Chapter 4: Second load

"Host's vital signs have stopped, host has been confirmed to be dead."

"The host will now be loaded from the last save point."

"Load complete. Loads remaining: 1/3."

It was the same flash of light before Lin Fan was thrown back into the world.

This time, instead of freaking out, Lin Fan just sat there in a daze, thinking about what had just happened.

To put it simply, he was numb.

When he was thrown back into this world, he was completely unable to feel a thing.

After sitting there in a daze for five minutes, Lin Fan suddenly screamed.

It wasn't a scream of fear or sadness, it was a primal scream that couldn't be described with a single emotion.

There was the same banging on the walls from the neighbours, but Lin Fan couldn't hear any of it.

It was only after a full minute of screaming that he suddenly stopped. There was no buffer, there was no gradual dying out of the sound, his scream just suddenly cut off.

Lin Fan finally slumped back in the chair that he had been sitting on, questioning everything that had just happened in the last two days. Or rather, the last two days that now never happened.

Finally Lin Fan couldn't take it anymore as he asked the system in a defeated voice, "System, what was that? Why did she come and find me?"

The system was silent for a second before saying, "Host, please finish your mission."

Lin Fan just said, "What's the point?"

"Detecting high levels of despair in the host."

"Seeking special permission."

"Special permission has been granted."

"Host, whether you complete the mission or not, she will be coming for you no matter what."

Lin Fan was shocked when he heard this and after taking a second to let it sink in, he asked, "You mean, even if I don't do anything, she'll come for me?"

"Host, the missions of the Doki Doki Love System are all related to girls who have killed you or indirectly caused your death in an alternate world. The Goddess of Love couldn't stand to see how unlucky you were in love, so she sent the system to help you avoid this fate and find true love. That is the role of the system."

Lin Fan's mind exploded when he heard this.

Every girl in the system had once killed him or indirectly caused his death in an alternate world…

Did that mean that every single girl that he would meet from now on would be like Chu Chu?

That fear of death had deeply scarred him, but there was another effect that those deaths had played on him. After experiencing all those deaths, it had also steeled his mind.

He had been quite weak willed from the style of life that he lived, but after dying twice, there were many things that had changed in his mind.

He was much more accepting of change now and could process it much more easily, quickly accepting the facts that the system had told him.

Death really had changed him for the better, but that wasn't just the case for Lin Fan.

Death was something that all humans feared and it held a big influence over their lives. To experience something like this not just once, but twice, it would have been more strange if Lin Fan didn't change.

However, for most people who didn't have a magic system that could revive them after death, death wasn't a good choice if they wanted to change themselves.

Lin Fan steeled his mind and made his decision.

After dying twice, Lin Fan feared death even more, but it also made him more determined to avoid it.

Since there was no other choice, he would have to finish this mission.

Lin Fan suddenly asked the system, "System, when you say capture, do you mean capture the target as in make them fall in love or do you mean something else?"

The system said in a clear and concise voice, "Host, please 'capture' the target."

The way the system said it made the meaning very vague, but Lin Fan could hear something different from this tone.

Not only was his will much stronger, after going through moments of life and death twice, having to think at a much faster scale, his mental processing power had also increased. Lin Fan was smart to begin with, being able to easily clear any dating sim game that he played, but now his cognitive abilities were much stronger after being enhanced, pushing him closer to genius level.

After being in thought for a bit, Lin Fan had thought through what he needed to do.

The first thing was that there was a large disparity in information.

Based on what the system had said and the fact that she knew where he lived, showing up to kill him, it was clear that she had been investigating him. However, that was the problem since Lin Fan had no information on Chu Chu at all.

The only things he knew was where she lived since he had gone there last night and the fact that she might have had a corpse hidden in her refrigerator.

Thinking of that fact sent a chill down his spine.

This was a girl who hadn't just killed him, she had also killed another man and had stored his corpse in her refrigerator. It was very clear that this girl was mentally unstable, making her very dangerous.

Seeing that he had no other choice, Lin Fan headed out. He called a taxi and headed off to Chu Chu's apartment.

