Chapter 2: The Deal
Chapter 2
One month ago
Luo Manman sat on the windowsill of her attic, on the verge of falling.
Her long hair obscured her expression, her naturally ugly face, no matter how hard she tried could not achieve an ordinary person's mediocre figure.
Just as she was a little tempted to end it all.
[Would you like to get a good skin? In exchange for a different life?] A voice called Pandora sounded in her ear.
Luo Manman was a little surprised. An alien product? Or an illusion? She also felt it was laughable. No matter what it was, how could it help?
Might as well answer this ridiculous question first.
Luo Manman hooked the corner of her mouth and gave an unexpected answer: "Of course.....I don't want to."
[.....Why?]
[I'm not interested.]
[Are you sure? Your experience tells me you need it.]
[You read my memories.] Luo Manman's face turned completely cold, wanting to end this conversation.
Who the hell do you think you are, such an unequal transaction.
Luo Manman leapt forcefully, but was bounced back by some unknown force.
[Hey! I did read your memories. Anyway, you have no will to live, why not make a deal with me! Haven't you been bored with your life for so many years? Don't you want to have some fun?] The unnamed creature Pandora said in a panic, fearing that this lord would insist on her suicide mission if offended.
If she died, it would be very straightforward. It would be hard for herself to find another trading partner.
[Fun?]
[I can provide you with different skins, brand new identities. Every period of time you can change into a different skin, different skins have different usage times and prices, but you have to complete the tasks I give you - pump everyone around you to their extremes.] The voice was tempting, stirring people's hearts.
[Extremes?]
[If you agree to trade with me, I'll go into more details.] Pandora was keeping something back.
Luo Manman gathered her expression and looked out of the window, her eyes empty and confused, not knowing what she was thinking.
All the gifts bestowed by destiny are secretly marked with a price.
Luo Manman fell silent.
Just as Pandora thought Luo Manman would insist on her suicide plan, Luo Manman suddenly spoke out: "Okay."
There was a smile on Luo Manman's hideously ugly face. It didn't seem to be happiness, more like the relief at the end of the road...
There was nothing left to lose, was there?
How pitiful.
Even I feel pity for you, Luo Manman.
Luo Manman covered half her face with one hand, looked up, and held back her tears.
When she looked again, Luo Manman had regained her calm.
Pandora felt that her trading partner this time seemed to have some mental issues, but as long as she could earn extremes, it was fine.
____________________
The school bell rang and Yan Xi picked up her schoolbag and walked out of the classroom.
"Yan Xi! Wait for me!" Dong Yaya hurriedly called out to stop Yan Xi.
Hearing someone calling her, Yan Xi raised her hand to turn off her phone and turned around with a smile, her eyes full of puzzlement.
"I'm Dong Yaya. Um, Yan Xi, are you a day student?" Dong Yaya asked.
"Yeah."
"That's great! I am too. Shall we go together?" Dong Yaya was the only female day student in the class. Qingteng was a provincial key high school. The school required everyone to board, especially students in key classes. Although the place Dong Yaya lived was quite far from Qingteng, Dong Yaya’s mother was a school leader. She felt the school accommodation environment was not good and cherished her daughter, allowing her to go home to live. Every day she drove her daughter to school herself. If she was really too busy, she would let Dong Yaya take the bus by herself.
As it happened today, Dong’s mother was not free.
How annoying.
Yan Xi wrinkled her eyebrows imperceptibly, but still answered her question.
"Okay." Yan Xi responded lightly with a shallow smile, her beautiful eyebrows and eyes shining brightly, dazzling Dong Yaya's eyes.
"Yan Xi, you.....are so beautiful." Dong Yaya said somewhat obsessed.
Much more beautiful than Shen Qiuyi.
In the bustling corridor after school, Yan Xi’s smile attracted several people to look back.
"Oh yes Yan Xi, don't go through the small west alley after school..."
"Okay." All the way, Dong Yaya kept explaining things about Qingteng. Yan Xi could only respond with "hmm, okay, yes" all the way.
At the school gate, Yan Xi saw the black sedan parked steadily, waiting to pick her up.
"See you tomorrow, Dong Yaya." Yan Xi said politely to say goodbye.
"Oh, oh....okay." Dong Yaya wanted to say something more, but seeing Yan Xi elegantly getting into the car, she went to take the bus by herself.
Once in the car, Yan Xi breathed a sigh of relief.
Taking out her mobile phone which she was halfway through looking at just now, the corner of her mouth hooked up.
Ha....how funny.
Yan Xi’s account was almost blown up by friend requests, and they were all from boys.....over 80.
There were 30 boys max in a class. Even if each had two accounts, that would be 60. It seemed someone had leaked her account.
This face really attractedadmirers like bees to flowers.
Worth 100 extreme points indeed.
"What are you giggling about? Luo Manman." The driver said, looking back from the back seat. He was a well-maintained middle-aged man.
"Panny, am I pretty?" Luo Manman asked the middle-aged man in front of her. f𝗿𝐞ewebno𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝐨m
"How could the faces produced by this trading place not be beautiful? Your mobile must have been flooded with requests?" The middle-aged man answered calmly.
Luo Manman smiled charmingly at the middle-aged man, lazily leaning against the backrest.
Possessing the middle-aged man, Pandora spoke solemnly: "Don't forget your task. I've prepared the information of 5 people with extreme points to develop. Have you read it?"
"Tu Qingluan, Zhou Zhou, Qi Yili, Qi Shi, Ji Yao." Luo Manman counted off the 5 names one by one on her fair fingers, looking very innocent.
"I did see Tu Qingluan today. Didn't see Zhou Zhou. His name was on the seating chart though, I heard he took sick leave." Luo Manman said doubtfully, adding: "Can't I earn other people's extremes? I saw many little cuties today."
"You're quite the player. Apart from the task targets, you can earn extremes from others too, just that each one is 100 points, while task targets are 500 each. Don't forget, you only have this skin for 1 year. After a year, if you don't make the extremes, I might have to find another trader." Pandora warned Luo Manman not to play tricks and focus on the important tasks.
Luo Manman neither agreed nor disagreed. Her slender fingers slid across the phone screen.
When her fingers slid across the ID "Tu Qingluan", they paused for a moment, then......she hit agree for all the IDs except "Tu Qingluan".
Then she threw the phone aside and said loudly to Pandora, "I want to browse the skin shop."
"I'm driving now! You can check when we get back."
"Aren't you some kind of AI? How can you not handle something so simple?"
"I'm not a lowly AI powered by data, I'm a higher dimensional....." Pandora stopped abruptly mid sentence.
Higher dimension? Luo Manman lowered her eyes.
"If you're not afraid of damaging the vehicle or loss of life, be my guest and try me!" Pandora tried to change the subject. She was done in by this mad woman acting on a whim!
Try and perish?
"Fine." Luo Manman lost interest and gave up.
The car took several turns and exited the suburbs, stopping in front of a duplex bungalow.
This was the house where Luo Manman had lived for a month. As for where she lived previously?
Luo Manman had burned it down with a fire.