章節 1: The wake.

Ding!

The last thing Aiden remembered was... nothing. Yet, here he was, surrounded by unfamiliar faces and an unsettling feeling of being trapped in a stranger's life.

A high-pitched sound rang into his ears, piercing through the fog in his mind. He was lying on a bed, in a well-furnished room, with a man in his 50s, with a beard and glasses, hovering over him, checking his breathing with a scope.

"How is he now?" A woman's weak voice broke the silence.

The older man, Mr. Smith, looked up, his voice hoarse, "Julianna, I've already told you. I'll try my best to make him wake up. Because of him, I quickly completed my monthly task, so instead of crying here, just go and complete your daily task."

"I've heard you, Mark. I have, but he's my only son. I can't, I…." She hadn't completed her sobs infested stories when a certain voice of someone she hadn't heard for a while put a stop to her words.

"Did you hear that?" She asked to be sure it wasn't her imagination. She could swear she heard her son's voice.

"What is happening?" An entirely new voice sounded in the room. The voice appeared confused and lost, unable to discern the situation.

Aiden struggled to raise his body up to rest his back to his bed back side but that proved difficult as he was a little tipsy. He looked at the people who were standing, looking at him surprised. He waved his hand, trying to get their attention.

"Hello…please…can you help lift me up?" He politely asked, the very first request that he needed to be done.

The repetition of the voice made Mark and Juliana finally back to their senses.

Juliana rejoiced and her face which was once devoid of color now sheltered a pink hue. She hurriedly shoved her husband away who to her understanding was still in awe and lost in his thoughts about how the medicine managed to work effectively.

To be honest, she wasn't any different but since the day they all suddenly met themselves in an unknown place and asked to choose a system to enable them renew their life, it has affected the rate at which she would be surprised of the world.

"My baby boy…here, let mama help you sit up…" she said as she lifted him up by his shoulder and helped rest his head on the back of the bed.

By now, Mark has already regained his senses and showed his awe in words instead of actions, "I can't believe this darling…"

He turned to Aiden and was about to continue talking before he was interrupted.

Aiden faced the woman who claimed to be his mother, a woman he couldn't remember. "Who are you?" he asked, his voice firm but laced with confusion. "And why do you keep calling yourself 'mama'?"

Juliana's expression showed a mix of joy and confusion. "Aiden, baby, it's me, your mother! Why are you looking at me like that? And why are you talking like...like you don't know me?"

"Who are you?" "He asked again, his voice firm and urgent this time as he stared at her, confused. "And what's going on? I keep hearing a voice in my head, telling me I have only nine days to live!"

"This…this is the reason I specifically told you to quickly treat him. How the hell will he continue to live in this world?!" Juliana rambled on, tugging Mark's shirt.

"Calm down, our son will surely find a way out. What we need to solve now is his memory loss and also explain the world to him." A more composed human said, and that managed to calm Juliana down as she took a seat beside the foot of the bed with a calm expression which finally settled on her face.

The room fell silent once more, just as it had been before Aiden woke up. Mark pulled a chair beside his son's bed and sat down, his eyes fixed on Aiden's confused face.

Aiden's gaze drifted between Mark and Juliana, his mind a complete blank. He was lost, scared, and curious all at once, unable to form a single question.

Without a single memory to call his own, Aiden felt like a shell of a person, devoid of purpose. He studied the woman who had been crying earlier, now composed, and the man with a stoic expression, wondering if they were his parents.

The opulent room and their concerned faces suggested they cared deeply for him, but he couldn't shake off the feeling of being a stranger in his own life.

"Please can you talk now?" He said, seeing that they just sat in front of him with no intention of talking.

"So…we are your parents." Mark said and Aiden nodded to which he questioned again, "And?"

"We are also surprised by how this world is but everyone in this world died and we were all given a chance to buy back our lives in this world by solving some task. And the reason I was very worried about you is that your days in this world are reducing with no way to renew it. You currently have only nine days to live!!" Juliana said, her voice high pitched to mark her fears.

"Oh…" Aiden only uttered this. A grim color finally appeared on his face.

As it appeared, the explanation his mom gave was like the click he needed to refresh his memories, though it didn't give all.

In his head, he saw many fragments of memories he felt were related to him but he could not relate to it. He saw himself as the only son of the richest man in his city, a school lord and lady's crush but all this, he couldn't relate to it.

He felt like he was currently inhabiting a body that wasn't his. He felt that he was in a time that wasn't his. As his thoughts swirled, the sound that he heard which woke him up sounded in his ears again but this time with a hologram screen floating in the air in front of his eyes.

It displayed…

[ Welcome Host — it's been a while, hope you slept well.

I'm The Evil Evolution System, here to guide you on your stay in this world]

[ I must commend your sleeping abilities though it is more harm than good. Out of 30 days which you have to complete your tasks, you've wasted 21 days.

Apart from the monthly task, you also have a lot of daily accumulated tasks]

[ And it appears that your memories are lagging and foggy. Don't worry I'll refresh it for you.]

As Aiden heard the last words of the voice which addressed itself as "The Evil Evolution System" he said with a relieved sigh, "That will be good."

As he made a thank you note, the world turned dark.