Keira went inside the motel room. But instead of resting, she opened the window that led outside and jumped down. She slipped through the back of the motel to the alleyways.
Keira: [Elly, are there any abandoned houses nearby?]
System 999: [Yes, there is one, but are not you staying in there Host?]
Keira: [It would be too obvious. I would just leave tracks that seemed like I went there.]
Laying out some red herrings, Keira then stealthily made her way to the center of A City.
A City was bustling with people but Keira didn’t dare step into the crowd and just continued to hide in the alleyways or where there aren’t a lot of people and security camera’s that could track her whereabouts.
Being tired from all the walking, Keira decided to take a break in the nearby park. The park was empty since it was already nighttime. It was a neighboring park, so it was relatively small. There were no cameras that pointed directly to the park and if someone were to approach Keira, there are many areas to run to since the park is an open space.
Keira sat by the swing and decided to open her system balance. She spend a lot of system points earlier so she was scared in finding out her remaining balance.
[Current Balance: 14,199]
[Purchase History
1,000 - Camera disabling service
600 - Self-importance reflection service
20 - Car unlocking service
20 - Car starting service
1 - Money exchange service]
Keira: [What the fu—! How could the camera disabling service cost this much?]
System 999: [It usually does not cost much Host, but the system disabled well over 200 cameras.]
Keira: [What?! That many cameras?]
‘How did Ezekiel manage to connect all those cameras in the forest?’
Standing up from the swing, Keira stretched her body. She needs to move again in fear of being discovered by Ezekiel.
“Alright! Unto the next alleyway!”
Keira walked out of the deserted park and went to the nearest alley. What she didn’t expect was that someone was already on her tail. Keria continued to walk deeper into the alleyway. She hadn’t expected to hit a dead end.
“Then, to the next alleyway!”
Just as she turns around, she felt the hair on her body raised and the system alarmed in her mind.
System 999: [Watch out Host!]
Before she could see the person standing behind her. She felt a strong brute force hit her head. With that, Keira directly passed out…
…
“Ugh…”
Keira felt her upper body sway. She lifted her heavy eyelids and saw the cemented ground. Her arms were dangling to-and-fro. Her head crazily hurt and her ears were buzzing. Her eyelids keeps on closing and she was still extremely dizzy. Despite that, she could still make out, that she was being carried on someone’s shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
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She couldn’t even move her head left and right to inspect her surroundings. All she knew is that—she is being taken away.
‘But to where…?’
Keira closed her eyes and fainted again.
…
When she woke up, she was tied to a chair and her head was still persistently hurting.
‘Did I get smacked on the head?’
Her guess was right, as she could still feel fresh blood from her forehead that was sliding down. Keira investigated her surroundings and determined that she was in someone’s basement, as there are no windows and pipes visible on the ceiling. The door was at a good distance away from her.
The room gave out an eerie vibe as if someone died in the room. But what greatly scared her was the items on the table near her. Alarm bells sounded in her head.
She had to get out of here. Unless she wants to find out what those different terrifying tools do.
On the table, different varieties of tools were present. There were clipper types, small to medium types of knives, and even ‘things’ that Keira didn’t have any knowledge about, but she wasn’t curious at the very least about what those items are used for.
Looking at those items, Keira was now 100% sure that it wasn’t Ezekiel who knocked her out, but somebody else who had a deep grudge or was just a random serial killer, and Keira just got unlucky.
Keira struggled from the binds but they were tightly secured on her wrist and ankle. Just as she was trying to wrestle out of the binds, the door opened. Keira briskly cast her glance on the person who entered the room.
Keira: [Omfg, of course it’s the fucking bastard Rick.]
System 999: [ Σ(°□°) ]
Rick walked into the room in a relaxed manner like he was entering a banquet instead of a torture room in his basement. Even his relaxed bearing could not hide the deformity of his face. One could see his broken nose, the black eye, and the bruises on his face and body. Keira thought, ‘His face was already shit, but now it became even shittier.’
Rick showed an ugly deformed smile as he walked toward Keira. Keira cringed in disgust. Rick who saw Keira's disgusted look was enraged and slapped her across the face. Keira was bewildered at Rick’s action.
Keira: [Did he just slap me in the face Elly?]
System 999: [He did Host, and pretty hard at that.]
“You bitch! You dare look at me in disgust when you were the one who cost all of this!”
Keira moved her head back in place and innocently asked, “What could you possibly mean?”
Rick flared in anger and slapped Keira’s other cheek. Now, two of Keira’s cheeks were red and swollen. Keira still showed an innocent smile like a harmless maiden. This greatly provoked Rick’s fury, but instead of slapping Keira on the face again, this time, he picked up a pair of pliers.
“You shouldn’t provoke have me Yei. Now, I can’t wait to use my newly found toys.” Rick said while caressing the different torture devices on the table.
Keira: [To hell with toys! Kids obviously shouldn’t touch those things!]
System 999 thought, ‘Host, you’re going to get tortured any minute now and that is what your thinking?’
Keira: [Elly, control Rick’s mind to unbind me from the chair.]
System 999: [Unfortunately Host, it's not possible because in order to control someone in this world, they have to be unconscious or asleep.]
Keira: [You useless system!]
System 999: [QAQ]
Keira: [Then could you give me a buff or some sort so I could remove these ropes and strangle that bastard with it?]
System 999: [Yes Host! There is a buff potion that could greatly increase the host's physical strength for 10 minutes for 1,000 experience points only! But…]
Keira: [But what?]
System 999: [There is a 500 penalty fee…]
Keira: [What the fuck do you mean penalty fee?!]
System 999: [Since it’s barely allowed to have in this world…]
Keira: [Fine, I’ll take that since I still value my life. Stingy system!]
System 999: [QAQ]
With no other choice, Keira purchased the buff potion, leaving her system balance to 13,199. When the buff took effect, Keira could feel that her body became lighter and she felt that she could lift a car with her bare hands.
She felt energized and revitalized. Keira felt that the big purchase that she made was all worth it, but she knows deep down inside that she was just finding ways to justify her spending so it wouldn’t hurt too bad.
Keira removed the binds from her body like it paper. Rick was shocked by Keira’s action. He instinctively took a step backward. He grabbed a large saw from the table and pointed it at Keira.
“Y—You! Step back!”
Keira showed a pure smile like a burst of warm sunshine radiating on the filthy earth and uttered, “Why should I?”
It seemed like the roles had been reversed. Rick panicked and attempted to launch at Keira with a saw in his hand. Keira only stood there smiling. The saw got in contact with her skin, but—
“It didn’t pierce her?” Rick muttered under his breath.
Rick looked at the smiling Keira in horror.
Keira: [This feels great! It’s like I’m a superhero.]
System 999: [(*^▽^*)] Just smile system 999.
Rick's face paled, “How is this possible?”
He tried to add more strength and pressed the saw stronger unto Keira’s skin, but not even a scratch formed on her skin. He looked at Keira in horror and his face lost its color.
“W—what are you?!”
Keira grabbed the saw from Rick’s hand and directly broke it with her own hand and said,
“I’m Superman.”