He saw nothing.
He heard nothing but his own heartbeat, like a war drum pounding inside his skull.
But what he saw clearly… was the reel of his life.
Not like the films stories talk about—no slow motion, no heavenly light,
but a realistic display, dull, painful.
Everything passed before him exactly as it was:
His mother's face as she shouted at him from his bedroom door—
"Renji, one day these games will kill you!"
Back then, he laughed… and replied in a voice that was both weary and arrogant at once:
"Don't worry, Mom… at least I'll die having fun."
That laugh returned now… like a knife in his chest.
He remembered his lover, Misa, resting her head on his shoulder, saying:
"You never think about the future…"
And he would answer with gentle sarcasm:
"The future is boring. The present has you and… enough internet."
The present now had no internet… no shoulder… not even a whole arm.
Pain blazed through his arm as if someone were pouring fire onto his bones.
The smell of blood mixed with the damp earth, and the air grew heavier with every second.
He looked around with half-closed eyes… and there—an inch from his face,
his Remington 783 rifle lay on the ground as if waiting for him,
as if it were saying:
"I won't leave you alone until the end."
He stretched out his trembling left hand,
felt the cold metal of the rifle,
gripped it the way a drowning man clings to a piece of driftwood,
then… lifted it with all the rage he had left,
and smashed it into the jaguar's head.
The first blow.
Then a second.
Then a third.
Each one was a suppressed scream,
rage at everything that had passed,
at every stupid decision, every small failure.
The jaguar roared and shook its head violently,
Renji felt his mangled arm was about to be torn off,
but pain no longer meant anything.
He was now a mass of instinct,
something primal fighting simply because it did not know how to die quietly.
He struck its head… its belly… its nose…
anywhere, everywhere.
Blood splattered across his face,
the animal's hot breath mixing with his own.
Then suddenly… everything stopped.
The jaguar stepped back slowly.
Its eyes fixed on him,
not with fear… but with something else.
Respect? Hesitation?
Or perhaps the realization that this small creature before it was not easy prey.
It growled softly,
then turned and vanished between the trees as it had come,
leaving behind a trail of blood and desolation.
Renji remained on the ground,
his breathing ragged,
his chest rising and falling as if he were drowning in the air itself.
He stared at the forest around him,
as if it were watching him in silence,
waiting for the outcome.
He closed his eyes for a moment.
He felt his body about to collapse.
But instead of surrendering quietly to death…
he screamed.
A long scream… raw… torn from his guts.
It echoed through the forest,
crashed against the trees, climbed the branches,
until it felt as though it shook this entire cold world.
Perhaps, for a single moment…
the forest was afraid of him.
He stood up slowly.
Every step was a small war.
Sweat mixed with blood,
pain struck from his shoulder to his neck,
but he moved.
One step… then another… then another.
He tried to hurry,
not out of bravery, but fear that another predator might smell the blood.
Finally… after what felt like an eternity,
he caught sight of his hut hanging among the trees,
and made it inside.
He collapsed onto the wooden floor.
The light inside the hut was not as he remembered it.
Or perhaps he was the one who had changed.
Everything seemed darker, colder— even the air became heavy,
so heavy it felt as though it were swallowing him… not supporting him.
The virtual girl appeared before him as usual—
the same stance, the same face devoid of any meaning.
He felt that her features now were not expressionless…
but merciless.
He whispered, or tried to:
"Treatment… medicine… surgery… anything…"
His voice came out cracked, trembling like his knees.
The girl replied in a flat, mechanical tone,
but to his ears it sounded like a demon laughing inside a machine:
"Your request is not available at this time."
His eyes dropped to his arm.
It did not look like part of him anymore…
more like a broken piece of chalk,
hanging by pale threads of skin,
twitching with every pulse.
The color… the smell… the deformity…
even his mind refused to acknowledge that it was still an "arm."
The thought of cutting it off surged violently through his head.
As if it were not a thought… but an option.
Yet he did not know what happened to a man who lost an arm in a world like this.
Would he bleed to death?
Would the system stop it?
Or would it leave him to die slowly… with perfect realism?
Then came the most bitter question:
Even if he cut it off… who would protect him afterward?
Who would carry a rifle?
Then he remembered…
The rifle itself no longer existed.
He had left it somewhere behind him in the forest,
covered in dirt and blood…
but it was completely broken and useless,
just as he himself now was—unable even to relieve himself properly.
He wanted to scream.
To curse.
To spit on the ground and damn everything.
He even wanted to cry…
But nothing came out.
He knew the single truth that pierced his chest more deeply than the pain:
He was alone.
And he was not ready for this much loneliness.
And suddenly—
As if the system sensed him…
or perhaps was mocking him in a way smarter than he was.
He didn't know.
He didn't care.
The girl's voice returned with the same monotony:
"The side quest reward is still available.
Would you like to claim it?"
His throat went dry.
He spoke the word as if clutching a straw of salvation in the middle of a black ocean:
"Th-the… network."
The window appeared before him:
────────────────────────
[Side Quest — Completed]
────────────────────────
● Objective: Hunt 10 Capybara
● Time: 52 hours
● Reward: Network access unlocked for one hour
[Activate now? Yes / No]
────────────────────────
One hour…
Perhaps the last hour of his life.
Or the last chance not to die.
He mentally pressed the home button:
────────────────────────
Main System
────────────────────────
◉ Personal Data
◉ Operations
◉ Arsenal
◉ Network (Available for one hour)
────────────────────────
He opened the network.
His hand trembled, his vision wavered,
his entire body on the brink of collapse.
But his mind…
was still capable of astonishment.
The screen opened before him…
The words escaped his mouth despite his short breath:
"What the h—?!"