Terror Infinity: Path of Evolution

In a world where people's lives are monotonous and boring for most, Stuart always thought he was lucky, with a good family, loving parents, and a younger sister.

For most of his youth, he lived a carefree life: playing video games and putting just enough effort into school, yet still getting grades.

During that time he met a girl online, fell in love with her, and after years of long-distance relationship, one day they finally met in person; from that day on they started to get together more and more. Life, although it became difficult after his coming of age, was good. Maybe some weeks Stuart went hungry because of his minimum wage, but he survived...

He had strong reasons to keep going.

He had a family to support, a fiancée he loved more than anything, and a baby girl on the way. A promotion was just around the corner, and a small business selling furniture online seemed to be flourishing. But, as they say, "Life takes many turns," and in just one year...

It all went to shit.

His sister ran away from home and her whereabouts are still unknown; his mother was hospitalized for health problems; his fiancée lost her life in the hospital shortly after giving birth to their daughter; he was fired from his job; and furniture sales plummeted.

Stuart was devastated; he was now in financial trouble; his greatest emotional support, the woman he loved most, was no longer with him; he had to care for his barely 2-month-old daughter at the time and had no way to keep his mental state stable.

Plunged into a spiral of despair, Stuart could barely fall asleep each night. But one day, roused from bed by his baby's crying, Stuart finally made up his mind.

As he soothed her, he couldn't allow her to grow up without the care she needed; in his situation, he could barely provide for her, going hungry every day while he looked for a job. So, closing his eyes as he hugged his daughter, he bit his own arm hard through the growing pain in his heart, releasing tears followed by a choked cry. She decided to give her up for adoption.

In a short time, she found a good place to put her up for adoption. She brought all the paperwork with her, and within ten minutes of arriving, she was about to sign the paperwork to finalize the process.

As he held the pen, he felt a strange sense of unreality, as if the weight of all his decisions was about to come crashing down on him.

His trembling hand tightened its grip on the pen, and before he regretted it, he signed, hoping that at least his daughter would have a chance that he could no longer give her.

.

.

.

2 weeks later

It was late at night; Stuart didn't know exactly how much time he had spent in front of the computer; he had been compulsively looking for work for several days. On the verge of despair, his eyes were moving up and down looking for employment solutions, sending his certificate to virtually anything that would allow him to eat.

He was in an altered state; after receiving several calls from his Internet service, he knew they were about to cut him off, so he was doing everything he could in the little time he had left.

Finally, after a sudden cramp in his wrist, he stopped and closed his eyes.

Damn it," he expressed with resignation. At this rate I won't be able to avoid legal problems; if I don't get a job soon so that I can pay at least part of my debts, I could end up in prison or in even greater debt. He said to himself with growing annoyance.

The reality was quite blunt: if he didn't settle the outstanding debts soon, he would be sent to the various legal departments of the cable, water, and electric companies. The legal fees are, in most cases, quite extreme.

It is disheartening when a debt of less than $2,000 ends up in excess of $35,000 for legal fees alone. Not including interest payments!

Stuart finally opens his eyes with a sigh; his wrist doesn't hurt anymore, so he goes back to his task of looking for work.

But, as he looks at the computer screen, in the center of it is a text box that reads.

Do you want to find the meaning of life?

Do you want to live... a real life?

[Yes] [No]

For the first time in a long time, Stuart felt curious about the message. It reminded him of the typical pop-up ads he usually sees on pirate or porn sites. Obviously, it could be a virus, but there was something intriguing about the message; maybe it's its simplicity or that it reminds him of the "systems" windows that the protagonists of the webnovels he used to watch in his spare time have.

As a fan of the novels since he was 8 years old, he just didn't think much about it; who knows, maybe it will end up in an isekai or just an advertising strategy for a novel game. If that's the case, they deserve applause, if only they will take him away from his depressing reality for a moment.

Finally he clicked on "[Yes]," and at that moment everything went black.