01. The Unforeseen Task

Lance stood next to the hospital bed. A doctor wearing a white coat walked through him to save the young man on the bed.

Lance turned to face the teenager lying on the bed. His face was deformed and he no longer had any recognizably human features on it. 

The person didn't even have a right limb anymore. He simply laid quietly on the table with two feet and a single hand.

People looked really silly without hands.

Lance never expected to be worried about his hands at this point. 

Death didn't seem to be as frightening or painful after all. Right now, Lance doesn't feel any pain.

That's correct. Lance was dead. He was standing at the side, looking at his own body. 

He tried to re-enter his body. He still desired to live, despite the fact that his body had been severely damaged in a car accident.

He felt naked and unbalanced, as if he wore no clothes.

At this time, the door to the room opened. A woman rushed in.

 She ran over and sobbed as she hugged Lance's body. Following behind them were two men. These were Lance's stepfather and stepbrother.

Lance reached out to hug his mother, but his hand passed through her body.

"Lauren, don't be so sad. Our son did not have to suffer the agony of losing a limb; he has gone to another world." Lance's stepfather supported Lance's mom.

Lance watched them like a spectator. From the very start, his family was already in despair when his father died.

However, as time passed, his mother began to form a relationship with his uncle.

 He had grown numb to the fact that his blood uncle had married his mother.

Lance didn't blame them. On the contrary, he felt fortunate that his mother would not be judged.

Lance's spirit became lighter and lighter until it began floating away on its own to an unknown location.

Lance abruptly picked up a noise. The voice came from within his spirit, a cool, emotionless voice. 

"The spirit satisfies the requirement, locking on to system space." 

Following that, Lance felt a cold sensation enter his spirit. Despite his current state, he could feel an ice-cold energy explode in his spirit.

Lance lost consciousness as a result of this power's attack.

His last thought before falling unconscious was, hopefully, this doesn't mean he's dead.

After an unknown period, Lance finally woke up again. He felt very tired and his spirit felt heavy. People felt extremely panicked and drained due to spiritual exhaustion.

Lance rubbed his temples. It was purely instinctual, but when he touched his head, it felt like he was rubbing paper.

His spirit actually changed into this texture, leaving him feeling simultaneously delighted and terrified and completely baffled as to what was happening. 

He wasn't sure whether it was a good or bad thing. It wouldn't be simple for his spirit to vanish in this way, at the very least.

Lance calmed down and began to scan his surroundings. Without a single object in sight, it was entirely dark.

There was no sound, no trace of life. It was deathly still, without a thing. It was too quiet, eerily quiet.

He had no recollection of how he had gotten there or why he was in this strange place. 

All Lance remembered was dying in a car accident and that strange voice and then suddenly waking up here.

He couldn't make out any details of the environment. He felt a chill in the air, and the smell of dampness filled his nose.

Lance tried to stand up, but he found that he was shackled to the cold floor.

He could feel the metal cuffs cutting into his wrists. He pulled on them, but they were firmly secured. He was trapped.

"Hello? Hello? Is someone there? Sir Voice?"

He shouted, but there was no response but all he heard was the sound of his own voice echoing in the darkness.

Lance had no idea how long he had been in this strange place or what was going to happen next.

"Test results meet the requirement, commencing the task."

A cold computerized voice spoke. It was abnormally abrupt and strange in this deathly quiet environment.

He felt a chill when he heard this voice as if he had heard it before. He had heard it just before passing out.

Lance's heart rate increased as he waited to see what the voice would do next. 

He was unsure whether to trust the voice or if he should answer right now.

Don't talk until you get a lawyer, as the lawyers used to say when he was alive. He wasn't sure whether he should be scared or excited.

Lance was cautious about things he didn't understand. 

He didn't open his mouth to ask who the person was or what their goal was.

What else could anyone possibly want from him in this situation?

Your current status is Tier 0 - 2462006. Number 006."

Although he didn't know what exactly that meant, he replied immediately, "And?"

Lance had just finished speaking when a projected screen appeared in front of him. On it, his information was displayed.

Number: 2462006.

Name: Lance Ryohei.

Age: 21.

Tier: 0.

Spirit: 50/100 (Level 0)

Energy: 10/100.

Charisma: 30.

Luck: 5.

Mental Energy : 10.

Abilities: None.

Achieved Abilities: None.

Upon seeing these stats, Lance had a feeling as if he was playing a game. 

However, that was not very important so Lance didn't mind it and asked about these things instead.

"Am I alive? Where am I?"

"Contractor does not have the authority to know." It was the ice-cold voice.

"Then what happens after this?"

"Contractor does not have the authority to know."

"Since I'm a contractor, where is my contract?"

"Contractor does not have the authority to know."

Lance felt a little frustrated as he couldn't get any answers from the voice. He was about to ask something else when the screen suddenly disappeared.

Before he knew it, a shot of blue light hit his head.