My Atomic System

Chapter 3: A second chance

    Memories flashed at intervals, all in smooth and seamless transitions. Memories of past occurrences, of both pain and happiness. 

However, they soon faded.

Lazily, Sal opened his eyes.

    He could hear a constant buzz of electricity all around him. And the surrounding air reeked of…tech?.

Droplets of sweat had formed on his forehead.

‘Am I dead?’ thought Sal.

    The surroundings seemed rather strange and foreign. It wasn't like what he was normally used to seeing anywhere in the world.

    He sat up slowly, holding his head and squinting his brows in the process.

    With one eye closed, he surveyed his current surroundings.

‘Where am I? Where's Lily?’ thought Sal.

    There was a machine  on a table beside the bed he was currently lying on. It had strange uneven lines constantly changing shape but in a uniform direction on its screen.

    The machine just made a constant beep sound. He wondered what it was used for.

    There were many sharp objects and large machines — he was currently under one. It emitted no light but Sal suspected it to be able to. It had three extensions Sal assumed to be eyes.

    After looking at all the materials around, he discovered he was immensely familiar with these things!. He'd always sneak into the Lord's mansion to check on the scientists at times. So he naturally recognized some of the equipments in his current environment. Only, it seemed way…advanced. What's more? He didn't even recognize most of it. What was this kind of environment called again?...

    He desperately tried to remember. But somehow, his memories were hazy and seemed to be in…fragments. The more he tried, the angrier his headache got. Nonetheless, he tried harder.

…A laboratory? Yes! It had to be a laboratory, he heard one of the scientists refer to the environment as such In one of their weird conversations.

“What am I doing in a laboratory?” Sal murmured.

‘And one so advanced at that.’

Sal shook off the thought.

    He tilted his head to behold a transparent wall. He could see the activities outside. It seemed rather busy. People walked up and down the corridor.

    He did find some of them weird. They wore long white unbuttoned robes that revealed their inner wears and hung strangely made wires around their neck.

    Whoever saved me from that nightmare doesn't seem to like privacy. Hm? Nightmare?

Wait a minute!

    Sal pulled up what he was currently wearing and peeked at his belly alarmingly. He pressed it.

It's gone!.

    Images of him back at the train flashed. A sense of heaviness weighing down on him instantly.

Ho…how?

    He didn't forget the giant rods, the pain he had experienced was nothing like any other.

    Sweat formed on Sal’s head as he remembered the faces of those that died. He wondered what actually happened on that train. Up till then, he had not seen a nightmare as worse as that.

    He remembered the woman, his face quickly paled and he was already gritting his teeth unconsciously. He wondered what actually made the train crash so intensely. He quickly shook the thought off.

    Sal's gaze moved towards his outfit. It was a blue gown. 

“This looks like a dress code for those who are sick,” Sal murmured. His voice was frail and almost silent.

“I need to find Lily” 

Of course!

    Everything else was trash to him! Though he did see the nightmare on the train, creating a second time death. But it all didn't actually matter as long as he found Lily. She was the only thing that gave him joy. When he stared at her, he found peace and didn't care what he did to make her survive.

    Sal grunted as he got out of bed while still holding his head. 

    He controlled his leg carefully as he alighted the insanely high bed — He had slept on the ground all times from before he died—. He slowly helped himself into a standing position.

Sal froze.

    He stood tall in front of the glass wall beside his bed. On it, there was a reflection of what he currently looked like.

    Currently, he had silver-white hair. It fell until it stopped at his ears. It was medium, and it ran through an even perimeter around his head in summary. 

    He had blue eyes, seemingly as calm as an ocean. Two strands of hair crossed themselves on his nose.

    His whole body looked thin and frail though he was pretty tall. Sal stared blankly for a while before murmuring:

“What happened to my face?”

    Sal stood, his face was blank. Why did it look so different? Was this some sort of nightmare? Or is this all a path to the afterlife? Hazy memories of what we're supposed to happen?. If not, what's wrong with my face?.

Could it be…..

Sal's eyes widened. 

The blue screen!!

