The sun had almost completely disappeared, its last rays lighting up the tops of the buildings, which was nice to look at. But as I walked to the place I needed, I couldn't shake off a strange feeling… this spider-sense was starting to bother me, because I didn't understand what it was reacting to. In games, it "activates" when you're about to take damage from an enemy. Here and now, no one was about to hit me, yet some kind of strange danger lingered in the air…
And I couldn't figure out what it was. Where was the danger coming from, and from whom? With those thoughts in my head, I kept walking toward the bar.
If I had known I'd get powers like this, I would've taken gaming much more seriously, same with anime. I watched some occasionally, but… rarely, so my knowledge in that area wasn't exactly huge, even though I knew anime had a lot of different abilities and items.
Take the Holy Grail from Fate… though I definitely wouldn't pull that out, screw that world… a friend once told me there's so much insane stuff happening there that if you end up there, you'd be better off heading straight to the bottom of the ocean. It'd be less painful.
But overall, I had plenty of time to think, and no real need to rush. I could just ask on a forum about the most interesting items from games and anime, I'm sure I'd get answers pretty quickly. There are tons of people out there, no one's going to think I'm asking because I can literally pull those items out of an "unreal" world into reality.
"There you are…" I spotted Bernard through the glass door of the bar… lying face-down on the counter. Walking inside, I waved to the bartender I knew and approached my mother's husband. "Hey, let's go… Mom's worried." I carefully tried to lift him, but…
"Hey! He lost at cards and owes two grand." A drunk guy in a baseball cap with a beer belly hiccupped. He was sitting with two of his buddies at a nearby table.
"Ask him when he sobers up," I said, glancing at the drunks. He probably wanted to argue, but just waved his hand, accepting it.
So I hoisted Bernard onto my shoulder and headed toward the exit. I tried not to show that I could easily carry him and probably run up a wall without effort, his weight didn't bother me at all.
We had barely walked about ten meters when my sense flared with alarm. At first, I didn't understand why, but then a loud honk and the screech of tires against asphalt helped. Instinctively, I jumped to the side… sideways… from a standing position… about seven meters.
The car managed to turn and avoid crashing into the building, but the traffic light wasn't so lucky, and that's exactly what the white Camry slammed into. Sure, it's the weekend and time to drink, but not that much… and definitely not to drive afterward…
"Yeah…" I muttered… and kept walking home. A couple of people had already rushed to help the driver, and I definitely wasn't needed there. Especially since I had a drunk, barely conscious burden on me. And yeah, my spider-sense was still tingling… and it was really starting to annoy me.
***
By around 2 AM, I managed to reach the required career level in The Sims, bought the laptop, and then pulled it into reality.
"Two thousand terabytes…" I was honestly stunned by the amount of storage once I figured out the interface. I didn't expect it to run something like Windows or anything familiar, but I thought it would be easier to understand. The system here was called "Sim," which wasn't surprising. I connected it to my home Wi-Fi without any problems and checked how pages loaded… well… I had never seen such image clarity and speed anywhere.
And what's even more interesting… this laptop can fly!
In The Sims description, it said: "The laptop has so much computing power that it can lift into the air." And it wasn't a joke! It actually hovered slightly above the table as soon as I turned it on. I had no idea how it worked, but it worked!
And another interesting thing… I couldn't find any way to plug it into power. It didn't charge like a normal laptop because there was no adapter or cable. When I checked the "Sim Settings," it said the battery lasts… two months without charging. Apparently, it recharges itself through some kind of chemical processes inside… I'm too dumb to understand it, but the important thing is that I won't have any problems using it.
Now I could download all the games I wanted, as well as wiki data from different fandoms. So first, I installed a browser and Steam, logged into my account, and started downloading everything I needed, along with a ton of wiki information.
Then came movies and series, plus various "cartoons" like Rick and Morty, and anime like Naruto and Bleach. I thought about pulling a Devil Fruit from One Piece, but… being afraid of water for the rest of my life? Yeah, not the best idea.
