Chapter 38: SHE WAS LYING

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NEW QUEST

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[!] MISSION:

Simple Talk

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> OBJECTIVE:

Have a conversation

with a woman while

running.

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> REWARD:

+110 EXP

+110 Sin Points

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A new quest, huh? Striking up a conversation with a woman while running would give me rewards. Hell, even saying "good evening" while jogging past someone might be enough. I doubted something that short would actually count, but it was still worth trying. No reason to pass up free EXP.

I stood up, pulled my hoodie over my head, and started running again along the U-shaped path.

Ahead of me was a woman jogging at a steady pace. She looked to be in her mid-twenties, slim waist, long toned legs, and a tight black sports bra that hugged a pair of full, bouncing breasts with every stride. Her dark ponytail swung behind her, and the tight running leggings she wore left almost nothing to the imagination as they clung to her round ass and thick thighs. She was the kind of woman who made the simple act of running look unfairly attractive.

I picked up my pace until I was running beside her.

"Hey, good evening," I said with a small smile.

She pulled one earbud out and glanced at me. "Sorry, what?"

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QUEST COMPLETE

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Objective Met:

> Simple Talk

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> REWARD:

+110 EXP

+110 Sin Points

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"Oh, sorry," I said quickly. "Thought you were someone I knew. My bad."

"Mmh... right." She put the earbud back in and kept running without another word.

I slowed down and let her pull ahead. Not exactly a real conversation, but the system still counted it. One step closer to the next level.

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MAIN MENU

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NAME: Chance Brooks

LVL: 8 [250/485]

RANK: Homewrecker

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[ CORE STATS ]

> CHA: 20

> END: 10

> PER: 20

> LCK: 3

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[ ENERGY ]

> LUST: 170/170

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[ACTIVE PERKS: Expand]

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SIN POINTS: 1230

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Even with the reward, it still felt a little pathetic. I couldn’t even hold a conversation with a woman for more than five seconds. I already knew I wasn’t good with women, but this was just embarrassing.

"Could’ve been worse," I muttered under my breath, watching her figure disappear further down the path. "A lot worse..."

❤︎‬‪‪❤︎‬‪‪❤︎

I slipped the key into my pocket and closed the door behind me. With a quiet sigh, I dropped onto the couch and leaned back, staring at the ceiling. Work was draining the life out of me.

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NEW QUEST

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[!] MISSION:

Simple Talk

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> OBJECTIVE:

Bring the homemade lasagna

to Sarah and her husband.

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> REWARD:

Dependence decrease for Sarah.

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Bring the lasagna? Did the system expect me to actually cook one? I was a terrible cook. There was no way I could pull that off.

But fuck it.

I accepted the quest. The UI vanished, and a small golden light suddenly bloomed on the dinner table to my left. It grew brighter for a second, then disappeared just as quickly, leaving behind a large plate of lasagna. More than enough for two people. It looked, and smelled, damn good.

"Alright," I chuckled under my breath. "Fuck yeah."

I grabbed the plate, left my flat, and climbed the stairs. A few knocks later, the door opened. Hubert. Of course it was him.

"Hey," I forced a polite smile. "I, uh... brought you two some lasagna. Hope you like it."

"We don’t want your dirty lasagna," Hubert said, voice dripping with contempt. "Fuck off."

"Who is it?" Sarah called from the kitchen.

She appeared a moment later, wiping her wet hands on a towel. When she saw me, and the plate, her expression softened into a small smile.

"Oh, it looks delicious," she said. "Did you bring this for us?"

I nodded. "Yeah. I’m actually pretty proud of it. Didn’t know I could cook this well."

"He probably poisoned it or something," Hubert muttered. "We don’t want it."

"We’ll take it." Sarah stepped forward and took the plate from my hands.

Our fingers brushed. Just for a second. Our eyes met, and a faint flush rose to her cheeks, like she was remembering exactly what I’d done to her the last time we were alone.

"Thank you," she said quietly.

"No problem." I smiled. "I’ll get out of your way."

"Fuck. Off." Hubert stepped back and slammed the door in my face.

I stood there for a moment, staring at the closed door.

"Yeah. Fuck you too."

