Chapter 17 (1/2)

Vremya munched on a bag of potato chips while sitting on a couch, his legs stretched out, his feet resting on the coffee table in front of him. The holographic display was hovering in front of him, and he was watching a livestream of Smith Jr. and Tutor Golem 2000. “Money sure makes things easy,” Vremya said and sighed, marveling at how quickly Smith Jr. was growing. The user had been practicing knife techniques for a while, but one night after implementing Tutor Golem 2000, the user had mastered the knife techniques without a hitch.

A beeping sound drew Vremya’s attention, and he frowned. He switched out of the livestream app and located the red dot—a notification signal. It was on his messenger app. Who was messaging him at a time like this? The only person who had his contact information was Karta, and the stinky dog was next to him, still looking for suitable users for her system. Vremya pressed on the messenger app, and he saw a familiar face on the profile picture of the unknown number: Kosmos. She was the god of space, born at the same time as him. Together, they had slaughtered the creatures of darkness, carving out a section of light for themselves. Having experienced thousands of life-and-death experiences with her, Vremya could confidently say she was the one who knew him the best. Vremya raised his finger and pressed on a button.

[Are you sure you want to block this number?]

[Contact blocked.]

Even though she knew him the best, there was a problem. She was batshit insane. There was no way in hell Vremya was going to speak to her again, not if he valued his current peaceful life. Vremya exhaled, and Karta raised her head. “What’s wrong, old man?” the Labrador retriever asked. “Are you missing Sush Kal and Vodor already? It’s only been five minutes since they’ve left.”

“It’s nothing,” Vremya said, swiping his display, entering the livestream again. There was another beeping sound, and Vremya’s brow furrowed. Was it because he showed his face at the snack gods’ meeting? He didn’t have many friends though, so who was it this time? He swiped back to the messaging app, and his eye twitched upon seeing the profile picture. It was Kosmos again, calling from a different number.

[Are you sure you want to block this number?]

[Contact blocked.]

Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!

Constant ringing sounds came from Vremya’s display, and Karta turned her head to peek at Vremya’s screen. The old man’s hands were flashing, pressing and blocking, but no matter how fast he moved, the number of notifications kept increasing. Vremya’s eye twitched. “How did she even get my number?”

Karta coughed. “Uh….” The Labrador retriever gave Vremya what she thought was her cutest smile. “She contacted me and asked for your number.”

“And you gave it to her without asking me?”

“Well, no…,” Karta said, scratching her head. “I rejected her at first, but then she told me she’d buy the information for a hundred heaven-grade spirit stones, so what could I do? You know the state of my wallet; I had no choice!”

“You stinky dog,” Vremya said, veins bulging on his head amidst the constant beeping sounds. “I would’ve paid you two hundred heaven-grade spirit stones to keep your mouth shut!”

Karta’s jaw dropped open. “You should’ve told me that before I sold your information! Go back in time and stop me!”

“If I could go back, I would!” Vremya said. He snorted and directly shut off his personal computer, ending the relentless pinging sounds coming from the messenger app. He still had no idea why he couldn’t travel into the past. Even a Poiskle search didn’t bring up any results. As the only god who could time travel, he was the only one who could experience those kinds of problems.

There was another beeping sound, causing Vremya to twitch. He looked down, but his personal computer was off. Then he noticed a red dot on Karta’s screen. The Labrador retriever pressed on the messenger app, read the message, and gave Vremya a strange look.

“What?” the old man asked.

“How much are you willing to pay for me to keep my mouth shut about your address?” Karta swallowed her spit. “She’s offering two thousand heaven-grade spirit stones.”