80 Aftermath 1 (1/2)

The young man whose upper body only had an undershirt on it tried hard not to tremble in anger. His face was red though. Initially, it was due to the odd and judging gazes from the driver who kept alternatingly looking at him and Wendy. He didn't know what was going on with the old man's head, but it was definitely nothing decent judging from the undermining look he was giving Chris.

This couldn't be helped because Wendy looked like an abused girlfriend. Chris had to do something about her stained hands and since they didn't have enough time, he could only remove his upper uniform and wrap it on her hands. The bloody smell was still there, but at least, it was no longer much. When people asked, he only said she was injured and they're on their way to the hospital.

It was a lie, of course. The moment they got into the cab, he told the driver to send to them to a hospital but they wouldn't be staying there even for a minute.

The problem should be his current look. He was only guessing but it seemed people were taking him for a rapist or kidnapper as his companion resembled someone who just lost a soul.

Anyway, that was no longer what plagued his mind. His face was also no longer blushing from shame and panic, but total anger.

Did he just hear correctly? That aside from fleeing from the police, there was another host eyeing them? That this host would intercept them soon? And the problematic girl next to him was the goal?

...Why did he feel like it was telling him that his death is also near?

”...Hey.”

The feminine voice from his right side woke him up from his stupor. His head automatically turned to her direction. There she was, with her head lowered. The girl still looked like a broken doll. And the voice she used was still shaking, but now calmer and softer than a while ago.

He didn't know why but the famed beauty's unusually fragile appearance made his anger go away... a bit.

When she met his eyes, she was no longer crying. In fact, she had already wiped her tear-stained face, of course, using his polo, and without exposing her hands.

”...Mr. Driver, bring us to Velvet City.”

”Velvet City? That's quite far!” exclaimed the amiable old driver. ”I thought you need treatment urgently. Your boyfriend asked me to bring you two to the nearest hospital.”

'...Who's that boyfriend? This old dude sure knows how to assume things. And I actually plan to tour the whole city around by changing from taxi to train to any public transport.'

He saw Wendy shook her head while looking at him. It seemed the girl finally regained clarity and was once again properly using her brain. Honestly, he quite admired her because he saw how lost she was just now and understood how hard it would be to recover.

”...We have money, don't worry.” The girl slowly and softly said before pausing.

Chris almost blurted out that only he has money, but fortunately he managed to force down the words to his throat.

Wendy seemed to be lost in thought as her brows were furrowed. She eyed Chris meaningfully then said using her slightly cracking voice, ”Sir, just help us. The truth is, my parents came to us, wanting to part me from my boyfriend. I cried so hard because I can't bear to. I also impulsively punched the wall so my hand is now bleeding.”

”My parents didn't care though, and just wanted to separate me from him. Because of this, I became very broken-hearted, and then I just found myself running away with him.”

”Of course, he's quite a nice boyfriend so he lent me his clothes to stop my hand from bleeding.”

Chris was stumped for words at Wendy's ridiculous and hastily made up story. He was only brought back to reality when he saw her pleading eyes. He didn't know if it was due to her sudden fear of being captured by the police or what, but since he remembered that another host would intercept them in a minute, he gritted his teeth and ride along with her request.

”Drive us to Velvet City,” he said before telling the devilish thing.

'...Mask our location so they won't know where we'll be going next. If you do so, I'll be nicer to you and reconsider doing the quest. Don't complain or else....'

The system AI attached to Chris felt helpless toward his threat because it was really afraid that Chris wouldn't be its host. Unlike other immoral AIs, it just had suffered from its previous host's stupidity. Due to the lack of Pleasure Points, it could not bounce to another person, its only choice was to make Chris its hosts. If ain't for this, it would have long abandoned Chris and enticed another desperate or heartbroken individual.

This was good for Chris though. Despite having suffered from heartbreak, he was not so vulnerable to succumb to a questionable being. Also, because he realized its desperation for the past two weeks, he knew it would complain, but it wouldn't refuse.

Hours passed and after braving the heavy traffic, they finally reached Velvet City. The good news was, the other host didn't manage to locate and chase after them.