    Sal's brain sprinted into work. He remembered, there was a blue screen from before he died the first time. It said something about…

…Transmigration

    Sal slowly combined the puzzle of events that had happened to him from his death up until now.

This is transmigration?

    He had read a lot about transmigration in comic books he stole and even in short plays he managed to see when he snuck into the cinema. Unlike reincarnation where you're completely reborn, transmigration gives you an existing body to reside in.

    His heart rate started to pace up. What about the one who owned this body?. Sal's expression turned solemn. Is he…dead?. Sal froze.

Screw it! 

    Who cares? I didn't ask you to go die!. It's not like your soul was forced out, you were already dead before I came in. Sal quickly turned to justify himself:

    If there was one thing he hated, it was having himself to blame for others’ shortcomings. Why would he even do that? He was human after all. He hated humans with so much passion. They were vicious creatures. Except his sister Lily of course.

    But more importantly, right now, there was a lot of questions in his head. Why was he saved? As much as he knew, he was just an outskirt scumbag, struggling to survive. More like there really was nothing he had to offer. What kind of thing had the power to bring someone back to life, even as much as replacing a dead body with a new soul?. What did they want from him?. Was this some kind of Fantasy thingy? If so, did he currently possess any powers? How far was this world from his world?.

     Sal grimaced. His head was starting to hurt. ‘Don't think, don't think’, so much questions!

He let out a relieving sigh. More importantly, he couldn't just meet Lily anymore!—at least not now. If he really wanted to find her, he only had two options, one was to go back through the channel he came. And the second….was to create an interworld breach. Either way, none was possible for the current him. He gritted his teeth, a lot of pressure pressing itself on his throat.

    Disrupting his moment of truth, a loud melodious sound rang in his ears. Like….a notification sound?.

Ting!

    A blue screen flickered into existence, It contained a simple message.

[ Host, do you wish to absorb all information harnessed by the former body? ]

    Sal stared at the screen blankly. Thoughts running through his head in an ultra fast manner.

Is this really real?

    Sal stared at it for a while, and as if totally ignoring the projection of his broken head — so he thought, turned his line of vision away from the screen. Instead he stared at his skin. Suddenly, he flinched, and groaned slightly. A familiar feeling permeated his whole being.

    He had jailed a chunk of skin tightly amidst the bars of two of his fingers.

    Still rubbing the impacted spot, he shook his head slightly. It's not a dream, I can feel pain. Sal turned back at the screen. He murmured a “Yes” almost mechanically.

    Information soon started to flow into his head like water.

    At first, it stung a little. Then slowly, the pain increased. Sal felt like there were thousand hammers trying to intrude his brain. Countless information forcefully barged into his mind.

‘Arghh!!!’ Sal groaned.

    He held his head and moved his body as if trying to share the pain evenly among his body parts.

    It felt like a thousand needles trying to force themselves into his brain.

Arrrrgh!!!

    Sweat formed on his forehead as he fell on the floor. It continued for about a minute before it finally stopped. His breath trembled uncontrollably.

    Slowly, he got up while he rubbed sweat off his forehead with the sleeve of his robe.

    In an instant, Sal quickly got an understanding of the details in this world.

    This body's name was Gensei Haruto. He, alongside his younger brother, was an orphan. And they both coexisted with their grandpa. Haruto worked as a delivery man at a small restaurant in Tokyo. And the pay was barely enough to sustain  but he made sure he saved enough to pay his younger brother's fees and sort out their feeding. 

    His life is pretty boring, though not as boring as mine. 

‘Surreal’

‘Crap! Get out of my head!’

Sal noticed the screen’s content had changed.

[ EOA version 00.00.01 ]

[ Loading …25%]

    A nurse suddenly entered his ward along with a group of doctors. She carried a tray with a few utensils on it. With the way it seemed, they were going to murder him — Sal thought.

“Where's the patient, we need to commence surgery immediately” said one of the doctors as they came in through the glass door.

    The moment the nurse saw Sal, she froze and dropped the tray in her hand with widened eyes.

“You…you are awake?!!” 

“How are you awake!!” 

    Let alone the nurse's exclamation and surprise, the other doctors were also looking at Sal with disbelief.

