After arriving in the basent and parking his car, Eric turned off the engine. But he didn’t get out right away. He sat there for a mont, reflecting on everything that had just unfolded today. Leaning back in his seat, he rubbed his forehead, let out a deep sigh of relief, and finally felt the tension lt away.
"It’s finally over... now I’ll just let the law handle them. My job is done, and Chloe is safe," Eric thought in his head.
With that weight off his shoulders, his mind naturally drifted toward his next move. He planned to start composing his second song, aiming to release it next month. His fingers began tapping a rhythm against the steering wheel. "Na... na... na," he humd softly, finding a groove that matched his tapping. But then he stopped and gripped the wheel tightly before glancing at his watch.
"Hmm... they’re still in school... not ho yet... I want to write a song but... I haven’t found the right inspiration yet," he thought in his head.
Out of sheer boredom and with nothing else to do, he pulled up his system inventory. A holographic screen instantly flickered to life in front of him.
[Inventory:
1. Building renovation blueprint for instant renovation x1.
2. Unlimited platinum credit card x1.
3. Class A motorho miniature x1.
4. Lifeti free the park passes x10.]
Eric stared at the display. He tapped the credit card icon, and a black platinum card materialized in his hand. He slipped it into his wallet and turned his attention back to the screen. He held his finger down on the building renovation blueprint until a new window popped up with its description.
[Building renovation blueprint for renovation: displays a building blueprint layout and a 3D model to manage instant renovations. Features include adding floors, adjusting height, and customizing the interior layout by enlarging floor plans and filling them with the included miniature models. Requirents for use: The targeted building must already exist and be ready for renovation. It cannot be relocated.]
"Hmm... maybe I can use this to upgrade and remodel Grandfather’s building... after all, his building is only five stories high, including the basent. If I can turn it into sothing over ten stories, that would be pretty great. Besides, the surrounding area permits buildings over 20 stories since there are plenty of high-rises around," Eric thought in his head.
Next, Eric looked at the second item, the Class A motorho miniature x1. He tapped the entry to read its details.
[Class A motorho miniature: A miniature Class A motorho that is identical to the real thing. It can be used to summon a fully operational, pre-registered Class A motorho ready for imdiate use. How to use: Place the miniature on the ground and press the red button. Requirents for use: Do not activate inside an enclosed space. Best used in a spacious parking lot.]
"Hmm... I’m really curious what kind of RV I can summon with this," Eric thought in his head.
But then reality kicked in. He sat in his car and glanced out the window, noticing his Maybach parked right next to him.
"But I already have two cars... if I add this to the mix... plus, this thing is huge, right? It’s basically the size of a bus," Eric thought, weighing his options.
In the end, curiosity naturally won out over common sense. He double-tapped the text, and a miniature model resembling a Hot Wheels toy materialized in his hand. Eric examined the toy; it shaped like a bus, built slightly wider, with a tiny red button on top.
A holographic prompt then inford him that once activated, the RV would be roughly 40 feet long and 8.5 feet wide. Stepping out of his car, he locked it up, walked into the basent lobby, and took the elevator up to the main lobby.
He exited Tower A and walked past the side of the building toward an outdoor parking lot that was expansive and completely empty compared to the basent. Reaching the far end of the lot, he stopped.
"Alright... right here will do," Eric thought in his head, a smile spreading across his face.
His heart thumping with excitent, he set the miniature down on the asphalt right in the center of a parking stall. Just to be safe, he adjusted its position, gauging the final width and length for when the button was pressed.
Once he finished asuring everything out, "click," he pressed the button and leaped backward. "Boom!" A small explosion went off, and a thick, fog-like smoke blanketed the entire area, forcing Eric to cover his nose.
Squinting through the dense, misty smoke, he watched a massive shadow take shape, expanding bigger and bigger by the second. As the smoke finally cleared, Eric completely froze in his tracks.
His jaw dropped, his eyes went wide, and his arms hung limply at his sides. Standing right in front of him was a massive Class A motorho that looked exactly like a comrcial bus.
It was 40 feet long and looked exceptionally beefy due to its 8.5-foot width, which was extended an extra 1.5 feet by slide-outs that looked like windows protruding from both sides.