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TARGET: Sarah Angi

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[ RELATIONSHIP ]

> Partner: [Hubert]

> Loyalty: 0%

> Dependence: 80%

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[ SYSTEM SYNC ]

> Favor: 0% [☑]

> Threat: None

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x2 Sexual Encounter EXP

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> GRIEVANCE LOG

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Eighty percent dependence. Still high. Annoying. I’d already broken her loyalty completely, but the dependence was another layer I had to chip away at. This whore kept giving me new problems.

Still... progress was progress. And I had no intention of stopping anytime soon.

❤︎‬‪‪❤︎‬‪‪❤︎

Jennifer Dash.

That bitch.

Apparently the modeling gig she’d been doing for a while had ended. On her social media she announced she’d opened a small store selling little trinkets and handmade stuff. Most likely Cole had manipulated her into quitting, or straight-up threatened her. Either way, I didn’t care.

What I did care about was taking something that belonged to him. Jennifer had to be mine eventually. But right now that still felt like a stretch. Even a basic bitch like Sarah was taking longer than expected. I needed to level up more, improve myself, then start branching out to other targets.

"You done?" Jacob asked from behind the counter.

"Yeah. Finally."

"Alright, you can clock out." He smiled. "You’ve got two days off. Use them wisely, man."

"Thanks."

I headed to the staff room, grabbed my backpack, and left through the front door. The night air hit me immediately, cool, damp, and heavy with the smell of rain. I pulled my hood up and started walking toward the bus stop.

By the time I reached it, the rain was falling in a soft, steady curtain. The streetlights cast warm yellow pools across the wet pavement, reflecting in the puddles. A few cars hissed past, their headlights cutting through the drizzle. The bus shelter was empty except for me. It felt strangely quiet... almost cozy in a lonely way.

I exhaled, breath turning into a faint cloud in the cool air.

Then I saw it.

A black cat. Pitch-black fur that seemed to swallow the light. Sitting under the glow of a streetlamp across the street, staring right at me.

"Wait..." I muttered. "You..."

Without thinking, I stepped off the curb and rushed across the street. A car horn blared. I barely avoided getting hit, stumbling back before scrambling forward again. The cat bolted the moment I got close, vanishing around the corner.

I rounded the corner seconds later, heart pounding. Nothing. The alley was empty. No cat. No sound. Just rain and darkness.

"Yeah..." I muttered, wiping rain from my face. "I might be going crazy."

I turned around and walked back to the bus stop, still glancing over my shoulder every few seconds.

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NEW QUEST

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[!] MISSION:

Talk, Talk, Talk

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> OBJECTIVE:

Trigger a [Happiness] state

in Target: Sarah Angi.

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> REWARD:

+150 EXP

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Trigger a Happiness state in Sarah? Doable... in theory. I just needed to catch her alone, without Hubert around. Unfortunately, they lived under the same roof. That made things trickier. Not impossible, though.

The bus finally pulled up with a wet hiss of brakes. I stepped inside, found a seat near the back, and stared out the rain-streaked window.

I had about thirty minutes to come up with a plan.

Difficult... but not impossible.

Just as I sat down, my phone started ringing in my pocket. Figuring it was probably Sarah, I pulled it out and checked the screen.

Oh, for fuck’s sake.

Jodi. My leech of a sister. What the hell did she want this time? Another round of begging for money? I had already made myself perfectly clear about that.

I declined the call.

Less than a second later she called again. I declined it just as fast. When the third call came through almost immediately, I couldn’t take it anymore. I answered with a quiet, irritated groan. I was so damn fed up with this shit.

"What do you want, Jodi?" I asked flatly.

"OH MY GOD!" she practically screamed into the phone. "They... Chance... they... oh god. Just wire me the money!"

She was completely freaking out, voice cracking, breathing uneven, genuine panic. I hated her guts most days, but even I could tell this wasn’t her usual dramatic bullshit. She actually sounded desperate. Whether I liked it or not, we were still siblings. I couldn’t just hang up on her when she sounded like this.

"What happened, Jodi?" I asked, already feeling a headache forming. "What... why are you crying?"

"My landlord... they’re locking me out right now!" She started sobbing. "They taped an eviction notice to the door! Chance, if I don’t pay the back rent in the next hour, they’re throwing all my designer bags and shoes right out onto the street! I need two grand. Now."

"Two grand?" I narrowed my eyes, leaning against the wall. "Wait. Didn’t you just post that thing on your social media yesterday about buying a brand-new designer handbag? How are you broke already?"

There was a split-second hitch in her ragged breathing, a fraction of a second too late.

Oh... she was lying.