Along the way, in the taxi, he began going over the tiny amount of information that he had.

What he knew so far was where she lived, where she worked, and the fact that there was a body in her fridge.

He could just call the police on her, but would they ever believe it if he were to report a body in her fridge?

Even if they did, with how slowly the police react, how long would it be before they would even go search her apartment?

With all the different things they would need to get, there would be plenty of time for Chu Chu to hide the body.

Of course, there was still another way that he could bring her down, but that would mean dying a mutual death and before he was out of options, he wouldn't want to go down that path.

The taxi quickly reached his destination and he just threw some cash at the driver, not even bothering to get his change as he rushed out of the vehicle.

Relying on his fuzzy memories from last night, he was able to find Chu Chu's apartment. However, as he was standing outside the apartment, he suddenly realized that he had neglected a problem.

He had been thinking about what to search for when he was in the apartment, but he had completely forgotten to think about how he was going to get it.

He could break in, but if someone were to catch him, that would mean going to jail or even worse, another death...He didn't have that many lives left to play with. He only had a single load left.

As he stood there wondering what to do, there was a person that passed by him that looked at him with a strange look. This person was no one else other than the building manager who lived on the same floor as Chu Chu.

With how Lin Fan was just standing outside Chu Chu's door, the building manager couldn't help finding it strange, even wondering if he should call the police.

As far as he knew, the person who lived there was a sweet young girl who lived alone and while this person didn't seem like a dangerous man, he still knew that this person didn't live here.

After watching Lin Fan for a bit, he finally mustered the courage to come over and ask, "Hello, is there anything I can help you with?"

Lin Fan suddenly jolted when he heard this since he had been deep in thought over what to do. Seeing the man who had suddenly approached him, Lin Fan became on guard against him, but then he realized that he was being too paranoid and it seemed too suspicious that he calmed down.

After pausing for a few seconds, Lin Fan did his best to reveal a friendly smile as he said, "I'm Chu Chu's friend and I'm here to pick something up for her, but she forgot to give me a key."

The man was surprised for a second, but the fact that Lin Fan knew the name of the girl who lived here at least meant something. He was either a stalker or he was actually her friend who was here on her behalf.

But either way, it didn't seem like Lin Fan was dangerous.

As a man who had been a landlord for close to twenty years now, this man considered himself quite capable of judging people.

The man said, "Since that's the case, why don't you go and get a key from her instead of hanging out here?"

Lin Fan said with an awkward look, "She said that the thing she wanted me to get was quite important, so I can't really leave." After a pause, he then said, "Are you the landlord for this building?"

The man nodded before saying, "That's right."

Lin Fan revealed a smile immediately as he said, "Then can you let me in, so I can get that thing for Chu Chu?"

This time it was the landlord who revealed a difficult look as he said, "I can't really let you into a tenant's house. Can't you just go find her for the key?"

Lin Fan paused for a second before saying, "Then how about if I call her? If she says that it's ok, would you be able to open the door for me?"

This was a complete gamble for Lin Fan. He knew that he wouldn't be able to get into the apartment today, but at the very least, he would be able to put another plan into action.

While he had been talking to the landlord, his brain had been turning and he had thought of another plan that he could execute.

The landlord hesitated for a bit before saying, "Well...Alright, if she says that it's alright…"

Lin Fan revealed a bright smile when he heard this and he took out his phone, but then he acted like he had just thought of something as he said, "Right, I don't have her number."

This clearly raised a red flag for the landlord when he said this, but he quickly added, "This is a new phone that I bought after I broke my last one, so I didn't have time to save all my contacts. Could you please call her on your phone?"

The landlord looked at Lin Fan for a few seconds, but then he took out his phone. To him, the sooner he could get rid of Lin Fan, the better, so he would go along with this idea for now.

The landlord dialed Chu Chu's phone number before handing the phone over to Lin Fan.

It rang a few times before Chu Chu's voice said, "Hello, landlord, is there a problem?"

Lin Fan said in a calm voice, "Hello, this is Lin Fan."