Code: Infinity [Reboot]

Chapter 39 - Status: Upgrade (III)

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This chapter is heavily connected to chapter 30 - Calm before the storm.

It is a major point for this chapter. I would advice you to re-read that chapter to understand what is happening.

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Don't forget to give me a comment, reply, or power stone! They give me motivation!

Thank you!

-SR_2027.

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"Darling...?" Shadow slowly opened his half-closed eyes, watching as a light pink-haired girl rushed toward him, her face lit with joy. But as she got closer, her expression shifted to confusion, a frown creasing her brow.

"I've lost my memory," Shadow said, blinking calmly, without a trace of hesitation. "I don't know what happened. I just woke up here, injured. My arm was broken, but I managed to heal it."

Without missing a beat, he continued, "Is there any way for me to get my memories back?" he asked, his eyes scanning the surroundings. He glanced around, his gaze sharply looked at the metallic interior of the room, and calculated any potential way to escape.

Hearing his explanation, Zero Two's smile thinned in confusion, before she forced it back, softer than before. "Ye-No! I mean, restoring your memory could have some major side effects," she said, stumbling over her words. "The technology for that isn't perfected yet."

For an instant Zero Two almost responded truthfully, but at the final moment, she stopped. A small memory surfaced in her mind. This memory suddenly made her think of something.

<"Well... You see... Just like how we traveled to this new universe... I was once from another universe before I met you..."

"I... I don't know Zero Two... I have been trying to figure out what to do... I loved her as much as I love you right now! I just... I just don't know...">

Zero Two's smile thinned, an edge of joy creeping into her expression as if an obsession she barely understood had taken hold of her. She murmured something incoherent, her eyes locking back onto her 'Darling' with a single thought burning in her mind.

'Make him yours. Bind him to you, make sure he can never be free. Make him depend on you forever,' a voice inside her whispered, a voice that she didn't recognize as her own but one that felt like a forbidden temptation. Like a devil's whisper.

"I see," Shadow murmured, nodding thoughtfully. He released his mind waves again, reaching out to sense everything around him. He didn't know if Zero Two would let him continue, but he was ready for a confrontation if necessary. Thankfully, she didn't seem to mind.

His mind wave connected with the mind waves of Zero Two, to see if he could feel the emotions she was feeling to check on her. Fortunately and unfortunately, although he was able to connect and see the surface level of emotion from her, he wasn't able to bypass her deeper thoughts.

Thankfully just the surface thought made him relaxed mentally as he was able to 'see' that she 'loved' him.

With that in mind, he continued to spread his 'mind wave', trying to map out the whole inner structure of the place he was in.

Gradually, his mind waves swept through the entire structure, until they reached a hidden area below. Suddenly, a light flashed in his mental map, so bright it almost overwhelmed him. It was blinding, but alongside the light came a powerful, instinctive pull.

The light called to him, like bait to a starving animal. Like cheese to a rat; like honey to a bear and like sugar to ants. Shadow clutched his head, disoriented. "What was that?" he muttered, looking at Zero Two for answers.