Free Web NovelChapter 215: Chapter 218: This System Is So Strange
Renee Sinclair was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance. At Charlotte Shaw’s request, Mina Jennings and Julia Dawson went to be with her immediately.
BUZZ—
BUZZ—
Two hours later, Charlotte Shaw finally felt her phone start to vibrate.
She picked up her phone, saw it was a call from Mina Jennings, and quickly answered.
"Hey, Bloom."
"How is everything, Ms. Jennings? Is Renee Sinclair okay?" Charlotte Shaw asked, her voice laced with anxiety.
Mina Jennings said, "Renee Sinclair is fine. The doctor gave her a full workup, but they couldn’t find anything wrong."
Charlotte Shaw frowned. "They didn’t find any problems? Then why did she collapse?"
Mina Jennings said, "The doctor said she hasn’t been resting enough lately, and that combined with a lack of sleep led to insufficient blood flow to the brain, which is why she suddenly collapsed. It’s a minor issue. All she needs is a good night’s sleep, and then she can be discharged."
"Oh..." Charlotte Shaw sighed in relief, the weight on her chest finally lifting.
"So, is Renee Sinclair awake?"
Mina Jennings replied, "Not yet. The doctor gave her a sedative, so she’ll probably sleep for several hours before she wakes up."
Charlotte Shaw said, "In that case, I’ll find someone to go stay with her at the hospital. You and Julia are so busy with work; you shouldn’t have to be stuck there."
"Don’t worry about it." Mina Jennings refused with a laugh. "Julia and I don’t have anything pressing today, so we can stay with Renee Sinclair. The poor thing looks so pitiful. If she woke up without a single familiar face around, I’m afraid she’d shatter on the spot."
"...In that case, I’m leaving her in your hands. Thank you." Charlotte Shaw didn’t stand on ceremony.
She hummed in agreement, her tone light and cheerful. "You just focus on your postpartum recovery at home. I’ve got things covered at the hospital, so don’t you worry about a thing, okay?"
Charlotte Shaw smiled, a warm and pleasant feeling spreading through her. "Okay, thank you, Ms. Jennings."
Mina Jennings replied, "Go get some rest. I’ll have Renee Sinclair call you when she wakes up."
Charlotte Shaw: "Okay!"
Renee Sinclair’s call came before it got too late. Charlotte Shaw had just finished dinner when a video call invitation from her popped up.
"Charlotte Shaw." On the video call, she smiled at Charlotte, her gaunt face finally showing a hint of color.
"Thank you so much for today. If you hadn’t found me when I collapsed, I don’t know how long I would’ve been lying on that cold floor."
Charlotte Shaw looked at her while playing with Sandy. "What happened to you? You seemed perfectly fine before you left, so how did you suddenly collapse just as you reached the main gate?"
"..." At the mention of this, a strange look came over Renee Sinclair’s face.
"I... I’ll tell you later." She glanced in Mina Jennings and Julia Dawson’s direction, signaling to Charlotte that it wasn’t a good time to discuss the topic.
Charlotte Shaw nodded, taking the hint and immediately changing the subject. "So, when can you get out of the hospital?"
Renee Sinclair answered, "I can leave tonight, but before I get discharged, I have to go for another simple checkup..."
Charlotte Shaw said, "Oh..."
The two of them made small talk until Mina Jennings and Julia Dawson left to buy dinner. Only then did they circle back to the real topic.
"I pissed off the System. It got annoyed with me, so it dished out my punishment early to torture me. I couldn’t take it today and literally passed out from the pain."
"What?!" Charlotte Shaw was shocked. "Why? Why would that stupid System deliberately torture you?"
"..." Renee Sinclair paused before explaining with a bitter smile, "Because I didn’t listen to it, and on top of that, I cussed it out."
"...Just because of that?" Charlotte Shaw was incredulous.
Renee Sinclair replied, "Yep. Just because of that."
She was lying, not daring to tell Charlotte the real reason for the System’s retaliation.
The life-and-death decision was too heavy a burden. She didn’t want to make Charlotte, who was supposed to be resting during her postpartum recovery, worry and let her imagination run wild.
Although Charlotte claimed she hadn’t forgiven her yet, Renee knew in her heart that Charlotte already considered her a friend.
"So, you can even make a system tilt... Just how badly did you insult it?" Charlotte Shaw asked, her curiosity piqued.
Renee Sinclair pursed her lips and briefly recounted her conversation with the System.
Charlotte Shaw listened intently, but the more she heard, the more she felt that something was off.
"Renee Sinclair, your System is so bizarre," she said, her brow furrowed and her expression a mixture of surprise and alarm.
"Aren’t the Systems in novels supposed to be just machines for executing tasks? How come yours seems so... human? It’s bad enough that it has a temper, but for its methods to be so vicious! You’re its host, for goodness’ sake! How could it be so hard on you?!"
"...To be honest, I think it’s strange too." Renee Sinclair ran her fingers through her long, loose hair, her expression grim and heavy.
"When I first transmigrated, it sounded perfectly normal when it spoke to me. It was polite, calm, and you could hardly detect any human emotion in its voice."
"It was only later that it started getting weird. A lot of the time when I talk to it now, I don’t feel like I’m talking to a machine, but to a person. A person trapped inside a machine."
"It laughs. It gets angry. Every word it says is charged with intense emotion. There have been several times I’ve been startled by the sheer humanity in its tone."
Charlotte Shaw said, "...That’s just too weird. How can a cold, unfeeling machine have such a human quality? Did the AI gain sentience or something?"
Renee Sinclair shook her head. "I don’t know."
Charlotte Shaw scratched her head. "What are you going to do now? The System is so strange... are you just going to continue trying to get along with it?"
"Do I have any other choice?" Renee Sinclair gave a helpless laugh. "It’s inside my head. No matter how much I can’t stand it, it’s not like I can kick it out."
"...That’s true," Charlotte Shaw said, her face falling as she let out a defeated sigh.
Renee Sinclair laughed again. "Come on, you’re supposed to be resting. Don’t get all worked up over a little thing like this."
"They’re almost back with the food. I have to go. Bye."
Charlotte Shaw waved at the camera. "Bye..."
With the new studio officially launched, Felix Preston was inevitably swamped with business dinners and social events tonight.
After hanging up, Charlotte Shaw watched some TV with Brianna Bell and played with Sandy for half an hour before returning to her room to rest.
They had hired a postpartum nanny, so Charlotte didn’t have to worry about looking after the baby.
Charlotte lay in bed playing on her tablet, leisurely enjoying some quiet time to herself.
Felix Preston was busy with his work events, and his replies to the several messages Charlotte sent him were unusually slow.
She had planned to wait up for Felix Preston, but before long, she could barely keep her eyes open. Unable to stay awake any longer, she sent him a "Going to sleep first" text, then hugged his pillow and fell fast asleep.
BUZZ—
BUZZ—
She was deep in a hazy sleep when the phone on her nightstand began to vibrate insistently.
Charlotte Shaw forced her eyes open, grabbed the phone, and saw that Felix Preston had sent her a flood of messages.
