Chapter 3: System 2025
When Grace opened her eyes, she was standing in front of a beautiful villa. It had four storeys in total, including a huge basement. The villa itself was built on a 10,000 square feet land area while surrounded by an open land area of 5000 square feet.
Past these 15,000 square feet of land area, the only thing that could be seen was a heavy and thick fog. The presence of the fog meant that area of the space was still locked.
"So... this place is indeed real."
Grace muttered to herself in shock as she took in the hidden world that existed inside the jade bracelet. She still remembered how she didn't trust that man's words in her past life when he told her about the bracelet's secrets.
"Welcome to the Infinite Realm. System 2025 is ready to help host on this new journey!"
A cheerful child-like voice suddenly spoke right before a little creature emerged from thin air, surpising Grace who almost went into combat mode and kicked it. It wasn't until she got a proper look at the creature did she relax.
She stared at it for a while, trying to understand exactly what it was. It was bright red in color with little wings on its back. It was also small, barely the size of half her arm. It was cute though, with small doe-like eyes and a small round face. It appeared as if someone had set in on fire.
"Woman, why are you staring at me?" System 2025 demanded when it found her staring at it like she had found something really interesting, its demeanor immediately took a three-sixty degree turn.
"You are the system Dr. Kian mentioned about, aren't you?" Grace asked as she stared at the little creature with interest filled eyes.
Once again, she witnessed how its eyes sparkled and it's entire demeanor changed once again within a mere second. "Do you know Dr. Kian?" It asked excitedly.
Grace opened her mouth but no word came out. When she met Dr. Kian in her previous life, it was for a brief time where he came looking for her and handed over the jade bracelet with some information about its secrets that she refused to believe. A few days later, she heard the news of his death. It happened about two months before she met her own end.
Grace let out a deep sigh as she recalled the unhappy memories. Slowly, she shook her head in response to the question before she spoke, "2025, tell me more about this place and the bracelet." She was curious to know about the secrets of the jade bracelet.
"Yes, host." The creature went into a serious business mode immediately and started providing the secret information stored in its data bank.
"The Jade bracelet originally belonged to your maternal grandmother. According to the sources, your grandmother left behind a diary with the jade bracelet. There was only one page filled in that diary, stating that your grandmother came from an entirely different realm and used to be a cultivator. This Jade bracelet is know as a spatial realm where time, spiritual energy, and the nature is entirely different from the outside world. You can consider it as a magical realm where everything is of superior quality."
Grace listened closely. Though Dr. Kian told her a little bit about the world inside the bracelet, he didn't give her any information about why and how it was her family's heirloom when she had never seen it before. But she finally had that answer now.
"Your mother didn't think much of the content of the diary, but someone else did." 2025 continued with the intriguing story.
"Who was it?" Grace asked.
"Dr. Hao. He got curious about the jade bracelet when your mother auctioned it and revealed your grandmother's words. He bought it from your mother for a whopping price of 50 million. After that he tried to find out the secrets of the bracelet with his team. It happened 20 years ago and with time, this bracelet and its unseen abilities became the biggest secret project of Hao Corporation."
Grace was left shocked the more 2025 revealed.
"They ran thousands of tests to change and enhance the abilities of this realm, as well as to find a way to enter it. Their plan was to make this jade bracelet the biggest soft weapon to exist in this world before selling it to the government. But they kept failing with their programmes. It wasn't until Dr. Kian got hold of the project that the miracle finally happened. He did the unthinkable and enhanced this space's abilities double-fold, merging this magical realm with the most advanced system ever created in human history."
Grace looked around, taking in the villa and the surroundings. "If Dr. Kian worked for Hao Corporation, why did he give the bracelet to me?" She asked while returning her confused gaze to 2025.
"Because he found out about Hao Corporation's dangerous plans. He first believed that the bracelet was a new breakthrough of science to help the mankind survive the apocalypse, or that's what he was told. But then he found out the truth and fled with the bracelet. He handed it to you secretly before he jumped off a cliff with a fake bracelet in front of the people who were hunting him down."
Silence filled the air for a few minutes as 2025 finished speaking and Grace took her time to digest everything. It wasn't until certain long moments had passed, did she finally spoke. "We are back in the past, but this time the bracelet is in my possession. It means..."
She didn't finish her words, so 2025 did. Its voice carried the same weight that its words did.
"It means the Butterfly effect has taken place. In this time frame, your mother never auctioned the bracelet and thus Dr. Hao never got his hands on it. It also means that Dr. Kian is living his normal life at the moment. But you... you are carrying the biggest miracle of science and magic that has ever existed together in this world."