"You...really will become a player, quack?" the AI asked again, in case Lai Jiayi suddenly changed her mind. He was too ecstatic that his circuit almost blew up.
Lai Jiayi nodded softly with a bitter smile on her face. "Yes. I'll play. It's just a dating sim game. Now I decide to play...I have to win!" the girl spoke in a resolute tone.
'No matter what I have to do, I will win the game!'
"S-sure sure, now please open the game APP, quack."
The AI didn't waste time. He immediately urged Lai Jiayi to register herself as a player to the game.
"Insert your name, your email, and such to register, quack."
The AI felt like he's dreaming.
'I finally contracted a player.'
Excited, the AI nudged Lai Jiayi's hand when the girl inserted her personal information to the game through her phone.
This act startled the girl for a second but seeing the AI's eyes narrowed into a straight line. She didn't say anything.
'So a robot can also be this happy? Sure enough, the technology is super advanced.'
A few minutes later…
"Here. I already registered. Do I click submit?" Lai Jiayi glanced at the rubber duck sitting leisurely on her thigh.
Once she submitted, she would officially become a player of this weird, mysterious game.
The AI nodded energetically as his eyes were glued to the phone screen.
Though the crack there disturbed him a little, it still couldn't affect his good mood. He finally contracted a player, after all.
"Okay…" Lai Jiayi saw the nod and her thumb slowly pressed the submit option on her phone screen.
Somehow her heart beats fast, not knowing what will happen next.
Right after Lai Jiayi clicked 'submit,' almost immediately, a congratulatory voice rang from her phone.
[Congratulations, player Lai! You are officially registered under X-014 AI system~ ]
The voice sounded so cheerful, but Lai Jiayi couldn't help but be nervous.
'So this AI name is X-014? He will become my guide throughout the game like...my partner, maybe?'
Lai Jiayi glanced at the dumb yellow duck and couldn't help but sigh.
'I wish I have a cooler AI as my partner.'
Upon hearing the congratulatory message, the AI congratulated the girl, "Congrats, quaaack!! Now you are officially a player, quack!"
"Please, lift your hair for a bit and show me your neck, quack quack," he urged.
Lai Jiayi tilted her head in confusion when the AI asked her to lift her hair and showed the back of her neck. She couldn't help but ask.
"Why do I need to do that?"
The AI rolled his eyes in annoyance as a response.
'Why is my partner so cautious, ah? Just do it!'
But the AI restrained himself not to do anything to anger his contractor.
"I need to give you a mark, quack. Mark of the player. It will come in handy so that we won't be separated from each other, quack."
His words sounded convincing, but Lai Jiayi still felt something was wrong in what he said before.
'I know this AI won't leave my side but...marking? For what…'
The girl had just about to ask again when she saw the AI coldly glare at her, annoyed. Lai Jiayi flinched and only then reluctantly lifted her hair.
"There...so what are you going to do now– " Lai Jiayi was just about to ask when she saw the AI disappear from her sight.
The next moment, she felt something cold touching the back of her neck.
!
Following the cold sensation was slight stinging pain and the girl felt a terrible electrocuted feeling. Her body shook hard.
"Aw! What the hell??" Lai Jiayi hurriedly covered the back of her neck with her left palm but a second after, she didn't feel the pain anymore. As if nothing happened.
'?? What the?? The pain is gone! What's going on?'
Lai Jiayi was puzzled, but little did she know that the AI had just pecked the back of her neck, leaving a strange small barcode on the surface of the skin.
The AI sighed in relief that he had planted the mark successfully.
He went to the front again and looked up at Lai Jiayi before saying, "I just planted the mark, quack! With this, you're officially a player but– "
"But?"
"But before playing, I have to tell you the function of the mark first, quack."
Lai Jiayi's jaw dropped.
'So the weird sensation before is because this AI planted a mark on me. Is it a chip? For what?'
These questions kept flying around Lai Jiayi's mind, and now knowing that the AI would gladly answer it for her, she just nodded and waited.
Seeing his contractor finally didn't ask too many questions, the AI nodded in satisfaction.
"The mark is there so that I can track your position, quack, and...erase your memory once the game ended, quack." The AI knitted his non-existent eyebrows when he spoke the last part.
BA-THUMP!
'Erasing memory?'
Lai Jiayi amber-colored eyes widened in shock. The girl quickly asked in a wary tone, "What do you mean erasing my memory? Don't tell me this is a shady business?"
'Why erase my memory?'
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