"Young Master Elliot, today's breakfast is Waterdeep's Pol..."
"All right, all right! Stop listing everything!" Elliot waved impatiently, cutting off the old butler. "I'm off to play the game. Don't bother me."
He casually took a slice of bread from the dining table, roughly balled it up, and stuffed it into his mouth.
His face immediately twisted in pain, and he grabbed a cup of strong coffee and gulped it down. "Cough! What the hell is this bread? It's sickeningly sweet!"
"There was an unexpected issue in the manor's kitchen, so we couldn't bake any bread today. This was purchased elsewhere. Would you like a replacement?"
"Forget it, forget it. It'll do for a bite. I'm going to play the game. Don't disturb me!" Elliot jogged out of the dining room without looking back, leaving Conrad shaking his head with a helpless smile.
His young master really was hooked on that card game. Yesterday, the old butler had had to drag him back, or he could have played all night.
Before, Conrad might have cautioned him against getting too absorbed, but with the young master confined here, having something to lose himself in... wasn't necessarily a bad thing.
Elliot went straight to the study, opened the secret room, and eagerly sat down in front of the Difference Engine.
As luck would have it, with the sound of turning gears, a new card popped out of the card dispenser.
Before it had fully emerged, Elliot reached out and pulled it free. It still bore the simple outline drawing of a girl, but its name had changed.
[Novice orderly] Notes: "Most hospital orderlies need a medical school diploma, but you don't, and your patients won't complain, either."
Elliot looked at the bottom of the card. The symbol representing [Near Death] had disappeared.
Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief. Yesterday, after he had played up to the point of going to the hospital for emergency treatment, the Difference Engine had swallowed the card and displayed an extremely long countdown. There had been almost nothing he could control. He couldn't do anything except speak, so he had reluctantly left.
Now it looked like she had been saved.
"But how did she become an orderly? She was an unemployed girl before... Is finding work that easy?"
Elliot rubbed his chin. This cumbersome Difference Engine had no "save" function. Once the game started, it wouldn't stop. Even while he was away, the machine would automatically draw cards and insert them into different slots to process events.
Perhaps he could try taking the card with him when he left?
The feeling that the game would keep going even after he left was truly strange.
"Let me see. Looks like there are a few more cards."
[A small pouch of lios] [Bloodstained trench coat] [A sack of potatoes]
"Why is it all miscellaneous stuff? Oh, I see. When I'm away, the protagonist automatically handles some daily activities. That way, it doesn't interfere with the main story and makes the game more immersive. Nice design!"
"But isn't this too much of a change? I played for ages just to get to the hospital for emergency treatment, and one night of the system running on its own found the protagonist a job, got her money, and even bought things. Am I playing the game, or is the Difference Engine playing by itself?"
Elliot found it rather strange, like one of those shoddy browser games with automatic pathfinding, where it would complete and turn in quests even if he left it alone.
"Then what's the point of having me as the player..."
While he was pondering this, the girl's card on the table was suddenly pulled forward by the mechanism, then sucked into a slot labeled [Eating].
The brass character wheels above the slot turned, forming a line of text:
[One more slice... the last slice!]
Elliot glanced at the gauge representing "hunger" on the Difference Engine's panel-it was clearly full!
And the name on the [Sweet bread] card the girl was about to enjoy glowed a conspicuous blue, completely different from the other items. It was obviously an important resource.
"Well, would you look at that!" Elliot understood instantly. "The moment I stop watching, this protagonist wastes money and uses up key items!"
He immediately reached out and forcibly yanked the bread card free before it could disappear completely into the slot.
"Now I'll really have to keep you under control!"
The hospital's back courtyard.
Vanessa's cheeks bulged like a little hamster's. Her mouth was stuffed with slices of bread, and her eyes narrowed in contentment.
"So yummy, so yummy... One more slice!"
"So yummy, so yummy... One more slice!"
"So yummy, so yummy... One... huh?"
The hand holding her slice of bread suddenly stopped. The bread she had been about to stuff into her mouth now hovered in front of her lips.
Vanessa blinked in confusion and instinctively leaned her head forward to reach it.
As soon as she stretched her neck forward, the hand holding the bread swiftly drew back as though it had a mind of its own-making her bite at empty air!
"Hmm? Hmm? Hmm?"
Vanessa blinked, then realized what was happening, her eyes flying wide open!
It was that presence that could control her again!
Earlier, that presence had controlled her into going to the hospital, then vanished outright. For a while, she had thought it was a hallucination she had experienced while dying, an instinct to survive... Now, it was back!
She watched helplessly as her own hand withdrew the slice of bread from her mouth with absolute determination and stuffed it back into the paper bag. No matter how desperately she tried to regain control of her body, her efforts sank without a trace.
"I-I'm really being controlled... Wait, why is there only one slice of bread left? Who stole my bread?!"
Before Vanessa even had time to be surprised, she found herself standing up, walking over to open the sack of potatoes beside her, and taking out a potato still covered in dirt to stare at it.
"Huh? What am I doing? Wait, surely not..."
Under Vanessa's horrified gaze, her hand brought that raw potato toward her mouth!
Elliot put [Raw potato] into the [Eating] slot, but a moment later, the card was spat back out.
Unconvinced, he pushed it in several more times, only for it to be ejected every time.
"That's weird. She can eat bread but not potatoes? Is she a picky eater? Then why did you buy potatoes?!"
Elliot held [Raw potato] and examined it for a long while, his gaze settling on the word "raw."
"No way... Is this game that detailed? I have to cook just to eat something?!"
"This doesn't look like a survival or daily-life game, either."
"Forget it. I'll try shoving it in a few more times... Huh? There's a bag of black bread here, too?"
Elliot picked up [Hard, dry black bread] and tried inserting it into the [Eating] slot.
This card wouldn't go in at first, either, but Elliot put some effort into it, and although it was a little difficult, he succeeded.
Although it had gone in, something was strange.
That [Hard, dry black bread] was stuck in the [Eating] slot. He couldn't push it any farther in or pull it out.
"This thing can have bugs, too?" Elliot looked up at the Difference Engine and nodded in realization. "I've been playing so many video games, I almost forgot this was a physical card game."
"Since it's physical, a few minor problems are normal. Even printers get paper jams all the time. I'll leave it for now. Maybe it'll sort itself out in a bit."
Just then, a knock suddenly came from behind Elliot.
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