The Buggiest System

144 - Stalkers

Finally, school was over. Zhou Lei headed back home to update his novel, before going to the arcade to practice DDR.

As he walked back, he saw a woman who was about the same age as him. Her mouth drooled endlessly. Judging by her dirty clothes, and her big bag, Zhou Lei thought she was homeless.

Zhou Lei felt bad for the person and tapped her shoulder to give her some change.

As she turned around and saw Zhou Lei, her eyes widened and her mouth turned into a smile.

It looked like... she was waiting for him all along!

Misunderstanding something, Zhou Lei shook his head and reached into his wallet to give her some money, when she spoke.

"Please... give me a sandwich."

"Hmm?" Zhou Lei didn't expect the girl in front of her to actually make a request.

It was quite astonishing. After all, there was a saying, "Beggars can't be choosers." That meant that most beggars would be grateful for anything someone gave them.

In the end, Zhou Lei decided that it was too troublesome. "...Go buy a sandwich yourself."

The beggar turned sad for a moment before leaving slowly, her steps getting louder with each one she took.

Zhou Lei felt that the beggar was throwing a tantrum, so he just shrugged and walked away.

As the beggar saw the man that was supposed to give her a sandwich walk away carelessly, her panic went up.

However, a truly kind man the boy in front of her was not. She could not just chase after the boy either, as it would further lower her already negative dignity.

'It was only a tasty sandwich after all, why do I have to go through all this trouble just to get one more? Forget it, I'll just come back to normal begging. Eventually, I'll save up enough to clean myself up, and find a job...'

As her train of thought got derailed more and more, the beggar eventually got back to the topic of the sandwich again.

'...oh, but the sandwich tasted out of this world. This maybe my only opportunity to taste it again! After all, Em**em did say that I only got one shot... and also that he vomited his mom's spaghetti... Anyways, that's irrelevant!'

In the end, the girl chose to stalk Zhou Lei back to his house.

That way, she would remember where he lived. If he threw away more of those sandwiches, she could take them for herself.

As Zhou Lei walked back home, he noticed scurrying sounds coming from behind him. Thinking that it would be temporary, he carried on his way.

Contrary to his expectations, the scuttling behind him didn't stop. Instead, it appeared to be growing louder every second.

'Hmm, this must be a dog... Err, I don't really care if it follows me home.'

With the tension all gone, a smile appeared on Zhou Lei's face as he walked back home. He unintentionally displayed a face so handsome. Too handsome, in fact.

.....

Song Qing walked with disappointment written all over his face.

"If I fail one more time, the agency's gonna fire me!"

He had one too many calling cards in his pocket, simply because he couldn't find anyone willing to take them.

When he was in university, he thought that being a talent scout would be easy. He just needed to attend talent shows and similar events to snatch budding talent right when they were growing up.

What he didn't expect was that none of them were gullible enough to meet up with him after their first meeting!

"Ah... is it because of my appearance? That's just mean!"

With casual clothing, Song Qing looked quite out of place. His unshaven beard and weird design choices made others doubt his ability.

As he walked under a lamppost that wasn't on, he leaned on the narrow bar behind him.

He took out his phone and opened the newest fad that everyone in his office was talking about.

It was called "Mobile Myths". It was an MMORPG that made use of three paths to attack the enemy base. Wait, that description's too general... Oh, well.

Song Qing didn't get what was so fun about this game. He didn't get any ounce of fun from this game, not even one!

...Well, let's not talk about the fact that he always lost, but anyways...

As he played, a young man passed by in front of him.

He wore a typical student's uniform, although both the polo and the pants looked loose on him.

His bag was rather old. There were stitches all over the bag.

As Song Qing looked at the attire of the young man, he sneered, and raised his head to look at the young man's face.

"...Fuck!"

The talent agent forced a coughing fit as he stared at the young man, who turned his head and looked at him weirdly.

'That boy, he's too handsome! What the hell?!'

He exited the game immediately, much to his teammates' dismay, and put the phone back in his pocket.

He stood still as he watched the young man's figure get further away.

As Song Qing judged the distance between them to be far enough, he followed the young man.

.....
"Sigh..."

Xu Mingxue waited on a sidewalk, sighing deeply. She was depressed with how her life turned out.

Once one of the most talented ballet dancers in her school, she broke her leg in an accident, leaving a permanent strain on her calves. This prevented her from ever practicing dancing again.

In the end, she got a dead end job- ahem, I mean, she became a talent agent at a dead end company.

She pulled out her phone from her handbag and opened the latest fad that everyone in her office loved to brag about.

It was a mobile game called "Candy Catch". Even though it was just another one of those three-in-a-row games that everyone was tired of, this one rose to fame against all odds.

Some even accused the company that made it of developing the game with the intention of getting people addicted to it. Of course, this accusation was completely true.

This was common sense, like, every game that has micro-transactions are made with the intention to get you addicted, what are you trying to prove?

...And that's the end of that.

Xu Mingxue got an amazing combo, giving her a temporary gratifying feeling. Afterwards, she lost the level.

As she continued playing, she raised her head temporarily, seeing a young student in uniform walking along the opposite sidewalk.

What shocked her wasn't the two people following him... well, this shocked her a bit as well...

However, she received a much bigger shock looking at the face of said student.

"This... he's too handsome! Oh my god!"

And so, she joined the group of stalkers.