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(Prologue for Volume 2)

(Warner Asimov\'s Point of View)

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After the meeting with the Russian ambassadors and the United Nations portraying Code, I went back to my laboratory. Every footstep I made sounded heavier as I marched through the crowded hallway.

People called it a building, and some even hailed it as a company. But I begged to differ. It was a laboratory that made Code work while using Science, fiction, and game elements in that fantasy world.

Code was a game that continuously updated itself, with the help of the game developers. We were the only ones who guided the world. All of us were not gods, but architects that built the foundation of Code.

But now, there was a troublesome figure that ruined my plan and the game. I could only hope that the news would not ruin my day.

A woman wearing a dirty-white lab coat rushed to me. Her clothes covered her curvature, but I knew she was a fine lady. She was the idol of our laboratory, not until our occurrence became busy with tight schedules and whatnot during our work.

Gripped in her hands were bundles of documents representing the information about Code. She had a pale face with eye bags forming in each of the woman\'s eyes. It only told me that my right hand had never slept a wink after the situation had gotten out of hand.

This woman was my assistant and the one who lists everything for me. She even brought me a cup of coffee clipped on her armpits. The smell of coffee beans drifted in the air, luring me closer to her arms.

"Sir Asimov, the death counts are growing larger every second. There are even people rallying in front, shouting your name," the lady announced, and gave the papers to me.

I shook my hands and pointed my forefinger at the cup burning her skin. With a surprised expression, the woman retracted her arms. She gave the cup first before the stack of papers.

I loved the smell of coffee before work.

"Let them be, Katya. Those families can yell as much as they want to," I answered. "We are all doing the best we can to save the game. It was not even our fault that Code crashed and turned into a death game," I answered, and took a xertz to the boiling cup of caffeine.

The woman slid her hair and continued, "We have two pieces of news for you, sir Asimov."

My assistant and her team would usually be the ones who come up with a solution to these things. I told them that if a problem arises, they should not call me for help unless needed. So hearing Katya pleading for help was one of a kind.

"What\'s the status of the game and the problem?"

Katya directed her gaze at the first page, with the lines that she wrote "NPC Mainland". An exclamation mark popped up on top of my head, as I expected her to say something linked with the event in Code.

"We can verify the preceptor of the quest to kill the king of Mainland. Our team suspected that the red-cloaked girl was pulling the strings behind the quest. I can show you the results in the theatre room, Sir Asimov."

I gave Katya a nod and told her to lead the way.

The theatre that my assistant had mentioned was at the far end of the building. It had two crimson gates for an entrance. It took us fifteen minutes to arrive at the place. As we stepped our foot inside, a gigantic screen welcomed our eyes.

I took a seat in the front row and rested the papers in my hands. Katya walked toward the machine and inputted a flash drive to the side. The screen lit up and showed videos on the left side and identification screens on the right. We used this to organise our findings in the game.

The monitor presented the diamond obelisk at the centre of Mainland\'s plaza. Hundreds of NPCs surrounded the pillar, with dozens of players roaming around the stores, waiting for them to open.

"This footage belongs to the last event that the game developers issued. Around that obelisk, we have fifty-three NPCs that released a request for the players. Among them was the mission to kill King Arthur, the Mainland\'s ruler."

Katya forwarded the video and paused at the exact moment where we noticed a crimson hood walking towards the pillar. The girl had clothing that differed from the NPC surrounding her. But the cloak and the crowd obstructed her face, proving it difficult to track down the NPC\'s identity.

"Go on. Make your point," I insisted.

Katya cleared her throat and continued. "We killed fifty-two NPCs that were present during that event, except for the girl. Hence, our team identified her information."

The screen\'s right side changed into a white background with the image of a girl wearing the same cloak we saw earlier. The girl had blonde hair and faint red eyes. At the top right corner, the system wrote her name as "Red Rose" with her alias "Red Riding Hood". Since Code had fairy tale elements that we took from ancient stories, Red Riding Hood was not a name that sounded unfamiliar to us.

"Does Red know?" I asked.

Katya gave me a nod. "Yes. Red Rose knows how to complete the game. She also has the emerald obelisk right now as we speak."

"What? What happened to Nirvana? The soldiers should have apprehended La Finta and her rangers! We needed that emerald obelisk! What happened?!" I growled. My shout resonated through the room.

"That\'s what I wanted to tell you, Sir Asimov," Katya confessed. "Half of the soldiers got killed by the famous player killer."

"Another deviant? Who in their right mind would do such a thing!"

"It\'s Fenrir\'s smurf account. He goes by the name Wolf. Despite being a level 5 player, Wolf successfully apprehended 500 soldiers equipped with guns and firearms. He\'s too strong in Code," Katya stated, with her eyes looking down.

Fenrir also became a problem that we needed to take care of from the early instalments of Code. That player single-handedly destroyed the adventurer guild because of his delusions. The game developers gave him a quest that we couldn\'t handle for a handsome reward.

We planned to kill Fenrir against Alice, a crazy NPC and a mistake we made in Code. However, Fenrir was too strong, even facing Alice, the most powerful being in Code.

"We\'re sorry for our failure."

I shook my head and rested my face on my palm. "No. It\'s fine, Katya. We\'re just human beings. We all make mistakes."

The creation Code was a mistake I made and a gift I cherished. I can still remember the bittersweet memories of my son, Clement, who wished to play this game with me. Code was his special place.

"But now, it has turned into a death game," I murmured, and stood up from my seat.

"How is the Project: Hiro doing?" I asked.

"Project: Hiro is currently on the way to Code," Katya replied. "Sir Asimov, are you sure about this? Are you sure that we can recreate your son\'s memories inside the game?"

I gaze into Katya\'s eyes. She returned my gaze with her mouth curling downwards. Katya\'s question should have made me angry, but it didn\'t. I could only feel despair trembling in my hands.

"Code is the game that I wanted to give to Clement. It was supposed to happen after that monster horde event. But now, things have gone astray," I said my monologue, and faced Katya. "Of course, we need to do it. It\'s my only way to revive my dead son, Katya. It\'s the only way I can see Clement again. Maybe he can save these two worlds."

"I hope he can," Katya expressed, with tears dropping from her right eye. "Can you save my husband, too? Can you save Friar Tuck? My kids are waiting back home."

"We will definitely have a plan to save your husband and his brother. And besides, Robin is not the person who could easily die inside the game. He is the Western Guild\'s leader, after all. Robin knows what he\'s doing there in the game. I just hope Wolf has not killed him."

"Thank you."

After our exchange, Katya and I went outside. I instructed her to kill all NPCs and bring more personnel in Code. \'The only way we can end the game is to defeat all NPCs, excluding Alice and the monster hidden in Wonderland,\' I thought, and went to my office. Those two entities were apart from the game.

Not everyone knew the secret ending of the game. That ending involved collecting all four obelisks from Code and placing them on the altar. Only Katya, some selected game developers, and I knew how that system operates. We cannot let Red Rose, Wolf, or anyone complete that part in the wrong hands.

Clement must be the only one who should do it.. It was the only way that I could revive him and mix the actual world from Code.