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Somewhere else, the president, ministers, army officials, and scientists were holding an emergency meeting. They were unable to detect the source of the blue screen.
At that point, a junior official barged into the meeting room.
"You! Don't you know the situation? How dare you interrupt a meeting of this caliber?" said one senior army official.
"S-Sir... No, you get me wrong, I'm from the foreign affairs department, we have received an emergency call from America's President."
"What? President of America!"
"Why, didn't you say so from the beginning?"
"Hurry up, connect us with them."
"Y-Yes, Sir!"
The junior official connected the video call to a large display. Not only were America, but Russia, China, Japan, Canada, the United Kingdom, and dozens of other Nations' Presidents were present.
A meeting of this caliber was something that could only show the graveness of the situation.
"A-Ahem!, I assume everyone attending this meeting has seen the blue screen, right?" America's President said.
"According to our investigation, those blue screens emerged out of nowhere around 4 days ago, we don't have any lead about where did they came from and who's behind it, but we know that there is one large screen in the center of each city, and also small screens that can be summoned by any person."
"Professor Smith, what do you think? Who could be behind this?"
An old man wearing a white black coat walks ahead. His hands were shaking, he adjusted his eye glasses with his left hand while looking at the tablet he held in his right hand and said, "From my team's research over the past days, all we could see is that the screen isn't something that could be created by any human, or should I say, it can't be created on Earth."
"It's very likely that some kind of external force is behind it. I recommend we take it seriously and prioritize those so-called tasks above everything else."
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Uninterested in these troublesome matters, Hao Yun returned home.
"I'm back!"
Thump-Thump-Thump...
His mother and sister rushed. It seemed like they wanted to show him something.
"Hao Yun, can you see this weird screen? What is this? It popped out of nowhere?"
"Big bro, look here, I also have one. There are weird things written in it. What should I do?"
Not being able to clearly hear what they want to say, Hao Yun shouted 'STOP'. Both became quiet.
He then had them explain what happened to them, and learns they also got their individual panel. But unlike Hao Yun, they already had a task to do.
Hao Yun asked, "What does your panel say? Does it have any notes or anything?"
His mother spoke, "When we discussed earlier, we found that both Joo na and I have received this 'lucky task' thing that could help us grow faster than anyone."
Joo na was eager to say something. So, when Hao Yun let her, she said, "Doesn't this look like a game? It gives us a task and we complete it, there's also a penalty, but it's completely blank, there's nothing written on it. So, I wonder what would happen if we didn't complete the task."
Hao Yun was a bit worried; he was one of the people who had read enough novels and comics in their childhood that were worth more than a lifetime's reading of an average person.
Because of this special knowledge, he had a premonition that it might not be a good thing to leave these tasks. Just in case, what if the system were real? They couldn't afford to take such a risk?
He asked both of them, "What's your task and what's the time limit of it?"
Joo na replied, "Our tasks have the same time limit, right, Mom?"
"Hmm... look, it says there's only 10 seconds left. I wonder if something bad would happen."
"What?" Hao Yun was shocked; they didn't have time to complete their task.
He panicked, had a certain bad feeling that urged him to do something. So, he requested them to complete whatever their task was.
However, Joo na laughed and dismissed him for exaggerating things.
▃▄▅▆▇ SYSTEM ALERT ▇▆▅▄▃
[Detected Host has failed to complete the lucky task.]
[Penalty Doubled]
[Neutralizing Host]
CRACK!
Joo na's body shook, her small body frame stiffened like something was pulling her spine.
"Big bro?"
"No... NO!" Hao Yun lunged at her, outstretched his arms.
But her body exploded before he could touch her.
A splatter of red blood hit Hao Yun's face.
He fell back, screamed, not knowing what he should do. His arms were covered in blood. Chunks of flesh stuck to his clothes. The smell of iron filled his mouth.
His mother stood frozen, staring blankly at where Joo na had been.Then she smiled... just barely.
"I'm sorry, Yun-ah…" She said to Hao Yun.
And then she, too... exploded.
Hao Yun sat there, kneeling in the devastation, his hands shaking, soaked in everything he loved. His vision blurred, and he couldn't think of anything.
The thing he thought was a game he would buy, the thing that excited him... Just after a few hours, it ended his world.
