Chapter 31: Multiple Hosts?
Andrea still felt mad about Fredrinn staring at Jenny earlier, but there was nothing that she could do about it.
Currently she needed him more than he needed her, and she also saw the way Jenny was flirting with him.
If Andrea wasn’t careful, that blonde bitch might steal him from her.
Andrea couldn’t have that.
So she decided to let go of the matter for now, taking another quarter of the chocolate bar as a bribe.
Fredrinn had also gotten over his reminiscing, but he still kept breaking the chocolate into smaller pieces before tossing them in his mouth.
He leaned back on the cardboard flooring, staring up at the high ceiling that hung in the sky. The lights were bright enough that he could see white even after closing his eyes, but he wasn’t worried.
He was used to worse.
Not like he planned to sleep anyway.
Rhea was holding half a chocolate bar, nibbling on it like a squirrel as she kept breaking small parts and eating them, while Naomi ate it casually, directly biting into the chocolate bar and chewing.
Both of them had gotten more comfortable, but only slightly.
They still felt awkward about laying down near Fredrinn, but their body couldn’t care less about their feelings.
The apocalypse had been hard on both their bodies and their minds.
So the moment their brains processed that their safety was taken care off, all the exhaustion came swinging hard.
And not just for Rhea and Naomi, Andrea was also hit by the same.
She gazed up at Fredrinn, her eyes getting droopy as she blinked staring at him.
She laid down on the floor, but the lack of a pillow and the coldness of the floor irritated her.
And unlike Rhea or Naomi, she had a way to counter it.
"I feel sleepy." She told him.
"You should rest then." Fredrinn nodded, "I will keep a watch."
"I am sorry." Andrea said suddenly, surprising him.
"Huh? Why?"
"I thought I would keep up with you for a bit so that you don’t get bored, but I don’t think I would be able to."
A smile came onto Fredrinn’s lips as he heard her.
He shook his head and chuckled, "Don’t worry about it and sleep."
"Mhm." Andrea hummed, dizziness taking over her mind as she moved closer to him.
And without any warning, she laid her head on his lap, nuzzling as she made herself comfortable.
Fredrinn was left stunned, looking down on his lap as she closed her eyes.
Was trust that easy to gain?
He looked up, gazing at the guys who were partitioned off into another section using the shelves, while the entire room was divided into 4 separate groups of different numbers.
Max’s group, Fredrinn’s group, Jacob’s group of chosens and finally the unchosens.
Clearly, trust was non-existent between everyone and yet Andrea was sleeping on his lap without a thought?
He looked behind and saw that Rhea laid straight on her own cardboard bedding, her body stiff like she wasn’t sleeping but a corpse ready to be placed inside a coffin.
While Naomi was a little more relaxed, one of her hands sprawled across the cardboard and her legs were parted slightly open.
He could see her milky white skin peeking under the rips in her clothes, but he removed his eyes before it became too weird.
He didn’t want to be labeled as the person who looks pervertedly at women who decided to trust him.
Across the room, Jenny, Max, and a couple more people from Max’s group were still awake, popping open some fizzy drinks as well as bottles that reminded Fredrinn of alcohol he had seen in the past.
Though, these people were clearly holding the good stuff that he hadn’t even seen before. And even if he had, he didn’t remember.
Jacob was also awake alongside Charlie and Leon, but a single look was enough to tell Fredrinn that they wouldn’t last much longer.
All three of them were clearly fighting a losing battle against sleep.
But what surprised Fredrinn the most was that several of the unchosen were still awake and sitting in a circle formation, as if they were discussing something.
Beanpole and Chubby were also there.
Their voices were low enough that even with his enhanced hearing, he couldn’t quite hear them, only low murmurs.
’I thought they would be the first to pass out, considering how much energy they all burned through.’ He hummed, but decided to ignore it.
What they did was of no concern to him as they all would be leaving this place first thing in the morning.
So instead, Fredrinn closed his eyes and sat in a meditative posture.
He was attempting to connect with mana after a long time, finally having some peace to try it.
But he was having difficulty doing it.
’Lust, why can’t I connect with mana? If I absorb some right now, I could hasten the rebuilding of my mana circuits.’
[ <LUST> replies that it doesn’t care about host’s difficulties. ]
’Yeah well, if I don’t rebuild my circuits then your dear host’s survival chances would drop significantly. You don’t want that, do you?’
[ <LUST> scoffs. The host is merely at system level one with a single sin unlocked and not a single voluntary thrall in their possession. To it, the host is still at the ground floor of a skyscraper. The host gravely overestimates his worth. ]
’...’ Fredrinn was speechless.
’You won’t find a host like me again, you know? I possess knowledge about another world and am at a much higher level than all these humans combined.’
[ <LUST> hums. Does host think that Earth is the only planet in existence? There are better options across the universe. ]
’Why not choose them then?’
[ <LUST> cackles. Why does the host think that they are not already chosen? The system archive is massive and the sin system believes in choosing multiple hosts until one of them manages to achieve the peak. ]
Fredrinn hadn’t expected that.
He didn’t really believe everything that Lust was telling him, but he also knew that Lust had no benefit in lying.
So he regulated his breathing and asked the question that popped first on his mind.
’Then is there any other host on Earth?’
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A/N: I am just shamelessly going to remind you all to drop your comments, golden tickets and power stones. As for gifts I am not even sure if they’re coming.