After Zero's answer, Finis didn't say another word. She silently left the massage room and went back to her own room. Later, as Zero returned to his suite, a system notification chimed.
[Finis Favorability +1]
That works too? Even with a delay? He didn't know what she was thinking, but he was getting used to the unpredictable nature of women's hearts.
Wait, 69 + 1 means... Zero quickly opened the interface.
[Finis Favorability: 70] [New Romance Skill Unlocked] [Romance Skill: Hacker Intrusion] [WARNING: Use of this skill may significantly decrease target favorability. Use with caution!]
"???" System, are you even listening to yourself?
Hacker Intrusion. Does that sound like a "Romance Skill" to you? You can't just slap a "Romance" prefix on everything and expect me to buy it. Still, a new skill was a new skill.
[Hacker Intrusion: Through the Eva Terminal, hack into the target's brain and invade their soul to briefly gain control of their body. During the invasion, temporarily unlock the target's exclusive archetype and full Extra Deck.] [WARNING: Target favorability must be at 70 or higher to use. Using this may cause a drastic drop in favorability.]
"Hack into the target's brain through the Eva Terminal? What are you talking about?" The sheer weight of the information made Zero look at the terminal on his left wrist.
He'd worn it since birth and was used to it, treating it as part of his body. It looked like a high-tech watch and served as a clock and a notebook for him in the slums. Higher-level terminals like Finis's had more features, but they all served the same core purpose: storing points and turning into a Duel Disk. You couldn't live in Eden without one.
But the system description suggested a terrifying fact. "Can this thing actually invade brains and souls?" If the system could use the terminal to do it, didn't that mean the terminal had that capability built-in? He had thought this was a convenient future world, but it turned out to be The Matrix.
Zero tried to take the terminal off—the result was the same as every other time he'd tried. It was locked to his wrist. Unless he cut his hand off, it wasn't coming off.
"This world is a bit more troublesome than I thought."
He gave up on the terminal and lay on the bed, but he couldn't sleep. It was 4:48 AM. Dawn was less than two hours away. Day and night in Eden were controlled by Eva; the artificial sun would rise at exactly 6:15 AM.
He hadn't pulled an all-nighter in ages. In Sector 32, the TV signal cut out at 8:00 PM, so there was nothing to do but sleep. But here, the room had every entertainment imaginable.
I'll surf the web for a bit. He decided to look for answers to his growing list of questions. He opened the Eva-pedia and searched for [Finis Wynn].
Given her beauty, there were plenty of entries, even a fan club that managed her page. He ignored the junk posts—[In 1974, she did kickboxing in Southeast Asia...]—and looked for the official data.
[Finis Wynn, Born 5008.] [Mother was a maid for the Wynn family. Discovered to have an 'inappropriate relationship' with the head of the house and was expelled by Mrs. Wynn.] [The mother was pregnant at the time. Finis was born a year later.] [5016: Finis was 8 when her mother died in a 'Terrorist Attack.'] [Finis was raised in a Wynn orphanage. At 13, she officially returned to the Wynn family as the third daughter.]
That was the official bio. The fan-curated entries had more about her personality. [Lived in an orphanage for a long time, so she frequently visits the children there. Has donated to multiple orphanages in the lower sectors.] [Built a free playground for orphanage children.] [Cosplayed a Superhero for the kids—highly rated.] [Teaches kids to duel; summons Marshmallon in Attack Position.]
Man, you really like kids, don't you? Zero thought. Also, the superhero cosplay photo is great; that black leather suit looks incredible on her. From what he could see, Finis was a "UR-tier" beautiful girl with a kind heart. Working for a boss like her might be a good choice. But one phrase bothered him: "Terrorist Attack."
Aren't violent incidents prohibited in Eden? He clicked on the term.
[Terrorist Attacks: A series of attacks that occurred ten years ago. The perpetrators were all Duelists.] [Characteristics of the perpetrators: Uncontrolled temper and irrational rage.] [They launched indiscriminate duels against bystanders. Safety limits were disabled, resulting in the deaths of the duelists.] [The Host AI Eva eventually expelled all 27 involved Duelists from Eden.] [Recently, reports of 'uncontrolled duelists' have surfaced again...]
Zero felt cold sweat soaking his back. Uncontrolled temper, irrational rage, disabling safety limits to kill... It sounded exactly like Rutz tonight. Was it a coincidence?
At 5:07 AM, Sector 11 finally fell into silence. Zero remembered another oddity: Finis had specifically asked about Rutz's state when he left. If her mother was a victim of a "Terrorist Attack," she would have recognized the signs immediately.
"BWAH!"
A shout behind him nearly made Zero's heart stop. "Mokey Mokey, you're going to kill me!" he complained, clutching his chest.
Eve, in her spirit form, had returned after enjoying all the hotel's perks—floating in the baths, licking ice cream from the buffet, and peeking at girls' underwear.
"That was fun! Too bad You-You didn't come."
"Go back to your card."
"☆⌒(ゝω･) Got it!" She winked, but then paused. "Oh, by the way, I saw something when I came back."
"What?"
"That Young Lady just snuck out of the hotel's back door."
"Finis? At 5:00 AM?"
He ruled out skipping the bill since it was pre-paid. That left Rutz. Zero thought about her mother's death and Rutz's rage. He threw his clothes on. Tonight wasn't over.
"Eve, lead the way!"
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Yu-ki-oh:King of the Scraps (86 Chapters – Ongoing)
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