"Am I dead?"

Zheng stood there with his eyes out of focus. He remembered in the previous moment that monster out of a nightmare jumped at him. Those huge claws were right in front of his eyes. It would only take an instant, just an instant to rip him to pieces.

"Then... am I dead?"

Zheng stood there looking at his surrounding in a daze. He was standing in an open platform with a huge sphere of light in the center. It lit up the whole platform light the sun. Beyond the edge of the platform was darkness. A kind of darkness where not a hint of light could be seen. Just looking at it for a few seconds made his head dizzy.

"We lived, shit, that was close! We finally lived."

Jie’s voice brought Zheng’s mind back. There’s him, Jie, Lan, Xiaoyi and a fifth person here. A girl that came out from one of the rooms on the edge. She was crying as she ran toward Jie. This man showed a kind of tenderness not belonging to his character. He ran to the girl, embrace her and started kissing.

"If you have any questions, just ask God. Communicate to him with your mind."

"Other than creating your own person, don’t exchange anything. Wait until tomorrow. Oh right, choose a room, just imagine how you want the room to look like."

He carried that girl and ran to his room before anyone could say anything. Zheng and the others stood there looking at each other, then they fell on the floor.

"Well he’s strong. He can still run and have energy for some sexy time," Lan said as she was lying on the ground. "I was so scared, I still can’t move my hands and legs. And he’s acting like nothing happened."

No one responded her, she turned around to see the two men had their eyes closed under the sphere of light, with a tent on their crotch. Probably designing their women.

"Two freaking idiots. Men are idiots! We lived through that and experienced so much terror, yet the first thing they think about is perverted stuff."

Lan ran toward a room in anger and closed the door with a bang. It woke the two men from their thoughts. They laughed with embarrassment then closed their eyes and continued.

This is a wonderful feeling, as Zheng closed his eyes under the sphere of light, he felt as though he merged into the light. A screen appeared in front of him, similar to a computer program. There were four categories of items, and the six stats of enhancements and also showed him the amount of points and rewards he had.

Zheng’s stats were: intelligence 107, mental capacity 122, cell vitality 97, reaction speed 131, muscle density 112, immunization 103. It seemed like only his muscle density was a little above average from going to the gym, the extra points from mental capacity and reaction speed were rewards in the movie.

He had 6502 points, 1000 from the basic mission, 5000 from the hidden quest, 2 points from killing twenty zombies, and 500 from something else.

"Create a woman. Create a woman..."

Zheng was not planning to use his points yet. He recognize the importance of it after experiencing life and death. Even though he had quite a lot of points, he wanted to consult with Jie first. There’s only one thing on his mind.

’Lori, can I create her?’

God seemed to recognize Zheng’s thoughts. It opened up the entertainment category, then the rigid voice said. "The first humanoid creation is free. Following creations cost 500 points each. Please simulate the type of being, gender, face, height, age, skin color, race... in your mind."

Zheng sunk into his memories. That year when he was still a teen, when he had secret feelings for her. Her smell, her smile, her voice, her memories were still so vivid.

’So it turned out that my boring life was because of the loss of her. That I was falling into darkness because her hands were no longer holding me.’

"As long as you are by my side, I will never fall to darkness..."

Tears fell out of his eyes, then disappeared when they reached the ground.

When he opened his eyes again, a girl of 15 was standing in front of him. This girl was the same as the one in his memories, Lori.

.

They grew up together. Even though they had grown accustomed to each other to the point where they weren’t even aware of the presence of the other person; they were aware of the importance of the other person. Kids that grew up in the urban city were mostly lonely. The doors across the apartments were usually shut. Sometimes you don’t even know who your neighbors are even after living there for a few years.

Zheng always thought he was fortunate. His parents were bold and forthright. They would invite the neighbors over for food and coincidentally, their neighbors were the same type of people. This type of people were rare in the cities. And the luckiest thing was he met that girl one year younger than him.

She was like gifted by the gods. Perfect as a pure crystal. She was smart, kind hearted, tough, liked to laugh out loud, wasn’t scared of any difficulties.

He thought that as long as she was there, his heart would never feel cold.

But why was human life so fragile? She was only fifteen when she was lying on that white bed. Long periods of chemo took away her long hair. That pale face was no longer lively. All that remained was her smile. But he knew that smile was just there to comfort those close to her.

What is life? Why did that beautiful smile suddenly turn to ashes? That’s not what he wanted, he wanted to see that gentle smile, he wanted to see her rolling on top of him, and talking by his ear...

Paddling through a sea of people in a black and white world. He kept falling, rotting, one woman after another, bars, ecstasy, ice, and maybe sooner or later, heroin.

"As long as you are here. I will not fall..."

When Zheng woke up, it was already past eleven o’clock. He reached for the cigarette on the nightstand when he touched something soft.

"Stop. Let me sleep a little more..."

The computer screen, Resident Evil, death, and Lori. Memories were coming back to him. He suddenly flipped over the blanket and there she was. A girl of fifteen, with traces of tears on her face, and blood on the sheets.

Zheng could only remember when he was creating a human, he recalled everything about her. And when he saw her face he could no longer contain the years of suppressed feelings.

He’s now staring at that familiar face. There were so many things he wanted to say. And before he knew it, he was full of tears.

The girl was feeling cold, she reached for the blanket again but couldn’t catch anything. She opened her eyes and saw Zheng staring at her. She felt embarrassed and snatched the blanket from Zheng’s hand. Then she started crying.

"Stupid Zheng, you made me so painful last night and now you’re teasing me. And I made you breakfast this whole month. You said you would give me a ring when I am eighteen and marry me after twenty two. You idiot, I am not even sixteen yet."

Zheng shivered as he heard those words. He held onto her hands and asked, "You... Lori, you have memories? You remembered everything?"

She stopped crying and asked him curiously, "What do you mean if I still have my memories? And, Mr. Pervert, please put on your clothes, then go over to my house and get me that green dress. You ripped my clothes last night. Thank god my parents are at work."

Zheng was shocked. This girl’s attitude, tone, and actions were exactly the same as how he remembered her. Then he realized this room was the same one he lived when he was a teen. Even the details were the same.

"Oh my god, your parents probably heard our voices last night. They will probably think I am that kind of girl. You idiot, pervert... I don’t know how to face your mother anymore."

"Wait, maybe I’ve been dreaming this whole time? Everything that happened yesterday? Even when you were sick? Haha. That was all a dream!"

Zheng held onto her and laughed loudly. Then after a while he started weeping. Lori also stopped struggling and held on him tight.

’Thank god that was all a dream. I don’t want a future like that...’

Then there was a knock on the door. Lori slid into the blankets. "Your parents are back, pervert, how am I going to go out? I don’t have clothes."

Zheng suddenly felt cold. He could recognize someone calling his name, that voice was Jie. In other words, he’s not dreaming, the Lori in his arms was just a being he created.

He forced a smile. "Lori, I will take a look outside and bring you some clothes. Stay here and don’t move."

Zheng sighed, put on his clothes, and went to the platform.

He opened the door and saw Jie and the others. He looked past them and the sphere of light was still in the center.

𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

"Give me a few moments."

He ran towards God. "Tell me, God. Isn’t she a being you created? Why does she have memories? Why is she exactly the same as her? Does she know about this place? What is happening?"