,The next day, during a lull in the chaos of the lunch rush, Eli was elbow-deep in dishwater when one of his coworkers, poked her head into the back kitchen.
"Hey, Eli. Manager says the trash is piling up again. Can you take it out?"
Eli sighed and wiped his hands on his already soaked apron. "Yeah, I got it."
He carried the heavy black bags out the back door, the old and rusting hinges making noise as it creaked open. The alley behind the Golden Wok was damp and smelled like a mix of oil, rot, and something sour. Steam from nearby vents provided a sort of spooky atmosphere.
Eli threw the bags into the dumpster with a grunt. He wiped his brow, about to head back in—
When a system panel appeared right before his eyes
Task
[An old man is going through a difficult time right now. Assist him, you can find him in the easterview residential district, wearing a yellow cap and a brown leather jacket.
Reward: 5000 yuan
Punishment: -2000 yuan from balance
Time limit: find him within 2 hours]
Eli's stomach dropped, Easterview was at least 45 minutes away by car from the Golden wok. There was no way he could go and come back without mr Han noticing
He stared at the screen, frozen.
A few seconds later, the backdoor to the restaurant opened
"Eli !" mr Han voice rang out through the alley,
"You are just standing around, You better get back to work or else it will be your last day working here." Mr Han said, visibly annoyed.
Eli did not know what to do.
He thought to himself" the old man may be in some trouble, and I need the reward from the system to keep on leveling up."
But then again he really needed the job. Although the system is rewarding him with 10,000 yuan a day he still does not have enough money for his mother's surgery and besides his ambitions are large and 10,000 a day is not able to cover it.
After thinking about it Eli sighed and decided to ignore the task and go back to work.
During his shift Eli could only think about the old man "what if he was in some kind of trouble and I could save him?, what if something happened to him." questions like this kept on playing in his head over and over again.
After his shift was over,he stepped into the streets of Dragon City then the system panel appeared in front of Eli.
[Task failed 2000 yuan has been deducted from your balance and you lose 20% EXP]
Seeing the panel,Eli barely cared about the fact that he failed the task and could only think about the old man and what would happen to him.
Eli shoved his hands into his pockets and began the long walk home. Since getting the system Eli has always felt richer but today he felt something different something he always felt before the system and that was powerlessness.
Eli made a quick decision in his heart and decided to look for the man, so the next moment Eli hailed a taxi.
Not to long after he got to Easterview residential district. Easterview is a district in which most of its residents are part of the working class population, so the people here are not really wealthy.
After he got of the taxi. Eli noticed the old bricked buildings and the fading paints on the road.The first thing Eli decided to do was to ask around the neighbourhood
Eli walked up to a shopkeeper near the park. "Excuse me," he said, "Have you seen an older man around here? Yellow cap, brown leather jacket?"
The vendor gave him a sharp look "Are you talking about old Gao?"
"Maybe, I don't know " Eli replied
"Yeah sounds like him. I saw him this morning and as always he was feeding the pigeons"
"Do you know where he his now?" Eli asked
"I don't know. He suddenly stood up and left around 10:00 am" the shopkeeper replied
"Poor guy, his health started to fail him when he was approaching his sixties, and since he was not sixty two he was unable to recieve his pension and since he doesn't have kids he had to spend his life savings on medical treatment, but since he could not pay his mortgage his house got taking from him"
After listening to the shopkeepers word Eli's heart sank turns out that in life even when your life seems hard someone in the world his probably going through much was.
After thanking the shopkeeper Eli went around asking other people and soon after he came across a middle-aged lady walking her dog., so he asked her about old Gao.
"oh old Gao collapsed in the middle of the street around noon, he was rushed to the hospital " the lady said
"Sorry but do you knowwhich hospital?" Eli asked
"Easterview medical hospital, I believe " the woman replied
" thanks" Eli said
Eli hailed a taxi and rushed straight to the hospital and after speaking to the lady at the reception he found out that Old Gao had dies of blood clot and if he was brought a ten minutes earlier he could have being saved.
Eli stood there frozen with the words "ten minutes sooner" playing over and over again in his head
"Sir are you OK?" The nurse asked with worry visible on her face
" yeah I am alright I just need to take a breath" Eli replied as he sat on the cold plastic chair.
Eli buried his face in his palm "I could have saved him" Eli whispered to himself overand over again.
The system warned him. Even gave him a time limit, yet he ignored it, for a job that did nor matter to him at all And someone passed away because of him.
" I am sorry Old Gao, I failed you." Eli whispered with tears slowly flowing down his face.
"If the system picks someone again," he muttered to himself, "I won't fail them. No matter what it costs." Eli promised himself with determination in his eyes.
Eli stood up and walked out the hospital knowing that there was nothing he could do now.
The guilt wouldn't fade easily. But maybe, one day, he could turn it into something that mattered.