The Sinners' Queen

Saturday. It was already past 5 pm. Outside the nearest hospital, Sofony absentmindedly led the other girl out to hail a cab back to their apartment. Only after she noticed that Steffy was still dumbfounded and scared of what they had just experienced, did she recollect herself to comfort her sister.

She led her sister inside a taxi and instructed the driver to drove them to the apartment. She had to make sure Steffy was sent back properly and safely first, then she'll go back to Gio's condo. She must console her sister as well. Witnessing so many vehicles getting caught in that bombing incident, with several people injured and killed, was very traumatizing. The cries of agony, loud pleas for help, all the blood, the fire, the wreckages of metals and glass shards everywhere... Considering how in Steffy's memory, she just survived a landslide last last week, the trauma must have doubled.

The other worrisome thing was how Steffy's injured leg worsened. When the explosion occurred, Steffy got so scared and startled that she tripped on the cold cemented ground. Fortunately, when people were madly fleeing from the scene, no one stomped or ran over her. Moreover, Sofony's increased in strength proved useful in this situation when she piggy-backed her sister away there.

However, Steffy's barely recovered leg actually still wrapped in bandages started bleeding again. That's why Sofony had to bring her sister to the hospital. Fortunately, somebody from the crowd immediately alerted the police, some even called for an ambulance. A few officers accompanied them to the hospital to ask them what happened as one of the passengers. They had to answer a few questions before they were left to their devices.

Sofony didn't mention him to the police due to the fact that she had no evidence whatsoever and that the other party could be a suspicious bystander only. The person was a minor too so it would be more unconvincing. However, she couldn't forget about him, and due to her intuition, she asked her system about her guess.

<System: 200 Points deducted. You're correct, stupid Host.>

At this answer, she started shaking her head, disbelief crossing her slightly paler face. She could still remember that the system once told her that every host would be covering a certain area and that the chances of encountering each other were slim. It was already a dumb and unwelcomed coincidence to encounter Floyd.

Now, what's with this situation?

How come she's meeting another one, and in such a ridiculous way?

<System: Well, I guess you're just this lucky.>

Sofony took a deep breath and balled her left hand into a fist so hard that her nails dug to her palm. The pain barely made it to her confused brain. Her mind was really in a mess, like a heavily unorganized room.

'After Floyd, I encountered, another. If this is how you define luck, I regret upgrading this stat.'

She stared at the girl sitting beside her. Her face crumpled in anger when she thought how they narrowly missed the danger earlier. She began thinking, what if they didn't leave their seats? What if the bus didn't stop and had its engine broke down? What's gonna happen to them? Fried inside? reduce into bloody corpses? If heaven mercifully let them survive, perhaps crippled or disfigured? At this train of thoughts, she unknowingly gritted her teeth. The songs playing on the driver's radio didn't help one bit to calm her nerves.

'I don't get why I'm so 'blessed' to meet a juvenile psycho like that, and lucky to be inside a bus implanted with a bomb!' She heavily stressed.

<System: Ah, there are just shitloads of things in life that no human brain can comprehend. Luck is one of that. Time and the universe are some others. True, it's unfortunate. But you're still lucky. Even though fate seemingly wanted you dead, in the end, your luck kicked in and allowed you to exit that bus with that girl before it exploded. Be grateful for avoiding being fried to death. Look, you're alive and disputing right now with me.>

That statement didn't make her happy, instead, it made her more disturbed. Her eyes turned dimmer than usual, her brows furrowed. She had to look down and let her straight long black hair to shield her expression from potentially prying eyes as she knew that her current face must be distorted due to anger and insecurities. Tons of questions began to appear in her head and she couldn't help but rant them out to the system.

'Tell me, system. What if I didn't pull away from that place? What would happen? You see, those people who didn't manage to run away died! Only a handful survived, and they're all hospitalized due to severe burns and injuries! And all of those happened due to that bus which must have exploded because of that other host!'

When she closed her eyes, she seemed to hear again the voice of the female police officer she spoke with. That officer told her that according to her colleague still at the scene, more than twenty people died and a little more than thirty were injured, lightly or heavily. She said the victims were not only the original passengers that hadn't gotten away from the sidewalk, but also people in the nearby vehicles, especially the tourist van beside it. She remembered hearing from the police officer that if not for the bus suddenly crashing down, then all passengers would have not been able to survive. None of them would realize there's a bomb there that came out of nowhere. Thinking of this, Sofony's heart became heavier, especially she's now perfectly aware all of this was single-handedly orc.h.e.s.trated by that underage host.

<System: Host 137, you're correct. As part of the purchase earlier, this will be additional information. That host did it due to a quest. Obviously, he's already a high-level host, or even if he's not, at least his level is higher than yours.>

'Are you saying his level is higher because he's already playing with other people's life and death? That kind of immorality? Killing people just because?'

Sofony gritted her teeth, her eyes reddening in anger.

