Zero's Law: Lord Of The Karma System

Petty Thief

Chapter 5: Petty Thief

The room was silent except for the steady beep of the heart monitor. Zero’s eyes stayed locked on the purple screen floating above his bed.

[THE NURSE YOU SPOKE TO EARLIER... WAS NOT REAL]

'Are you being serious right now?'. He asked in his mind, finding the system words hard to believe.

[YES I AM]

His chest tightened, and he half expected nurse Ellie to walk back in just to prove the system wrong.

The door opened again... but this time it wasn’t her.

A middle-aged doctor stepped in, his white coat was wrinkled, and his stethoscope swung about as he walked. Two nurses (male and female) followed right behind him, chatting idly about another patient down the hall.

"Old man Harold just complained to me that someone stole his stuff again. Last time it was his watch, but this time he said that it's the pink wallet his granddaughter gave him some years ago". The female nurse said.

"And just like before, I will say that the wallet wasn't stolen, just misplaced. Old man Harold needs to be careful about where he keeps his things". The male nurse replied.

"Ah, Mr. Lindsey. You’re awake," the doctor said, noticing Zero at the corner of the room. His voice carried none of Ellie’s strange stillness. "But you shouldn't be up from bed yet... You are still too injured."

Zero swallowed hard, trying to steady himself. This one’s real. He has to be.

The doctor signaled to the two nurses, and they quickly moved over to assist Zero back to the bed.

The system’s screen suddenly shimmered in his peripheral vision.

[VERIFY THEIR EXISTENCE, HOST.]

"What do you mean by verify?" Zero asked.

"What did you say sir?" The female nurse asked.

"Ohh sorry, I wasn't talking to you." Zero answered.

[THERE'S NO NEED TO SPEAK OUT LOUD WHEN YOU WANT TO TALK TO ME. YOU CAN JUST TALK DIRECTLY IN YOUR MIND]

'Like this?' Zero thought.

[YES]

'Okay, this is more convenient. So back to the verifying of existence.'

[ALL HUMANS CAN BE CROSS-REFERENCED IN THE LEDGER.]

The interface shifted, one of the icons glowing:

>LEDGER<

Zero hesitated, then focused on it. The screen changed. Rows of names began scrolling, each accompanied by faint flickers of light... some white, some gray, others ink-black.

And then he saw it.

The doctor’s name glowed faintly on the ledger:

Dr. Harold Kemp — Neutral (Minor Corruption)

The two nurses registered as well:

Nurse Aisha — Virtuous (Small Deeds)

Nurse Brad — Neutral (Petty Theft)

Petty theft? He looked at Brad... the younger nurse with shifty eyes, who kept fiddling with his pocket while pretending to check the IV bags.

[DO YOU WISH TO JUDGE HIM?]

The prompt appeared so sudden, Zero nearly flinched.

Judge him? Right here, right now?

[WHY NOT? YOU ARE STILL DOUBTING IF I AM REAL OR NOT. JUDGING HIM WILL HELP TO CLEAR YOUR REMAINING DOUBTS]

Zero clenched his jaw, weighing the options in his mind. 'This… this isn’t real. It can’t be. But how do I know if I don't at least test it out. A million dollars is a good proof of the system's power, but it won't hurt to get more proofs'.

[JUDGE. OR IGNORE.]

His eyes flicked to Brad. The young nurse leaned closer to the doctor, whispering something in his ears. But in that moment Zero caught a glimpse of the corner of what looked like a wallet sticking out of his scrubs pocket. The color was pink!

Then he remembered the conversation that the two nurses were having earlier. 'Did he actually steal an old man's pink wallet? System what happens if I judge him?'

[HIS ACTIONS WILL BE BALANCED AGAINST HIS KARMA. PUNISHMENT OR REWARD WILL FOLLOW.]

'And if I ignore it?'

[HIS DEBT REMAINS. BUT YOU, HOST, WILL GAIN NOTHING.]

[WARNING: ONCE YOU SELECT JUDGEMENT, YOU MUST CARRY IT OUT.]

Zero stared at Brad one more time, weighing the words. His ribs still ached, his head throbbed, but anger stirred in his chest. This guy was stealing from patients... helpless, sick people who couldn’t defend themselves.

His jaw tightened. 'Fine. Let’s see how real this is.'

"I’ll judge him," Zero whispered under his breath.

The screen flashed instantly.

[SUBJECT: NURSE BRAD]

[OFFENSE: PETTY THEFT, NEGLECT OF DUTY]

[SELECT JUDGEMENT PATH:]

{SYSTEM JUDGEMENT}

{MANUAL JUDGEMENT}

{CIVIL JUDGEMENT}

[WARNING: ONCE A JUDGEMENT PATH IS SELECTED, IT CANNOT BE REVERSED.]

