The haunting specter of the blood party at the Richardson estate still clung to Clara's mind. The metallic tang of blood, the gut-wrenching screams, and especially the image of Jonathan Goldsmith calmly sipping wine amidst that hellish scene—it was all an unerasable burn. He wasn't human; he was a devil. And she was living under that devil's roof.
The sheer horror had solidified into fierce indignation and an unyielding resolve. The mission to kill Jonathan was no longer just a path home and 100 billion USD. It was about eliminating a grave danger, about avenging the lives brutally lost at his hands.
But how could she kill him? Clara felt small and utterly alone within the labyrinthine Goldsmiths mansion. In a moment of desperation, a thought sparked in her mind: the System. The very entity that had brought her here, given her this task. Could it provide more information? Offer some kind of assistance?
Clara focused her mind, trying to call upon the System, just as she had when it first appeared.
A transparent, translucent screen gradually materialized before her, emitting a cold light. It was still the same minimalist, impassive interface.
[Welcome, Player.][Primary Mission: Assassinate Jonathan Goldsmiths.][Reward upon mission completion: Safe return to the real world + 100,000,000,000 USD.][Time Limit: Undetermined. Mission will conclude upon target elimination or player demise.]
Clara spoke urgently, her voice trembling, "System! Can you give me more information? About Jonathan? About the Goldsmiths family? About those creatures?"
The System remained silent for a few seconds. Then, new text appeared, not directly answering her questions.
[Information unrelated to the primary mission will not be provided.]
"Unrelated?" Clara felt a surge of fury. "Those things are directly related to killing him! He created them! He's protected by them! How can I assassinate him if I understand nothing about him or his world?"
The screen remained silent. Then the repeated text reappeared.
[Primary Mission: Assassinate Jonathan Goldsmiths.][Information unrelated to the primary mission will not be provided.]
Clara gritted her teeth. "You... you just want me to kill him? You don't care what the Goldsmiths family is doing? You don't care about those horrifying things?"
The System remained cold and emotionless.
[Mission Objective: Eliminate Jonathan Goldsmiths.][Mission Outcome: Player safely returns to the real world and receives reward.]
Nothing more, nothing less. The System was only concerned with the target "Jonathan Goldsmiths" being crossed off its list. It didn't care about the Goldsmiths family, didn't care about "the Project," didn't care about the abominable creatures or the fate of this world. Her mission, in the System's eyes, was simply a personal "game" of assassination.
This truth struck Clara, cold and brutal. She was completely alone. There was no help from the "game creator." She had to learn for herself, deal with it herself, and find her own way to survive.
She stared at the faint System screen, a wave of loneliness and powerlessness washing over her. Then, with a decisive motion, she swiped her hand through the air. The screen vanished as if it had never existed.
Lying alone on the vast bed, Clara pulled at her hair, thinking wildly. The System only said to kill Jonathan. Just assassinate him. It didn't demand the overthrow of the Goldsmiths family, didn't demand the stopping of "the Project." The most minimalistic objective was his death. So she only needed to focus on that. The Goldsmiths family's affairs... could they be temporarily overlooked? No, not exactly overlooked, but rather considered obstacles on her path to reaching Jonathan.
But even that minimalistic objective—how incredibly difficult was it?
Clara began listing the challenges. Jonathan...
He had no fixed schedule. His routine was erratic; he appeared and disappeared suddenly. He didn't sleep in the same room as her. His bedroom was separate, likely in the heavily guarded East Wing. He was strictly guarded. Bodyguards always accompanied him, even within the mansion. His diet seemed controlled. He ate elegantly, but was the food thoroughly checked? Poisoning would be a difficult option. He seemed strong and agile, even if only glimpsed. His calm presence amidst the monsters showed he was no weakling. Direct confrontation? Almost impossible. He was vigilant. He already knew (or highly suspected) of her intrusion. He was watching her.
Jonathan was like a ghost surrounded by layers of defense, with no predictable movements, no obvious weaknesses. How could she approach such a target for assassination?
Clara felt as though she stood before a towering, slippery, and heavily guarded mountain. The mission was simply to "climb to the summit and take down the target," but there was no map, no tools, and the one on the summit knew she was coming.
The truth about the System and the difficulty of the mission made Clara feel more isolated than ever. She couldn't trust anyone. No one could help. She could only rely on herself, on the intelligence, cunning, and survival instincts honed from her life as Thanh Lam.
The objective was clear: Kill Jonathan Goldsmiths. The path to achieve it: Obscure, dangerous, almost impossible.
But behind the fleeting fear and helplessness was an iron will. She couldn't return to her old life. She couldn't let Jonathan continue his horrifying crimes. She had to succeed.
Clara looked out the window. Moonlight illuminated the Goldsmiths mansion, its exterior still magnificent, but within lay a bottomless abyss.
The real battle had just begun—a solitary war between a girl and an entire shadowy empire protected by a being who was not human.