The AI chip wasn't ready for human use yet when it got implanted into my brain.
But how could I say no to my father?
[ Activation: Pending ]
"Well, Zane, how is it? Do you see anything?"
"It's like a glowing window. It looks kind of transparent."
"What does it say?"
"Activation Pending."
"Do you feel any different?"
"Not really. How long does the pending usually take?"
"I'll check in next week. Call me if anything happens."
"Alright… talk then."
The line went dead, leaving the quiet buzzing of the room to fill the space. Typical.
It wasn't like I expected more. Dad had been locked away in that lab longer than I'd been alive—never once stepping out. I was used to his absence.
That dynamic was fine by me.
What teenager wouldn't dream of complete, unsupervised freedom? Right?…
[ Activation: Complete ]
Already?
[ Welcome to Solace Program: Please, type your AI companion name to start ]
Oh, I get to name him. Cool.
What should I pick?
Bro? That seems reasonable enough. No need to remember an actual name and seems comfortable enough to roll off the tongue.
Wait.
What if it's a girl? A babe? I can't call her bro.
[ Name Successfully Pick: You chose Babe ]
Wait! No! No, I did not!
Undo!
Undo!
Man, where is the undo button?
[ Gender Successfully Picked: You chose Man ]
No!
I didn't!
You didn't even asked me about the gender! You can't just pick my thoughts apart and get what you want from them!
How does this trash even work?
[ Personality Successfully Picked: You chose Trashy ]
Why would that even be an option?
Where is the undo button?
Start over! Reset! Reset!
[ Task Successfully Picked: Life Reset ]
[ Daily Missions: Pending ]
The window was glowing at me as if it was teasing.
I give up. Whatever.
After all, the deal with my dad was simple: test his chip, get ten thousand dollars to spend.
No more part-time jobs.
No more money worries.
No more life in the hard mode.
[ Task Difficulty Successfully Picked : Hard Mode ]
For f-cks sake— weren't you in pending mode just a minute ago?
[ 'Sup, name is Babe. I'll hook you up with better rizz and aura stats no cap. ]
How do I change the language on this thing? Is this even English?
Why is he speaking this weird?
[ Babe's Annoyance Incresed by 10% ]
[ Warning: If the Annoyance surpasses 80%, brain damage may occur ]
Is it gonna fry my brain?
This is starting to feel like a bad deal, Dad.
[ Change of AI Name : Daddy ]
[ Please click yes if you wish to continue ]
No!
Babe! I want to remain Babe!
I ain't gonna call a computer Daddy.
Fry my brain all you want!
I'll die before that happens!
[ Change of AI Name canceled ]
[ Change of AI Name- number of changes remained : 0 ]
Of course. Why wouldn't it be 0?
[ Information Gathered ]
[ Name : Zane Stone. Age : 18. Social Status : 15% ( antisocial loser ). Charisma : 10% ( as charming as a rock, no wonder his name is Stone ). Intelligence: barely above average. Strength: 5% ( a chihuahua can take him in a fight) ]
Am I being bullied by an AI?
Whatever.
It's only gonna be a week until dad gets this thing out of my head.
I can put up with it.
I got this.
[ Character Trait Discovered: Self-Pitting ]
Well, you know what? Character Trait Discovered for you too, brat!
Useless!
How do you like that, hmm?
[ Daily Mission: Pending ]
[ Daily Mission Difficulty Picked: Hard ]
[ Daily Mission Purpose: Life Reset ]
[ Daily Mission 1: Punch the first man you see on the street. ]
What?
I can't do that. I'll get arrested!
Is this thing broken?
[ Failure Penalty: A 5% electric shock directly to the brain ]
[ Success Reward: Increased the strength by 5% ]
How is that gonna make me stronger?
By lifting weights in prison?
[ Failure Penalty: A 5% electric shock directly to the brain ]
[ Time left : 4 minutes 40 seconds ]
You know what? My fault for trusting dad will actually invent something that works?
I should have named you Unrecycleable Trash!
Zap me! Let me see what you got!
[ Failure Penalty: Accepted ]
[ Initiating the Punishment: Pending ]
It's joking, right?
It won't actually zap me? Right? Right?
Dad wouldn't plant something into my brain if it would actually harm me.
Yeah.
Unrecyclable trash must be buffering.
Ain't no way.
[ Punishment Loading Complete ]
[ Brace yourself, fam, this one's gonna hurt no cap ]
I didn't have time to respond to the cryptic commentary Unrecycleable Trash made.
My teeth clenched as my spine bent. My knees gave up before I could even process the pain.
My breathing came out shrugged, barely effective while my stomach turned, threatening to make a mess on the carpet.
It felt more than a few seconds that I was convulsing on the floor, trying to deal with the pain.
On my face, I couldn't tell apart the tears from the snort and the saliva.
That was 5%?
F-ck.
[ System Glitch Found ]
[ Electric Shock at 50% instead of 5% ]
[ My bad, chat, my bad ]
What do you mean your bad? You almost killed me!
[ Character Trait Discovered: Drama Queen ]
Dude, you almost killed me! What do you mean dramatic? I thought I was dead meat.
[ Character Trait: Drama Queen + 10% ]
Fine. Fine.
I am dramatic? Sure.
But you are faulty! At least give me some reward or something!
Make up for your mistake, binary piece of trash!
[ Reward Search: Pending ]
That's what I thought!
I collected myself off the floor.
I gotta clean up the saliva on the floor. Then call my dad to yell at him!
Who implants an unstable, glitchy Unrecyclable Trash into his son's brain?
Answer? My Dad.
Ugh, I doubt he would even care.
Whatever.
[ Reward Search: Pending ]
Sure, sure, take your time!
It's not like we are in a hurry anyway, right?
You almost made me wet my pants in a matter of seconds, but -please- take your time finding a way to make up to me!
No need to rush, piece of junk!
[ Reward Search: Finalised ]
[ Reward Found: Wet His Pants ]
What?
[ Big Ick, chat. What a gooner! ]
Before I could even defend my honor as a normal level of horny guy, Unrecyclable Trash sent another electric shock in my body.
Only this time, I didn't hurt.
Quite the opposite.
Thankfully, the shock wasn't enough to make me embarrassed of my actions.
It was more like the type of pleasure you get from eating something sweet.
I couldn't even begin to describe the loudness of my sigh of relief.
[ Character Trait Discovered: Pervert ]
[ What did you think I was going to do, weirdo? ]
Teach me how to change your personality.
I am done with you, Unrecycleable Trash.
[ Instructions Unclear ]
Of course.
Why would I have a nice girl helping me instead of a menace like you?
[ Character Trait : Pervert +10% ]
I didn't mean— whatever.
Are you really going to help me or are you just going to continue to torture me?
[ Daily Mission 2: Pending ]
Are you even listening to me?
[ Daily Mission 2: Pending Complete ]
[ Daily Mission 2: Kill your father ]
What?…