Chapter 149 148. A Soul Pact!

"Wait, you… you….." Shane didn't have any words as he stuttered. "Echo is that old?"

Hope's expression twisted at that. "What the heck do you mean old? Never ask a girl about her age! You did worse! You actually commented on it!"

"It's not like I'm talking about you, right?" Shane frowned when he spoke those words as he felt an inexplicable intuition in his heart, making him ask again in a low voice, "Right?"

Hope was silent for a moment. Her silence made Shane feel uncomfortable as he took deep breaths to calm himself down.

No, it couldn't be Echo. That woman's personality was twisted to the point he couldn't face her, but…

No, Hope was the most twisted girl he had ever met in his life. There was no one more twisted than her, ever.

Suddenly, the woman said, "So what if I'm?"

Shane felt the world suddenly becoming blank in front of him. He felt his heart had never felt more confused in his life.

When he finally managed to get back to himself, the first question he asked was, "So you hosted yourself? Wasn't this even possible?"

"Why not?" Hope/Echo was in a good mood right now after revealing herself. "I can choose whom to host. I can do anything in this world. Haven't you seen enough?"

Shane had indeed seen enough, but…

"How can you be Echo? Why didn't you tell me?"

"What's the point of telling you everything?"

"Wait, so you and I met in the institute... was it the real you or the hosted you?"

Hope smiled and said, "What do you think?" She paused and continued to explain, "It's actually very complicated if you think about it."

Shane did feel like it was complicated. If the Echo he had previously met was the host, then who was Hope? Was she also real or a host?

What if she was hosted? So she actually became a host while she was a host?

People could do that?

No, that would imply that there were two of him in real life who were both systems of two hopes...

Shane felt like his brain was about to burst with questions. Perhaps Hope finally realized that her words made a big impact on him. So she stopped messing around.

She said, "Okay, I was kidding. I'm indeed the Echo you were talking about, but I wasn't a host when I met you. So don't imagine strange things in your mind."

Shane released his breath. "So you did know about someone hosting your body."

"Uh-huh. The person gave me hints about the future. That's how I ended up reaching out to you. Otherwise, how would I ask you to be my partner out of all people?"

"So, how many other things are you hiding from me?" Shane's voice was suddenly cold.

"Just one more thing... You'll know in the future," said Hope with a smile on her face.

"What do we do now?" asked Shane with a serious expression on his face.

Hope thought about it. She turned to look at the place where Ed and the other bald kid were playing and smiled.

"We'll just use them," said Hope silently.

Shane went silent again. He knew that he would use his master, but what choice did he have? This time, he was tasked with destroying the entire system. It was better to just go ahead and do it without thinking twice.

After taking a deep breath, Shane said, "Then let's do it. I don't want to continue going on with this suspense."

"Let me go buy a hood."

"You love those, don't you?" Shane clicked his tongue after thinking about it.

How could he not connect the dots? Things were so obvious now that he thought about them. The bodily structures of both ladies were the same, to the point that, now that he imagined Echo inside, he didn't feel strange.

He frowned at this time, "So, was it you or me helping myself at the start…?"

"How would I know that? I have never seen that episode," said Hope.

"So it was us…" Shane's heart felt complicated when he thought about it.

So, in the end, he used not only Ed, but also himself to destroy the system world?

Shane had never been so confused about his life. Ever.

Since he was already at this point, he might as well destroy the system world without hesitation. In any case, he wasn't afraid of dying. He really didn't have anyone or anything to go back to in his world. He didn't have any family. His sister was also dead.

Wait a minute.

Was her death a result of his schemes?

Shane took a deep breath. Now he questioned every bit of the past that had made him suffer like heck. He shook his head and stopped thinking about it. He didn't know how many years it would take to destroy this world, but it would be fine.

He might end up dying for real this time. After all, he shouldn't have been alive anyway.

A few days passed just like that. Hope didn't do anything but continue to keep an eye on the two bald kids from a distance. She had already bought a set of black hoods similar to the ones she would always wear on her body, and she stared at herself in the mirror for a long time.

Oh yeah, there was one more thing that she didn't like ever since she came and hosted herself.

"Stop opening the screen while I'm bathing or changing clothes. How many times do I have to do that?"

"How do you know I'm watching you?" Shane was actually spying on her by changing the camera position, but he would never admit it.

Since he was already going to die, what was the harm in taking pleasure in things he wanted to do? Echo's body was beautiful, especially in her younger days. So how couldn't he take a look when he could?

He enjoyed all the benefits that came from being a system at this time, making Hope feel infuriated. "Don't forget, I can make you the host any minute."

"You're welcome to. I can feel your body with my own hands, then."

"Impudent!!!!" Hope didn't speak with the man anymore and jumped out of the window. "Since we bought this, we should use it to our benefit."

"How?" asked Shane.

"Wait and see. I have been waiting for this for a long, long time," said Hope as she walked through the garden, hiding from other people.

Shane had the impression that this long time had been longer than others. He could almost see a nostalgic smile on the woman's face. He shook his head after thinking for a while.

It was just his imagination. Nothing else.

Soon, she reached the bald twins' room and hid in the corner, waiting for the two of them. She didn't have to wait for long before the bolder kid entered, opening the door with a creak.

He placed the mechanical thing he crafted on the table and sat there with his tools. He started messing with the mechanical hand or whatever it was. Electricity sparkled every now and then until Hope came out of the hiding spot.

As soon as her feet echoed into the darkness, the bald kid frowned and flung the mechanical thing in his hand toward the other party. Hope easily dodged it and smiled. "You're quite agile, aren't you?"

The little guy went vigilant. "Who are you?"

"That doesn't matter, does it?" said Hope. "You want to become a System God, right?"

The little guy looked shocked as his body froze, and he raised his head. "Ho-how do you know?"

"I know more than you can imagine. You might, for example, want to get rid of that annoying little awkward kid who is following you. You would have thrown him away if he hadn't been your brother. But all you want is to graduate and be able to go your separate ways. Ain't I right?"

Shane silently listened to the conversation as he watched the little bald guy's face turn pale. The weapon in his hand trembled with his hand.

"You're wrong!!!!" The guy spoke loudly. "Don't speak nonsense!"

"You don't have to be so vigilant anymore, Max. I can help you," said Hope.

"How do you know my name?" Max swallowed as he thought about whether or not he could trust her and lowered his weapon. "How can you help me?"

"You can leave it all to me. I'll just tell you to do things, and you just have to listen. Or better, let's make a soul pact. What do you think?"

The soul pact was something among systems that was similar to but not identical to a blood pact. While a blood pact can be fulfilled between two people in one lifetime, a soul pact can continue even after you die. Hope wanted this pact because she knew she would change out of her body at some point.

She didn't want to be careless at the moment.

Max thought for a while before he slowly nodded, "Fine. I'll listen to you."