章節 9: Chapter 9: You Said No Rules

"So, will you take me out of here if I asked you to? Like right now?"

The android paused, as if calculating if doing that was worth its effort. After a moment, it replied in its robot voice:

|*I will take you back to your reality if that's what you wish for*|

And just like that, the predicament that Zephyr found himself was no more. But-

"Well, that's great to hear. Now let's explore this place. We still have two days before these cuffs take me to the prison, so might as well learn something new while I'm here."

And that was that. End of conversation.

He entered the apartment that belonged to the main character of this scenario and started going through the study material and notes that the guy had maintained.

Having more knowledge was always better. And he was also hoping to find the safety device that the guy invented. Having something like that was going to be a lifesaver during the merger. And since the dude was supposedly a genius, he just might have other awesome gadgets or toys lying around, maybe. Even more goodies to take back home.

And that's how he spent his next two days completely turning the apartment upside down.

As he went through the study notes, he observed a lot of them made no sense to him, owing to his own lack of understanding in those fields. But he nevertheless decided to store as much study material as he could find into a storage card. He could always make sense of it later. He would have time for that. Other than the wealth of knowledge he found here, there was indeed a lot of tech stuff scattered around. But most of them were broken, or looked to be missing some parts.

It was not until he actually found the safety device did he understand where those missing parts went.

The safety device was an hourglass pendant placed inside a safe that required biometrics top open it. No issues there, as he was literally inside the guy's body. There was also a lot of cash available in it, and a pair of spectacles that looked really cool.

He thought those would be some AR goggles, but no they were just regular spectacles.

Once he was done ravaging the place, two days later he called upon the GUIDE. And a minute later, he was back in his own home, his own reality, safely hurling his stomach contents into his own bathroom.

'Someone needs to develop a more comfortable way to travel through space and time.' He thought annoyingly.

...

"And that was it. My first adventure in this peaceful ah merger." Zephyr's grin stretched from the north to south.

'What kind of high on weed luck is that?' Layke thought, no doubt hearing this recount for the second time. His face literally emoted when he heard Zephyr tell that he simply asked the GUIDE to bring him back. Nah that wasn't heroic or like a protagonist at all.

Kane on the other hand turned to look at the robot hovering on his shoulder.

"So does that mean you could have also made that Temporal Echo simply disappear?" He asked, the compaint in his voice clear.

|*I'm not your nanny, Resident Kane. Why would I take away an opportunity for you to learn about survival?*|

"..."

He could feel the favoritism shown by the GUIDE, but he could say nothing to change that. The GUIDE did as it wished to do. When it had earlier said that there were no rules, but what it actually meant was that followed no rules.

"I think there might be a reason as to why it agreed to help him? Don't you think?"

Jay said thoughtfully.

It was not very often that he tried to think, so Layke chipped in, "But it did say there were no rules, and from my time conversing with it, the GUIDE seems to do as it pleases. So maybe it was just a whim?"

Zephyr did not speak up, content with listening now. Meanwhile, Kane also tried to think up of a way to explain GUIDE's strange behavior. It seemed as if it truly did not follow any rules or law. As a guide, this seemed like a very unreliable trait, but was that really true?

It was then that Eli interrupted their conversation.

"I think you should not take its words about 'No Rules' at face value. From my experience, it follows a very simply rule. The only rule that is applicable in a lawless world." Her voice was really scary even when she was being casual, Kane thought.

"The rule of the winner. That is the only rule allowed in this world that's turned batshit crazy. Only those who win get rewards. Zephyr's idea of using the GUIDE to survive was clearly something it approved and allowed. Being innovative is a win." Her face was all serious now, a bit scrunched up, as we realized belatedly that she was bullshitting.

All of us broke out into mad laughter. No way that crap is actually real. Right? After we calmed down, Eli spoke up again.

"But actually, while I am not sure why the GUIDE decided to help Zephyr like that, I do think the winner theory is somewhat right. At least from my experience, those who win will get rewarded in some way. My current looks are proof of that." She gestured at her bright, flaming hair and red eyes.

"So what exactly happened to you?" Layke asked. This was a tale he had not heard. Kane noticed this and decided to ask about it later.

"Well, my adventure was a lot more straightforward compared to Zephyr's. You all should know about the personal merger and its stages by now, right? So I was one of the unlucky ones who got pulled into one of those stages so early. But I was also lucky in a way that this was a group battle royale. And everyone else was as clueless as chickens. I had an easy time during the stage, steamrolling through everyone, even though it was a group stage. Having actual combat experience is good. And most of my other selves were weirdly useless..."

The other four had perplexed faces as they looked at her in bewilderment. Eli continued with her tale, describing the whole thing, while the boys all showed a variety of expressions-from scared silly to glad that they were not the ones pitied against her.

Layke nudged Kane and whispered lightly, "I think this apocalypse thingy might be more of her knack than yours." He had a helpless experience, no doubt thinking of all the times they had witnessed Eli beat the shit out of the bullies back the orphanage.

"Yeah, I feel out of form here. I really need to up my game if I want to be of any help."

"Yo, don't be like that. Chill for a bit, it's not like we need *nannying* or anything," Jay sniggered from the side.

Kane rolled his eyes at him. But he was right. He shouldn't get down just because things weren't going his way. He just had to continue to do what he could and make plans for what he couldn't do.