After I left Samita's room, I stared down the hallway. This building housed many layers of high society. I had thought that being among them would allow me to hunt a rich woman, but luck hadn't favored me. I had wasted my time following and studying the behavior of every woman here for nothing.
[You have refused the first mission]
[You have obtained 5 Resistance Points]
I returned to my own apartment.
The door closed behind me with a dull click. Silence. I glanced at the clock on the wall.
11:42 p.m.
The moment my eyes settled on the numbers, a strange heat surged through my body. It spread fast—curling deep in my stomach, turning into a restless, burning hunger. My breathing grew uneven. It wasn't normal desire. It was pressure.
[ Warning:
If your Life Points do not increase before the end of the day, you will lose control of your lust.
You will masturbate until death.]
My blood ran cold. I staggered back, sitting on the edge of the bed. My room was small, cramped, poor. I didn't have a single dollar, not even enough to step into a cheap brothel. And I had wasted time. Samita never came.
Maybe I wasn't attractive enough. Maybe even a perfect body wasn't enough. A bitter laugh escaped my lips. Maybe I really am trash.
Had I really believed that simply owning a handsome body would change everything? My hands trembled. If I was going to die… I wouldn't die alone in this room, unnoticed, forgotten. I stood up, grabbed my towel, and stepped into the hallway. Better to die in the street than rot here like nobody.
I stopped when I heard shouting. I knew whose voice it was. Mary. She was in her thirties, with a seductive body and a sharp tongue.
"You can't leave me halfway through this, Zeke. We agreed you'd come with me so we could tell my husband about us. He won't divorce me unless he sees that I'm really with another man. He won't believe that I'm sleeping with someone else while he enjoys a new girl every day."
I heard her pleading. The man with her looked to be in his mid-twenties. Hm, I hadn't expected her to like men younger than her.
"Mary, you didn't tell me your husband was Derek, the head of the Derek Commercial Group—the largest group in New York. He'll throw me in prison after this act. The ten million dollars you gave me won't save me if he wants to get rid of me. You need to find someone else. I'm sorry."
After he left her alone, I blinked twice. Was this an opportunity?
As I approached, I leaned closer, instinctively moving to kiss her, then stopped. This wasn't the life I wanted. But the red screen before my eyes was ticking. Twenty minutes. If I didn't act, I might die. No choice. This system wasn't planning my survival from the beginning.
From Mary's side, her thoughts were cold, calculated not weak, I could hear thought:
"I've always dreamed of being taken by my husband in public, she thought bitterly. If I can't have that… then I'll experience it with someone else."
Her gaze swept over me. "This man doesn't look bad. Acceptable. Suitable enough to betray my old husband with." She added with smirk.
That was the moment she let me take her hand. Not out of weakness, but because we both needed something.
I pressed a kiss to her lips, careful, deliberate. She responded willingly. No force, no coercion. My hands stayed on her waist, guiding her only to match her consent.
"I can do what you're asking for," I whispered. "I don't want your money. I want to help. You'll get what you want, and I'll survive until tomorrow."
"Untill tomorrow, is he crazy?"Mary thought. Her lips curved into a small smile, and she nodded.
We moved toward her apartment quietly, keeping aware of the corridor. The system countdown pressed in my mind: twenty minutes. Every second mattered.
Inside her apartment, I let her take the lead where she wanted. Our actions were mutual. The tension, the heat, and she wasn't afraid that we would be caught.
By half past two, we were laying side by side on the bed, this should be enough to keep me a live I closed my eyes.
[Congratulations, Player
You have obtained 100 Life Points. You now have 140 Life Points.]
[You have unlocked the Homecracker section. With each new home cracked, you will obtain 60 Life Points. The more you crack, the more your Life Points will increase.]
[You can exchange Life Points obtained from Homecracker sections for currency in the System Shop.]
"Yes, that's what I was waiting for," I thought, watching the system screens.
"Let me make something clear. I'm not a loyal man, and I don't like committing to a long-term relationship, so don't raise your expectations. But you caught my attention—I won't deny that. You deserve to be treated like a queen with devotion, someone not me."
I said as I placed a deliberate kiss on her lips, slow. Then I stood up, making sure her husband had left the door.
"Mr. Vikas, where can I find you? Again, " she asked.
I stopped at the door and winked. "Mary calls it a one-night stand and keeps going."
I closed the door gently, running my hand through my hair. "I'd survive but at what cost!!
When I returned to my room, I collapsed to the floor. It was terrifying—losing my life just because I hadn't had sex. This was unbelievable. I took a deep breath; this system was extremely dangerous, and I had to be careful.
I remembered the System Shop and the currency exchange in the Homecracker section.
[Each Life Point equals five thousand dollars. Do you want to exchange them?]
I pressed the System Shop button that appeared before me. Many things were locked—only the clothing section, a food store, and an apartment gallery were open.
To buy a fully furnished apartment, I needed one hundred thousand dollars. All I needed right now was to buy some luxury clothes. I noticed there was an open option—the Auction section. I clicked it, and there it was: a tavern up for sale. At first, I doubted it was real, but the price was reasonable. If I sold fifty Life Points, I could afford it.