Operation

When I opened my eyes, my body felt like it was chained to a stretcher. My arms, my legs, even my head… I couldn't move any of them. Cold metal straps dug into my skin, and every breath sent sharp pain into my lungs. People in white protective suits were moving around me. Their faces were covered in masks, their eyes cold and mechanical. They were preparing silently, like machines. What preparations? I didn't know. But the fear that was growing inside me was getting heavier with each passing second.

I was scared. God, how scared I was. I didn't know what was going to happen, but I wasn't going to give up in this shitty world. I was Kevin Stone. No, I was "Nameless," wasn't that what they called it? But what difference did it make? I was smart, I was ambitious, and I had always lost because of damned misfortune. But this time it would be different. My rebirth couldn't mean dying again in this disgusting place. I gritted my teeth, but even that was hard. Because my body was as if it was under someone else's control.

The door of the room opened at that moment. A different person appeared among the figures in white protective suits. This man... was different from the others. He didn't have a protective suit on. He was wearing a black, flawless suit. His face was smooth, as if it had been carved by a sculptor. Tough but handsome, he was the definition of perfection. His eyes, deep and sharp, scanned the room, and everyone's movements slowed down. It was as if his very presence made the air heavy. He was holding a metallic box in his hand. It was small, but it was emitting an ominous energy.

The man placed the box on a table. As he slowly opened it, the dim room was suddenly filled with a yellowish light. Inside... a piece of wire came out. Yes, a yellow, thin wire. I couldn't believe my eyes. Is this it? All this preparation, all this fear, this disgusting shelter... was it all for this ridiculous piece of wire? But that wire was no ordinary thing. It was trembling slightly in the air, as if it had its own consciousness. As it glittered in the light, it aroused a strange uneasiness in me.

The man approached me with a strange cutting tool. The tip of the tool was thin and sharp, but it looked more like a scalpel than a knife. His eyes didn't even meet mine. He began his work as coolly as if I were an object. At that moment, a scream ripped through me. But I didn't make a sound. My body was still locked by that invisible force.

When the scalpel touched my chest, the world stopped. The pain… God, I had never imagined such pain. It was like my skin was being torn, my bones were breaking, my soul was being pulled from my body. The yellow wire was placed in the middle of my chest. Every movement, every cut, was a symphony of screams burning inside me. The sons of bitches didn't stop for a second. The pain was so intense that my consciousness began to blur. Black dots danced before my eyes. But I wouldn't give up. I gritted my teeth, a single thought echoing in my mind: Stay alive, Kevin. Stay alive.

Finally, the cutting was done. The man began to stitch me up, calmly. Every needle, every thread was a new torture on my skin. But what was really terrifying was what came when the stitches were finished. The man didn't stop. He slowly approached my face. His scalpel touched the corner of my lips. At that moment, I realized what he was going to do. I wanted to scream, but no sound came out. He… ripped my lips out. Yes, he ripped them out. Blood seeped into my chin. The pain was tearing my brain apart. Then he started sewing my mouth shut with needle and thread. Each stitch seemed to chain my soul to my body. I wanted to run away, scream, beg, but I couldn't do anything. That invisible force was holding me like a puppet. And then… the whispers started. A disgusting, muffled sound in my ear. As if someone was trying to speak, but the words were stuck in their throat. "F-f ... What did he want? The whispers were circulating in my brain like a parasite, constantly, disgustingly.

When the surgery was over, my gurney moved. The staff carried me down a dark corridor. The whispers still echoed in my ears, each one stabbing into my mind like a knife. We reached a room at the end of the corridor. When the door opened, I saw eight people. They were all in rags like me. They all bore the same hideous stitch marks. Some were trembling, some were staring blankly at the wall. But all of them had the same thing in their eyes: fear and despair.

My gurney was left in the middle of the room. Without a word, the staff had slammed the heavy metal door and left. The echoing ring of the door cut like a knife in my ears. The stitches in my chest were still throbbing; no drugs had been used, needles were stabbing with every breath. But what was truly disgusting was the yellow wire inside me. It moved in the middle of my chest as if it were alive. My skin was rotting around the wire, then regenerating again. This vile cycle had turned my body into a battlefield. Every decay, every renewal was unbearable pain. The stitches in my mouth were another kind of torture. The threads tightly closed my lips; I could not speak, I could only make muffled moans. But I would not give up.