'{SYSTEM JUDGEMENT}' Zero chosed. 'Wait, tell me more about the judgement paths before I chose.'

[TOO LATE. YOU HAVE ALREADY MADE A CHOICE. SYSTEM JUDGEMENT IT IS]

'Alright. Continue'

[CONFIRM JUDGEMENT: NURSE BRAD – PETTY THEFT, NEGLECT OF DUTY.] [PUNISHMENT: MINOR.]

[COSTS 100 KP]

[EXECUTE?]

[WARNING: ONCE EXECUTED, JUDGEMENT CANNOT BE REVERSED.]

Zero exhaled slowly. "…Execute."

The words dissolved, and the purple screen pulsed once. A ripple, too faint for the others to see, shivered through the air between them.

Brad stiffened. His smile faltered. He glanced around, suddenly pale, as if a cold hand had brushed his neck. His fingers twitched, and the wallet slipped from his pocket, tumbling to the floor.

Dr. Kemp frowned. "Brad? What are you... ?"

Brad stammered, "I... I didn’t… ahhh!!!" His wrist bent at an unnatural angle. His knees buckled, and he collapsed to the floor, clutching his hand. His face twisted with pain.

The system chimed:

[MINOR PUNISHMENT EXECUTED: FRACTURED WRIST, AND EXPOSURE.]

[BRAD'S DEBT HAVE BEEN PAID]

[+150 KARMA POINTS.]

Zero’s mouth went dry. He stared at Brad gasping on the floor, the dropped wallet lying in plain sight.

The other nurse, Aisha, rushed to his side. "Brad! What happened?"

"I... I don’t know! My wrist... it just... ahhh!!!” His voice cracked with pain.

Zero silently observed the situation with interest, as if he was not the cause.

Dr. Kemp’s brows knit together as Aisha helped Brad onto a chair. Brad's face was pale, sweat gathering at his temples, his left wrist already swelling.

"What happened?" Kemp demanded.

"I... I don’t know!" Brad wheezed. "It just... snapped..."

Before he could say more, Aisha’s gaze flicked to the floor. "Brad… what is this…?"

She bent down and picked up the wallet. Her eyes narrowed. She opened it, thumbed through the ID tucked inside. Her lips parted in disbelief.

"This belongs to old man Harold. Ward six."

The room went dead silent.

Dr. Kemp turned slowly toward Brad, his expression darkening. “You stole from a patient?”

Brad shook his head violently. "No! I... I don’t know how... it just..." He winced, clutching his ruined wrist, his words falling apart under Kemp’s glare.

Aisha pressed her lips into a thin line, disgust clear in her eyes. "I can't believe this".

"Aisha... Take Brad to have his wrist checked on." Kemp said "And as for you Brad, see me in my office before the end of today."

Nurse Aisha led the injured Brad out of the room. Dr Kemp reconnected Zero back to the IV drip.

"Alright Zero, that's all for now. Just make sure to not stress yourself by moving too much. You need a lot of rest." The doctor said, and then left.

'So you can really do anything, huh. Like God.'

[YOUR DOUBTS ABOUT ME HAVE BEEN CLEARED]

"Yes. Which means I believe what you said about me slowly losing my sanity. So how can I go about recovering it... ? Wait, among the options in my selection earlier, there was one that mentioned a health recovery potion. It can heal my mental issue, right?" Zero reasoned.

[YES IT CAN]

"Alright, I will like to use another selection". Zero decided.

The screen switched to another tab.

[CHOOSE ONE.]

{A STRENGTH BOOST SERUM}

{A LUCK TOKEN}

{A HEALTH RECOVERY POTION}

"I choose the health recovery potion". Zero said. The system flashed and disappeared. Zero looked at his hand to see that he was holding a small glass bottle containing some strange green liquid.

"This must be the health recovery potion... But it looks like sewer water. System do I really have to drink this?"

[YES]

"Okay". Zero opened the bottle. "It actually smells nice". He poured some of it into his mouth.

"Urgh... It tastes like sh*t."

[YOU HAVE TO FINISH THE POTION]

"Yeah, I know... I know." Zero said, and mustered some courage to take the remaining potion.

He had to force himself not to vomit afterwards.

[SO HOW DO YOU FEEL NOW?]

"I feel like I just drank something not made for human consumption." Zero replied.

[I AM ASKING ABOUT YOUR BODY]

"My body feels..." He pressed his rib, shook his head, and stretched. "... good." His ribs, head and back pains were gone.

"I am perfectly fine. It seems the potion doesn't only work on mental illness. It healed me completely".

[YES, BUT YOU STILL HAVE TO STAY IN BED AND ACT LIKE YOU HAVEN'T RECOVERED.]

"Yeah... because there's no way for me to explain my sudden and mysterious recovery to the doctor." Zero said in understanding.

[GOOD THING THAT YOU ARE NOT DENSE]