Chapter 36: Asue
The girl looked at the extended hand for a few seconds before reacting and extending her own and taking it.
Alex grabbed her hand firmly and helped her come out of the secret room.
With the dim light of the flashlight, the girl's petite white face looked like the face of a ghost, but a lovely ghost non the less.
Alex stood there looking at the girl's beautiful face, unable to look away. This was the girl that he fell in love with after closing his heart to the world.
Right now, Alex felt so much hatred toward the love of his life that he couldn't stop his jaw from clenching.
"Why did you betray me?" said Alex without thinking, a sad look on his face.
"huh?" the girl looked at him with a puzzled face. She clearly didn't have any idea what Alex was talking about.
"Sorry, you remind me of someone I knew a long time ago," said Alex, but he was still unable to look away from the girl.
"are you a creep or something?" asked the girl with an annoyed tone, "why are you looking at me like that?"
"Sorry, as I said, you remind me of someone I knew."
As they talked, the woman came out of the small room too and stood there by their side without saying anything. Then she tapped on the girl's shoulders and used sign language to say something.
"my mother says, who are you?" the girl translated.
Alex looked at the woman who was exactly the same as he imagined she would be and said, "my name is Alex Adams; I'm here to help you."
The girl gave the flashlight to Alex and started translating what he said.
"why do you want to help us?" asked the woman, and the girl translated again.
"I can't tell you right now; just come with me. I have a safe place that you can leave in."
"Why should we trust you?"
Alex looked around him and said, "it's not like you have much of a choice. Look, if I wanted to hurt you, I would have done it by now. The world out there is really dangerous, and you can't survive on your own. You need my help. Just come with me, and if you don't like it there, you can leave."
"where are you going to take us," asked the woman
"the royal hotel."
"but that's too far from here; how will you take us there?"
"there is a secret way not far from here; we just need to walk for about an hour, then we can get there in a matter of minutes."
The woman looked at the girl and said something in sign language that Alex didn't understand, and they had a conversation for a few minutes; then the girl looked at Alex and said, "ok, we will come with you, but first you have to tell us everything you know about this situation."
"that will take too long," said Alex.
"We have time." Said the girl and sat on the ground.
Alex sighed and sat too. He started explaining about the system and its basic functions, such as INBs, shop, jobs, and contracts. Then he told them about the situation of the government and the city.
They were shocked when they heard Alex tell them that the government was on the verge of collapsing and there was almost nowhere safe in the whole country. But it didn't seem like the boy sitting in front of them was kidding.
Alex then told them about the hotel and the others he had gathered and told them that he wanted the girl to become part of their group.
"But why me?" asked the girl while signing at the same time.
"I have my own reasons that I can't tell you," said Alex and refused to explain anymore, "now the choice is yours to make. Either come with me and become part of my group or stay here and we will go our separate ways.
By the way, I have killed people to get here; I'm saying this because you may see me do it again in a few minutes."
The girl froze in her place and looked at Alex with astonishment and a bit of fright in her eyes.
The woman who didn't know what was happening tapped the girl on the shoulder and asked her what was happening, but after the girl told her what Alex had just said, the woman jumped in front of the girl and looked at Alex like he was looking at a killer, which ironically, he was.
Alex didn't try to defend himself and just sat in his place without moving. After some time passed, the woman seemed to regain his calm and signed, "I want a contract stating that you wouldn't hurt us."
Alex waved his hand, and a piece of paper came out of thin air; he gave it to the girl and said, "state your demands in there. Just tell the system, and it will write it down on paper. Then I will sign it."
The girl took the paper and explained what they had to do to her mother. The woman looked at the paper for a second and told the system her terms, and the system wrote them all on the paper.
Alex looked at the newly written contract and read it. There weren't any irrational demands in the contract, so Alex signed it without any objections.
"Now, can we go?" said Alex.
The girl nodded and started packing some things she thought she would need, but Alex stopped her and said, "whatever you think you may need, you can get in the hotel. Just grab anything emotionally valuable, and let's go."
After hearing Alex, the girl dropped everything he had packed and just grabbed a picture and put it in her bag.
"by the way. What level are you right now?" asked Alex out of nowhere.
"I'm level 21, and my mother is level 9." Said the girl.
"really?" Alex was surprised
"yes, what's wrong? Have you never seen a girl that loves video games?"
"it's not that. It's just that I didn't expect you to be this high level, so you have already chosen your job?"
"yes, I'm an Elementalist mage." Said the girl.
Alex nodded and turned around and said, "follow me."
The girl looked at her mother and followed Alex through the basement door.
When the mother and daughter saw the wreckage that once was their house, a few tears fell from their eyes, but they didn't say anything and just followed Alex.
"my name is Asue, by the way."
'I know,' thought Alex.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone