[Commencing reboot in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1...]
Crow frowned.
'What the hell is this shit?'
The voice continued speaking in his head. It sounded somewhat familiar, as though he heard it somewhere before, but Crow was unable to pinpoint when and where.
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Reforming old system... Please be patient. 0%
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His familiar black and smoky status window also appeared along with this announcement.
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Name: Crow Sullenhart
System: Spyware
Main Skill: Code Theft (???)
Code Slot
1. Shadow Blink (B)
2. Phantom Hands (B)
3. Corpse Manipulation (SSS)
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As he observed what was happening to his own system, the letters and symbols on his status window jumbled all of a sudden. The scowl on his face deepened.
"What f—?" Before Crow could even finish his words, an electric current blitzed through his body. He spasmed, caught off guard by the sudden sensation.
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Profanity detected!
Degeneration Points: +1 (1/1000)
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In pain, he let out another flurry of curses in his mind.
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Profanity detected!
Degeneration Points: +3 (4/1000)
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Even though he didn't say it out loud, he was attacked by another wave of electric current, sending even the thinnest hair in his body standing up. A scent of seemingly burning meat wafted through Crow's nose.
Huffing, he read the new words that appeared before him.
[I suggest you refrain from cursing. A hero doesn't curse!]
"HUH?!! What the—" Crow immediately covered his mouth to stop himself from cursing, then he lowered down his voice, trying not to agitate this hidden enemy of his. "What hero?"
[You. You are the new hero selected by none other than me, the Villain Reformation System.]
But Crow could not comprehend it. He already had a system, so how could he receive another one? Is this world not content with giving him a dysfunctional system, and decided to give him another one?
'So what now? After not being able to use my skill unless I kill someone, now I can't even curse in and out loud?'
[The Villain Reformation System is unlike any other else's system. It's such an offense to compare me to your broken one!]
Crow roared in frustration, gripping his head. "Get out of my head!"
However, this new system wasn't fazed by Crow. It even whistled inside his mind as if taunting him.
"Are you one of Lucian's tricks?"
[Nay. Mr. Lucian is just Host 002. It's such a loss that he died, but I guess, he just wasn't the chosen one.]
"Chosen one?"
The system didn't respond.
Crow wanted to curse it, but recalling the feeling of being electrocuted earlier stopped him. He couldn't even voice out his frustration.
But then, just at the right timing when he was feeling annoyed, a dozen figures appeared from the enclaves of the ruined buildings in the distance, their eyes staring at Crow.
"Whatcha looking at, you shitty bunch of cockroaches?!" Crow growled, his menacing eyes glared back at them.
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Profanity detected!
Degeneration Points: +1 (5/1000)
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Crow's eyes widened when another bout of electric current travelled through his body. Once again, he spasmed out of nowhere. Seeing that Crow was in pain, one of the cockroaches' eyes lit up.
"I told you. He's being weakened somehow!"
"Attack! Prevent him from escaping at all cost!"
When the pain was finally lifted, Crow annoyingly grinned at the oncoming forces.
"You think I can't crush all of you when I'm weakened? Even if that streak of light arrives and you gang up on me, I can still crush your dumb asses!"
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Profanity detected!
Degeneration Points: +1 (6/1000)
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'Why is everything I say not allowed?!'
Crow waved his hand, instructing his army to attack these cockroaches. Hundreds of rotting heads glanced at the cocky cockroaches. Then, the corpses ran frantically toward their direction.
Seeing the turn in the situation, their faces paled in fear.
Crow wanted to laugh out loud, but he stopped himself. What if laughing is not allowed either?
'I better get out of here and extract this virus out of my head.'
Before he could leave though, the owner of the streak of light had arrived. She hovered above Crow and the deranged corpses, her pale-blonde hair was flowing up as if not affected by gravity. Her eyes then landed at the heartless corpse of Lucian by Crow's feet.
She was too late.
At the same time, Crow was looking up at her. He grinned. "Bye-bye."
Just then, Crow disappeared out of nowhere.
The owner of the streak of light stared at the place where Crow was just standing earlier, then shifted her gaze somewhere at the outskirts of the city. However, a moment later, she decided not to pursue him and instead, helped the other heroes that were being overwhelmed by Crow's army of corpses.
Meanwhile, Crow appeared inside one of the buildings at the outskirts of the city where the shadow was the deepest.
'That woman is still as scary as ever.'
He had gotten away successfuly, but he doubted that he was far from that woman's range. It sucks that his blink only has a 5 kilometers maximum range, but what could he expect from an ability from some useless cockroach?
'I'll just have to hunt someone else with another teleportation ability later.'
Just as he was about to teleport once again, another electric current was sent through his body. This electric current was unlike before. If the first few ones were enough to make his body spasm, just now, Crow's vision instantly turned black.
As the pain subsided after a few minutes, Crow found himself lying on the ground.
'What the hell just happened?'
The blue interface appeared before him again, informing him of the reason for that pain.
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You've killed someone!
Degeneration Points +100 (106/1000)
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'Killed someone? That fast?'
Crow leaned against the wall, trying to support his electrocuted body. He laughed weakly, with disbelief on his face.
Just how weak are those cockroaches?
He tried to look out from the window to ascertain the situation from the place he left.
From this distance, he could only see a black swarm moving about the center square. The minor heroes struggled to fight off the large army, seemingly being eaten alive by the large black blob.
Crow was itching to curse, but he was afraid that he would be electrocuted once again.
He opened his mouth. "System Command: Disable Corpse Manipulation."
Even if he was unwilling, experiencing that hellish pain was something he didn't want to experience again. He had learned his lesson when one of those cockroaches died.
Yet, as he waited, nothing resonated within him.
Instead, a blue interface appeared before him.
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Skill unavailable.
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"....."
For a minute, those words seemed to be unintelligible for Crow. However, it suddenly dawned on him. He could no longer use his newly acquired skill.