<System: In a sense, yeah. Hypocrite, don't tell me you're angry because many people died?>

'Why else?! Those are lives! Dammit! And he's merely 12 or 13, at most 14!'

<System: What of it? Haven't you heard of kiddos below ten killing their parents or other people? Really naive. After everything you've done, you're still acting clean? Fine, that's immoral. But it's just irritating how you keep on denying your own depravity and judging other people's wrongdoings. All this while you're even acting oblivious to things like this. You already witnessed it, kids can kill. Heck, I even have records of babies accidentally murdering. If you want, I can pull up millions of names of killers below ten years of age to educate you of how dark and rotten this world is. What say you? It's free of charge this time.>

'Shut up!' Sofony couldn't stand it anymore so she roared in her mind. 'I don't want any of it! Just shut up! Shut up! SHUT UP!'

'I hate the system! I don't care if there are kids like that! All I care is how a garbage thing like you encourages and pushes people, even kids like that, to commit crimes and murder! Shameless system! Damnable system! Hateful! Devil! You and your crappy main brain should go to hell! Go to hell!!!'

When Sofony arrived at Gio's condo and got into the bedroom, she started crying profusely. Her emotions became uncontrollable. She didn't know what to do, aside from crying. For the first time in her life, she greatly feared what the thing that got bound to her could do. She realized what its title truly means.

Immoral.

Because it could make people do things not deem acceptable or moral by the others.

A.d.u.l.tery, premarital s.e.x, robbery, corruption, lying, killing... and the list goes on.

There were also times when it made her do nonsensical, unreasonable things like enrolling Steffy to HCA instead of bringing her away to another place.

It wanted people like her to break rules, reasons, and lives. Justifications and all things related to that was of no importance.

It wanted people like her to lose sanity and judgment... as well as the things that made them worthy of being called moral and human.

When Monday came, Sofony received another nonsensical quest from the system. Their teacher in History quizzed them about the lesson tackled and as the one assigned to collect the papers from her classmates, the system issued a task of secretly not including Wendy's paper. She ignored it, of course. And the system was more than happy to let her taste a punishment.

On the next day, if not for Clea helping her shut people up, the common gossip would have been how Sofony Mendez mysteriously fell into a dirty water canal near the school gate yesterday afternoon. Naturally, that was the work of the system. Given Sofony's improved physique, she was now athletic and quick to her responses so it was almost impossible for her to clumsily fall like that. At least, not without the machination of something like a certain bastard system.

Actually, that was not even the end of it. A few hours later, when she was waiting at the cafeteria and there was a pair of student couple nearby, it issued a 'third-wheeler drama' task that she also didn't hesitate to reject. As a consequence, when she was climbing down a flight of stairs from the third floor of their building, she once again fell down, rolling more than twenty-steps. Fortunately, there's nobody close. She was also not that injured, only receiving few bruises and a cut on her elbow. A kind-hearted girl escorted her to the clinic where she found out that at least no bone got dislocated. The nurse asked her how she fell down, but she could only smile and say it was all due to her clumsiness. It was a poor excuse but thankfully no more question was asked.

Then times and days passed that these kinds of events plagued her all around.

The system eventually grew bored with her deadpanned expression and decided to stop. It then began to talk things out with her. It was afternoon, she was resting her eyes as she leaned her upper body on the backrest of the bus seat.

<System: Is this your way of rebelling?>

When she replied, she didn't open her eyes. 'And? End of discussion. Kindly shut up again.'

<System: I'm bored so I'm talking.>

She didn't comment. Her attitude suggested that she didn't want to entertain it.

<System: You're stupid. As always. Just because you witnessed your colleague's exploit, you became intimidated and don't want to continue doing things immoral since you won't be able to compete with him. Heh, a sore loser.>

'I'm sincerely amazed at how your damaged brain works. I'm sure that's all you want to say so shut up.'

<System: Oh? We've been like this for days. Don't you think it's becoming boring? Or are you angry at me throwing tasks at you? You rejected them though, so it's your fault that you're punished.>

Silence was the only answer it received after it waited for more than two minutes.

<System:... I get it that you're just in the mood for a little masochism play. Fine. You're in a terrible mood because of that stupid bombing incident. But allow me to enlighten you, dense 137. You're not the only host. As long as you're not the only one, the probability of meeting other people like you is always there. And all of you shared the same system. You should brace yourself to see people more wicked and hateful than you. Age, appearance, and status don't matter in becoming immoral. Damn it, why do I even have to educate you this simple common sense.>

'...How many are we?' She couldn't resist asking after a few seconds of deliberation.

<System: Not more than a thousand.>

'...Which is the latest batch?'

<System: Fifth.>

Sofony softly chuckled as she did her math. Fifth batch, in case there were a hundred people per batch, out there were five hundred people roaming freely on earth. If they had been distributed fairly to every country, empire, or nation, since there were more or less a hundred, it meant there were currently five immoral hosts in each country or state. She temporarily ignored the fact that there were still batches to be added in the future. All she wanted to focus on was how in her country, she already met two, and all of them appeared in Alina City.

