Memories flooded in, and Tasha stood there stunned for a moment.
When she realized who she had saved, her first reaction was to slap the person hard.
Elena’s pale face turned away from the impact. She was first stunned and then furious, “Tasha, what’s your problem?”
ย
Without another glance at her, Tasha stood up, grabbed her bag, and walked away. She feared that she might push Elena’s head underwater if she looked at her stunning face again.
“Hey! Wait!” Elena stumbled after her but fell to her knees after two steps–her legs cramped in the water.
Tasha walked briskly, trying hard not to turn back and slap Elena again.
‘What bad luck! It would have been better if I had pulled out a dead body. Ugh! I needed a good shower to wash off this bad luck!‘ Thinking about how she had negotiated with the system and exhausted herself swimming, only to save some jerk, made all the blood rush to her head.
She was so angry that everything went black before her eyes, and her body shook.
At that moment, System 103 said sarcastically, “You’re just gonna leave that mess there?”
“You can talk,” Tasha gritted out through clenched teeth, “but don’t make a sound.”
System 103 changed the subject wisely. “Why don’t you change your clothes somewhere? You might catch a cold.” He didn’t want to give more energy points to Tasha.
“Fine.” This suggestion was reasonable enough for Tasha not to object.
She splurged on a taxi and raced back to the pedestrian street.
The pedestrian street had everything one needed–clothes, food, anything you name.
Tasha’s first stop was an upscale women’s clothing store, where she spent on some new clothes; then off with the new clothes in hand to the public bathhouse for a hot soak.
She scrubbed herself thoroughly under hot water, especially those hands that saved Elena. She scrubbed them so hard that her skin started to burn.
After a full refresh, it was already evening, with an hour to go before visiting Polly’s bookstore. There wasn’t enough time to buy a phone now, so Tasha had no choice but to head out for dinner instead.
She wandered around the street stalls filled with skewers of lamb, pork, chicken, burgers wrapped in leeks or potatoes, meatloafs stuffed with vermicelli or crispy sausages or thick meat sausages, grilled pancakes or sweet potatoes or chicken wings or chestnut cakes or stir–fried noodles or seafood… All these were weight–gain foods.
But right now, all Tasha felt was heaviness in her chest and stomach–she suddenly lost her appetite.
System 103 watched as Tasha passed by without glancing at any food stalls, saying, “I’m glad you’ve finally learned self–care.”
But no sooner had he finished when Tasha entered an ice cream shop and plopped down on a seat.
“Hello, could you pack up… ten large servings of ice cream for me? One of each flavor, please.
“Umm. Yeah sure–we’re having a class reunion tonight so we’ll share these together.”
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09 pm D
Chapter 16
Ꮷ Ꮅ Ꮅ
The boss moved fast,
20
dishing out ten ice cream servings to Tasha in just a few minutes. Then, he packed them into two large ags and sent Tasha on her way.
Vith two big bags of ice cream in hand, she left the pedestrian street and sat down on some park benches randomly chosen.
Then, she grabbed a box of ice cream, scooped up a big spoonful, and stuffed it into her mouth.
The overly sweet taste melted on her tongue, almost making her throw up.
This ice cream tastes terrible,” she muttered.
Despite saying that, Tasha didn’t waste any, box by box, eating that cheap ice cream. Even though her teeth were chattering rom the cold, she didn’t stop.
Suddenly, a figure came up in front of Tasha, snatching the ice cream from her hand and saying coldly, “Stop.”
Tasha looked up, staring mockingly at Elena, who had appeared out of nowhere. “You’ve been following me all this time, collecting material for your writing?”
Elena’s face froze, and she stammered, “About that incident, I admit I-”
But Tasha cut her off with a sneer, “Admit what? You’re a writer–a ‘serious‘ novelist. Reality is just material for your art. Even now, standing in front of me, you’re probably thinking about how to write ‘Silly Tasha 2‘, right?”
‘No!” Elena felt a sense of talking to a brick wall. “I just… I just…”
Tasha threw the remaining ice cream onto her clothes. The pink color of the strawberry ice cream spread and dripped down the black fabric, looking like a bad doodle.
Elena widened her eyes in disbelief.
Before Elena could react, Tasha said coldly, “I’m leaving, Ms. Writer. If you want me to pay for the clothes, I live in the bookstore on the pedestrian street ahead. Don’t forget to clean up this mess here.”
The neon lights blazed brilliantly against the deep night sky. Elena quietly watched as Tasha left without hesitation, for a very long time.
Meanwhile, System 103 reminded Tasha, “I have to remind you-”
“That outfit Elena is wearing is Amphion Melody’s latest summer collection. It’s worth enough to let me win the lottery five times, right?” Tasha said nonchalantly.
“Since you know that, why-” System 103 was once again puzzled by humans.
“That’s why I went for it,” Tasha said slowly. “Back and forth, we get to know each other better, right?”
“You’re exploiting her guilt,” System 103 stated, not as a question but as a fact.
“More friends mean more paths. More rich friends mean a hundred more paths,” Tasha said. “She used me to earn her first royalty, and because of me, she got a second life.
“From this perspective, I’m practically her savior. A savior squeezing some benefits from her, isn’t that allowed?”
“Sure. Do as you please,” System 103 said.
Actually, he had originally planned to remind Tasha of something else, but since she was just exploiting Elena, it seemed
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5:09 pm D &
Chapter 16
unnecessary to mention it.
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