Chapter 147: Host, This Is an Inevitable Event

Chapter 147: Chapter 147: Host, This Is an Inevitable Event

Rian Sinclair pursed her lips. Leave it to Jasper Rivers to hit a nerve so effortlessly. Hearing the children’s cries and the furious roaring of the men, Rian knew that their opportunity had finally arrived.

Jasper was currently stealthily disrupting the crowd, keeping those men even busier. They cursed and swore while continuously trying to coax the crying children. Rian took advantage of the chaos to slip away.

As Jasper moved through the crowd, someone suddenly grabbed his hand. He whipped his head around, his gaze colliding directly with Rian’s.

"Jasper, my name is Rian Sinclair."

Jasper froze for a moment before a smile broke across his face. "I’ll remember that, Rian. Now go, time waits for no one."

Rian knew they were on a tight schedule. She had no time to correct his words, so she used the chaotic crowd as cover and sprinted frantically toward the northwest.

Someone suddenly shrieked, "Someone’s escaping!"

A volley of gunshots followed. Rian could no longer hear the children crying; instead, curses and the heavy thud of boots trampling through the grass echoed behind her. She dashed blindly through the forest. She had no idea how long she ran—so long that her legs felt ready to snap. Then, her body collided with a warm embrace.

As she lost consciousness, her only hope was that the person holding her was a soldier from Veridia. If not, she would just have to be more careful in her next life.

Rian slowly opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was a young man in a military green uniform. He had a thin scar above his right eye, and his face was smeared with camouflage paint.

Seeing her awake, the man spoke softly, "Little girl, are you awake? I’m a soldier from Veridia. You’re perfectly safe now. Can you tell us where you came from?"

Rian didn’t say a word. For a young child, the most appropriate response in this situation was silence; saying too much would only arouse suspicion. The man didn’t seem upset. He patiently comforted her, and once her expression was no longer tense, he changed the subject to ask about the kidnapping.

"Little girl, can you tell me your name? How old are you?"

"Miss Sinclair, we’ve arrived."

A male voice rang out beside her ear, jolting Rian back to the present. Her gaze immediately met Ronan Ford’s. Glancing at the scenery outside the window, she opened the car door and stepped out. "Thank you."

Ronan gave a slight nod and drove away.

Rian looked up at the villa, the memories of her childhood resurfacing. The only reason her past kidnapping had never been uncovered was that the entire squad of soldiers who had saved her had perished. There had been no time to report the incident, so her information was naturally lost to the wind.

She still remembered how that same man—the one who had gently asked for her name—had dragged his mangled body across the ground. His eyes had locked onto hers where she hid in the bushes. To this day, she could never forget his final words.

"Run. Don’t look back."

The night air was crisp and cool. She wanted a drink.

Fetching a car from the garage, she looked up a highly-rated bar on her phone. Upon entering the establishment, Rian immediately requested a booth and ordered an exorbitant amount of alcohol. People around her cast appraising glances, some of which were thick with lecherous intent.

But she couldn’t care less about any of them right now; she just wanted to get thoroughly drunk. Suddenly recalling the past had left her feeling incredibly agitated, and alcohol was the best anesthetic. From the moment she sat down, she downed glass after glass. As the liquor burned a path down her throat, leaving behind a bitter sting, she felt a morbid sense of satisfaction.

Those gentle, smiling faces. The severed limbs scattered across the ground. The agonizing screams of the children. Crows flocking to feast on the corpses—no matter how hard she waved her arms, she couldn’t stop them from feeding.

She had remembered those words, "Don’t look back," for so, so long.

The river had been soaked in blood. Its crimson waters flowed like an abyss demanding more lives.

Deafening music blasted in her ears. Colorful lights flashed overhead, syncing with the rhythmic scratching of the DJ on stage. The crowd on the dance floor writhed to the beat, while groups of friends in other booths played drinking games. Rian was the only one sitting alone in a spacious booth, drinking in complete solitude.

With every memory that surfaced, Rian took another shot. The empty bottles on her table multiplied, yet her mind only grew clearer. Holding a glass of liquor, she lowered her eyes and chuckled self-deprecatingly. "Why can’t I just get drunk?"

"Host, based on your physical condition, you possess an alcohol-resistant constitution. However, heavy drinking is still harmful to your body."

Hearing the system’s voice in her ear, Rian couldn’t help but laugh softly. "Why did you show up so late?"

The system paused for a moment before its mechanical voice echoed again. "Host, even if I had arrived when you were seven, they still would have died. Even if I had existed from the moment you were born, I could not have changed their fate. It was an inevitable event.

"According to the existing data in my database, your current approach won’t numb your pain. The alcohol will only make you overthink."

Rian’s hand paused halfway to her mouth. She let out a soft laugh. "Do you know why so many leaders refuse to fully adopt AI?"

After a long silence, the system’s voice stuttered slightly. "My apologies. Please, continue drinking."

Rian ignored the system and went back to drinking on her own, savoring the slight burn of the alcohol in her stomach. Not long after, the system spoke again.

"Protecting you is the duty of Veridia’s soldiers. They would only be happy to have saved you, even if it meant trading their lives for yours.

"There was nothing that could be done for the other kidnapped children. That is simply how the world works. The negligence of adults, the cruelty of criminals... There are too many evildoers. Lured by profit, countless people flock to the dark side."

Listening to the system’s words, Rian tilted her head back and took another gulp of her drink. It was true. There were far too many bad people in the world, all driven by the temptations of profit.

"Hey gorgeous, want to grab a drink together?"

As soon as the words fell, a man stopped in front of Rian’s table. She glanced up at him. He was dressed well enough, but the lecherous glint in his eyes made her stomach churn.

She didn’t bother to reply. Having been ignored for entirely too long, the man’s expression soured under the mocking laughter of the surrounding patrons. He slammed his bottle down on her table. The loud SLAM drew the attention of the people at the neighboring booths.

"Don’t push your luck, sweetheart. I’m just asking you for a drink, not asking you to bed. What’s with the high-and-mighty act? You’re already at a place like this, what’s wrong with having a drink with me?" The man’s face twisted with malice and impatience. He was clearly intoxicated, swaying unsteadily on his feet as he gripped his bottle.

Rian found the man’s state rather amusing. She raised a finger and pointed at the bottles on her table. "Mister, do you have any idea how much more these drinks are worth than you? Just one of these bottles is worth that watch on your wrist—assuming the watch is even real."

The moment Rian spoke, a burst of loud laughter erupted from the neighboring booth. A young male voice chimed in. "The lady’s right, mister! A single bottle on her table goes for seventy or eighty grand. She’s a real heavy hitter, so a low-quality guy like you shouldn’t shamelessly try to stick his nose in where it doesn’t belong."

His comment was met with another wave of laughter as the crowd mocked the man’s ignorance. Drunks trying to harass women were a common sight in places like this, but no one expected this guy to be dumb enough to hit on the richest woman in the room.