Chapter 15
Our Discord Server: https://discord.gg/PazjBDkTmW
You can buy coins here to unlock advanced chapters: https://gravitytales.com/coins-purchase-page/
Chapter 15: Hayato Is A Bad Guy
“If you type any string starting with ‘www’ followed by random numbers into the browser, it’ll automatically redirect you to this site. Don’t ask how I found out,” Hayato gestured for Mi Xiaoliu to check her phone.
Mi Xiaoliu didn’t understand, so she stayed quiet, chewing her food and calmly watching him.
[Memory Fragment 196]: Don’t smack your lips while eating.
“Alright then. I thought girls these days knew a lot more. Give me your phone.”
Weren’t girls supposed to mature faster than boys? He’d mastered this skill back in fifth grade.
He demonstrated the search operation on her phone right in front of her, then handed it back.
The site had a very basic interface—no logo, dark theme, resembling a night-mode shopping platform. The dim lighting was likely meant to prevent idiots from accidentally opening it in public and getting spotted.
Instead of products, the homepage listed various tasks posted by clients.
God knows how this site avoided being shut down by the police, yet could still secretly lure in customers—maybe someone with a data-related ability was behind it. What confused Hayato more was how no one from the organization had been caught yet. If they had, wouldn’t the police have already tracked the site via their phones?
There were all kinds of jobs: robbery, beat-ups, bodyguard gigs… rewards varied. Some assassination missions paid barely over 10,000 mira. In that regard, Boss Wei Shi hadn’t lied.
In this world, some people’s lives really weren’t worth much.
From the jobs posted, the Night Hawks seemed more like a mercenary outfit—but their ceiling and floor were hard to define.
In the bottom-right corner was a “My Account” section. Clicking it revealed an auto-registered profile:
Username: Princess
Team: Group 42
Completed Tasks: 1
Unfinished Tasks: 0
Total Tasks: 1
Reputation: 100%
Positive Reviews: 100%
Task History: Assassinate runaway employees and retrieve documents.
Teammate: Hourglass
Rating: 5 stars
Client Review: “Got the goods. Kid’s got a big appetite.”
“As payment for sharing this info, Little Black needs to do me a favor. Fair’s fair,” Hayato said, holding up one finger.
“I knew he was up to no good! Master, don’t agree to anything!” Sasha shouted angrily in Mi Xiaoliu’s mind.
Mi Xiaoliu stayed quiet. What Sasha said contradicted a memory fragment—“If someone helps you, you have to help them back.”
“If we take freelance jobs solo, we can only access low-tier gigs—stuff only street thugs would bother with. As your senior—who, by the way, can only do 150 push-ups in one go—I found one you’re allowed to do alone and that’s close by…”
While speaking, he fiddled with his phone again. Despite entering the building just minutes before Mi Xiaoliu, he now called himself her senior.
A pop-up appeared on Mi Xiaoliu’s phone:
[Hourglass invites you to team up for the mission: “Someone Help Me Break His Legs.” Accept?]
[Yes / No]
[Payment: 2,000 mira]
Compared to the homepage jobs filled with extra zeroes, this really did feel like a cheap gangland gig.
“Master, don’t accept. He’s tricking you into free labor,” Sasha warned urgently.
“It took me ages to find this one—it’s close and solo-eligible. Miss it, and you might not get another freelance gig for a while… Oh, by the way,” Hayato stood up, glancing at the table loaded with food, “you should pay the bill. I didn’t eat a single bite.”
Right after he said that, Mi Xiaoliu’s vision blurred. She felt something strange—then Hayato vanished from sight.
No one nearby seemed particularly alarmed by a person suddenly disappearing. They just glanced over briefly. A beautiful, androgynous young girl sitting alone drew more attention anyway.
“That bastard!” Sasha cursed.
Mi Xiaoliu slowly put down the chicken drumstick she’d just bitten into. Looking at the table full of food Hayato had ordered, she suddenly had no appetite.
“Miss? Your brother just went to the front and said you’d pay,” a waitress walked over.
She’d spent two full minutes debating whether to address her as “little sister” or “miss,” and had finally gone with “miss” to sound more respectful.
“He’s not my brother. I’m not a beauty.”
Sasha had told her she wasn’t pretty.
“Uh… sorry, little lady. That’ll be 360 mira.”
So, she’d run into some lolicon scumbag, huh? Even made the girl pay. Tch. And he was actually decent-looking too.
Maybe she was a rich loli sugar-daddy-ing him? Girls these days, huh?
Mi Xiaoliu pulled out her nearly empty card, then tapped “Yes” on the team-up request.
Hayato is a bad guy.
I hate him.
Mi Xiaoliu redefined him in her mind.
—
Tennis courts aren’t typically places where people crowd in to watch—tennis has spatial limits and it’s easy to get hit.
If you hadn’t been hit by a ball in P.E. tennis class, could you even say you attended?
Still, every afternoon after school, a few girls would wander over. Yiwen had club activities at this time. When he took breaks, they could offer him water. He usually declined—but what if he accepted one day?
If he took it, maybe that meant he liked her?
Giving someone water felt just as nerve-wracking as a confession. Some girls hesitated so long they missed their chance. Weren’t guys supposed to be flattered when girls showed interest?
“Xiaoliu, are you starting to like tennis?” Yiwen, resting on the steps, glanced over at Mi Xiaoliu beside him. “Wanna join? It’s club activities today, so we didn’t borrow gear, but I’ve got a spare racket I can lend you.”
She emphasized the word “lend.”
Though he’d paid her back the money from last time, his behavior during yesterday’s lunch still made her think Mi Xiaoliu’s character was hard to pin down.
She hadn’t invited her this time, but he’d followed along after school anyway—just sitting there quietly, not even asking to play.
Maybe he was just shy? He did seem introverted.
Mi Xiaoliu shook her head.
She didn’t want to play. She’d only come along because Yiwen was going the same way after school—just like last time.
She sat quietly, not playing on her phone, just zoning out.
Sasha had said people might watch TV when they were free. But she didn’t have a TV, or books, or a computer. Her only phone was a keypad model, and she didn’t know how to play Snake.
Going out just got her weird looks because of her chest badge.
This school’s homework was usually done in class. Lessons were lighter than normal schools because intense pressure might trigger students with dangerous-level badges to lose control.
So for the past few days, Mi Xiaoliu went home, ate, then went straight to bed—or just spaced out while listening to Sasha chatter.
Right now, Sasha was still talking in her head, asking why she came to watch tennis, if she liked Yiwen, and so on.
“Master, did you forget you have a cat at home?”
“Kitty’s waiting to be fed, Master! Forget that dumb boy!”
“Master, men are all bad. Like that bastard from lunch—Marubad—”
“Marubad?” Mi Xiaoliu, whose mind was half-plugged into the Murphy Net, only caught the unfamiliar term.
“Ah, that’s a bad word. Don’t learn it, Master.”
“Yiwen, you’re up!” the club president called out.
“Coming!”
Yiwen got up and replaced someone on the court.
It was hot today, and she was dressed accordingly.
Anyone who’s ever sat on warm steps after exercise would know what happens—those two elliptical sweat marks left behind.
Mi Xiaoliu stared silently at the imprint Yiwen had left, watching as it slowly shrunk and disappeared.
She pressed her hand to the step in confusion—but didn’t leave a mark like his.
Mi-style confusion.
