Reboot: A Hybrid's Odyssey

Chapter 1: A Day of Bad Luck

The sound of keyboard keys filled the dead silence. On the table were several books with different titles, empty coffee mugs and coffee pots, a notepad with crossed-out story titles, and circled sections of small paragraphs. Stephanie, a young woman with fair ivory skin, azure almond-shaped eyes, and a medium, refined nose, sat in a chair before the table. She had a round facial shape and long, straight, dark brown hair that reached her hips.

Her body is a skinny hourglass body with thick inner thighs, medium-length legs and arms, and medium-sized breasts. She wore Oxford blue half-frame rectangular glasses, a light blue long-sleeved shirt, a blue camouflage sweater, denim jeans, and light pink and white shoes. The woman adjusted her glasses and typed in a dimly lit Google Doc, exhaustion evident in her tired eyes.

She quickly finished a paragraph and sighed, scrolling through the pages of the Google Doc with her mouse, her tired eyes scanning for any mistakes. After double-checking, the woman converted the Google Doc to a PDF and sent it via a website message, awaiting a response on Discord. As soon as she sent the PDF to someone in the chat room via Discord, the person messaged her.

"It's about time you sent me the Google Doc! I've been waiting for over two weeks!" The stranger's text message sounded impatient, his tone adding to the tension. The woman, Stephanie, sighed and messaged back to the stranger, "I'm sorry. I didn't get a good night's sleep last night and was juggling many things in real life." Her apology was sincere, reflecting her regret for the delay.

After Stephanie apologized to the stranger through Discord, he responded, "Yeah, whatever." The stranger's dismissive tone was evident in his message to Stephanie, making her even more regretful. "Thanks for giving me the PDF of my story. I'll make the payment tomorrow, okay?"

Stephanie perked up after reading the stranger's message on Discord about the payment. "Tomorrow?" Stephanie texted the stranger, her voice tinged with confusion and concern about the payment delay. "My rent for my apartment is due tomorrow, and you promised to send me money when the work is finished before the rent's due date, right?"

"Listen, lady." The stranger texted Stephanie, the tone of the conversation sounding cold and emotionless. "It's no big deal to lose that much money! You'll handle it without a single buck."

"It is a big deal!" Stephanie texted, her tone strong and serious. "I'll be kicked out of my apartment if I don't have the money now! So please don't back out of your promise and pay me the amount for the PDF."

The next thing Stephanie knew was that the message had been immediately blocked, and the person she was chatting with had disappeared. She groaned in dismay, bonking her head on the table's surface. She winced and immediately stood up to her full height, rubbing her lower spine with her hands.

"Oh, mi Dios." Stephanie softly groaned, speaking a little in Spanish. "I need to get up from my chair and walk around my apartment a little to stretch my legs. Maybe I could get another offer for a hand-to-hand trade instead of online." She muttered to herself at the end. Stephanie pushed her chair back and stood up, wincing when she felt her back crackle, sounding like she was lying on glow sticks.

Stephanie stood up from her chair and turned towards the door, muttering, "I need to go and eat something. I haven't eaten anything for the past few hours." She paused, stepped close to the door, and responded, "That's right. I need to check my money before heading outside."

She reached into her pocket, took out her phone, and tapped on a bank app as she sat on a chair, pausing briefly to push back some hair strands from her face. The bank account showed a small amount in her checking account, but Stephanie's savings account had millions of dollars. Stephanie nervously chewed her lip while staring at the checking account and savings account, torn between not going out to eat and sitting alone in her room or breaking out $500 from her savings account.