"Classes tomorrow…" I suddenly remembered.
That somehow got completely overshadowed by my new abilities and all the experiments… and the superpowers I hadn't even fully tested yet. After experiencing something this exciting, going back to a normal routine didn't feel very appealing.
But I still had the whole day, so I did what anyone would do… kept playing. Now I had two laptops. On the new one, I ran The Sims while games and movies were downloading, and on the old one, I continued playing Terraria. I had already defeated several pre-hardmode bosses and was about to go after Skeletron. And of course, doing NPC quests on the side. Like the Angler's, why not.
In The Sims, I was leveling the spy career, since that computer with data on every person in the world was incredibly tempting. It wasn't hard, just needed to keep completing tasks.
Closer to the evening, I decided to test my current abilities, because I just couldn't sit still anymore. For safety, I pulled out Invisibility Potions from Terraria, which last three hours, as I had already tested. After drinking one, both I and my clothes became completely invisible.
"Nice…" I jumped out the window and landed softly on my feet.
That was from the third floor, which would normally be dangerous. With unnatural ease, I dashed forward and was about to jump as far as possible just to test it, but out of the corner of my eye I noticed something strange…
Near the apartment, there was a dark, unremarkable minivan. Right now, its window was slightly open and… was that a camera? Someone was taking pictures of the house, and my sense gave an unpleasant sting. I really didn't like this… what are the chances this has nothing to do with me and my powers? Sure, there's a chance… but the skeptic inside me was screaming.
"The subject hasn't left," I heard a quiet voice coming from the car. A normal person wouldn't have heard it, that's how quiet it was, but my senses were way sharper now.
"What's the probability that he is a 'Green Type'?" I heard a female voice, probably through a phone.
"In the morning, we'll establish closer surveillance to confirm. As per your orders, we haven't approached or interacted with the subject. We also haven't observed any clear anomalous activity, aside from that unusually long jump. So we don't have full confirmation yet."
"Understood. We already have an agent at his university, so once he leaves in the morning, conduct a full apartment search. And remember… Secure. Contain. Protect. If it's him, he's dangerous. If not… he still needs to be monitored."
My heart was pounding like a jackhammer, especially with my enhanced perception. What the hell have I gotten myself into? What "Green Type"? I haven't been smoking anything here!
My brain was working at full speed, trying to find a logical explanation and shift the blame onto something else… because that's what brains like to do. But these coincidences were too… convenient. I didn't hear my name, but they mentioned the university, and the camera was pointed прямо at моё окно… right at my window.
Damn stalkers!
"Hey, want anything?" The van door opened, and an ordinary white man around thirty stepped out.
"Get some mineral water," another man said from inside, older, holding a cigarette, his eyes fixed on my window…
"Got it…" the younger one shrugged and headed off, probably to a store.
I… slowly approached the open van and looked inside. Of course, I wanted to just run, but I was invisible and had spider powers… they shouldn't notice me! I hoped…
Inside, it was… sparse, but there was recording equipment on the floor, including audio gear. Several laptops… showing photos of me! And even my university file!
I'm screwed. Completely screwed.
In a jacket lying on the seat, I noticed a wallet sticking out… opening it, I pulled out an ID. Andrew L., born 1980. On the jacket, I saw the same letters I'd noticed before: S.C.P… I had looked it up online, and it supposedly had something to do with charity or something like that.
Putting everything back, I carefully stepped away. My palms were sweating because… these were some kind of operatives from an unknown organization! Are they going to chain me up or dissect me?! I didn't even understand what they wanted… for now, they were just watching.
So much for having fun with superpowers… sure, they're amazing, but knowing that I'm being watched now makes me extremely uneasy. Like some kind of Marvel S.H.I.E.L.D., except there I'd at least know what to expect.
But here… damn it, what am I supposed to do?!