good, chaotic good, lawful neutral, true neutral, chaotic neutral, lawful evil, neutral evil, chaotic evil.
"What the f**k!?" Zhang Heng leaped almost three meters into the air, as if he had been subjected to an electrical shock, and dropped onto his bed. His bed had a hard time cushioning his hard fall and creaked loudly in protest.
"Host's mental conditions are currently unstable. The system shall determine the choice of virtual personality through random selection. Selecting…"
"Selection complete. Virtual personality set to chaotic evil."
"Please select an image for the virtual personality."
"Image generating in accordance with preferences found within the host's memory…"
"Image generation complete."
"Thank you for using 'Dimensional Star'. To all remaining humans, good luck."
Zhang Heng was sweating profusely by then, with both his heart rate and breath extremely elevated. Conventional logic dictated that there was no way he would be able to receive messages under such conditions, yet every single line seemed to be imprinted in his mind, and he didn't miss a single word.
"Okay, okay, calm down!"
He took deep breaths right away, trying to force himself to calm down.
He took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket with shaking hands, putting a cigarette to his mouth, before snapping his lighter with hands still shaking and lighting the cigarette. A spicy, choking feeling went to his lungs. The carbon monoxide and nicotine bonded with his red blood cells through his alveoli, and he was finally able to calm his raging mind somewhat…
Pufff… He went dead silent right after throwing out a puff of smoke from his mouth. He felt as if he had trouble telling reality from illusion even at that very moment.
But there wasn't a sliver of doubt that the flurry of messages that had appeared in his mind out of nowhere was real.
Just when he thought that he would be able to find some reasonable explanation for all that had just happened to him, he heard the crisp, clear voice of a little girl, speaking directly into his mind.
"Hey dude, are you the one who set up some kind of magic contract and summoned Yurianne to this world?"
His eyes were thrown open wide. He was sure that the voice definitely hadn't appeared like the stream of messages that had flashed in his head before; it was an unmistakable, speaking voice that played in his mind. He scanned his surroundings for a bit and confirmed that there was definitely no one around him.
It was only then that he finally confirmed that there was some unknown being inside his brain.
Wait a minute, is this the cube that just vanished into thin air?
He finally calmed at that thought, taking a deep breath and trying to reply, "Are you, talking to me?"
"Oh yes indeed. I'm the AI support system of the Dimensional Star that is loved by everyone. Yurianne, at your service."
A two-dimensional chibi-type animated image of a little girl appeared out of nowhere as Zhang Hen listened to that introductory speech.
That chibi girl was wearing orthodox Lolita garb and had two tiny, curved horns on her head. She had a tail with an end pointed like an arrow growing out of her behind. Her overall appearance made her look like an imp.
Furthermore, there seemed to be some kind of hot-blooded anime theme being played in 3D surround sound. All of that, coupled with Zhang Heng's dumbfounded expression made everything look eerie and out of place.
He was already numbed by all the stimuli by then. He just rubbed his eyes in vague disbelief but quickly found that, even though he closed his eyes, the chibi little girl's image still appeared in his mind as if she had always been there, and wasn't going anywhere.
That was because she wasn't appearing before his eyes, but right on his retina. Furthermore, the image was appearing on the retina of his right eye.
"Jus-Just stop the BGM for a second…" the background music was very hot-blooded and that made his head hurt. He couldn't help but rub his temple a bit. He finally gave up resisting and trying to make sense of what was going on around him at that moment.
"So, you're a system? And by the way, what's your relationship with that cube thing?" He asked after thinking for a bit.
"Well, since you're so sincere with your question, Yurianne shall be gracious and generous and tell you the answer!" The 2D little girl acted high and mighty and elaborated in a tone that was very familiar to Zhang Heng, "The cube that you spoke of is the artifact known as the Dimensional Star, and Yurianne is the virtual personality created by the AI support system of said Dimensional Star."
"Wait, Dimensional Star? What is that thing and why is it in my head?" He asked right away.
