Chapter 6: Ch.4- Snowman

I smiled as I watched the gentle snowflakes twinkle and float gracefully to the ground, each one casting a glimmer of sparkling white light all around the city. It makes me want to play. I want to do snowmen and build igloos!

[Starting system's diagnostic...]

I held out my hands and felt the soft snowflakes melt on my fingertips, each one like a miniature piece of fluffy cotton candy that quickly melted when eaten. I jumped up and began twirling and spinning.

[Diagnostic complete. 10 issues were detected. It is recommended that system returns to the Akasha facility]

"Where? Whatever, I want to play"

[System's current state makes it impossible to carry out rational thoughts, calling on Akasha]

[Connection broken. Impossible to contact Akasha.]

"Call who? Alaska? Who? Anyway, I'm going to do a snowman!"

[Initialating command 01...]

[Starting command...]

[Error detected. Impossible to take control of the system body]

[Turning off system...]

"Oh? Sleeppy....no, no, No, NO, NO, NO! NO! I want to play! I'm gonna do a snowman!"

[Error detected, impossible to turn off system]

"Hahaha, I won! No sleep, now it's time to play."

I decided to build a snowman. I had never done it before, so I didn't know what I was getting myself into. I started by rolling the first snowball and quickly realized it wasn't big enough. I tried again and again until I had three perfect-sized balls. Then, I carefully stacked them all up on top of each other.

I paused for a moment to admire my work. Shortly after, I began searching around for sticks I could use as arms. In 5 minutes or so, I had two perfectly curved pieces of wood. It was time to give my snowman some personality. With a smile, I carefully placed my two sticks into his sides to create the perfect arms for my creation. His posture was perfect, his hands on his hips and his head raised high. All was perfect, such a masterpiece, I'm incredible!

[It is recommended that system returns to the Akasha facility]

"Oh, shut it already"

Back to the snowman, all I needed now were a few finishing touches, a carrot for his nose, and some buttons for his eyes. 

I trudged through the falling snow, my eyes searching for any sign of a nearby shop. I needed a carrot. Eventually, I came across a small convenience store tucked away in a corner, the walls had a big amount of cracks. Its broken windows were plastered with signs advertising cheap deals, and inside I could see little lights twinkling in the darkness.

[Ennemy presence detected]

"Enemy? What do you mean 'enemy presence'?"

[Ennemy presence: When those who stand in the way of Akasha's interest are detected by the system's sensors]

"Uh? I think I just had a Deja Vu"

[Ennemy presence detected, quick removal is recommended]

"Sigh~ OK"

[Starting combat mode...]

A helmet materialized out of thin air and the world started moving in slow motion. I look around and shortly after I saw 3 figures behind the wall of the building next to the store, they were marked in red in my vision.

"Should I, like....start shooting?"

[Affirmative]

"What if they aren't hostile?"

[Probability of not hostility is 1%]

"Eh? You aren't lying, right?"

[This assistant does not lie. Enemies units have weapons. Enemies have a probability of 99℅ to be cyborgs sent by the CyberAscend government]

"Hmmm... suspicious"

[This assistant does not lie]

"Alright...here we go"

I pulled the assault rifle from my back, feeling its heft in my hands as I steadied my aim. My target stood behind the wall of the third floor, a trio of heavily armored figures. Time seemed to stand still as I aimed for the one closest to me. I pull the trigger and shots rang out in an instant, echoing through the city. 

After hitting the target, the figure fell to the ground, and before their companions had time to react, I sent another volley of bullets. Sparks flew as rounds ricocheted off the walls. In the span of less than a second, they were all dead. No cries of alarm or screams of pain were heard.

"Well, that was easy. They weren't civilians, right?"

[Negative. System capacities are way ahead of average automaton, current result was expected]

"Oh? Was that a compliment?"

[Negative]

"Liar, that was obviously a compliment"

[This assistant does not lie]

"Tks! Anyway, why I'm so strong? They died like nothing, I don't remember being this strong, actually I..............Who I am?"

[System name is denominated as S-16578. System powers come from system's biological nature]

No, that's not my name.

[Negative. S-16578 is correct]

You are reading story Mechanical Blood at novel35.com

"No that isn't my name!"

[System's current state makes it impossible to carry out rational thoughts. It is recommended that system returns to the Akasha facility]

"Not this again....! I'll just ignore you. Now it's time to go for my carrot"

I pushed open the door to the convenience store. The air inside was still and heavy, and there was an almost eerie dimness. Every surface was covered in dust and grime, and broken glass crunched beneath my feet as I made my way through the room. Everything seemed to be in disarray, with shelves overturned and debris strewn about. I could make out smears of blood on the walls and countertops, but I kept my focus on my goal, I just wanted a carrot.

As if it were destiny, I found a single carrot on the floor untouched by the chaos around it. Incredible! I'm so lucky.

