The Gizmo- The Heroes Quest

Chapter 10- The Final Team! And Back?

Yup, it was Shu. He puts back his blast canon in his inventory, and then removes a rapidfire electro discharge rifle. It is popularly known as the RED rifle for short. And it's fire rate, is said to exceed far greater than any other assult rifle.

He springs forward, shooting every webug that gets close to him. One thing that I had never anticipated to see in this world, was Shu. And his sudden appearance in this kind of situation, was totally unexpected.

Once I was free from the sticky webs, I immediately get back to my feet, killing the leftover webugs.

In the end, the whole team's health was very low, but we had finally cleared the quest.

After that, a sign appears in front of us saying, "Quest cleared! Location- Clasender town unlocked. 30 silver coins, 3000 exp awarded."

Matthew falls onto the ground, grasping for breath. Everyone looked very tired, except for Shu.

"That was pretty easy!", Shu says as he grins.

"Seriously?!", Matthew shouts, astonished.

After few minutes, we go back to the healer at the great hall, to heal ourselves. Once everyone felt better, we decided to take Shu into our team.

The following night, while few mourned for their closest's deaths, the others rejoiced their victory over clearing the town. And this time, our team really stood out to be the heroes of the town, and all the players held a party at the great hall, celebrating our victory.

Shu and Matthew launch at the food as though they haven't eaten anything since they were born! Sarah sits in a corner drinking coffee, and the others were staring at Matthew and Shu, who now held a competition of who would eat more! They finally stopped stuffing themselves, when they found Amber staring at them annoyingly, as though a volcano on her head is gonna erupt soon!

After that, we spent the night in a nearby inn. All of us were really very tired, so we decided to crash into our beds and sleep. I lie down on my bed and stare at the wooden ceiling, recollecting all the events that happened since the accident, until I finally fall asleep.

Suddenly, I wake up to find myself back onto my bed in the real world. Once again, I couldn't feel anything around me. I get up and look around myself. It looked like as though it was a dream. It looked pretty realistic to me!

I walk over to the window sill and look at the night sky. The moon was shown pretty brightly, illuminating the dark streets and nearby houses.

Then, I go to Shu's room to check if he had come back as well, but he wasn't there. I try calling up Anderson but noone picks it up! Then, I had this strange feeling, was I was the only one who woke up? Or is it just a dream?

I immediately teleport to Dr. Stoian's hospital. A girl runs out of the room, as soon as I appear. I chase her but she immediately vanishes as I catch up to her, in the corridor. All I could was short and had black hair, silky hair. But, do I know her?

I go back to Dr. Stoian's room but it was found to be empty.

Then suddenly, I hear a voice. "Hello, test subject 003!", the voice says.

The voice sounded a bit matured, but I felt that I had heard it somewhere before. But who was it? And why did she call me test subject 003?

"Hello! May I know who's this?", I ask her.

"I'm subject 001. Nice to meet you!", she greets.

"Nice to meet you too. And why did you call me test subject 003?",I as her, doubtfully.

"Oh! That's the number you were assigned during the doctor's experiment.", she replies.

"Well I rather prefer being called with my real name though. I'm Nuke. What's your real name?" I ask.

"My name?", She asks back

"Yes!" I say

"Well if we ever meet in game, you will eventually find out.", she giggles as she replies.

"Oh okay! But why can't I see you?", I ask.

"That's because, unlike you I have completely merged with the internet. My voice is the only thing left in this world.", she answers.

"So you are practically invisible?", I ask again.

"Yeah, you can put it that way.", says
Silence fills the room for a minute, until she starts speaking again, "003, what do you think of this game?"

"What do you mean?", I ask with a questioning look.

"I meant what could the developer's main purpose be? They wouldn't just waste all their resources to make a death game for fun. Shouldn't there be an appropriate reason behind this?", she says.

"You mean they are up to something?"

"Yes! Few days before the game was launched, I felt that someone was tampering with the internet. I also went through all the game files and found few of them to be fake. And the day before the game was launched, all the other game servers crashed for few minutes.", she answers.

"So they somehow managed to steal the game files of all the other worlds?", I ask.

"Yes, I'm thinking the same thing. Not only that, but they also had managed to slip away through the cyber cop's hands and also while I was on the lookout. By the amount of effort they put into this kind of crafty skills, I feel there's something fishy behind this game. As though, it's never meant to be completed!", she says.

"So what do you want me to do now?"

"I don't know! I'm just warning you. The rest is upto you now."

"Okay! So what did the other subject say about this."

"She seemed completely clueless about this. But how do you know she was here?" She asks in a questioning tone.

"Well I did get a glimpse of her when I teleported here. Why did she run away though?"

"Oh! She's just a very shy girl who doesn't interact with strangers much."
Her voice suddenly starts to fade away.

"Oh no! I guess the game security has tracked us down. It's time for us to go back.", she says worriedly.

"Wait! So, what's your username in the game?", I ask her.

She giggles as she replies," I've already told you, You will eventually find out!"

She pauses for few seconds and says, "Also, I have another bad feeling about this game."

"And what's that?"

"There are certain tiny vibrations in the game that only I could detect. I feel that the fusion world seems very unstable. It'll not be too long before the world's would split apart and collapse!", she says, as her tone gets lower and lower.

"So, there's an invisible time limit set to finish the game?", I ask her, shocked.

"Yes! Once I get more information about this, I'll contact you and the other subject immediately! For now, just follow the game rules and try to reach the boss."

"Okay! I'll be waiting for our next meet."

"Goodbye then!" The voice completely fades away.

I stay there for few minutes thinking about the warning she had given me, before I teleport back to my room and close my eyes once again.

Then, I open my eyes once more to find myself back in the game, the wooden floor shining brightly due to the sunlight falling into the room, I was staying in.