"Screech!!"
The tires frantically scraped against the asphalt, leaving two several-meter-long skid marks on the ground, before the red sports car finally came to a complete stop.
Su Xin slowly walked over and finally saw the situation in the sports car.
It was a two-door convertible sports car.
In the driver's seat sat a young woman wearing oversized sunglasses, her expression cold and aloof. Although half of her face was covered by the sunglasses, from her fair and delicate skin and exquisite profile, one could discern she should be a pampered wealthy young woman, likely of superior beauty.
She was a cool and elegant diva.
With that label in mind, Su Xin's face lit up with a radiant smile, and he blurted out, "Hello, diva... cough! Miss, could you give me a ride? Just to a place in town where I can catch a cab."
"... "
The diva glanced at him.
Su Xin blinked, displaying an awkward yet polite smile, his gaze full of sixteen-year-old boyish innocence.
Fortunately, the diva seemed unperturbed by Su Xin's choice of words, and she casually replied,
"Get in."
"Great, thanks a lot."
Su Xin quickly circled to the other side from the rear of the car, opened the door, and sat in the passenger seat.
"Hmm?"
While fastening the seatbelt, he sniffed slightly but ended up frowning.
Before he could say anything, the cool diva lightly stepped on the gas, driving the car smoothly to increase speed.
Su Xin sat up straight, trying to keep his torso away from the backrest, loosened the clothes tightly clinging to his body because of being soaked, and finally found the time to look at his phone.
Luckily, his phone was quite expensive with excellent waterproof features, which hadn't malfunctioned at all after being splashed by seawater just now.
However, to avoid seeming rude, Su Xin didn't focus on his phone, opting to open the map app while chatting with the diva with a smile.
"Miss, your car looks so cool. Is it called Feiteng? I heard the starting price for sports cars from this brand is at least five hundred thousand?"
"...Yes."
"By the way, I'm all wet, might dampen the seat, but don't worry, I'll cover any damages."
"No need."
"Really, Miss, you're kindly giving me a ride, if I wet your ride, or even damage some internal circuitry of the seat due to short-circuiting, I'd feel guilty. Rest assured, I'll cover any compensation needed."
"No need, it won't get damaged that easily."
"Then, once back, I'll treat you to a meal to thank you for helping me."
The diva held the steering wheel with one hand, a particularly stylish one-handed driving gesture. She turned to glance at Su Xin, chuckled softly, then quickly refocused ahead, and replied indifferently,
"Learning to flirt at such a young age?"
Su Xin waved with a smile, "Miss, don't misunderstand, I just don't want to stand by while someone who helped me commits suicide."
Under the sunglasses, the diva's eyes quivered for a moment, was silent for a bit, then asked,
"What do you mean by that?"
Su Xin smiled but didn't answer, instead asked, "You've been drinking, right? Drunk driving is illegal, dangerous for yourself and others."
"You think I'm suicidal just because of that?"
"Of course not."
Su Xin pointed to the central control screen,
"Your navigation destination is the viewing platform. I've checked; it's not a popular spot, usually not crowded, and it's past six, getting dark, even fewer people at this time. A beautiful lady like you going there alone is either for some shady deal or you're upset."
"Don't say it's for unwinding; at this time, a gorgeous lady like you driving a luxury car to such a secluded place is akin to being upset."
"Plus, you had alcohol, it easily reminds people of those pure wealthy ladies in TV dramas who get impulsive after a breakup."
"Of course, this is all my guess."
Upon hearing the term 'pure wealthy lady', the diva chuckled softly,
"Judging by your age, you must be in high school, right? Your reasoning seems logical, but at least eighty percent is guesswork. Have you watched too many detective anime?"
She said anime instead of TV or movies, simply mocking Su Xin for being young and watching childish stuff.
—To many, anime is just perceived as naive works for teenagers.
Su Xin detected the subtext behind her words, but didn't refute, just smiled lightly,
"True, I've watched some, but that's not important. Just tell me if I'm right or not?"
"Maybe I'm off to make some shady deal—selling arms or a spy exchange. Aren't you afraid you're boarding a pirate ship, and might not make it out alive later?"
"With you being so beautiful, surely you're not a bad person."
"Haha! Little guy, you have quite a sweet mouth; you'll surely be a charming rogue someday."
The diva laughed a few times, her mood notably improved, but shortly after seemed lost in thought, becoming silent again.
Watching the steadily declining speed, Su Xin secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
The reason for his speculation wasn't just the reasons he mentioned, but also the prompt he just heard in his mind—
"Ding! Obtained 50 karma points!"
This notice appeared when he insisted on compensating for the damp seat just now.
Logically, he hadn't helped the other party, just insisted on making it up to them, but somehow earned a reward of 50 karma points.
Even though it's his first time getting a karma point reward, he could surmise the amount wasn't small, at least not a level achieved from minor deeds like helping an old lady cross the street.
Otherwise, upgrading the supernatural ability would be too easy.
Combining the fact that she'd been drinking, heading alone to the viewing platform at dusk, with her apparent bad mood, he guessed she was likely considering suicide.
One should know, suicide is often a spur-of-the-moment impulse; once delayed for some reason, they might abandon the thought.
This fit the situation that earned him karma points unexpectedly.
Perhaps, precisely because Su Xin boarded her car and insisted on compensating, it inadvertently caused her to temporarily abandon the idea of suicide.
By the time she considers suicide again, she likely won't have the courage.
In a way, it counts as indirectly saving a life.
Thus, the sudden reward of so many karma points made sense.
"Seems like gaining karma points is even simpler than I imagined, unintended actions indirectly helping others can yield karma points too; this way, upgrading supernatural abilities isn't as difficult as I thought."
"Maybe soon, Concealment Prayer will level up, and at that point, some current drawbacks might be remedied."
Su Xin mused internally.
Initially out of ignorance and fearlessness, he cavalierly began testing the newly awakened supernatural ability, but upon realizing its possible risks, he now hesitated.
If it can be upgraded, that would be ideal.
At this moment, Su Xin suddenly felt a chill rising from the soles of his feet, unable to help shivering.