Talking to Myself, or... My system?

Nancy walked out of her room, worn out and drunk, in the same dress as last night. She grabbed a glass from the kitchen counter and overfilled it with water, making it spill down from the counter to the ground, wetting her bare feet.

Those heels were long gone. She wasn't going to wear them again after experiencing such a night.

Rubbing her eyes, she passed a long sigh. She didn't know how to proceed.

She gulped a glass of water. Then another. Then another.

She drank all the beers her father had bought for himself. Her room was filled with empty beer cans lying around.

She wasn't tipsy, as she was good with alcohol. Despite being her second time drinking so much alcohol, she was doing pretty well.

The first time she ever drank was when she was 17. Her father sneaked out with her in their backyard, and the two had a drinking spree to see how well they could drink.

They were both the maniacs of the Morgan household.

Nancy sighed again before she headed back to her room, contemplating life at this point. She sniffed herself and decided to take a shower. Her mood wasn't going to be alright if she stayed in the same dress and reeked of alcohol.

After taking a shower, she felt as if she was calmer. She had breakfast with her family and told them the birthday party was epic.

Moving back to her house and calming down, she realized there were so many things she didn't think of.

For example, was Hertwig awake now? How did everyone react after going back home? Attending a party with everyone dead asleep on the ground wasn't normal.

She grabbed her phone to call Hertwig, but his phone was powered off. She clenched her teeth out of curiosity.

Her phone's battery was almost dead. She needed to charge it. She quickly looked around the room for the charger but couldn't seem to find it. So, she checked inside her handbags.

One of the handbags had her charger inside, along with a plastic bag.

She narrowed her eyes in confusion before pulling it out to see a cotton piece inside the plastic bag with a tiny amount of blood.

Right. She creepily stole Samuel's blood to inspect it. She didn't know how to live program herself, and only Samuel and Roth knew the authorization code. She had to give it a shot.

"Uhh.." She never talked to the chip, so it felt weird. What if it only accepted machine languages? Imagine having to learn those!

"Um... What do I call you?" She asked. "A chip? A system?"

She felt weird talking to herself and receiving no replies. She then remembered an instruction it had given her yesterday. Blink thrice.

She blinked once, twice, thrice, and waited patiently.

{System cannot provide further instructions without authorization code. Please try again.}

"Tch. I don't know the authorization code." Nancy honestly replied.

{System cannot provide further instructions without authorization code. Please try again.}

"Then tell me something other than live programming. Tell me the blood type of this sample." Nancy looked at the cotton piece she had.

{System is required to level up for such procedures.}

"And how do I level up?"

{To level up, 1. The host needs to provide the authorization code.}

"Fuck… 2?"

Nancy clenched her teeth.

{2. The host needs to perform live programming to earn traits. Earning traits are leveling up.}

"So basically, you're telling me to shut the fuck up and fuck off?" Nancy was irked at the useless technology.

{For help, use the code 01101000 01100101 01101100 01110000.}

"The fuck? I lost it. Say it again!" Nancy said as she quickly opened notes on her phone to type it down.

The system repeated.

{For help, use the code 01101000 01100101 01101100 01110000.}

"Uhh.. 01101000… 01100101.. The fuck am I doing… 01101100 01110000." She cleared her throat and waited patiently.

{Entering Help Menu: Choose a shortcut key for the help menu by saying a word,}

"Uhh.. WAP." Nancy muttered.

{Shortcut key set to Uhh WAP.}

"Not uh!! Only WAP!" She complained right away.

{Rewriting shortcut key. Choose a shortcut key for the help menu by saying a word.}

"WAP!" Nancy shouted loud and clear.

{Shortcut key set to WAP. Confirming shortcut key.}

{Closing help menu. Re-enter with the shortcut key for help.}

"How many times are you gonna make me say it?" Nancy irked.

{Re-enter with the shortcut key for help.}

"WAP." She said it again, wondering if someone downstairs heard her scream WAP.

{Entering Help menu. State the problem.}

Nancy exhaled sharply in nervousness. It was like interviewing for a job.

"So like, only Samuel and Roth know my authorization code. I can't ask Samuel because I'm scared of him, and I can't ask Roth because he won't tell me. How do I search for my authorization code?" Nancy asked hesitantly.

{Authorization code is written in the most recent medical reports with invisible UV ink. Use a UV light to spot it from the file.}

Nancy quickly ran downstairs and snuck into the store room while her mother was cooking in the kitchen. Her father and Nina had gone for groceries. Perfect.

She looked in the same spot as before, the topmost cupboard. However, it was empty.

Her parents might've placed the reports elsewhere, even though Samuel clarified that he was the one who took the reports.

She narrowed her eyes.

"What are you doing?" Laura muttered when she spotted her daughter in the store, standing suspiciously.

"Uh… Looking for a blanket. It's cold in my room." Nancy professionally answered. She was a detective, no doubt.

"Oh, they're in the left cupboard," Laura muttered before leaving.

Nancy smirked as she tried to think like her parents. If the blankets were in the left cupboards, the documents should be in the right ones.

She walked towards the cupboards on the right and checked all one by one before she finally found her reports. She would've never guessed they'd use dirty tricks like UV light inks to hide codes.

Funny enough, she didn't have a UV light device either. But Nina did. She had those pens that kids use to hide their secret cheating material during exams.

Of course, Nina the diligent student didn't use it for cheating. She just had it for fun. Nancy quickly put the reports in her room and headed straight to Nina's room, where she scavenged through her stuff before she found the UV light pen.

The flashlight was at the back of the pen, and it was super small. It was going to take her ages to search for a code in hundreds of files.

With no other choice left, she grabbed the pen and left for her room, locking it so no one caught her red-handed.

Opening each page, she lightened every single one with UV lights but availed nothing as a result.

"System dude, help me," Nancy called the chip, forgetting that she just made a shortcut for help. "Ah, sorry... WAP." Nancy nervously coughed.

{Entering Help Menu. State the problem.}

"I checked every corner, but I couldn't find the code," Nancy explained. She was getting comfortable with this computer in her head.

{The host is required to check the backside of each page.}

Nancy nodded and checked the backside of each page. It took her more than an hour, but she found words!

"Umm," She blinked thrice.

{System cannot provide further instructions without authorization code. Please try again.}

"I found it," Nancy informed the chip.

{Please state the authorization code.}

"T-4H0M0S4PIEn-4nCY." Nancy muttered, quickly thinking what it meant.

{Authorization successful.}

{Test Subject: 4.}

{Type: Homo sapien.}

{Provided name: Nancy.}

{Level: 1.}