Blue Star, Year 2131.
Central City Medical District.
The room was a void of sterile silence, broken only by the rhythmic hissing of an oxygen cycler and the low, mournful hum of life-support machinery. There were no windows in Room 001 only reinforced steel walls designed to contain biological hazards.
The sole source of light in the consuming darkness was a semi-translucent holographic screen hovering precariously above Bed 1.
On the screen, a world of vibrant chaos unfolded. It was a live stream of AZURE ONLINE, An hyper realistic VRMMORPG that had captivated human society for exactly one year.
A warrior clad in Radiant Golden Armor was battling a nightmare: The Thousand-Blade Mantis. The Level 99 World Boss who had just entered its 2nd Phase.
It launched hundreds of rusted swords stuck in its back towards the warrior.
The air on the screen screamed as the metal flew. The Golden Warrior, displaying top-tier reflexes, slammed his shield down and activated a massive defensive skill, creating a dome of light to protect his teammates and look for an opening to counter.
The patient on Bed 001 watched the raid with wide, unblinking eyes.
Unlike the pro players discussing tactics in the chat, his thoughts were simple, reckless, and filled with a childish hunger for excitement.
"Bruh, Why is he blocking?" he thought, his heart racing faster than the monitors allowed. "If that were me, I wouldn't hide behind a shield! I would have fucking charged right through the swords and smashed it in the face! and then say 'Haaaahahah, Who cares if I take damage? Just hit it hard!" just like a mad man.
He imagined himself attacking the world boss with madness.
He wouldn't be careful. He wouldn't be tactical. He would be a whirlwind of chaos, running headfirst into danger, swinging a sword the size of a door, laughing as he traded blows with a monster ten times his size. He wanted to feel the rush of being reckless, of making mistakes, of being alive.
But as the raid continued, the boy tried to raise his hand to mimic a sword swing, just to realise that his limb barely twitched.
The simple act of watching the game he loved with his whole heart was becoming a heavy burden on his failing system.
He also wanted to be a player. He too wanted to be a noob who died ten times a day. He wanted to run.
Alas, he was unable to do any of that because of his special body.
He was the first patient in the 22nd century to have UC, or "Unknown Cancer." This cruel condition had ravaged his cellular structure, causing his seventeen-year-old body to wither until he resembled an 80 year old man in his final dying stage.
In an age where humanity had almost cured all diseases, where genetic editing made people nearly perfect, UC was a nuclear level threat to the human race.
Because the patient was the first in human history to contract it, the government had stripped him of his identity to keep the panic contained. They decided to name the person ZERO.
Zero watched the Golden Warrior cheered in victory on the screen, his own breathing turning shallow and rattle like. The glory of the digital world faded into the gray reality of the hospital room.
He didn't care about saving the world or being the strongest.
He just wanted to play the game.
But before he could be granted such a wish the the monitor on his left started to show signs that are not meant to be.
Zero suddennly felt pain throrugt iut his body as if the world itself didnt wanted him to live.
Left with the immens amount of pain he cried louder and louder as he was suffering hoping to get the doctors here ASAP.
After some time, The room door was opened in hurry as many as 10 doctors rushed to stabalise zero but to there surprise the patient was not strugling he was just laying one the bed 001 as if he was having a peacefull dream.
One of the doctors went to cheack on zero after checking his vitals the doctor said in disappointing tone,"he is dead," after a brif pause he shouted, "YOU GUYS WERE SUPPOSE TO MAINTAIN THE PATIENT LONG ENOUGH SO THAT WE COULD HAVE ANALYSED THE DATA!!!"
He did not have any guilt of the patient dieing on his watch beaasue the pateint zero was the test subject or he had something that humans still did not discover.
For the Doctor zero was no more than lab subject to perform exteriment.
Few minutes before.
Zero was in pain as he tried to remember when was the last time he felt the same level of pain but could not because he suddenly realised that his breathing has stoped.
He tried to breath but he thought that his own body has given up so why should he try so hard just to e alive.
He was fed up of being in hospital from the moment he opened his eyes in this world and the hope he had that the doctors will somehow make cure to his disease after researching so long but they couldnt do it.
So after some extreme suffocating he looked at the hologram flickring as he closed his eyes and had the final wish, "Aah, I just hoped that i could play the game with healthy body, roam the world of azure..."
Suddenly he opened his eyes just to witness that he was laying somewhere in jungle.
Next moment a transulative screen appeard before him.
[Initiating System Please Wait...]
[System Uploading...5%...10%...20%...]
[System has been Uploaded...]
[Welcome to the Azure World, Host]
[Please View the Status]