[Potencial danger detected]

"...It's a carrot..."

[Danger of trap. It's recommended to scan the store first]

"So annoying..."

[Potential danger of trap. It's recommended to scan the store first]

"I heard you"

[It is recommended to start by the ceiling]

My eyes darted across the ceiling searching for anything amiss, and then, something caught my attention. A weird void of light nearly imperceptible. 

[Changing vision to echolocation]

Suddenly I see a monstrous mechanical spider lurking in the darkness. Its eight legs scuttled across the ceiling as if searching for something. It was clear that I was its target.

I started shooting by instinct, focusing my aim on its twelve eyes. Sparks rain around me, flying as the shots ricochet off its thick armor. 

The creature is incredibly fast, dodging and weaving out of the way of my gunfire with lightning speed. But still, some of my shots hit their mark, causing it to recoil before scurrying away, desperately trying to escape from my relentless barrage. I follow it cautiously while making sure to not touch any of its threads. 

The spider has put threads all around the store, I didn't know what those threads did and I didn't want to find out.

Cautiously I approached the creature, it was hiding behind a shelf. My shoots from before were superficial, this time I will get closer and destroy its head.

I slowly moved forward. The spider backed away, its eyes still fixed on me behind the shelf, as if it were expecting me to come. I edged closer until suddenly I was standing directly in front of it. We were only separated by the wooden shelf.

I was ready to start shooting but then suddenly, the spider twitched its eight legs and leaned forward breaking the wood shelf like paper. In one swift movement, I crouched down and aimed under his torso. I fired off a shot and watched as the spider explode into a hundred pieces.

With a deep breath, I slowly stood up and looked around. The store was as ugly as ever, not that different from before.

"Hey, shouldn't you warn about this type of stuff?"

[Affirmative. This assistant did warn about the probability of a trap]

"Well, you didn't warn me about a giant spider on the ceiling"

[This assistant detection capacities only reach system detection limits]

"What does that mean?"

[This assistant wasn't able to perceive spiders due to incapability of system detection abilities]

"You are saying it's my fault!?"

[Affirmative]

"Unbelievable, I won't even comment on that, you are so petty....."

This guy is unbelievable, how was it my fault??

"By the way, did the spider prepare the carrot for the trap? How did it know I wanted one? Did it read my mind.....?"

[Probability of being due to reading system's mind is 1℅. Probability of being due to system announcing it aloud is 99℅]

"....................Who cares.....why does a robot spider exist anyway?.."

[Unknown]

"Useless"

Whatever, let's get back to business. Now that I have the carrot, I need two buttons for the eyes..........so much work..........I'll just use rocks.

After taking some rocks from the ground, I began my travel back to where the snowman was. I trudged through the thick blanket of snow, my footsteps crunching the frozen landscape. Even though the destruction of war had overwhelmed the city, a sense of beauty still lingered in the air. The thought of my half-made snowman brought a smile to my face and I increased my pace. 

When I finally arrived at the spot where I left him, I was met with a sad sight. The snowman had been destroyed, nothing but tiny white flakes of snow lingering in its place. A mechanical monster that looked like a bird was on top of it, it was inspecting it with caution. Upon seeing me approach, it flew away. 

I sighed, and then I started piecing him back together, my hands forming the snow into mounds and rolling them about until I had a solid base. I took care to craft each piece perfectly, working with the same love and attention that had gone into his making before, making sure that an expression of my own innermost feelings was incrusted into my work.

Slowly but surely the snowman began to take shape again, the delicate white powder becoming something more familiar with every passing moment. And finally, after an hour of hard work and dedication, the snowman was just as it had been before. Now it was time to add the carrot nose and the two stone eyes.

I picked up the carrot, and with a light touch, I slowly carved it into the shape of a nose using a knife that I conveniently had. Then, I placed two small stones as eyes, carefully pressing them onto the surface of the snowman's face. As I stepped back to admire my work, the sun began to set, and the snowman almost seemed to glow in the dusky twilight.

I focused my gaze on it. Slowly I begin getting emotional. I looked to my left and I saw a bunker full of bodies and blood. I walked to the bunker, my feet dragged through the snow. After penetrating through the destroyed door, I began piling the bodies outside. 

 When I finished, I started digging holes and little by little I buried each of them, not forgetting to pay my respects to them all. 

As night began to fall, I looked up at the twinkling stars that dotted the dark sky. Taking one last look at the snowman, I turned my back and walked away.

"Where did the two kids from before went?"

[Probability of the two children deceased is 61℅]

"Shut it. Where they went?"

[Straight ahead]

You can find story with these keywords: Mechanical Blood, Read Mechanical Blood, Mechanical Blood novel, Mechanical Blood book, Mechanical Blood story, Mechanical Blood full, Mechanical Blood Latest Chapter