Shocking discovery

Lin felt slightly down as she removed the headset from her head and the only thing that currently stopped her from throwing the damn thing against a wall was that doing so would break off all contact with Kurai, so instead she hid it away.

That which he had seen worried her and a large part of her was trying to determine whether something like that had truly happened, or whether it was the game that was starting to corrupt his thought processes since Kurai was technically a being made up of data at the moment.

She didn't know which option she would rather choose, since neither was good, but she would damn well try to bring her friend back in one piece.

'Friend'…hah! The word really had the ability to sting even though she'd never really heard Kurai use it all that often and she sometimes wondered whether it was because he knew about the little, itsy-bitsy, crush she had on him since high school.

Sure he was never truly into sports, but that didn't mean the right hook he'd thrown after finding out about how some of the jocks had bullied her for being a so-called 'geek', had been any less spectacular.

Lin didn't suffer from the 'Oh! My hero!' complex that most girls seemed to be diagnosed with, but knowing that there was someone who practically knew everything about her and who endured all of her flaws without being afraid to tell her when she'd messed up, was something she deeply treasured given how famous the rest of her family were.

As expected, she returned the favor in kind, even though Kurai tended to get into significantly less trouble due to having his face constantly stuck in a book.

And now he was constantly battling for his life instead.

This made the current situation even worse since she seemed to be missing out on an entire week of in-game time even though only a day had passed in the real world and the thought of everything that could happen within that amount of time set her on edge.

She frowned as she remembered putting on the headset and finding Kurai in the middle of a war.

At first, she'd only been able to watch in horror while trying to keep silent so that she wouldn't suddenly distract him with all the sharp objects swinging around, but she'd been unable to keep her silence as he almost died.

And even though Kurai hadn't mentioned anything about dying again, the slightly haunted look on his face had been enough of an answer as he spoke to her earlier.

Something had happened and it was something that bothered him quite a bit.

She was sure that he was a part of the main reason why the war had ended…and that could only mean that he'd joined in on the boss fight, but her gut told her that something else happened as well, and only Kurai's reassurance of telling her once he'd figured it out was keeping her from constantly badgering him about it.

Her thoughts were interrupted as Ryan, her oldest brother, knocked on her door to call her again and she mumbled as she made sure Kurai's body was comfortable before she made her way down to the kitchen where the rest of her family were waiting.

They were currently back at her parents' house and given the amount of time she spent by Kurai's side when possible, they had simply added his bed to her room when they realized that she wasn't sleeping enough because of her constant worrying.

She loved having dinner with them, make no mistake about that, but given the crisis that was currently going on in her head, she didn't really feel hungry at all.

She was unaware that her parents watched her with worry, but Ryan's gaze seemed to be fixed into a knowing expression as he slowly took a sip of tea, "So how is Kurai coping?"

Lin didn't even look up as she answered automatically due to being so consumed by her thoughts, "He's about alright as can be at the moment. I think something big happened, but I don't think he'll tell–"

Lin's gaze snapped up to Ryan in shock and worry as their parents, as well as Tian, their middle brother, looked at them in confusion. "I–eh, well that is–"

Ryan's stare made her words freeze in their tracks and she realized that there was no getting out from under it unless she told her family the truth, which was excruciatingly hard to do, given that she was sure they would think she was losing her mind.

'Not to mention the things I'd done these last couple of days to try and figure out what the Military and Zenomitec were up to.'

Tian slowly glanced between the two of them, "I think the rest of us are missing something here…"

Lin could see both her parents nod before her dad crossed his arms, which was never a good sign because it was usually accompanied by the parental 'spill it' look that left you revealing most of your deepest secrets before you even realized it…okay so she was exaggerating, but still, it was never a good thing to be on the receiving end of that look.

She looked toward Ryan, trying to determine why he would even bring it up, but the look of worried protectiveness said it all and she caved as she looked down at her hands, "I was supposed to be the one who used the head-gear, but our snacks were in danger of burning so I asked him to log in for me. I was supposed to be the one that fell into a coma, not Kurai."

Her mother gave her a soft, comforting look of sympathy as she held out her hand and took Lin's in hers the moment she reached out, "Sweetheart, you couldn't have known…"

Lin nodded, "I know, but it still doesn't stop it from being true. I called you as soon as I realized he hadn't just fallen asleep on the bed as I'd first thought, but what I didn't tell you was that people from Zenomitec came to look at the headgear soon after. I gave them a printed version―I only printed one to see if I could―and later realized that they had removed the memory disc."

