Or at least that would have been his reaction if this was a normal moment… but nothing about this was normal.
"ARE YOU KIDDING ME RIGHT NOW?!"
Phei's shout bounced around inside the inflatable house. His voice cracked like he was stuck between pure anger and pure panic.
He had just killed himself. He actually stepped off a building. And then the next thing he knew, he survived and started seeing system screens in his head?
But of course, he did.
He had been so desperate to escape real life that his mind would obviously create some wild fantasy to protect him. That was how it always worked in the web novels he read whenever he got a tiny bit of peace.
In those stories, the main characters got systems and cheat abilities from the dumbest reasons ever.
He once read about a guy who slipped on a banana peel and boom—system unlocked—and he also somehow got a huge, crazy dick. Like nine inches of main-character energy.
So why not him? If someone got a system from a banana peel, then doing it after an actual suicide jump made it look almost fair.
If the other dude got a system and a giant nine-inch thing just from slipping, then Phei might as well turn into a dragon after falling off a building.
It sounded balanced.
Too bad he didn't believe it.
Which made no sense, since he had literally healed from horrible pain and actually touched the floating blue screens. But trauma and logic never lived well together in his brain.
"Fine," Phei said, his voice sharp and shaky. "Let's go all the way with this delusion. System, or whatever you are… what do you mean by 'conquer my high school and females of my family'?"
Who was he kidding. He knew exactly what his imagination was trying to do.
He had read so many adult stories in his free time. He always imagined himself as one of those super powerful guys with good looks and ridiculous stamina.
His favorite book lately was something like "Reborn as the Demon King's Heir."
The dude got hit by a truck, woke up with a system, and then built a group of insanely beautiful women who all wanted him like he was the last elevator out of hell.
Phei knew what the system meant.
He just didn't want to accept it.
[CLARIFICATION REQUESTED. DISPLAYING QUEST DETAILS…]
[MAIN QUEST:CONQUER YOUR HIGHSCHOOL BELLEs… AUNT, COUSINS AND HOT RUDE NEIGHBOR!
[OBJECTIVE:To awaken abilities, open cheat codes, and unlock full system functions, HOST must finish at least 10% of the Main Quest.]
[PARAMETERS:Successfully conquer at least ONE of the following targets:]
[Step-family females (Victoria, Delilah, Sienna)
Hot rude neighbor, Academy Belles (minimum 3)]
[IN SIMPLE TERMS FOR SLOW PEOPLE: FUCK ONE OF THOSE TARGETS.]
[PROGRESS: 0%]
The laugh that came out of Phei hurt. It was loud, messy, and sounded like he was losing it.
"Fuck one of them?" He was bending over now, laughing like a maniac. "You want me to—oh my god—you want me to FUCK those people?"
Each person on that list had made his life hell. Doing that would feel like lying down with the same demons who carried out his torture every single day.
Victoria, who made him refold towels for four hours. Delilah, who'd recently told Danton to use Phei as paintball target practice. Sienna, who broke his laptop like it was nothing. Or maybe one of the academy belles like Sierra, who forced him to do her essays and still spread rumors about him.
Phei yelled at the blue screen, voice cracking like he was arguing with a ghost.
"If not for revenge, there's literally no way I'd ever do that!" Phei yelled to the screen like it personally offended his ancestors. "Never! I'd rather—"
He stopped.
Hold up.
He was… forgetting something? Something big?
What was it again?
Phei scratched his messy hair, his laugh dying halfway like someone unplugged it. A weird cold feeling slid down his spine, the kind that shows up only when things are about to go extremely not-okay.
"System," he said, super slow, like each word weighed something. "Uh… what happens if I can't finish the mission? Or… like, even do any part of it?"
The system answered right away, cheerful blue text popping up like it was announcing breakfast instead of doom.
FAILURE TO COMPLETE MINIMUM 10% OF MAIN QUEST WITHIN ONE WEEK WILL RESULT IN HOST DEATH.
Phei blinked two times like he didn't understand, then he just nodded a little.
"Huh. Figures," he said.
He was already trying to kill himself anyway, so honestly it made some messed-up sense. Still, wasn't this system kind of too cold? Giving him a huge punishment like that? One week to go seduce and fuck someone who basically hates his guts? That was…
He felt some weird freedom growing inside his chest. Maybe it was because he was alone inside this stupid bounce house, so he could curse however he wanted, and no one would beat him for it later.
"That's a pretty harsh—" he started, but the screen cut him instantly.
[CORRECTION:DEATH IS NOT A SYSTEM PUNISHMENT.]
Phei stopped moving.
HOST HAS REGRESSED ONE WEEK BACK IN TIME TO THE MOMENT OF SYSTEM BINDING.
FAILURE TO COMPLETE MINIMUM QUEST PARAMETERS WILL RESULT IN TIME-LOOP RESET.
HOST WILL RETURN TO THIS EXACT MOMENT, ONE WEEK PRIOR TO ORIGINAL SUICIDE ATTEMPT.
LOOP WILL CONTINUE UNTIL QUEST IS COMPLETED OR HOST ACHIEVES PERMANENT DEATH THROUGH ALTERNATIVE MEANS.
A cold shock rushed through Phei's whole body like someone poured ice water straight into his blood. He jumped from where he was lying and stared around with wide eyes.
"What?"
He didn't know how it was possible, but something was different. Something big.
He looked down at himself. His clothes.
These weren't the ones he wore when he jumped. Back then he had his usual school uniform, the old one he wore for years. Now he was in his "event clothes," the slightly better shirt and pants Melissa forced herself to buy for him whenever she had to show him outside.
Different clothes. Very different.
His hands trembled as he checked his pockets. He took out his phone, the cracked one that was already three generations old. The date on the lock screen made his breath hitched.
One week earlier.
And there was something else too. A kids' birthday event. For the Ashford family.
The Ashfords basically owned the whole Ashford Elite Academy. Actually, they owned like half of Paradise City. So of course they could host their youngest daughter's seventh birthday party right inside the school, and of course everyone in the community was invited.
Even a nobody like him.
And these clothes he was wearing right now… yeah, they were exactly the ones he wore at that event.