“A medical miracle?!” one of the doctors exclaimed.

“What a joke” said one of the doctors as he let out a soft scoff.

“This was definitely a misdiagnosis,” said another.

“Broken bones, crushed innards, two large holes in ... .what is all these. They put a quack doctor on such a sensitive case?” another doctor scoffed.

    It would seem the incident was just today. Sal thought, staring blankly at the group of strange fellows. 

Is this the benefits of transmigration?.

“How could one possibly heal from such hideous wounds in an instant? It’s just been some minutes since he was brought here.” he continued.

“Does Mr Haruto have any relatives?” one of the doctors directed at the nurse.

“Yes. He has a grandpa as well as a younger brother” said the nurse, still sizing up Sal.

“Take him to the ward and run a few tests on him to see if he's fully alright before we discharge him” one of the doctors said as he turned around in annoyance. 

    The other followed suit and the room soon soon emptied up, leaving Sal and the nurse alone. Their days — today — had already been ruined so it seemed.

“Mr Haruto please follow me to your ward” said the nurse, she turned around and hastily counted her footsteps, missing a few in the process.

Was she…afraid of him?

    Shaking it off, Sal hesitated a little, before he nodded and followed closely behind her.

***

    Sal opened his mouth slightly as they passed through the corridors but found no words. His feet moved on instinct, and he moved as if being controlled by some remote.

    This place is really advanced, I've not even found any of these things I see from before I died.

    There was a lot of equipment all over the hospital. He found a few rooms with high powered machines. There were artificial eyes all over. According to Haruto’s memories, they were called CCTV. He even saw a big machine that emitted winter. It was called an Air Conditioner.

    After passing through a few rooms, the nurse opened a new, polished, wooden door. She pulled the doorknob effortlessly and led him in.

Ting!

‘What again?’ thought Sal. 

The screen materialized again.

[ Congratulations on becoming a player. The system will help its player grow stronger and gain power beyond the player's understanding. You have been granted the ability to wield the power of atoms at Quantum levels. ]

The message hovered before Sal.

“It really looks real,” murmured Sal.

“What's real?” 

    The nurse's voice suddenly jolted Sal back to reality.

“Oh! It's nothing” Sal smiled forcefully and sat on the bed.

‘He was talking to himself? Has he run mad?’ the nurse stared at Sal with a puzzled look.

“Make yourself comfortable Mr Haruto. For now, I'll need to prepare the equipment for your tests” said the nurse.

    She bowed slightly, hastily turned around,...and left.

Sal sighed.

    He absorbed the whole scenery around him. If not for where he had originally been earlier, he'd have mistaken the whole place to be a hotel. The room was extra comfortable.

‘Crap, what is wrong with this bed?!’ Sal thought in annoyance.

    He struggled with the bed, it seemingly didn't want to give up without a fight. And so he found it hard sitting on it. It was so strange!. When he wanted to sit on…say his right butt, the stupid thing adjusted itself such that it fitted only his left butt, making him sit awkwardly and uncomfortably.

He soon got used to it.

    He looked around. There was a toilet and a towel hanging on the it's door. A shelf, a table and shelf and a window. 

    Though scanty, this was definitely a luxury for someone like Sal who had lived the life of a pauper since he became conscious of his existence.

He approached the window and looked out.

It's beautiful

    Sal smiled widely as he looked outside. The scenery was one to behold for him. All kinds of transport means. Though he had seen most. They definitely weren't as Advanced as this. Overall, the place was lit and bustling. BRTs, Bikes, Jets that seared through the air occasionally. The people. Sal felt like he was in heaven. Unlike his place that was always shrouded in darkness and mystery. There was happiness and liveliness here.

Sal smiled and sat back on the bed.

He let out a soft sigh.

    He took a good look around the whole room again. It was like no other. He had pictures of good places from the previous owner of his body but, actually witnessing it was another thing. 

‘Too bad I won't get to enjoy it long enough…’ Sal laid down and let out a soft sigh.

‘...there was just too many questions left unanswered’

Eerily, there was a weird smile etched on his lips.

‘...a second chance at life is it?...’

‘... let's see what I can do with it’