Chapter 2 - Contract

Lila kept rolling on the ground, her clothes soaked in sweat.

“I shouldn’t have eaten so much,” she gritted her teeth in pain. She didn’t even dare visit the hospital.

It was said that the zombies were first seen at hospitals. What if she entered as a human and came out as a zombie?

Even though the apocalypse was still days away, she didn’t want to take the risk. She lay there on the ground and drifted off to sleep.

When she woke up, it was the next morning. The pain had subsided, and she was feeling refreshed. The only problem was the horrible smell coming from her body.

She stretched lazily and went into the bathroom. As she removed all her clothes and stepped into the shower, she suddenly heard a loud yawn.

Lila quickly bent down and wrapped her arms around her body, covering herself.

“Could someone have gotten in while I was sleeping? Or did I mishear?”

The yawn came again, this time with a childlike voice.“Why won’t they let me sleep?”

That was when Lila noticed the voice was coming from her mind.

“What? A child?” she muttered. “Not only did I not get my ability back, I got a child instead?”

Wait. This didn’t seem right. Could it be a system?

She tried talking to it. “Hello, who are you?”

Lila could hardly hide her excitement. It would be nice if it was a space system so she could store her items.

But since when did space systems speak?

She waited for a few minutes. Huh? Why wasn’t there a response?

She sat cross-legged on the bathroom floor and tried to concentrate. This was how those female leads did it in novels, right?

She sat there for almost an hour. Her back and legs were already sore, yet there was no other sound from the system.

Just as she was about to give up, she suddenly realized she was no longer in the bathroom.

She looked around and saw an extremely large house with many buildings surrounding it. The main building had an ancient look, with a fountain at the center of the yard.

There was no one in the vast space, and there was no sound.

“Where am I? Is this my space?”

Her eyes widened in excitement. This was unbelievable. Such a big place could contain thousands of people, and it was only hers?

She spread her arms and spun around before sprinting toward the door. As she ran, she felt the cold air biting her skin. That was when she realized she was naked.

“Ahhhhh!”

She screamed and quickly covered herself with her hands. But this was her space, right? There shouldn’t be anyone around. Still, she kept her hands in place and walked into the house.

The lights flickered on as Lila stepped inside.

She was stunned by what she saw. The design, the furniture, everything was top-notch.

The interior was far larger than it looked from outside. The floor was smooth and cold under her feet, the walls pale and clean, with faint patterns carved into them.

The furniture was elegant but not overly extravagant, arranged neatly as if untouched for years.

It didn’t feel like a place meant for living. It felt like a place meant for choosing its owner.

“Tch. Took you long enough,” the childlike voice said, sounding annoyed.

Lila blinked. Being naked like this in front of a child didn’t count as child abuse, did it?

“I would have been earlier if you told me how to get here,” she replied.

The system ignored her. It had been sleeping peacefully when it was informed that a host had been found. And it turned out to be this dumb woman. Hmph. It was angry.

“Are you going to stand there staring like an abandoned NPC, or are you entering?” it said.

“Who are you?” Lila asked. She knew it was a system, but what kind?

“I am a high-level autonomous survival system. My designation is—”

It suddenly cut itself off.

“…Actually, never mind. Your primitive vocabulary wouldn’t do it justice.”

Lila rolled her eyes. “You sound like a grumpy kid.”

The system exploded. “Who are you calling a kid?”

“What’s your name?” Lila asked.

The system refused to answer. This dumb woman dared to call it a kid. It wouldn’t answer any questions until she apologized.

If Lila could see it right now, she would see the cute pout on its chubby face.

“Fine. Since you don’t have a name, how about I call you Mimi?”

“How dare you! That name lacks dignity!”

Lila smiled. That was the reaction she wanted.

“So, are you going to tell me what’s going on now?”

The system sneered. “This is a house, obviously. You can use it as such, but before that, you have to sign a contract with me.”

Lila tilted her head. The explanation sounded half-hearted. She knew it was a house, but what worked and what didn’t?

Forget it. She would sign the contract first and explore later. She could slowly get information out of this grumpy kid.

“How do I sign?” she asked as she looked around.

She hadn’t seen any system interface since arriving, only heard its voice.

“You see the wall on your right? Slit your palm and press your hand on it.”

Lila turned around. There were indeed two palm-shaped outlines on the white wall.

She walked around and found the kitchen. Her mouth widened at the various appliances, but she couldn’t find any utensils.

“There’s no knife,” she said, but the system ignored her.

She smirked. “Mimi, there’s no knife.”

The system hissed. “A being of my caliber should not be called Mimi! If there’s no knife, go outside and grab a stone.”

Lila winced. Tearing her palm with a stone would be extremely painful, but at least she would gain such a big house.

She walked back in after finding a sharp stone.

Lila closed her eyes and dragged the stone across her left palm. Once. Twice. Then a third time, until blood finally burst out.

Her face turned pale. It hurt too much.

As she moved to press her hand against the wall, the system said, “Use your other hand. Don’t stain the wall.”

“What? Did I cut my hand for nothing?”

This system.

But she was ignored again.

Lila pressed her right palm on the wall.

“Welcome, host. You have successfully bound yourself to this system.”

Lila was completely confounded.

There had been no need for her to cut her palm at all.

Why did she get such a vengeful system?