"Nicole...?" David's voice was terribly hoarse, like broken glass grinding in his throat. His brain felt like it was experiencing an earthquake worse than the news reported.
After a brief moment of panic, Nicole didn't push Kelvin away. Instead, she leaned closer into his arms and looked at David with a chilling gaze.
"Since you saw it, I have nothing to hide. Let's break up," Nicole said, her voice terrifyingly calm.
"Why?!" David felt an invisible hand crushing his heart. "For five years... haven't I treated you well enough? I sleep four hours a day just to make money for you! Everything you wear, everything you use..."
"Enough! David, stop acting like a martyr!" Nicole interrupted sharply, a cruel smirk on her lips. "What can your pathetic little money do? Do you think buying cheap clothes and eating at cheap restaurants is love? Look at yourself! You reek of poverty! You're just a useless loser!"
Her words were like poisoned daggers, stabbing right into his soul.
"Pfft—" Kelvin suddenly burst into laughter. He looked at David like a pathetic clown. "Hear that, poor boy? I bought her a ten-thousand-dollar bag today just for fun. A sewer rat like you can't make that in a year. Get lost before you dirty my eyes."
Snap. The last string of reason in David's mind broke.
All his grievances, exhaustion, and humiliation instantly turned into monstrous rage. David roared, threw the food bag at Kelvin's face, and lunged forward like a mad beast, punching Kelvin hard on the jaw.
"You have no right to insult me!"
Kelvin clearly didn't expect the "bug" to fight back. He wiped the blood from his mouth, his eyes turning vicious. "You're dead."
Kelvin grabbed David by the collar and slammed his heavy fist into David's stomach. David instantly curled up in agony. But Kelvin didn't stop. Punch after punch. The difference in strength turned it into a one-sided slaughter.
Soon, David collapsed in the hallway, covered in blood, his vision blurring. His ribs felt broken.
Kelvin squatted down, stepping heavily on David's fingers. He leaned in and whispered coldly, "Believe it or not... even if I beat you to death right here, I'll walk away clean. My uncle is the Police Commissioner. Killing you is like crushing an ant."
Despite his heavy injuries, David's stubborn blood still boiled. He coughed up bloody spit, glaring at Kelvin like a demon. "Do it then... cough... kill me if you dare, trash!"
Kelvin paused, then smiled crazily. He stood up, raising his right fist high, aiming straight for David's temple. A fatal blow.
David looked at the falling fist.
Just as the deadly fist was inches away from David's face—
RUMBLE!!!
A terrifying roar erupted from deep underground. But this time, David noticed something horrifying. It wasn't just the marble floor cracking. In his blurring vision, the world itself began to glitch.
The crystal wall lamps didn't just shatter; they dissolved into cascades of glowing green digital fragments. Kelvin's falling fist seemed to slow down, trailing lines of corrupt code.
The hotel shrieked as its physical parameters completely failed. The reality David knew was being forcefully overwritten.
With a deafening crash, the floor completely collapsed. Endless darkness instantly swallowed everything, burying the three of them under tons of digital rubble and concrete.
David lost consciousness, plunging straight into the Abyss.