He Zhaoling wakes up with a headache. She find out she was in a pure white room, if not for the floor is gray, she would probably disoriented.
There is nothing in this room, beside a single floating digit numbers, representing time - 2399 :59:49, 47, 46... the numbers keep decreasing.
"Sister Ling Fei? Shi Mingdong?" she shout out.
"Experimenter number EW19Q34711, name He Zhaoling, sex Female, age 18" a female voice was heard. But the voice is clearly electronic synth.
"Welcome to Laplace Multidimensional Cosmic Calculation System, or as you Experimenter like to call it, Main God Space. Right now you are in room Q34711"
"Ah I remember, because of Earthquake I wake up in Terminator 2 world" she whisper.
"Experimenter number EW19Q34711, you are caught in an Earthquake on your sleep, you died as the concrete beam smash your head. Your soul was selected into Laplace Multidimensional Cosmic Calculation System by random, arrange qualification trial by sending you to Terminator 2 World, as you complete the trial, you get some Jurisdiction"
He Zhouling shouts "Why conduct the Trial, For what? People dies in it"
"According to statistics, death rate Newbie Trial death rate is 78,798%, you could survive and live happily. If you don't take and finish the trial, you would be erased in soul level. You are originally dead, have the chance to live again you should be grateful"
"Who would happy for that?"
"So are you unsatisfied?" the voice asked
"You", He Zhaoling slowly stop and think harder.
"Can I go back home?"
"Yes"
"How can I go back home?"
"You can go and experience other worlds that exist as entertainment in your original world, when you go to these worlds, you would be given Quests. These Quests would give you reward points for completion. REward point could be exchanged to purchase life time"
"Pays time?"
"Each Experimenter that finish the Trial would be given 2400 hours, you could go to another world as long as the time exist, the time would be steadily reduced"
He Zhaoling feels cold "What if it was totally empty?"
"Write Off" says the System "So to keep living well please keep completing Quests to gain reward points. As you would soon realized It wasn't a big deal"
"What other things could we do with reward points?"
"You could exchange reward points with basic standard equipment of that world. For Terminator 2 World you would get a M1911 pistol with 100 rounds. To bring more advanced equipment from that world you need to pay more points. Reward Points could also be exchanged with information of the world you visit. You could also exchange Reward Points to experience the world you have visited before as a Visitor status, there would be no Quests as long as you visit the world as a visitor. Finally if you are harmed in your experience, you could be sent to this Space back to Perfect status"
"What's the point of everything? Are we just go doing mission, after that returning here just to increase our time to live for several days?"
"If you need comfort, you could modify this space with whatever you desire free of denomination. You could ask the System to create living beings in these spaces, animals, servants, or even lovers with paying some points. You can enjoy life until you cease to exist", said the Systems female voice.
"I meet some people from "Terminator 2 World". Can I talk to them?" He Zhaoling asks.
"If they haven't left to experience another world, you could contact them" through the bracelet"
Suddenly she realized on her hand there's a bracelet. It is quite nice and fashionable. When she lifted her hand, a holographic screen shows up from the bracelet.
He Zhaoling then tries to focus on the bracelet, calling the name Shi Mingdong and Ling Fei. Shi Mingdong status was shown. Ling Fei status was "Idle", but Shi Mingdong status was "In Travel".
So she called Ling Fei, Ling Fei quickly reply "If you already understand the function of Main God Space, go to Public Room 43"
"Going to public Room 43? How?" she asked.
"Go to the edge of the Room, put your hand on the wall, and think where do you want to go" says the system voice.
So she go to the edge of the room, put her hand on the wall, and said in her mind "Public Room 43", so the girl found herself in a large hall. It has a modern office feeling to it, with some doors all over the hall.
She could see many people just walk all over the hall. There are those who wear exoskeleton, some others wear metal armor, others have daoist robes. There is no feeling of certain doom in here.
....
Suddenly a male in armor with a flashy glass rush to her
"Are you a newbie? Your first time coming here right? You still have 100 days right? Could you lend me 10 days, no 8 days is just fine? I'm just gonna go to the next "Quest Mission". I would quickly repay you double in the next quest….. Please save me!" the man said as he beg and cry at He Zhaoling.
"Ah….I , you" He Zhaoling can't answer as he suddenly feels a bit of pity to the man.
