The Impervious Courier

Chapter 3.

Cory has never felt this humiliated in his entire life. It was as though all eyes in this world were directed to him.

The crowd outside, who were mostly students from campus, were still filming. They had their cameras pointing solely at him.

There were some of them that were cursing at him.

Cory knew that standing there would cause even more trouble and pain. He started to walk away.

"What a fool he is!" He heard someone cursing at him.

"He was already lucky that someone like her would date him! How could he hurt her?!" Another person hurled blames at him.

This was not true. But Cory found no reason to answer any of them.

He kept on walking until he made a turn into an alleyway. A few distance away from him, there was his scooter.

He dragged his heavy feet, his heart also weighing him down. He couldn't clear his head from the cruel things that Sheiley had said to him.

She framed him because of a strange guy. He used to think that she was a different kind of girl. He didn't know that he was holding on to a lie all along.

He was trying to stay positive. After all, he had just cut ties with a gold digger.

He was walking towards his scooter as those ugly thoughts raced through his mind.

Suddenly, his vision started to blur out. He stopped in his tracks and shut his eyes. He shook his head softly to get a grip of himself.

Opening his eyes again, he resumed his pace and got to his scooter. Getting to the scooter, he reached to grab the helmet.

He felt dizzy and lost touch. He missed and fell down.

Earlier, he thought that he was strong enough to get over Sheiley quickly, but he was wrong.

He felt pain in his stomach and clutched it. He spat blood out. His head spinning. How much he loved her.

He also hadn't eaten before he came here. He has been running errands for customers.

The hunger, empty stomach, and pain converged to taunt him so ruthlessly.

He passed out.

[Ping! System loading.]

[10%... 12%... 27%... 45%... 63... 81%... 82%... 90%... 99%]

[Ping! System loaded.]

[Ping! Host found.]

[Ping! System acclimating.]

[Ping! System analyzing the host.]

[Analysis completed.]

[Host suitable.]

[Press YES to accept the system]

[System reception finalized]

[Pre-acquisition reward: $170,000,000,000,000,000,000,000]

Cory eyes slowly opened. His cheek was feeling cold. It was pressed against the cold floor.

He helped himself up and sat up. He looked around. His body felt light but agile. It was as though he had been charged up.

The pain in his stomach had vanished. His head was light, too. The heavy emotions weighing on his mind had been eased.

"What just happened?" He muttered, looking around. Perhaps he would see something.

"Was that a dream or what?" He quizzed.

"How can it be a dream? I didn't even lie down up to five minutes." He argued.

He realised that he was on the floor. He couldn't remain there arguing with himself. He got up.

"This hunger is making me see things. I should eat something." He dimissed, getting on his scooter.

He drove out of the alleyway.

As he drove off, he concentrated on the road. He had a place in mind. He would stop there first before he would return to his dorm.

He tried not to think about what had happened earlier with Sheiley. The thought still hurts.

He drove into a street by his left and kept going.

Suddenly, a virtual interface appeared in front of him. The manner at which it popped up, Cory almost lost his grip on the scooter.

"What the hell is this?" He brought the scooter to a halt.

There was a heading boldly written in the virtual interface.

[Modern Gem Collector]

[Gem collected 0/100]

[Instructions: Fulfill tasks to collect gems.]

[Hint: Each Gem contains a trait that nourishes the host. The more Gem collected, the more skills the host acquires.]

Cory read the words written in the virtual interface, yet he couldn't understand a word.

Then slowly, his mind digressed to what happened when he passed out. Something had appeared in his mind.

"Was it real? It wasn't a dream?" Cory gasped, not sure how to react to this.

Suddenly, the virtual interface melted into the air.

"Where did it go?" Cory was confused.

He was still wondering about this when a loud cry distracted him.

"What was that?" He muttered, looking around.

It sounded like someone crying for help.

It was a feminine cry, so he couldn't ignore it. He swerved the scooter in the direction of the voice. It was a tiny hideout between two tall buildings. Something that looked almost like an alleyway.

Without having a second thought, Cory drove into the hideout.

There were four men struggling with a young lady. When the men heard the revving sound of the scooter, they were distracted.

Cory parked the scooter by the wall and climbed down. He stepped into the open as all eyes fell on him.

Immediately he stepped into the open, the system interface popped up.

[Ping! Save the lady. Earn a Gem.]

"Huh?" Cory was stunned by that.

What does this even mean? Save which lady? He doesn't even know her. And how was he supposed to save her? These four men looked like proper thugs!!!

"Hey, kiddo, did you miss your way?" A man with big mustache called scornfully.

"There is no way here. Turn around and scram when you can still walk!" Another man threatened.

As these men threatened him, they were walking towards him.

Cory looked past the two men to the other two who were holding the lady. The lady looked very fragile and beautiful. They were manhandling her.

As the first two men advanced towards Cory, Cory didn't move. He didn't know why. He should be scared, but he wasn't. He couldn't explain where this gut came from.

"Why are you standing like a statue?" The mustache man raised his hand as he got to Cory.

"Should I slap you into the future before you come to your senses?!" The man was still speaking when he brought his hand down towards Cory's face.

Whoosh! Miss! Strike! Punch! Kick! Swerve!

It all happened in the blink of an eye, and the two burly men were now lying on the floor face down. Their faces were swollen, and blood from their body smeared half of their clothes.

Cory gasped at the sight. What had just happened? Did he do this to these two men? How? When? It felt like something snatched his body and carried the action out.

"Run!!!" A man screamed.

Cory was startled by the scream. The other two men who were holding the lady had left her, running away.

"Our boss will come for you!!!" Cory heard the men call as they scrambled off.

Suddenly, the lady burst out crying. Cory was caught off guard. He slowly walked to her.

"You are safe now." He assured her, gently touching her shoulder.

"You are an angel. You are my savior." The lady hugged him, crying.

Cory was not comfortable with the hug, but she was a lady in distress.

Suddenly the phone of the lady started to ring. She pulled away and answered.

"Daddy!!!" Sha cried into the speaker. "They hurt me." She got louder.

While the lady was crying and talking over the phone, the screeching sound of a car was heard in a distance.

"That's Daniel." The lady said, hanging the call.

She started to run off. Cory stood for a while. Then he decided to follow.