Chapter 2: Apparently, Being Crazy Pays

[They’re having an affair?!]

[I thought Winter was a virgin!]

[No wonder Summer is angry all the time! These bastards were the ones who started it!]

[Everyone, please watch your language! This is a warning from the team moderators!]

[Moderators, shut up!]

Winter’s face grew even paler when she noticed the sudden change in the comments.

"S-Summer, you can’t just accuse us of something like that without evidence," she said quickly. "Ryland and I have never done anything behind your back."

"Is that so?" Summer asked. "My eyes never lie, sister. I saw you go down on him in the kitchen earlier."

Before Winter could answer, Ryland finally managed to straighten up despite the pain between his legs.

"You crazy bitch!" he roared, and lunged.

Unfortunately for him, Summer had spent most of her previous life fighting monsters far more terrifying than an angry man with wolf ears.

She stepped aside, caught his wrist, and used his own momentum to yank him forward. Her fist sank into his stomach. When he folded, she hit him across the face hard enough to snap his head to the side, then drove her knee up before he could guard himself.

"Summer!" Winter screamed.

Summer did not look at her. She followed Ryland down and kept hitting him until he stopped trying to grab her and only tried to cover his head.

The number of likes suddenly climbed so fast that it was hard to keep up.

[+1 +1 +1 +1 liked for Summer Beaumont]

When she was satisfied, she looked down at the pulp of him and spat beside his face. "Don’t bother kicking me out of this team. I’ll leave on my own."

She raised her hand and tapped the holographic screen floating in front of her. After going through the original Summer’s memories, she already knew how to operate the basic functions of her personal terminal.

She opened Team 8’s information page and pressed the option to leave.

[Are you sure you want to leave Team 8?]

[YES] [NO]

Summer pressed [YES].

Another warning appeared at once.

[Warning! Warning!]

[You are currently inside a B-Rank Polluted Zone.]

[This Polluted Zone is considered extremely dangerous for a Guide of your rank.]

[Once you leave your registered team, the government will no longer be responsible for any injuries or deaths that occur while you are operating independently.]

[Click YES if you wish to—]

Summer pressed [YES] before the rest of the sentence could finish.

[...]

[Request confirmed.]

[You have officially left Team 8.]

Summer smiled in satisfaction.

Good.

She had only been in this world for less than an hour, yet she had already gotten rid of a cheating fiancé and an annoying team. She considered that a fairly productive start to her second life.

She checked her status panel.

[Status Panel]

[Name: Summer Beaumont]

[Age: 25]

[Rank: F-Rank Guide (ERROR)]

[Mental Stability: F (ERROR)]

[Re-evaluation required at the nearest Guide Association Headquarters.]

[Credits: 10,000]

[Reputation: -8,726]

She stared at the two red ERROR signs for several seconds, then dismissed the screen.

Whatever it meant, she could deal with it after she left this place.

Before walking away, she casually snatched the plasma gun from Ryland’s hand. "Think of this as compensation for my broken heart."

Then she turned toward Winter, who was still standing there with tears running down her face. "Enjoy your manwhore, Sister."

After saying that, Summer turned around without looking back.

To be honest, Winter was not even her biological sister.

According to the memories Summer had inherited, Madam Beaumont had been unable to have a child for years. Because of that, the Beaumont family adopted Summer when she was still very young.

They believed bringing another child into the family might bring them good luck and help Madam Beaumont finally become pregnant. In other words, Summer had been nothing more than a lucky charm they brought home to drive away the family’s bad luck.

Strangely enough, it seemed to work.

Only a year after adopting Summer, Madam Beaumont became pregnant with Winter.

Unfortunately, the moment their real daughter was born, Summer was no longer important.

The Beaumont family began treating her like a speck of dust. The child they had once happily brought into their home was slowly pushed aside and ignored.

Summer almost wanted to laugh. What kind of child wouldn’t rebel after something like that?

Yet somehow, everyone still believed Summer Beaumont was the villain.

’I’ll have to deal with that family later.’

For now, she had a much bigger problem.

Summer casually walked away from Team 8. However, she still had no idea what kind of dangers were hiding inside this Polluted Zone, so she was not foolish enough to walk straight down the middle of the road.

Instead, she stayed close to the old buildings and moved through their shadows.

As she walked, her attention quickly shifted toward something far more important.

[Credits: 10,000]

Summer’s expression immediately turned sour again.

The original body was not only weak. She was also poor.

Fortunately, BeastNet provided several ways for Guides and Sentinels to earn credits during Polluted Zone missions, and one of the most popular methods was livestreaming.

Summer immediately opened her livestream panel.

Although she had officially left Team 8, her personal camera was still connected to Team 8’s public livestream because she had originally entered the Polluted Zone as one of its registered members.

[Would you like to disconnect from Team 8’s livestream?]

[YES] [NO]

Summer pressed [YES] without hesitation.

Another notification immediately appeared.

[You may continue broadcasting through your personal BeastNet channel.]

[Start Personal Livestream?]

Without thinking, she clicked [YES].

[Personal Livestream Activated.]

[Transferring viewers currently watching Summer Beaumont...]

The number beside the viewer icon immediately began climbing.

[10,721]

[21,306]

[35,883]

Summer raised an eyebrow. She had not expected more than thirty thousand people to follow her onto a private channel.

Then again, she had just beaten her cheating fiancé, exposed his affair with her sister, and walked into a B-rank Polluted Zone alone.

Of course they wanted to see what she would do next.

[Is she seriously walking a B-rank Polluted Zone alone?]

[She’s an F-rank Guide. She’ll die.]

[I followed because I want to see what happens.]

[Summer, go back. Being angry is one thing. Throwing your life away is another!]

[Mods, do something!]

[Moderators aren’t paid to provide mental healthcare.]

[HAHAHAHAHAHA!]

Summer ignored them and tapped the small eye-shaped icon beside the stream. A private panel only she could see slid open.

[BeastNet Livestream]

[Current Viewers: 35,883]

[Likes: 2,377]

[Followers: 1,921]

[Current Earnings: 1,794 Credits]

Summer had not expected to earn more than a thousand credits when she had only started her personal livestream a few seconds ago.

It seemed that views could earn her credits, and since she had gone solo, she no longer needed to split her earnings with her teammates.

Summer closed her terminal and continued on her way.

The town was in worse condition than she had imagined. Several buildings had collapsed outright. Others were wrapped in dark vines that had crawled all the way to the rooftops.

Rusted vehicles sat abandoned along the cracked street, and strange plants pushed up through the broken pavement.

More importantly, there was not a single ordinary person in sight.

This was nothing like the rifts of her old world. Back then, monsters came through a gate, so hunters had to entered it, killed the boss, and the tear eventually closed.

Here there was no gate to seal and no exact way to fix the world.

The polluted had already soaked into the land itself.

Therefore, the government carved what remained into numbered zones, ranked them by how thick the pollution was and how many mutated things nested inside, and sent Sentinels and Guides in to thin the numbers before the rot spread farther.

Speaking of mutated creatures, Summer’s terminal suddenly turned bright red.

[Warning! Warning!]

[Mutated Bat Detected!]

[Distance: 127 meters]

[Threat Level: C-Rank]

[Please remain alert and seek assistance from the nearest Sentinel.]