WAtching her face seems less wary, the man quickly said "You still have 100 days right? I just need 10 days, It won't harm you at all. I only have 7 hours left. Are you Eastern, need me to bow to you, I bow to you" the man said as he kowtow to her.
"Don't help or listen to him" a cold female voice was heard from her back
"Sister Ling" He Zhaoling happily turn around, theres Ling Fei in Gym clothes walking to her.
"Do not help him, people like him after arrived in Main God Space live here like an idiot, they scam people from their life and reward points, then they spend it like crazy, then before they die they would ask mercy from newbie. There is many people like that here. I have reported him for you" Ling Fei said as she watch the man.
"No...… please noooo, I just ask you 5 days, just 5 days of time. I would really go to do some Mission Quest" said that person as he keep bowing his head to the floor.
"Experimenter ED17C797345, Paul Gascoigne, you Violate Laplace Multidimensional Cosmic System Public Region Regulation rule 103 of not begging in Public. For first offence, you are deducted 24 hours of lifetime"
He Zhaoling suddenly saw a pure clean white robot. Its arms are long and slender, Its lower body is only a long tube floating above the ground.
"No, no, I don't have….." the man barely speaks then runs like crazy away from the robot. But suddenly he was enveloped by a white light and he was stuck there.
"Your Surplus time is 14 hours, 13 minutes and 7 seconds. Reward points 0, don't have enough to pay the penalty, write off" the robot voice was heard.
"Noooooooo" then a red light was enveloping his body. The male body disintegrated like dust, his clothes and armor fell down to the floor. The Law Enforcer Robot not speaking anymore pointed his hand to the clothes and armor. White light flashes on those items, and it disappears.
"What is this System, this Lapla….is, why is it so cruel" He Zhaoling was quite scared, she cover her mouth as her tears fall off.
Ling Fei walk next to her and put her hand on her shoulder "In here we live on knife edge, everyday must go on living to get stronger. Actually if you have the heart of a warrior, this place is quite nice. You know, many people here already reach the 50,000 points to return home, yet they choose to stay, because they used to fight, used to get stronger"
"I don't understand this. I just want to go home" He Zhaoling said with teary eyes.
"Well the present me can't understand your feeling. But you know, you could go to places in movies, anime, or books? Isn't that exciting?"
"Like your superpower?"
"Yeah" say Ling Fei with great interest "You know my favourite character from Index? Misaka Mikoto? I can have the same ability like her. Although its only level 3, can't compare to Level 5. But this is like dream come true you know"
He Zhaoling can't seem to connect with her usual aloof act. "But you almost died in Terminator 2 world" she counter.
"Ah.... you are right. I almost died" she sighed, but watching He Zhaoling seems to go sad, remembering the past,
"Ah no…." she tried to change the mood. "Let us plan how you could organize your reward points. How you could use your 100 days of time to the fullest. That side has some cafe, pay some point you could drink an excellent tea"
Well He Zhaoling suddenly realized. While she likes to act aloof, indifferent, but once she become friend Ling Fei is really talkative.
...…..
"While it seems the Reward points are not much use, you can't buy many thing with it, and you need to exchange it with survival time, in reality it has great use"
He Zhaoling asked "Did you exchange it with your ability?"
"Of Course not. I once go to the "To Aru Kagaku no Railgun" world to finish a quest. After I arrived in Main God Space, I could use points to return there to learn stuff"
Ling Fei after sipping her coffee she continued "I exchanged two month time to go to Railgun world Academy City. I take the quickest ESP development program, even if the side effect on my body is awful. Return to Main God Space, pay some points to return my body to the best status, removing the side effect. So that is how I gained superpower, most people gain ability like this"
"So in another word, I could return to <Terminator World 2> to learn some skills?"
Ling Fei regretfully said "Sadly Terminator world is not a friendly world, the only thing to be learned from there is technology to build Terminator Robot. While Terminator Robot is strong, it's only against Newbie. In reality for Newbie there is nothing can be learned from there"
"If I go back there, could I see John Connor again?"
Ling Fei remembering that the boy is possibly a transmigrator then said "Well you naturally can, but if you really want to go back there, do not look for him. He is a core plot character. If you get involved in strange situation, the loss would be greater than the gain. You must know that when we leave, the timeline of the story moves on"
"Sister Ling really thinks about that boy a lot?"
"Do not talk nonsense, time is very precious. Let us discuss how you develop later"