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It was clear that Annie wasn't joking.
At this moment, she wasn't in the mood for jokes at all.
Since Annie was indeed in a bad mood today and needed comforting, Kevin didn't tactlessly suggest changing locations.
Anyway, it was just drinking, and Kevin didn't think anything unexpected would happen.
Without greeting Ashley, Kevin directly took Annie away from the Faith Expo venue and drove to his home.
Back home, Annie sat on the sofa, and Kevin thoughtfully took out a chilled can of beer from the fridge and placed it in front of her.
Then he watched Annie pick up the beer, forcefully crush the pull tab, and gulp it down.
In the blink of an eye, one can was already empty.
A Supe with a high tolerance!
Kevin watched in astonishment as Annie emptied one can, then another, and as she reached for the third, he quickly stepped forward to stop her.
Even a Supe shouldn't drink beer like water.
She needed to slow down.
"Annie, Annie! Stop for a moment, can you tell me what's wrong? Did you go home?"
Kevin asked Annie.
Annie finally stopped drinking, smiled, and replied:
"No, but I saw her at the airport, my mom."
Saying that, she tilted her head back and drank again, though this time her pace was slower, just sipping it.
After drinking half, before Kevin could ask, Annie started talking to herself:
"She was supposed to come to the Faith Expo I was participating in today, which is why I met her at the airport… Of course, none of that matters…
"Anyway, I asked her about that Compound V. Do you think she knew about it?"
Annie turned to ask Kevin.
Kevin remained silent.
From Annie's behavior, the answer was quite obvious.
Annie gave a self-mocking smile:
"She knew. She always knew. Vought didn't even give her money, just some nursing fees and injection subsidies, and she injected me with that thing.
"Kevin, do you know? Ever since I showed my Supe abilities when I was little, she told me I was chosen, chosen by God, that my existence was a miracle.
"Every morning at six, I had to get up and run, practice dancing, practice Taekwondo, pretend to interview in front of a mirror, all dreaming that one day I could join Vought and become the shining star she talked about.
"But now…"
When Annie got to this point, she finally couldn't hold back her tears, sobbing:
"I just realized that wasn't my dream at all, it was hers! I actually never knew what kind of person I wanted to be, or what I wanted to do!"
After she finished speaking, she once again chugged the beer in her hand, then fiercely crumpled the can into a metal ball and threw it on the floor.
Kevin still didn't speak.
As mentioned before, he wasn't good at comforting people, nor did he know how to persuade a crying girl.
He could only choose to be a listener, listening to the girl beside him complain, listening to her pour out the grievances in her heart.
Kevin had thought Annie would react strongly when the Compound V matter was exposed.
But he hadn't expected Annie's reaction to be so extreme.
However, this was not something difficult to understand.
Unlike the Starlight who had gone through a lot in the original story, the current Starlight was well-protected by Kevin and hadn't encountered the things she did in the original work.
She didn't have to be subjected to unspoken rules, nor was she forced to wear revealing clothes she disliked.
Normally, she could fight criminals as she wished, and if she encountered any grievances, she could confide in Kevin, her colleague and senior.
Perhaps from Starlight's perspective, she had just joined a not-so-great big company.
Other than that, she hadn't experienced any setbacks.
For such an Annie, once she encountered something that could overturn her worldview, the blow she suffered would naturally be fatal.
Without training her stress resilience, the final result would be like this.
Perhaps this was his fault?
Kevin thought.
But it could also be the fault of this world.
A messed-up world.
Annie said a lot. She talked about her past, how much she loved her father when she was little, and how sad she was after her father left.
Then she said she only now knew that her father didn't leave because he ran out of money, but simply couldn't accept her mother's deception towards Annie.
But Annie could no longer see her father now, because she had no idea where he was.
Annie then went on to talk about how hard she tried to become a hero. Although she didn't get into Godolkin University, Annie really worked very hard.
So hard that she was covered in injuries.
Yet in the end, everything was just her mother's deception.
Annie talked on and on. Kevin drank with her, listening to her complaints, and empty beer cans piled up around them.
Seeing that the floor was about to turn into a small garbage mountain, Kevin was about to get up and clean when he heard Annie suddenly call his name:
"Kevin…"
"Hmm?"
"Stay with me…"
"Uh!?"
Kevin had just turned his head when he heard Annie say something slightly ambiguous, and before he could figure out what it meant.
The next moment, a breath heavy with the smell of alcohol directly pressed against Kevin.
Kevin: "!!!"
To be a beast, or worse than a beast…
This was not a multiple-choice question.
…
The lingering glow of the setting sun shone through the window onto the bed in Kevin's apartment.
The dim yellow light fell on Kevin's body and also on Annie's body by the bed.
Kevin leaned on the bed, arms crossed, contemplating life.
He, who never smoked, now desperately wanted a cigarette to calm himself down.
He truly never thought he would leave the ranks of bachelors so early, betraying his vast number of single compatriots.
He also never expected his first time to be like this.
Though it wasn't bad…
Also… Starlight's eyes really glowed…
And what surprised Kevin wasn't just that.
"…You gave me four skill points just for sleeping with Annie, is there something wrong with this skill tree?"
Kevin looked at the four extra skill points in the skill tree, speechless.
To think he worked himself to death saving a plane, only to get twelve skill points in the end.
Yet, just by spending a little time with Annie, he directly got four?!
So if he hooked up with a few more original female characters, like Maeve or Kimiko, wouldn't that catch up to the number of skill points he got from saving the plane?
Good heavens, a playboy who keeps a 'fish pond' is also a playboy, right?
Bah!
This skill tree of yours really has some issues!
However, the four newly added skill points, plus the twelve accumulated skill points from before, were just enough to upgrade a Level 4 skill.
Kevin glanced at Annie, who was sleeping soundly beside him, smelling of alcohol, and without much hesitation, chose to upgrade [Supe Physique] to LV5.
After careful consideration, Kevin still felt that prioritizing defensive and life-saving skills was better than offensive ones.
As the saying goes, you only have output if you survive. If you're taken out before you even get to unleash your output, your high attack power is useless.
So, prioritize defense, then offense, and then other skill points.
Kevin made such a plan.
After allocating the skill points, Kevin clicked confirm, anticipating what kind of defense and recovery LV5 Physique would bring him.
But what Kevin never expected was that as soon as he clicked confirm, within a second, a violent pain originating from his heart began to spread to every corner of his body.
"Holy crap!!"
The intense pain made him cry out, unable to help but fall off the bed, shouting a classic national essence.
You @#￥@#￥ skill tree!
It didn't hurt when I upgraded my physique last time, why does it hurt so much this time!!
Damn, it's killing me!!!
At this moment, Kevin experienced for the first time what it meant to feel unbearable pain.
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