Her parents, Tian, and even Ryan frowned at that and she nodded, "I still had the original headset and memory disc. After that I placed the headset on―yes I know it was stupid since it had already caused Kurai to fall into a coma, but I had placed it on when I thought Kurai had merely fallen asleep― but it didn't work on me."

She took a deep breath as she tried to calm her nerves, "Instead, when it came on, I was confronted with an image of Kurai and it was then that I learned that his consciousness was trapped inside the game…"

Silence suddenly descended and it was clear to Lin that they hadn't expected something like that, but before one of them could ask whether it hadn't been a dream or something, Lin's expression hardened in anger, "I hacked into their side from an internet café and found that it had been one of the experiments that the Military and Zenomitec had been working on. I think they accidentally switched the prototypes, and it was meant to allow people to upload their consciousness into the game while their bodies are placed in cryo until technologies have been developed to help them. Naturally, only the richest people would be able to do so, but they selected normal people to test it on."

Ryan frowned at that, "How could that even be possible? People still struggle to prove the existence of a soul even today…"

Lin shrugged, "If I knew then I would have already tried to find a way to remove him from the game."

Tian sat forward in interest, "So he's ACTUALLY living in the game? How does that even work?"

Lin nodded, "We've already determined that one day in real life is worth a week in-game time. They still have to eat and sleep, but there are classes to choose from like in normal games…"

She grimaced, "They only get one resurrection ticket apparently and we don't yet know what would happen if someone were to die in the game."

Her family grew somber at that and she looked at Ryan, "How did you know?"

He sighed, "I heard you talking to him and at first I thought you were talking to his body, which, given the contents of the talk, made me worry that you were going slightly insane from shock, but then I saw that you had the headset on and you seemed to be having a real conversation with someone so I took a guess."

She gaped at him in shock for a moment before a blush crossed her face and she crossed her arms as she petulantly mumbled, "That is why you aren't allowed in my room."

Ryan laughed lightly at that before her father spoke up, "So what were the two of you talking about? What do you plan on doing next?"

Lin thought for a moment, "Kurai said that he saw his family and a possible memory from his childhood even though he told us before that there were some gaps in his memories. The content of it was worrisome so he wanted me to check if I could find anything that might prove or disprove it."

Her mother frowned in worry, "What was in the memory?"

She took a deep breath, "He said he saw a little version of himself trying to hide from two familiar-looking scientists who appeared and tried to take him away. His parents appeared, but instead of helping the little boy, His mom tried to talk him into going back inside while his dad seemed more worried about helping the world than about the pain they were putting him through to try and isolate something in his DNA that had mutated."

The look of horror on her family's faces was telling enough before her mother frowned in thought, "I think I heard somewhere about someone wanting to test something that might 'improve' or 'enhance' the human population, but there have constantly been rumors of that seeing as people are starting to recognize and fear their own mortality…"

Her words cut off as she stood and approached one of the nearby laptops and swiftly started searching on the web.

Lin had never really been present to see exactly how her parents worked, but the speed at which her mom's hands flew over the keys seemed to prompt her dad into searching as well. There were even a few firewall warnings and she glanced at her brother in shock as she noticed that they were actually hacking into the government systems.

Ryan simply gave her a smug look, "What? Did you think Mom and Dad wouldn't dare to do something like this if it meant one of us was in trouble? Besides, the two of them are always competing to see who can solve or find what first. It's how they first met since they were rivals working for two different gaming industries."

Warnings suddenly flashed, but they were able to stop it in time until finally, Lin saw both her parents simultaneously sitting back with clear shock and disgust on their faces.

On the screen, it showed a picture of a much younger Kurai, and under it was a label that said 'subject 000'.

Lin leaned closer and her eyes widened as she read the description, "Subject 000 has been found to possess a mutated gene that will not only allow him to live longer but would also ensure that he will be faster, stronger, and generally healthier than the average human being. Further testing has been halted for now, as we were unable to copy the mutated gene for further testing without it reacting negatively with the new hosts. The subject's parents were previously employed at the facility and can be contacted again once further advancements have been made in the field. Subject 000 reacted negatively to the tests and as such, memories have been removed via hypnosis to ensure that future cooperation can be achieved."