Pride Online

Chapter 578: Announcing The War Part IV

“They use human brains to create Pride.”

“That’s crazy!” The boy shouted. “It’s illegal to do experiments on human beings!”

“It’s not, if the body’s owner signs the consent document,” Sander said. “You know, like the one when you have to sign to donate your body to medical purposes after you die?”

“But it’s not the same...”

“It’s exactly the same.” Baron interrupted. “Because with consent, they can use the body however they want. The Pride company offers to take care of those who won’t be able to make it back to normal, such as those in their vegetative state. You should have seen some in Vanilia, right, Vincent?”

Wisana halted.

Viola got him thinking about the man he had met before this. The old man in “Vanilia”, Grandpa Khao. He heard that he also got into an accident and was in a vegetative state, too.

“Don’t tell me that grandpa’s also...” Wisana muttered.

“That’s right. That grandpa in Vanila is also one of the people who gave their consent to the beta server for Pride because they know that they wouldn’t be able to live normally anyway. It’s better for them to be alive and healthy in the Pride world.”

Wisana went quiet. He looked at his friends, speechless.

“We call them “Core”. The Pride company gathered a lot of them from around the world, wanting only their brain waves to build the server that supports you guys. The modification of all senses is easy since the foundation of the main server is human brains that contain all information about them.”

The truth got the kids speechless. They had never known that this world was so delicate. They play the game for fun every day without knowing what was behind this incredible creation.

“Now you know how Pride works.”

Baron said with a smile. Wisana gritted his teeth tightly. He was angry that this woman could talk about something like this with such a happy face!

“Why did you tell us?!” Wisana asked. “The more we know, the more we feel bad about it! I’d rather not know!”

Hearing that, Baron grinned. She was not surprised by Wisana’s reaction. She sighed and continued in a calm manner.

“Because Lucius and those people are the Cores of Pride, too.”

“....”

Wisana went silent. Sander put his hand on his shoulder.

“Baron didn’t intend to make you feel bad. This is something that you really should know, Wisana. Our enemies are the Cores of Pride.”

Maysa and Waree looked at each other and frowned. Maysa, then, asked.

“Are they all Cores?”

Sander sighed. “Yeah. They’re the cores of this world.”

“What do you mean?” Waree asked. “How can all of them be? What happened to them?”

The old man was quiet for a short while. Then, he glanced at Baron. She shook her head this time. Sander could only sigh.

“I don’t know either.” He answered.

“...What?” Waree drawled.

“They want to destroy Pride, right?”

Wisana asked and everyone halted. Baron looked at him.

“Why do you think so?” She asked.

“My acquaintance is one of the four gods who spied on them and heard them talk about it. The main objective is to demolish the four gods and me. That’s why he thinks that they want to destroy Pride.”

Baron smiled.

“Not bad for an assumption. He’s that Black Bullet of Cataral, am I right?” She whistled. “That’s right. They want to destroy this world. Their main goal is most likely the four gods. However, the even bigger target is...”

She pointed at Wisana. The boy raised his eyebrows.

“Me?” He pointed at himself.

“Not you, your Ai.”

“Jinnie?” Maysa muttered.

“Yes. Jinnie is in possession of what’s called The Key of Forbidden. It can be used to unlock a weapon that can instantly destroy Pride.”

Everyone turned to Wisana. Even the boy narrowed his eyes, puzzled.

“Jinnie?” He muttered. “How’s that even possible? I’m a new player and I’ve never seen that crazy key before. How can it be here with my AI?!”

“It’s possible,” Baron said. “The AI system of this game is created from the behavior of over two hundred thousand people. There’re small data that run around the server. It’s like a twenty-baht banknote that roams around in the market endlessly unless you tear it apart.”

“You’re saying...” Wisana narrowed his eyes.

“Yes. Jinnie was once someone else’s AI. When that person’s ID is erased, it comes to you instead.”

The truth got Wisana to turn to his information screen with a surprised face.

“Unfortunately, the previous owner of Jinnie was the one who hid that weapon here and kept the key with Jinnie.”

“And now that Jinnie is yours, Lucius and his people are hunting you down,” Sander said.

The boy was clearly puzzled. He stroked his lips, thinking.

“Then, why didn’t Jinnie tell me anything!?” He asked loudly.

“She can’t.” Baron smiled. “As soon as the AI changes its owner, its memories and abilities will be deleted to be able to support the new player.”

“Then, that crazy key should have been deleted, too, right?” Tunwa said.

“Unfortunately, no.” Baron shook her head. “Jinnie’s previous owner modified The Key of Forbidden into a small data and permanently implemented it into Jinnie. I’m sure it’s still in there with her.”

Silence overtook the place before Maysa broke it.

“What’s the hidden weapon?”

“I don’t know. Only Jinnie’s previous owner knows.”

Wisana glanced up at her again.

“And who was that?”

Baron let out a long sigh and avoided the kids’ gaze.

“That... I’m not sure yet. I only know that we can’t let Lucius get a hand on it, otherwise Pride’s over.”

Wisana exhaled harshly and made angry noises.

“I don’t get it.” He said. “If they’re the Cores, why’d they want to destroy this world? If they did, they’d only go back to being useless, or even dead.”

Baron looked at Sander.

“For some people, eternity is too long and torturing,” Baron said.

“There must be reasons. I don’t know how logical those will be, but I do know that Lucius is aiming to destroy this world. He can do it without any hesitation.”

Baron clenched her fists when Sander said that. Wisana scoffed and glanced at Sander with a wry smile.

“Even if he had to kill the other Cores?”

Sander went quiet for a short while before nodding.

“Yes. He doesn’t care. He can kill even the most innocent people to destroy this place.”

Wisana frowned tightly. What the kids just heard made them feel really bad. Knowing that Pride was created from human brains was bad enough, yet the story about Lucius wanting to destroy this world was a disaster!

Maysa did not expect that it would be this intense. She thought that it was something about a disagreement in business. Why did it become something so big that involved human lives? The girls could only look each other in the eye.

Meanwhile, Baron started to notice that the kids’ eyes were looking weary. The whole story was actually beyond what they could hold.

She let out a harsh sigh.

“Don’t worry. I won’t let...”

“I won’t let them do it.”