The Sinners' Queen

And then Chris could only stare blankly as the short-haired woman by his bedside hypnotized Alessa Morgan that no one visited him today and she would not be hearing anything or seeing anything until she leaves.

"You know that something is off about him, right? So in order to not be implicated in whatever mess he got into, you will forget everything you witness today, including my appearance and voice."

"You did not see and hear anything today."

"You did not see and hear anything from the moment I entered this room until I leave."

He saw her in action already twice. But he still couldn"t help the feeling of dislike and disbelief towards how her ability works.

With a serious expression on his face, he met the woman"s stares. He then heard her say.

"It"s a late greeting. But a good day to you, Chris Meyer. I was supposed to bring you away yesterday. But I had to change plans when I tried to inquire about your attacker and received no information."

Chris did not reply and only quietly looked at the person standing so close to him. Actually, even though he was being difficult earlier to her and tried to defy her by making Alessa stay, he could somehow feel that she wouldn"t really do anything untoward to him. This was the reason why he could remain calm despite being so powerless and bed-ridden next to this full-fledged immoral host. It was just, he still couldn"t trust her. Or maybe, he couldn"t help being wary because what he just went through from the hands of another host was still fresh in his mind.

He closed his eyes and savored the silence that followed, remembering what she said, digesting them to extract information.

"...Now I finally understand. If I end up encountering someone whose information couldn"t be accessed by the system, it could only be because the person is a host."

This was what he inferred when she said she couldn"t inquire about his a.s.sailant - which also means that devilish, unreasonable, and lunatic brat was even higher-leveled than Sofony Mendez...

"Who"s your attacker? Do you know his face? Or name?"

He stared at her for some time before answering, "...a kid calling himself Leo Jones."

"...You"re a fool." Sofony replied after being speechless for a fairly long while. "He"s someone even I am praying not to run into."

"So he"s... really higher-leveled than you?"

She nodded. "... Yes. As a host, I"m just two months older than you... But I"m sure he"s been one for years. I know him since lately he"s been active at Alina City. I was just not aware that he"s also bombing other cities within the country."

A few seconds later, she began throwing him sharp glares as she asked. "So, Chris Meyer, didn"t I already warn you not to involve yourself in our world? How did you become a Half-Host!? I inquired and my devil said you didn"t complete the qualifying mission, so how?"

He didn"t answer again. Annoyed, she sarcastically remarked, "Whatever. Serves you right. I thought what I did last time is enough warning to you — that no host is safe for normal people. Now, how"s the feeling of being tortured by someone worst than me and Clarissa? Is it fun? Are you loving the pain? And the air of the hospital?"

"...When did you become sarcastic with your words?"

"To answer your question, when you judged me so hard last time on that rooftop." Her perfectly shaped lips curled up into a small smile, a cold one. "Do you remember? I was merely thanking you for saving Wendy, yet what you did is throw hurtful remarks at me as if I just burnt a whole nation into ashes. Your att.i.tude is so bad. I"m not a saint to not get rubbed the wrong way."

"..."

She laughed and added. "You have to know this. I"m only being nice to you because I still haven"t forgotten how you saved Wendy before. So I rushed here the moment I received news of you being attacked. The only reason I did not reveal myself yesterday was that I was making sure that your attacker is no longer around. Since it"s someone higher than me, I, of course, can"t stupidly charge out only to be his next target."

A staring contest commenced between the two. It lasted for several couples of seconds until Chris understood everything she had said.

He now realized that despite recognizing the fact that she was a lot better than the others, he"d still been too biased against her.

"At least, she"s someone who honors favor and knows to reciprocate goodwill," he reluctantly thought to himself, watching her take a seat on the chair Alessa had been sitting on earlier.

He had only encountered two other hosts, but when compared to Clarissa who mind controlled someone to kill and Leo who bombed populated places without any consideration for the number of innocent lives nearby, perhaps, this woman was already mellow and different. He couldn"t say for sure since he still doesn"t believe that Sofony Mendez had not done anything immoral.

He tried his best to act as if he didn"t hear what it said, forcing out a smile, he asked, "So why did...you come out now...? You are afraid... of being targeted by him, right? Are you sure...that he won"t be back...to kill me?"

Sofony folded her arms in front and said, "I was betting earlier. So far, I think I will be surviving today. It"s you who should worry about yourself. You"re a newbie. I"m sure you don"t even have enough points to heal yourself. At least I can buy a s.h.i.+eld from the shop for myself."

He didn"t comment about the points. Recalling what the d.a.m.ned kid told him before teleporting away, he replied, "...He told me...to thank you...because he only did not bomb me to death... because I"m acquainted with you..."

A dumbfounded expression briefly crossed her face. After that, she reluctantly said,"...He must be jesting. We only met once. Twice, if I will include that time when his random bombing almost killed me and my sister. If he"s being like that, it could only be because we"re fighting the same person, Clarissa."

The way the woman shrugged after saying these made Chris look weirdly at her. Sofony Mendez seemed different today. Or maybe he just didn"t know what lies beneath her nerdy facade. Maybe he should not think about it too deeply or else he would just be confused as h.e.l.l.

"Let"s stop the idle chat and go to my main purpose today. I owe you twice, for saving her twice. So let me tell you again about our current world as my first payback."

Chris silently replied before she could start, "But I don"t wish to be...involved in this world..."

She stared at him meaningfully.

"I"m sorry, but you already are. If the system is bound to you, I"m afraid there"ll be no way for you to escape." With a bitter smile, she added. "I know, because that"s what I also always wished for before, but here I am. Sinking deeper instead. The moment we got bound to it, we can no longer escape. In the name of immorality, it will force us to take missions. It"s a very bad memory for me, but I want you to know that one time, when I failed to do a side mission, I was punished to be blind, with my eyes gouged out from me. At the same time, my body hurt all over, as if my bones were being repeatedly crushed and reconstructed within me. The pain made me want to die for numerous times. It"s probably similar to what you endured until now, if not worse."

His eyes flickered with surprise as he didn"t know that systems could issue punishment as well. Is that why hosts, accidentally bound or not, had no choice but do unspeakably immoral and horrible things?

He was really left speechless.

If this was the case where every host" survival was also dictated by the system, then it wouldn"t be a surprise that this group of people turned crazy.

"In the future, will I also have no choice but become like them?"

Just imagining this made Chris so agitated. He hatefully roared at his AI as he protested against its existence in his life,

"d.a.m.n you! I didn"t bind with you willingly! Get out of my mind! Get out!"

If Sofony heard what his AI had said, she would have probably murdered Chris here and there out of anger and envy. Thankfully, she didn"t, so she only continued looking at Chris" reaction. On the other hand, the guy went silent, not knowing whether to be pleased that a half-host had that kind of privilege. However, he did feel relieved that even if he didn"t do whatever it wanted him to, he wouldn"t suddenly find himself losing a limb or an eye.

His eyes darted back to the woman and felt pity for her for quite some time. Sofony caught sight of it and felt uncomfortable.

She spoke up again.

"I didn"t tell you that so you"ll pity me. You"re more pathetic than me, for your information. You have to change your mentality soon if you don"t want to die, especially now that you see how unreasonable and crazy the other hosts are."

Silence ensued between them after. Chris fell into deep thoughts as something within him was triggered when he heard Sofony advising him to change his mindset. It just came to him, but because her reason made him remember his most recent dream, the words just flowed out of his mouth so naturally, almost as if said without much deliberation.

"...What if I tell you...that I wanted to die?"

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