Chapter 193 - #193 /the truth questioned/

I stared across at her a little baffled. She hadn’t quite been what I was expecting. I had been anticipating a bond villain with some femme fatale flare, but she was almost normal, odd to be sure in that slightly awkward way, but hardly diabolical. “Why?” I asked her curiously. “You may have to be a little more specific?” she shot back sampling another cookie before tapping the menu again. This time a holographic seeming glass appeared filled with a red liquid that I could only assume to be wine. “I’d be labeled a national traitor if any of my country men found out I was drinking wine that sucks this bad” she chuckled to nobody in particular as she took a long drink of the alcoholic beverage. Thinking on it, it wasn’t a terrible question from her. There were a lot of things she had done and while some reasons seemed self-explanatory. Others I couldn’t quite figure out. “You said there were other people who used the app, but you got bored of them, why did you pick me” I asked her trying to determine exactly how and why the mysterious app had entered my life.

“Well I didn't pick you, the app picked you” she explained with a handwave. “However, I get what you’re asking, you want to know why I agreed so much with its choice” she said resting her cheek in one of her hands while using her other to sip her wine. “I guess you could say you’re the only person who’s seen the app for what it really is” she elaborated trailing off. “The others see it as a tool, a way to get ahead in life, accrue power or status” the more she spoke of these other L.B.L UP users the more they concerned me. “But you understand what it actually is, a game” she elaborated with a flash of glee in her pretty eyes. “Something to be used for entertainment or to get off, not to accomplish anything other than a good time” she explained. I blinked as I recalled all the hedonistic debauchery. The popped seams the damaged clothes, the massive blobs of blubber a variety of her various targets had become. “You did it all for fun?” I asked her ever so slightly incredulous. “Well yes, but so did you” she said casually taking a long drink of her wine. “You sure you don’t want anything to eat or drink, feels a little weird” she tacked on offering me a sip from her wine glass.

“I didn't, I didn't just do it for fun” I snapped back at her, but my voice was substantially less confident than I would’ve liked it to be. “Okay sure, so lets say I gave you an app that lets you electric shock people instead of fattening them up, you could use that to punish people for being rude, would you use that instead of L.B.L UP?” she asked me her tone indicating genuine curiosity. “No but.... that’s not the point” I shot back stumbling a little over my words. “The point is that I had a reason, it’s more than just my own personal amusement” I shot back at her. “No, you had an excuse to justify wanting to get off” she countered swiftly. “I’m not judging you ya know, the only person holding yourself to a higher moral standard is you” she informed me with a tone that dipped into kindness. “You wanted to know why I picked you, the answer is pretty simple, because I feel like you and I are the only two members of the same species” she said smoothly.

“So, you just go through life manipulating anyone to do anything you want them to?” I objected hoping she’d somehow explain how that wasn’t a terrible thing to do. “I mean I did for a while but believe you me that gets really boring, it turns out playing a game where you control all the variables is a dull affair after a while” she relayed as if it were a great burden upon her back to be afflicted by such a malaise. “So that’s all other people's lives are to you, a game?” I further thrust attempting to find myself on a moral high ground. “Pretty much yeah, I mean it’s basically the same thing as any other game, we’re all the main character of our own story right” she said taking another sip of wine. I physically froze to mentally process. She really believed that. Yet she was saying with this perfectly casual expression, like it was nothing at all. Some trivial topic like our opinions on bad movies.

“We’re not the same” I told her gritting my teeth. “You are right about that, the key difference is that I’m not pretending to be someone I’m not” she said with a shrug. It became abundantly clear in that moment just how big a problem she was. She was just going to go through her life bending other people to her own personal idea of fun, passing by consequence free and completely unabated. “I’m going to stop you” I told her, it was an impotent threat given the displayed disparity in her power levels. Even my voice was wavering as I gave my line, but nevertheless I meant it. “Yes!” the red head physically squealed planting her hands on the table getting up out of her chair in nerdy excitement. “That’s exactly it” she said leaning across the table a sincere smile on her face. Her long red hair framing her deep perfectly crated cleavage. “This was what I wanted” she said with a satisfied sigh and a wide smile. “Not some dull domineering affair, a contest, one you might just beat me in” she said her smile widening.

“Although you are behind the curve currently in terms of your level right now” she said with a brief look that indicated there were calculations going on her head. “No offence, but I utterly trounced you tonight” she said sounding a tad disappointed. That was entirely truly, as frustrating as it was to hear it from her so casually. I didn't even understand a large portion of the stuff she could do. Actually, competing against her one on one with the tools at my disposal was an absolute pipe dream at that moment in time. “Still, it’s not entirely your fault I suppose, your version has this funny habit of glitching in the weirdest way imaginable” she mused as she finished the last of her first glass of wine. “You know if you’re the programmer that’s your fault right” I told her scrambling to regain confidence. “Well sort of, I programmed the app sure, but it also interfaces with the person who uses it, that’s the magical component, as a creator it’s a huge pain, operator error didn't need to be even more common, but there’s no other way to do it” she said with an almost bureaucratic sigh. Like it was a problem that had fueled countless long hours of thinking.

“So, I take it you won’t be fixing the bug that causes the app to take over my body and make me perform all sorts of degenerate things then” I asked her unable to keep the scorn from my voice. “Well, that’s exactly the sort of bug I’m saying I can’t fix” she explained as somehow the conversation had turned into a customer support meeting. “That’s simply a side effect of you suppressing your desires, they build like a pressure cooker and then eventually explode” she elaborated, and I found myself blinking. I could vaguely recall the various acts of degeneracy the supposedly known bug had caused. On some level It seemed like she was telling me I wanted to do the things I did when that happened. Sure, a lot of it was perverted deeds, and I was a degenerate by nature, but they were so extreme. I couldn’t believe that sort of overwhelming perversion was dwelling within me. Or rather, I wouldn’t believe it.

“I was hoping I’d have more luck with the other major bug, but It’s broken in such an odd way It’s a little beyond me to fix it” Olive said sounding greatly annoyed by her own inability in that regard. “What do you mean other bug” I asked her raking my brain. There were lots of mysteries with L.B.L UP. But most of the issues I had run into were seemingly my lack of understanding and the apps lack of sufficient tutorials. “You really didn't notice? You’re a serious noob aren’t you” she said sounding almost sweet and sympathetic. “A few of the high-end perks are missing from some of the upgrade trees on your version of the app, they went missing around the time you first booted up the advanced edition” she said and I found myself thinking back, quite a few things had happened that day so at the time determining what would’ve caused the strange bug was beyond me. “Three perks are missing, Wish, Transfer and Ghost Sight” she said holding up three fingers. “According to the code in which the app deploys them to work, they’re still there and active, it thinks you have them, but the code isn't in the app it’s like it was moved but is somehow still connected” she explained in an excited nerdy way. As a programmer I vaguely understood what she was saying, even if it seemed impossible.

“Still with the big meta shifts in the new update, most of the other girls will be back to ground zero so you’ll have a head start” she mused pouring herself another wine and generating a straw to sip it from. Blowing through the straw first childishly and watching it bubble. “New update” I asked realizing our conversation was quickly become her saying things and me asking her what the hell she was talking about. It truly clarified how out of depth I was with the potentially all-powerful French girl. “Pull out your phone, the download should be finishing shortly” she said gesturing to my cleavage. I reached into slowly and eased my phone out. She giggled. “It’s cute you think I’d feel threatened” she told me with a tone that carried that frightening absolute certainty I had seen in my last dream. I checked the app and that bar that Eliza had pointed out before the party was sitting at 97% completion. Its symbol of a ghost world acquiring a deeper more ominous vibe.