Can Talk to Machine

Instantly Mel's aura turned dark as if the rage was trying to conquer her mood.

"Looks like my plan has to start sooner than I expected! I know that sooner or later, they'll find out that I'm still alive. I can't let them make the first move." she reminded herself incessantly.

"Max! Got the info I asked for?"

"You know you can count on me, Boss. I have saved all the information about Tanner Entertainment in your folder." Max's voice echoed through the computer room. "I've also sorted out a few cases that might interest you, Boss."

Mel nods in satisfaction.

"Since they don't have much to work now, maybe we can keep them busy a bit. Let's tease the Tanners" She smiled sarcastically. "Max, upload that bastard scandal on the 'X Files' portal now. Make sure no one can turn down the news. Keep it for a week. Let's see how they would react to the teasing."

As the number one hacker in the community, Mel doesn't like doing lowly things like this, exposing other people's scandals to disgrace them.

But this time, she had to do it. It was the fastest way to disgrace Tanner Entertainment and, if necessary, to bring them down into bankruptcy. Getting Tanner Entertainment's stock to plummet is just her first step. Her objective is to force Tanner Group out of the top 10 companies in the country and brought them to the verge of bankruptcy, if necessary.

She looked at the list of Tanner Entertainment shareholders carefully. There are several names of shareholders who are very close to her mother.

'These people, are they still holding on? I thought they'd been cleaned up by that slut?!' Mel felt is now mixed between confusion and anger. 'No, I need to find Aunty Bella, soon.' she thought.

After a while, she stared at her computer monitor screen. Her fingers are typing vigorously, again.

[Q] Why don't you track it yourself?

[Black] I've never accepted a case like this; it's not something I like to do or in line with my principles.

Mel nods in agreement.

As a hacker, she also has some conditions before accepting an offer. She will reject any cases that risk the lives of another innocent being, like children or cute animals. Also where ordinary people would suffer economic and financial loss, even when the fees are astronomically tempting.

[Black] If you accept the job, the paycheck would be fantastic.

Mel waver.

"Max... Should I leak a bit of my identity so I can receive a lot of money in a short time?" she thought mischievously.

"Yes, Boss. If you can make a lot of money, it's probably worth it. After all, you can fake your identity."

"Max, you know me so well." she chuckled.

Then she types again.

[Q] How much is your client willing to pay?

[Black] How much do you want?

[Q] 10 billion.

[Black] Agreed!

"WHAT? Does he agree with the amount, I ask?! Has he gone mad? Or have I asked too low? Damn it"

Mel shook her head slowly between joy and confusion. She did not think that rich people out there were so foolish, willing to spend a lot of money just for her real identity.

"Am I that important for them?" Mel talked to herself. "Ah... I forget Andy Tanner, that stupid rich boy, is probably willing to spend that much money. Yeah, it must be him. Only he would do that and would be that stupid." Mel unwittingly chuckles.

[Q] Let me think about it. I'll let you know if I accept it.

Mel glanced at the digital clock in front of her, 11 PM. She stretched her arms up. Suddenly her stomach started to grumbling like it were mad at her. She hasn't eaten anything since her last lunch at Grandma Recipe. She quickly left the computer room and headed to the kitchen.

Mel never good at cooking; she only can use the air fryer or microwave to heat food. Now, she is standing in front of the fridge. Her eyes fix on instant foods in the refrigerator. Yes! As usual, the choices are always like that. With a slight hum, she took the frozen pizza, then put it in the microwave.

Her stomach grumbled could no longer be compromised. She stood in front of the microwave; Her eyes glazed over the timer that counted down to 5 minutes; it seems moving too slowly.

"Can you heat it faster? Damn it! I'm starving." Curse Mel when the timer shows three more minutes. "I might not survive 5 minutes longer," Mel said exaggeratedly.

'DING!' A minute later, the microwave beeped. The pizza is ready 2 minutes earlier. Mel can tell the pizza looks like the pizza cooked for 5 minutes. The microwave somehow had been heating the pizza faster than usual.

She took out her pizza and lightly patted the black microwave in front of her. "Fantastic Job! But don't you dare break after this!" Mel said in a serious-but-joking tone and followed by a chuckled.

It feels terrific when you could talk to the machine. Mel smiled widely. Then she sat at the dining table. Her eyes stared out to the large glass window.

She saw the lights around the Lotus River, which are gorgeous around this time of night. Her mind flashed back to when she first woke up from a coma and found herself able to talk to a machine.

At the time,

Faintly, she heard her breath and the sound of 'beep' 'beep' 'beep,' like the sound of a heart monitor that you usually heard in the hospital. Slowly Mel tried to open her eyes. It's so heavy, but she manages to do it at once. Then a bright light is rushing into her eyes, and it stings her eyes so much, her vision is blurred. She pitched her eyes to sharpen the blurred image before her.

She raised her hand to protect her eyes from bright light, but she can't move her hand. She confused! After her vision slightly clear, she could see an IV needle on the back of her hand.

Where am I? I hope this is a hospital! she mumbles between her confusion and terrifying feelings.

She then tried to observe the room. The room wall paints are white and light green. And she saw a large opened window on the right. She could see outside, but blurry; the sky was blue. And there was a tall building in line with her view.

'Okay, this is probably a hospital. What hospital is this? Why can't I move my hands?'

She closed her eyes, trying to remember what had happened before everything goes dark. Then in a flash, pictures are appeared quickly in a flow of motion, like a reel picture in a video clip.

Instantly she remembered she was in a car.

She sat in the backseat. In front, her mother sat behind the wheel, and she was humming cheerfully. They in the car, driving back to the city. There is snow on the street. They had just left the house of her mother's best friend, located at the edge of the city border.

Then she remembers something. That night her mother's friend has asked them to spend the night at her house. However, her mother refused. She doesn't know why. She just heard her mother saying she had something important to do tomorrow morning. So, they had rushed home even though it was late at night and it was snowing.

The car drives smoothly. The scenery outside the vehicle is mesmerizing, a perfect combination of dark skies, yellow street lights, and the whiteness of snow. Snow is covering almost the entire road they are going through. For Mel, it's like being in fairytale land. Her mood was good; she and her mother were singing along a happy song. She feels so comfortable.

As they crossed a deserted crossroads, Mel suddenly saw a bright light approaching their car fast, so bright it makes her eyes blind by the opposing car's light. Not long after, she heard a loud crash followed by the glass shattering into pieces and her mother screaming her name, "Melanie…Melanie, Meeel...."

But her mother's voice was getting further and further away; finally, she could only hear silence. Suddenly she missed her mother's hugs so much. Then, her mind and body started to feel weak and hollow; she still didn't know what was happening. In an instant, the surrounding became silent, and then everything went dark.