I was Kevin… or Nameless. What difference did it make? I wasn't a loser enough to die in this shitty place.

The chains were clamping my arms and legs to the gurney. I couldn't move, but I strained my eyes as I scanned the room. There were eight other people in the room, all strapped to gurneys like me. But most of them… they weren't even human. Their skin was a sickly white, almost transparent. Veins twisted disgustingly under the skin. One had yellow eyes, another had a face that seemed to have melted; no lips, just a stitched-up void. Another was groaning and shaking, but his voice sounded more like the creaking of a machine than a human voice. The sight made my stomach turn. My heart clenched, but more than fear, I felt anger rising inside me. What the hell is this place? And why am I here?

A familiar yellow exclamation point appeared in my vision then. It blinked, as if mocking. Then, a cold, mechanical text appeared on the screen:

Congratulations to the presenter.

You have completed a secret mission! [GET RID OF THE CHARM OF THE WHISPERS]

Rewards: ANCHOR POINTS ARE NOW AVAILABLE! +RAPID HEALING FACTOR ENABLED!

WARNING: THE SERVER'S HEALTH IS CRITICAL. THE HEALING SYSTEM IS CURRENTLY

DISABLED. WILL BE ACTIVE IN THE NEAREST POSSIBLE TIME.

WARNING: THE HEALING SYSTEM IS CURRENTLY DISABLED. PLEASE RELAX.

At that moment, a cool, mentholated breeze passed through my body. The disgusting cycle of decay and regeneration in my chest stopped abruptly. The wire was still there, cold and foreign, but it was no longer gnawing at my skin. The pain suddenly eased. The whispers… those disgusting, stuttering sounds. They too had disappeared. There was only silence in my ears, but even that silence was terrifying. The scars from the surgery, especially the stitches in my mouth, were still throbbing. The system had not healed my lips. I could not speak, but this… seemed somehow tolerable. Because I was alive. And I had not been caught. Yet.

A situation like this would normally drive a person to the brink of madness. The panic I felt when I lost millions in the stock market, the fear I felt when I was stabbed in a pizzeria… These would have kept me awake for weeks in my old world. But here? I had regained my composure incredibly quickly. It was as if a voice inside me was saying, "This is normal." The pain, the fear, everything felt like part of a game. This world had rewritten my values. My anger, my fear, all turned into a goal: to escape from here.

I began to think about how to communicate with the system. I was searching for something in my mind, but I did not know what it was. It was as if there was an itch inside me; it was there, but I could not reach it. I tried, I tried, I tried. Then, I focused on that feeling. And suddenly, a blue screen appeared in my vision, as if it was engraved in my mind:

[Opportunity System]

[Missions]

[Anchor Points]

[.........]

I excitedly clicked on the "Missions" tab. With my mind, of course. I didn't know how it worked, but it was instinctive. As if I'd been using this system for years.

[Missions]

Escape from X-Global Facilities!

Description: Escape from X-Global Facilities in 15 Days [Time Remaining: 14 Days 22 Hours 3 Minutes]!

Rewards: Statistics Function is activated upon completion of the mission.

Secret Missions: [ELIMINATE THE CHARM OF THE WHISPERS], [?], [?], [?]

15 days. A time limit. My heart raced, but this time not from fear, but from adrenaline. Was this a game? No, this was real. But this world turned even pain into a game. What were these WHISPERS? Those hideous whispers had clouded my mind as they seeped into my ears, but now they were gone. The system had saved me from them. But why? And these facilities… What would happen if I didn't escape? I looked at the other eight people in the room. Were they like me? Or… were they turning into something else?

My curiosity overcame my fear. I quickly clicked on the "Anchor Points" tab:

[ANCHOR POINTS]

Description: Allows the host to respawn at a major turning point after death.

Available Anchor Points [1]

1. Awakening Ceremony

2. Locked

Note: Earn turning points by having fateful encounters to unlock more anchor points.