The exterior was a sleek, glossy black adorned with a silver lightning bolt emblem that made it look incredibly badass. It was clearly fresh off the factory line, fully equipped with license plates and completely street-legal for imdiate use.
Snapping out of his daze, Eric broke into a massive grin.
"Whoa... this is insane," he muttered.
He imdiately climbed inside through the front side door. The driver’s seat greeted him instantly, and when he looked toward the back, his eyes went wide. The interior was fully loaded.
The slide-out sections in the middle of the bus turned out to be a dining area on the left and a kitchen on the right, complete with custom countertops and a refrigerator seamlessly integrated into the cabinetry.
Moving past the kitchen and dining space, he noticed a small compartnt jutting out slightly. He popped it open to reveal a full bathroom inside. Continuing toward the rear, he entered a bedroom area.
At the far end was a modular bed system that could be folded away, alongside pull-out wardrobes and a sofa that could double as an extra bed. Above the main bed, a thick glass sunroof spanned the ceiling, with an air conditioning unit mounted perfectly right above it.
"This is seriously cool, crazy... I actually own one of these. If I take everyone out for a road trip in this, they’re going to love it," Eric thought in his head, already visualizing inviting Emma, Chloe, Priya, Monica, Heidi, and Laura onto his new RV to travel wherever they wanted together.
Then Eric walked to the front and climbed into the driver’s seat, gripping the steering wheel to get a feel for operating a massive vehicle like this. Next, he popped open the glove compartnt. Inside, he found all the registration paperwork, along with a sales receipt issued from God knows where.
Beside those lay a key fob with an ignition key to start the engine, and a ring of keys to lock up all the doors in the back.
"Vroom," Eric fired up the engine. It ran incredibly smooth, with absolutely zero vibration felt in the cabin.
"Wow... what if I pick them up from school in this thing? Driving a beast like this through a crowded city might be a bit of a hassle, though... but let’s give it a shot," Eric said. Then, without overthinking it, he shifted into drive and steered the massive vehicle out of the parking lot.
***
anwhile, at the exact sa ti back in Eric hotown, inside a house sitting on the edge of town, "knock, knock." A middle-aged woman rapped on a second-floor bedroom door, balancing a tray of food in her hands. She waited for a response from inside, but there was only silence. She knocked once more, yet still, no answer ca from the room.
"Vivian... Mom brought you so food," the middle-aged woman called out.
With no reply from within, she finally set the tray down right in front of the door. She gave the wood one last knock.
"I’m leaving your food out front," she said. Her face looked incredibly heavy with sadness, but she forced down whatever thoughts were racing through her mind, turned around, and walked away.
anwhile, inside the bedroom, Vivian sat motionless on her bed. She was wearing a pair of pajamas that looked like they hadn’t been changed in days, her hair a bird’s nest of tangles, and her eyes bloodshot with dark circles hanging underneath, looking as though she hadn’t slept in days. A smartphone was clutched in her hand, and the sound of music echoed through the quiet room.
The track playing was the one released by The Empress, written by Eric Reed, titled "Betrayal Enigma." Though she choked back quiet sobs, no actual tears fell, they just pooled heavily in her reddened eyes.
The mont the song finished, she hit repeat to listen to it all over again. As the lyrics started echoing through the space once more, her face contorted into an expression of profound regret, agonizing heartbreak, and a cocktail of other emotions far too deep for words.
"Ding."
A notification suddenly popped up on her smartphone screen. She unlocked it to find that Ruby had shared sothing on her Instagram. Vivian opened it, and her eyes went wide.
The post was a photo taken from behind Eric, showing him walking alongside six girls toward his BMW when he had picked them up after their club activities yesterday. Vivian noticed that Ruby had specifically shared the image only with her, adding a caption:
"The one you threw away."
"Thud." Vivian hurled her smartphone across the bed. It slamd hard against the wardrobe, clattered to the floor, and the music cut out instantly.
"If only... if only... I could go back to a year ago... to that exact night... I... I would definitely never betray you... Eric," she thought, completely consud by regret.
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