178 Nightfall 3 (1/2)

With his own experiences and her sample, sometimes it was just so hard to believe that he could and would ever try to love, or even just like, another girl.

To be honest, only the relationship between his parents was keeping him from thinking that the idea of two people attracted to each other ending up happy together was a ridiculous thing.

However, deep within him, there was a doubt of whether the same happiness would ever come to him. Especially now that he was regrettably tied to a malicious being.

Nonetheless, he recognized that it could happen. He was just not sure if he himself would ever try to be deeply attached to someone one more time.

The first person he loved died.

What if he tries for the second time around, only for that individual to die too, this time due to the system or its other hosts?

'Well, at least she's luckier than me. She can do a search because the one she's looking for is still alive. And according to her, that person is very strong and resourceful. At least more than her when she's still at the lower levels.'

He cooled his head under the running water of the shower. With the help of the coldness continuously running down his body, his mind cleared, enabling him to process everything he heard earlier from Sofony.

He remembered what kind of woman was going toe to toe with Sofony in the business world, the person that had been allowed to stay in her position all these years by his co-host despite perfectly having the ability to just kill or dethrone her.

Ruthless. But very capable. An entertaining enemy. But only for Sofony.

At the end of it, Chris concluded that he had to do something if he didn't want an acquaintance to die a stupid death just because the Silver's princess wanted to be at the sidelines to watch the imminent happenstances.

He wryly smiled, 'I'm sure Sofony will not truly refuse to move if it's to ensure the survival of her moneybag. Surely, she won't allow someone under her protection to die.'

'... It's just that... I'm nearby....'

After this thought crossed his mind, he couldn't help the profanity that came out of his mouth.

'F*ck my life!'

Chris finished the quick shower since all he needed was to fully awaken his mind before heading out. After that, he put on some clothes. He did everything within 3 minutes.

While pocketing his car keys, he hoped that he was just worrying over nothing. That the attacks wouldn't be arranged today...

'Let's just hope that annoying woman saw the death threat, got frightened, and called back her bodyguards for protection.'

...

Having hacking as a life skill was definitely a very good thing. It could not only help him save points, it, of course, allow him to unearth histories and accounts normally impossible for a normal computer user to retrieve or discover.

The feeling of finding out carefully hidden secrets of others or altering system or security features to accomplish a goal that differs from the original purpose of the program was just very fantastic. It was like everything could be controlled with a mere tap of his fingers.

Of course, sometimes one would feel bad, angry or horrified for discovering stuff not easily digestible by the brain.

He experienced this when he first hacked into a politician's computer and saw the many records and even pictures of people trafficked into Dawson's mafia for prostitution and organ mining. It was indescribably awful learning that this kind of unspeakable thing happened under the instruction of a reputable lawmaker respected by the masses. He even felt betrayed. However, it was also because of cases like this that he managed to toughen up his heart within the past years.

He learned to be ruthless too. But only to demons in human skins. And only to those his powers could impose judgments too. After all, no matter how good he was in manipulating data and everything in the virtual world, he was still only one individual. Has a limit. Has moral values restricting him. And was on the weaker side of the spectrum, especially if pitted against people like Sofony.

'Sadly, every higher-level host can match me in this. Or simply overpower me with their AIs.'

'Still, it's good that I obtained this skill after I leveled up to 3, appearing after the Cloning skill that is still quite useless for me. It's really a point-saver.'

The truth was he was already quite proficient in it even before the system included this to his rewards. Since that time, he had already upped his intelligence to more than 50, he deemed it a waste to not learn stuff that could earn him money fast and get him to easily completes the mission he could select. And then, the moment he reached level 3, as if to compensate him, it instantly appeared as his third Level S skill. Acting and Mind Control were the two others.

'... Sofony said all hosts obtain it at Level 3, something about every Official, and, as it turned out to be, Half Host receiving one life skill and one shady skill per level up...'

He then ignored the little liar as he typed with one hand on the mini-keyboard connected to his phone, his left holding the steering wheel. Though he should be concerned about the need to split his attention, Chris felt more like thanking the gods that it was already past 1 pm. With lesser cars on the road, he didn't have to worry about being held back by traffic and could arrive at his destination without any delay.

'I really envy those who can teleport!'

'They don't even have to waste effort on walking if they don't feel like it!'

'They have the option to not do so. And I don't. Damn!'

It was five minutes later, in the middle of his incessant running towards the fifteenth floor of the condo building, when he heard its words. How he wished it just didn't reply to him...

'... Those hitmen sure are thorough huh? Disabling even the elevator. Did they consider the angle where she will manage to luckily run out of the unit? So they blocked her every possible escape route?'

”...”

For some reason, listening to the system's bullshitting was more draining than sprinting across the endless steps.

After an unknown amount of time which seemed like forever for him, he finally arrived at the real destination. Alessa Morgan's dwelling place in the capital that he hadn't ever visited before.

He panted heavily, his undershirt already so drenched. Perhaps, once he took it out and wrung it with his two hands, liters after liters of sweat would come out of it. What a sickening thought. It seemed once he goes back to his own house, he'd be taking another bath again, and it would be just a few hours after the last one. As he imagined it, he felt like collapsing and having a fever already.

Chris swiftly inputted the PIN which he didn't even have to hack or ask from the system to know. As guessed, the number combination was the same as what she used in her previous apartment. A fact that he very much welcomed at times like this.