"Haha, Yurianne never thought you'd ask the key questions so quickly." Yurianne spun around a little bit and a microphone appeared in her hand. She then continued in her best talk show host voice, "If you'd like to know what is happening specifically, please watch the following video."
The vision in his right eye changed right away and an eerie screen appeared before his eye.
The image showed a middle-aged man facing the camera. The man wore a pair of glasses and had a goatee. He rested his elbows on the table in front of him and crossed his fingers before his mouth. The man exuded an air of cold and sickness. The background behind the man suggested that he was inside some sort of high-tech laboratory.
"To the one who is watching this record, good day. I'm Ikari Gendo, the commander of NERV."
Pfftt! Zhang Heng lost his calm completely as soon as the man finished the first sentence. "Hold on, who do you say you are again?"
Ikari Gendo was the father of the male protagonist of the anime 'Evangelion', which was released over a dozen years ago. He was a scheming, cold man whose true intentions were never made clear.
"I'm afraid that I'll be long dead by the time you are watching this video." The footage was apparently just video footage, and the man Zhang Heng was watching had no way of communicating with him. The man then continued with his narration. "As the X897 generation master of the Dimensional Star system, this video is the only thing I could leave behind for you after failing my mission.
"I don't know from which plane the humans who created the Dimensional Star came from, only that the power the Dimensional Star possessed far eclipsed anything that existed in our plane, so much so that even 'God' is hardly worth mentioning in comparison. I've only become aware from the video footage left by its previous master, when I came into possession of the system, that every single plane that humans inhabited was attacked by some evil force…
"No, the term 'evil force' is too overarching and vague. I'll put it this way… every single human plane was under attack by some sort of force, natural or unnatural. It's like the laws of the universe are trying to erase the existence of humans altogether, and all human planes have been cursed…"
"For real? I bet you could make things sound even more fantastical if you really tried, couldn't you?" Zhang Heng gradually calmed, picking up the unfinished box of popcorn left on the table, eating as he dissed the narration.
"As a way of resisting the inherent curse, to fight 'its' power, I initiated 'that'…"
"No sh**! Wait, 'that'? You mean that 'Human Instrumentality Project' that everyone knows about?" Zhang Heng had been leaning back in his chair, but when he heard that, he jolted and sat upright suddenly, throwing his eyes wide open when he heard 'that' being mentioned.
"I initially thought that it would be able to change the fate of humanity, yet, to my dismay, I have only found at the very last moment, that my power is utterly insignificant against 'it'…'That' had been inadequate for fighting 'it' at all…"
"Hah! Putting up airs and sh**, yet you're dead all the same." Zhang Heng slumped back to his chair and stuck out a middle finger.
"To my knowledge, the plane that I'm in is one of a handful that remained intact among the countless trillions of human planes in existence. Trillions of human planes are being destroyed by 'it', while you're watching this video…"
"Trillions?" Zhang Heng's hands shook and knocked over his box of popcorn to the floor.
"Don't feel lucky. You will find just how unbelievably powerful the plane that created the Dimensional Star was, as you unlock more and more of the Dimensional Star's powers. Yet, despite its power, that plane was vaporized nonetheless when 'it' attacked.
"By the way, as the previous owner of the Dimensional Star, I have to warn you. There are times when the Dimensional Star's AI support's words proved deceitful…"
"And finally, to all humans still alive, I wish you luck…"
The video stopped and disappeared altogether after the man's last words. Zhang Heng was still baffled. "So, that's it?"
"Correct. That is the entirety of the message left by the last host of the Dimensional Star." Yurianne appeared in his mind again. "So, you understand what's going on now, host dude?"
"One more thing. Why did you choose me?" Zhang Heng continued in a self-depreciative manner, "I'm just an ordinary college student. Why pick me for taking on such a monumental endeavor?"
"That's because you are now only a probational host of the Dimensional Star. It's not easy to become the true host of the artifact." The impish little girl took a flashlight out from her back and turned it on her face from below, giving her a scary look. "You need to finish the trial mission if you are to earn Yurianne's approval. Are you ready to take the trial?"