It indiscriminately killed the people he cared about, the people who were most important to him; it killed his... only family.
The apartment was too quiet.
Too clean.
Too full of things that used to mean something... like slippers at the door, breakfast bowls still lying on the table, the faint scent of shampoo his sister's used this morning.
And the blood.
So much blood. On the walls. The floor. His hands.
"I'm sorry, Yun-ah…" That voice kept repeating in his mind.
█▓▒░ TASK RECEIVED ░▒▓█
[ OBJECTIVE: LIFT AND HOLD 100 KG WEIGHT FOR 10 SECONDS ]
[ TIME LIMIT: 24 HOURS ]
[ REWARDS: INCREASE STRENGTH: +3, CLOAK IDENTITY ]
[ PENALTY: DEATH]
Hao Yun's fingers curled, his nails piercing into his palms, and blood began coming out of them.
"You killed them… for a fu*king task?"
"AAARRGHHH!!!"
"You think I'm just gonna play along? Pretend this was inevitable?"
His blood boiled, his soul screamed, his heart ached, and all of them demanded one thing... revenge.
"Fine..."
Hao Yun gripped his jaw. Raised his hand and said, "There's no damn way a thing like you could move on its own."
"Hahaha... bad news for you, system. Now I knew there was someone behind you."
"F**K THIS SYSTEM! F**K WHOEVER MADE THIS SICK NIGHTMARE!"
"I'LL F**KING FIND YOU OUT ONE DAY!!"
"NO MATTER WHERE YOU HIDE, I'LL FIND YOU, BASTARD! AND WHEN I DO, YOU'LL REGRET!!"
"I'LL BEAT YOU, IN YOUR OWN GAME..."
Hao Yun changed his clothes, packed his stuff, some family photos, and left the house. He couldn't even give a proper burial to his mother and sister... There was nothing left to bury.
The first thing he did was to head to a gym.
He wasn't particularly strong, so lifting so much weight was beyond hard for him.
He looked at the surroundings of the gym, and there was no one other than the trainer who was looking in a blank area.
Hao Yun knew from a glance that he was looking at his panel. He approached the trainer, explained his situation, and had him help in lifting 100kg.
However, it was futile... The task remained as it is, as he could see he was cheating.
Now Hao Yun knew he couldn't take anyone's help, but there was no way he could become strong enough to lift that much weight in just 24 hours.
He looked at the surroundings, wondering if something could help him, but also not trigger the system's flag.
Suddenly, Hao Yun noticed something in a corner. There was a leg press machine.
He remembered that during high school, he learned that human legs are way more powerful than hands. And there's nowhere written in his task that he can't use his legs.
Applying that knowledge, he shared his plan with the trainer, who once again agreed to help him.
After doing the preparations, the trainer took his position, "Okay, I've put 100kg on it, are you ready?"
"Yeah, just pull the pin!"
"Okay."
"Uhh... 1... oohh... 2... ahh..."
"Seeeven... Eeighht... Nyaaine... Teennn..."
"I'm done, I'm done, stop this machine right now!"
"Are you okay? Can you move?"
"Haah... Haah..."
"Are You All right?"
"Yeah, somehow!"
█▓▒░ TASK COMPLETED░▒▓█
[Congratulations to the Host for becoming the first person to complete a system task. ]
[ Detected hidden task completion. ]
[ Host will receive extra rewards. ]
[ Congratulations on receiving:
Normal Reward: Strength +3, Cloak Identity
Extra Reward: All Stats +3 ]
"Extra rewards, huh! Not bad, the faster you make me strong, the sooner you will end."
"Hey trainer! Let me show you a trick."
"Trick? You kid, don't go doing dangerous things to show off."
"Ha Ha Ha, just believe me."
To try whether this system's rewards were true or not, Hao Yun put exactly 100 kg on a barbell.
"Kid, don't blame me for not warning you."
"Don't worry, just watch it!"
"1... 2... 3... and UP! Whoa..."
"Y-Y-You...The heck I'm seeing now!"
"Don't tell me... You gained such power just after completing your first task. That means the system's legit."
With this experiment, Hao Yun confirmed that the Civilization Advancing System remains true both to his rewards and... penalty.
"Looks like my life's going to change from now on..."
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