Bab 2: Doomsday Favorability System

Ring-

The phone on the vanity table vibrated. Arianne stopped her train of thought and glanced at the screen showing the name of the caller.

Dear Annette is calling…

All of a sudden, her entire body radiated intense hostility, and both hands trembled with the impulse to strangle someone. She really had an urge to hurl the device across the room and smash it to pieces, so she could never listen to that hateful person again.

Her mind was bursting with hatred, wishing to exact vengeance immediately, and she rip the vixen's pretentious appearance, but she took deep breaths to calm herself down while muttering comforting speech to her dreary soul. She knew it was not the right time to roast Annette.

Her anger wouldn't do anything good. Negative emotions would cloud her judgment and get in the way of her plans. A calm and collected mind is needed at the moment. Most importantly, it's best not to reveal anything that might alert the vixen.

The phone rang a couple of times before it was picked up.

"Arianne?" On the other end of the phone, a lady wearing a pair of bear pajamas held the phone tightly. Her adorable features were laced with displeasure while waiting for the recipient's answer. A pair of small lips contorted into a sneer, and curses unbefitting of her image escaped from her mouth. "Just wait until I collect enough favorability and kick you out of the game. She's clearly just a bunch of data, but her attitude is so loathsome."

Annette remembered the prize of the holographic game competition and restrained her impatience. This was not the real world but a holographic Otome game with a doomsday theme. The gaming company posted an announcement inviting female players from all parts of the world to join the contest.

Their tasks were to level up, capture targets, collect affection points, and help the native NPCs develop the vaccine. The fastest one to complete the missions will be rewarded with a million federal coins.

Annette grew up in an impoverished family, and therefore she was greedy for the money. Since there were several veteran Otome female players among the competitors, Annette formulated possible strategies before entering the gaming cabin, researched what type of character boys prefer the most, and designed her appearance based on it.

The game will not start until a week later, and within this short time span, she needed to gain some male leads' affection in exchange for survival items. Her gaming system's information on NPCs and Villainess' page caught a large part of her attention.

The system said the jade bracelet of the villain was actually a storage space. Her eyes began flashing with cunning light, thinking of ways to steal it. With a storage space, the player could store necessary doomsday supplies, disguise herself as a space ability user, and increase her value on the team. Annette's hand was very itchy.

"Arianne?" Annette asked again; her pitch rose a little, revealing a trace of agitation.

Arianne put a lid on her brewing emotions before answering the call, "Good morning, Vi… Annette." Her heartbeat sped up from nearly spilling her thoughts, though she was also delighted. She was always prim and proper and was very mindful of her speech.

In upper-class society, you'll be drowning in spit if those Missus and Madams hear you swearing, but after experiencing the apocalypse, no ethics or proper conduct mattered. Those silent rules collapsed like dominoes, and everyone was only scrambling for survival.

People were overcome with exhaustion and anxiety and did not mind their behaviors anymore, and all kinds of curses and ugly words filled every corner with the survival base.

A sweet voice dripping with honey traveled to her ears. "Arianne, I was wondering if you're up for shopping?"

Arianne only felt her ear sting as if something poisonous pricked her eardrums. In the past, she would always like to listen to this voice and reply with enthusiasm, but now, her eyes held no ounce of joy and only bitter coldness. "I'm not feeling well."

She faked a cough and looked at the peony-shaped beige clock hanging on the wall, a meter from the door. As early as 7 a.m., this vixen called her for a shopping trip. It looks like she is quite impatient.

In her previous life, she had agreed but met trouble on the way. Annette somehow found her in an alleyway and rescued her from the thugs. Overcome with gratitude and kindness, she was coaxed to repay Annette with the jade bracelet. Arianne gave herself a mocking laugh. Her biological mother had taught her to repay kindness a hundredfold, but this statement seems not applicable to everyone.

Annette gritted her teeth upon Arianne's rejection, but she didn't insist because getting on the bad side of Villainess before doomsday came would increase the difficulty of the survival game.

There are some captured targets around the villainess with 3 stars and above ratings, and she was greedy for their affection rewards.

In addition, the development team of the gaming company had done a good job designing the captured targets and installing AIs to make the game more realistic. There are many ways to play, as the NPCs have the unique ability to think and make choices on their own without the gaming companies' intervention. This was the most exciting feature in the whole holographic game.

Annette was very frustrated at not being able to lure the villain out of her house. "That's too bad. Anyway, take care of yourself. Goodbye." She used a grievous tone, aiming to arouse some pity from the soft-hearted Villain and make her change her mind.

Arianne, however, didn't give birth to such thoughts, and she immediately hung up after dropping a single word, "Goodbye." Her charming lips capable of evoking men's inner desire hooked up as she began to imagine what kind of face Annette was making right now. Too bad she didn't have the opportunity to see it.

Toot…toot…

Annette threw the phone on her bed violently; the poor device bounced and landed on the floor, breaking the screen in the process.

The cracking sound alarmed Annette immediately, and she was filled regretfully. The heroine's setting was nothing grand like the villain's. She was just from a family in the countryside and was lucky to be offered a scholarship at a prestigious university in the capital. By chance, she befriended the Villainess.

The dorm was included in the student benefits, but her food allowances can only be earned by working part-time in a café. The heroine didn't have any spare change to buy a new phone, and Annette, without a single coin on her, could only grit her teeth and mutter strings of curses. If this were some sort of campus love game, she would not be frustrated; unfortunately, doomsday is coming and the only way to contact the NPCs is gone. She was off to a bad start. She called out the system interface and requested area scanning.

[Scanning complete…

A list of targets is available for players to view.

Colin Hamlet (2 stars)

-Feng Jun (1.5 stars) >

-…]

Arianne strode towards her dresser, filled with dull and boring, conservative clothes. Her hand crumpled the long-sleeve turtleneck into a ball and yanked it from the hangers.

She did the same with the others until only a beige, plain, sleeveless dress remained. A small hill made from piles of fabric gathered beside her feet. Her fiancée, Laurence, had always stated that he hated women donning themselves in vulgar attire. Therefore, Arianne, to cater to his preferences, went to the extreme and only wore boring long trousers and long-sleeve blouses.

Come to think of it, Annette always wore short skirts and low-necklines in the doomsday, even when Arianne insisted on wrapping her with more protection. Annette always dismissed her by saying it was convenient.

It looks like there was more than meets the eye; Laurence's eyes had never strayed away from Annette, and he even defended her a few times. Arianne never doubted the two because she trusted them, but it seems the two actually hooked up behind her back.

Arianne rummaged through the antique drawers until she found a jewelry box.

She opened it, and a translucent green jade bangle entered her sight. The warmth it was emitting was very comforting; she picked it up and examined its surface. Annette had said it was a storage space.

Arianne placed the bangle on her delicate wrist and waited for something to happen. Her eyes were full of anticipation.

Five minutes passed, and there was no reaction. The jade bangle didn't do any magical stuff. Arianne tried to sense the space storage inside her mind and tried calling it, but there were still no changes.

Arianne didn't know what to do, and she would rather not ask Annette how to activate it. Full of frustration, she unclasped it and clenched the bangle tightly, wanting to break it into pieces. If this thing doesn't want to be with a villain, she doesn't mind destroying it in the process. If she can't own the space for storage, the Vixen would also have no chance to use it!

Her arm was raised in the air, and she was about to smash the bangle on the wall, but a machine-like voice resounded in the depths of her mind and stopped her actions.

[System 337, the Doomsday Favorability System, is at your service.

Whether to bind?

-Yes

-No]