Zero's Law: Lord Of The Karma System

After A Good Night.

CHAPTER 9: After A Good Night.

After a good nine hours of sleep, Zero finally stirred awake. Everywhere was quite, totally different from when he woke up at home. His wife would have been making some noise by now, as she rushed to prepare breakfast before leaving for work.

"Right, I need to ask Gina to prepare the divorce papers." He muttered to himself.

He looked around him, the suite looked even larger in daylight. Sunlight poured through the floor to ceiling windows, making the place to look more majestic.

He swung his legs off the bed and stood up to use the restroom. His body was very sore all over as he moved. A consequence of the beating he had received the previous day.

He stepped into the bathroom and paused. Marble counters lined one side of the wall. Further inside was a rainfall shower enclosed in glass. And a bathtub large enough to drown one's sorrows in. There were heated towel racks. And branded toiletries neatly arranged like museum pieces.

The wc was so luxurious that he almost regretted what he was about to do to it. He first emptied his bladder, then flushed and turned around to empty his bowels. All the while, admiring the aesthetics of the place. The ceiling was smooth, white and flawless... While the walls were thick and well maintained.

"Money is good."

After he was done relieving himself, he stepped into the shower and turned it on. Hot water poured down in a steady, luxurious stream. The dirt and dried blood were washed away first. Then the hospital smell.

Steam filled the space, loosening the stiffness in his muscles. He closed his eyes and let the heat soak into him. Yesterday, he had looked like a stray dragged off the street. But today, he looked human again.

When he stepped out, he wrapped himself in a thick white towel that felt softer than anything he has ever owned. He examined his reflection in a big mirror on the wall. His bruises were already fading to yellow. And his cut lip has clotted.

He was about to change his clothes when he discovered a new problem. He didn't have any spare clothes to change into, and the one he wore to the hotel was very dirty.

He quickly improvised and put on the hotel's robe. Then he used the room phone. "I would like to order breakfast," He didn’t hesitate when reading the menu. If he was paying three thousand a night, he might as well act like it.

An hour later, silver trays covered in polished domes filled his dining table. In it were eggs, steak, toast, fresh fruit, juice, and coffee.

He ate slowly, not greedily.

"This is the life." He thought.

When he was done eating, he leaned back in his chair in satisfaction, and to enjoy the peace and quietness. Then he began replaying everything that had happened the previous day.

He didn't focus on the taxi scam, his humiliation at the hotel's entrance. What was on his mind was the system, and the punishment it had given him.

The system hadn't even given him any warning, or told him it's rules. It had just struck him, unexpectedly. And worst of all... it had punished him for the most unexpected reason.

How can it punish him like that just because he helped someone? Who the f*ck wouldn't have done anything if they were in his position?

And hadn't the system rewarded him for helping people before? Does it mean to say that those people he rescued doesn't have a debt to pay back to karma?

"God, this is f*cking confusing?" He muttered.

He needed more information on the system before he would make another mistake that it would punish him for. Luckily he had noticed that the suite had a computer in the living room area.

He went and powered it on, then turned on incognito mode for security reasons. He had watched enough movies, and heard a lot of conspiracy theories... to know that for something as powerful and mysterious as the karma system, the government or other powerful people must be after it. A small mistake on his part is all it will take for them to find him. And he doesn't know what they will do to him, just to keep the system a secret.

Despite turning on incognito mode, he didn't just search for the system directly. Instead he opened a reading site called Meganovel, and searched for system stories. After reading through some stories, he came to the conclusion that his system worked differently from the other systems he just read about.

"Why didn't I end up with a different system like most of the MC's in this book? Why did I have to get the one system that wants to kill me for just making a simple mistake?" He lamented.

His mistake was just treating his system as a game interface. It was sentient and not passive like the ones he read about. Therefore, there's no way that he could outsmart it.

He exhaled. The system was dangerous... very dangerous.

[YOU DO KNOW THAT I CAN READ YOUR MIND, RIGHT?]

Zero jerked at the sudden voice.

[YOU HAVE BEEN THINKING ABOUT A LOT OF THINGS.]

"Get out of my head!!" Zero almost yelled.

[WE BOTH KNOW THAT I CAN'T DO THAT. HOW COME YOU ARE STILL PISSED ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED YESTERDAY?]

"Shouldn't you know since you can read my mind?" He retorted.

[MISTAKE OR NOT, INTERFERING IN THE WORK OF KARMA IS A CRIME.]

"Wow. And what happens if I make a mistake another time?"

[THEN YOU WILL BE PUNISHED ACCORDING TO YOUR MISTAKE.]

"Wow. You are a very volatile partner. I thought that the you were a gift from God, to help my falling life. Little did I know that you actually came from the devil."

[WOW. THE DEVIL? SERIOUSLY? ANYWAYS DON'T FORGET THAT I WILL ALSO GIVE YOU REWARDS IF YOU PERFORM WELL.]

"That's quite generous." Zero said sarcastically.

[SO ARE YOU JUST GOING TO SPEND THE WHOLE DAY CRYING ABOUT HOW I PUNISHED YOU?]

"No. I actually have somethings planned out..." He said, and walked back into the room he slept in the previous night, to take out a small object from his trouser's pocket. It was the small microphone that he had planted in the motel room.

He stared carefully at it, and was relieved to find that it hadn't been damaged from the time he got beaten. Unfortunately though, he had lost the spy camera. It had been in the bag that got stolen, yesterday.

Luckily, the microphone functioned independently from the camera, and had it's own recordings... though it was only voice recording, without visuals. But it was still something at least.

He connected the microphone receiver to the computer, and transferred the data. Few minutes later, the audio files were downloaded.

He clicked play.

It showed static at first. Then he started hearing voices. It was the voice of the man he was monitoring (Bacher)... he was talking to a woman.

Zero leaned in closely to hear what their conversation was about.

"Take off those panties, daddy is going to do a lot of naughty things to you." Bacher's voice came from the computer's speaker.

"Oh, yes daddy." The woman replied.

"Hmm, I love the smell of your panty. Now get on your knees and suck my dic..."

Zero immediately paused the audio. He didn't need to hear more to know what was going on.

He let out a slow breath, and resumed playing the record. But fast forwarded it a bit.

"Take that d*ck..."

Zero fast forwarded it again.

"This is my p*ssy..."

He fast forwarded it again.

"I am c*mming..."

And just like that, Zero kept listening and fast forwarding the record. For one whole day worth of record, he didn't hear anything meaningful. It was just the sound of Bacher having s*x, showering, watching movies, making meaningless conversations, or there was just total silence.

The spy microphone's battery only has a two day lasting duration, before it would need recharging. Zero was starting to get frustrated.

[FOR A LAWYER, YOU DO GET PROVOKED EASILY.]

Zero didn't answer the system.

But around the record's ending, things started to get interesting.

Bacher was on a call with someone, and said. "I will like a meeting with your boss. Tell him that I have important information about Marcus Fisher. But it will cost him a lot of money. The meeting place will be..."

And then the recording ended. Just then...

[SYSTEM QUEST:]

[FIND OUT THE INFORMATION THAT BACHER HAVE ON MARCUS FISHER]

[REWARD FOR SUCCEEDING: 500KP, AND A SELECTION.]

[PUNISHMENT FOR FAILING: UNKNOWN]

Zero could only stare in shock.