10 Mom

"Hmm. Now that I think about it. Where does Mom live?"

Bob asked his chicken a question.

"Cluck?"

It only gave him a questionable gaze and did not cluck any more.

"I guess we can only find out."

Bob walked without a direction in mind. He once again forgot the wonders of the system that could help him find his mother. So he just wandered around the city.

As the sun slowly descended and the cold night crept ever so closely, Bob had a fun time roaming around the city that he forgot about his main goal of looking for his mother.

"Hey! The city is amazing!"

He was dazzled by the wondrous sights before him. He knew that the houses in Donut City were filled with colorful donut-shaped houses but he didn't know the grandeur of such infrastructure.

"I'm going to paint my barn!" said Bob.

"Cluck."

The chicken clucked in a low tone, it was a reminder to Bob that he no longer had a home to return to. His eyes teared up without warning and his motivation sunk, his happy demeanor from earlier was gone without a trace.

"...."

As the night came, Bob continued strolling. However, the sudden depression and the dropping temperature of the night were a combination that nobody liked. Bob felt hopeless.

'How are they not worried about the night?'

He looked at the other adventurers. They were players, and the real world time was separate from in-game time. To the players, it was still time to play and level up.

To Bob, however, it was the time to sleep. His only worries were that he did not have a bed to rest on. Unlike the database where he only laid on the floor, the city was bustling with activity.

'Wait a minute.'

Bob was feeling cold. However, that is not his current worry. He realized that he has not eaten any food for 2 days now.

"What was I doing the past 2 days again?"

He asked himself as he sat down beside the road. There were carriages passing him here and there earlier but now the road was empty. There were only people walking around in strange clothing and armor.

"I was sent into a place that was full of fire. Now that I think about it, why did I suddenly get there?"

Due to the time that Bob spent thinking, he now found the events he experienced as something absurd.

"Then a large dog suddenly appeared. It would have torn me to pieces if I wasn't relocated again."

He didn't find the large dog to be surprising, but he was surprised that he was teleported to another place once again.

"Hmm. What did that prompt say again? I can't remember."

Bob dug his memory, but it was no use. His memory was too short because the game did not allocate a lot of GBs for him.

"And then I was inside that place with people."

He was thinking about the time he spent in the database. He slept inside that space because he felt like he was tired but that was not really the case.

"Then I found myself, who was not moving a muscle before I was sent back to Bagel Village."

"Then I went back to my barn. There was another person standing there. And he looked just like me."

Bob continued recalling the events that happened within 2 days. He found that he has not eaten any food at all. In fact, he hasn't drunk anything either.

"What is going on? Why am I not hungry or thirsty?" He said in a louder voice than normal.

He now began to question his physiological needs. He checked his body and clothing but there was no hint, what would he expect?

"Hey!" A voice called out to Bob from behind.

"??"

Bob looked behind him and saw a person approaching him. He was wearing similar clothing to Bob. It was a fellow newbie.

"Is this your first Virtual Reality game?"

"Virtual Reality? What does that mean?"

Seeing Bob's reaction, the person cringed. Bob was once again mistaken for a hardcore roleplayer. Roleplayers are popular in virtual reality games after all.

Without replying to Bob's question, the person walked away.

"How rude." thought Bob.

The interaction reminded Bob of the past interaction he had with other people.

'Is Chikinsupu still lost in the forest?'

Bob remembered his first friend after gaining awareness. He regrets that he didn't spend the entire day looking for Chikinsupu.

'Satsuki.'

As he remembered Satsuki's name, he caressed his chicken's feathers. He was agitated because of Satsuki's mistake, and upon reminiscing that fact-

'Wow. How stupid was I to do that?'

Bob recalled that he was being too offended because of one small mistake on Satsuki's part. He realized that he may have overreacted just like a typical Karen.

'Now that I think about it. Satsuki helped me by teaching me about the system.'

'Hmmm. The system helped me find my way to the city.'

Finally, Bob was using his chicken-brain.

'Cluck!' (Don't insult me.)