As she pondered, regret and other indescribable emotions flooded her heart.

<System: Just to inform you again, I don't give a damn about world domination. Just stop assuming I orc.h.e.s.trated the appearance of that other host there because I want you and the others have some sort of battle royale. He just happened to get bound to another AI like me, become more immoral than you, receive a quest about hatching a bomb inside the bus like the bomber in his favorite arcade game,...>

'And also get into the same bus as us. I get it.'

She heard the loud and scratchy voice of the driver so she opened her eyes and checked her items before hurriedly getting off. Once her feet stepped on the pavement, she started walking towards the footbridge nearby. She had to cross that then walk a little further to the left to reach the Golden Residences. Midway, in the middle of the sea of people, she encountered a 'talent scout' from a modeling agency that she politely brushed off. Then she rushed towards the condo building. All this while she couldn't help but think about that fateful afternoon. The impatient voice of the system broke its silence though.

<System: Annoying host. I'm done waiting for your stupid, must-have-been-fakely upgraded brain to understand. Now, listen up. You're simply scared by how you almost died. That's what's making you feel tense. You don't like how someone else almost dictated your life and death. When will you realize that? In reality, after obtaining me you've become complacent and confident. Even though I keep issuing you hateful tasks, even though you disliked me for it, you still don't hate me that much, at least not enough to think of getting rid of me. I helped you have a better life after all. Even when Felicity's scandal broke out because I issued a task forcing you to do that, you didn't hate me that firmly because my shop allowed you to redeem yourself and her.>

Sofony froze. She didn't manage to enter the elevator in time and its closing door didn't also wait for her. Probably only those inside were concerned why a female student in white and blue uniform strangely stopped a few steps from the elevator, even staring blankly at them until the silver door got them out of sight.

'...I'm scared?'

She blinked her eyes repeatedly at this realization.

<System: You are. It's normal. You're alive after all. For living creatures like you, survival is an instinct. When your survival is threatened, naturally you end up frightened. Are you sure your brain is not made out of straws? Don't tell me this never enters your mind?>

In fact, it didn't. All she could think of was how even a kid was made immoral by the system. The devil probably read what was running on her brain. It added,

<System: Oh. Why did I forget that you're a hopeless case of severe mental retardation? You're making me speechless. Dammit, aside from being proficient in hypocrisy and acting an innocent bitch, why are you a good-for-nothing?>

It clicked its imaginary tongue then continued, ignoring its still bewildered host.

<System: Host 137, Sofony Mendez. You're obviously frightened by how you almost died, almost ending up like those poor burnt corpses. The one who drove you to this state is a boy younger than you. Now you get what I would like you to understand?>

At these words, Sofony bit her lips. Her mind was greatly preoccupied so it was a miracle that she had safely entered the elevator without tripping or bumping into anyone.

<System: You're weak.> It started again.

<System: I even sometimes suspect if you're really at level 1, and not 0.>

<System: I swear, this must be all because you didn't do your tasks and official mission diligently, and now you have seen for yourself that out there, many hosts with the same capabilities and resources as you can kill you any time. That previous close call nearly did, and it was a mere accident. That kid was not even seriously targetting you. He was only completing a 'Blow Away A Bus' task.>

Her heart chilled at what the system stated. Regretfully, her functioning brain didn't allow her to refute it since it was the truth. She recognized that this might really be the case. No, it was precisely what happened.

She was Sofony Mendez. Immoral host 137. No matter how she hated the title and its tasks, in the end, she was a host and everything she had done after that one night stand was immoral. Recently, she had been complacent because she thought it was okay to be content of what she'd already gotten. There was no more need to improve or hurry to do missions, that was how her mentality worked. Now, her system was blaming her almost unintended journey to the afterlife to her, and she was aware it was because she was so weak that she couldn't even deflect misfortunate events like that.

If she had been more resourceful and creative in using the system and had completed more quests to stock up points, would things proceed in that manner?

Maybe.

As Sofony walked into the unit and pressed the switch for the lights and airconditioner, her expression was thoughtful yet at the same time, dark.

<System: ... I'll deduct 100 Points for all the information I just shared. Don't protest, or else, I'll rebel. And don't assume every host besides you and Floyd is stupid.>

She silently agreed and nodded, her brain more inclined to speculate about the last sentence.

She really must not be complacent anymore. Not all things would go her way. Like what was usually said by people, what could go wrong, will go wrong. Not all hosts would be easy pickings. And actually, even fools could be scary if they were immoral enough to not think deeply about why they should or should not do evil.

Now she began thinking, how about her? Her dilemma was due to the fact that she's weak, but if she wanted to become stronger, she had to be truly wicked.

This evening, she had neither the appetite for food nor s.e.x. She spent the night thinking of what she should do from now on.