The notification on the screen wasn't just beautiful. It was the highest dopamine hit Rei had ever felt. Better than a legendary loot drop. Better than a server-first kill.
[ TRANSACTION COMPLETE ]
[ AMOUNT: -2,500 CREDITS ]
[ RECIPIENT: GILDED LOTUS GROUP (INTEREST PAYMENT) ]
[ STATUS: CLEARED ]
Rei leaned back in her gaming chair. The leather creaked.
I just speed-ran a month's worth of debt in twenty minutes, she realized. I didn't just survive. I broke the economy.
The black, sludge-like bar labeled [ DEBT ] in her HUD shuddered. It didn't disappear, the massive 500,000 principal was still there, looming like a raid boss, but the angry red timer counting down to [ LIQUIDATION ] vanished.
It was replaced by a new, calmer countdown:
[ NEXT PAYMENT DUE: 30 DAYS ]
"Efficiency," Rei whispered. She traced the words on the screen. The shame she expected to feel wasn't there. It had been replaced by the cold, calculating buzz of a gamer who just found a glitch in the map.
Nyx was sitting on the edge of the desk, legs crossed, examining her nails.
"You bought a month, Darling," Nyx noted, her voice dry. "You aren't safe. You are merely... solvent."
"I'll take solvent," Rei said.
She reached down and retrieved the Luv Pulse 3.
SLICK.
She placed the device on the desk. It wasn't a symbol of humiliation anymore. It was a tool. A pickaxe for mining crypto. It was gross, sure, sticky with her own fluids, but so was a mechanic's wrench after a shift.
I just made 25,000 bits by sitting in a chair and looking at a camera, Rei thought, wiping her hand on a tissue. Mom works eighty hours a week at the Velvet Lotus to make a fraction of that. The game is rigged. I just figured out how to mod it.
"Don't let the ROI go to your head," Nyx warned, dematerializing into a stream of pixels. "The principal isn't going to pay itself. Manage your cooldowns. Dealing with the 'Whale' burned a lot of mana."
PING. PING. PING.
Discordia notifications were blowing up on her second monitor.
[ MESSAGE FROM: RIKA_TAN ]
Rika: BRO.
Rika: REI.
Rika: [ IMAGE ATTACHMENT: Screen_cap_25k_bits.png ]
Rika: Did you just hypnotize a paypig?? That stare was VILE. I'm literally shaking. That was Oscar-worthy... and hot!
Rei cracked a smile. She typed back, her fingers flying across the mechanical keyboard. CLACK-CLACK-CLACK.
Rei: It's called method acting.
Rika: Method acting?? You looked like you were about to eat his soul through the 4k webcam.
Rika: The discord is going feral. They're already making fan art of the "stain." You're a genius. You didn't give them the goods, you sold them the idea of the goods. supply and demand baby!!
Rei: We need to update the donation goals.
Rika: Way ahead of you. I'm setting up a tiered sub list. "Gooner" tier to "Whale" tier. Get some rest, content queen. We ride at dawn.
Rei closed the chat.
Rika thinks it's a bit, Rei thought. She thinks I'm a mastermind content creator.
Rei looked at her reflection in the dark monitor. Her eyes still held a faint, amber afterglow from the [ PERSUASIVE EYE ] skill.
Maybe I am.
She stood up. Her legs felt heavy, muscles sore from the tension of the stream, but the weakness felt different now. It was the good sore. The "Gym Sore."
[ HEAT: 20% (COOLING) ]
[ SANITY: STABLE ]
She pulled on a clean hoodie, oversized, gray, functional armor, and unlocked her bedroom door.
The smell of miso soup wafted down the hallway.
Rei paused. It was a normal smell. A domestic smell. It fought against the lingering scent of ozone and arousal that seemed to follow Rei like a cloud.
She walked into the small living room.
Elena Locke was standing at the stove. She was still wearing her work trousers from the "cannery", the lie they both maintained, but she had swapped her blouse for an old t-shirt.
She looked tired. Bone deep tired. Her stats, if Rei bothered to scan her, would probably read [DURABILITY: CRITICAL].
"Mom?" Rei said. Her voice was steady.
Elena turned, surprised. A smile broke across her face, genuine and warm, crinkling the corners of her eyes.
"Rei! You're up early. I was just making some breakfast before I... crash."
"You're home," Rei said, stepping into the kitchen. She leaned against the doorframe, crossing her arms. "I thought you had a double shift."
"I did," Elena sighed, turning back to stir the pot. "But... something weird happened. I got a notification from the bank. They said the interest payment cleared early."
Rei watched her mother's back.
I did that, Rei thought. I tanked the damage so you didn't have to.
"They did?" Rei asked, feigning ignorance.
"Mhm," Elena nodded, looking confused but relieved. "I must have set up an auto-pay and forgotten about it. Or maybe a bonus came through from the... the job."
She laughed, a weak, brittle sound. "I was so worried, Rei. I thought I was going to be short this month. I thought..."
Elena's voice wavered. She stopped stirring. Her shoulders shook.
Rei watched her mother, this woman who had carried the weight of the Sector 4 poverty line on her back for years.
Rei didn't feel the urge to cry. She felt a surge of cold, protective power.
You don't have to worry anymore, Mom, Rei thought. I'm the Level 2 Succubus now. I'm the one with the System. I'm the one farming the mobs.
"It's handled," Rei said. She didn't hug her mother. She walked over and took the ladle from Elena's hand.
"Go sit down."
Elena looked at her, surprised by the sudden shift in dynamic. Usually, Rei was the one needing comfort. "Rei, you don't have to—"
"Sit," Rei commanded.
She didn't shout. She just dropped her voice, letting a tiny fraction of her remaining Heat leak into the syllable.
[ PASSIVE TRIGGER: PERSUASIVE EYE (TRACE) ]
[ EFFECT: MILD SUGGESTION ]
It wasn't a spell. It was just... gravity. Elena blinked, her resistance dissolving instantly.
"Okay," Elena murmured, looking dazed. "Okay. Thanks, sweetie."
Rei watched her mother sit.
It works on everyone, Rei realized with a thrill of horror and excitement. Not just the simps. Everyone.
Rei looked at her reflection in the stainless steel pot.
Rei Locke stared back. She looked the same, pale skin, dark circles, messy hair. But the "Glitch" was there. The predator was waking up.
She wasn't the victim anymore. She was the one holding the ladle.
She poured two bowls of soup.
"Here," she said, placing a bowl in front of her mother.
They ate in silence.
Rei took a sip of her own broth. It tasted salty and warm.
[ THIRST ] converts to [ CREDITS ]. [ CREDITS ] buy soup.
It was a simple gameplay loop. And Rei was good at loops.
"Hey, Mom?"
"Yeah, honey?"
"I think... I think I figured out a way to help with the bills. Freelance work. Online."
Elena reached across the table and squeezed Rei's hand. "That's great, Rei. Just... don't push yourself too hard, okay? You know how you get with your anxiety."
Rei squeezed back. She looked at her mother's tired face, then at the [ NEXT PAYMENT: 30 DAYS ] timer ticking in the corner of her vision.
"I won't," Rei lied. "I found a job where the anxiety is actually... a requirement."
She smiled. It was sharp.
"I think I'm going to be really good at it."