Chapter 14: Small fortune
After drying off, I threw on a loose shirt and a pair of sweatpants before stepping back into the living room.
The apartment was quiet.
For the first time all day, nobody was watching me, threatening me, dragging me somewhere, or trying to stab me.
It was surprisingly relaxing.
I dropped onto the sofa and let out a long breath.
Then I remembered something important.
Money.
Specifically, the envelope Bianca’s maid had given me.
I walked over to the dining table and picked it up.
The thick stack of bills inside still felt unreal.
Carefully, I emptied the envelope and started counting.
Once.
Then twice.
Then a third time because I genuinely thought I had made a mistake.
I hadn’t.
The amount was ridiculous.
At least ridiculous from Adrian’s perspective.
The money would easily cover several months of rent, food, utility bills, and other expenses. Maybe longer if I was careful.
I sat there staring at the stack.
Bianca treated me like property.
That much was obvious.
Yet she had casually handed me enough money to solve most of Adrian’s immediate financial problems.
I wasn’t sure whether to feel grateful or concerned.
Probably both.
Eventually, I put the money away.
There was another problem I needed to deal with.
A phone.
Using Adrian’s memories, I headed straight to his room.
The room wasn’t large.
A single bed sat against one wall. A desk occupied the corner near the window. A bookshelf stood beside it, packed with textbooks, notebooks, and old study guides.
Everything was clean.
Not spotless.
Just organized.
Someone had clearly made an effort to keep things tidy despite not having much.
I walked over to the desk and started looking around.
It didn’t take long to find what I was looking for.
A phone rested beside an old laptop.
I picked up the phone first.
The screen was cracked badly enough to resemble modern art. Deep fractures spread across the display, and one corner looked like it had lost a fight against concrete.
I pressed the power button.
The screen flickered.
Then died.
I pressed it again.
Nothing.
"Well."
That answered that.
The phone was dead.
Next came the laptop.
The moment I opened it, the machine produced a noise that sounded suspiciously like suffering.
The fan immediately started whining.
The screen took nearly a full minute to turn on.
By the time the desktop finally appeared, I was genuinely concerned the poor thing might burst into flames.
The wallpaper showed a city skyline at night.
There weren’t many files on the desktop.
Most were university assignments, research notes, and project folders.
A quick look confirmed what I already suspected.
The original Adrian spent most of his time studying.
Not exactly surprising.
Scholarship students usually couldn’t afford to slack off.
After a few minutes, I closed the laptop before it had a chance to die in my hands.
The phone was dead.
The laptop was barely alive.
Which left me with one obvious solution.
Shopping.
I checked the time.
The evening wasn’t over yet.
Most stores would still be open.
Besides, the refrigerator looked suspiciously empty.
I opened it to confirm.
There was half a bottle of water.
A container of something that had probably once been food.
And enough empty space to rent out as a second apartment.
"Yeah."
Shopping it was.
A short time later, I left the apartment.
The city felt different at night.
People filled the sidewalks. Some were heading home from work. Others were meeting friends or grabbing dinner.
Nobody paid attention to me.
After spending the entire day around Bianca and her friends, being ignored felt refreshing.
The shopping district wasn’t far away.
Bright signs illuminated the streets while crowds moved between restaurants, cafés, and retail stores.
My first stop was a phone shop.
The employee greeted me immediately.
"Looking for anything specific?"
"Something that won’t be dead after the warranty period."
The employee laughed.
"Fair enough."
He guided me toward a display wall.
Several models were arranged neatly behind the glass.
The Nova X12.
The Orion Edge Pro.
The Zenith S9.
The Helios Ultra.
And, naturally, a ridiculously expensive flagship called the Titan Crown Elite.
The name alone sounded expensive and ridiculous.
I checked the prices.
I was right.
Very expensive, and seriously who in the right mind would name phone like that.
The employee noticed my expression.
"Popular among students."
"I’ll pass."
He laughed again.
"Good choice."
I spent a few minutes looking through the specifications.
The Titan Crown Elite was absurdly overpriced.
The Helios Ultra wasn’t much better.
The Zenith S9 looked decent, but the battery life wasn’t great.
Eventually, my attention settled on the Nova X12.
It wasn’t the newest model in the store, but it was reliable, had a good camera, a large battery, and enough storage that I probably wouldn’t need another phone anytime soon.
"That one," I said, pointing at the display.
The employee nodded.
"Good choice. The Nova X12 is one of our best-selling models."
Twenty minutes later, I walked out carrying a new phone.
Not the most expensive model.
Not the cheapest either.
Just something dependable.
Adrian’s memories were filled with budgets, expenses, and careful planning.
The original Adrian probably would’ve spent three days comparing prices before making a decision.
Meanwhile, I’d bought a phone in under half an hour.
Progress.
My second stop was a supermarket.
That trip took considerably longer.
Apparently Adrian had survived almost entirely on instant noodles.
The number of noodle cups in his kitchen suddenly made sense.
I filled a basket with actual food.
Rice.
Eggs.
Vegetables.
Frozen meals.
Chicken.
Snacks.
Enough supplies to make the apartment look inhabited by a functioning human being.
The cashier looked mildly impressed.
"Big shopping trip?"
"You could say that."
By the time I left the supermarket, both arms were full of bags.
The walk home was slower than before.
Partly because of the groceries.
Mostly because getting stabbed in the leg earlier still wasn’t helping.
Eventually, I made it back to the apartment.
After putting everything away, I collapsed onto the sofa.
The apartment immediately felt different.
The refrigerator actually contained food.
I had a working phone.
There was money in my account.
For the first time since arriving in this world, I wasn’t dealing with an immediate crisis.
It was a surprisingly satisfying feeling.
Then a notification appeared.
______
Daily Survival Evaluation
Status:
Successful
Reward:
+2 Sin Points
Current Sin Points:
10
______
I stared at the message.
Then at the refrigerator.
Then back at the message.
"Buying groceries counts as surviving?"
The system didn’t answer.
Naturally.
It never did.
With a sigh, I leaned back against the sofa.
Tonight, for once, nothing was on fire.
And that felt like a victory.
