NOVEL NEXT Chapter 1: Stabbed to Death
"You have to be kidding me."
A frustrated voice echoed inside the deadly silent laboratory that was secluded from the world.
With his unkempt brown hair dangling in front of his forehead, and blue eyes filled with rage, Damien Huston glared at the man in front of him.
"Why?" He spat with difficulty as he clutched his abdomen where he was stabbed. The dagger that the man used to stab him was long taken out of his abdomen, causing blood to gush out without stopping.
The spot where he was standing was now covered with blood.
As blood slowly drained out of his body and pooled under his feet, Damien had no idea where he had gone wrong. Was he wrong to hope? Or did he go wrong when he started to trust people?
He was born an orphan with no one to rely on, however, he faced everything that life threw at him with a smile on his face. He was optimistic that one day, he would succeed.
So when Damien was chosen by the famous dean of the Best Hospital in Clover City, he believed that his life had taken a turn for the better.
Never did he once expect that the man whom he trusted and admired would stab him in the back like this. Though it was front in the literal sense.
"I know that you are angry, Damien but you see…" Doctor William, who was holding a bloody dagger, walked three steps close to Damien. He smiled at the dying man and coldly stated, "I cannot let you release this research of yours under your name."
"You were already a threat to me once you became a resident doctor and you have become an even more dangerous threat to me after succeeding in creating this A. I system," Doctor William looked at the blue hologram that was floating next to them.
Under the hologram was a curved bowl-shaped structure that was lit up with vibrant blue light.
This was Damien's research and years of hard work. An A.I system that was built and designed for diagnostic purposes.
Damien named it 'DAN,' after the purposes that it could serve —— Diagnosis, Ailments Treatments and Neurographys.
Dan of all the diagnostic artificial intelligence in existence had the most potential. Damien who graduated as a first rank holder from the number one university of Clover City had spent years after years to make this AI system work.
Once it was released, Damien was destined to become famous for his medical skills. William was already frustrated enough by the fact that this man had attracted the attention of higher-ups.
If they were to find out the depth of the knowledge and skills of this boy, William was worried that Damien would become a threat to his position.
When William picked up Damien as his assistant, he believed that the man would become his wonderful right-hand man. However, he wanted an assistant but if his assistant surpassed him, what would become of him?
Since he could not suppress Damien and his skills, then he might as well eradicate this threat.
"We collected the data, Professor," one of the men whom William brought with him, said from behind as he stepped outside from the record and data room.
He strode over to William and showed him the journals that he had collected from the data room.
William looked at the pen drive and journals that his men had collected and smirked. He turned to look at Damien and said, "Don't worry my boy, I will let you have a few seconds of glory for working so hard for my sake for all these years."
He threw the dagger in his hands to the thugs he brought with him and said, "Burn this place down, don't leave any traces behind." He glanced at Damien with an evil glint in his eyes as he grinned with a maniacal expression and said, "Let the world know that a poor orphan died working for the betterment of the world but alas his efforts were wasted."
" And I, who could not bear to see my precious student's hard work to be wasted, took over. Let my name be known to all!"
"Hahahahahaha!"
The man left without looking back, leaving Damien alone in the secluded laboratory that was soon set on fire. As flames surrounded Damien, he closed his eyes and let out one last scream of despair ——-
'This is not fair… it is not fair to die like this!'
However, the roaring fire quelled his furious roar along with his wavering breaths.
*****
'It hurts, it hurts so much,'
[A new input device has been found. The system can be rebooted.]
[Rebooting started.]
'What's going on? Don't tell me that perverted bastard did something to my corpse?' Damien thought angrily while trying to open his eyes.
[Rebooting system 20% complete.]
[50%]
[90%]
[100%]
[Transfer completed. A.I DAN.]
"Keuk!" Damien opened his eyes with a gasp. A brilliant blue sky came in front of his eyes while he lay on the ground. "What? I…I am not dead?"
How was it possible when he was buried in the sea of flames?
[Detecting fatal injury, detection failed.]
[Asking permission to collect accessible information.]
[Asking permission to collect accessible information.]
[Asking the host for permission to collect accessible information.]
The same mechanical voice echoed inside Damien's head which was already throbbing in pain. The more the voice spoke the more his head hurt, Damien clutched his head with the hand he could move and roared,
"Argh shut up!"
Immediately the voice that was echoing in his head stopped. Damien heaved a sigh of relief but two seconds later a blue screen appeared in front of his eyes.
Damien flinched as soon as the screen appeared, "W..What is this?"
[The system concedes to the wishes of the host. The voice commands have been turned off.]
"What?" Damien was certain that he was hallucinating. But why?
What was this? And where did the seven minutes with the happy memories from his life go?
They should have been played before his death, right?
[….]
[Is the host certain that he has enough happy memories to be played for seven minutes?]
Damien: "…."