Chapter 2 (1/2)
“G.o.d
d.a.m.n it… Temps aren’t human beings?”
Se
Cai cursed under his breath.
With
his friend gone, Se Cai had no one to talk to so he grabbed the remote by his
side intending to distract himself.
“Good
evening fellow viewers, welcome to today’s <focus tonight=””>, I’m your
host, Zhang Xin Yu…”
The
default station was his own tv station’s channel and the woman on screen was
the anchorwoman that he saved yesterday.
Coincidentally,
the first news for that day’s <focus tonight=””> was Se Cai’s handiwork. It
was a report on a large evening ball, the lead news of the day.
Se Cai
could still remember the atmosphere of the ballroom. If it was any other day,
seeing his own hard work on the news would have given Se Cai a joyful jolt but
that day, he wasn’t in the mood to celebrate…
The
gauze over his right eye kept blocking his view so gripped with anger, he tore
it off.
Suddenly,
a dark curtain dropped before his eyes, and he could feel a great heat searing
the cornea of his right eye.
Then, a
thunderous boom sounded in his mind!
He called
the doctor for help in desperation, but no words escaped from his mouth!
Se Cai
was filled with despair but after a while, the heat disappeared and he felt
washed over with a sense of peace.
“d.a.m.n,
could that be signs of internal bleeding…”
Se Cai
crumbled in his bed. He stretched towards the call b.u.t.ton but a voice spoke in
his ears, “Activating Eye for News system scanner. Confirm compatibility. Host
is a qualified journalist.”
“News
appeared as county tv station’s news of the day. Acquired 10 News Point, total
News Point is 103 points.”
The
message came without warning and it felt like the owner spoke directly in his
brain, it was a freaky feeling.
“Who’s
there? Who’s talking to me?”
Se Cai
enquired instinctually but there was no one around him.
“Am I
hallucinating? And what is this Eye for News system?”
Se Cai
mumbled to himself. He wanted to ask the doctor about this new discovery but he
feared they’ll end up treating him as a mental patient.
“F*ck
me. My brain must be seriously damaged to hear hallucinations like these…”
Se Cai
convinced himself that he must be hallucinating because there was no other
logical explanation.
Se Cai
laughed bitterly. He held the post of a journalist at great esteem because in
his mind, these were the people that ensured the weaker public got their voices
heard. They represented the voices of the people.
A
year at the tv station though had eroded his initial bright-eyed enthusiasm… The
long working hours aside, most of the news he covered were limited to fluff
pieces like company events or manhole thief.
For the
sake of these “news”, even his personal safety was on the line.
Se Cai
sighed as he laid back down on his bed, thankful that he managed to escape the
gang of men with his life intact, “What Eye for News system? I must have gone
crazy…”
Right
then, the familiar voice spoke again in his head, “Activation of Eye for News
system completed. Requesting for soulbind.”
“Soulbind?”
Se Cai
was not unfamiliar with the term that he had seen many times in his online
games.
Then
again, he reminded himself he was in real life.
After
giving it some more thought, Se Cai figured he’d test it out. Even if it was a
hallucination, it sounded interesting. Furthermore, there was no one else in
the room to laugh at him.
“Soulbind
confirmed!”
As the
words left his mouth, a strange sensation crept through his body. It felt like
the system had somehow fused to his soul.
Se Cai
had a hard time describing the system’s presence. Like how an amputee would
describe his lost arm, it was somehow there but not there.
“Binding
successful! Thank you for using the 23rd century’s latest Eye for
News system. This latest model employs an ocular embedded structure and is
controlled via brain wave. It is specially designed for news workers, a Grade 2
restricted article. Please follow the arth federation=”” news=”” laws=””>
closely. The company is not responsible for personal misuse.”
The
male voice concluded.
Simultaneously,
a semi-transparent appeared before Se Cai’s right eye, blocking almost half of
his visual field.
Needless
to say, this had to do with this Eye for News system.
“So…
this counts as a successful soulbind?”
After