24 hours
Nanny's neck turned at an indescribable angle the moment she opened the door, the eyes that used to look at her with love and warmth now didn't have anything. No emotions, no anger, no love, no life.
This wasn't her nanny anymore.
Althea was in a daze for a while, her tears flowing. Even when she saw the creature walk towards her in unnatural staggered steps, she couldn't move at all.
It was only until the creature was only an arm's length away that she finally got back to her senses and her body moved by instinct, hitting the creature with the metallic broomstick.
Bang!
The body fell, its neck turning 180 degrees. She watched as the body twitched weakly, and she almost wanted to go to check up on her.
But the head turned back at a creepy angle and the familiar-unfamiliar lifeless eyes stared at her hungrily.
Without bothering to bend back its legs, it dragged itself in her direction, opening its mouth in hopes of getting her meat.
She didn't even have the time to mourn the loss of another loved one. Her body moved on its own and she gripped the metal shaft on her hand. She hit the head of the monster with all her strength, to stop her Nanny's body from being soiled any further.
[+5 experience, +5 copper coins]
[Ding!]
She flinched at the sudden sound, looking around for its source.
[Congratulations, Terran, for activating the Universe Assistance System]
She could not even give a response.
[Your planet XZ8912, locally known as Terran, is the only planet in the G239 and U834 galaxies to have intelligent civilizations. It was therefore judged to be an important endangered planet by the Universe.]
[Galaxies G239 and U834 will be deemed uninhabitable in less than 24 hours due to the current condition of its central star.]
[In less than 24 hours, to preserve remaining life, all surviving indigenous creatures will be immigrated to the Great Continent of Xeno.]
[Please note that items in the system-provided backpack can be taken with you.]
To be honest, Althea and her big brain failed to understand what the mechanical voice was saying.
"What is Xeno?" She asked, but there was no response. "Hello?"
No answer.
"What are you talking about? Migration? What do you mean the planet will perish?"
Still no answer.
She frowned, eyes ending up on the woman who had just made her favorite dessert a few hours prior.
She took a deep breath in an attempt to stop her tears, to keep her words coherent. "Tell me, please: Why did she become like this?"
None.
Well, this was obviously one of those one-way no-reply messages…
She shook her head and stared at the body, for a while not knowing what to do.
She looked at the screen that appeared in front of her, following wherever she was looking, like that holographic screen that had just launched a few months ago.
On the bottom left, there was a logo of a backpack, an icon of a head, and a logo of a sword. On the top right, there is a moving counter currently showing [23:45:03].
She remembered that in 24 hours, a so-called migration would happen, and surmised the counter was about that.
She then looked at the backpack icon and clicked on it. A virtual box appeared in front of her, floating. It was around 1 cubic meter in size.
"All items in the 'backpack' will be taken with you." She repeated the voice's words, absentmindedly looking at the phone and the shaft, and wondering how she could test this backpack space.
She placed a hand on each item and visualized their location in the space. She blinked and looked at the backpack and, sure enough, the items were indeed arranged properly in the floating box in front of her.
Normally, she'd be very interested in this but her sights inevitably landed on the body next to her.
She heaved out a sigh and straightened up her spine—as if it could give her the confidence to face whatever chaos was about to come—and walked in front of the corpse.
While she couldn't give her a burial—a useless practice for a planet that was about to perish—she decided to place the body on the bed in the end.
At the very least, it would be a more respectable way to go than carelessly sprawled on the floor.
Properly arranging the body and closing her eyes, Althea made it appear that she was just sleeping.
Althea bowed her head, silently thanking the older woman for all the care she had given.
"May you do well and find a good family in your next life, Nanny," she said, pausing. "I love you."
...
[23:25:32]
She left the room and ended up in the living room. She grabbed the remote to see the news, but unfortunately, all the channels were black.
Althea, still a little shaken, slowly walked towards her favorite chaise lounge, lied down, and stared at the ceiling. She allowed herself a moment of respite before thinking about her next step.
She took a deep breath and looked at the other logos on her 'screen'. She clicked on the logo of a person and another set of texts appeared about a meter in front of her.
[STATS:
Name: Althea Witt
Age: 25
Level: 0 (5/50)
Life: 100/100
Spirit: 100/100 (-5%)
Physical: 20 (-5%)
Agility: 17 (-20%)
Defense: 9
Mana: 100
Physical Potential: B
Mental potential: SS+
Skills:
Active: None
Passive: None
Elemental Affinity: Wood, Water, Earth
Titles: None
Overall rank: S
Current Status: Gestating: two life forms, weakened state ]
Well, that explained all the minus signs…
Her sights shifted to the last icon, the icon of the sword. After clicking it, a virtual doll version of herself appeared in front of her.
[EQUIPMENT LIST
Head: None
Ears: None
Body: Basic night dress +0 Defense
Arms: None
Legs: None
Hands: None
Feet: Cotton Slippers +0 Defense, +0 Agility ]
This was like a game. Although she wasn't much of a gamer, her brother was. They often asked her to play with them when they were young. This sight was not unfamiliar to her.
But her sight couldn't help but stay on the stats. Only then did she start feeling her body and realized that she felt energized despite all the shock.
Not to mention, her strength and speed were not like that at all.
She totally blew nanny's head with a hit, right? Although she had practiced self-defense techniques, she was sure she was neither that quick nor that strong.
She was not sure if this was adrenaline… or was her body was somewhat improved?
Temporarily putting that aside, she proceeded to explore the rest of the system.
She stared at the final icon: the wallet.
[Wealth: 0 gold, 0 silver, 5 copper]
"..."
It seemed that her millions of digital money were useless.
She sat back up, trying to make an effective procurement plan. She had 24 hours to take what she needed.
First of all, she had no idea where they were going to get transferred to, nor did they know of the resources that they would have access to.
Hence, she needed to prepare well and make sure she had everything to maximize her chances of survival in that small space of 1 cubic meter.
And what is that 0 gold, 0 silver, 5 copper in her stats? Money? Money used in that other world?
Althea gently patted her stomach, as if they needed to be calmed down, because calming them down would calm her down.
It was just that... as she patted her stomach, her whole body froze.
Is her stomach larger?