Forgive the narrator, chicken.

"Maybe I can use the system to find my mom!"

After hours of forgetting his main goal, Bob ultimately found a way to look for his mother. It was a rookie mistake that cost him hours but at least he found his way.

"System! Where is my mom?"

*Searching results for "Where is my mom?"

The narrator doesn't like where this is going.

*Processing.

*Results found.

*Showing relevant results for "Where is my mom?"

-Post: 'Your mom is in my basement!' by xXn00bHunter69xX

-Post: 'My mom is cheating on my dad in-game.' by familyStroke.

-Post: 'Here are 10 mom tips for virtual reality. You won't believe number8!' by julie2020

"What is this? It didn't give me a pathway guide." Bob was shocked upon reading the results of his question.

'My mom is in the system's basement?'

*You have searched for information that does not have a published guide.

*Please try using captions and accurate information.

"Accurate information? Should I put mom's name in it?"

*Name searches include the player database and the NPC database.

*There will be several results.

Bob thought for a while. He was thinking about the accurate detail that he knows about his mother. Her name and her location would be the best captions to put.

"Hmmm. Where is 'Bob's Mom' in Donut City?" Bob said to the system.

*Searching results for "Where is 'Bob's Mom' in Donut City?"

*Processing.

*An NPC has been found with the name 'Bob's Mom' within Donut City.

*'Bob's Mom' is a quest NPC that is necessary for Bob's final quest 'Say hello to my mom for me.' She resides in Donut City and has no further use.

*Calculating your current location.

*Processing.

*Your current position is 20 game meters away from 'Bob's Mom'. Toggling pathway guide.

Bob saw the luminescent pathway show itself once again. This time, the pathway guide was a little too short. It ended just right ahead and it was on a Donut House that looked more like it was a house from Bagel Village.

"Ah. I should have known."

Bob walked towards the Bagel house without hesitation. His strides were confident and he was feeling light as he walked. He wanted to uplift his spirits within his mother's presence.

Knock Knock~

Bob knocked on the door as he arrived. He wanted to surprise his mother but he didn't want to be disrespectful. So he waited for a reply before speaking.

However.

Knock Knock~

There was no reply.

"Mom?"

Bob spoke loudly so that the person inside could hear. But still, there was no reply from inside the house.

Turn and Click~ Creeeeaaak~

"Mom?"

Bob opened the door slowly. He looked inside and saw his mom just sitting on a couch. She was not doing anything other than staring at a wall.

However, despite opening the door and talking, Bob's mom did not turn to look at him. She was still staring at the wall. The wall was much more interesting to her than Bob is.

Due to not receiving a reply, Bob walked to his mom's front and looked at her. She was still staring lifelessly.

"Mom?"

Bob once again asked for her attention, but this time, he was right in front of her.

"Hello! Adventurer, did you come from Bagel Village?" Bob's mom said passionately.

However, to Bob, it felt very weird. He felt this feeling before with Rodrik and Rose.

"Mom? It's me, Bob!" Bob said with a weak voice. He did not expect that his mother would also be like this.

"Have you heard anything about my son, Bob?" She replied as if she read from a script.

Bob's emotions from earlier were already down in the dumps. He did not like the cold and he did not like staying outside at night. He also did not like that he no longer had a home.

"Mom." Bob could only utter one word.

He hugged her. But she did not reply to his hug.

"Hello! Adventurer, did you come from Bagel Village?"

Hearing this, Bob hugged his mom tighter. He didn't have any particular memory of interaction with his mom but he knows that she was his mother.

"Mom." Bob's voice cracked. He released his hug as he said.

"Have you heard anything about my son, Bob?"

Upon hearing her mechanical voice lines, Bob gave up. He knew that everything he knew about the world was not like it was supposed to be.

With a lonely gait, he walked towards the place opposite of the door. There were no corners within the house as it was donut-shaped.

Bob sat down. Clutched his head with both hands and did nothing. He was simply losing his mind.

"What am I?"

He now began to question his existence.